Notes: Dear All, I am very sorry that I am posting a new chapter after a very long time L I am so thankful to each one of you for your continued support! This chapter was difficult to write due to the complexity of the story so far. This has turned out to be the longest chapter ever! As always, please leave a review for this chapter, that's the encouragement the writer needs! Enjoy!

Chapter 9: Case Flashback

As am sitting near Jane holding his hand, a nurse enters with a surgical tray and some instruments in it.

"Agent Lisbon, it's time for Mr. Jane's wound to be debrided. Could you please wait outside for some time?"

Although I am reluctant to leave Jane's side, I know I can't stay in the room. I nod and step outside and call up Van Pelt in the meanwhile.

"Van Pelt, I am going to be at the hospital a little while longer, any updates yet?"

"Yes boss, forensics has informed that the report will be ready in an hour and the prison database has given us some more details to work on."

"Yeah? Like what?"

"Pete and Luke are Mexican nationals and they were involved in a number of small incidents with the law like – robberies and DUI's before they struck gold in a bank robbery. The case file that we have on them shows a time gap of seven months since their last robbery till the time they were arrested for the homicide of 14 women in California."

"14 women?"

"Yes boss. The case was originally being handled by the San Diego PD but was then transferred to us as the incidents started happening in Sacramento County." Before I can ask her any further questions, Grace asks me to hold on.

"Boss, the ballistics report is here. Should I give you the details now or would you like to come and take a look at it at the office?"

"It would be better if you tell me the details now as I don't know for how much longer I am going to be here. The doctors want me to be around."

"Oh okay. Is everything okay there boss?"

"Not really. Jane has spiked a fever, so they are running some tests to find out the cause."

"Oh…am sorry to hear this. Are you okay?"

"Yes, I am. Thanks Grace. So tell me, what does the report say?"

"The weapon used for the attack was a Remington 700 rifle – the civilian version. The second bullet recovered from the scene confirms the weapon used in the attack."

"Okay that's a good lead to go on. Have you heard anything from Cho or Rigsby?"

"Not yet boss. I will keep you informed."

"And boss, could I come over to the hospital? I would like to hand over a copy of the case file to you so that you could go through the details while you are there and I could relieve you for a bit."

"That would be great. I'd appreciate that."

"Okay boss, I'll be there in about 20 minutes.

While I am waiting for Van Pelt to show up I decide to go check in on Jane. I quietly peek into his room and find that his nurse has already left, so I take this opportunity to go and sit with him for some time. He still looks pale to me, and he still feels warm, but now he's sporting a white bandage on his neck.

(About 25 minutes later…)

Van Pelt arrives with a thick file in her hands. The file will keep me busy for a while…might as well start reading it. She gives me a tight hug, hands over the file and urges me to go to the cafeteria and have a proper lunch. I tell her to give me a call if she needs me.

I find myself an empty table and sit down with the file. I am in no mood to eat as yet, so I start going through it. As I get to the part where there are details of the homicides, the cases start coming back to me and I begin reliving the anxiety I had felt back then.

(Flashback)….

The LAPD had just handed over this case file to us and it was a nasty one. Six women were dead under mysterious circumstances. Five women were dead in San Diego under similar circumstances. There was no ransom note, no weapons used, no visible traces left behind. Before the PD could figure out what had happened to the victim, the next mysterious death had already taken place. This was already turning into a PR nightmare for the SDPD and the LAPD. Then the 12th one happened in our county and the LAPD was rather too relieved to hand over the case file to us. It was now going to be a collaborative effort between us, the LAPD and the San Diego PD. That 1 month was hellish for us but more so for Jane. We were swamped with these cases – three deaths in a month, working long hours, and to top it off, the Californian summer was particularly harsh that year. The last case (14th one) that we got nearly destroyed Jane. He's the chirpiest member in the team and bowls everyone over with his wit and charm while solving a case, but this time it was different.

I remember walking into that apartment with him. He walked in as solemnly as he had done for the two previous deaths, but the wonder of the mystery disappeared from his face as soon he saw the body of the victim. I heard him gasp at the sight of the body and I wondered what was wrong? By the time I had caught up with him I could see he was shaking. When I glanced over to the body I realized what had brought this on. I felt so stupid for letting him walk in alone to the scene of the crime. I asked the person in-charge to quickly cover up the body and I looked at Jane. He hadn't moved from his place but I could see his eyes glistening with tears even though he was trying his best to be strong. That wasn't a good sign, but what was the poor man supposed to do? The face of this victim bore a close resemblance to his deceased wife Angela. I pulled him away from the body and led him into the next room where it was more private. I got him to sit down on the bed and look at me. He barely registered my presence and I was sure he was in a state of shock. His palms were icy cold and his skin was clammy. I remember yelling out to the paramedics on the scene to rush in with warm blankets and a first aid kit. Everything was such a blur after that…I didn't realize Jane had tried to stand up in the meanwhile, so when I looked at him standing unsteadily on his feet, I knew it was going to end painfully. He fainted, and there was nothing I could do to prevent his fall. We were all shocked at what had just happened. Because he was unconscious, the paramedics had taken him to the nearest hospital where he had spent the night. Jane was discharged the next morning but was not allowed to go back into the field, but Jane being Jane, he wanted to be a part of the investigation.

He was being very adamant as the case had a personal significance to him – though not a very pleasant one. Hightower's intervention was needed to keep him in check by restricting his access to the case. He was very upset and had not spoken to any of us for two days. He barely ate or drank during those two days as a protest against his removal from the case. Locking himself in his 'room' upstairs did no good to anyone as we had three cases to solve minus our best consultant.

We were looking into all aspects of the previous cases, but the cases didn't have much to go on except the obvious facts. The MO was consistent – the victims were women in the age group of mid 50s to late 60s, except for the last one. All of them were single. No signs of strangulation, injection, burn or stab wounds were found on them and no signs of forced entry were found in the house either. Neighbours and any surviving family members were ruled out as possible suspects. The only glaring facts available to us were that the these incidents happened when these women were alone at home, and the closed circuit cameras in each of these houses were mysteriously disabled at the approximate time of the incident. This time around though, the deaths in Sacramento County were slightly different in their pattern as compared to the previous ones.

The three deaths had occurred in the same apartment almost a few days apart from each other. This was a huge deviation from the earlier pattern of the deaths. Although there was no visible cause for these deaths, we hoped that this deviation in the pattern of killings would lead us to the suspects soon enough. The last death though, wasn't that of the tenant of the house, but of a relative who had let herself in the house. She was found dead by the tenant of the house.

Time was running out and we were left with no choice but with to seek Jane's help with regards to these cases. He was too happy to help. He had gone back to the three crime scenes to take a more detailed look at them. I had watched him like a hawk to see if he was alright, to see that he didn't show any signs of distress anywhere. I was under strict orders from Hightower to remove him from a crime scene if there was even the slightest hint of distress emanating from him.

Jane had deliberately gone to the latest (the newest) crime scene and had assured us that he'd be fine. The two women who had died were living in this small building which was four storeys high. It had four – two room apartments on the first three floors while the last floor had a penthouse which belonged to the owner of the building. The apartments in which the incidents had taken place were dingy and had just one small window in each of the rooms. When I walked into the house with Jane, he noticed that the two windows were closed. He walked further into the house to inspect the other areas. I followed him. He noticed there was a window AC unit in the house which looked particularly shiny as compared to the rest of the gadgets in the apartment. No other equipment in the house looked as well maintained as this one. He stood there for a minute and then walked out of the room. He asked me to check with the rest of the team if there were any window units in the other houses in a similar condition, and yes indeed, the air conditioning units in the other houses too seemed to be well maintained. Jane's mind was now in the overdrive mode and he had that 'I-think-I-solved-a-part-of-the-case' crazy look in his eyes. He mentioned that we had a starting point - the servicing company for the air conditioners. He then threw a wild theory at us (the team) – what if these women were poisoned to death via their home air conditioner? Turns out, Jane was right. After a few more rounds of investigation the CBI had finally arrested the two men directly responsible for the homicides of 14 women in the state of California – Pete Sanchez and Luke Terence. It had turned out that the deaths had been caused due to Freon and Carbon Monoxide poisoning via the air conditioners. Freon is a refrigerant used in air conditioners but the Freon used by these men in the air conditioning units was not meant for home air conditioners, as a result of which the AC coil had developed tiny cracks. These men had added a deadly mix of Carbon Monoxide and Freon in the cooling system of the AC. These gases leaked from the cracks of the coils of the AC and made the victims sick over a period of three to four days. As these gases were odourless, by the time victims had realized that they were becoming sick, it was too late.

When the men had been brought in for questioning, Jane was the one who was in the interrogation room with them. He wanted to be left alone with them as he wanted to be the one to get a confession out of them. He also wanted them to be uncuffed to which Hightower and I had objected but he got his wish fulfilled anyway. From behind the two-way glass we had all witnessed Jane do his thing. It had taken every ounce of his restraint to maintain his calm as the interrogation had progressed. Jane had wanted to know what their motive behind picking the victims was. He was especially interested in knowing about the last victim – the one who bore a striking resemblance to his wife's face.

The whole transcript of the interrogation was recorded in the case file and as I'm reading through it today, my heart is boiling with anger for these men who have hurt Jane.

Jane: So why did you kill her? (pointing at the picture of the last victim)

Pete: She wasn't our target, but she came in the way.

Jane: You couldn't let her go?

Luke: She was hot! (grins devilishly)

Pete: And she was young (licks his lips)

Jane: So you let her die for fun? (slightly agitated voice)

Pete: What does it matter to you blondie? Were you two a thing? (laughs menacingly)

Luke: Yeah, why the special interest in her officer? I bet she had the hots for you!

And then I remembered the horror of the scene that had unfolded right in front of my eyes. Jane had walked up to the door of the room and had locked it to our surprise. Then, very angrily he had gone straight for Luke's chair and he had pushed the chair so hard that it had toppled over taking Luke along with it. Jane had stepped on Luke's fingers which caused Luke to scream in agony.

I remember screaming from behind the bulletproof glass and getting Cho and Rigsby to get the door to the room open. Pete got mad and attacked Jane with a pocketknife. The knife sliced through Jane's forearm and I could see the sleeve of his white shirt turn to crimson. We were still struggling with the door. Jane hadn't even acknowledged that cut and had turned around to face Pete. Pete was a huge guy and Jane was no match for his size, so Jane did the unthinkable…he pushed the heavy table in the room towards Pete causing Pete to stumble and fall with the table on top of him. Before anything else could happen, Cho got the door open and we rushed into the room. Rigsby and Cho managed to pull a very angry Jane from the room out in the open while the security guards helped lift the table and take the men into custody. As Jane was being taken away from the room Pete had yelled out to Jane saying he would get him and kill him too. What a nightmare this was! Hightower was furious with what had just happened and I had to excuse myself to go and check in on my very angry consultant.

I reached the bullpen and saw that a paramedic had just arrived and was taking a look at Jane's injured hand. Jane was a sweaty and bloody mess. As I walked toward him I realized it was a deep wound, the blood just kept gushing out of it. Jane's breaths were ragged – due to the exertion and the injury. The paramedic said most likely a major vein was hit and that Jane would have to be taken to a hospital for the stitches. By the time we had reached the hospital he looked pale. As there was a lot of blood loss from the hand and he looked weak, the doctors didn't take any further chances and sedated him completely before suturing his hand. On the doctor's recommendation Jane was admitted to the hospital for a couple of days.

As I recall the bloody images in my mind of the incident that had happened back then, and the one that had happened now, I feel pure hatred towards these men. I make my way towards Jane's room and go and sit next to him. I hold his warm hand and promise him that the CBI will make these guys pay for what they had done to him and that we were all there for him praying for his recovery. The only answer I get is in hums and beeps…