COLD CASE:

THE COMPANY (PART 2)
The search for a retired CIA agent’s killer heats up, literally, when the prime suspect is killed in an explosion. The bombing is quickly linked to a suspected terrorist the agent was following, but Lilly suspects there’s more to the case than meets the eye. While forensics tech Louie finds himself forced to defuse a tense situation, the squad must find the man the victim was following and learn what he knows before the case witnesses are taken out one by one.
Meanwhile, for the first time in her life, Lilly must choose between her work and her family, until Agent Cavanaugh proposes a solution.
The music of REM plays throughout.
PREVIOUSLY ON COLD CASE:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SeT7nbctJ3Y

Jeff raised his glass. “To new chapters.”

Jeff’s body lay across the park walkway, barely visible as the moon remained covered by the clouds. His eyes were closed. His shirt and jacket were stained with blood around his chest.

“Victim’s Jeff Royce. He was shot in Summerton Park back in ‘93.” Stillman said. “Guy was a twenty-year field agent for the CIA.”

Bonnie shook her head. “It’s one thing to take a guy like Jeff out of the Company. It’s another to take the Company out of him.”

“Anyway, after he retired, I was so excited cause I thought I was gonna get to see that sight every day.” Jimmy’s smile faded into a slight frown. “Didn’t really work out that way though.

Sharon stepped closer to Jeff. “You know why you married me, Jeff?”

Jeff looked at her, unsure of what to say.

Sharon sighed. “Because I’m the only person in the world you can’t lie to… You shouldn’t make promises you can’t keep, to me or to Jimmy.”

“Our boss had one last assignment for Jeff, something off the record. They went so far to put on a big retirement party for him, so everyone we worked with would think he was done.”

“Pretty long ways to go to cover up an assignment.” Scotty said.

“Yeah, it was.” Ethan said.

“He came to me, said he had one last job, off the books, and said he needed someone without formal ties to the agency anymore.”

“He was supposed to be watching someone in his neighborhood.” Lilly said.

Steve nodded. “Yeah, some Middle-Eastern guy, immigrated here in the early nineties.”

Jeff gestured to the other man. “Sharon, this is Omar. He lives across the street.”

“What did you think?” Jeffries asked.

Steve shook his head. “I don’t know. The guy wound up face down in the river before I could find out for sure. Some sort of boating accident, least that’s what they said.”

Cavanaugh’s smile faded slightly. “So you’re still going back to work at Homicide till then?”

“You know me, like to keep busy.”

“Just hoping you won’t forget about us up here.” Cavanaugh said, looking serious. “I mean it, the Bureau needs good people.”

Lilly looked at her father a moment. “Dad, do you think I should take this job?”

“I can’t answer that for you, Lilly.” Paul said, calmly. “It’s your life.”

The woman pulled a photo, that of a teenage girl, out of her purse. “This is my daughter, Rosita. She was killed in 1979. Someone pushed her from a balcony at the house where I was working at the time. I… I was told you solve cases like this.”

Lilly looked at the woman uneasily. “I’m sorry, Mrs. Trejo, I’m working another case right now, and I won’t be available here after that.

Scotty frowned at the text message on his phone as he walked into Homicide. Pausing for a moment, he opened it and looked at the message: I KNOW WHAT YOU DID, SCOTTY VALENS

Scotty narrowed his eyes in disgust and hit DELETE.

“Back in the eighties, one of our field teams raided a terrorist base in Egypt on the border of Libya. Weapons, drugs, money.” Garrison swallowed. “There were some… discrepancies when the money was counted. We couldn’t prove anything…”

“But you think someone took a little off the top.” Vera said.

Ethan shook his head. “We never should’ve gone after Khalid. He wasn’t who we thought he was. Then he wouldn’t have had to go on the run.”

“What do you mean ‘go on run?”” Scotty asked, before his eyes narrowed.

“You’re saying Khalid didn’t die in that accident?”

Ethan smiled and shook his head slowly.

Lilly leaned closer. “Ethan we know you were being blackmailed. We need to know by who.”

Ethan looked at the two detectives. “You have no idea what you’ve gotten yourselves into.” He pointed downwards and it was only then that Lilly and Scotty first noticed the wires leading up and down the leg of the chair.

“Tell his family I’m sorry, would you?”

He pushed down on the arm rests and started to lift himself up.

Lilly and Scotty immediately bolted from the walkway and threw themselves to the floor of the walkway. Behind them, a deafening blast hurled the door clear over the railing, followed by a huge cloud of dust…

1

The following story is fictional and
does not depict any actual person or event.

REM
“Superman”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j8XrTG3D9ys

October 1, 1993

Jeff Royce ran the brush over the barbecue grill a bit harder than he meant to. It didn’t matter. He wasn’t even looking at the grill but past the house to a man mowing his lawn across the street.

Picking up the two bags of raked leaves, Jeff walked around to the front edge of the house, and deposited the bags in the cans, never taking his eyes of the man for a moment.

Omar Khalid looked up from his mower and waved a hand as he noticed Jeff. It was a few moments before Jeff thought to wave back.

A middle-aged couple passed by on the sidewalk, giving Jeff a friendly greeting and wave as they did. Three small girls rode by on the bikes, laughing. Though they passed right in front of him, Jeff didn’t see any of them, except Omar, who had gone back to mowing.
Jeff’s staring was only broken when he heard the faint ringing of the phone inside the house. He shook his head, then headed towards the door.

“Hello?” Jeff answered curtly, picking up the phone in the living room.

“So, you got any plans for the weekend?” Ethan said, smirking on the other end.

“I told you not to call me here.”

“Well, you keep ducking me like this, you don’t leave me a lot of choice.”

“Garrison tell you to call me?”

“No, just making sure you’re keeping your eye on the prize.”

Jeff pulled the front room curtains back slightly and stared at Omar, still mowing his lawn.
“I know who I’m supposed to keep an eye on.”

“Good.” Ethan smiled. “Look, one way or another, this should all be over soon. You know I’m just looking out for you, right?”

“Yeah.” Jeff answered, suddenly sounding weary. “Well, since we’re exchanging friendly advice, here’s some from me. We’ve been doing this job too long. Get out and find something else to do before it turns you into something you don’t even recognize.” He sighed. “Or it kills you.”

Ethan said nothing, but Jeff didn’t notice. Instead, his gaze was focused squarely on Omar across the street…

The motel parking lot, nearly empty a half-hour earlier was now a sea of police and emergency vehicles. Sitting at the back of an ambulance, Detective Lilly Rush pushed away the oxygen mask again, before the paramedic holding it shook his head and finally gave up. She turned her head up towards the six-foot wide crater on the second floor that had formerly been the room of Ethan Moore.

Her partner, Scotty Valens, sitting next to her, gestured to the older man walking back over to them.

“CSU’s almost here. So are Vera and Miller” Lieutenant John Stillman said. “Will’s interviewing the guests. Owner said he saw a black van pulling out of the lot about an hour ago, didn’t think it belong to any of the guests.”

Lilly nodded. “Maybe we’ll get lucky with traffic cameras.”

Stillman looked up at the wrecked room, then back at them. “They’re probably gonna bring the FBI in on this.”

Scotty rolled his eyes. “Cause that worked so great the last time they worked a bombing in Philly.”

“We’re gonna need their help on this.” Stillman said. “We’ll talk once the docs clear you both.”

Lilly and Scotty both nodded.

“There’s one more thing. They found this blown halfway across the lot.” Stillman held up a glossy black and white photo with scorch marks at the edge. It showed Jeff and Omar outside somewhere. Jeff had his hand out, apparently conversing with Omar, who was looking around uneasily, allowing the camera to catch his face.

“That’s Omar Khalid, the guy Jeff was supposed to be watching.” Scotty said. “Ethan still had this after all these years?”

“Doesn’t look like they could see him take it.” Lilly said. “Wonder which one of them he was shooting.”

“We still think Ethan was telling the truth?” Stillman asked. “That this guy’s still alive?”

Scotty shrugged. “Guy knew he was about to meet his maker. I don’t think he’d lie about that with his last words.”

“We need to find him, boss.” Lilly said. “Whatever happened to Ethan here, whatever happened to Jeff seventeen years ago,” Lilly pointed to Omar’s face in the picture. “This guy’s the key.”

www.youtube.com/watch?v=oaw9Vpa0JDM

2

The tall dark-haired man emerged from the SUV a few hours later, a handful of other suited men behind him, and extended a hand to Stillman.

“Lieutenant Stillman,” Agent Ryan Cavanaugh said. “Good to work with you again. I’m up to speed on the report your office sent over.”

Stillman nodded. “You got here fast.”

“Guess access to a jet’s just one of those FBI perks.” Scotty said, approaching them, while casting a long look at Lilly, who was also joining them.

Cavanaugh gave the two a long, uneasy look, particularly at Lilly. “You two okay?”

“Yeah.” Scotty recoiled, but had an amused look on his face, and turned to Lilly again. “Thanks for your concern.”

Cavanaugh looked up at the wrecked motel room. “So are we thinking this Omar Khalid was behind this?”

“We don’t know that yet,” Stillman said, “but we think Ethan Moore was being blackmailed.”

“And now we think the blackmailer decided to shut him up for good?”

“He said somebody threatened his family.” Lilly said. “Somebody didn’t want him talking.”

“The CIA thought Khalid was suspicious enough to have this Jeff Royce guy watch him back in ‘93, then he goes and fakes his death.” Cavanaugh said. “Assuming Ethan was telling the truth, why’d Khalid fake his death if he was innocent?”

Before anyone could answer, they turned to see a car pulled to a stop and out emerged an older, light-haired man, accompanied by a slender forty-something woman, whom Lilly recognized as Bonnie McLaren.

“That’s Jeff's old boss at Langley” Scotty said, puzzled, as the two approached them. “Speaking of people gettin’ here fast.”

“Lieutenant Stillman?” The man said with a friendly smile. “Bob Garrison, Director of Special Operations, CIA.”

“A little out of your jurisdiction, Director.” Cavanaugh said, giving Garrison a suspicious look.

Garrison pointed at the FBI agent. “Cavanaugh, isn’t it?” He said as smile looked somewhat more forced. “Anti-terrorism conference in D.C., 2006. We had a… spirited debate on interrogation techniques.”

Cavanaugh gave a condescending smile. “Still not a big fan of torturing suspects.”

Garrison dropped his forced smile. “I didn’t come all this way for an argument.”

“Why are you here?” Stillman asked.

Garrison looked at the others, then back at Stillman. “Can we speak in private?”

Lilly and Scotty rolled their eyes while Cavanaugh frowned. Bonnie simply stood there, looking uncomfortable. After a moment, Stillman nodded and stepped aside with Garrison.
“Cavanaugh was right, Director” Stillman said when they were out of earshot. “You’re a long way from your jurisdiction.”

Garrison sighed. “I want to help however I can. Ethan was one of ours.”

“So was Jeff Royce. It took over a day for my detectives to get five minutes with you to talk about him. Ethan Moore gets killed and you drop everything and get on a plane to Philly before the crime scene’s three hours old?”

Garrison stood there for a moment before responding. “Omar Khalid’s alive.”

Stillman’s eyes narrowed. “How do you know that? Why didn’t you say something to my detectives?”

“I didn’t realize at the time.” Garrison said. “After I talked to your people, I had some questions of my own. I started looking into Ethan’s history. Some of his financial records started raising flags. I started to think maybe Steve Mitchum really wasn’t the dirty agent in that raid, and maybe Ethan was doing more here than checking up on Jeff. If someone wanted to fake their death, a CIA agent could be pretty handy.”

“So you think Omar blackmailed Ethan into helping him disappear?”

Garrison nodded. “It also gives him motive for taking out Ethan once he started talking to the police.” He looked away for a moment. “And for Jeff’s murder.”

Stillman lowered his head slightly, but kept his gaze on Garrison.

“Jeff wasn’t happy about that assignment by the end, but he was enough of a professional to see it through.” Garrison shook his head. “If Jeff was getting too close, Khalid could’ve gotten Ethan to take him out.”

Stillman looked at Garrison for a moment, then nodded evenly. “Makes sense.”

“Then we need to find him.” Garrison said, nodding in agreement. “I’ll see to it everything we have on Omar Khalid is sent to your office, and I mean everything.”

“I appreciate that, Director.”

Garrison smiled and nodded in approval, then left, while Stillman walked back over to when Lilly, Scotty, and Cavanaugh were. Bonnie was already heading off in Garrison’s direction.

“Director Garrison was just telling me how he thinks Khalid blackmailed Ethan Moore into helping him fake his death, getting him to kill Jeff when he found out, and then killing Ethan when he started talking. Makes perfect sense. He did everything but tie it in a bow.” Stillman’s look darkened. “Find out what really happened.”

Lilly looked over towards Bonnie, who looked back at her for a moment, before quickly turning away and following Garrison.

“We haven’t been able to get a hold of your mother, Jimmy.” Detective Will Jeffries said, placing the coffee cup on the table in front of Jimmy Royce, “or Steve Mitchum since he left.”

“I don’t know where they could be.” The young man shook his head. “Listen, you have to believe me, I had no idea that Omar guy was alive. Everyone said he died in some boat accident.”

“You were following your dad around,” Jeffries said. “He ever say anything about him that seemed suspicious?”

Jimmy’s eyes narrowed. “Dad didn’t really talk about him, but something happened the last time I saw that guy. It was really weird…”

REM
“The One I Love”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=keTmxJcIjEs

Sitting on the back porch, Jimmy frowned as the game on his Gameboy continued to chirp. It wasn’t the Super Nintendo game he wanted, but it would have to do until he’d saved up enough to get it.

He looked up as he saw his father walking around the house, and out across the street to Omar’s house. Smiling, Jimmy turned off the Gameboy and slipped around the other side of the house. He’d gotten a lot more careful since that night his dad had caught him.
After sprinting across the street and around the side of Omar’s house, Jimmy crouched down at the corner and peeked into the backyard, where Jeff was walking towards Omar. Omar was grilling a mid-sized fish on a small, circular barbecue and looked up as he saw Jeff approaching.

“Hello, my friend.” Omar said with a smile. “Those fish we caught at the lake are really cooking up nicely.”

Jeff didn’t smile back. “Well enjoy ‘em while you can.”

Omar shrugged. “Well I guess the weather is getting a bit colder.”

“Yeah.” Jeff said dryly. “Listen, Omar, we need to talk.”

“Is something wrong?”

“You could say.” Jeff frowned. “You know who I used to work for.”
Omar just looked at him, confused.

“Well it turns out they still had some work for me.” Jeff’s look darkened. “There was a reason we moved to this neighborhood. There was someone living here, someone the CIA thinks is very dangerous.”

Omar’s eyes widened at this, but he said nothing.

“I need you to come in with me. We have a lot to talk about.”

Omar recoiled slightly, but his feet remained in place. Jeff’s eyes narrowed.

“We can do this the easy way or the hard way, Omar.”

Omar stood in place for a few moment without saying a word. Suddenly, he reached under the barbecue and flipped it over in Jeff’s direction, and bolted to the front yard. Jeff growled slightly, brushing the bits of hot coal off his front before taking off in a run after Omar.

Jimmy hurried around to the front of the house in time to see Jeff emerge from the corner at the other side. Omar was already in his car with the engine running. Jeff continued towards the car, but Omar was backing out before Jeff could get near him. He instinctively reached for something under his jacket, when he looked around and noticed a large number of bystanders on the street, and pulled his hand away.

Jeff only watched as Omar’s car sped off. He stood there for a moment, before he pulled his cell phone from his pocket and flipped it open.

“Yeah, it’s me.” Jeff said with a sigh. “He panicked and drove off. You already have the plate number.” Jeff paused briefly as the person on the other end said something. “No, it’s all right. Keep everything else on schedule. Set things up with the doc, I’ll find him. We’ll still need someone to access the records though.” Another pause. “Yeah, we can trust her. I was the one who trained her, remember? Just take care of your end, I’ll take care of mine.”

Still hiding at the corner of the house, Jimmy turned away and swallowed…

“I never saw Omar again after that.” Jimmy said, shaking his head. “A couple of days later, people were saying he died in an accident with his boat.”

“You never told anyone about this?” Jeffries asked.

Jimmy shrugged. “I didn’t think there was a way to do that without getting in trouble. I almost forgot it ever happened.”

“Any idea who your dad was talking to on the phone?”

Jimmy smiled slightly. “No, but I’m pretty sure I know who he was talking about.”

Lilly rapped on the side of the car, pulling the attention of the woman in the back seat away from her laptop.

“Can I help you.” The woman asked, once the window was open.

Lilly gave a friendly smile. “Bonnie McLaren, right?”

“Yes?”

“Sorry, I didn’t get a chance to introduce myself earlier.” Lilly said, still smiling. “Detective Lilly Rush, Philly Homicide. Mind if it sit down?”

Bonnie glanced down at her laptop, then up at Lilly. “Actually, I need to send–“

“It’ll just take a minute.” Lilly said, putting up a hand.

Bonnie sighed and moved over, before Lilly sat down in the car with her.

“So I hear Jeff trained you when he was still with the CIA.”

“Yeah, he did.” Bonnie said, plainly.

“I was just thinking about everything going on in the world then. Must’ve been an interesting time to start out with CIA.”

Bonnie gave Lilly a cool look. “Not always in a good way, but yeah, it was.”

Lilly leaned closer. “Bit of a boys’ club?”

Bonnie rolled her eyes. “Sometimes. Jeff was easy to work with though, good teacher.”

“Probably helped you a lot.”

“Yes.” Bonnie looked at her uneasily.

“So if he ever needed your help, you wanna be able to help him.” Lilly said, innocently.

Bonnie looked at her with something short of a scowl. “What are you getting at?”

“This isn’t the first time you followed Bob Garrison to Philly. We checked records. You were in town that week as well.”

Bonnie leaned back. “And what? You think I did something to him?

Lilly shook her head. “I’m just saying if Jeff ever needed help for a mission, you’d wanna help if you could, and he’d want someone he could trust.”

Bonnie looked away. “I’m a senior analyst now. If anyone found out what–“

“I’m not interested in ruining anyone’s career. I just want to know what Jeff was doing.”

Bonnie closed her eyes for a moment. “He didn’t tell me everything. He said it was safer for me that way…”

REM
“Radio Free Europe”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SHjgn8TLaB4

Sitting at the booth in the diner, Bonnie sipped her coffee and smiled at Jeff on the other side of the table.

“So how’ve you been the last few months?” Jeff asked.

Bonnie nodded. “Good, really good. I’m actually trying to decide between assignments right now.”

“Oh yeah?”

“I can either stay at Langley or take a job at one of the field offices. I mean there’s some exciting stuff they’re doing in Germany, but I think I’m more likely to get noticed stateside.”

“Well you’re definitely more likely to get brass’ attention at Langley, but in the long run…”
Jeff put up a hand. “You know what? I can’t tell you what to do, Bonnie. It’s your career. I’m just gonna say you’re at the point right now that defines what kind of career that’s gonna be, so find something you can live with.”

Bonnie nodded solemnly. “Okay.”

Jeff sighed for a moment.

Bonnie blushed. “Why do I feel like you called me here for more than just career advice?”

Jeff leaned closer. “Bonnie, I’m working on something here and I could really use your help.”

“Working on something? Are you saying you’re still working for–“

“Yeah. I am.”

Bonnie shook her head. “So what have you been doing here all these months?”

“Look, I can’t get into the details right now, but there’s been a bit of a complication. Now the last thing I want to do is jeopardize your career right when it’s starting, but need someone’s help. Someone who’s still in the Company. I’ll understand if–“

“Okay, I’ll do it.” Bonnie said quickly. “Whatever you need.”

Jeff smirked. “I haven’t even told you what it is.”

“I know you.” Bonnie said. “Whatever it is, I know you know what you’re doing.”

“I’m not so sure I do, but thanks.”

“So how can I help?”

Jeff chuckled. “You always were eager to please.”

Bonnie laughed…

“So what did he want you to do?” Lilly asked.

Bonnie looked at her for a moment, then sighed. “He had me go to the CIA’s field office here in Philly, and hack into the database for the city Medical Examiner’s office. He had me get him any reports on any males thirty to fifty who’d died in the last couple of days.”

“What did he want with those?”

Bonnie shook her head. “I don’t know. He just said he was looking for someone.”

“Still haven’t accounted for all the bomb parts, so some of it might’ve dropped down here.” The short dark-haired man said, leading Scotty and Kat into the first-floor motel room. Directly below Ethan’s room, it now sported a massive hole in the ceiling.

“Be enough to make an ID?” Scotty asked.

The man shrugged. “Only one way to find out.”

Kat gave him a smile. “So, Louie, how’s married life treating you?”

Louie Amante smiled back. “Really good. You know Anna’s mom doesn’t even roll her eyes at me anymore.”

Kat looked at Scotty, amused, then back at Louie. “Glad it’s working for you.”

Louie looked up towards the hole, all the way to the wall. “Let’s see, now the fragment would’ve been blown towards the wall, but didn’t penetrate.” His eyes led down to the floor of the ground-level room. “So then it would’ve fallen down somewhere around here.” He flashed a cool look towards Scotty. “You guys don’t think I did this, right?”

Scotty smirked. “You gotta let that go, man.”

“Yeah right.” Louie said unenthusiastically, as he crouched down under a fallen shelf. “So I hear Rush is taking that job with the Feds.”

“Looks that way.” Scotty said as he and Kat crouched down next to Louie.

“Homicide’s not gonna be the same without her.” Louie said before suddenly letting out a groan.

“What is it?” Kat asked.

“Uhhh… you might wanna tell Frannie I think I just found some more of your vic down here.”

Scotty and Kat both winced at this as Louie wedged himself under a small tent of debris.
“Hang on, I think I got something. Looks like a back-up detonator. I think there might be some C4 still attached to this too.”

“Can we get anything off it?” Kat asked.

“Maybe.” Louie said. “This doesn’t really add up though. All the fragments I’ve found said this was something home-made, like you could build in your garage.”

“Makes sense if the guy’s a fugitive terrorist.” Scotty said.

“Yeah, but they said this guy was a demolitions expert, right? This thing looks like it was slapped together. I’m almost amazed it went off. But there’s wiring here that look like some pro did it. It’s almost like someone trying to make it look amateur.”

“Somebody trying to make it look like someone else’s handiwork.” Kat said.

“Guys?” Louie said.

“So maybe we’re lookin’ at the wrong guy.” Scotty added, not hearing Louie..

“Guys?” Louie repeated. “We uhhh… may have a bit of problem here.”

“What kind of problem?” Kat asked, uneasily.

“There’s a lot more here than I thought.” Louie said, swallowing. “There’s a whole second bomb here, and…”

“And what?” Scotty said, not expecting a good answer.

Louie’s breathing got heavier. “I think it’s still armed.”

3

“Come on, Louie, we gotta get outta here.” Scotty said.

“Hang on.” Louie said. “I moved this stuff off of it. This thing’s weight-sensitive. We cover it up again, it might go off.”

“We’ll get Bomb Squad back here.” Kat said.

“There’s no time for that. Just get clear.” Louie said, giving them a sad look.

“We’re not leaving you here, Louie!” Kat said, frowning in thought for a moment. “Can you disarm it?”

Louie looked up at her for a moment, then back at the bomb. “I usually work with bombs after they go off. I…” He paused for a moment, then nodded. “Yeah… yeah, I think so.”

“You think?” Scotty asked.

Louie closed his eyes and nodded. “Yeah, yeah. I can.” His eyes darted over the device. “All right, I know this. It’s a trip mechanism, pressure-activated. I know this.” He looked up at Scotty and Kat. “Hold this stuff.”

As Scotty and Kat held the wreckage up, Louie pulled a small screwdriver from his pocket. “Let’s just hope if they were tryin’ to look low-tech, they didn’t bother with any booby traps.”

Louie turned the screw-driver at the corners of a small panel, until four tiny screws fell out and the panel popped off, revealing a mess of wires inside.

Louie swallowed hard and wiped sweat from his brow. “There’s a bit more wiring in here than I thought.”

Kat’s eyes widened. “Louie?”

Louie looked at the bomb for a moment, then shook his head. “No, I can do this. I ‘m not going out like this, not now. Anna and I were talking about getting another dog.”
Louie’s eyes ran over each wire, before resting on something he recognized. He pulled a pair of wire-cutters from his pocket and reached inside.

“This should be it.” He said.

Scotty could make out a faint snipping sound, then heard Louie release a heavy sigh.
“Okay, we’re good now.” Louie said, sitting up. “You can set that down now.”

“I’ll get Bomb Squad and CSU in here, make sure there’s no more surprises.” Kat said, once she and Scotty had set the wreckage down and stood up.

Scotty nodded. “Maybe we’ll get lucky with prints or DNA.”

As Kat hurried off, Louie looked up nervously at Scotty.

“Maybe we don’t tell Anna about this, huh?” Louie said.

Lilly rapped on the door to Stillman’s office, and Stillman waved her and Detective Nick Vera in.

“FBI lab’s going over the bomb.” Lilly said. “No prints, but they might have some possible DNA.”

“Might have another lead in the mean time.” Vera said. “I checked over Jeff’s phone records again. A few days before Jeff died, he made a phone call to a Dr. Gil Bornstein. Has a dental practice out in the Badlands. Little bit out of his way for a teeth-cleaning.”

“Ethan said that Jeff asked him to find a dentist.” Lilly said.

“But what for?” Stillman asked.

“Did a little digging on Bornstein. Back in the early nineties, the doc was an orthodontist, had a bit of a gambling problem. Lost his job after he got caught dippin’ into the payroll at his practice. Whatever Jeff wanted from this guy, I’m guessing it wasn’t on the up and up.”

Stillman nodded. “Maybe we need to find out what Dr. Bornstein was up to back in the nineties.”

Scotty wrinkled his nose as he looked around the grungy, dimly-lit waiting room of Dr. Gil Bornstein’s dental office.

“Long way from fitting braces for rich kids in Chestnut Hill, huh, Doc?”

The slightly weathered fifty-something man frowned at Scotty and Vera. “I made some mistakes a long time ago. It’s not all bad. I think I’m contributing far more here than I ever did there.”

“Well then it’s good you couldn’t get a job anywhere else, isn’t it?” Vera said.

“Just like you couldn’t pick a winning racehorse.” Scotty said with a smirk.

Bornstein sighed. “Again, it was a long time ago. What do you want from me?”

“Remember a guy named Jeff Royce, guy out in Libertyville called your office back in the day?” Scotty smiled.

Bornstein quickly shook his head. “I’m sorry. That name doesn’t ring a bell.”

“Jeff was CIA. He got your name from another agent just before he was killed.” Vera said.
“CIA agent contacts a guy with a past as shady as yours, I’m bettin’ whatever it was about, that’s something you remember.”

“No!” Bornstein said with a firm shrug. “Come on, you can’t seriously expect me to remember a phone call from 1993.”

A grin appeared on Scotty’s face. “Didn’t say it was from 1993.”

Bornstein’s eyes widened and his jaw went slack. He looked at the two detectives for a moment before speaking. “I wanna talk to a lawyer.”

Scotty nodded. “Sure thing.” He pulled out his cell phone and started dialing. “Just gonna make a phone call myself in the meantime.”

“Who are you calling?” Bornstein asked.

“Oh, just this guy I know at the IRS.” Scotty said, nonchalantly. “We found a few discrepancies in your financial records. Gotta have him look it over. Just a formality.”

Vera nodded. “Yeah, shouldn’t be a problem. You paid taxes on all your gambling winnings back then, right?”

Bornstein quickly put up his hands. “No wait, wait, wait! I remember him, all right?”
Scotty put his phone away and folded his arms.

Bornstein closed his eyes. “I got indebted to some very bad people back then. They were following me, threatening me, somebody threw a brick through the window here. There was a note attached that said the next one was gonna be a bomb.” He shook his head. “I don’t know how but that man Jeff found me. I met with him and somehow he knew everything about me. He said he could make them leave me alone, but he needed me to do something for him…”

REM
“Orange Crush”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6PXC574lzHA

“Where am I?” Bornstein asked, putting his hands out as he stumbled out of the back of the van. “Can I please take this off?”

Jeff walked over and pulled the blindfold off, allowing Bornstein to see the cracked, graffiti-covered interior of the warehouse.

“Take a breath, Gil.” Jeff said, calmly. “You’re perfectly safe.”

“Where am I?”

Jeff sighed. “Well that would really defeat the purpose of the blindfold, now wouldn’t it?” He leaned closer. “Gil, listen to me. I need you to stay focused. This job’s very important and I need you to be calm.”

Bornstein shook his head. “What job?”

Jeff put his hand on Bornstein’s back and started walking him towards what looked like a small office. “Okay, Gil, I know you’re not that naive. Just a little reminder, you racked up a lot of debt with some very bad people.” He gestured to Steve Mitchum, who was waiting inside the office. “Now, I’m not here to judge you, but my friend here’s gone to a lot of trouble to make sure those guys leave you alone, and our understanding was you’d do something for us in return.”

Bornstein looked at Jeff, then Steve. “What do you want me to do?”

Jeff nodded. “I just want you to do what you do best, Gil. Fix some teeth. Now I’m gonna show you your patient, and I’m gonna need you to stay calm.”

It was then that Bornstein notice the slab against the wall. The one with the body covered by a sheet.

Bornstein took a step back. “Oh, my God! Is he dead?”

Jeff walked over and pulled the sheet back slightly, revealed a slightly disheveled middle-aged man underneath. “Yes, Gil. He’s dead. I really can’t sugarcoat that.”

Bornstein shook his head and hurried towards the office before he noticed the strong grip on his arm.

“You’re not going anywhere, Doc.” Steve said in a dull voice.

Jeff put a hand up to Steve, who released Bornstein. “Sorry, Gil, but I can’t let you do that. Now, I’m sorry if this is a bit more than you’re used to, but I’m gonna need you to rise to the occasion here.” Jeff gestured to the body. “Now I can promise you we didn’t kill this man. He was homeless, no family. He drowned in the Schuylkill two nights ago. It was a terrible accident, but nobody’s fault. Now I need you to work on him. There’s an x-ray over there of a set of teeth. I need you to match his as close as possible to the ones on that x-ray. You do this, those leg-breakers go away and you get whatever’s left of your life back.”

Bornstein walked over to the x-ray and picked it up. “Whose teeth are these?”

“I can’t tell you that, Gil.” Jeff said. “Just do this for me and then you can forget this ever happened.”

Bornstein’s eyes narrowed. “And I can just… go back after that?”

Jeff nodded. “And you can just go back after that. You didn’t make a deal with the devil, Gil, but you did make a deal. You should have all the tools you need on the table there. Now get to work. I’d like if you could be done by sun-up.”

Bornstein looked at the body, then the x-ray. “He must be a pretty big deal.”

Jeff folded his arms. “Who?”

Borstein turned around to look at Jeff and Steve. “The guy you want everyone to think is dead.”

Jeff gave a small facial shrug. “Yeah, I suppose he is. Get to work, Gil…”

Bornstein lowered his head. “I did what I could, then they took me home. I never heard from them again after that, but the debt collectors stopped bothering me after that. I’ve been trying to forget ever since.”

“So they were trying to fake someone’s death?” Scotty asked.

Bornstein shrugged. “Why else would you change a dead man’s teeth to look like someone else’s?”

“And you’re sure the other guy’s name was Steve?”

Bornstein nodded. “I overheard them talking while I was working.”

“Okay.” Scotty said. “Stay reachable, Doc.”

Scotty leaned over to Vera as the two walked out of the office. “You remember the Denton job last spring?” He asked quietly.

Vera nodded. “Yeah, P.I. faked that girl’s death, helped her start over somewhere else. That what we’re lookin’ at here?”

“Maybe, but why’s a CIA agent helping a suspected terrorist disappear?”

“I can think of one person to ask.”

Steve Mitchum got out of the truck and frowned as he saw the black SUV pulling up to the cabin. Lilly and Cavanaugh both emerged from the vehicle, neither of them looking friendly.

Steve rolled his eyes. “I’m starting to think you’re one of my ex-wives, the way you keep comin’ around here.”

Lilly glared at him. “Yeah, well I’m getting a little sick of this myself.”

“Agent Cavanaugh, FBI.” Cavanaugh said, showing his badge.

“FBI, huh?” Steve chuckled. “Couldn’t get a real job?”

“If you think pissing me off’s gonna distract me from asking questions, think again.” Cavanaugh said, giving Steve a hard look. “We know you helped Jeff fake Omar Khalid’s death. What we don’t know is why.”

Steve folded his arms. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.” He said, in a bored tone.

“That dentist you guys used is talking.” Cavanaugh said with a smile. “It’s gonna take him about two seconds to pick you out of a line-up.”

“Gonna be a hell of a list of charges.” Lilly added, stepping closer. “Fraud, extortion, kidnaping, harboring and aiding a fugitive.”

“Not to mention treason.” Cavanaugh said. “And we’re talking federal charges here.”

Steve sighed. “You got no idea what you’ve gotten yourselves into here.”

“You’re not the first person to tell me that.” Lilly said, stepping closer.

Steve chuckled again. “So who was? Bob Garrison?”

Lilly shook her head. “Ethan Moore.”

Steve’s smirk dropped slightly. “I heard about that. Couldn’t happen to a nicer fella. I’ll tell you right now though, Omar didn’t do that. Guy’s harmless. Just a poor dumb bastard with bad luck. I saw that myself…”

REM
“World Leader Pretend”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=izLt1fbU1cE

Jeff pointed to the man walking along the dark highway as they pulled closer to him.
“That’s him.” Jeff said. “Make sure nobody driving by can see the van.”

Steve nodded and turned the van into a brush area as Jeff jumped out and rushed over to the man.

“Where are you headed, Omar?”

Omar Khalid spun around as he heard Jeff’s voice.

“We spotted your car about a mile and a half back there.” Jeff said, jerking his thumb behind him. “I told you last week you should fill ‘er up, but you just kept putting it off. Now, please don’t make me chase you down.”

“What do you want from me?”

Jeff put up his hands. “I just wanna talk.”

“Who are you, really?”

Jeff shrugged. “Actually what I told you was pretty much the truth. I’m Jeff Royce, twenty-year CIA vet, moved my family to Philly, grill a mean steak.” His calm smile faded. “It just wasn’t the whole truth. Certain people I work for were concerned about you since you came to this country, thought you had ties to some group called Al-Quaeda.”
Omar frowned at Jeff. “So you think I’m a terrorist? Is that it?”

Jeff shook his head. “I didn’t know what to think. I just did the job, like I always did, no questions asked. I’m starting to think I didn’t get the whole story either.”

“All those months you were pretending to be my friend.” Omar said, the pain starting to show on his face. “I trusted you.”

“And you know what? I trust you.” Jeff said. “My instincts have kept me alive for over twenty years, and they’re all telling me you’re not one of the badguys.”

Omar just looked at him warily.

Steve hurried over to them, a pair of binoculars in his hand.

“Hey,” Steve said, handing the binoculars to Jeff. “We got a problem, coming up the road.”

Jeff looked through the binoculars towards the distance, then turned to a puzzled Omar.
“Get off the road.” Jeff said quickly.

“What?”

Jeff and Steve both grabbed Omar by an arm and pulled him towards the brush.
“We gotta get off the road now!” Jeff said over Omar’s protests.

The two pulled Omar far enough into the brush to be covered from the road, then turned around. After a few moments, a large black van passed by at a casual speed. Omar could make out men inside scanning around the area as they drove past.

“Not the type of thing you usually see on back roads like this, huh?” Steve said, looking at Omar.

“Who are they?”

Jeff lifted his head once he was sure they were gone. “Private security detail my boss uses on occasion. Bunch of former military guys, uses them for messy jobs no one else’ll do. Subtlety’s not exactly their strong suit. That’s probably why he sent me in first to check you out.” He shook his head. “I never told him you took off though. Somebody must’ve tipped him off.”

“Ethan?” Steve asked.

Jeff lowered his head. “It’s gotta be. We’d better keep an eye him.” He turned to Omar. “If those guys caught up with you, no one would’ve ever seen you again. Now some very dangerous men are after you right now. Now if you’re not what they say you are, then the question is what’s all this about? Why did you run? Why did my boss do everything short of ordering me to put a bullet in your head?”

Omar just looked at him for a moment, before turning away. “You wouldn’t understand.”

Jeff leaned closer. “Try me…”

“He wouldn’t say what his story was till we got him out of there, and even then, he’d only talk to Jeff. Whatever it was, Jeff was seeing red afterwards. Said we had to keep Omar safe until the time was right to tell people.”

“That’s why you changed the dental records,” Cavanaugh said. “Made it look like he was dead.”

Steve nodded.

“So what happened to Jeff?” Lilly asked.

“I don’t know. Someone must’ve gotten wise somehow. Whether they got him to talk first
or not, I couldn’t say.”

“So where’s Omar now?” Cavanaugh asked.

Steve shook his head. “I don’t know. That’s the God’s honest truth. That was Jeff’s part of it.”

“And you have no idea where he is?” Cavanaugh asked, skeptically.

Steve frowned impatiently. “No, I just told–” He stopped as he noticed car pulling to a stop at the cabin, and pointed to the woman getting out. “Maybe she does.”

“Sharon?” Lilly asked as she and Cavanaugh turned around.

Sharon Royce looked at the two of them sadly. “You know, don’t you? About Omar?”

“What do you know about him?” Cavanaugh asked.

“I know he didn’t do what they’re saying he did.” Sharon said. “Please, you have to protect him.”

“We need to find him first.” Lilly said.

Sharon nodded. “I can tell you where he is, but you have to keep him safe, otherwise my husband died for nothing.”

4

In the interview room, Vera placed the cup of coffee down in front of Sharon, as he and Kat sat down.

“All right, we’ve got people looking for Omar where you said.” Kat said. “We still have some questions though. We still don’t know what happened to Jeff.”

Sharon nodded solemnly. “I wanted to say something, but I couldn’t risk putting Omar in danger. I have a pretty good idea though. Jeff’s boss Bob Garrison didn’t trust him to finish the job. He sent in some of his private security to take him out. We got a taste of them first hand.”

“They came after you?” Vera said.

Sharon sighed. “Jeff was already putting together a plan when they came to Omar’s house. I wasn’t sure about everything he was doing, but after I saw what kind of people were after Omar, I understood…”

Cold Case Soundtrack: "Saving Sammy" www.youtube.com/watch?v=GKKoK9Jvdqg

Sharon looked out the window at the dark street, then headed into Omar’s living room where Omar was listening to Jeff and Steve.

“I checked out the body your girl Bonnie got us.” Steve said. “Should do. What about the dentist?”

“We’re picking him up ten tonight.” Jeff said. “I got a warehouse set up we can use.”
Steve shook his head. “I just hope he was worth the trouble.”

Jeff turned to Omar. “I’m setting up a new identity for you. It’ll take another day or two but I’ll have a new place to live lined up for you, someplace safe.”

“Where?” Omar asked, looking puzzled.

Jeff smiled and patted Omar on the arm. “The last place they’d ever think to look.”

Omar looked at him for a moment. “I still don’t know why you’re doing all this, risking everything you have, just for me.”

Jeff sighed. “Same reason I joined the Company all those years ago, and the service before that; I wanted to protect American lives.”

Omar smiled slightly, then turned to Steve, who just shrugged.

“Me, I just didn’t have anything better to do.”

Jeff chuckled slightly, and turned back to Omar. “Anyways, we’re still gonna need you to testify about what you told me about one day. Until then, we gotta keep you safe.”

“Yeah, so-” Steve turned as he caught the glare out the window of the headlights from a large dark van pulling to a stop on the street. “Hey, we got company.”

Jeff frowned. “They must’ve doubled back.” Jeff quickly turned to Steve. “Go out the back. Take Omar to your place. We’ll call you in an hour. If you don’t hear from us, stick to the plan.”

Steve looked at Jeff. “What are you gonna do?”

“My job. Trust me.”

Steve shook his head and led an uneasy Omar out towards the back door. “Sure hope you know what you’re doing.” He said quietly.

“So do I.” Jeff said, watching a pair of men in dark uniforms moved in towards the house.

“Jeff?” Sharon asked, holding Jeff’s arm.

Jeff turned to his wife and smiled. “You remember Germany?”

Sharon smiled back. “How could I forget?”

Sharon hurried off, while Jeff turned towards the door. He could make out the sound of a lock being picked, then folded his arms as the door opened as a pair of a flashlights and handguns were pointed at his face.

“Looking for someone?” Jeff asked with a bored look on his face.

“Agent Royce?” The lead mercenary, a dark-haired man with a cold stare, said. “Where’s the house’s occupant?”

Jeff frowned. “He’s being dealt with. It’s not your concern.”

“We have orders to take the suspect into custody.” The dark haired man said.

“Yeah, I’ll bet you do.” Jeff said, narrowing his eyes. “Moreno, isn’t it? I know all about you guys. I don’t need any help, especially from a bunch of cowboys like you. This isn’t Desert Storm. This job needs a scalpel, not a damn chainsaw. Until I hear otherwise, this is my assignment.”

“Not anymore.” Moreno said. “Now I’ll have to ask you to remove yourself from the premises.”

“I don’t take orders from you.”

Moreno and the other mercenary raised their weapons.

“This is your last warning, Agent Royce.” Moreno said. “Exit the house immediately.”

Jeff uncrossed his arms and shrugged. “Okay, have it your way.”

As his arms dropped to his sides, Jeff shook his right had slightly. An instant later, he saw a quick pair of muzzle flashes in the corner of his eye, and made out two muffled shots of a silenced weapon. The two grunting mercenaries dropped the guns from their now bleeding hands. In a swift move, Jeff threw a quick punch into Moreno’s nose, then an elbow into the nose of the other man, knocking both of them to their knees.
Jeff kicked away one gun, then scooped up the other and trained it on the two mercenaries. He grinned proudly as he watched Sharon walk back into the room, holding her own silenced weapon on the two men.

“I don’t think you’ve met my wife Sharon. Met her when I stopped by the base in Germany where she was serving her tour. Instructor for advanced weapons training.” He gave her a sly smile. “Still the best shot I know.”

Sharon smiled back, then turned back to the mercenaries. “I think it’s time you both left.”

“I’d listen to her if I was you.” Jeff said. “You’ll be on the floor before you can call for backup.”

Moreno and the other mercenary stood up slowly and glared at Jeff and Sharon.
“This isn’t over.” Moreno hissed.

Jeff snorted. “It never is. Now get out.”

Jeff and Sharon watched the two men walk slowly back towards the van, cradling their injured hands. As the van drove off, Sharon put her hand on Jeff’s shoulder and sighed…

Kat leaned back and smiled slightly. “Hell of a move.”

Sharon smiled back wistfully “It wasn’t my first time.”

“You think they killed Jeff?” Kat asked.

“From what Jeff told me, they’ve killed for less.”

“Those guys were hired by the CIA?” Vera asked.

Sharon shook her head. “Private security on Bob Garrison’s personal payroll. He used them for ‘off the book’ assignment he didn’t want his superiors knowing about.”

“How’d he afford that?” Vera asked.

“Jeff and Steve did some digging into his financial records. Ethan Moore wasn’t the only one taking money.”

Kat and Vera looked at each other.

“They weren’t interested in bringing Omar in alive. Their job was to make him disappear”

“But why?” Kat asked. “What did Omar know?”

Sharon shook her head and sighed. “I don’t know. Omar only told Jeff, made him promise not to tell anyone else.” She looked at the detectives. “Which means Omar’s probably the only person alive who knows why all this is happening.”

Stepping out of the car, Scotty and Cavanaugh looked around the sunny suburban neighborhood, before Scotty pointed to a small house just up the street.

“Let’s hope Sharon Royce’s info’s good.” Scotty said, walking over to the house.

“DMV records checked out” Cavanaugh said.

“Guess you and Lil are gonna be doing a lot of travelin’.”

Cavanaugh gave Scotty a dull look. “Well that is how it works when you’re a federal agent.”

“Yeah, and if you see someone you like, you scoop them up too.”

Cavanaugh stopped. “I’m not gonna apologize for trying to recruit good people, Detective. As I recall, Yates thought you might be FBI material yourself.”

Scotty frowned. “I’m fine where I am.”

“Well maybe Rush isn’t.”

Scotty rolled his eyes. “Sure that’s the only reason you’re interested?”

“Meaning what exactly?”

“Nothing.” Scotty said, with a hint of a smirk. “You just seemed a bit concerned when you showed up at the bomb site. You two worked a lotta long hours on that Woodstock case of yours, didn’t you?”

“I’m not interested in talking about this with you.” Cavanaugh smiled. “Besides which, you really don’t have any business lecturing anyone on office relationships, do you, Detective?”

Scotty rolled his eyes again and said nothing.

“Like I said before, just because you’re not interested in something new, doesn’t mean she’s not.”

Scotty’s smirk returned. “You mean something better.”

Cavanaugh looked at Scotty. “I say what I mean, Detective.”

The two walked up to the driveway of the house, which had a mid-sized propped on a trailer attached to a minivan. A thin, slight-looking Arab man in his fifties emerged from around the other side of the van to inspect the trailer, before he looked up and noticed the two men.

“Ahmed Zahir?” Cavanaugh asked.

The man nodded.

Scotty gave the man a friendly smile. “Nice boat. You plannin’ to take her out?”

The man smiled back. “Well, the wife’s out of town for the weekend, and the kids are staying with friends, so I thought I’d get in some fishing.”

“You know they got some decent fishing spots around Philly.” Scotty said. “You ever been there?”

“No.” He said, shaking his head.

“Ah well, just gotta be careful though.” Scotty said. “Boat accidents are pretty common. Actually, I heard about a guy in Philly, died in a boating accident a few years back. ‘93, I think it was.” He turned to Cavanaugh. “What was that guy’s name? Omar…?”

“Omar Khalid.” Cavanaugh said, almost deadpan.

Scotty snapped his fingers. “Yeah, that was his name.” He reached into his pocket. “Actually, I got a picture of him right here.” Scotty pulled out a small photo of Omar Khalid and held it up to Ahmed. Aside from some less gray in his hair and wear on his face, there was no mistake. “He look like anyone you know… Ahmed?”

The color drained from Omar’s face as he looked and the photo. He closed his eyes and shook his head, suddenly looking even older and more worn. “I’ve been dreading this day for seventeen years.”

“No one’s looking to get you in trouble, Omar.” Scotty said, his tone softening as he and Cavanaugh flashed their badges. “I’m Detective Valens, Philly Homicide. This is Agent Cavanaugh from the FBI. We’re looking into the murder of Jeff Royce. His wife told us where to find you.”

Cavanaugh looked around the street. “Hell of a hiding spot they picked.”

Scotty nodded. “Yeah, right in the middle of Langley, half hour commute from CIA Headquarters. Talk about hiding in plain sight.”

Omar said nothing.

“We know that certain people were after you and that Jeff protected you.” Cavanaugh said. “There was also a bombing in Philly that killed an ex-CIA agent two days ago that someone’s implicated you in. I think they were trying to force you out of hiding.”

“A bombing?” Omar looked at Cavanaugh incredulously.

“Someone’s gone to a lot of trouble to find you.” Scotty said. “One thing we still don’t know though is why. We know you’re not a terrorist, so what is it about you that’s so dangerous?”

Omar looked at the two men and sighed. “You know, where I come from, there was so much destruction, suffering. When I came to America, I thought I could start over, leave it all behind.” He looked far off for a moment as his voice grew hoarse. “I never imagined it would follow me here…”

Cold Case Soundtrack: "Forever Blue" www.youtube.com/watch?v=es66B6MU5XU

Kandahar, Afghanistan: August 13, 1986.

Omar shook his head as he walked down the steps into the dusty basement. He’d already sworn this would be the last information he gave them. Not that he had any love for the Soviets, but he simply wasn’t a soldier. Just coming here made him nervous.

What if someone saw me going in or coming out? He thought. After this, I’m leaving. I can get a job in any city. Someplace safer.

An imposing looking mujahideen soldier, standing in the doorway at the bottom of the stairs, holding an AK-47, gave Omar a steely look, which softened as he recognized him.

“I have the reports you asked for.” Omar said in Arabic, holding up the small stack of papers he was carrying. “We agreed I was done after this. I’m not cut out for this.”

The mujahideen nodded and stepped aside, allowing Omar to pass through. Omar walked nervously down the hallway, unsure of what room he was supposed to go to, when he noticed the muffled cries coming from behind the door up ahead on the right. Omar paused for a moment, then went forward again, and found himself opening the door.

When Omar stepped in the room, the first thing he saw the man handcuffed to the metal table, with a cloth covering his face. Omar looked over to see a light-haired Caucasian man looking over the handcuffed man with a frown. He nodded to two mujahideen off to the side, who walked over carrying a large hose. One of them turned a nozzle at the head of the hose, which began spraying water over the handcuffed man’s face. The handcuffed man immediately began shaking violently and let out a muffled scream.

This went on for several seconds until the light-haired man held up a hand, and the mujahideen turned off the water. The light-haired man pulled the cloth off the man’s face. The handcuffed man was bald, middle aged, with his eyes wide with terror.

“All right, let’s try this again.” The light-haired man said in English, with what sounded like an American accent. “Where are the Soviet convoy routes?” He turned to another man standing next to him. “Tell him we know the reports go through his office.” He turned back to the handcuffed man. “Where are they, Rashid?” He asked, his voice raising. “Tell me!”

The translator, a young-looking man, calmly repeated the light-haired man’s words in Arabic. He then leaned forward and strained to listen as Rashid whimpered something in Arabic between sobs.

The translator looked up at the light-haired man. “I swear I don’t know.” He repeated dispassionately. “I’m just a low-level worker. They don’t tell me anything. Please believe me.”

The light-haired man looked back at Rashid with a glare. “You’re doing this to yourself.”
He pulled the cloth back over Rashid’s face and snapped his fingers at the two mujahideen carrying the hose. “Again!”

Rashid wailed until the two men started spraying his face again, causing Rashid’s body to shake even more violently this time.

Omar who had been watching silently with a horrified look on his face, finally began to step backwards towards the door. As he did, he bumped a table, the noise causing the others in the room to turn in his direction.

As the light-haired man looked at Omar, a murderous rage came over his eyes. Before Omar could do anything, the light-haired had rushed over, grabbing Omar’s chest, and pushing him through the doorway, into the wall of the hallway outside.

“What do you think you’re doing?” The light-haired man hissed. “You think that’s any of your business?”

“I… I didn’t see anything.” Omar stammered in English.

The light-haired man’s eyes widened. “You speak English?”

Omar opened his mouth, but said nothing, unsure of what to say.

“It’s all right, Mr. Garrison.” The translator said nervously in English, rushing over to them.
“He’s just a civilian worker who’s been passing us information. He’s not a threat.”

Garrison turned his glare to the translator. “He is, now that you told him my name!” Garrison pulled a heavy-looking gun from his belt and pressed it into Omar’s head. “I’m afraid your boys are going to have a mess to clean up.”

“Wait!” The translator said, grabbing Garrison’s arm. “You don’t have to do this! He’s not a threat!”

Before Garrison could respond, one of the mujahideen in the room shouted something in Arabic and pointed to Rashid, who was still shaking, even without water being sprayed on him.

Garrison and the translator ran back into the room. The translator placed his ear on Rashid’s chest. “I think he’s having a heart attack!”

“Dammit!” Garrison shouted. “Get the medic in here!”

Finally regaining his bearings, Omar dropped the stack of papers he was still holding, and started running towards the stairs.

“Hey! Hey!” He could hear Garrison yelling behind him. He didn’t turn to look, but ran past the startled mujahideen at the doorway, up the steps, and out the doorway as fast as he could…

Omar shook his head. “What he had them doing, I think they call it ‘waterboarding’. The man’s name was Rashid Kamal. He was a local bureaucrat they’d abducted for information. I heard later that he didn’t make it. In fact, they told me it turned out he was telling the truth. He didn’t have clearance to anything sensitive. He really didn’t know anything.”

“And what happened after you left?” Cavanaugh asked.

“I got as far away as I could. I heard later that man, Garrison, was looking for me but I never saw or heard from him again after that. It never occurred to me it would still matter by the time I came here. I figured everyone would have forgotten by then.” Omar swallowed. “I know I tried to.”

“You told Jeff what you saw?” Scotty asked, thoughtfully.

Omar nodded. “He set up this hiding place, got me a new identity. He said he didn’t trust anyone else, so he set it all up himself. Jeff said I’d be safe here, and told me to be ready to tell people what I saw when the time was right. But after I heard he was killed, I wasn’t sure that would ever happen.”

“All right, you better come with us, Omar.” Cavanaugh said.

Omar looked at them. “Am I under arrest? What about my family?”

“You can call them and let them know you’re okay.” Cavanaugh said. “We just need to get you someplace safe for now, until we can get Garrison into custody.”

“Believe me, Omar,” Scotty said, leading them back to the car. “The time is definitely right.”

“Yeah, okay.” Stillman said, before hanging up the phone and turning to Lilly, Vera, and Jeffries. “Scotty and Cavanaugh have Omar secure. They’ll have him brought back here once they’re sure it’s safe.”

“So all this was all to cover up a guy getting waterboarded back in the eighties?” Vera asked with a frown. “You don’t hear about any of the guys stationed at Guantanamo sweatin’ about this.”

“Well, it wasn’t always kosher, Nick.” Stillman said with a shrug. “They prosecuted the Japanese for waterboarding after the war.”

“That kind of scandal can’t be good if you’re trying to work your way up the CIA ladder.” Lilly said. “It’s not the only thing I found on Garrison either.”

They looked up to see Bob Garrison being led into the squad and towards an interview room by an officer.

“We still don’t have anything tying him to Jeff’s murder.” Stillman said quietly. “We gotta put him at the scene or connect him to someone who was.”

Jeffries leaned over to Stillman. “How’d you get the brass to sign off on you bringing him in anyway?”

Stillman gave a small facial shrug. “Well, chain of command’s a little fuzzy right now. They still haven’t settled on a replacement for Doherty. Figured I might as well take advantage of the power vacuum.” He turned to Lilly. “Come on.”

“Been looking at the info you provided on Omar Khalid, Director Garrison.” Stillman said, holding a folder. “Not as much as I thought there’d be.”

Garrison shrugged. “What can I say, Lieutenant? Terrorists don’t always fill out the census forms.”

“Well, we’re just trying to find out what this guy’s done that makes him so dangerous.” Lilly said, sitting across from him at the table.

“The whole reason my job exists is to stop people before they do something dangerous.”

“Well, you certainly put in the effort.” Lilly said, leafing through the pages in the folder in her own hand. “Made inquiries to Interpol, foreign intelligence agencies, INS, anyone to try and track him if he crossed a border or came here. A lot of effort to look for one guy.”

“Everyone was still focused on the Cold War.” Garrison said. “Somebody had to pay some attention to the next threat.”

“Huh.” Lilly said. “You ever been to Afghanistan, Director?”

“Once, just after the Taliban fell.”

“No, I mean back in the eighties.” Lilly said, smiling. “Back when Omar was still living there.”

Garrison’s face remained neutral. “I wouldn’t have had any business over there back then.” He held up his finger and thumb close together. “Though even I did, I think that’s just a little bit out of your jurisdiction.”

“Well, I’m sure there’d be a few people interested.” Stillman said.

“As I said, I didn’t have any business over there.”

“Well, maybe we should ask Omar about that.” Lilly’s smile widened. “If we ever find him.”

Garrison’s eyes darted from Lilly to Stillman and back, but his face remained impassive. “Maybe you should. Of course, the word of a fugitive suspected terrorist against a senior government official with over four decades of service, not exactly the strongest of cases.”

“Jeff Royce thought differently.” Stillman said, his eyes narrowed at Garrison.

“Well I guess Jeff was getting a bit confused about which side he was on, but that happens to undercover operatives sometimes.”

“Is that why you sent that private commando team in to finish the job?” Lilly asked.

“I have no idea what you’re talking about. My department’s never used private security.”

“Hmm, funny. That’s not what Ray Martin said.” Lilly said.

Garrison moved his head ever so slightly.

“Oh, you remember him, the agent looking into that missing money.” Lilly pulled a page from the folder and looked it over. “He wrote a memo about it. Said he was concerned about some of it being used to fund a private security unit for some ‘off the book’ assignments. He wanted to follow up on it. Too bad you sent him on that mission in Prague he wasn’t cut out for, the one he never came back from.”

Garrison nodded. “Let me guess. Souvenirs from the collection of Steve Mitchum; disgruntled burnout. Again, not the best witness.”

Stillman leaned in. “If Ethan Moore stole that money and those commandos answered to you, that leaves the question of who was really blackmailing Ethan?”

“And who had a bomb planted in his motel room?” Lilly asked. “Maybe even had Jeff taken out?”

Garrison smiled. “Those are some good questions. You really are tenacious. No wonder Cavanaugh wants you. Hey, when you see him next, ask him about that poor fiancee of his. Is he still telling people it was a head-on collision?”

Lilly’s face slackened slightly.

“Oh, he didn’t share that with you?” Garrison asked. “Well some people like to keep things close to the vest.” He looked up at Stillman and grinned. “Kind of like the Lieutenant here and, what was her name? Abby…. Donovan?”

“All right, back to the question.” Stillman said, looking stoic as Lilly tried not to look at him.

“Right, well, I think I’ll let my lawyer answer that. I took the liberty of calling him on the way here.” They looked up towards a knocking sound to see a dark-suited man with a briefcase standing in the doorway next to a frowning Jeffries. Garrison gave the man a nod and stood up. “Well, what do you know? Anyways, this has been enlightening, but I think I’ll be going now.” He smiled as Lilly looked at him. “Don’t feel too bad. I was conducting interrogations before you were in a training bra.”

Stillman stepped towards Garrison with a glare, but stopped as Lilly stood up.

“I wonder what your bosses at Langley are gonna think about this?” She asked.

Garrison looked back at them with a hint of surprise. “Oh, you didn’t hear? I put in my retirement today. So here’s to new chapters.” He gave the two one final nod. “Be seeing you.”

Lilly watched Garrison walk out of the squad until he was out of sight. “Sooner than you think.”

5

“Hey,” Lilly said to Scotty and Cavanaugh walking hurriedly into the squad. “You heard?”

“Miller brought us up to speed.” Cavanaugh said, nodding. “We still got a location on Garrison?”

Lilly sighed and shook her head. “He and his guys gave Fugitives the slip after he left.”

Scotty frowned. “This guy’s gonna skip the country. We gotta find him.”

“Even if we do, we’re gonna need more than we got.” Cavanaugh said. “Omar’s testimony’s helpful, but pretty much everything else is circumstantial. Now we’ve got three dead CIA agents, two of them on American soil. We gotta connect him to at least one of them.”

“I was thinking about that.” Lilly said. “Now Garrison probably had people helping him, besides Ethan.”

“We figure out who they were, maybe they can give us something.” Scotty added.

“I’ve got a hunch about that.” Lilly said, holding up a stack of papers with columns of phone numbers on them. “I was looking over the Royces’ phone records from when Jeff moved here until he was killed. There’s over thirty calls to a number at Langley, most of them before Jeff died. I thought it might be Jeff checking in with someone, but I checked the times, and for most of them, Jeff and Sharon were out working.”

Scotty tilted his head. “Only one other person in the house who could’ve been making those calls.”

As Lilly, Stillman and Cavanaugh watched from Interview’s observation, Jimmy closed his eyes and sighed. “Yeah, I made them. Almost forgot about those.”

Sitting at the table, Kat nodded, then thought for a moment. “You were calling Bonnie, weren’t you? She was close to your family before your father brought her into the CIA.”

Jimmy nodded. “My dad never seemed to be around, so I’d call her sometimes. She couldn’t tell me much, but I sort of got an idea of what he’d been doing all those years, and why.“

“The thing is, after your father died, those phone calls started getting a lot shorter. Fifteen, thirty seconds at most.” Kat leaned closer. “Just long enough for someone to tell you they can’t talk.”

Jimmy shrugged. “She was busy. Her job was important.”

“She found time before your father died.”

“Maybe it was just too painful to talk after.”

“Or maybe she didn’t want to be reminded of something.”

Jimmy looked at her intently. “What are you saying?”

“I’m saying your father wouldn’t have gone to the park in the middle of the night, not without somebody he trusted. He wouldn’t have gone alone for Garrison or Ethan. Steve and Omar wouldn’t have had any motive.” Kat paused for a moment and spoke carefully. “But someone just starting out at their job, someone who could be led astray…”

Jimmy looked down, the sadness growing on his face. “I never put them together. It happened the night before he died, but I never put them together.”

“Put what together?”

Jimmy shook his head. “We were finally gonna start over, but there was a misunderstanding…”

REM
“Find the River”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hfyng5OHEOE

Jimmy crept down the stairs and peered towards the kitchen, where Jeff and Sharon were standing.

“So, everything’s taken care of?” Sharon asked.

Jeff nodded. “He’s on his way down there now. I got people I trust ready to set him up when he gets there. He’ll be okay. I told Steve I could handle things from here on out. I think he’s just glad to put the whole thing behind him.”

“He’s not the only one.” Sharon said evenly.

“Listen, I wanna thank you for helping me on this. I know it was a lot to spring on you all at once.”

Sharon shrugged wearily. “What else could I do?”

“Well I couldn’t have done this without you.” Jeff smiled slightly. “You said I could never lie to you. There’s no sense trying now.”

“Well, apparently, you can.” She said, with a calm look.

Jeff sighed. “Sharon, I–“

Sharon put her hand up. “You have to do what you have to do, and you always have your reasons for it. I’ve understood that for a long time.” She sighed as she began to look more tired. “It’s just I’ve been waiting a long time for my husband to come home, and I’m not the only one. I just need to know it’s really over this time.”

Jeff took her hand. “I have everything I want, everything I need right here in this house. Nothing else comes first.”

Sharon gave him a weary, but content smile.

Jeff slowly turned his head towards the doorway. “You’re supposed to be asleep.”
Jimmy’s eyes widened as his parents walked over to him. Neither looked mad, however.
“You’re good, but I’ve been at this a bit longer” Jeff said with a smirk. “So how much of that did you hear?”

Jimmy said nothing.

Sharon smiled at Jimmy, then Jeff, before heading upstairs. “I’ll give you a few minutes alone.”

Jeff sat down in a living room chair. “Look, I know you’re probably wondering what I’ve been up to all these months. When you’re a little older, I’ll tell you about it. The important thing to know for now is that I’m done with it.”

Jimmy gave his father a slight frown. “That’s what you said before.”

Jeff closed his eyes and nodded. “I know, I know. I should be the one person you trust more than anything, and it’s my fault if I’m not.” Jeff shook his head. “That life cost me more than I ever thought it would.”

Jimmy just looked at him for a moment, unsure what to say, before his father pulled him into a hug.

“I know you’re not gonna trust me again overnight,” Jeff whispered, “but I’m willing to put in the time.”

Jimmy nodded as his eyes started to well up.

When Jeff finally let go, he noticed Bonnie through the window, standing in the driveway, looking out at the street.

“Her cab still hasn’t come yet?” Jeff said quietly. He looked back at his son. “We’ll talk some more tomorrow. Go get some sleep for now.”

Jimmy smiled slightly and headed up the stairs…

Cold Case Soundtrack: "Fireflies" www.youtube.com/watch?v=hkPmCUUfYc4

Just far enough to hear his father walk through the front door and close it behind him.
Jimmy hurried over to the window in the upstairs hallway, which was open a crack.
“Still waiting?” Jimmy heard Jeff ask.

Bonnie turned and smiled. “Yeah. I don’t mind though. It’s not like I have a boyfriend waiting at the hotel or anything.” She laughed nervously.

Jeff chuckled slightly. “Look, I wanna thank you for everything you did. You took a lot of risks, but I want you to know you did the right thing.”
Bonnie’s smile widened.

“You know I think about how far you’ve come since you started. You’re smart, resourceful, people trust you. You’re gonna be a better agent that I ever was. I’m proud of you.”

Bonnie pushed herself into a hug with Jeff, who just smiled and patted her back.
“Thank you,” she whispered.

When she pulled back after a few moments, he put her hand around her arms and smiled. “Just promise me you won’t let this job be the only thing in your life.”

She nodded. “You mean find someone to share it with?”

Jeff just shrugged. “Sure. Anybody’d be lucky to have you.”

Bonnie looked at Jeff intently for a moment, before Jeff startled looking confused, then she pressed her lips against his. Jeff immediately made a muffled noise inside her mouth, and pushed her off. “What that hell do you think you’re doing?”

Bonnie just stared at him in shock. “I… I thought…”

Jeff just shook his head in disbelief. “You thought what? I have a family, for God’s sake.”

Bonnie pulled her arms around herself. “I’m sorry, I…”

Jeff wiped lipstick off his mouth, and gave her a stern look. “All right, I’m gonna go back inside now to my family, and we’re just gonna pretend this didn’t happen.”

“Yeah.” Bonnie said through her teeth. “Right.”

Jeff gave her a cool look, before turning back to the front door. As Jeff headed away, Jimmy could see the pained look she was giving him, before she turned away herself.
Jimmy pulled away from the window, and hurried towards his room, swearing this would be the last time he spied on his father…

“The next night, he went out, and he never came back.” Jimmy whispered.

“Did you ever tell anyone about this?” Kat asked. “To you mom, maybe?”

Jimmy shook his head. “I never told anyone before today. I’ll never forget that look on her face. She just looked so disappointed. I guess she thought he was something different than what he really was too."

Cold Case Soundtrack: "Forever Blue" www.youtube.com/watch?v=es66B6MU5XU

Lilly walked about of Observation, which Stillman and Cavanaugh had already left. When she caught up to them, they were standing around Scotty and Jeffries, a phone in his hand.

“Dispatch just got a 911 call from a guest at the motel where Bonnie was staying.” Jeffries said “A woman matching her description was just abducted outside her room by two men in a black van, five minutes ago”

Stillman shook his head. “Garrison’s tying up loose ends before he makes a run for it.”
“If we don’t get to them before they stop, she’s dead.” Cavanaugh said.

“We get a make on that van? Which way they were headed?” Stillman asked.
Jeffries nodded, handing him a pad.

“We gotta go now,” Lilly said, glancing at the writing on the pad. “We don’t have much time.”

“Black van spotted heading north on 352.” The police dispatcher said.. “Possible hostage, Caucasian female, mid-forties.”

Thick trees lined the road, where Cavanaugh’s SUV pulled to a stop as the saw the van. Lilly and Cavanaugh drew their guns and hurried over to check inside the van, already knowing it would be empty.

“Over there.” Lilly said, pointing to a hint of footprints leading into the woods on the right side.

Cavanaugh took a quick glance back at the road. Back-up would be here in a few minutes, but Bonnie almost certainly didn’t have that long.

“Come on.” Lilly said, giving Cavanaugh a nod before hurrying into the woods.

“Please, please!” Bonnie sobbed as Moreno and the other mercenary dragged her through the forest.

“Shut up!” Moreno hissed, taking a quick glance behind him before moving forward.

Lilly could hear Cavanaugh signaling their location on the radio, but didn’t look or slow down. She wasn’t even sure if they were still headed in the right direction, but adrenaline wouldn’t let her slow down. Ignoring the branches that brushed against her, she ran deeper into the forest.

As they emerged into a clearing, Moreno threw the still-pleading Bonnie to the ground. He gave a quick nod to other mercenary, who stood over Bonnie, blocking her path. Moreno then raised his gun, directly at the back of her head.

The jarring sound of the two gunshots forced Lilly and Cavanaugh out of their run. Lilly’s eyes widened as she looked at Cavanaugh. Neither said a word, but hurried forward in the direction of the gunshots.

Lilly emerged into clearing and immediately saw Bonnie.

She was on her knees, trembling and breathing heavily. Beside her on the ground were the unmoving bodies of the two mercenaries, each with bullet wound in their chest.
Lilly looked over to see Sharon no less than fifty feet away, her gun still raised, a police scanner peaking out of her jacket pocket, and a solemn look on her face.
While Cavanaugh checked the bodies, then Bonnie, Lilly walked over to Sharon, who lowered the gun.

Sharon said nothing but glanced over at Bonnie with a hint of disgust, then turned back to Lilly and let out a sigh of relief.

Lilly set the cup of coffee down in front of Bonnie in the FBI field office’s interview room. Bonnie, looking exhausted and pale, didn’t touch it.

“So, you ready to tell us what happened?” Lilly said, as she and Cavanaugh sat down.
Bonnie said nothing, only giving them a defensive glare.

“Bonnie, we know about that misunderstanding at Jeff’s house.” Cavanaugh said.

“Between that and wanting to get in good with your boss, you’ve got motive. Jeff would’ve still trusted you enough to come to the park that night. Maybe you even pulled the trigger yourself.”

“I didn’t do that!” Bonnie suddenly.

“Then tell us who did.” Cavanaugh continued. “You do that and tell us where Garrison is, we’ll tell th D.A. you cooperated.”

Bonnie looked at Cavanaugh, then Lilly, uneasily.

“We talked some of your co-workers at the CIA.” Cavanaugh said, looking over the file folder in his hands. “Apparently, you were a real up-and-comer there back in the day. Then you hitched your wagon to Bob Garrison, and he turned you into a glorified secretary, while he gets a promotion.”

“What happened in the woods there, that’s how Bob Garrison rewards loyalty.” Lilly said, leaning closer. “He uses people, and the second they stop being useful, they end up dead. Ray Martin, Jeff Royce, Ethan Moore, you.”

Bonnie shifted uncomfortably, as her face looked pained.

“Jeff believed in you.” Lilly said.

A tear rolled down her cheek. “He always told me what a good agent I was.“

Lilly smiled slightly. “So prove him right.”

Bonnie closed her eyes and took a deep breath. “There’s a private airfield two hours north of the city.” She shook her head. “He wasn’t even worried about me telling anyone about it.”

Lilly looked over at Cavanaugh, who was already standing, and heading towards the door.
“Talk about what happened the night Jeff died,” she said, turning back to Bonnie.

Bonnie swallowed hard. “Jeff called me and told me Ethan had called to meet him at the park. Steve had overheard some phone call between Ethan and Garrison and thought it was too dangerous, but Jeff thought he should go and find out what they knew. He thought he’d be safe as long as I was his eyes and ears.”

“He didn’t know.” Lilly said.

“I… I was just so upset about what happened before,” Bonnie said, starting to shake. “And Garrison confronted me when I got back to the hotel. He said my career was at stake, that I could have a future working with him, or throw it away.”

“So, you had to make a choice.” Lilly said, looking thoughtful.

“I thought I made the right one,” Bonnie continued. “Garrison said he’d just talk some sense into Jeff, that maybe Jeff would even thank me one day.”

“Garrison was there that night?” Lilly asked.

Bonnie nodded. “It was the only time I ever saw him get his hands dirty…”

Cold Case Soundtrack: "The Professor" www.youtube.com/watch?v=4zB1_5RKKE8

“Bonnie, I need those heat signatures.” Jeff whispered into the earpiece.

“Okay, I’ve almost got it.” Bonnie said, sitting in the van, her eyes nowhere near a computer screen. “All right, I’ve got movement sixty feet away at five o’clock.”

“That’s gotta be Ethan.” Jeff said.

“Yeah, probably.” Bonnie said, before turning to Ethan, who was sitting next to her in the van, with a nervous look.

Jeff slipped around the bushes, towards the signature Bonnie had given him. If he was careful, he should be able to get the drop on him.

As he moved into the clearing by the walkway, however, he couldn’t find any trace of Ethan, or anyone else.

“Drop the gun,” the voice behind him said.

Jeff spun around to see Bob Garrison pointing a gun at him.

Garrison gestured to the park bench beside the walkway. “Come on, Jeff. Set it down.”
Jeff frowned and stared for a moment before setting the gun down on the bench.
Garrison smiled. “Why don’t you give me that earpiece too?”

Jeff’s eyes narrowed, before he pulled out the earpiece and tossed it to Garrison, who caught it with his free hand, and raised it up to his mouth..

“Good work, Bonnie,” he said, causing Jeff’s eyes to widen.

“Yeah, don’t be too surprised.” Garrison said with a frown. “Bonnie’s a smart girl. She knows which one of us can give her a future.”

Jeff looked at the earpiece for a moment, then spoke.

“Bonnie?”

“Jeff,” Bonnie said through the earpiece. “Jeff, I’m sorry.”

“It’s all right, Bonnie. It’s all right.” Jeff said glumly. “You’re a good agent.”

In the van, Bonnie blinked back tears, as Ethan touched her arm.

“It’s gonna be okay.” Ethan said, trying to sound reassuring. “Jeff’s… he’s a smart guy, you know? He’ll do the right thing.”

Bonnie could only swallow.

“All right. Enough of that.” Garrison said, putting the earpiece in his pocket. “Where’s Omar?”

Jeff shrugged. “Omar’s dead. I told you that.”

“I’m not in the mood, Jeff.” Garrison said quietly. “I’m telling you to give him to me right now.”

“I don’t work for you anymore. I would’ve thought your boys would’ve told you that after what happened.”

“You’re not leaving here without telling me where he is.”

“This was never about national security. This was about saving your own ass.”

“Where is he, Jeff?”

“You know, if you’d left him alone, he probably never would’ve said anything to anyone. All he wanted to do was forget everything that happened, start over here. But you just couldn’t stand the fact that someone had something on you, that something was out of your control.”

“I’ve spent nearly thirty years protecting American lives,” Garrison hissed. “I don’t have to justify myself to you. Now you better decide if some camel jockey’s worth it, Jeff, because you’ve got a lot more to lose than I do.”

“You don’t scare me. Anything happens to my family, they go missing, have an accident, I’ve made arrangements to have everything come out.”

“Where is he?” Garrison repeated, raising the gun.

“And just for the record,” Jeff said with a hint of a smile. “He’s more of an American than you’ll ever be.”

“Where is he!?” Garrison shouted.

Jeff shook his head. “I’m not giving him up to you, and you’re not gonna find him. You’re not that smart.” Jeff took a step forward. “Now, if you’re gonna shoot me, then do it already. Otherwise I–“

The sound of the gunshot nearly caused Bonnie to jump from her seat. She covered her mouth and looked up at the monitor in time to see Jeff slump to the ground. She could see Garrison stare at Jeff’s body for a moment, before crouching down to pull Jeff’s wallet from his jacket.

“Well, that didn’t go like I hoped.” Garrison said dryly into his own earpiece. “All right, Bonnie, Ethan, I need you to access Philly PD records. There’s something I need you to find.”

Tears were still rolling down Bonnie’s face, as she typed in the information, interrupted by sobs.

As the record printed off, Ethan, still looking in shock himself, tore the sheet from the printing roll and handed it to Bonnie.

As he did, there was a knock at the van doors. Ethan reached over to open them revealing Garrison, still holding the wallet.

“Did you find a match?” Garrison asked Bonnie impatiently.

She only sobbed in response.

“Bonnie!” Garrison snapped, causing her to jump.

Breathing heavily, Ethan took the paper from Bonnie’s hands and gave it to Garrison.
“Uhhh, yeah. Yeah, we did.”

Garrison looked over the page for a moment, then nodded.

“Yeah, okay, this one should do.” Garrison pulled a cell phone from his pocket and dialed a number. “Moreno, it’s me. Yeah, it went down like you said it would. Listen, there’s someone I need you to find.” His eyes scanned over the page. “His name is Oscar Torres.”

Bonnie could only look up to Jeff’s body on the monitor and stare…

Bonnie looked down at the table. Lilly nodded and slid the pad and pen over to her.

“Okay, thanks.” Cavanaugh said into the phone, hanging it up as he noticed Lilly walking out of the interview room holding Bonnie’s confession. “FBI Tac team picked up Garrison and the rest of his men on the way to the airfield. They’re bringing them back here now. We can take them all over to central booking when they get here.”

“Good.” Lilly said, nodding, but looking somewhat distracted.

“I got something else that might interest you.” Cavanaugh said, picking up a file folder off the desk next to him. “William Phillips, civil rights leader in Mississippi, shot in his driveway in ‘62, the day after the riots at Ole Miss. The murder weapon just turned up, belonged to some old Klansmen who’s still shooting his mouth off. Anyways, there’s been some pressure on the Bureau to reopen the case, so once everything’s finished up here, I thought maybe we could head down there, see what we can find.”

Lilly looked at him for a moment and sighed. “I don’t think I’m gonna be able to that.”
Cavanaugh looked at her curiously. “Something wrong?”

“Just not sure if I’ve thought this through. I’ve just been thinking about what I’m leaving behind.”

Cavanaugh shrugged. “From what I’ve seen of Valens and the others, they can handle themselves.”

Lilly shook her head quickly and smiled. “I’m not just talking about them. You know, my dad wasn’t around since I was a kid, my sister was off God knows where, and my mom could barely take care of herself, so I got pretty used to being on my own.”

She took a breath. “Then the last couple of years I’ve been reconnecting with my dad and his family. My sister’s got a kid now. I think she’s actually trying to get her act together. I mean a couple of years ago, I would’ve jumped at this, but the first time in a long time I actually feel like might be letting someone down, you know?”

Cavanaugh smiled and shrugged. “I’m lucky if I see my folks at Christmas. I got nieces and nephews I haven’t even met yet, so yeah, I get it. Kinda sucks, but I get it.”
He looked away for a moment, then looked back at her. “What if there were a way to have both?”

“What do you mean?” Lilly asked.

“Well, we’re able to deputize local law enforcement sometimes, like we did on the Quinn case. You could stay here, and maybe every few months, if I got a lead on a cold job somewhere, you could come out and help me with something, have your cake and eat it too.”

Lilly’s eyes narrowed, but she kept her smile. “Can you do that?”

“My boss owes me one. I think I could sell him on it.”

Lilly thought for a moment then nodded. “Yeah, that sounds good.”

“Okay.”

“Well… I’d better get Bonnie ready to go. You’ve got the rest of them to get ready.”

“Yeah, I’m on that,” Cavanaugh said with a nod, before heading to the exit.

“Hey, Cavanaugh,” Lilly called.

Cavanaugh spun around and looked at Lilly, who was giving him a sly smile.

“Don’t be a stranger.”

REM
“Man on the Moon”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g3CR_CxhIeE

Cavanaugh smiled and headed down the hall.

Still smiling herself, Lilly turned and headed back towards the interview room…

The rain was coming down fairly heavily by the time the cars pulled up to Central. Lilly, Cavanaugh, and several other officers opened the doors and led Bonnie, Garrison, and the half-dozen mercenaries, all in handcuffs, out of the cars, though the heavy crowd towards the doors.

Garrison, wearing a permanent scowl, recoiled at the various reporters’ microphones being pointed at him. He noticed Steve in the crowd, giving him a smug grin and immediately turned away. He turned his glare to Bonnie, who only frowned back.

Bonnie looked over to see Sharon and Jimmy in the crowd. Her gaze softened as she gave them an apologetic look. Sharon only gave her a dull stare while Jimmy looked back at Bonnie in disappointment.

Lilly, leading Bonnie by the arm, looked to the left and caught a glimpse of Ethan in the crowd. He looked back at her and Bonnie with guilt for a moment, before lowering his head and fading away.

Garrison, being escorted by Cavanaugh, looked over to see Omar, being escorted by Scotty into the building. Omar gave Garrison a hard stare, then headed inside.
Lilly handed Bonnie off to a uniformed officer, then turned around and gave the building a look over, letting the rain fall on her as she did…

Sitting in the interview room with a microphone in front of him, Omar began to speak, as Scotty, Stillman, Cavanaugh, and nearly two dozen officials from almost as many agencies looked on. Omar looked up at Scotty and Cavanaugh, who both gave him an approving nod and smile, before he resumed talking…

At his cabin, Steve brought the axe down hard on the piece of wood, chopping it neatly in two. He looked around at the tranquil surroundings and took in a breath of mountain air. Satisfied, he let out a long sigh and resumed chopping…

Sharon walked across the front yard of her house to see Jimmy standing there, staring at the driveway. After a moment, Jimmy noticed Jeff on the street walking towards the house. Sharon walked over and put her hands on her son’s shoulders, as they watched Jeff look at them with a wistful smile, before fading away. Sharon and Jimmy looked at each other with a hint of relief and resignation, and headed back inside…

www.youtube.com/watch?v=E5UjqRme9EU

Leaning at his desk in Homicide, Scotty stared at his phone uneasily, before he looked up to see Louie waving him and Kat over. The two detectives shrugged and walked over to look at the phone Louie was holding up, showing a picture of him, apparently at an animal shelter, proudly holding a small Daschund puppy. The two gave each other looks as Louie excitedly told them about his newest dog…

In storage, Stillman placed Ethan’s case box on the shelf with the others, then picked up Jeff’s box, now with the word CLOSED written on the side of the lid, set it down in the next row, then walked off…

Lilly stepped into the doorway of Homicide, immediately receiving an acknowledging nod from Vera as he walked by. As she stepped inside, Kat walked past, giving her smile. Jeffries looked up at Lilly from his desk with a knowing nod as she passed by. She looked over at Stillman’s office, where she could see him watching her from inside, looking pleased.

In the corner of the squad, she saw Scotty sitting, taking notes as Maria Trejo explained what she knew of her daughter’s death, handing him a picture of her.

Lilly walked over and gently took the photo from Scotty. Scotty looked up at her with a wide smile, which she returned, before she sat down to hear Maria speak.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=hHd7937I7SQ

I recently learned how to create audio presentations in PowerPoint, and thus have decided to convert all of my Cold Case Virtual Season 8 stories into audio PowerPoint Slides. Unfortunately, the PowerPoint files are too large to attach here. If anyone is interested in these audio recitations, please send me a private message with your e-mail address.

So, it seems demand for these audio presentations is not exactly skyrocketing. Let me state here once and for all that I do not charge for these presentations. I make no money off of the Cold Case Virtual Season 8; I never intended to make money off of this. This is just a passion that I have had for several years because I thought the show deserved a better ending. Even if I wanted to make money off of this, I would most likely face serious copyright claims due to the amount of music and background audio that I use.

The audio presentations consist of my slightly adlibed narrations of the five acts of each episode. Flashback sequences also play featured music just like in the show or I use selections from the Cold Case Soundtrack. I also treat listeners to a brief commentary after each episode. I suppose I could just post those After the Show segments here as messages, but I just thought the audio component would be a nice addition.

I thought about learning how to post these presentations on YouTube, but, once again, copyright laws.

AFTER THE SHOW:

As I have stated several times, the first five episodes of Cold Case Virtual Season 8 are not my creation. As much as I would like to take credit for this insane two-part beginning, I can't do that. What's more, I don't even know the author's identity except to say that they must have had some police or military experience in order to put this level of detail into an episode; that is definitely not me.

This was, however, what made me take this project seriously, and I was somewhat surprised at the fact that the original season died after only 5 episodes. I had always felt that the show got a raw deal at the end, and I had several ideas that I thought would have made good episodes for Cold Case. I honestly think I could have kept it going with a season 9, but I will cross that bridge whenever I happen to get there as I do not even know how I would end a season 9 at this point.