The next hours were filled with ever growing mountains of paperwork and a stream of phone calls that had Patrick groaning with irritation. "I can't work like this," he complained after a while. "It's different in the bullpen, where the noises are more a background sound, but here it's making it impossible to concentrate. I need to get out of here."

"You're not going anywhere alone, Jane," Lisbon told him strictly. "I understand your annoyance, but running off is not the solution."

He sighed. "Your concern is touching, but I assure you, I'm the person least likely to get attacked by him directly. He wants to hurt me by hurting those close to me." Suddenly he sat up with panic in his eyes. "Damn! I need to call my grandparents and the rest of the family. Bertram was at the funeral. He knows them." He tore at his hair and mumbled angrily. "Stupid! Stupid, stupid, stupid! How could I forget?"

He jumped up from the couch and searched all his pockets frantically for his cell phone. "Lisbon, where's my phone? I left it with you last night. He didn't take it, did he?" He'd paled.

Teresa snatched it out of the pocket of her blazer. "No, Patrick. I have it here. Just forgot to give it back to you earlier."

Jane rushed over to her and took it. He called first his grandmother and when he didn't get an answer, he frantically tried his grandfather. "Oh, thank heaven, Jonathan. You're alright!" he exclaimed a moment later. "Where's Elisa?" He took a deep breath and some of the tension left his stance. "Okay, so you're on your way back to San Francisco and she's the one driving." He nodded at Lisbon and she gave him a reassuring smile in return. "You have no idea how glad I am to hear that. But listen, sir: you have to be careful. I doubt it that my phone is clean, so I'm not going to say much, but I have received a serious threat from Red John. Please be extra careful and never leave the house alone. Not that that is much of a protection considering his resources, but it's better than nothing," he explained in a rush. "I'm sorry I implicated you in this whole mess. Please, could you inform Matthew and his family as well? Thank you, sir."

He hung up and started to pace, his face a study in desperation and frustration. "We need clean phones. This is a nightmare. I might just have done the opposite of what I wanted to do. Maybe I just managed to make them targets with this call. Oh god!" He hid his face behind his hands.

"He's right, Boss," Cho agreed. "We have to do something. It's quite probable that we can't even make a single call without him knowing. We can't just sit here and do nothing. This is not going to work."

Rigsby chimed in, "Yes, and we have at least to get rid of Ron for a while. There might be other moles, but we know of him, and we can't really do anything here without him realizing. Can't we send him on some errand?"

Lisbon nodded. "That's a good idea. Or do you have any other plans for him right now, Patrick?"

Their consultant shook his head. "Right now I'm so out of plans, it's a complete disaster! I can't think straight." He looked flustered.

Teresa saw immediately that she had to take control of the situation. Her lover wouldn't be much help right now and until she'd at least gotten rid of the obvious mole, she didn't feel comfortable doing anything to reassure him. "Alright. That's what we'll do: Cho, Rigsby, you're in charge of getting us clean phones. We need at least one each. But I suggest you get eight or nine. We might need to hand some out to allies. When we have means for clean communication, I'll talk with a friend of mine at LAPD. The Carmichael-case will be up in court soon and as it was in their jurisdiction at first, we'll pretend there are some pieces of hard evidence still missing and send Ron down to Los Angeles to fetch them. That'll have him occupied for a while."

Everybody nodded. "And bring some lunch," Van Pelt added in the direction of the departing agents.

The request made Wayne's eyes shine happily. "Absolutely," he said as the two left.


"Now we three will sit down together and try to think things through. I'll redirect all calls. We really need to have some peace and quiet for a while," Lisbon said and got up from behind her desk after programming her phone. She walked over to her small conference table and motioned for Grace and Patrick to join her there. The two complied, though Jane had a hard time sitting calmly. "Okay. What do we have to bear in mind? What are our foremost concerns and how do we proceed?" the team leader asked.

"I may have one suggestion," Patrick chimed in, before they could recapitulate the situation.

"Out with it, Jane," Lisbon encouraged him.

He wriggled around on his chair, showing clearly his agitation and inability to calm down. "We need someone high up to support us, when things come to a head." Both women nodded and he continued when Teresa motioned for him to go on, "With no supervising agent and no director our options are limited. But we might need SWAT and other teams as back-up and though you're kind of in charge right now, Lisbon, I'm not sure how far your authority reaches. Are you?"

She pondered the question for a moment. "Oh, I'm quite sure I'd get full support from the other CBI teams and SacPD, but a mission of that extent and importance needs back-up from the higher ranks. Problem is, we don't know who might be in league with Bertram. This is tricky. But I gather from your earlier words that you have an idea?"

Patrick nodded. "Yes, I do. But we need the clean phones first – urgently. Though I have an inkling, that hers might not be clean either, which kind of makes calling her from a clean one unnecessary," he replied pensively.

"Could you please refrain from riddling like that, Jane?" she scolded him.

He cast her an annoyed look. "I'm not doing it on purpose. I'm winging it right now. Can't you grant me a bit of leeway for once, woman?"

She sighed. "Please, Jane. Not now. I have no energy to fight with you. All our nerves are on edge. I didn't mean to criticize, but I want clear answers from you, okay?"

Patrick took a deep breath but still glared at her. "I'm trying, damn it!" Finally restraining himself, he cast his girlfriend an apologetic look. "Okay, so this is what I've come up with. We have one person, who happens to work in the Department of Justice now, and who's most certainly not a confederate of Red John and owes us a favor or two."

"Madeleine!" Lisbon exclaimed. "Why didn't I think of that? Great idea, Jane!"

He cast her a tentative smile. "Because your whole brain is consumed by stupid paperwork. And besides, there must be a reason you keep me around." Van Pelt and Lisbon snorted. "Anyway, ladies. We can't contact her. Or we might as well because I'm pretty convinced that her phone's being monitored. So even if we call her from a clean one, it might not make much of a difference. We should ask her to meet us at a public place that still offers enough privacy. Any suggestions?"

Van Pelt chimed in at that point, "A park, maybe? The weather's nice enough and if we pick an open spot, it'll be difficult to eavesdrop on our conversation."

"Good idea, Grace. Better than a café or something," Jane praised the young woman. "Why not simply the gardens around City Hall? She won't have to go far, which would have the bonus of minimizing the danger to her, should that bastard try to prevent her from meeting us. I'd hate it if something happened to her."

"Yes, that sounds like a plan. And we won't call her until we've already arrived there. He won't have time to plan anything at such a short notice," Teresa agreed. "And now I'll call SFPD and the department in San Jose as well and order protection for your family, Jane. Even if the line's not clean. Not everyone there can be a mole and I want to make sure that they have at least some kind of security in place. Besides, I still have a few contacts in San Fran that I trust."

"But you can't tell them it's about Red John, Lisbon," Patrick objected nervously.

She put a calming hand over one of his, which was drumming on the tabletop frenziedly. "Patrick, please try to relax a bit."

"I'm not sure I can. I'm sorry," he whispered.

"I understand, love. But you're just making this worse. I need you with a clear mind. You're our best weapon against him, but right now you're doing exactly what HE wants you to do: losing your head. That's what he intended with that letter and at the moment you're doing HIM a favor with your behavior," she told him insistently.

At her words his shoulders slumped and he closed his eyes, looking defeated. But a moment later the other two occupants of the office could see him obviously trying to compose himself. He regulated his breathing. With two of his fingers he started to pat several parts of his body - especially his face - in some kind of pattern the women didn't recognize. A few minutes later he stopped and when he opened his eyes again and looked up, he seemed like a different person. Gone was the haunted expression, the nervousness, and obvious desperation and panic. He appeared composed and collected.

"What the hell did you just do?" Lisbon asked with astonishment.

He cast her a reassuring glance. "I applied some so-called Emotional Freedom Techniques, more specifically Thought Field Therapy. It's called tapping and has been known to produce remarkable results with anxiety and such. It derives from more classical forms of acupressure. It's not an accepted method by most psychologists, but who cares. It works for me," he explained calmly.

"Yes. It seems it does," Lisbon replied with wonder in her eyes. "You're really full of surprises, Jane."

"Well, let's admire my superior abilities another time and concentrate on the matter at hand," the consultant said with a slightly arrogant glint in his eyes, but both women decided to refrain from calling him out on it. They knew him well enough to realize that he was projecting a mask right now. Instead, they proceeded to summarize the facts they had, the things that needed their attention, and their next options, and Teresa made her two calls and ordered a protection detail for the other members of the Jane-family.


Not too long afterwards Cho and Rigsby returned carrying some bags. They entered the office and closed and locked the door. "We got ten clean ones," Cho informed them.

"And sandwiches and a blueberry pie," Rigsby added eagerly, which elicited an indulgent smile from Grace and two sets of rolled eyes from Lisbon and Jane.

"It's good to know that at least one person has his priorities right, Rigs," Patrick teased the younger man.

Wayne looked a bit sheepish but said," Well, Jane, even the greatest mastermind can't work without fuel, right?"

"Can't say I'm feeling particularly hungry, but I guess you're right," Patrick grumbled.

"Let's work out the phone-situation first. I need one to call LAPD at once," Teresa ordered.

Cho handed her one of the cell phones and a paper with all the necessary codes to use it. She typed in the number of her contact in Los Angeles, gave him a very superficial version of the facts, and asked him to string along the CBI agent coming down to fetch the victim's clothes in the Carmichael-case as much as possible. She got his assurance that her old friend would delay Ron and deliver the fake evidence to him as late as possible. Their deceitful colleague would be forced to stay overnight anyway considering the current time of day and the long drive ahead.

Satisfied she hung up. She was just about to leave and inform the traitor of the errand she had intended for him, when Patrick stopped her. "You should call your contact on the normal line and ask for the evidence. Otherwise, Red John might get suspicious if you send Ron there without any previous contact with your colleagues in LA, Lisbon. He'll know we've both got clean phones and exposed his spy."

She sighed in frustration. "I'm definitely not cut out for all this subterfuge stuff. You're right of course, and it didn't even cross my mind."

"That's why you keep a fraud like me around. I can assure you, I know how to keep track of things like that. It's essential in my former line of work," Jane told her.

"I don't appreciate you calling yourself names like that, Jane," Teresa scolded him. "You're not a fraud and I don't want to hear that from you ever again. Got it?" He nodded meekly and she smiled warmly at him. Then she made a second call from her normal office phone and fortunately, her old friend seemed to catch on to the problem at hand and answered accordingly. Lisbon's relief was clearly visible on her face.

"How about we turn lunch into a picnic?" Jane suggested when she had finished her call. "I've heard that the gardens around City Hall are especially beautiful at this time of year."

Van Pelt smiled. "Sounds like a lovely idea."

"I'll send Ron on his merry way then, and we can enjoy the sunshine afterwards," Lisbon said dryly.

Cho and Rigsby looked slightly confused but figured that this was part of some plan. The senior agent left the office and returned a few minutes later with a bright smile on her face. "Either he's one hell of an actor, or he took the bait hook, line, and sinker," she stated.

"Not to burst your little bubble of joy, but he IS one hell of an actor, Lisbon. He has been fooling us for years," Patrick retorted.

"I still think he doesn't suspect anything right now," she insisted.

Jane cast her a tentative smile. "Well, let's hope you're right. Has he already left or should we wait a bit longer?"

"He left at once. I told him it was urgent." Her grin looked devious, just like the answering ones from her team.


TBC

Not that I'll stop posting otherwise, but I'd really apprecitate some feedback, because reviews are like blueberry pie: not essential, but deliciously sweet and they might just make my mind work better and faster...