Much to Lisbon's annoyance and frustration, Jane turned out to be right on this particular point. Lisbon had the whole team focus on the hunt for Irene Gregson for three weeks, but to no avail. They found her car, the driver's side door left open and the keys still in the ignition, abandoned on an isolated mountain road, but there was no sign of her. Jane had given her his superior 'I'm always right,' look when they found this out, but Lisbon doggedly continued ahead, hoping against hope they'd be able to find someone who had seen something or that Gregson would make a mistake and surface somewhere where she might be recognized. But as the leads dried up, Lisbon reluctantly acknowledged that it looked like Jane had been right all along: it was looking increasingly unlikely that they were going to be able to locate Irene Gregson.

After three weeks of fruitless searching, she decided they needed to regroup. She called a team meeting to assess the status of the case as a whole.

"All right guys," she began once they were all gathered in the bullpen. "We're out of leads on the Gregson angle for the moment so I don't want to waste everybody's time chasing down dead ends. We need to figure out our next play. I want us to re-orient ourselves. Gregson was a good lead and it told us something critical we didn't know before, but she is not the only avenue that can lead us to Red John. We need to take a step back and get some perspective on this whole thing."

"What do you suggest, Captain, my Captain?" Jane inquired.

"Let's go over what we know so far. We started this whole thing trying to get a handle on his character under the assumption that would help us find him. I think we need to return to that idea to re-ground ourselves in the bigger picture here. So let's make a list of what we know so far. What do we know about Red John?"

Cho shrugged. "He likes to kill women."

"He lives, works, and kills in California," Van Pelt said.

"He's highly intelligent," Jane put in. "Definitely has an IQ well above average."

"He knows how to hypnotize people," Rigsby offered.

"And he's really good at it," Van Pelt added.

Rigsby shivered. "Yeah. Remember how he convinced Kristina Frye she was dead?"

"I think we all remember that, Rigsby, but thank you for the reminder," Jane said dryly.

"Sorry, man," Rigsby muttered.

"You're correct, however," Jane acknowledged. "It takes an advanced level of skill to hypnotize people so effectively."

"This is good, guys," Lisbon said encouragingly. "What else?"

"He has advanced skills in computers, surveillance techniques, and explosive devices," Van Pelt said. "Plus, he knows how to create false identities."

Jane considered this. "Not necessarily."

Cho turned to him. "What makes you say that?"

Jane shrugged. "Think about it. He relied on Gupta to manage the task of blowing up Dinkler and strapping that bomb onto Lisbon."

Lisbon shuddered. "Don't remind me."

"The point is, even for someone highly intelligent, it takes time to learn advanced skills in all those areas."

"So maybe he has a lot of time on his hands," Cho said.

"I don't think so. He's been very busy killing people, building dams, and recruiting disciples. I don't think he's had much time for many other extracurricular activities. It's more likely that he relies on disciples for at least some of those things."

"How do you know he isn't the one with the computer skills or explosives expertise or whatever and that he just farms out the rest of it?"

"Rosalind said he smelled like pine and nails. That implies he works directly on the construction projects he's involved in. And thanks to Lisbon's research, we are reasonably certain he works for or owns several construction companies that have worked on water projects throughout the state."

"Do you think one of his disciples could be the hypnotist, and Red John just asks him when he needs someone hypnotized?" Cho asked.

"I don't think so," Jane said slowly. "I don't think he would want to rely on someone else for something that would give him such complete control over his subjects. He would want to guard that power for himself."

"You said he has the characteristics of a cult leader," Cho said. "I guess that fits into that desire to dominate others."

Lisbon said, "The notion of him as a cult leader also suggests that he's charismatic and narcissistic."

"And unable to accept criticism," Cho said. "He killed Jane's family just because Jane said he could catch him."

"Yes, he's an image conscious serial killer," Jane said with a twisted smile.

"Actually, it's fairly common for cult leaders to be intolerant of criticism," Van Pelt piped up. "They demand unwavering loyalty from their members, but won't stand being questioned."

Everyone looked at her in surprise. "What?" she said. "I wrote a paper about it in college."

Lisbon shook her head. "All right."

"So where does that leave us?" Cho asked.

"We keep following the leads we have," Lisbon said. "You guys have all been doing excellent work, and we know more now because of it, there's no doubt about it. If we stay the course, something else is bound to break sooner or later."

"All right," Cho said. "I'd like to go back to the Gupta thing, if you don't mind. I have a feeling there's something worth finding there."

"Okay," Lisbon agreed. She looked at Jane. "Jane, I'd like you to spend some time working on figuring out how Red John scouts his victims. If you have any brilliant insights about how he might have learned advanced hypnotism while you're at it, that'd be great, too."

"Very well," Jane agreed. "For what it's worth, Lisbon, I think you should go back to the dam research. You got interrupted by the Gregson thing just as you were starting to make some real progress on it."

"I'm planning on it," she said.

"What about me?" Rigsby asked.

"Rigsby, you stay on Rebecca Anderson," she instructed.

Rigsby didn't look happy about this, but he nodded his assent. "You got it, boss."

"Van Pelt, you'll stay the point person on the Gregson angle if any new leads come up," Lisbon told her. "In the meantime, I'd like you to study up on surveillance methods and see if you can find out what methods Red John has been using to keep an eye on us. I'm convinced he used some kind of surveillance mechanism to get the drop on us in that warehouse when Cho was shot, and I want to know how he managed it. I also want you to see if you can get an idea of how he has set up new identities for his disciples. We know Anthony Gupta, Rebecca Anderson, and Timothy Carter are assumed identities."

She raised her voice. "Speaking of surveillance methods, I want everybody to double up on the bug checks. I know it's a pain, but we have to assume Irene Gregson told him what we're doing, so it's more important than ever that everyone be extra careful."

The team grumbled a bit about the additional bug sweeps, but Lisbon secured everyone's consent in the end. After Grace found one in her car several days later, the grumbling ceased abruptly and Lisbon found she no longer needed to nag anyone about the necessity of regular checks. Finding the bug was a sobering reminder of the need for vigilance. If anything, it sharpened the team's focus.

They all went back to work. Lisbon resumed her research on the construction companies, but unfortunately, she wasn't able to dive into it as deeply as she would have liked to right away because she came down with a bad case of the flu which laid her up for several days.

"Dammit," she grumbled to Jane when he noticed her color was poor and pestered her until she admitted she'd been feeling sick to her stomach the past couple of days. "It was Bernard from accounting that did this to me. He has four kids and they all had the flu last week."

"And he had a hundred and three degree fever himself when he came in here to ask about that insurance issue for Cho. If he infected you, you'd be better off at home where you can't continue to spread the plague to the rest of our unsuspecting co-workers."

"I'll just quarantine myself in my office," Lisbon said dismissively. "I won't breathe on anyone."

"You need to go home," Jane said firmly.

"But—"

"Your research has waited this long; it can wait a few more days. Besides, do you really think you'll be able to crack the Red John case in the state you're in? You might puke all over some critical piece of evidence, and then where would we be?"

Lisbon lost what little color she had remaining. "Don't say puke," she urged with a grimace. "If I don't think about it, I won't do it."

"I'll drive you home," Jane decided.

"Great, a car ride across town with you at the wheel. That'll settle my stomach," Lisbon muttered.

"I'm not taking no for an answer," Jane told her. "Now come on, let's go."

Accordingly, Jane took her home and she spent three miserable days holed up in her apartment. She must be getting old, she concluded. It used to be she could power through just about any virus nature could come up with, but now here she was, so queasy and headachy that she couldn't even concentrate on the most mundane tasks. She couldn't remember the last time she'd been so sick she couldn't get through the day on nothing but determination and a steady diet of Tylenol and Pepto-Bismol. As it was, she didn't even feel up to basic activities like eating. She probably wouldn't have even bothered with that, except that Jane kept stopping by and force feeding her ginger ale, toast, and chicken soup. She was able to recover over the weekend, however, and she returned to work on Monday feeling much more like herself.

Cho came into her office before she'd even set her things down. "I caught a break on Gupta," he said without preamble.

"You did?" she said, surprised. "Why didn't you call me?"

"Jane said we should leave you alone until you got better or you'd want to come in. He said you needed to rest or you wouldn't recover."

Lisbon muttered something distinctly unfavorable about consultants who didn't know how to mind their own business under her breath, but decided to wait to kill him until after she'd had her coffee. She sat down at her desk. "What did you find?"

Cho tossed a file on her desk. "Anthony Gupta was born Vikram Advani. Only child of two grocers, born and raised in Bangor, Maine."

"Any connection to the foster care system?" she asked, picking up the file.

Cho shook his head. "No, his parents are both still alive. He ran away from home at seventeen, and they've been estranged ever since. They hadn't heard from him since he left home."

"You talked to them?"

"Yeah. They didn't know much. They said he was an unhappy child. Always a bit of a loner. They put him in therapy but it never took. Then one morning he was just gone."

"Just like that?"

"Didn't leave a note, nothing. They filed a missing persons report and got word a few weeks later that he'd signed up for the army. That's his military file, there."

Lisbon opened up the file. "He was Special Forces?" she asked with surprise, seeing the note at the top of the first page indicating his division and unit.

"Yeah. He was a weapons expert. I talked to his commanding officer and he said Advani was some kind of genius with explosives devices. He said Advani was the best at what he did, but he was not popular in the unit. He kept to himself, didn't really have any friends."

Lisbon was still reading through the file. "He was dishonorably discharged?"

"Yeah."

"The file just says he was discharged for 'failing to act in a manner becoming to an officer of the United States military,'" Lisbon read. She looked up at Cho. "What the hell does that mean?"

"He was working an operation in Iraq when six members of his unit called in a distress call because they were trapped in a building with an explosive device. He was the one who should have responded. The commanding officer said that with his skills, he could have tried to defuse it. It might not have worked, but if anyone could have done it, he could have. But he didn't take action. He just sat there and watched them burn."

"God, how awful."

"Yeah. But that's not even the most interesting part. Take a look at the next page."

Lisbon flipped to the next page and saw a photograph of about thirty men and women dressed in Army fatigues, standing on the steps of a building. Advani stared out at the camera from under his cap, unsmiling. "What am I looking at?"

"You recognize anyone else in that photograph?"

Lisbon cast her eyes over the rest of the people in the photo. "No. Should I?"

Cho tapped his finger above the face of a young woman on the edge of the group, sandy blonde hair pulled back in a severe bun. "How about her?"

Lisbon squinted at the photograph. "She looks a little familiar. I can't place her, though. Who is she?"

"You might not recognize her from this angle. Try thinking of her as though you were looking at her from a fifth story window she'd just jumped out of."

Lisbon stared at him. "Isla? The woman who Red John sent to kill Hightower in the hotel right before we found out O'Laughlin was the mole?"

"Yep. Isla wasn't the name she was born with though. She's identified in the caption on the back as Jennifer Mundy."

Lisbon looked back at the photograph. "I don't believe it. She and Advani were in the same unit?"

"No. Same training class. This picture was taken when they finished training, right before they were sent into active duty. She was assigned to a unit that was deployed to Afghanistan. She went missing in action, and was presumed dead."

"Where's she from?"

"Minneapolis."

"Parents alive?"

"Parents are alive and well, and she's one of seven kids."

Lisbon shook her head. "I don't get it. He's from Maine, she's from Minnesota. They both served abroad, and neither of them have ties to the foster system. Where's the Red John connection? How would he have made contact with these two?"

"It had to have been through the training class somehow," Cho said. "It's the only time I can figure that either of them were ever in California before they dropped off the grid and resurfaced here as Red John's loyal disciples."

"The training was here in California? Whereabouts?"

"Fort Irwin."

Lisbon was more confused than ever. "This makes no sense. I thought we were on to something with the foster care angle. But these two look like they have nothing to do with that."

"Well, we were definitely onto something, or Clarissa Allen would still be alive," Cho pointed out.

Lisbon sighed. "I guess you're right."

Cho looked at the picture again. "Fort Irwin—that's in the middle of the desert. What would Red John have been doing out there?"

"I suppose they need water projects in the desert, too," Lisbon reflected. "Can you get me the dates they were in training at Fort Irwin? Maybe I can match them up to a project by one of the construction companies we think Red John is working for."

"You got it." Cho stood up to leave.

"Thanks. And Cho?"

Cho paused by the door. "Yeah?"

"Good work."

Cho nodded, and Lisbon sat at her desk after he left, turning over this new evidence in her mind. Then she went out to the bullpen.

Jane was lying on the couch. He opened his eyes when he heard her approaching. "Morning, Lisbon."

"Hey. Cho told you about Gupta being in the military?"

"Yes, and our dear friend the mysterious Isla."

"You guys should have called me."

"What for? Cho had the work well in hand. There was no point in disturbing you with this information while you were too sick to do anything about it. It would have only riled you up for no reason and delayed your recovery."

Lisbon closed her eyes and decided she wasn't quite recovered enough to go ten rounds with Jane first thing in the morning. "Next time, please do not bully my team into keeping information from me," she said, keeping her voice calm and neutral when she really felt like smacking him.

"I don't anticipate the need to do so arising in the near future. You're rarely sick."

Lisbon recognized the dodge but decided she was more interested in discussing the latest development in the case than wasting her breath arguing with Jane when she was certain he would feign attention now to placate her only to turn around and do exactly as he pleased. "What do you think about Gupta and Isla both being in the army?"

"I think it's very interesting."

"I was so sure Gupta was going to fit into this whole foster care angle," Lisbon said. "And quite frankly, I wasn't expecting to find Isla at all. Now that we have information on her, too, I'm not even sure what to do with it."

"Yes, that was an unforeseen stroke of good luck," Jane commented. "On the other hand, perhaps we are due a bit of good luck after going so long without any."

"What do you think it means?" Lisbon persisted.

"I don't know," Jane admitted. "Presumably it means that in addition to owning construction companies and recruiting disciples through the foster care system, Red John has connections in the military, as well."

"How is that possible?" Lisbon said in frustration. "How can his reach extend so far and wide?"

"That is the question, isn't it?"

"I just feel like the more we find out about him, the more questions it raises."

"But we are finding out more about him," Jane said. "That's the point. However confusing we may find the facts we're uncovering, we are getting closer, Lisbon. I don't know how all the puzzle pieces fit together yet, but those facts all add up to a single man."

"I'd just feel better if I could see where all this was leading us. Getting closer is all well and good, but as it is, I have this terrible feeling it's going to result in us stepping on an angry snake as we stumble through the dark."

"Perhaps we should all start carrying flashlights everywhere we go," Jane suggested.

Lisbon laughed despite herself. "At last, a pragmatic suggestion from the creative mind of Patrick Jane."

She went back to her office, encouraged by the team's progress and determined to keep shining the light along their path until it exposed the monster at the end of the tunnel.