Chapter 10 – Know Thy Enemy

Jane and Lisbon decided to consult with Abbott, he met them at the house again and listened carefully to their account of Friedman's study and the conclusions they had drawn. Abbott sighed "Look I can follow your logic but we need some hard evidence before we can make a move."

Teresa passed him a USB stick "If you can find Rosalind Harker, this contains a promotional video from the Mashburn Avionics website where Walter speaks at length – that should be enough for her to identify him one way or another."

Abbott shifted awkwardly. "Witsec have told me that Harker left their protection around the time that McAllister was killed, her whereabouts are currently unknown. I can't pursue this much further without attracting unwanted attention – we'll look through her personal history to see if we can find any relatives but apart from that I think we've hit the buffers on this."

Jane was disappointed but not entirely surprised at the news. "Mashburn will have put her somewhere safe for now – I doubt he wants to kill her but he will if he is backed into a corner. For Rosalind's sake we probably need to drop this line of enquiry for now."

"I assume Mashburn doesn't know of your suspicions?" Abbott asked.

"No , we passed an evening with him recently before we suspected him and he's even invited us to his mansion in Marin County the weekend after next. He has no idea we suspect him" Jane replied.

"Look what can I do to help? If you need any information we have the resources to follow this up, I can get Wylie our tech guy in Austin to do some research off the radar so we don't alert Blake" Abbot suggested.

Jane tapped his lips then continued. "Surprisingly apart from the fact he said he went to reform school, we know very little about Mashburn so any information about his background and upbringing would help – see if we can find a weak spot. Also this is just a hunch of mine but something Friedman said has got me thinking; I'd like to see his medical records not his recent ones in case they have been doctored but going back to his youth. Anything else you can think of Teresa?"

Lisbon paused before responding. "Well it would be interesting to see how he started up in business, we know he is ruthless but has he ever stepped over the line with his business rivals? Even if we cannot pin Red John on him just yet, if we find any of his rivals have ever come to grief it may indicate how far he is prepared to go."

"Certainly worth looking into – it all helps with his back story" Jane said.

"What about the proposed weekend with him – are you going to see that through? In my opinion that would be a huge risk" Abbott warned.

"I completely agree but if we cancel beforehand it will raise alarm bells – we need to leave the possibility open" Jane replied.

Teresa voiced her disagreement. "It's the perfect opportunity to bring this to a head – we may never have another opportunity like this again."

"Teresa it's too big a risk – on his territory the chances are that we may not come out alive. To me that is a last resort." Jane knew Lisbon was in mortal danger if they went through with this because she would not be able disguise her thoughts, at all costs he needed to keep her away from Mashburn.

"Jane I'll give you a week to come up with a better plan but I'm not letting this chance pass us by."

"For pity's sake woman can't you see the danger?"Jane implored.

"Jane it's my job to face danger, that's no excuse to do nothing" Lisbon insisted.

With a look at Abbott Jane retaliated."Isn't that exactly the point – you have no job, you're not even a cop at this moment in time, you have no team, you have no backup - it would be suicidal to walk in there without a credible plan or backup."

Lisbon just shrugged her shoulders. "One week Jane - come up with a better plan or we're going in."

Abbott could not help but admire her spirit though he thought the idea was deeply flawed "Lisbon, Jane is right it would be foolhardy to put yourself at risk just for the sake of it - if there is nothing better on the table this time next week we will see what backup I can get, I may even contact Quantico to see if Cho can be made available- what about Van Pelt and Rigsby can they be called on?"

"I'm not risking their lives but I am prepared to take advice from Grace on any technical backup."Lisbon interjected before Jane could respond.

Jane just shook his head - no way was she going into Mashburn's lair, he would do whatever was necessary to make sure that didn't come to pass. "Well it appears the onus is on me to come up with an alternative - Abbott how quickly do you think Wylie can dig up some information for us?"

"He will be doing this from home and by the look of him he rarely goes out in daylight hours - you know the type typical nerd, decidedly sun starved. He should start getting something to you by tomorrow, rather than emailing you he will send you details of a website he uses as a front that you can log into with a password and view the files. It's a method he uses all the time, anyone can see the website but it depends on your security clearance as to which areas of the site you can access."

The atmosphere was tense after Abbott left; Jane knew better than to tackle Lisbon about this falling back on his old ploy of keeping her out of the loop, he would put up a viable front until such time as he was ready to act and make sure Lisbon was well out of the way at the time.

In many ways revenge was no longer at the forefront of his thoughts, he would walk away if it would guarantee Lisbon's safety. At times like this he realised how deep his attachment to Lisbon was, they had not had the conversation but there was no denying his love for her.

What he had with Angela was special but they were so young when they got together that their love had never really been tested. After the uncertainty of Carnie life Angela craved stability and they had soon settled down to the conventional ideal of domestic harmony but at the expense of any real passion, their occasional tiffs had been about inconsequential things.

Angela turned a blind eye to his activities channelling herself into giving Charlotte the upbringing she had wished for, never had a little girl been more loved and Jane's precocious nature was evident in her from an early age. They may have escaped the Carnie life but at heart Jane was still the showman and away from Angela he still needed to indulge that side of him, he needed the buzz and excitement of the con to counteract their somewhat respectable middle class existence. They had built the perfect life, perfect home, perfect daughter...then he had gone and ruined it all.

What he had with Lisbon was entirely different, she challenged him and called him out on his weaknesses, it would never be an easy relationship but it was one worth fighting for and he was not going to let her throw it away.

Lisbon was his foil, her qualities counterbalanced his own, his intellect matched by her perspicacity and diligence, his delight in bucking the system tempered by her regard of law and order, his wit more than matched by her biting sarcasm, his weakness supported by her strength and finally his enduring sadness comforted by her no nonsense kindness. This was a partnership of equals and sadly they were also both equally stubborn and he was going to make sure that he prevailed on this by whatever means necessary.

Jane watched as she went about her tasks resolute and calm, whatever her inner turmoil she appeared composed, perhaps it was her coping mechanism but he was full of admiration for her.

Lisbon in turn knew she had to be strong, whatever Jane and Abbott thought she wasn't foolhardy and they would have try and work out a viable plan. She knew Mashburn would have a plethora of technology as his disposal and she would need to talk things through with Grace to try and counter that advantage, she would concentrate on the practicalities while Jane came up with a plan.

That is how they had always worked; Jane built on the leg work of the others often coming in at the end and grabbing the glory but without their input his plans could be ill conceived and downright dangerous, she recalled the time he had called her out to meet the Draber's when she was suspended and they had ended up in a container in the dessert – that was Jane all over solving the crime but not thinking of the consequences.

The following morning Lisbon had some things to attend to, Jane guessed she was putting her affairs in order in case the worst happened. It broke his heart to see Lisbon ever practical calmly dealing with everything, for his own part Jane's affairs had been sorted years ago - the bulk of his considerable estate would go to Lisbon if he predeceased her, the proceeds of the house in Malibu would go to Angela's brother Danny Ruskin - it only seemed right that Angela's family should reap some benefit.

Wylie had texted the website address and login details to their burner phones, so Jane borrowed Lisbon's laptop while she was out. Everyone assumed he was not computer literate but he could use them when he had to, in general he preferred his thought processes to be pure but acknowledged the usefulness of technology at times.

He looked at the Rhyming Couplets website that Wylie had set up, at first sight it was all innocuous enough and mildly amusing to Jane - wannabe poets submitted their efforts for review by their peers; they obviously took it very seriously plumbing new depths of pretentiousness.

Jane entered his login details and perused the file menu - Mashburn's family background, school records... aah finally the ones he was interested the medical files. He knew Wylie would be adding files all the time so while he had some time to himself he would try and find out exactly who Walter Mashburn was.

Mashburn had been brought up by his mother in Modesto after his father's early demise, they lived a modest existence there was nothing particularly of note. Mashburn's school reports reflected a restless but intelligent youth; his tendency for getting into scrapes a reflection of his ennui with the system. Mainstream education had little to offer kids like Mashburn, having to concentrate on catering for the needs of the many not the few.

Mashburn's mother had remarried when he was fifteen and that seemed to be the trigger for his scrapes with the authorities. An ill fated science project to create a homemade rocket launcher using a mix of potassium nitrate (a common agricultural fertiliser) and sugar had left several school pals with serious burns and his lack of remorse after he lit the fuse without clearing the area resulted in his expulsion from school and a spell in juvie. He was not sorry to leave home as he had a difficult relationship with his mother since her new marriage and his stepfather glad to see the back of him.

Mashburn had a passing fascination with pyrotechnics but always managed to get his stooges implicated, remaining on the sidelines while others took the rap. A special education programme was devised for him to nurture his technical skills, his ability to take and develop new concepts was outstanding, he soon became an expert coder and when he finally left juvie he managed to join a programme with one of the emerging software corporations to further develop his skills.

Non conformists were commonplace in the industry so his antics were tolerated; Mashburn was anything but a nerd and soon turned his attention to the business of making some money. He branched out to form an independent software company specialising in security systems, corporations engaged him to hack their systems then develop ways of making them foolproof - no doubt he would maintain the ability to access their systems at will long after the project ended, after all information was currency. Jane wondered if he had ever worked on the law enforcement systems - that really would open a can of worms. With his unique skill set Mashburn could pretty much charge what he wanted and soon amassed a small fortune enabling him to his dabble with his interest in Avionics.

A fairly brutal takeover of a cash strapped company enabled Mashburn to finally make his mark in Avionics. The CEO Chuck Guthrie had opposed the deal and was bringing in other investors but when he was seriously injured in a car crash all opposition dissipated and Mashburn's acquisition was complete. So began Mashburn's meteoric and somewhat ruthless rise to the top of one of the major independent corporations in the industry.

After that point most of the news about Mashburn was the domain of the gossip columns a string of girlfriends, three divorces at the latest count but nothing of much significance. His record with the police was clean apart from a couple of traffic offences, though Jane had no doubt Mashburn could make those disappear if he were so inclined.

Wylie had uploaded a number of medical records from various sources and Jane perused them to see if there were any omissions in the later records, it did not take long to find what he wanted. Well that was interesting and perhaps a partial explanation of the Red John mythology. Jane started to have an inkling of a plan, he just needed to do some more research.

Jane reflected on the words of Sun Tzu:- If your enemy is secure at all points, be prepared for him. If he is in superior strength, evade him. If your opponent is temperamental, seek to irritate him. Pretend to be weak, that he may grow arrogant. If he is taking his ease, give him no rest. If his forces are united, separate them. Attack him where he is unprepared, appear where you are not expected.