Destined For Trouble.(Looks Can Be Deceiving)     Destined For Trouble
 (Looks Can Be Deceiving.)
 A Kung Fu:TLC/ Sentinel/ dueSouth crossover story
 by Eugenie Chua 

 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. Tell me what
you think!!  I can be reached atEugenieChua 

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