May 98

# # # # # # # #

He knew that they were after him. His two associates had already died because of it and he was sure he was going to be, or rather WAS their next target. The police had not believed him when he told them his story; that someone was trying to kill him, they even suspected that he was the one who had murdered his own people in cold blood.

He was just preparing to leave his office when three men in masks burst in without warning. The moment he saw them, he knew that his life would shortly come to an end.

Five minutes later, his office and lab were trashed and he was lying on the floor, drowning in his own blood, but he was glad that they had not found what they came there for. He would not let his life's work fall into the wrong hands!

Just as he thought he was going to die alone, the door to his office opened and a young man in his mid-twenties with short brown hair entered. He saw the young man's eyes went wide with shock as he saw the scene in front of him.

"Uncle Philip!!" shouted the young man as he rushed to his uncle's side. Philip White knew that his nephew Julian White had suspected that something was wrong, but he guessed that he had not suspected something so serious.

"Ju...Julian! Disk...in...in briefcase!" Dr Philip White managed to cough out the words. He was glad that Julian had got his massage he left on his answering machine just before he was leaving and had came.

"Don't try to talk Uncle Philip. You'll be all right. I'll call the ambulance and they'll be here in no time," assured the young man, even though he knew that his uncle might not have a chance to wait for the ambulance, there was just too much bleeding.

"No!...get disk!"

"What disk?" asked the younger man. The disk must be very important to his uncle for him to want it during his dying moments.

"Briefcase."

Julian scanned the ransacked room for his uncle's briefcase and found it lying at a corner of the lab, its content spilled everywhere. Quickly he took the briefcase to his uncle's side and searched all the pockets for the disk his uncle was talking about, but found no trace of it.

"Open base," Dr White instructed.

"The base of the briefcase?" Julian asked.

Dr White could only nod. All the talking had already taken up too much energy.

Julian did as his uncle instructed and found a hidden lock to open the false base, underneath was a CD.

"Keep it safe! They'll try to find you and get it. Leave Sloanville or they'll find you!! Run my child, and keep the disk safe..." Dr White's voice got softer and then he went limp in Julian's arm.

"Uncle Philip!!" Julian could not believe that his uncle was dead. He was like the father he'd never had. Philip White had taken care of his brother's family since he'd died in a car crash when Julian was still a baby and Julian had always pictured him as his father instead of uncle.

Still in shock, Julian just sat at where he was and tried to make sense of what had happened. "They'll try to find you and get it...Who'll try to find me??" Julian said out loud. "Keep it safe, they'll try to...Someone must be looking for the disk!! And they must have killed uncle Philip to try to get it!! That's why he told me to run! He's afraid that they might trace him to me and figure out that I might have the disk and come after me!!" Julian felt a chill as he realized what he'd just said.

He got up as fast as he could and rushed back to his car parked in front of his uncle's lab, driving away with no particular destination.

*Where can I go?* he thought, unaware that he had picked up a shadow.

# # # # # # # #

"He's WHAT?!? How the hell did that happened?!?" Detective Peter Caine was yelling at Detective Mary Margaret Skalany.

"Hey, don't shoot the messenger!" commented Mary Margaret.

Peter took a deep breath. "Sorry, I shouldn't have yelled at you. I don't know why, but this case is really getting to me. Anyway, I'm sorry."

"Don't worry about it. We all have days like this." She understood his frustration. Peter had been on the case for nearly two weeks since the first scientist, Dr. Vincent was found dead in his home, and had turn up with nothing. Peter had suspected that it was Dr White who had killed his associates as the evidences had suggested but his feelings told him otherwise. He was also sure that Dr White was hiding something from them. What, he didn't know. And now, he had no way to find out as Mary Margaret had reported to him that Dr White was found stabbed to death in his office half an hour ago. His office trashed.

"At least now we know that he didn't kill his friends," muttered Peter as he rushed out of the precinct.

Fifteen minutes later, Peter was at the crime scene. He could smell the blood as he got closer. "Must be quite a mess inside," he thought.

He was right. The lab that Dr White worked in looked as if a storm had passed through it. Not a single piece of equipment was left intact, and Dr White was lying in his own pool of blood near the exit. The forensics team was already all over the place, searching for clues.

Peter looked for his own clues but turned up empty handed. Just as he was leaving, something caught his attention.

*If his briefcase is at his side, why are the contents in that corner?* Peter thought. *This means that someone must have brought the briefcase from that corner to him. But who? Was it the kil...*

"The one who have brought the briefcase to him was not the killer." a voice behind him interrupted his thoughts.

Peter nearly jumped out of his skin. "Pop! You scared the hell out of me!"

"I am sorry that I have startled you," Kwai Chang Caine apologized.

"Just don't sneak up on me like that again okay? And how did you know that it wasn't the killer who...Never mind."

Peter bent down to examined the briefcase closely and found that the base was loose. He opened it and found another compartment.

"Someone must have taken whatever was hidden in here."

"We must find out who has taken it before it is too late."

"Too late?" Peter asked in puzzlement.

"Who ever killed Dr White must have come for..."

"Whatever was hidden in that briefcase. If he knew that someone else has it..."

"They will do whatever it takes to get it."

"Even if it means killing another person," Peter completed the thought. "But how are we going to find out who took it?"

"That, my son, is your job."

"What do you...Yeah right! Very funny Pop, making a joke out of my work."

"That is what you are suppose to do. Is it not, detective?" Caine teased.

# # # # # # # #

Blair Sandburg could not believe how quiet Cascade had been for the past three weeks. It was as if all the criminals had decided to take a break at the same time. His partner, Detective James Ellison, was stuck at the station going through the never ending pile of paper work and his life seemed to have gone back to the normality he was used to before meeting Jim. Just a normal anthropology grad student with no worries about psychopath bombers, serial killers and kidnappers.

Blair had just finished teaching his evening class and was heading to his car when out of no where, a young man knocked him over. Both of them fell to the ground with Blair's books and papers spilling everywhere.

The young man helped Blair gather his things up, handed him his bag while apologizing to him. After that, he rushed off as if someone was chasing him.

"Kids these days," grumbled Blair as he shook his head and got into his car. "Now I'm going to be late for dinner and Jim's gonna kill me!"

# # # # # # # #

When Peter got home, he was really frustrated. Another day had passed and he still had nothing on Dr. White's case. He decided that meditating might be a good idea to calm himself down. He moved some of his furniture to make room and then sat in the half- lotus position, with the case still on his mind.

Moments later, Peter was in another reality. He found himself in a strangely familiar surrounding, but could not remember exactly where. Upon closer inspections, he realized that he was in Dr. White's lab, before it was destroyed.

Just as he realized where he was, he saw that Dr. White walked out of his office, heading out of the lab when three men in masks rushed in. The first man seized Dr. White by his collar and asked him some questions, but Dr. White refused to answer. The second man then took out a knife and threatened Dr. White with it but the doctor still refused to yield. The third man got frustrated and snatched the knife from the second man and then proceeds to stab Dr. White.

The other two men were dumb struck by the third men's action but did nothing to stop him, afraid that the same actions might be repeated on them. When Dr. White collapsed, the three of them went on to search Dr. White's office and lab. The first man took Dr. White's briefcase from his side to a corner of the lab emptying its contents.

When none of them found what they were looking for, they left without casting a second glance towards Dr. White.

Peter could do nothing but watch helplessly at the silent scene before him as Dr. White was being murdered in cold blood. He wanted so much to help but knew that he could not do anything but watch. He saw a young man with short brown hair enter, but before Peter could get a good look, he felt his chi weaken. Slowly, the scene from the past faded from his view.

Exhausted from the mental journey, Peter managed to get up and crawled into his bed before falling asleep.

# # # # # # # #

Blair had spent an uneventful day at the station helping Jim with his paperwork since he did not have any classes at the university. By the end of the day, sentinel and guide were both exhausted from going through never ending pile of paperwork that Simon had managed to dig up for them. They decided to have dinner at a restaurant near the loft as both of them were too tired to cook, not to mention the cleaning up that follows the meal.

"I'm going straight to bed!" declared Ellison as he climbed the stairs. "What about you, Chief?"

"I think I'll have a shower first," replied Blair.

"Well then, just make sure that you don't stumble on anything and wake me," Jim was opening the door as he talked, "because if you do that, you...what the hell?!?"

The sight of the loft in a huge mess stopped the detective in mid-sentence.

"What? What is it Jim?" Blair asked urgently as he saw his friend freeze.

"Stay behind me," ordered the detective.

"What's going on?"

"Just stay behind me, Chief," repeated Jim as he took out his gun.

"You got it!" replied Blair as he realized the seriousness of the situation.

With his Guide beside, or rather behind him, the Sentinel stretched all his senses to their limits and scanned the darkened loft, trusting his Guide to watch his back.

His hearing told him that besides his Guide and himself, there was no one else in the loft. His sight took in all the details and showed him that nothing valuable was missing, which meant that whoever had broken in must have come for something specific. Then he smelled it, cigarette smoke. Since neither he nor his Guide smoke, it must belonged to the intruder. He focused on his sense of smell, filtering out the normal cigarette smoke as he tried to pick up anything unusual. Just as he was about to give up, he caught it. A faint trace of mint with a hint of unknown chemical odor in it.

The Guide watched as the Sentinel scanned the loft. Even without heightened senses, he could see that the loft looked like a war zone. Unconsciously, he put his hand on his Sentinel's back to keep him from zoning out, but it was too late.

'Zoning-out' is a phrase Blair use to describe a condition when a sentinel gets too focused on one sense that he lost touch with reality.

The next thing Jim know, Blair was shaking him, speaking urgently in what Jim referred as his 'Guide-tone'.

"Jim? You with me?" Blair asked. "Are you all right?"

Jim shook his head to clear his mind before answering, "Yeah. I'm fine."

"What is it? What caused you to zone? What did you find? Was there..."

"Whoa, slow down there, Chief." Jim stopped Blair before he could go on with his never-ending string of questions. "First, go switch on the lights before you trip over something. Whoever was here is long gone by now."

As Blair proceed to switch on the lights in the loft, Jim fished out his cell phone and called Captain Simon Banks. Simon immediately sent a forensics team and told Jim that he was coming over.

"Okay, Jim. What did you zone on?" Blair asked as soon as Jim was off the phone.

Jim took a deep breath. "A smell. Some sort of chemical that I can't identify. It was mixed with the smell of mint."

"Can you describe it?" asked Blair.

Jim noticed that his partner was in his 'Guide-mode', nothing was stopping the younger man from getting the answers. "I don't know. A bit like rotten flowers mixed with...with chewing gum," he answered.

"Wow. Now that's something I don't want to smell!" Blair said, making a face.

"Trust me. You don't."

Just at that moment, Simon arrived with the forensics team who quickly went to work, dusting for prints and looking for clues.

"What the hell happened?!" demanded the Captain.

"Well, frankly we don't know sir. Blair and I came back and found the whole place trashed. Whoever had done this was long gone. And they left nothing behind."

"Jim, do you have any idea as to who might want to do this?"

"No, sir. It sure looks like whoever was here wanted something specific," replied Jim as he walked into Blair's room. "Chief, you sure that you didn't piss someone off at the university? Your room is in worse shape than the rest of the loft."

"Oh man!" groaned Blair as he saw all his belongings thrown all over the place. "It'll take me years to sort things out!"

"Why don't you check and see if anything's missing," suggested Jim.

Fifteen minutes later, Blair walked back out of his room.

"As far as I can tell, nothing seems to be missing, though there seems to be something funny about this whole thing that I can't put my fingers on."

"What do you mean 'something funny'?" demanded the captain.

"I don't know. The loft has been broken into and searched but there's just something different about this. Don't ask me what 'cause I haven't figure it out myself."

After forensics left, Jim and Blair started cleaning up the loft. Simon too had stayed to help.

Just as Simon was finishing rearranging the furniture a sudden yell from Blair nearly made him jumped out of his skin.

"That's IT! That's IT! Why didn't I see this earlier? I'm so stupid!" the young anthropologist sound really excited.

"Sandburg? What is it?" asked Simon as he rushed into the young anthropologist's room. What he saw totally puzzled him. Blair sitting on the floor of his room, papers surrounding him and in his hand, he held a CD case.

"What's wrong?" Jim asked as he too rushed into Blair's room.

"Why didn't I see this earlier?!? I'm so stupid!" continued Blair.

"Sandburg!" Simon said with a threatening tone in his voice. "Either you're going to tell me what the hell is going on or I'll personally see to it that...."

"Ah...sorry Simon." Blair cut him off in min-sentence. "I think I've figured out what's so weird about this case," he handed the CD case he was holding to the police captain who looked at it with a puzzled expression on his face.

"Don't you guys get it?!?"

"What are you trying to say here, Chief?"

"Not just one CD case was broken but all of' em were! How many people do you know of who would break into your house and destroy all your CD cases? Well, unless he had some real problem with CDs, but this doesn't seemed to be the case here."

Jim took the CD case from the captain as Blair talks. Simon noticed Jim focusing his attention on the CD case.

"It's as if someone was looking for something in the CD cases," Blair continued.

"He's right Simon. Someone had deliberately broken this case. But there's no any other fingerprints other than yours and Sandburg's. Good work Chief."

"So now that we've established that they were looking for something in the CD cases, any of you had any idea what might that be?"

Sentinel and Guide looked at each other and shrugged their shoulders.

# # # # # # # #

"You sure he's heading there?...No I just want to be sure!...okay. Thanks!" Detective Ray Kowalski Vecchio hung up the phone and went to search for his Canadian friend and partner, Constable Benton Fraser. He knew it was late, but the matter at hand could not wait.

"Ray, are you sure that this is a good idea?" Fraser asked five minutes later, sitting beside Ray in his car speeding towards the airport.

"What do you mean?" Ray asked innocently.

"What I mean is are you sure that it is a good idea to pursue Derrick Burns on our own without any back up? He is a very dangerous man."

"Well, Fraser, I don't see we have any choice here. Its too late to call for back up. As far as I'm concern, if we don't get that SOB, he's gonna get away."

"Yes sir? May I help you?" asked a beautiful blonde behind the counter twenty-five minutes later when Ray and Fraser finally arrived at the airport.

Ray took out his badge and identified himself. "I'm looking for a man named Derrick Burns. Could you check if he's on any of the flights?"

"Hold on a minute." said the blonde as she quickly looked for the information in the computer. "He's on flight number AC354 heading for Cascade, Washington."

"What time does it take off?"

"I'm sorry but it took off about five minutes ago."

"Shit!" cursed Ray as he walked away.

"Thank you kindly ma' am," said Fraser as he rushed off to his partner.

"I can't believe we lost him!" Ray said in frustration as the pair walked out of the airport. "We've been tracking this guy for nearly a month and now when we finally have enough evidence to nail him, we let him get away! I just can't believe it! Walsh will have my ass for dinner this time!"

The pair got into the car and headed back to the station, with Ray hoping that the Lieutenant had gone home for the night.

Luck was not on Ray's side, Lieutenant Harding Walsh had not gone home and was having a very hard time taking in the new information Ray supplied. He wanted to nail Burns, and could not believe that one of his best detectives had let him get away when they finally have enough evidence to had him arrested.

"I don't want any excuses Vecchio! I don't care where he has gone, I want him arrested. You got it?!?"

"But with all due respect sir, that man is in Washington right now! What the hell could I do?!?"

"Cascade, actually." supplied Fraser.

"Yeah, whatever. It's still in Washington, right? So what's the difference?"

"Remember the case a few months back with Victoria escaping from prison?"

"Yeah. I read your reports on that. She was in Sloanville at that time, then you and the guys from Sloanville traced her to...Wait a minute, you traced her to Cascade and helped the Cascade PD solved a series of break-ins. Right?"

"Well, basically that's right sir."

"So what does that case gotta do with this one?" asked Ray, "I thought Victoria had escaped."

"Oh she did, but was recaptured by Detective Peter Caine from Sloanville. Then..."

"All right, all right. Fraser, you can explain this to him later. What I'm interested now is getting Burns. Fraser, and I heard that you and Ray...the other one, were pretty well acquainted with a few people in Cascade PD, right?"

# # # # # # # #

"What is this?" Peter asked as he saw a tape on his desk.

"Some guy from forensics delivered it this morning. Said it was a security tape from the crime scene," replied Detective Jody Powell.

"Forensics?" Peter had spent the rest of the previous day trying to figure out who was the young man he saw during the meditation but had came up with nothing. Now Jody was telling him that forensics had the answers all along! The idea of strangling whoever was in charged of evidence was sounding really good.

Peter played the tape with the video and television in the precinct and found himself staring at the screen. The tape was from a security camera in the lab. He was seeing what he saw during his meditation, only this time in black and white and the angle that the camera was placed had prevented him from seeing Dr. White being stabbed by the third man. He was half expecting the camera to go nuts on him when the brown haired young man entered, but it didn't. Peter could not see the young man's face clearly, but it was a start.

Peter took the tape to Kermit to see if he could clear up the image. Kermit then shooed Peter out of his office and began typing on his computer.

# # # # # # # #

"Hey Peter!" Kermit called to get the detective's attention. "I got the image cleared up and managed to dig up some information about him too."

"That's great!" replied Peter as he open the folder the Kermit had handed to him.

"Kid's name is Julian White."

"Any connections with Dr. White?"

"He's the doctor's nephew and as far as I know, no one has seen him for nearly two days. I've checked the airlines, buses and trains but found nothing."

"Then he might still be here."

"I doubt it. He might have drove away in his car or simply gone by a different name."

"Any idea where he might be going?" asked Peter.

"No, but I'll dig further." With that, Kermit disappeared into his office.

# # # # # # # #

"Chief, you sure you can't think of anybody you've pissed off lately? A student perhaps?" asked Jim. He was driving Blair to the university as his car had decided to take a break that morning.

"No, not lately anyway. I just can't figure out who it might be. What about you?"

"I don't know. But as far as I can remember, all my enemies are either in jail or dead."

Jim parked the truck in front of the anthropology building. When Blair was getting out of the car, he had a sudden urge to follow his guide, to make sure that he would be safe. Without questioning his feelings, he followed Blair.

"Jim, what are you doing? You'll be late if you don't get going."

"Just get going," he had a feeling that something might go wrong. What? He had no idea. They had almost reached Sandburg's office when Jim noticed that the office door was slightly ajar.

"Sandburg, did you remember to lock your office door yesterday?"

"Yeah, why?"

"Stay here and call campus security," Jim ordered as he handed Blair his cell phone. He gave the office a quick scan and realized that whoever had been there was long gone. It was in a mess, just like the loft.

"Jim?"

"I thought I told you to stay put?! Never mind."

"Oh man!" groaned Blair as he saw the condition that his office was in.

"I'll call Simon." Jim said as Blair handed him back his cell phone.

Jim had checked with security and came to the conclusion that Blair's office had been broken into after the last security check at six that morning.

"Anything missing, Chief?"

"Nothing that I can see at the moment. But the CD cases are all broken. Like those in the loft. Someone must be looking for something. But what have I got that fits into a CD case that anybody would want?"

"A CD?"

"Well, then they've come to the wrong person. All I've got are these audio CDs and a few for my...That's it! They must be looking for a computer disks!"

"Computer disks? What kind of computer disk you've got here?"

"Some anthropology stuff and a few games. I can't see anybody wanting that. Besides, they're still here." Blair said, looking at the pile of discarded CDs on the floor. "Jim, why don't you see if you could pick up anything in here before forensics arrive? Remember that smell you picked up yesterday? See if you can find it here."

"All right."

Jim concentrated on his sense of smell, trying to pick up the strange odor that had been present in the loft yesterday. There it was, not as strong, but it was there.

"Well?"

"Yeah, its the same person all right. I picked up the same strange smell. This couldn't possibly be a coincidence."

"Now, I want you to focus on your other senses and see if you can pick up any thing else." Blair was talking in his 'Guide-tone'.

Jim scanned the office again, taking in every single bit of detail and filtering out the unnecessary ones. Finally one particular CD case caught his attention. Carefully he maneuvered across the mess and picked it up.

"What is it?"

"Did you ever lend this to anyone?"

Blair looked closely at the cover and shook his head. "This one has been here for ages! I just cleared off the dust last week when I found it under the shelves. Why?"

"There's a partial finger print there that might belong to our man."

"All right!" said Blair as he handed a plastic bag over to Jim to put the case in.

The rest of the day passed rather uneventfully with Jim waiting back at the station for the results of the finger print and Blair going to classes with a personal police escort that Simon had assigned to him, afraid that someone might actually attack the anthropologist.

# # # # # # # #

Peter spent the rest of the afternoon pursuing the only lead he had. He checked the train and bus stations and no one had seen a man who fit the description of Julian White. He was now on his way to the airport, hoping that someone there might have seen the young man.

Peter could not help but wonder if his luck for the day had changed direction or was it some special forces high up playing tricks on him. He had parked his car and gone to the first counter in sight, asking the same question he had been asking the whole afternoon, expecting the same answer. But the simple "Yes," that the young lady gave him sounded like heavenly chimes to him.

"When did you see him?"

"About two nights ago. I was working night shift that time. If I remember correctly, he bought a ticket to Washington. Where exactly, I can't remember."

"You sure it's this man in the picture?"

"Yes. I noticed him 'cause he was kind of cute," the young lady said, a little embarrassed. "He seemed really nervous too," she added.

"Thank you! You've been a great help!" said Peter as he rushed out of the airport.

# # # # # # # #

Blair had just walked into the Major Crimes bullpen when the phone at Jim's desk rang. Seeing that the detective was nowhere in sight, he answered it.

"Major Crimes, Detective Ellison's desk."

"Blair?" asked the voice on the other end.

"Ben? Benton Fraser? How are you and Ray?"

"Both of us are fine," replied the constable. "I have a favor to ask though."

"Anything I can do to help."

"You see, Ray and I were tracking this man yesterday evening, and when we finally caught up with him, he was already on a flight to Cascade."

"So you want us to help you track him down?"

"Yes. Lieutenant Walsh will call Captain Banks to make it official, and Ray and I will catch a flight to Cascade this afternoon."

"Great! Just send me the information and I'll see what I can do."

At this point, Blair noticed that Jim had returned with a cup of coffee and was on the phone at Detective Brown's desk.

"All right. Ray is faxing the information over right now."

"Okay, so I'll see you tomorrow?"

"Yes. Most probably."

"Bye."

"Bye."

"Who was that, Chief?" Jim asked as he headed back to his desk.

"Huh? Oh, it was Fraser," answered Blair as he walked over to the fax machine.

"Benton Fraser?" Jim asked in disbelief.

"Yeah. Why?"

"That's strange."

"What's so strange 'bout it?"

"Because that was Peter I was just talking to."

"Peter Caine??"

"Yeah. He wants us to help him track down someone who might have come here. He's coming here himself as soon as he can." Jim took a look at the fax that had just come through. "Is this the guy that Ray and Fraser was after?"

"Yeah. A Derrick Burns, and this is the one Peter's after?"

"Yep. Julian White," answered Jim as he looked at the fax he had received.

When both of them got back to Jim's desk, another folder was found lying there.

"Results of the partial prints are back." Jim stated. "What's wrong?" he asked as he saw Blair's shocked expression when he flipped opened the folder.

"Oh man! Take a look at this!" he placed the fax beside the picture in Jim's folder and they were the same person!

# # # # # # # #

By the time Peter and Kermit reached Cascade, it was already quite late. They decided that they'd find a hotel for the night before looking up Jim in the morning.

# # # # # # # #

Ray and Fraser were exhausted when they arrived at Cascade and both decided that it was best for them to find a hotel and get some rest.

# # # # # # # #

Jim and Blair were dumbstruck by the fact that the person that the Chicago PD was after was the same person that had broken into Blair's office.

"I don't like this, Chief." Jim finished reading the profile of Derrick Burns. "This guy basically runs half of downtown Chicago! Why would he want to break into your office right after he got off a long flight from Chicago? Unless you have something that he really wants, like a particular computer disk?"

Blair just looked innocently at his partner. "Jim I swear I don't have any disk that might be remotely valuable to anyone! Especially not some mobster from Chicago!"

"Then would you care to explain the state of your office this morning and the loft last night? Think, Chief! Maybe it was something someone passed to you or...or dropped in your office!"

"Jim, I really don't..." Blair stopped suddenly. What Jim said about 'someone passed to you' and 'dropped' hit a chord in his mind.

"Chief?"

Blair held up a finger to silence his partner, his mind going back to the little incident that happened two days earlier. A young man who had came out of nowhere and ran into him, then helped him pick up his stuff and apologizing before handed him his backpack.

"My bag!" Blair blurted out as he rushed to pick up his backpack beside Jim's desk and then proceeded to empty the contents.

"Chief?" worried was apparent in his voice.

"Hold on a sec." Blair searched through his pile of books, files and papers, finally he found what he was looking for. A computer disk that did not belong to him.

"Blair?"

"Jim, this is the disk they were looking for!" Blair held up the disk that he had found. "This was the cause of all the trouble!"

"So it has been with you all the time?!? I can't believe this, Chief!"

"Jim, I didn't know it was with me! The disk doesn't even belong to me!"

"Then who's the lucky owner?"

"I'm not sure."

"But you have an idea, right?"

"Yeah. Two days ago, when I was heading to my car, this guy came out of nowhere....."

"So you think he might have slipped the disk into your bag without you realizing it?" concluded Jim as Blair finished telling his encounter.

"Yeah."

"You remember how he looked like?"

"I guess so. Uh...he's a bit taller than me, brown hair...wait a minute." Blair grabbed the fax that Peter had sent and looked at the picture of Julian White. "That's him! Jim that's him!"

"You sure?"

"I'd bet my life on it! Its him, no doubt! That's why he looked familiar!"

"I think I'm getting a headache. Why don't you just pop the disk into the computer and see what's all this fuss is about."

Blair took up Jim's suggestion and placed the disk into the disk drive of his computer.

"Uh, Jim? This thing is encrypted. We need an expert to decode it."

"Then send it down to the lab."

It was going to take at least a few hours for the lab analyst to decrypt the codes, if they even could.

"Chief, I'm beat. I just want to grab a bite and head back home."

"Now that you mention it, I think I could use some sleep myself," Blair agreed, fighting a yawn.

"Then what're we waiting for?"

# # # # # # #

The next morning, the pair from Sloanville found themselves in the elevator with Fraser and a stranger he introduced as Ray Vecchio. When the group entered the Major Crimes bullpen, Jim and Blair were both in Simon's office. Brown recognized the group from their last encounter and told them they could wait at Jim's desk before rushing off with his partner Detective Rafe.

While waiting, Fraser had explained to Peter and Kermit their purpose for being in Cascade. He was just about to explain the presence of Ray when Ray stopped him and told him it would be better to wait for the other group.

Five minutes later, Blair popped his head out of Simon's office and motioned for the group to enter, casting a curious glance at Ray.

When everyone had settled down, Ray found himself under the gaze of almost all the people in the office except Fraser.

"What? Is my fly down or something?"

"Who exactly are you?" Simon voiced the question on everyone's mind. "Lieutenant Walsh said he was sending Detective Ray Vecchio. I know Vecchio and obviously, you're not him."

"Well, sir. This is Detective Ray Vecchio. Not the Ray you knew but still Ray," explained Fraser. When he saw the puzzled expression on everyone's faces, he continued. "The Ray you knew was sent into a very dangerous undercover operation..."

"And in order to make sure that the bad guys don't find out that he's actually a cop, I was chosen to take his place. So I'm not the Ray you knew, but..."

"He's supposed to be the Ray you knew." finished Fraser.

"Right." Ray added with a nod.

The rest of the group just stared at the pair. "So you're supposed to take Ray's place?" Blair finally managed to ask.

"Yes."

"Then who are you, really?" asked Peter.

"Well, my real name is Ray,"

"But his last name is Kowalski instead of Vecchio," Fraser helpfully supplied the information.

The rest finally understood what they were saying.

"Okay, now that we've clarified the 'Ray situation', let's get back to business," declared Simon. "Detective Vecchio, you are here because you are after a man name Derrick Burns. And Detective Caine, you are here because of Julian White."

Both detectives nodded their heads.

"I don't want to know why you are after these men, but were you aware that Derrick Burns had broken into Sandburg's office yesterday morning in search of a computer disk that Julian White had somehow managed to slipped into his bag without his knowledge?"

The parties from Chicago and Sloanville looked at each other in confusion, then their expression finally changed to that of realization.

"My sources said that Burns was onto something big, it must be the disk that you're talking about!" Ray said excitingly.

"And that thing Julian White took out of the briefcase in his uncle's lab must be the computer disk that you're talking about!" Peter interjected, "Burns must have wanted Dr. White to give up that disk, which he refused. He then sent his men to kill his associates to warn him. When Dr. White still refused to yield, he had him killed. But before Dr. White died, he gave the disk to his nephew Julian and told him to get out of town. Somehow, he'd managed to slipped the disk to Blair and now Derrick's going after Blair," Peter said.

"Hold on a minute there!" said Simon. "Would you care to explain how a Doctor White got into the picture?"

Peter proceeded to explain his case to the rest of the group with Kermit filling in some details for him.

The phone at Simon's desk rang just as Peter finished.

"Banks!" barked the captain. He listened for a moment before taking off his glasses and hung up the phone. "That was the lab. They couldn't find a way to decrypt the disk," he announced.

"Maybe they approached it the wrong way," Kermit said simply.

"You know anything about computers?" Simon asked hopefully. He wanted to find out what was on the disk that was worth the lives of three people.

"Oh, yeah," replied the detective behind the green glasses.

# # # # # # # #

Kermit was in the lab, trying to decrypt the disk, with Blair staying with him in case he might need anything. The rest of the gang headed down to the university, the last known location for both Julian White and Derrick Burns.

"Any results?"

Kermit was typing furiously in his typical 'Kermit-style'. "I'm about half done here. Come back in another hour or so."

"Half done?!?" Blair said in disbelief. "They spent the whole night trying to figure out how to start! Its been only three hours and you're half done?!"

Kermit stopped typing and turned his chair to face Blair. "Well, I would spent the whole night figuring out how to start if I hadn't encounter this type of encryption before. If you'll excuse me, I've got work to do." With that the detective turned back towards the computer.

About forty-five minutes later, Blair was typing up his notes at Jim's desk when Kermit entered the bullpen.

"You're done?"

"Yeah."

"So what's on the disk?"

"As far as I can tell, its some sort of plan for a biological weapon."

"A what?!? Are you sure?"

"Oh, yeah."

Kermit then went on to report his findings to Simon.

# # # # # # # #

No one had at the university had seen anyone matching the description of Burns, but the group managed to trace Julian White to the main office of campus security.

"Why would he come here?" asked Peter.

"Someone might be chasing him or he might have come to look for a friend or something," Ray supplied.

"A friend?" asked Jim.

"Yeah. He's in trouble so he looks up an old friend to help him out," Ray explained his thoughts.

"Okay, why don't we just go in and find out?" suggested Peter.

The answer they got actually seemed to match Ray's theory. Julian White had been seen going into the office and had left with the head of security, Suzanne Tamaki. Suzanne had called in sick for the past two days.

"Hey, anyone hungry?" Ray asked when they walked out of the office.

"We could grab a bite then head back to the station and see what Kermit's got," Jim proposed. Just then his cell-phone rang. "Ellison...Simon...yeah....We'll head right back!" he turned to the group and announced, "Slight change of plan guys. Simon wants us to head right back. Kermit has decrypted the disk."

# # # # # # # #

"Do you have any idea what you're talking about here Detective Griffin? A biological weapon?!" Simon's tone was serious.

"I may not be an expert in this field of study, but I know what I saw."

"Okay, if its what you say it is, what the hell are we supposed to do with it?"

"Lock it up in a safe somewhere?" Blair suggested.

The rest of the gang chose that moment to arrive. Once they found out what was on the disk, no one had any idea what they were going to do with it.

"Why don't we just destroy the damn thing and pretend that we have no idea what they were talking about if anybody ask." Peter said after a moment of silence.

"Are you crazy?!" Simon was almost yelling at this point.

"Everyone keeps on telling me that," Peter muttered.

"Look, we'll just hand it over to the government or to whoever's in charged of these things..." continued Simon.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you," Kermit interrupted, "All they'll do is follow whatever the plan says and build one of those things and start a damn war. It could be worse if it falls into the wrong hands."

"Wow, hold on there. You're saying that we can't even trust our own government?" asked Blair.

"That's what I'm saying kid. There are things that are going on right now that even the President doesn't know about."

"What do you mean by that?" asked Ray, curious.

"Oh, secret experiments and stuff. I don't really expect you to believe all this, but I've seen 'em with my own eyes. What I'd do is what Peter suggested. Destroy the damn thing before it falls into the wrong hands. And in the mean time, I'd put it in somewhere safe."

"I don't even want to know what you did before joining the force!" Simon commented after Kermit finished.

Jim filled Simon in on Suzanne's involvement in this mess. It was later decided that all of them would have lunch together before picking up Blair's car at the shop and spliting up to look for their targets.

# # # # # # # #

"This is your car?!?" Kermit said, in wonder.

"Yeah, why? I mean it doesn't look much but..."

"This baby is a classic!" Kermit interrupted Blair. "I wouldn't let anyone close mine back home!"

"Really?! You mean you own a Corviar?"

"Oh yeah! As a matter of fact, its the same model as yours here."

The two men then went on talking about Corviars and how Jim had kept on insisting that he change it, especially after the incident in the university where a kid had crashed it. The rest of the group watched in amusement as the ex-mercenary admired the car.

"Come on Kermit. You can get back to your Kermit-mobile as soon as we finished the case," Peter said.

"You called it the Kermit-mobile?!" Blair asked in disbelief.

"Well, partly because its green." Peter answered for his friend as he practically pulled Kermit into Jim's truck, leaving Blair with the pair from Chicago.

# # # # # # # #

It took them twenty minutes to get to Suzanne Tamaki's apartment, but as soon as they got there, Jim knew that something was wrong.

The front door was open wide, with no sign of anyone. Jim scanned the apartment and found no one. Slowly, with guns drawn, no harm being over cautious, the trio moved into the apartment.

It was in a mess, with furniture over turned and things broken.

"Shit!" Jim cursed. "Burns must have got her!"

Seeing that there were no one in the house, the other detectives started to look for clues to where Burns might have taken Suzanne. Jim followed their lead, after he called Simon, and started searching for clues. As he got close to the kitchen, he smelled the familiar scent of blood. He approached the kitchen, afraid that he might find his friend's lifeless body.

He let out a sigh of relief as he found no dead body. He piggy-backed his sight with his sense of smell, careful not to focus too much on either senses as his guide was not there. Then he saw it, a mug under the table, with a small trace of blood near the bottom of it. Carefully he picked it up and called out to Peter and Kermit.

Peter took the mug from Jim and nearly drops it as a series of images assaulted him.

"Whoa, take it easy there kid! You okay?" Kermit was concerned for his friend.

Peter did not reply immediately. Instead he just stood there staring out into space. Jim couldn't help but wonder if this was what he looked like during a zone out.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Just caught me off guard a second." Peter replied a few seconds later. "Jim, you know a place called 'Gary's'?"

"Yeah. Its one of those pubs. About fifteen minutes from here. Why?"

"I think that's where they've taken her."

"How did...Never mind. I'll call Blair and tell them to meet us there."

# # # # # # # #

Blair had driven the pair from Chicago around Cascade, checking out places that Ray thought Burns might have gone. Their search was fruitless.

They were just getting into the car from their last search when Blair's cell-phone rang.

"Hello?" he answered after searching through his bag for the object. "Jim?....What?!? I can't believe this has happened!! Do you know whe...Okay....yeah?...Sure.....Okay, meet you there in a few."

"That was Jim," he announced. "Suzanne Tamaki's apartment has been broken into and there was no sign of her. Jim thinks that Burns might have taken her."

"Does he know where?" Fraser asked.

"To quote a friend, 'Oh, yeah.'"

# # # # # # # #

"Blair, its me...yeah. Listen, I'm at Suzanne's place right now. The place's been trashed and I think Burn's got her....Hold on there Chief! I think we know where he's taken her...You remember the pub called 'Gary's'?...We think she might have been taken there. We're going over there right now. I'll meet you there Okay?...Yeah."

"So?" asked Peter.

"He'll meet us there. Common, let's go."

# # # # # # # #

"I really have no idea what you're talking about!" Julian was nearly yelling at his captors. "I was here to visit a friend! Ah..!" he cried out in pain as one of the men threw a punch at his mid-section.

"Just tell me where the hell is the disk and you won't have to suffer," the man in dark suit said. "It's not worth dying over a disk when you don't even know what's on it."

"I swear to God I have no idea what you're talking about! I would've given you that God damn disk if I had it!" He was yelling. He didn't care if it made the man mad. He was going to die anyway, might as well do some damage.

"You know, we could find that pretty little lady friend of yours in no time. I wouldn't want to harm her, but if you leave us no choice..." the man in the suit trailed off.

*Good.* Julian thought. *They haven't found Suzanne yet.* he was really sorry for dragging his old friend into this mess. Out loud he said "How many times do I need to tell you? I DON'T HAVE THE DAMN DISK!!!"

The dark suited man snorted in disgust. "Ken, could you 'persuade' our guest here that it'll be in his best interest to tell me what I want to know?"

"Yes, Mr. Burns."

With that a series of screams and howls filled the basement of the bar.

# # # # # # # #

Suzanne Tamaki breathed out a sigh of relief as soon as she realized that she had lost her tail. Quickly she found a phone booth and dialed the number for Cascade PD.

# # # # # # # #

"Ellison," Jim answered his phone with one hand while driving with the other.

"Jim, its Simon. Suzanne Tamaki just called."

"She what?!"

"Apparently Burns didn't get her, but White was not so lucky."

"Where is she?"

"She's at a phone booth at 48th Avenue. I sent a patrol to pick her up."

"Don't bother, Simon. I'm only two blocks away. I'll pick her up."

"All right. You be careful. Burns' goons are still after her."

"Yes sir."

With that Jim hung up and made a turn towards 48th Avenue.

# # # # # # # #

Suzanne got out of her hiding place as soon as she saw Jim's truck approach. Suddenly someone grab her from behind. Instinctively she jammed her elbow into the mid-section of her opponent, causing him to loosen his grip, providing a chance for her to escape and run towards Jim's truck, which was just pulling over. The man, seeing that help had arrived, turned and ran.

As soon as he pulled over, Jim rushed out of the truck and ran after the man, with Peter right behind him, leaving Kermit to protect Suzanne.

The man took a wrong turn at an ally and ended up at a dead end. He tried looking for an escape rout but found none. By that time Jim and Peter had already caught up with him. He threw an unexpected punch at Jim who managed to duck in time. Then he took another swing, this time aiming at Peter who blocked it easily and shoved him back against a wall. Before he knew it, he was over powered by the two men, struggling to get free. Suddenly he felt a pain where his neck and shoulder joined and the world went dark.

"How did you do that?" Jim asked as he cuffed the unconscious suspect. "Kinda reminds me of Spock."

"I had that thought in my mind when I first saw my father do it." Peter answered with a grin on his face.

Both of them managed to drag the unconscious man back to Jim's truck and call for back-up.

"Took you long enough," greeted Kermit as he saw his two friends approaching. "Suzanne and I have been having a very interesting conversation."

Peter and Jim raised their eyebrows in question.

"I was just telling Detective Griffin what I know about the situation. Julian and I were best friends in high school. After graduation, we went our separate ways but we still remained in contact. A few weeks ago, I received a letter from him, saying that his uncle was in some kind of trouble. He said that he didn't know what sort of trouble it was but apparently one of his uncle's friends had been killed because of it. The next thing I knew, he showed up at my office on Monday and said that he needed my help. He wouldn't even tell me anything about it until we were in my car."

The patrol car arrived at that moment and Jim turned over the unconscious man to the officers. With that done, the group got back into Jim's truck with Suzanne continuing her story.

"He said his uncle was doing some research on who knows what. The other day he got a massage from his uncle, telling him to meet him at his lab at ten. He didn't get the massage until about eleven-thirty. He tried calling his uncle but when no one answered, he rushed to the lab, only to find him stabbed. He gave Julian a disk before he died and after that Julian noticed that someone was following him. He then booked a flight to Cascade and came to me for help. What sort of help could I really give him?" she asked.

"The best that you can do," Jim answered as they reached their destination.

"What took you guys so long?" was the first thing Blair said as he saw his friends. "And Suzanne?!? What are you doing here?!"

"Well, Chief, I went to pick up Suzanne and a thug on the way. I think he works for Burns. Anyway, what's the situation here."

"There have been a few people that seemed suspicious entering the building. But no one matched the description of Burns." Fraser replied.

"A Mountie?? What's he doing here?" Suzanne asked in disbelief.

"He first came to Chicago on the trail of his father's killer, and due to circumstances which don't need exploring at this juncture, he remained as Deputy Liason Officer with the Canadian Consulate." Ray explained in one breath, causing all of them except Fraser to stare at him. "What?" he asked almost innocently when he noticed the stares.

"Nothing," the rest replied almost in unison.

"Okay. Then what's the situation inside?" Peter asked.

"The pub itself is not open for business until six in the afternoon, so it is logical to conclude that whoever went into the pub are either the employees or Burns' men. In this case, we can safely conclude that they're Burns' men."

"How do you know that?" Suzanne couldn't help but ask.

"From what I have seen, I don't think its necessary for a normal employee of a pub to carry concealed weapons."

"How can you tell?" asked Blair, clearly very interested.

"Oh, there are many ways..."

"Fraser, I'm sure all the stuff you're about to say is quite fascinating, but I think we've got a more important matter at hand," interrupted Ray.

"Ah, of course. I'll explain later."

The group managed to come up with a plan. Fraser and Ray would enter through the front door, providing a distraction. The rest of them would try to get in through the back door, then split up into two groups to look for Julian.

# # # # # # # #

"Excuse me, sir. My friend and I seemed to have lost our way, and we were wondering if you could help us out?" Fraser asked the man who had came to answer the door.

# # # # # # # #

At the same time, the other group had just reached the back door.

"Damn! Its locked!" Jim cursed.

He was just about to knock down the door when Suzanne stopped him.

"Won't they hear us this way?"

"Well, you got any idea?"

"I think Peter might have the solution," Kermit replied.

"Since when did you start volunteering people?" Peter asked as he stepped closer to the door. He closed his eyes and concentrated, rubbing his hands together, he then touched the lock and was rewarded with a faint 'click'.

"How did you do that?!" Suzanne asked. She can't believe what she had seen. *First a Detective with a Mountie as a partner, now this!* she thought to herself.

"I've learned long ago not to ask that questions." said Kermit as he moved in through the door.

# # # # # # # #

"You see, we're supposed to turn at this junction," Ray said pointing to the map Fraser was holding. "But instead we made a turn here! So now we're completely lost!"

"You see, we were suppose to be here," Fraser pointed on another location on the map, further confusing the man who had, unfortunately, answered the door.

"What's going on here?" another man came out of the pub to see what all the noise was about.

"Oh, well, we're sort of lost and was wondering if you could help us out a bit here," replied Ray. Then just as sudden, he attacked the man, with Fraser copying his actions on the other man. Before either men knew what happened, they were both lying on the doorsteps of the pub.

"That was a stupid conversation." Ray muttered.

"I couldn't agree more."

With that, both of them went into the pub.

# # # # # # # #

Suzanne went with Peter and Kermit at Jim's insistence though she had no idea why he would want her to go with these two. The more she saw the pair in action, the more impressed she became. Both of them could take out an opponent without making a single sound. She had thought that Jim's hand-to-hand combat skills were good, but these two were even better. Especially Peter. He not only got the job done, his moves were also, at the same time, graceful.

"I haven't seen a pub with such a huge interior," Peter commented as they made their way through the maze of boxes and crates that were stacked up in the storage room they were in.

"Never trust your eyes, they deceive you," Kermit said.

"Have you been taking lesson from my father? 'Cause that sounds an awful lot like what he would say."

"I'm just speaking from experience," Kermit answered as they found another door. But before any of them could open it, a group of Burns' men opened it from the other side.

Both parties were caught by surprise and a second passed before anyone did anything. The first man went for his weapon but Kermit was faster. Suzanne put her training to use as she too disarmed a man before he could fire his weapon. Peter killed two birds with one stone as he sent one of the men falling towards his partner and both of them hit the ground.

Quickly they rushed through the door, only to be greeted by another group of Burns' men who had heard Kermit's gun shot. They couldn't retreat, as the previous group had already picked themselves up and were pointing their weapons at them. In other words, they were trapped.

# # # # # # # #

Blair could not believe that the little pub he saw from outside could have such a huge interior.

*Never judge by looks!* he thought.

"He's in the basement," Jim announced suddenly.

"Then let's find our way there!" Blair did not question his partner's conclusion.

They actually made it past two corridors without bumping into any of Burns' men. Even Jim did not hear anyone. He knew why as soon as he heard the gun shot that came from the direction that Peter's group went.

"Oh man! Jim, I'm sure you heard that!"

"With Kermit and Peter's resources, I'm sure they can take care of themselves."

"Yeah. Okay, let's find the basement. If they were captured, I'm sure they'll bring them to the basement, too. That'll make our job easier."

# # # # # # # #

"Don't you find this situation disturbingly familiar?" Kermit asked as they were marched down another corridor.

"As a matter of fact, I do," Peter replied. Thinking back to the time where he and Kermit were captured during an attempt to break into a high security building to steal a crystal so that Selentine would release his father and Captain Simms from the time prison.

"Think it might be a good time for meditation?"

"Shut up!" one of Burns' men yelled.

"A perfect time!" with that Peter stopped in his tracks, took a deep breath and concentrated on what he was about to do.

"What the...move on!" yelled the same man, who seemed to be the leader of the group. "I said move on!" he repeated when no one moved.

Peter turned and faced the leader, his attention focused on the gun the man held.

"I said move on! Or I'll...Ow!!" he yelped in pain and dropped the gun that was growing red hot in his hand.

The rest of the men were surprised by their leader's reaction and were not prepared when Peter, Kermit and Suzanne attacked.

# # # # # # # #

Suzanne had no idea what Peter and Kermit were talking about. "Meditation? Are they crazy?" she thought. She was puzzled when both of them stopped and Peter turned to face their captors. She was almost as shock as the man when she saw the gun glowing red-hot. But instead of standing there dumbstruck by the sight, she attacked the man closest to her.

Within a minute, all of Burns' men were down and the trio was running down the corridor they had been led to.

"You sure this is the way?" Suzanne asked.

"Nope. But since we were captured, I figured they'd put us into the same place that your friend's in," Peter answered.

"That is assuming that they put all their prisoners together," Kermit added.

"That's comforting," Suzanne muttered as she raced down to catch up with the guys.

# # # # # # # #

"Fraser, this place is huge!" Ray commented as they move past the pub. "This is a perfect cover up! Who would think that a pub that looked so small from the outside could be so big inside?"

"Ray, that'll teach you not to judge things by their looks," Fraser said a matter of factly.

Both of them wondered around the building, with Fraser picking up clues as they went along. They did not even came close to meeting any of Burns' men.

"Fraser, this is too easy. I don't like it."

"What's too easy?"

"This whole thing! All along, we haven't seen any of Burns' men!"

Just then they heard a gun shot coming from their left.

"Maybe that's the reason," said Fraser as he and Ray ran towards the source.

The corridors seemed like a maze to Ray, but with Fraser's sense of direction, they managed to reach their destination, a storage room full of boxes and crates. But by that time, no one was there.

Fraser saw something out of the corner of his eyes so he bend down to looked at it.

"Fraser, I swear to God that I will walk right out of here if you taste whatever that is!"

"There's no need for me to do that. This is blood." He then stood up and looked around the storage area they were in, spotting another drop near a door. Opening it, he saw more blood. He bent down and examined it closely.

"Whoever was wounded has gone that direction," Fraser said, pointing towards his left. "Judging from the smudge on these two drops, the others must have gone this way," he said pointing towards the corridor in front of them. He sampled some blood on his finger and tasted it.

"Oh man! That is so disgusting!" Ray groaned.

"Hmm...traces of decayed food, dirt and something that I don't recognized. But since Peter and Jim ran after the suspect down an ally, either of them could have gotten some traces of these on their shoes."

"Then let's go this way then."

Fraser stood up and followed Ray's lead.

# # # # # # # #

"Wait, someone's coming this way," Jim said as he heard footsteps approaching.

"Can you tell who?" Blair whispered.

"That voice sounds like...Peter! They must have somehow gotten away. C'mon, Chief."

Jim led them in the direction, which he had heard Peter's voice and within seconds, the two groups meet.

"Jim!" Peter called out in surprise.

With Jim's enhanced hearing and sight, they managed to find their way to the basement's entrance, dodging a few more guards on the way.

As they got nearer, they could hear someone howling in pain.

"That's...that's Julian!" Suzanne said in horror. "We gotta get him out of there! They're killing him!!" she said, panic growing in her voice.

"We will. I promise, okay?" Blair tried to calm her down.

Suzanne nodded in reply.

"Other than Julian, there's only three of 'em," Jim announced as he scanned the basement with his hearing.

"That'll be easy," Kermit commented.

"Then what are we waiting for then?" Peter added.

"Chief, you and Suzanne stay here."

Blair and Suzanne nodded their heads as the others opened the door.

A flight of stairs extended downwards. Carefully the trio made their way down, each having their guns drawn.

The three men in the basement were shocked when the basement door flew open and three comando-like policemen burst through with the leading man yelling "Freeze! Cascade Police!" They had no choice but to obey as none of them were even close to their weapons. They raised their hands in surrender and watched helplessly as one of the police went over and freed their prisoner.

# # # # # # # #

"Ray, I think someone is coming this way." Fraser said as he quickly opened one of the many doors in the corridors and shoved Ray into the small storage room, then squeezing himself in.

They heard footsteps rushing past and someone yelling to call for back up. The commotion finally passed after a few minutes that felt like eternity. Both men steeped out after making sure that everyone was gone.

# # # # # # # #

"Someone's coming this way! A lot of someones!" Blair said as he heard the footsteps approaching. "You go down and warn Jim about it and I'll see if I can find a way to distract them," he told Suzanne, who quickly disappeared down the stairs.

# # # # # # # #

"Jim! Someone's coming!"

Jim was bent over a badly injured Julian, with Kermit and Peter tying up the three men.

"What?!" Quickly he focused his hearing, and there it was. Almost an army. "C'mon, let's get out of here!" he stood up and tried to help Julian up.

"Oh my God! Julian!" Suzanne gasped as she saw the extent of Julian's injuries for the first time. She hurried over and helped Jim to help Julian up.

# # # # # # # #

"Hey!" Blair shouted to get the attention of the approaching men. "You know where I can find the toilet?"

The group of almost fifteen men stared at him.

"Wow, guns! Do you know that under Malaysian law, its very hard to get a permit for a hunting riffle, not to mention personal weapons like..." Blair began to run as he saw one of the men raise his gun. Shots were fired at him and amazingly, none of the bullets hit him.

# # # # # # # #

Jim cursed as he heard Blair start talking. His instincts told him to rush to aid his guide, but he was halfway up the stairs and half carrying Julian. His Blessed Protector mode kicked into overdrive when he heard shots being fired.

As if reading his thoughts, Peter came up beside him and took over Julian. Reading the message in Peter's eyes, Jim nodded his tanks and rushed to the aid of his friend, with Kermit right behind him.

# # # # # # # #

"Ray, did you heard that?"

"Yeah, gun shots. Right in front."

The pair from Chicago rushed towards the source.

# # # # # # # #

"Damn!" Simon cursed as he heard the shots being fired in the building in front of him. He had rushed out with a team of his men as soon as Jim called in for back up but was delayed because of some stupid accident.

He ordered his troops to move in.

"This place is huge!" he heard Rafe over the communication link as they moved in.

"I don't care how big the place is, I want them found!" Simon snapped.

"Yes, sir!"

# # # # # # # #

Blair found himself hiding behind one of the few wooden boxes he spotted in the corridor with dozens of bullet flying his way.

"Jim, this would be a good time for you to show up!" he said as one of the bullets missed him by a mere inch. More shots were fired. Blair did not dare to stick out his head to see what was happening, afraid that one of the bullets might find its target.

Slowly the firing ceased and he heard Ray yelling at someone to put down their weapons and was greeted by the sight of his friend, partner and sentinel.

"Are you all right?" Jim's voice was full of concern.

"Yeah." Blair answered as he crawled out of his hiding place.

"You sure?"

Blair know that Jim's Blessed Protector mode was probably on overdrive, so he did the best that he could to ensure his friend that he was fine.

"Jim, I'm fine. A little shook up maybe, but I'm fine."

Rafe, Brown, and the other guys from Major Crimes chose that time to show up. All of Burns' men were arrested and Julian was sent to the hospital immediately, Suzanne with him.

The whole building was searched but no sign of Burns was found.

# # # # # # # #

Two hours later, all of them were gathered in Simon's office again, discussing the fate of the disk.

"I say we destroy it." Kermit suggested.

"That's out of the question. Suzanne just called and she said that Julian didn't want his uncle's life's work to be destroyed," Simon said.

"Then what the hell are we supposed to do with it?!" Ray asked. "I mean, we just can't give it back to the kid. The moment we hand the disk back to the kid, 'BOOM', all the crooks in the world will be after him." he continued, walking all over Simon's office and punctuating his speech with hand gestures.

Simon couldn't help notice at this point how this Ray was so similar to Sandburg.

"That's why we need to destroy it!" Kermit insisted.

"The problem..." the phone chose to ring at this moment. "Excuse me."

Simon picked up the phone.

Two minutes later, he hung up. By that time everyone in the room knew that whatever the call was about, it was not good news.

"A body matching Burns description was found fifteen minutes ago at a warehouse."

"What?!?" Ray couldn't believe what he was hearing. For months he had been after this guy, he just couldn't believe that he was dead before he could put him behind bars.

"I'll send Brown and Rafe. You guys have had a tough day, why don't you get home and get some rest. We can continue this discussion tomorrow morning."

All of them agreed.

# # # # # # # #

The group gathered in Simon's office the next morning.

"First. Detective Vecchio, I assume that you have had some personal contacts with Burns," Simon began.

"Yeah."

"Then we'll need you to identify the body. And about the disk, anyone come up with a solution?"

"I believe I might have one," a voice said from Simon's office door.

"Pop?!? What are you doing here?!" Peter asked in surprised. "Never mind, don't answer that question."

"Caine." Kermit, Simon, Jim, Blair and Fraser greeted simultaneously.

Caine took off his hat and walked into Simon's office. "I believe I know of a place that you could hide your disk safely without destroying it."

"Where would that be?" Simon asked.

"A place where it will not fall into the wrong hands."

"Why do I think that you're talking about a place where practically almost no one on earth could go?" Kermit asked.

Peter began to realize where his father was talking about. "Shamballa." the name was almost a whisper, but Jim managed to catch it.

"Shamballa? That supposedly mystical place you and Sandburg were talking about the last time you were here?"

"Yes."

"You sure it'll be safe there?" asked Simon.

"It'll be. Unless the Dark Warrior decides to come back again," Peter answered.

"I sure hope not," Blair said, a sudden chill running down his spine.

"The who?!?" asked Ray.

"Its a long story," Jim said.

"The short version."

"The short version is that the Dark Warrior is an evil spirit that looked like Darth Vader whom we have stopped from coming back to existence," Peter supplied.

"Uh huh."

"Back to the matter at hand please." Once Simon got everyone's attention, he continued, "Caine, I supposed you will perform this task?"

"Yes."

"Okay, that settles everything. Detective Vecchio, I want you to get down to the morgue and ID the body. Jim can show you the way."

# # # # # # # #

"Man I hate this part of the job!" Ray complained as he headed towards the morgue with Jim and Fraser.

The body was covered with a sheet when they walked in. Fraser moved to uncover it. Quickly Ray turned his head around, unwilling to even set his eyes on the body.

"What's wrong?" Jim asked.

"Uh, nothing," Ray answered.

"Ray just doesn't like looking at bodies. Specially one in this condition." Fraser said as he looked at the body. "It appears that he has been shot close range with a powerful weapon. His chest is practically a hole."

"Fraser, cut out the description!" Ray snapped.

Jim noticed the detective turning a bit green with the visual description.

"I'm sorry Ray."

"So, is it Burns?" Jim asked.

"Yes, I believe so," Fraser answered.

"Ray?"

"Jim, I am NOT looking at that body!"

"Then just look at his face. We just need an ID from you. That's all," he touched the younger detective's shoulder, lending him support.

Jim was surprised to see how many similarities Ray and Blair shared and how different he was from the Ray he knew. This Ray was almost the total opposite of the real Ray Vecchio. He was more thoughtful and did not share the self-confidence that the other Ray carried around with him. He also had a softer, almost innocent approach towards things, just like Blair. And just like Blair, he couldn't stand the sight of bodies. Jim couldn't help but wonder how he had done his job, facing the cruelty of the streets day after day without losing his humanity like so many others.

"Okay, just a glance. And Farser, make sure you reveal only his face."

With that Ray turned around, took a quick glance and turned back.

"Well, that's him all right. Now I'm gettin outta here!"

# # # # # # # #

Simon handed Caine the disk and informed him that he could use the conference room for his journey.

"Pop, would you mind if I join you?" Peter asked, uncertain.

Caine smiled at his son. "I would be honored."

Peter closed the door of the conference room. Moments later, pure white light could be seen emitting from underneath the door, and the two men disappeared from sight.

# # # # # # # #

Two days later, all of them were saying their good byes at the airport. Coincidentally the flight to Chicago left almost at the same time as the flight to Sloanville.

"Fraser, you take care of him, okay?" Jim said before leaving the airport.

"I will." Fraser promised.

Jim did not know why, but somehow he felt a strange sense of protectiveness towards Ray. Maybe it was because he reminded him of Blair, or it might be a totally different reason, he just didn't know.

# # # # # # # #

"So Kermit, what do you think of the new Ray?" Peter asked on board the flight, trying very hard not too look out of the window, his right hand gripping his father's left arm.

"I don't know. He sort of reminds me of a kid, learning to live in an adult world," Kermit reply, casting a glance at Peter.

THE END.

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