Nathan watched the members of the seminar start to fidget as a full three minutes passed and no instructor arrived. Finally he nudged Josiah sitting next to him, engrossed in the Stalker file.
"What?" He asked absentmindedly.
"The seminar?"
"What? Oh yes," he mumbled as comprehension dawned. Rising to his feet he strode to the front of the room. "Sorry for the delay, everyone. I was reading the file on my latest case."
Josiah waved the file for them to see before placing it on the podium. He picked up the mic and stepped in front of the podium. "Good morning. I'm Josiah Sanchez from Denver ATF Team 7. I'm going to be your tour guide on how to create a successful profile today. Now, I know some of you are expert profilers already, Ryan, Maddie, good to see you again, so if you would hold back a little and let everyone else take a guess first."
The two agents he'd singled out both nodded. Josiah moved to one of the two whiteboards he'd setup. He flipped it over to reveal a diagram with evidence photos and bags with items in them.
"Being a good profiler requires having a good eye for detail, an understanding of how the human mind works, and listening to your gut. Many a case has been solved by a gut instinct or single intuitive leap of faith. Let's start with this case. We have a John Doe found at approximately 11pm on a Saturday by four teens."
Nathan tuned out what Josiah was saying as his thoughts drifted back to what they had learned earlier. What Vin and Ezra had been through respectively explained so many of their behaviors. Especially Ezra. The arrogance he used to keep them all at a distance, the way he'd never let any of them get close to him. Nathan had always assumed Ezra really was just arrogant, and his problems with the FBI made him even less trusting. Now…now everything was different. He felt a little guilty for some of the uncharitable things he’d said to Ezra since meeting him a year ago, yet he was also angry because he man had never said anything, had never let them try to help him.
Nathan frowned when the door to the conference room suddenly opened. Hands automatically went for guns as two armed men wearing gas masks entered, followed by a third carrying already open gas grenades. None of them made it more than halfway out of their sets before they were overcome by the fumes.
The three men left the room, leaving the bodies where they lay. A red ribbon was wrapped around the doorknob before they moved on to the next room. Another group would be following quickly behind them to collect weapons from the unconscious agents and officers.
* * * * * * *
Outside Cascade
"Okay, guys, this is to test how far you can see. I’m not looking for detail so much as distance. Chris, keep your hand on Vin’s shoulder and talk to him. You may not be his Guide, but there seems to be enough of a connection to keep him from going into a zone out if we’re careful. Just follow the markers and tell me the colors on each of them. I have the distances color-coded, and it’s different for each line. So, whenever you’re ready."
To get things started Jim too a deep breath, focused on the sound of Blair’s heartbeat and the feel of him next to him before starting to read off colors. Vin followed Jim’s example, taking a deep breath trying to shake off the nervousness in his stomach. He didn’t want to experience a zone out again. Once had been enough to put a healthy fear of them in him. It didn’t help that they reminded him of ‘spells’ he’d have when he was a kid and would just lose track of time altogether. Keeping an ear tuned to Chris’ voice Vin began to call out colors as well.
Blair eagerly marked down each color as the two Sentinels called them out. He
was almost positive now that Vin was a Sentinel. Not as violently suppressed as
Jim, but naturally dampened to compensate for the lack of a Guide. He wanted to
investigate Vin’s sense of taste further since he’d had no problem with the chilli
last night, but had been able to identify everything in the juice. His sense of
smell was a little off as well. He suspected Vin was holding back now since he’d
knowingly experienced his first zone out. Maybe once he figured out who his true
Guide was Vin would be more willing to risk it. For the moment Blair was just
amazed at how far Vin could see. He’d already had a good idea as to Jim’s range
of sight but Vin appeared to be quickly outdistancing Jim.
He wasn’t prepared when both men stopped calling out colors, their heads swiveling to the right in the direction of the vehicles parked out of normal sight.
"There’s trouble at the hotel." Jim said out loud.
"Ezra," was all Vin said. In that moment Jim and Blair knew who Vin’s Guide was.
"What kind of trouble?" Chris asked frowning.
"The hotel’s been taken hostage. Grab your stuff, Chief. Tests are over."
The four men quickly headed back to the vehicles, Blair grabbing his backpack as they went.
* * * * * * *
Grand Cascade Hotel
Moran smiled as he and six of his men stepped off the elevator and into the Presidential Suite. The main room was lavishly furnished and he was sure the other rooms were just as rich. Too bad he wasn’t going to be able to enjoy all it had to offer, but he was here for a reason. Revenge, and he would have it.
"Alright, boys. Let’s get things setup. Once Gamma and Delta teams finish running the wires I want them back up here. We have three men to find and not a lot of time."
The six men quickly set about doing as ordered while Moran wandered over to the wet bar. He poured himself a drink and toasted the Cascade skyline. Soon he’d have those three bastards in his grasp and he’d make them pay for what they’d done to him.
* * * * * * *
Stepping out of the Krispy Kreme door, the box of a dozen donuts tucked securely beneath his arm, Carlos looked around as the wail of several police sirens grew louder. He watched with a sinking feeling of dread as half a dozen squad cars screeched to a halt, forming a barricade in front of the hotel. The squad cars were quickly followed by a SWAT van and several unmarked cars.
"Trent?" Carlos whispered, then more loudly cursed. "Dammit! He’s going to kill me."
Hurrying forward, he grabbed the first uniform he saw. A young man, barely out of the Academy from the looks of him. "What’s going on?"
"I’m sorry, sir. Civilians need to clear this area," the young man said officiously. "We have a serious situation here, but rest assured the police will handle it."
"No shit," Carlos growled. "I’m Carlos Sandoval of the Dallas PD. I have a partner and friends in there. Now what the hell is going on?" The kid didn’t need to know he wasn’t still with the PD.
"I’m s-s-sorry, s-sir," the kid stammered. "The hotel has been taken hostage by a group called the Sunrise Patriots."
Carlos cursed hotly in both English and Spanish. "Shit. Moran. Who’s in charge out here?"
"Captain Banks, sir."
"Where is he?"
"Over there, sir. By the SWAT van."
Shouting a, "Thanks," over his shoulder, he headed in the direction of the van searching for the distinctive figure of the tall black captain. He was halfway to him when he was stopped again. This time by a man in a SWAT uniform."I’m sorry, sir, but you need to be behind the barricade. This is…"
"A dangerous situation, I know. I’m Carlos Sandoval of the Dallas PD. I need to speak with Captain Banks."
"We appreciate that you want to help, but this is Cascade, not Dallas. We know how to do our jobs."
"I’m not saying you don’t. I just need to talk to Captain Banks. It’s very important."
"I’m sure it is but you’re going to have to wait…"
"You’re not getting me. I need to…"
"I’m sure you do, buddy, but not today. Dobbins, gimme a hand."
"Wait! Captain Banks! Captain Banks! Simon!"
"Sandoval?" Simon looked up from the map in front of him, cell phone at his ear. He gestured to the two SWAT team guys about to haul off Carlos. "Let him through." He turned his attention back to the map and the phone. "Yeah. Yeah, I found it. See you in forty-five, Jim. Sandoval, why the hell aren’t you in the hotel? Are Standish and Malloy with you?"
"No, sir, they’re still inside," Carlos admitted uneasily.
"And just how are you out here while they’re in there?"
The bland tone of voice only made Carlos more nervous. "I only thought I was going to be gone a couple of minutes. I didn’t think anything would happen," he tried to explain. Facing Banks was almost as bad as facing Walker after he’d done something spectacularly stupid.
Simon stared at him for a long moment then shook his head. "I’m not going to bother saying anything. You’re gonna lay enough guilt on yourself. Right now we don’t have a lot of information. No contact from inside yet. It looks like it’s the Patriots which means Moran is probably in there. Jim, Blair, Chris, and Vin are on their way back. About forty-five minutes until they get here. I’ve already sent Taggart and Connors to get schematics for the building. All we can do at the moment is wait."
Carlos nodded, his gaze drifted unhappily to the imposing bulk of the Grand Cascade Hotel.
* * * * * * *
As Buck stirred groggily, the sedative still making him lethargic, he felt a hand on his shoulder and a familiar voice.
"Easy, Brother. Just relax."
"Josiah?" Buck’s eyes flew open as memory returned. "JD!?"
"Easy, Buck," Nathan soothed as Josiah easily held him down in his weakened state. "JD’s not here."
"I know. She took him. We gotta," Buck finally noticed they weren’t in his and JD’s room and there was a man with an automatic standing by the door watching them. "Uh, what the hell did I miss?"
"It appears the hotel has been commandeered by these men," Josiah answered.
"Any idea who?"
"Nothing definite, but I’m gonna go with those patriot people Jim mentioned this morning," Nathan said as he checked Buck over. "We were all gassed, but you weren’t. You would have woken up sooner. What happened?"
"Ain’t rightly sure," Buck said as they helped him to sit up. He opened the top couple of buttons of his denim shirt to reveal where the tranquilizer dart had hit him. "JD and I had gone back to the room. He needed one of his computer gadgets for his seminar but had forgotten it. While I was waiting there was a knock on the door. It was one of the chambermaids. Pretty little Spanish girl. But she knew my name and the next thing I know she’s pulling a gun and shooting me with I guess a tranq. That’s all I remember. She must have taken JD. But why? Could she be working with Moran?"
"That don’t make sense." Nathan shook his head. "Why take one person when less than twenty minutes later you’re taking the entire hotel hostage? Maybe she’s working for that Stalker guy? What do you think, Josiah?"
"I think that perhaps we have made a serious miscalculation," he replied distractedly, a frown knitting his brows as he contemplated the floor tiles.
"Yeah, what’s that, Josiah?" Buck asked.
"All this time we have assumed that the Stalker is a man. What if he isn’t? What if he is a she?"
"Aw shit," Buck moaned.
"Indeed, Brother. Indeed."