May 7
Mary-Margaret frowned but said nothing. She wasn't sure what she thought of the Captain's promotion. She knew it for what it was, a means of neutralizing the man's investigative abilities by burying him in bureaucracy and paperwork. She also knew he'd be crazy not to take the promotion.
Jody was just as worried as her partner was, but what could they do about it? The decision was already made and it wasn't like they were friends with the man. "Congratulations, sir." She said.
"Thank you, Detective. Could you and Skalany join me and Captain Simms in my… her… office?"
"Until they change the name on the door it's still your office," Karen said and motioned for Paul and the detectives to lead the way. Once inside she closed the door behind them.
Paul motioned for them to be quiet until he could give the office another sweep for listening devices. Finding none he nodded that it was alright to speak freely. "Why are we on the Cavenaugh case?"
"I thought the previous mayor was charged with that crime," Karen said.
"He was but we believe he was framed by Miranda Gray." He said.
"Is there anything thing this cult hasn't done?"
"Not that we're aware of, and if they haven't done it yet they will soon enough," Skalany said. "Unfortunately one thing that they are very good at is covering their tracks. We haven't been able to find a single shred of evidence that doesn't point directly at Conlin."
"Is it possible we're giving him too much credit? I mean just because he was in the way isn't proof of innocence." Powell suggested.
"I don't think so but I've been wrong before," Blaisdell said.
"We're still waiting for the background check on Cavenaugh to come through," Skalany said. "It's being blocked somewhere."
"Why would they do that?" Simms asked.
"My guess is that he was part of the cult," Powell said. "And they don't want us to know."
"Okay but that leaves the question of why he was killed. If it was to frame Mayor Conlin," Karen said, "they could have just as easily killed his wife or his next-door neighbor."
"Perhaps he was problematic," Blaisdell said. " Considered a traitor possibly. We don't want to go too far down that rabbit hole."
"How far do they have to be up the food chain to be able to block a background check?" Powell asked.
Mary- Margaret shook her head "Not far. All they have to do is keep it from getting to us. Anyone could intercept a physical file."
"You're making Kermit's case for him," Paul said. "If he had his way everything would be delivered electronically."
"He might not be wrong," Simms said.
Peter ran. He ran ahead of the pack of students, but when they went back to the temple Peter kept running through the woods. He wanted, no, he needed to let go of his thoughts if he wanted to be able to think them clearly. He had to separate himself from the anger and fear and shame if he was going to make the decision he knew had to be made. So he ran and he thought of nothing but his breathing and the fall of his feet on the ground. He dodged trees without consciously seeing them. He just knew they were there. If he had been thinking about what he was doing he would have realized that he was running faster than he ever had before. He would have noticed that he wasn't winded even though the ground he trod upon was set at a steep incline. He might have even noticed that the sun was rising high in the sky. But he didn't. He simply ran until he came to the decision he needed to make, without realizing he'd decided.
He slowed to a walk and smiled, seeing his father standing ahead of him. "Hey Pop." He said. "Sorry if I worried you."
Caine shrugged. "I did not sense danger." He said. "Did I interrupt your meditation?"
Peter shook his head. "Nah, I was just about to head back."
"Then I will join you." Caine could sense that his son was more at ease. He was not completely healed but he was making great progress.
"If I choose to complete my training, can I do it without anyone expecting me to become a priest? I don't see that as my path, but I do think I need to complete my training if I am ever going to win this war." He said as they walked toward the hiking trail that would lead back to the temple. "I'm still afraid but that doesn't matter. Not really. I can't just walk away from what they're doing and I can't go back if it's just going to be some empty sacrifice."
Caine nodded thoughtfully. "I believe that you can complete your training. It will not be required that you become a priest." Even though he thought perhaps Peter's path would one day lead to that choice, he could see that he was not there yet. "There is much that must be done to prepare you to face your enemy. Our Enemy. But know that you will not face them alone. Our paths are entwined, they have always been so."
"Even when neither of us knew what our paths would be," Peter said.
"Even then."
"Are you disappointed?"
Caine frowned "Why would I be disappointed?"
"Because I don't want to become a priest."
"I have always been proud of you, and I will always be proud of you no matter where your path leads."
They entered the temple and stopped, seeing a familiar face waiting for them in the courtyard.
"Lo Si." Peter said, and frowned worriedly "Is everyone alright?" He asked, "Were you followed? How did you know where we were?"
Lo Si laughed in quiet amusement "I see being in a temple has brought back the endless string of questions from your childhood. Yes, everyone is alright. I was not followed although if they tried they would not find the road I took to be hospitable to them." He said and let Peter hug him. He did not answer the last question, however. "I have come to bring you more of your medicine." He handed over a bag of the herbal concoction.
"Thank you," Peter said as he took the bag from him. "So what's the word from back home?" He led the way to the garden and the koi pond.
Lo Si settled into one of the chairs before speaking. "Miranda Gray is now mayor of Bayview." He said.
Peter swore. "She's untouchable now." He said.
"No more so than she was before." Lo Si said. "Blaisdell is now Police Commissioner. Mrs. Blaisdell has not returned to the city."
"Paul won't let her as long as Miranda is in power," Peter said. "At least she's still safe. Paul could be in real danger if he's not careful though. Miranda wouldn't promote him without there being something in it for her. I can't figure out what that is, but it's not going to be good for Paul."
"He will be careful," Caine said. "He is a capable man. Cautious. It is possible that she is hoping word reaches you and you worry. It is too soon to return. You are not yet ready."
Peter nodded. "I know." He said. "I do, Father."
"You plan to return?" Lo Si asked, frowning.
"Not yet. I have a lot of work to do before I'm ready for that. Too much work to do." He rubbed the back of his neck, feeling the tension return.
Lo Si shrugged "There is always work to do. Always the next level of enlightenment, the next incarnation. Do not concern yourself with reaching the end of your journey. There is no end."
"Patience was never my long suit," Peter said.
"Patience is not required." Lo Si said.
"Yeah, I think I said the same thing the other day," Peter said and laughed a little. "How long can you stay?"
"As long as I am needed… or wanted." He had feared that Caine's son would never forgive him for separating the two of them for so long. Yet the young man still wanted him in his life. Peter had a good heart. There was much anger in him, there had always been much anger, even before the universe had thrown adversity in his path. Peter would always struggle with it, he supposed. But it had not kept him from feeling and giving love. It had not made him hard. For this Lo Si was grateful. All would have been lost if Peter Caine had been a lesser man.
Kermit nodded to the police officer seated outside Max Larkin's hospital room before he entered. The mercenary was barely conscious. His pallor was grayish. Kermit thought it was from a punctured lung. There was a tube in his side draining the fluid from his chest. An IV dripped fluid into his arm, a cannula carried oxygen into his nose. A blood pressure cuff was left on his arm and an o2 meter was on his finger, both were attached to a machine that sent information back to the nurse's station. The doctor said that Max was going to live, but Kermit thought he looked like he would die any second.
Max looked up "Th- they took Russ." It was hard to speak, he couldn't gather enough breath to carry the sound far.
"I know," Kermit said. "We'll find him."
"He's just a kid."
"He's almost thirty." Just like Peter. "He's strong. This isn't his first rodeo, he knows how to hold it together in enemy territory. He'll come through this." He wasn't going to say the younger man would be fine, he would probably never be fine again, if Peter's story was accurate which Kermit was sure it was, but he was also sure that Russell Cage would survive. "She's not the kind to burn an asset."
"He's not an asset." Max coughed and groaned in pain reaching for his ribs. "He's a d-decoy. W-hy keep him alive."
"Because he's connected to Blaisdell, who is connected to Peter," Kermit said. "We will get him back. For now, you need to stay put and cooperate with the doctors."
"You put a speed bump outside my door," Max whispered. It was easier than trying to speak normally. "You'll get him killed."
"He's not there to fight, he's there to be a gatekeeper. Your room is in sight of the nurse's station, making a move on the door guard would be noticed. Once you can be safely moved we'll set you up somewhere with better defenses. Until then stay put. You can't help Cage if you're dead."
"I couldn't help him when I was whole." He said softly. "They took my best friend and I wasn't even a speed bump."
Jordan walked into the precinct with Richard Cavenaugh. He had stayed on her sofa that night. She wished he wasn't part of the snake cult. She liked him. He had seemed sincerely concerned for her safety the night before. Trouble was that he was part of the cult and that meant she couldn't trust him as far as she could throw him. With her luck he was just getting close to her so he could kill her when he was given the orders. It also meant that she couldn't let on that she knew anything about anything yet. Especially since she didn't trust him.
Devon Riley raised an eyebrow and Michael Gray laughed.
"What?" She asked "My car wouldn't start this morning. He gave me a ride to work."
"Hey, Cavenaugh, don't you live on the other side of town from Jordan's apartment?" Greg Matthews asked.
Jordan almost asked how he knew where her apartment was but didn't. He was the chief of Detectives it was his job to know. "Yeah, but he was on Bodyguard detail last night."
"Likely excuse." Michael Gray teased. He knew that Cavenaugh had a thing for Jordan. He didn't blame him. She was cute and she was feisty. He just hoped his friend was ready for heartbreak when she ended up dead. Gray didn't think she would join the cult.
"Bellamy showed up at the restaurant she was at last night," Cavenaugh said. "He's starting his ritual." All serial killers had them. Bellamy liked to terrorize his victims before he made his final move. He wanted to feel their fear. There were FBI profilers that would have a field day with this guy, but Cavenaugh didn't need them to tell him what kind of monster the man was. It didn't matter what kind. The fact that he was a monster was enough.
"Hey, at least he isn't stalking a civilian," Jordan said.
"Okay, you don't go anywhere alone." Captain Ryan said. "Your partner is female, so you don't even need to go to the bathroom alone. Not till this guy does something more than show up at the same restaurant as you, so we can nail his ass to the wall."
Jordan rolled her eyes but nodded.
"Richard you stick to her like glue off duty. I'll approve the overtime." Ryan said.
Cavenaugh nodded "Guess I'm driving you home too."
"Yeah well, I hope you don't expect a home-cooked meal. The man said overtime, not hazardous duty pay." She teased. She knew how to cook. If you could count reheating things in the microwave and making a salad out of a bag.
"Looks like all that overtime pay is going to go toward delivery food." Samantha Shaw said.
"Laugh it up," Cavenaugh said.
Captain Ryan shook his head. "Meanwhile everyone back to work. McGuire, Li, I have a new case for the two of you." He handed over a piece of paper. "Chinatown. Too bad neither of you speaks Chinese."
"I may not speak Chinese but I know people who do. If I need a translator I can find one easily enough." Tammy Li said. "Let's go."
"Works for me," Jordan said.
Peter was relieved when Master Hsiao agreed that he could complete his training even if he was not intending to become a priest. He wasn't sure what to make of the knowing smile that crossed his lips, but he was going to take the win while he could.
"Thank you." He said. "What do I do next?" He asked.
"More of what you have already been doing," Hsiao said with a shrug. "Deeper meditation will be the key."
"The thing I have the most trouble with," Peter said, but nodded. Of course, that would be where the key was hidden.
Lo Si also nodded. "You are preparing to face your greatest enemy. You must be one with yourself or you will fail and all will be lost."
Peter laughed breathily. "Nothing like a little pressure to make meditation easier."
"If the worst happens and you are taken," Caine said, "You will need to be able to protect yourself from the potential torments they will throw at you."
"With meditation? Really?"
Caine gave an incline of his head. "Yes. My grandfather spoke of being able to tolerate great heat and cold through meditation. There are stories of priests who withstood weeks without food or drink through meditation. It is a powerful practice, My Son." He said. "It can transport you to a different time and place. It was meditation on the koi pond that allowed us to find where you were held captive. It can allow you to speak with those long gone."
"You know sometimes I feel like I'm going down the rabbit hole, Pop… Father," he amended.
Caine smiled "Sometimes it is very much like that."
One of the younger students brought tea to the table and served the Ancient first, then Hsiao and Caine, then Peter. The older men nodded to the boy. Peter told him thank you and watched him leave. "Was I ever really that young?" He asked.
Caine smiled. "Oh yes." He said, "And just as eager to do anything to be included in the adult conversations."
"It is not often we have a Shambala Master in our midst." Master Hsiao said. "They are most eager to become acquainted."
"They will be disappointed when they find I am just a very old man." The ancient said with a smirk.
"You aren't just anything," Peter said with a laugh. "I doubt you were just anything when you were a little boy either."
"We are all born with the culmination of all that we have been and the potential of everything we will ever be." Lo Si said. "The path of our journey is not always direct. It meanders like a river from one life to the next, carrying us to what we must know and become."
"What if I am meant to become something dark and twisted?" Peter asked.
"You are not." Lo Si said. "There is too much light in you for you to fall to darkness. Your inability to see this is the only thing that holds you back, young Caine."
"There are too many voices in your mind." Master Hsiao said. "You must silence them and only hear one voice. Your voice. The one that is not tainted by the opinions of others. Your true voice. Only then can you face an enemy as powerful as the Harbingers' Queen."
"How do I do that? I mean, I know the easy answer is meditation. I get that. But I doubt this is going to come from me just shutting out conscious thought. It's got to be a directed meditation of some sort."
Master Hsiao nodded. "Yes. But you must first master the quiet in mind and body."
"That could be a problem." He said "The only way I've been able to truly meditate at all is to run. Quiet mind, yeah, I've gotten there, but running isn't exactly a quiet body."
"We will help you," Caine said. "You are ready to accept that help now." He didn't like the thought of Peter going back to that place for any reason. He could lose his son to this cult. The boy could die physically, spiritually, and emotionally. But he wasn't going to be allowed to indulge in his paternal instincts to keep Peter safe by keeping him away. So he was going to have to help prepare him for the coming battle. And with luck be allowed to stand at his side when the time came.