Red Desert Sunset

A/N: So, I've been writing a lot of Alternate Universe stories. Although they are fun, this short story is taking me back to basics. Set pre-Red John death, before the suspect list, so Jane is still on the hunt. I hope you like it.

Chapter one – Sand

CBI consultant Patrick Jane squinted into the midday sun and shielded his cobalt blue eyes against the glare. The summer heat radiated down and soaked his suit jacket, making the garment too hot to wear. He was standing on the edge of the Mojave Desert, tracking an obscure Red John lead. Jane had heard from one of his sources that there was a murder that had happened out in the desert just before Red John started his killing spree

This murder bore similarities to Red John's style, and so Jane went out to investigate. He hadn't told his boss where he was going, because she would have insisted that she join him. But Senior Agent Teresa Lisbon couldn't seem to grasp the idea of revenge killing, and that this was a fight he needed to win alone.

Jane had tracked down the crime scene, an abandoned overnight hut about three hundred feet from the road. He took off his suit jacket and tossed it onto the driver's seat. He took one more long drink from the bottled water stashed beneath the passenger's seat of his Citroen, before slamming the car door shut. This would only take five minutes for him to just look the place over.

He began to stride through the loose sand, past some rather sad looking shrubbery, towards the hut. It had been used as an overnight stop for hiking trails and various extreme hunting groups in the area. But Jane surveyed the exterior and surmised that it had been abandoned for quite a number of years. The door was sitting crooked, and stood ajar. The hut was simple, four rooms and a wide porch. The front windows were grimy, and one cottage pane was missing.

It was hot under the porch, and Jane could feel the sweat penetrating into his vest and dampening his golden curls. He pushed the door further open and stepped into the room. There was sand piled up in the corners from the many dust storms that had blown through the area since the place had been abandoned. The room was dark, musty, and hot. The inside of the room felt like a sauna, and Jane decided he definitely wanted to get this over and done soon. The floorboards creaked under his weight as he stepped into the area. He scrutinised the front room and then moved on to the small dining area in the next room. The two back rooms used to hold old iron beds, but they had long since rusted away in the heat.

Jane walked into one room, and spotted several faint dark spots on the floor. Jane could see the outline on the floor of what was left of the beds, and saw that the dark spots lined up with one of the beds. He bent down to examine them, and had a hunch that they were blood spots. He stood up and turned around to leave. His heart caught in his throat. On the wall behind him – staring down at him in age-darkened blood – was a grotesque smiley face.

A movement to Jane's right caught his attention. He turned to face it, and something hard caught the right side of his face. He dropped to the floor, and the last thing he remembered was a pair of hands closing around his ankles.

Then darkness.

XxxxxxxxxxxX

Teresa Lisbon picked up her coffee cup and walked through from her office into the bullpen. She saw Grace Van Pelt and Wayne Rigsby sitting at his desk going through case files, and Kimball Cho phoning down leads on their latest case. But when she looked over at the old brown leather couch in the corner, it was strangely empty. She turned to the rest of the team. "Anybody seen Jane?"

Cho shook his head. "Not this morning, Boss."

Lisbon flipped open her cell and dialed his number. Voicemail. She tried again. Voicemail. She turned to Van Pelt. "Van Pelt, see if you can trace Jane's cell phone. See where it pinged last."

The redhead nodded and sat down at her desk. Several minutes later, she looked up from her computer, very confused. "Looks like it last pinged here."

Lisbon walked over to the computer. She looked down at the screen and frowned in confusion. The last known tower that the cell pinged off of was about five hundred feet up the street from the CBI headquarters. Cho stood up and walked over to the couch. He pulled up the cushions, and pulled out a small black object. "Looks like Jane forgot this."

Lisbon took the phone from Cho and flipped it open. The battery was dead.

There was no reason to worry just yet, but there was cause for concern. Lisbon brushed the concern out of her mind. Jane could go missing sometimes, not tell them where he was going, and he would always turn up three days later with an excuse and an apology.

Four hours passed, and Lisbon was just getting ready to pack up for the day, when her email pinged on her computer. It was an urgent message, and so she dialed the number of the officer in charge. "Officer Henry."

"Hello. This is Senior Agent Lisbon of the CBI. I just got an urgent email from your department."

Officer Henry nodded. "Yes, ma'am. Seems we have a car sitting here on the side of the road. Belongs to a Patrick Jane. Employment says he works for you guys. We just wanted to let you know that he needs to come and fetch it."

Lisbon felt her blood turn to ice. "What is the exact location of the car?"

The officer read out the co-ordinates to her, and she triangulated the location on her computer. "Thank you, officer. We will send out an agent to fetch it for him."

"My pleasure, agent Lisbon." The officer cut the call, and Lisbon stood up.

She headed out to the bullpen. "Van Pelt, Cho, with me. Rigsby, you stay here. If you hear from Jane, call me immediately."

Rigsby nodded. Van Pelt stood up. "Where are we going, boss?"

Lisbon turned to the taller woman. "The Mojave Desert. Local PD found Jane's car abandoned on the side of the road."

A/N2: So, this is the start of a new story. Please tell me what you think. I do appreciate it. Thanks again.