The Rookie

Disclaimer: Don't own Victorious

Chapter 26 (The Recovery)

Beck gathered himself as they approached the metal fence that Jade informed them about. All officers present had their guns at the ready and wore their Kevlar vests, preparing for any possibility. "There's the chain with the lock," Beck said with a whisper. Ian nodded and gestured for an officer to come with the bolt cutters.

Once the lock was through, Ian carefully pushed the door open. Beck followed him inside, looking around at the mountainous walls that surrounded them. The enclosure was small and obscure enough that it wouldn't have drawn many outside of idle wanderers.

Slowly they made their way along until they found another part of the beach and shoreline. They followed it until spotting footprints coming from a small brushy area. The footprints were spread apart, paced as though the person that left them had been running. "I'm going to say we've found Jade's path." Entering the trees, they crept at a near snail's pace, ensuring they would be alert to any potential ambush. "This can't be the only way in."

"No," Ian whispered, "I'm assuming we've come in through the back way. I've already radioed for officers to search the perimeter, to see if there's another path leading to this place." Beck nodded to him and continued to follow, praying that while they had to move slowly, it wasn't too slow.

"Hang in there guys." Eventually they came upon a small cave with a wooden door in place. To his surprise, he figured it must have been an old mine of some sort. Looking around, he spotted another path. It was a dirt path and had tire tracks. He pointed to it. "I think that's our other path."

Ian nodded and signaled for a few officers to inspect the tracks and see if they led anywhere. "Chances are, that dirt path goes out a couple miles to some street. This place is obscure enough, I doubt anyone's just stumbled across it."

There were no main roads nearby, so it wasn't as if this spot would be an easy find. "Okay, let's prepare to enter." The two detectives positioned themselves on opposite sides of the wooden door. Beck slowly pushed the door open from the side, so as not to be peppered by bullets should Trina be inside anticipating them.

"Police," Beck announced as loudly as he could. When there came no response, he leaned to look into the first area. He was amazed by what he saw, as though looking into the home of Fred Flintstone; or at least the first room looked rather unlike anything he'd expect to see peering into a cave.

That was to say, if patio and dining furniture scattered about a cavern was meant to be 'normal' for a cave, then this may well be the most normal cavern he could see. Playing cards on the table to the right, and an end table with a bowl of some half eaten food was a clear sign that someone had been here; and no doubt the food had to have been prepared elsewhere.

They entered carefully, looking from side to side. To the left was a boarded up wall covered in cobwebs, but straight ahead was a large metal door. Beck and Ian raised their guns and approached the door, sweeping their weapons from side to side as they moved. Some officers walked backwards behind them, doing the same. Two officers hurried in front of them to the iron door.

Holding his breath, Beck turned his gaze to the bars in the center of the door. He was tempted to look through them, but thought better of it should Trina be waiting to ambush. "I didn't see a car outside, Dennison. Did you?"

"No. If Trina took off, she may have gone looking for Jade."

Thinking on the process of the day's events, quite a lot had happened in such a short amount of time. The morning was started with the interview with the Malones, followed up with the apprehension and interview with Gibby. Shortly around the middle of the afternoon came the raid and apprehension of Sam and her crew. It was during all this time that Trina had not been confirmed as a prime suspect until after Gibby was interviewed.

"Trina showed up at the station this morning though, right? Before all this started?" Beck glanced sideways at Ian, who appeared to consider the question before giving a brisk nod.

"I believe she did, before we left to interview the Malone family."

"So, it is possible she's had a company car all this time, turned off perhaps with the tracker off?"

"Yes."

"There's no vehicle outside." Letting it sink in, Ian quickly radioed dispatch to start watching for any potential company vehicles driving outside of their routes. "I would expect better of her; but now that I know she's a criminal, and criminals always start making mistakes when they know the cops are getting close…"

"She did manage to let Sam's call distract her long enough to allow Jade's escape."

"What are the bloody chances?"

"Pretty damn low, unless she's trying to get caught."

"She'd have to know Malone's already taken her father and she's under suspicion of whatever the hell's going on there. Between that, Sam's call and Jade's escape, even someone that's been as clever as she has must be losing it right now."

"Right." Ian looked at the door, shouting an order once more just in case Trina was inside. One of the two officers pressing their back against the door leaned up a bit to peek through the bars in the window.

"Opening the door," the officer said. Beck and Ian raised their guns, the other officers followed suit. The officer threw open the door, announcing their presence. He was stunned the door was left unlocked, while half expecting to have to find a way to open it.

"Stand guard," he said while instructing the officers nearby. While there were two positioned outside the main entrance, he needed a couple to stay inside just inside the exterior room just in case.

Starting towards the door, he began to make out a large circular door with various cell doors similar to the one they'd entered. It was an unsettling, and eerie sight.

The detectives swept the room and Ian cried out, instantly Beck turned right towards him and gasped when he saw two people tied up in the back corner of the room. They were on their knees, wrists and ankles bound with rope. Both were gagged as well. He recognized both the moment they turned their eyes towards him.

"Robbie. Tori." He let out a husky breath and raised his hand, signaling the officers to come inside and start scouring the area. He arched an eyebrow and looked to Ian, who was staring wide eyed at the pair. "I can't fucking believe it. Maybe she is trying to get caught, or something, I can't tell."

"She's been at this for ten years," Ian said with a stammer. Beck did understand what Ian must be feeling, to a degree since he wasn't sure what Ian's relationship with Tori had been like in the past. Still, he knew they'd been close and Ian hadn't seen Tori perhaps longer still than Beck had seen Jade.

Taking a deep breath and watching the officers inspect the cell doors and clearing them before Beck or Ian even tried to approach the potential hostage situations, he nudged Ian gently. "I'd say give it a moment to process, but we're a bit lacking in a beneficial situation here."

"I know." Ian radioed for a medic, then sighed as the officers announced an all-clear. "She's not here. God." Ian holstered his gun and Beck followed once he was certain it was safe. They moved swiftly towards the pair, Beck reaching Robbie while Ian reached Tori.

Once the pair were free of their bindings, Tori immediately began to weep. "Jade got the cops, thank God."

Robbie nodded. "Trina tied us and took off after Jade, we weren't sure if she was coming back!" The victims were helped to their feet by the paramedics. Unfortunately there wasn't much time to reconnect and Beck didn't feel like it was the right time to start getting victim statements.

"You're both safe now." Beck felt a sense of relief, knowing he'd managed to recover them without incident. He caught Robbie and Tori staring at him until they both let out gasps of surprise. Folding his arms, he smirked at them and tried to hold back on his emotions, though tears did start to unveil themselves through his shades. "You know, Jade recognized me immediately. Just saying."

Right then, Tori began to sob once more, throwing her face into her hands. "Oh Beck, forgive me. If it wasn't for me, none of this would ever have happened."

Robbie rolled his eyes before releasing a defeated, but relieved sigh. "Enough Tori. I think we were all responsible."

"But you were all only being punished because of me." Beck raised an eyebrow at Tori. "Because I allowed everyone to treat her bad, because I ignored her and because I sent that message that caused Jason's death. There's a reason she wanted me to watch all of you suffer. It was all because of me. I shouldn't even be here right now."

Beck growled at the last statement, shaking his head slowly. "I've been saying that for ten years about myself." Tori looked at him, her eyebrows curling together. "That's the last thing you should say. Yeah, we all had a hand in screwing Trina up; but here's the thing…That saying that criminals aren't born but made? It's true, yes, but it doesn't excuse them. You messed up, but Trina is the one who snapped, she's the one that chose to take matters into her own hands. Her. No one else."

"But-"

"You want to know where I heard that line from, Tori?" He removed his shades, revealing his narrowed gaze and slowly pocketed them. "From Trina herself, when we apprehended one of our first criminals. She told me that every person is responsible for their own actions, whether or not someone made them do something is not an excuse to justify that person deciding to take matters into their own hands."

Ian chortled. "There's a bit of hypocrisy in that," he muttered.

"Sure. Might be the reason Sam mentioned Trina herself wanted to be executed. Evidence she's fully aware of her own actions." He paused, remembering how hard she'd been on him in earlier months. "I wonder what she'd think of me now, how I've handled this case so far…"

"Don't tell me you're still trying to make the woman proud or that you're proving something?"

"No, but I'll admit I still have a bit of respect. Maybe my sister and that Samantha read too much detective fiction; but one thing I always admire is when there's a sense of admiration or respect between the hero and villain."

"Good god…" Ian ran his hand through his hair and sighed. "Well, we still haven't caught the perp yet."

Just then, Beck heard chatter on the radio and turned his focus to it. "There's a patrol car moving along West 190th street that is not on it's proper route. It is assigned to Katrina Vega." His heart dropped in an instance and he looked from the two victims to Ian, who nodded in his direction.

It was far too late in the day for it and he was tired after everything they'd dealt with; but now it had begun, Beck certainly hadn't anticipated a full on chase closing out the day.

"Let's go get her," he said with dismay. His tone quickly changed to determination as he started for the door. "I'm not letting this one get away. If it wasn't Trina, she'd give me grief. Considering it is her, it's on, I'm bringing this suspect in come hell and storm."

Here we go.