A/N: I want to acknowledge my new guest reviewers and say thank you to: M. Wieters, Percy Power, and Guest. I really appreciate that you took the time to comment. Feedback is what keeps my muse going. To start the chapter off, there's a little Cherri for all of you.

What If Part 3

"Chris?" Brody opened the door. She was dressed in a long a floral bathrobe.

In his hands, he held her favorite bottle of red wine, a peace offering so to speak. "Am I interrupting somethin'?" he asked noting the time and her attire, as an English accent floated out from beyond the main room.

"Is that the bloke that gave you the fat lip?" It was James.

Brody closed her eyes, before looking over her shoulder and quelling the angry look in the playboy journalist's eye. "Just give me a second." Closing the door, she stepped out onto the front porch, crossing her arms over her chest.

"What are you doing here?" Her partner showing up on her front doorstep was the last thing she had expected. To top everything off she was still pissed.

"I came to apologize for giving you that fat lip." He said pushing the wine towards her.

Brody took it from his hands. She knew it had taken a lot for him to come here, but now wasn't the time. She had James in the next room and though he would never be able to handle himself against Chris he was ready to tear the arrogant agent's head off.

"A bottle of wine isn't going to fix things, Chris," But it was a start. There were so many things that needed to said, broken trust that needed to be earned back. Brody wanted to tell him that she understood his lack of hesitation when he had pulled that trigger. It was the exact opposite of her actions on the Moultrie. She had hesitated when she shouldn't have and he had acted too fast. Both actions had stemmed from an overwhelming sense of loss. Different situations, but the same result.

"I know," LaSalle replied, humbling. "But I was hopin' we could talk."

Now, he wanted to talk? His timing couldn't have been any worse. But she wasn't about to deny him the opportunity to open up. "Give me a couple of hours," she said, "I'll meet you at the café on Royal."

"You don't have to Brody. I'll just see ya tomorrow. " He replied averting his eyes. He started to step off the porch, only to have her touch his arm.

"Chris, I don't want to wait until tomorrow."

"Ok," he said, resigned. "I'll be there."

He walked back to the truck kicking himself for ruining Brody's moment with James. Well truthfully, he wasn't that upset about it. He knew she was just using her ex as an occasional booty call. It was supposedly her way of getting back at the man for leaving her high and dry.

Somethin' wrong with that picture he thought as he removed the wireless key from his pocket prompting the engine to start. Touching the door handle, he felt someone come up behind him followed by a sharp stick to his neck.

"Don't fight it. It won't do you any good." It was Messier.

"What is that?" Chris squeezed his eyes shut as Messier removed the removed the syringe.

"It's animal tranquilizer." A small dose of M99 to be exact it wasn't enough to kill the agent but it would keep him subdued long enough for Messier to see out his plan.

"Why?" Chris tried to struggle but it was no use.

"It's nothing personal. Sasha and I have business to finish and I can't afford for Pride to be in the way." Messier replied as the agent went limp in his arms. If Pride were too busy looking for LaSalle because he had gone off the rails then Messier could attend to the cargo in his shipping containers and none would be the wiser.

3 hours later…

Brody stared pensively at the empty seat across from her. Chris was an hour late. Not that this surprised her really, given his behavior over the last several weeks, but it did concern her. When he had showed up her at house his intentions seemed so sincere.

Reaching for her phone, she checked her missed calls list. There was nothing. But she had called him 3 times, once for every fifteen minutes he was late. Sighing, she decided to call Pride. She hated to bother the man, but a nagging feeling in her gut told her not to just let this go.

"Pride, have you heard from Chris? He's not answering my calls." She quickly explained her situation. Now that she was actually laying it all out it seemed silly. Pride shouldn't have to monitor their private lives she thought until he came back with an equally concerning statement.

"I've got no idea where he is." He started in earnest. Pride had been waiting at Chris' house for the past four hours in anticipation of their nightly routine, of surrogate father, grieving son. Under normal circumstances it wasn't so unusual that LaSalle wouldn't be there. He was grown man after all. It wasn't like he needed a baby-sitter but even Pride had to admit he was mildly concerned. LaSalle was so damn vulnerable right now.

"Let's give him until morning." Pride decided. "If we don't hear from him, I'll put out a BOLO and have Patton starting tracking his GPS.

Brody felt her gut twist. Morning was still hours away. Surely, Chris wasn't out somewhere tying one on? Maybe he just needed time to think? Biting down on her lip she decided to wait a little while longer.

LaSalle blinked prompting fuzziness to form all around him. His head was still swimming. It took him a moment to figure out that his hands were bound behind his back with a zip tie. He must have let out a groan because the next thing he knew Messier was pulling him to a seated position against a hard metal wall.

They were in a storage container he concluded after taking several minutes to survey his surroundings.

"Welcome back to the land of the living," Messier was now kneeling beside him.

Chris blinked a few more times trying to will the dizzy feeling in head away. "You really think you're going to get away with this?" he asked. Pride already knew there was mole in the department it was only a matter of time before he figured out that it was Messier.

"I already have," Messier pushed to his feet and picked up a handful of the stolen Iraqi jewels from a box that was sitting on the floor. "And for the record, that truck Baitfish hijacked, the artifacts inside were mine."

Chris had to think for a minute. Messier was referring the truck in the police impound lot.

So that's why Messier kept him prodding to leave. It all made sense. "So, I guess you were disappointed then when I opened up that panel and found those missing jewels."

"You cost me a lot of money that day." Messier came back.

Chris shook his head. He should have known something was up, when Messier started to ask questions that pertained to his well-being and peace of mind. "So your partner, Theo, was he even real?"

"Most definitely. Where do you think I got the idea to goad you into taking down Baitfish?"

LaSalle's eyes narrowed, though he knew he was responsible for his own actions, he hated the idea that he had been set up.

"For what it's worth, you did me a huge favor and I appreciate that."

"So, what now?" Chris tossed out.

Messier scratched his chin. "I'm gonna collect what's rightly mine and fly to the Cayman Islands. But as for you, come tomorrow, Pride's gonna find you in your truck with a bullet in your head, a victim of a tragic suicide."

Chris shook his head. "Ain't no way in hell Pride'll ever believe that."

Messier stuck his bottom lip out. "Maybe not, but given your family history and the list of tragic recent events combined with your recent behavior it'll certainly present itself as plausible. By the time he figures things out, I'll be long gone and so will you."

"As I said, there is no way you're going to get away with this." It was too simple of a plan. Even if Messier did manage to stage a suicide, Loretta would find the remains of the animal tranquilizer in his blood. Then there was a matter of his phone. He knew that King would use the GPS system to track it, if Messier hadn't already taken the battery and sim card.

"You remember the guy Warren you and Pride talked to the other day?" Messier countered. Warren was the man in charge of the ports. "You found him shot to death in his car."

"Let me guess," Chris retorted, "That was you."

"But it's currently ruled as an apparent suicide and it's gonna stay that way."

"Not if Pride has anything to say about it."

Messier smirked shaking his head, "You know what your problem is LaSalle? You're more loyal to Pride than a God damn dog. The man kicked you to the curb when your brother was arrested. Where was your so called King then?" Messier added. "And let's not forget that it was Pride's informant who shot your girlfriend. Now if it were me, I'd seriously reconsider who I swore my allegiance too."

Messier's smooth talk wasn't going to work this time Chris vowed as Messier pulled a large piece of gauze out his pocket and proceeded to shove it in the agent's mouth and quickly followed up with a piece of duct tape. When Messier was finished, he patted LaSalle's cheek. "Now, I've got to go out for bit but while I'm gone I want you to do some thinkin' about where your loyalty to Pride has gotten you. Then maybe if you're lucky, I'll give you the rest of the animal tranquilizer before I shoot you."

When morning arrived, Brody found her heart hammering and her stomach in knots. After leaving the café, she had combed all of Chris' known hangouts. She had even gone so far as to check the local hospitals and still nothing.

"Pride, I'm getting really worried."

"I'm right there with you. I had Patton put out the Bolo and check for the GPS on Chris' phone." The phone was either dead or someone had dismantled it.

"What about the GPS in the truck?"

"Pat's checking on it now. Why don't you meet me at the office and if something comes up we'll check it out together."

Twenty minutes later, Brody received word that ON-STAR had traced the truck to the Navy shipping yard.

"What reason would Chris have for going back to the shipping yard?"

Together Brody and Pride combed through the designated parking lot. The truck was nowhere to be found.

Brody ran a hand of frustration through her hair. "Where is it?"

Pride looked along the horizon, a pit growing in his stomach. "It's in one of the shipping containers."

Brody's dark eyes widened. "But there's over 90 acres…" She and Percy had already searched the acreage once, looking for evidence of Baitfish's so called "storm."

"And Christopher is in one of them." Pride touched his com. "Pat, get in touch with ON-STAR see if they can pin down a more accurate location."

"Already on it," The computer whiz answered. "They're transmitting the coordinates now."

Brody held her breath as she watched the Petty Officer in charge open the container, revealing the missing Black Ford F-150. Pulling out their flashlights, she and Pride entered the container, shining their lights into the dark cab.

Nothing.

They checked the bed.

Still nothing.

Save for the truck the rest of the container was empty.

Stepping back into the open, Brody clipped her flashlight onto her belt. The truck was there, but where the hell was Chris?