Battlefield (10/15)
Previous parts: Prologue, Part One, Part Two, Part Three, Part Four, Part Five, Part Six, Part Seven, Part Eight, Part Nine
Her heart pounded as the police car flashed past them. Lisbon remained crouched down for a good five minutes, until she was absolutely sure that they weren't going to be stopped. Barely an hour into being 'on the run' and already, she was reacting like a deer caught in the headlights. Just how was she going to cope with this as a semi-permanent lifestyle? The sooner this mess was over and done with, the better, she considered. And besides, it seemed so contrary, her having a fear of cops. It felt innately wrong. They were meant to be her colleagues and friends, not ‘the enemy’. In the space of a week, her whole world had been turned upside down and Lisbon had the distinct feeling that it was going to get much worse before it got better.
"It's okay," Jane muttered when she finally sat up properly. "We're fine."
"Remind me why I've agreed to do this again?" she grumbled in response.
Jane chuckled lightly. "To clear your name and capture Red John, perhaps?"
"I'm not designed for this. I uphold the law, I don't break it."
"You haven't done anything wrong," Jane reminded her.
"Apart from avoiding arrest?” she suggested, and lifted up a hand to count her issues on her fingers. “Reading confidential case files? Planning to carry out investigations while under suspension? Handling a weapon stolen from the CBI? And who knows what else I will be forced to do? Yeah, I've done nothing wrong at all."
"You need to look at the bigger picture."
"I know," she answered quietly. "But it's hard."
They fell back into silence as Jane drove steadily onwards. Briefly, Lisbon wondered if anyone would question his absence from the CBI, but then, he had probably already called in and claimed to be sick. She trusted him, of course she did, but that didn't mean she necessarily approved of his methodology. And this plan of his, it required so much serendipity. It assumed that Red John's fascination (and potential respect) for her would be enough to keep her alive. It assumed that he would seek her out, now she had fled the comforts of her own home. It assumed they would be able to prove that she was innocent. It assumed that she wouldn't be caught before they could put Jane's plan into practice. And as far as Lisbon was concerned, that was far too many assumptions to ride on. But it was too late now, it was happening, and all she could do was pray that Lady Luck would be on her side.
Eventually, they headed out into unfamiliar territory, even for Lisbon, who had traveled the length and breadth of California as a part of her job. Jane, meanwhile, seemed to know exactly where he was going and refused to tell her precisely where they were going to meet Danny Ruskin. That was another issue she had with this whole plan: she knew that Jane and Danny had a tempestuous relationship and justifiably so. The man believed that Jane had stolen his sister away from him, and worse, led her and her daughter to their deaths. Could he really be trusted to keep his word and keep her out of trouble, or at least as much as feasibly possible, considering what they were attempting? Or would he land up looking for petty revenge and fixate on her, just as Red John had? Only time would tell, she considered.
Eventually, they pulled up outside a small cabin in the mountains, not too dissimilar to the one that Lorelei Martins had hidden out in on occasion. She had been found dead in that cabin, the one she had once shared with her sister. Jane killed the engine, grabbed her overnight bag and handed it to her without a word. With some trepidation, Lisbon stepped out of Jane's beloved Citroen and onto the muddy ground beneath her. Part of her was relieved to be out of Jane's death trap of a car, but she was all too aware that she was stepping out into the unknown. Out of the frying pan and into the fire, she surmised. Still, it made her skin crawl, knowing that by now, she was probably considered a wanted criminal. This was probably just how Madeleine Hightower had felt when she had been framed as being a mole by Craig O'Laughlin. Luckily for Hightower, all charges had eventually been dropped, but not without some fierce legal battles. Now, it was time for Lisbon herself to stand in the spotlight in a not too dissimilar role.
"You okay?" Jane muttered as he picked the lock to the cabin. "I know this is a lot to take in."
"I'm fine."
Jane nodded, understanding that she didn't want to talk about it. The phrase 'I'm fine' was essentially her way of saying that she would rather keep her current emotional status private. On occasion, he called her up on it, but whenever she needed to draw a line under a certain issue he respected her need for privacy. Or, he just read it in her expressions and demeanor anyway. Even so, sometimes, she found it comparatively easy to open up to Jane these days, and besides it was a lot more dignified than forcing him to read her body language to get it out of her. On other occasions, like now, she just didn't have the energy or impetus to speak. Those were the times when he knew it was safer to leave her alone. She just wanted this whole sorry mess over - already - so that she could get back to normal.
The cabin was barely furnished, though there was a small kitchenette tucked away in the corner. Jane readied the tea, more as a distraction than because either one of them really wanted one. Danny was nowhere to be seen, and part of her hoped he wouldn't turn up at all. She was highly trained; she knew how to fend for herself. Though she didn't want to admit to it particularly, she had a number of transferable skills thanks to her job, any one of them could apply to evading capture. However, there was the finding Red John issue. According to Jane, Danny had been working as a P.I., investigating the Red John case. Like Jane, he wanted to see Red John's blood spilled in revenge for the death of Angela Ruskin-Jane. Unlike Jane, he had been relying on his own wits and willfully breaking the law in order to discover anything he could about the serial killer. And although gumshoes generally infuriated her on the job, he allegedly had some useful information. He'd claimed that he could speed up the process of Red John 'discovering' her location and thus, delivering her to him. Or vice versa, perhaps. At the moment, the lines were so blurred that she couldn't really tell the difference.
However, Danny wasn't here. And naturally, that complicated matters. But that was only provided that he didn't turn up soon, of course. For, there were only four people who knew what she was doing: Jane, Cho, Danny and of course, herself. Danny was the weak link, the one that couldn't be trusted. Lisbon had worked with both Cho and Jane for long enough to know they would support her as best they could, every step of the way. She knew that any trust she placed in them was reciprocated entirely. Jane had made it clear that Cho realized she was innocent, and that was why he was fighting tooth and nail to clear her name. It was funny how they both claimed to know she was an innocent party, but hadn’t necessarily extended that same kind of treatment to Hightower when she’d been placed in this position. The frame job was at least as good as Hightower’s case. But then, she hadn’t spent years building up trust with them. Instead, she demanded and commanded respect.
All that was irrelevant right now. Her bosses believed she was guilty and that was enough for her need to escape. It didn’t change in the slightest the fact that Danny was an unknown entity; someone who could fall either way. He also had a criminal background and thus, Lisbon was leery to treat him with any kind of respect or implicit trust that she placed in those who had spent years around her in the CBI. But then, she reminded herself silently, she had spent years supporting a murderer. She knew that Jane had killed in cold blood and had the capacity to do so again. That didn’t matter though; she knew Jane’s motives for killing Timothy Carter, even if he had turned out to merely be an acolyte of Red John and not the killer himself. This situation was still forcing her to place her trust in somebody whom she really didn’t want to.
It was too late to do anything about it. If she dared pull the plug on it now, then she would be dragging Jane down with her too. After all, he was the one who had delivered the case notes to her, he was the one who switched her gun with a fake gun and he was the one who had organized her evasion of arrest. And Lisbon wasn’t willing to see Jane punished for yet another problem caused by Red John. The man had already been to hell and back on too many occasions. This time, she potentially had the opportunity to offer him closure, and on terms that, for once, they both agreed upon. Links may have been tenuous, there was still too much chance involved for her liking, but it was a risk she had to be willing to take. Besides, she had no choice now. And now she was standing here, in this little cabin, she wondered if Jane had really given her an option at all?
Not really, she decided. But then, he was always so convincing anyway; she never had a chance.
“I’m sorry,” Jane said as he handed her the cup of tea.
“Is this one of your general apologies or did you have something more specific in mind?”
She placed the cup of tea on the small dining table. They were perched on either side, just staring at one another and waiting for the potential - hopeful - arrival of Danny Ruskin. Lisbon wasn’t interested in consuming anything in the slightest; she had the vague notion that, even if she tried, she’d just bring it straight back up again. Sooner or later, she’d have to have something to eat or drink, especially as she didn’t necessarily know where her next meal was coming from. However, that didn’t mean she could muster the desire to do so right now. Jane took a long drink as he considered his answer. This surprised Lisbon; usually, Jane had a witty retort on his tongue before she’d even had a chance to finish the question.
But then, the magnitude of this situation was bearing down on both of them. One way or another, everything would be changed. Either she would emerge the proverbial hero, or go burning down in flames. Time would eventually dictate which, but for now, Lisbon knew she would have to deal with the fear of the unknown. And even then, she didn’t much like the idea of either ending. All she had ever wanted to do was her job to the very best of her ability. Accolades had never been that important to her; justice and the feelings of the relatives of victims, meanwhile, were.
“I’m sorry for dragging you into this mess. For complicating matters when it comes to Red John. For killing the wrong man. For tarnishing your career and potentially, ruining it. For making you the target of a dangerous serial killer…”
He eventually stopped and she paused at him, agog. This was the most comprehensive apology that Jane had ever dared to offer her. She understood why he’d needed to do it now, but that didn’t mean she could quite believe it. This was Patrick Jane, the man who had practically invented the art of saying sorry without actually saying those specific words. She shook her head and sipped at the tea. It wasn’t as bad as she had initially anticipated.
“You didn’t make me a target, Jane,” she answered; that was one thing she had to make clear. “Red John would have come after me, either way. I am - was - running the investigation into his case.”
“Teresa…”
“But thank you anyway.”
At that moment, the door burst open and a disheveled Danny Ruskin burst through the door. His eyes were wide with fear and naturally, Lisbon had a deep sense of foreboding. She had the sense that this was very much going to be the way that things started between the two of them and it already wasn’t looking good. She found herself wishing for a simpler time, maybe six months ago, before all this mess started. Back before Rigsby was even thinking about leaving the unit and when they were all still settled and confident in the roles as a team. Already, she knew she was going to be doing a lot of that over the course of… however long it took to clean up this mess. She could only hope that it wouldn’t take too long and that the results would be clean-cut in the end.
“I don’t know if I was followed,” Danny said breathlessly. “We don’t have long.”
Immediately, Jane whisked up Lisbon’s bag and handed it over to her. He followed them both outside and just before Lisbon had the chance to climb into Danny’s beaten up truck, he grabbed her by the wrist. Quizzically, she turned around to face him and then, without much of a warning, he pressed a kiss against her right cheek. Then it dawned on her: this was potentially the last time they were going to see one another alive. Hopefully, it wasn’t going to be, but there was that distinct possibility.
“Stay safe, Teresa,” he whispered.
She nodded. “I’ll try.”
To Part Eleven
Her heart pounded as the police car flashed past them. Lisbon remained crouched down for a good five minutes, until she was absolutely sure that they weren't going to be stopped. Barely an hour into being 'on the run' and already, she was reacting like a deer caught in the headlights. Just how was she going to cope with this as a semi-permanent lifestyle? The sooner this mess was over and done with, the better, she considered. And besides, it seemed so contrary, her having a fear of cops. It felt innately wrong. They were meant to be her colleagues and friends, not ‘the enemy’. In the space of a week, her whole world had been turned upside down and Lisbon had the distinct feeling that it was going to get much worse before it got better.
"It's okay," Jane muttered when she finally sat up properly. "We're fine."
"Remind me why I've agreed to do this again?" she grumbled in response.
Jane chuckled lightly. "To clear your name and capture Red John, perhaps?"
"I'm not designed for this. I uphold the law, I don't break it."
"You haven't done anything wrong," Jane reminded her.
"Apart from avoiding arrest?” she suggested, and lifted up a hand to count her issues on her fingers. “Reading confidential case files? Planning to carry out investigations while under suspension? Handling a weapon stolen from the CBI? And who knows what else I will be forced to do? Yeah, I've done nothing wrong at all."
"You need to look at the bigger picture."
"I know," she answered quietly. "But it's hard."
They fell back into silence as Jane drove steadily onwards. Briefly, Lisbon wondered if anyone would question his absence from the CBI, but then, he had probably already called in and claimed to be sick. She trusted him, of course she did, but that didn't mean she necessarily approved of his methodology. And this plan of his, it required so much serendipity. It assumed that Red John's fascination (and potential respect) for her would be enough to keep her alive. It assumed that he would seek her out, now she had fled the comforts of her own home. It assumed they would be able to prove that she was innocent. It assumed that she wouldn't be caught before they could put Jane's plan into practice. And as far as Lisbon was concerned, that was far too many assumptions to ride on. But it was too late now, it was happening, and all she could do was pray that Lady Luck would be on her side.
Eventually, they headed out into unfamiliar territory, even for Lisbon, who had traveled the length and breadth of California as a part of her job. Jane, meanwhile, seemed to know exactly where he was going and refused to tell her precisely where they were going to meet Danny Ruskin. That was another issue she had with this whole plan: she knew that Jane and Danny had a tempestuous relationship and justifiably so. The man believed that Jane had stolen his sister away from him, and worse, led her and her daughter to their deaths. Could he really be trusted to keep his word and keep her out of trouble, or at least as much as feasibly possible, considering what they were attempting? Or would he land up looking for petty revenge and fixate on her, just as Red John had? Only time would tell, she considered.
Eventually, they pulled up outside a small cabin in the mountains, not too dissimilar to the one that Lorelei Martins had hidden out in on occasion. She had been found dead in that cabin, the one she had once shared with her sister. Jane killed the engine, grabbed her overnight bag and handed it to her without a word. With some trepidation, Lisbon stepped out of Jane's beloved Citroen and onto the muddy ground beneath her. Part of her was relieved to be out of Jane's death trap of a car, but she was all too aware that she was stepping out into the unknown. Out of the frying pan and into the fire, she surmised. Still, it made her skin crawl, knowing that by now, she was probably considered a wanted criminal. This was probably just how Madeleine Hightower had felt when she had been framed as being a mole by Craig O'Laughlin. Luckily for Hightower, all charges had eventually been dropped, but not without some fierce legal battles. Now, it was time for Lisbon herself to stand in the spotlight in a not too dissimilar role.
"You okay?" Jane muttered as he picked the lock to the cabin. "I know this is a lot to take in."
"I'm fine."
Jane nodded, understanding that she didn't want to talk about it. The phrase 'I'm fine' was essentially her way of saying that she would rather keep her current emotional status private. On occasion, he called her up on it, but whenever she needed to draw a line under a certain issue he respected her need for privacy. Or, he just read it in her expressions and demeanor anyway. Even so, sometimes, she found it comparatively easy to open up to Jane these days, and besides it was a lot more dignified than forcing him to read her body language to get it out of her. On other occasions, like now, she just didn't have the energy or impetus to speak. Those were the times when he knew it was safer to leave her alone. She just wanted this whole sorry mess over - already - so that she could get back to normal.
The cabin was barely furnished, though there was a small kitchenette tucked away in the corner. Jane readied the tea, more as a distraction than because either one of them really wanted one. Danny was nowhere to be seen, and part of her hoped he wouldn't turn up at all. She was highly trained; she knew how to fend for herself. Though she didn't want to admit to it particularly, she had a number of transferable skills thanks to her job, any one of them could apply to evading capture. However, there was the finding Red John issue. According to Jane, Danny had been working as a P.I., investigating the Red John case. Like Jane, he wanted to see Red John's blood spilled in revenge for the death of Angela Ruskin-Jane. Unlike Jane, he had been relying on his own wits and willfully breaking the law in order to discover anything he could about the serial killer. And although gumshoes generally infuriated her on the job, he allegedly had some useful information. He'd claimed that he could speed up the process of Red John 'discovering' her location and thus, delivering her to him. Or vice versa, perhaps. At the moment, the lines were so blurred that she couldn't really tell the difference.
However, Danny wasn't here. And naturally, that complicated matters. But that was only provided that he didn't turn up soon, of course. For, there were only four people who knew what she was doing: Jane, Cho, Danny and of course, herself. Danny was the weak link, the one that couldn't be trusted. Lisbon had worked with both Cho and Jane for long enough to know they would support her as best they could, every step of the way. She knew that any trust she placed in them was reciprocated entirely. Jane had made it clear that Cho realized she was innocent, and that was why he was fighting tooth and nail to clear her name. It was funny how they both claimed to know she was an innocent party, but hadn’t necessarily extended that same kind of treatment to Hightower when she’d been placed in this position. The frame job was at least as good as Hightower’s case. But then, she hadn’t spent years building up trust with them. Instead, she demanded and commanded respect.
All that was irrelevant right now. Her bosses believed she was guilty and that was enough for her need to escape. It didn’t change in the slightest the fact that Danny was an unknown entity; someone who could fall either way. He also had a criminal background and thus, Lisbon was leery to treat him with any kind of respect or implicit trust that she placed in those who had spent years around her in the CBI. But then, she reminded herself silently, she had spent years supporting a murderer. She knew that Jane had killed in cold blood and had the capacity to do so again. That didn’t matter though; she knew Jane’s motives for killing Timothy Carter, even if he had turned out to merely be an acolyte of Red John and not the killer himself. This situation was still forcing her to place her trust in somebody whom she really didn’t want to.
It was too late to do anything about it. If she dared pull the plug on it now, then she would be dragging Jane down with her too. After all, he was the one who had delivered the case notes to her, he was the one who switched her gun with a fake gun and he was the one who had organized her evasion of arrest. And Lisbon wasn’t willing to see Jane punished for yet another problem caused by Red John. The man had already been to hell and back on too many occasions. This time, she potentially had the opportunity to offer him closure, and on terms that, for once, they both agreed upon. Links may have been tenuous, there was still too much chance involved for her liking, but it was a risk she had to be willing to take. Besides, she had no choice now. And now she was standing here, in this little cabin, she wondered if Jane had really given her an option at all?
Not really, she decided. But then, he was always so convincing anyway; she never had a chance.
“I’m sorry,” Jane said as he handed her the cup of tea.
“Is this one of your general apologies or did you have something more specific in mind?”
She placed the cup of tea on the small dining table. They were perched on either side, just staring at one another and waiting for the potential - hopeful - arrival of Danny Ruskin. Lisbon wasn’t interested in consuming anything in the slightest; she had the vague notion that, even if she tried, she’d just bring it straight back up again. Sooner or later, she’d have to have something to eat or drink, especially as she didn’t necessarily know where her next meal was coming from. However, that didn’t mean she could muster the desire to do so right now. Jane took a long drink as he considered his answer. This surprised Lisbon; usually, Jane had a witty retort on his tongue before she’d even had a chance to finish the question.
But then, the magnitude of this situation was bearing down on both of them. One way or another, everything would be changed. Either she would emerge the proverbial hero, or go burning down in flames. Time would eventually dictate which, but for now, Lisbon knew she would have to deal with the fear of the unknown. And even then, she didn’t much like the idea of either ending. All she had ever wanted to do was her job to the very best of her ability. Accolades had never been that important to her; justice and the feelings of the relatives of victims, meanwhile, were.
“I’m sorry for dragging you into this mess. For complicating matters when it comes to Red John. For killing the wrong man. For tarnishing your career and potentially, ruining it. For making you the target of a dangerous serial killer…”
He eventually stopped and she paused at him, agog. This was the most comprehensive apology that Jane had ever dared to offer her. She understood why he’d needed to do it now, but that didn’t mean she could quite believe it. This was Patrick Jane, the man who had practically invented the art of saying sorry without actually saying those specific words. She shook her head and sipped at the tea. It wasn’t as bad as she had initially anticipated.
“You didn’t make me a target, Jane,” she answered; that was one thing she had to make clear. “Red John would have come after me, either way. I am - was - running the investigation into his case.”
“Teresa…”
“But thank you anyway.”
At that moment, the door burst open and a disheveled Danny Ruskin burst through the door. His eyes were wide with fear and naturally, Lisbon had a deep sense of foreboding. She had the sense that this was very much going to be the way that things started between the two of them and it already wasn’t looking good. She found herself wishing for a simpler time, maybe six months ago, before all this mess started. Back before Rigsby was even thinking about leaving the unit and when they were all still settled and confident in the roles as a team. Already, she knew she was going to be doing a lot of that over the course of… however long it took to clean up this mess. She could only hope that it wouldn’t take too long and that the results would be clean-cut in the end.
“I don’t know if I was followed,” Danny said breathlessly. “We don’t have long.”
Immediately, Jane whisked up Lisbon’s bag and handed it over to her. He followed them both outside and just before Lisbon had the chance to climb into Danny’s beaten up truck, he grabbed her by the wrist. Quizzically, she turned around to face him and then, without much of a warning, he pressed a kiss against her right cheek. Then it dawned on her: this was potentially the last time they were going to see one another alive. Hopefully, it wasn’t going to be, but there was that distinct possibility.
“Stay safe, Teresa,” he whispered.
She nodded. “I’ll try.”
To Part Eleven