Part 393: Bait and Switch
January 18th, 2009
Jenny calmly looked out the window of the booth. Outside near the street, the activity of Los Angeles was always threatening to overflow. Cars were bumper to bumper and the passengers were screaming at each other. Across the streets, hookers who had stayed up all night were still out there; looking for someone to buy them off. Jenny could go arrest them but she didn’t feel like it. She had more important things on her mind.
The door bell above the entrance to the diner rang out and Kellye stepped into the place. She looked around and Jenny waved to her to make sure she could see her. The brunette calmly walked over and sat at the booth. “Morning, Jenny,” her friend smiled.
“Morning, Kell,” the blonde said, sipping her coffee, “Sleep well?”
“About as well as be expected.” The young detective took a brief pause as he waitress asked what she would like, “Coffee please, two cream, two sugars.”
“Maybe you should be brave enough to one day request three sugars.” Jenny smirked.
“I am not that wild, thank you very much,” Kellye laughed, fueling the joke.
The waitress then brought over the coffee with the mentioned condiments. The brunette then began to make the type of coffee she liked and looked at her partner. “So, why are we here?” she said, stirring her coffee.
“Not yet,” Jenny said, munching on her Danish, “We’re waiting for Ana-Lucia to arrive.”
“Huh?” Kellye said, pausing in the drinking of her coffee, “ I thought you just wanted to talk to me?”
“Yeah and afterwards, I changed my mind and called Ana to meet us here.”
“What’s going on, Jenny?”
“It’s . . .uh . . . . The Island has come back to haunt us.” The blonde whispered.
Before her partner could ask another question, the doorbell to the diner ran out again and their superior officer Ana-Lucia walked into the diner. She looked around and spotted her friends. She proceeded to walk over and then motioned for Kellye to scoot over. As she did, she then rested her head on her fellow detective’s shoulder. “You awake, Ana?” Kellye laughed.
“I ain’t so sure.” She said, leaning up and rubbing her eyes.
The waitress came over and asked what she would like. “Large Vanilla coke and one of those blueberry Danishes you guys are famous for.” The Latina moaned.
As the waitress left, Ana yawned and continued to rub her left eye. “I still had another hour sleep coming too me, Jenny, “ she mentioned, “So this better be good.”
“Well . . it’s not good, its bad. However, you two are the only ones I could discuss this with.” The blonde mentioned.
“Jenny, I am starting to get worried. You said this has to do with the Island?” Kellye replied.
“Island . .what . .what are you talking about?” Ana-Lucia said, with a mouthful of blueberry Danish.
Jenny sipped on her coffee and sighed. “Jack of All Shades is a Jaeger Unit.” She said, bluntly.
Ana-Lucia stopped eating and Kellye stopped drinking. They finally caught up with themselves, and the Latina swallowed her food, while the brunette swallowed her coffee. Ana-Lucia sipped on her coke while her fellow officer dabbed the coffee from her lips with a napkin. “I thought we were through discussing this bullcrap, Jenny,” her ranking officer told her.
“Ana, I now know for a fact that he is a Jaeger Unit.” The blond insisted.
“How do you know?” Kellye asked.
“He . . .told me.”
Kellye then stumbled as she almost dropped her coffee. Ana-Lucia stared at Jenny with a slight mix of confusion and contempt. “How . . . could he have told you?” the ranking officer said.
“He broke into my house last night. He said the only reason he wanted to talk to me was because he looked up my name on the Internet and I was one of the survivors of Flight 815. He wanted to know if I had saw Watchman and he spoke of things that only someone from that Island could have known.”
“Oh, my God,” Kellye whispered, hoping she had put the strangeness of the Island behind her.
“He knows the killer we are after too,” Jenny admitted, “He doesn’t know his name but he does know he is a Jaeger Unit. In fact, he said he was trying to stop him.”
“Why?” Ana-Lucia demanded.
“Ana . . Jack isn’t like this guy. These old people he is killing were apart of the Dharma Initiative. This is no different from killing . . .NAZIS.”
“That is not for you to decide!” Ana-Lucia pointed her finger across the table, “If this guy was in your house, you should have called for backup immediately.”
“Backup? What kind of backup are we talking about? The SWAT team?” Kellye piped in, “If this guy was a Jaeger Unit, there wouldn’t have been any way for them to stop him. Ana, you saw Raven!”
“He was stronger and faster, I’ll admit that. But nothing is unbeatable,” the Latina pointed back to Jenny, “YOU of all people should know that.”
Jenny sighed and looked at the table. She knew full well what Ana-Lucia was talking about; her battle with the albino freak called Texas. That fight gave her bruises that she still had scares to this day. Ana-Lucia then moaned and rubbed her eyes. “Okay, Jenny, here is what you are going to do,” she whispered, “When we get back to the station, you are going to tell Ford and Stark everything you learned from Jack of All Shades. You will leave out the part of him being a Jaeger Unit because they wouldn’t believe you anyway.”
“What do we do with Ortega, if that is his name?” Jenny said.
“If he is killing these women because of Penelope Widmore, then we still don’t have the proof to offer her protection and I don’t think she is going to be forthcoming about the Dharma Initiative.”
“I have an idea about how to catch him, Ana,” the blonde police officer whispered, “You said yourself, nothing is unbeatable.”
“If this guy is a Jaeger Unit, Jenny, then you won’t have the time to beat him; you’ll only have time to kill him. So, this plan better take that into consideration.”
“It does,” the officer then pulled out a shopping back to her right side, “Kellye, could you come into the bathroom with me? I’ll need your help.”
“Uh . .sure,” she said, motioning for Ana-Lucia to let her out of the booth.
The ranking officer watched the two young women proceed into the back of the diner toward the women’s bathroom. She hoped this plan would not put undo risk on their lives. She had come to think of Kellye and Jenny more like little sisters than fellow detectives. She only hoped they would all survive catching this insane killer.
Detective Day pulled up to the crime scene. The police had cornered off most of the area. It was outside a restaurant which made it more strange. The woman was in her early twenties by the looks of it and she was adorned with the amber hair color. The extension cord had changed it’s color. All the previous times, it was orange; now it was dark blue. Maxine took a picture of the women and then signaled the cops to get her down. “Blue extension cord around her neck,” she pointed out.
“I noticed that too,” Day mentioned.
“Changing of the MO is never a good thing,” Meg mentioned.
“Yes, that means he’s either getting sloppy or he’s escalating. Perhaps growing impatient that his killing is serving no purpose.”
“You buy Ana-Lucia’s theory, Edwin?” Max said, putting her camera away, “ That this killer is doing it to garner Ms. Widmore’s attention?”
“If he is, it’s a sick way of doing it,” the black detective tucked in his coat, “ Maybe he is doing it to prove that he could kill her anytime she wanted.”
“If only she would give us the information we need, we could get legal presidence to protect her,” Meg said, examining the body.
“And scare off her market shares?” Day smirked, “Something tells me she had her priorities straight.”
To the side of the restaurant, Ana-Lucia finally arrived. She closed her door and walked past the street cops; holding up her homicide badge. The Latina looked to her friends as they welcomed her to the crime scene. “What do we got?” she asked.
“It’s our killer, Ana,” Maxine pointed out, “Fractured ribs, strangled through extension cord and last but not least, amber hair. She was killed up on the roof and flopped out in front of his seafood dive.”
“I’ve eaten here,” the Latina moaned, “ This place fell to crap the moment they stopped serving hush puppies.”
“Where is Kellye and Jenny?” Day asked.
“They are on their way.”
“Ana . . .Is it true that Jenny was paid a visit by the Jack of All Shades?” the black detective asked.
Ana-Lucia slowly looked up at him, slightly annoyed. “Let me guess,” she whispered, “Ford couldn’t keep his mouth shut in the men’s room.”
“He was considering bringing Jenny up on charges of harboring a fugitive . . .Stark convinced him it wouldn’t stick . .and yes, he was busy screaming about this in the restroom.”
“Did he hurt her?” Meg piped in; concerned about her friend.
“No, he just wanted to talk. I’ll fill you guys in on the rest of it later and I can promise you . . .you won’t believe a single word of it.”
“Nonetheless, I am eager to hear what happened.”
Almost as if on cue, Jenny’s truck arrived at the crime scene. Kellye was the first to get out of the vehicle. She began to walk up the sidewalk to join others. They then looked to Jenny and the first thing that Detective Day noticed about her was her hair was wet.
The second thing he noticed was her hair was an amber colored.
“Huh?” the black man gasped.
Maxine and Meg immediately noticed it too. Meg nearly dropped her evidence at the sight of it. “Jenny . .your hair . .” she pointed out.
“You like it?” Jenny showed it off, “It’s called Autumn Sunset.”
“That’s not funny, Jenny,” Maxine grunted, “You known damn well we have a killer out there that is picking off women with amber colored hair.”
“Yes, I know, Max, now please pretend to be happy about my hair.” Jenny continued to walk over to her.
“Why should I pretend, when you are offering yourself up as bait?”
“Killers like to come back to the scene of the crime, Max,” the young officer whispered, “There is a chance he may be watching us. If I can make the bastard come after me and not some innocent civilian, then I’m willing to take the risk”
Max froze and understood her words. She then smiled and patted her on the shoulder. The group continued to go about their business as they worked the scene. High above at the other end of street was the Fargo Office building. In one of the empty offices was the killer they had been searching for. He was holding binoculars as he looked out at the scene. He had noticed the cops before but he didn’t notice the one will amber hair. He stared at her and calmly licked his lips. “How kind of you.” He whispered.
Jenny calmly looked out the window of the booth. Outside near the street, the activity of Los Angeles was always threatening to overflow. Cars were bumper to bumper and the passengers were screaming at each other. Across the streets, hookers who had stayed up all night were still out there; looking for someone to buy them off. Jenny could go arrest them but she didn’t feel like it. She had more important things on her mind.
The door bell above the entrance to the diner rang out and Kellye stepped into the place. She looked around and Jenny waved to her to make sure she could see her. The brunette calmly walked over and sat at the booth. “Morning, Jenny,” her friend smiled.
“Morning, Kell,” the blonde said, sipping her coffee, “Sleep well?”
“About as well as be expected.” The young detective took a brief pause as he waitress asked what she would like, “Coffee please, two cream, two sugars.”
“Maybe you should be brave enough to one day request three sugars.” Jenny smirked.
“I am not that wild, thank you very much,” Kellye laughed, fueling the joke.
The waitress then brought over the coffee with the mentioned condiments. The brunette then began to make the type of coffee she liked and looked at her partner. “So, why are we here?” she said, stirring her coffee.
“Not yet,” Jenny said, munching on her Danish, “We’re waiting for Ana-Lucia to arrive.”
“Huh?” Kellye said, pausing in the drinking of her coffee, “ I thought you just wanted to talk to me?”
“Yeah and afterwards, I changed my mind and called Ana to meet us here.”
“What’s going on, Jenny?”
“It’s . . .uh . . . . The Island has come back to haunt us.” The blonde whispered.
Before her partner could ask another question, the doorbell to the diner ran out again and their superior officer Ana-Lucia walked into the diner. She looked around and spotted her friends. She proceeded to walk over and then motioned for Kellye to scoot over. As she did, she then rested her head on her fellow detective’s shoulder. “You awake, Ana?” Kellye laughed.
“I ain’t so sure.” She said, leaning up and rubbing her eyes.
The waitress came over and asked what she would like. “Large Vanilla coke and one of those blueberry Danishes you guys are famous for.” The Latina moaned.
As the waitress left, Ana yawned and continued to rub her left eye. “I still had another hour sleep coming too me, Jenny, “ she mentioned, “So this better be good.”
“Well . . it’s not good, its bad. However, you two are the only ones I could discuss this with.” The blonde mentioned.
“Jenny, I am starting to get worried. You said this has to do with the Island?” Kellye replied.
“Island . .what . .what are you talking about?” Ana-Lucia said, with a mouthful of blueberry Danish.
Jenny sipped on her coffee and sighed. “Jack of All Shades is a Jaeger Unit.” She said, bluntly.
Ana-Lucia stopped eating and Kellye stopped drinking. They finally caught up with themselves, and the Latina swallowed her food, while the brunette swallowed her coffee. Ana-Lucia sipped on her coke while her fellow officer dabbed the coffee from her lips with a napkin. “I thought we were through discussing this bullcrap, Jenny,” her ranking officer told her.
“Ana, I now know for a fact that he is a Jaeger Unit.” The blond insisted.
“How do you know?” Kellye asked.
“He . . .told me.”
Kellye then stumbled as she almost dropped her coffee. Ana-Lucia stared at Jenny with a slight mix of confusion and contempt. “How . . . could he have told you?” the ranking officer said.
“He broke into my house last night. He said the only reason he wanted to talk to me was because he looked up my name on the Internet and I was one of the survivors of Flight 815. He wanted to know if I had saw Watchman and he spoke of things that only someone from that Island could have known.”
“Oh, my God,” Kellye whispered, hoping she had put the strangeness of the Island behind her.
“He knows the killer we are after too,” Jenny admitted, “He doesn’t know his name but he does know he is a Jaeger Unit. In fact, he said he was trying to stop him.”
“Why?” Ana-Lucia demanded.
“Ana . . Jack isn’t like this guy. These old people he is killing were apart of the Dharma Initiative. This is no different from killing . . .NAZIS.”
“That is not for you to decide!” Ana-Lucia pointed her finger across the table, “If this guy was in your house, you should have called for backup immediately.”
“Backup? What kind of backup are we talking about? The SWAT team?” Kellye piped in, “If this guy was a Jaeger Unit, there wouldn’t have been any way for them to stop him. Ana, you saw Raven!”
“He was stronger and faster, I’ll admit that. But nothing is unbeatable,” the Latina pointed back to Jenny, “YOU of all people should know that.”
Jenny sighed and looked at the table. She knew full well what Ana-Lucia was talking about; her battle with the albino freak called Texas. That fight gave her bruises that she still had scares to this day. Ana-Lucia then moaned and rubbed her eyes. “Okay, Jenny, here is what you are going to do,” she whispered, “When we get back to the station, you are going to tell Ford and Stark everything you learned from Jack of All Shades. You will leave out the part of him being a Jaeger Unit because they wouldn’t believe you anyway.”
“What do we do with Ortega, if that is his name?” Jenny said.
“If he is killing these women because of Penelope Widmore, then we still don’t have the proof to offer her protection and I don’t think she is going to be forthcoming about the Dharma Initiative.”
“I have an idea about how to catch him, Ana,” the blonde police officer whispered, “You said yourself, nothing is unbeatable.”
“If this guy is a Jaeger Unit, Jenny, then you won’t have the time to beat him; you’ll only have time to kill him. So, this plan better take that into consideration.”
“It does,” the officer then pulled out a shopping back to her right side, “Kellye, could you come into the bathroom with me? I’ll need your help.”
“Uh . .sure,” she said, motioning for Ana-Lucia to let her out of the booth.
The ranking officer watched the two young women proceed into the back of the diner toward the women’s bathroom. She hoped this plan would not put undo risk on their lives. She had come to think of Kellye and Jenny more like little sisters than fellow detectives. She only hoped they would all survive catching this insane killer.
Detective Day pulled up to the crime scene. The police had cornered off most of the area. It was outside a restaurant which made it more strange. The woman was in her early twenties by the looks of it and she was adorned with the amber hair color. The extension cord had changed it’s color. All the previous times, it was orange; now it was dark blue. Maxine took a picture of the women and then signaled the cops to get her down. “Blue extension cord around her neck,” she pointed out.
“I noticed that too,” Day mentioned.
“Changing of the MO is never a good thing,” Meg mentioned.
“Yes, that means he’s either getting sloppy or he’s escalating. Perhaps growing impatient that his killing is serving no purpose.”
“You buy Ana-Lucia’s theory, Edwin?” Max said, putting her camera away, “ That this killer is doing it to garner Ms. Widmore’s attention?”
“If he is, it’s a sick way of doing it,” the black detective tucked in his coat, “ Maybe he is doing it to prove that he could kill her anytime she wanted.”
“If only she would give us the information we need, we could get legal presidence to protect her,” Meg said, examining the body.
“And scare off her market shares?” Day smirked, “Something tells me she had her priorities straight.”
To the side of the restaurant, Ana-Lucia finally arrived. She closed her door and walked past the street cops; holding up her homicide badge. The Latina looked to her friends as they welcomed her to the crime scene. “What do we got?” she asked.
“It’s our killer, Ana,” Maxine pointed out, “Fractured ribs, strangled through extension cord and last but not least, amber hair. She was killed up on the roof and flopped out in front of his seafood dive.”
“I’ve eaten here,” the Latina moaned, “ This place fell to crap the moment they stopped serving hush puppies.”
“Where is Kellye and Jenny?” Day asked.
“They are on their way.”
“Ana . . .Is it true that Jenny was paid a visit by the Jack of All Shades?” the black detective asked.
Ana-Lucia slowly looked up at him, slightly annoyed. “Let me guess,” she whispered, “Ford couldn’t keep his mouth shut in the men’s room.”
“He was considering bringing Jenny up on charges of harboring a fugitive . . .Stark convinced him it wouldn’t stick . .and yes, he was busy screaming about this in the restroom.”
“Did he hurt her?” Meg piped in; concerned about her friend.
“No, he just wanted to talk. I’ll fill you guys in on the rest of it later and I can promise you . . .you won’t believe a single word of it.”
“Nonetheless, I am eager to hear what happened.”
Almost as if on cue, Jenny’s truck arrived at the crime scene. Kellye was the first to get out of the vehicle. She began to walk up the sidewalk to join others. They then looked to Jenny and the first thing that Detective Day noticed about her was her hair was wet.
The second thing he noticed was her hair was an amber colored.
“Huh?” the black man gasped.
Maxine and Meg immediately noticed it too. Meg nearly dropped her evidence at the sight of it. “Jenny . .your hair . .” she pointed out.
“You like it?” Jenny showed it off, “It’s called Autumn Sunset.”
“That’s not funny, Jenny,” Maxine grunted, “You known damn well we have a killer out there that is picking off women with amber colored hair.”
“Yes, I know, Max, now please pretend to be happy about my hair.” Jenny continued to walk over to her.
“Why should I pretend, when you are offering yourself up as bait?”
“Killers like to come back to the scene of the crime, Max,” the young officer whispered, “There is a chance he may be watching us. If I can make the bastard come after me and not some innocent civilian, then I’m willing to take the risk”
Max froze and understood her words. She then smiled and patted her on the shoulder. The group continued to go about their business as they worked the scene. High above at the other end of street was the Fargo Office building. In one of the empty offices was the killer they had been searching for. He was holding binoculars as he looked out at the scene. He had noticed the cops before but he didn’t notice the one will amber hair. He stared at her and calmly licked his lips. “How kind of you.” He whispered.
posted by Jason | 11:20 AM
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