| "Something So Final" | ||
|
June 13, 2008 Safehouse 1 0415 hours They sat in silence as Simon packed up his gear and Bella pulled into the garage. Paige opened the doors seeing the med teams standing there with a stretcher. Gray was there as well. Looking worried. The med teams rushed them with two of them jumping in the van. "Take the body," one of them said. "He's not a body," Paige hissed at him. The young tech looked at her carefully. "Get Glenn on the stretcher," he said evenly. "Paige," the older of the two nodded at her. "Bodnar," she nodded back. Dr. Bodnar had taken care of her after the Cardinal mission and seemed to take an interest in her knowledge and her mind. "What did you give him?" he asked gesturing towards the Detective. "You're the one that makes me fill out the stupid forms when I pack my med kit - you figure it out," she said flatly and jumped from the van. "I know your upset..." "No," she interrupted him, "you don't know." He looked at her for a moment then nodded his head. She watched the med team take Baz in the elevator. They already had a sheet over his face. There was something so final in that small gesture that made her shiver. She walked over to Gray flanked by Safara, Bella, and Simon. "Are you all alright?" Gray asked the foursome quietly. "Yes," Safara answered for them all. "Jordy's bringing his car in." "Wait for Jordan, then meet me up in the conference room." "Where's Brian?" Paige asked. God, she still had to tell Brian. "He's sleeping," Gray said softly, "I though you'd want to tell him." Paige nodded her head. "Here's Jordan," Gray said. They waited for Jordan to catch up with them then they all headed up to the conference room. Rebecca was there waiting for them. She had karaffs of coffee and mugs set out for everyone but no one was in the mood to drink anything. They all sat down staring at the table. "I don't," Rebecca said quietly, "know quite where to start." "Let's start with the Detective. Why he was there," Paige said flatly. "Simon," Gray gestured. Simon tapped at his laptop bringing a picture up of Tarnes on the main screen. "Ok, Detective Nicholas Tarnes, NYPD, been on the force ten years, decorated...recently divorced...lives on the upper east." Simon looked up from his computer, "I can pull personal records but basically your typical stand up NYPD detective." "Not necessary. Can you track what case Tarnes was working on?" Gray asked. "I can," Simon said, "but it will take some time. They don't usually enter their cases in until after they're closed and this one...well..." his voice trailed off. "See what you can find out," Gray said. "It still doesn't answer why he was there," Paige said evenly. "More than likely he was unaware of the undercover cop working Stewart, so, he was either there for Stewart...or he was there for Baz," Paige said. "Agreed," Gray said. "There was two incidents." "What sort of incidents?" Safara asked. "Well, Sebastian in one of his reports said a man stopped him last week and asked him for directions. He said normally he would think nothing of it but the man seemed adamant about Sebastian showing him a map or something. He thought it was unusual." "And the other incident?" Jordan asked. "There was a man that came to Safehouse 1. He was asking questions about the services of Seymour Associates." Paige raised her eyebrows. Seymour was the cover up company for the Safehouse. "Was it this Tarnes guy?" "I don't know," Gray said, "but I can find out." He grabbed the phone and dialed quickly. "Amy," he paused. "Yes, I realize the time. The man that stopped in last week asking about Seymour, do you remember him? Good, we're sending over a picture. I need you to log on to your computer and confirm whether it was him or not." Another pause. "Yes, call me at the office." He turned to Simon, "send the picture to Amy." "Amy?" Jordan shook her head. "Secretary at the SH," Gray said pacing the front of the table. "Ok, let's say Tarnes was following Sebastian..." "Baz doesn't come out the front so he goes to find him in the back," Safara said. "He sees the argument, decides to stay low to see what's going on," Paige added, "then when things get out of hand, he jumps in, gets their attention, and then...well," she shrugged. There was no reason to verbalize the incident of how Tarnes placed three bullets into Baz's chest and killed him. "So, how does he know Sebastian?" Gray stopped pacing and faced them. They all looked back to him blankly and said nothing. "He couldn't have been following him for no reason," Gray stated. "But Baz didn't know him," Paige said, "at least I don't think he did. He never mentioned anything." "When I find out what cases Tarnes was working on, maybe we'll find a connection," Simon said looking over his laptop. "Or, Tarnes was there for Stewart," Jordan said. "But what about the other cop?" Gray asked. Safara shrugged, "wouldn't be the first time two cops from two different precincts didn't talk to each other." "True," Gray nodded his head. "Then we wait until we find out more about Tarnes." "Or," Safara said flatly, "we could ask Tarnes." "I volunteer to ask," Paige said with a small smile. "No. None of you are to have any contact with him..." "There's no harm in asking," Paige interrupted, "it would save a lot of time." "A lot of time for what?" Gray challenged her. Before we kill him, she thought to herself. But she said nothing and just held Gray's gaze. "No contact. Is that understood?" he said in that authoritative tone he only used when he meant it. They all nodded their heads. "Good. Paige, Safara, Jordan, you'll stay here until further notice. Isabella, you can go home if you'd like." Bella just nodded her head though, from the gesture, Paige couldn't decide what it meant. Gray left the room as they all just sat there staring at the table. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ "What do you think?" Gray asked Rebecca softly as they watched the monitor that showed the conference room. "I think they are tired, and upset, and a little in shock over Sebastian's death." "What should we do?" Rebecca sighed as she stared at the screen. "Keep them here for now so we can watch them. Though, it might be best to get them back out into the field as soon as possible." "Is that wise? I mean, we don't have any case files that require a small team." "Then we'll find one," Rebecca said. "We can't contact him," Gray said shaking his head. "He'll find out eventually, if he doesn't know by now, even if Sebastian isn't one of his. Perhaps he can loan us a case file for them." "I don't know. We're under scrutiny enough. If it looks like we can't handle one Agent's death." "I don't agree," Rebecca said shaking her head, "Joshua is an invaluable resource for us right now. He knows them better than we do. I think it shows good integrity to seek out his help and advice in this matter. And it's not a matter of handling one Agent's death. We've never been through this before," Rebecca said gently. "Knowing when to ask for help is not a sign of weakness." Gray nodded his head. He knew her mind was already made up. Probably had been the second she found out about Sebastian's death. "Alright," Gray said, "I'll call him." "That's ok," Rebecca said smiling softly, "I'll handle this one." "And what about Tarnes?" "Well, bringing him in was not the wisest decision. In fact, I'd say it was particularly stupid. But this is the card we were dealt and we'll have to play it. Find out what he was doing at Sebastian's meet and we'll reconsider from there." "I have a feeling," Gray sighed, "that he was there for Sebastian." Rebecca tilted her head, "I do, too. And if he followed one of our Agents for some period of time, at least one week, then we may be able to utilize his services." "A Watcher?" Gray asked surprised. "Why not? We've been looking for one." "That will have to be handled...gently." "Of course, but that's what I pay for you for." Gray snorted, "I might have to ask for a raise." "Well, find out why he was there. We'll reevaluate then." "Right," Gray said leaving Rebecca's office. He made his way down to medical where the Detective was being held... Return |
||