Freeze

The cars were rushing down the streets. Three black and whites, a Crown Vick and one small blue Toyota Echo between them. Though Shawn was pretty sure that Lassiter needed all his will power to not to break out of that formation and to just race to their target all on his own. Now that they knew where the kidnappers were hiding and they seemed to be so close to finding Victoria that Shawn wondered why it hadn´t happen already. Maybe it was because Jules was with him in the car. Lassiter might have risked his own life by driving like a maniac, but Jules had been in hospital already once today and he surely wouldn´t want to risk this to happen again. Shawn was grateful for that. Not just because of Jules´ safety but also because it proved that Lassie was still able to think properly. Could be a good thing as soon as they met the kidnapper. Could spare them all a big mess.

He still stopped his car with squeaking tires and jumped out even before the chief and anyone else was able to open their doors. Fortunately he contained himself long enough to wait for them all before running into the building.

„All right, everybody." the chief cried. „The suspect is assumed to be in appartement 184. Secure the street. We go in."

When Shawn was about to follow her (Gus on the other hand was more than happy that he was allowed to stay put) she stopped him with the famous three words: „You stay here."

Shawn remained where he was with an obedient expression – until she was out of sight. Then he ran after them anyway. Gus´ cry for him to wait didn´t make any difference. He hurried into the building and up the stairs, always trying to avoid it to be seen by the chief or Jules. Not yet at least. When they had found the appartement, Lassiter immediately aimed his gun at the door to shoot it open, but chief Vick called him back. It was only her stern character and the fact that he knew her for so long, that made him obey. He managed it to wait for her to knock and call: „S.B.P.D. Open the door."

Inside they heard a noise and then a shot. This time Lassiter didn´t wait for anyone to give him permission, but kicked the door open. Shawn hurried after them as soon as they were through the door. He immediately noticed that there was no one in the appartement. Not anymore. A window was open and outside he could hear the sound of banging metal. Someone was trying to escape over the fireladder.

„Mr. Spencer, I told you to wait outside." chief Vick cried when she noticed Shawn´s presence.

Lassiter who had heard the same noises like Shawn, didn´t pay any attention to them but rushed over to the window.

„Freeze!" he yelled and then shot down. Then he cursed and climbed out of the window to follow the refugee.

They all rushed to the window and looked after him. They could see a man jumping down the last few feet to the ground and then running away. Lassiter was right on his tail, shooting several times but missing. There was a big construction side behind the building. The two men were heading straight for it. Jules immediately climbed out of the window to follow her partner.

„Everybody." the chief called in over radio. „The suspect is running north over a construction side. I repeat the suspect is running north …"

Shawn didn´t hear the rest. He was looking around. Why was Lassie´s wife not here? Pascaretti had said that she would be here. But she wasn´t. There hadn´t been enough time for them to bring her away. Did this mean she had been gone before? Or had she never been here at all? But there was a chair what had some remains of tape on it. She had been here, all right. But now she was gone. Again.

The chief was climbing out of the window now too. Shawn followed her. Before he was completely out of the window, he spotted some bags and a passport on the drawer. He only saw it for a few seconds. Then he climbed down the ladder along with the others.

The construction side was surrounded by a deep dig. Obviously there was a complete new building in the process here. The dig could only be crossed over a bridge that actually wasn´t much more than a plank. Feldweger was running over this plank right now, while Lassiter was shooting after him. The plank was staggering dangerously but Feldweger didn´t seem to care. He reached the other side and kept running as if he hadn´t even noticed. Lassiter cursed and reloaded his gun while following him.

„Carlton!" Jules cried afraid that he would fall. He didn´t seem to hear her.

Again the plank was staggering wildly. Lassiter lost his balance for a second but just like Feldweger he didn´t seem to notice the danger he was in. He found his balance again and ran the rest of the way without any problems. His last step made the plank jump up violently but he didn´t notice that either. Nor the fact that it fell down into the dig with a loud crash. Jules and chief Vick could only stop in shock and look after him how he vanished around a heap of steel beams. Then they heard him shoot again.

„Everybody." the chief radioed again, out of breath. Shawn didn´t listen to what she said. He was looking around for another way to cross that dig. His feet were still in desperate need to move. When he spotted a chance (a rather stupid one admittedly) he ran away too fast for Jules or the chief to realize that he was gone. When they did, he was already halfway there. They immediately attempted to follow him … to stop him from this insane try to cross the dig.

...

On the other side, on the construction side, Lassiter had reached Feldweger. The kidnapper had obviously miscalculated his lam and ran into a dead end. By trying to run back he had run right into Lassiter. The detective looked into the face of the man that had threatened the life of his wife and had forgotten all about his gun. He started to punch the bastard vigorously. They struggled for a moment, but then Lassiter swirled the other man around and shoved him into a wall of concrete wall parts. He pressed his arm against Feldweger´s throat and then aimed his gun at his nose. Feldweger immediately stopped struggling.

„Where is she?" Carlton demanded to know. When Feldweger didn´t answer he yelled the question into his face. But Feldweger just grinned and coughed under Lassiter´s grip.

Lassiter pulled back the hammer of his gun. „You´ll tell me now." he said. „Or you´ll talk to my gun. Where is she?"

„She is safe." Feldweger said. „So far."

Lassiter wasn´t sure what he would do next, but in this moment a loud crashing sound came from behind the other corner. He and Feldweger turned around to see a cloud of dust coming from there. Then a coughing and waving Shawn Spencer stumbled around the corner.

„Spencer!" Lassiter cried surprised. „How the hell …?"

„There was a heap of hoses lying over that dig." Shawn explained still coughing. „I don´t think that it is still there though. This is a really dangerous construction side."

He coughed again and then squinted. „Oh, good, you have him." he noticed. „Chief Vick and Jules are trying to come from the other side. Somewhere over there. Did he tell you where Victoria is?"

Now Lassiter remembered the question he had been asking himself and turned back to Feldweger.

„Not yet." he said what seemed to amuse Feldweger.

„She is with some friends of mine." he now told him. „They´ll take good care of her."

„Where are they?" Lassiter yelled again.

„Tell me, detective." Feldweger replied. „How does it feel? Not to know. How does it feel?"

Lassiter was about to pull the trigger when Shawn suddenly said: „They are on the way to Mexico."

Lassiter was so startled that he didn´t know what to say. So was Feldweger. When they looked over to Shawn he had his hand at his temple.

„What?" Lassiter asked.

But Shawn was looking at Feldweger. He nodded as if he had just gotten confirmation from him. „It´s true, isn´t it?" he said. „You were about to follow them. Just before we came in. They left right after the incident on the town square, didn´t they?"

Feldweger´s face told him that he was right.

„You bastard, you never intended to let her go." Lassiter cried and pushed Feldweger harder against the wall. Then he turned back to Shawn, a wild chevied expression in his eyes.

„Do you know where they are, Spencer?" he wanted to know.

Shawn hesitated. „I … I can find them." he said.

„Sure?"

„Yeah." Shawn answered with a confused shrug.

„No." Lassiter insisted. „I mean are you absolutely sure, that you can find her?" he demanded a serious answer.

Shawn looked into those desperate blue eyes and promised: „We´ll find her."

Lassiter hold his gaze for a moment. Then he nodded.

„All right." he said and turned back to Feldweger. „Don Feldweger, you are under arrest." he told him. „Shawn, go back and tell O´Hara and Chief Vick. I´m right behind you."

Shawn hesitated. Something on this whole scene didn´t feel right. He chuckled nervously.

„Why don´t you come with me, right away?" he asked.

Lassiter just threw him a glance but didn´t answer. It looked as if he wasn´t sure himself.

„Come on, what´s the matter?" Shawn asked.

„Just go, Shawn!" Lassiter demanded.

The fake psychic was stunned for a moment. Not just because of the fact that Lassiter had used his first name, what seemed to have become a habit when something bad was in the process of happening. But there was something in the detective´s eyes that shouldn´t be there either. But worst of all. There was something in the suspects eyes, too. A smile that gave Shawn the creeps.

„No." he said and when Lassiter shot him a warning glance, he said: „Sorry but …" he chuckled again but this time it was completely humorless. „ No." he repeated. „I can´t. And you know that. Lassie. That´s not worth it."

„I´m arresting a suspect." Lassiter claimed.

„Yeah, sure." Shawn replied. „And under any other circumstances I wouldn´t even question that. But I´m a pretty serious 24 watcher and this … can´t be good. Come on, Lassie, you´re not like this."

Lassiter looked at Feldweger again. There was sweat on his forehead. His fingers were clinging tighter around his gun, his finger tightening on the trigger without pulling it yet.

„Lassie." Shawn cried. When he got no reaction he called again. „Carlton."

This finally made the head detective look at him again. Shawn couldn´t believe that they were in a situation like that. He still didn´t dare to come any closer to the two men. Not that he was afraid Lassiter would shoot at him, but there was something in this whole situation that made him keep his distance. Now he looked at the detective with stern eyes and said the only words that he knew would come through to Lassiter: „That´d be murder, detective."

Finally the expression in Lassiter´s eyes changed. The hardness vanished and was replaced first by confusion and then by realization. When he looked at Shawn again he seemed almost scared. He hadn´t even noticed how close he had been to become a murderer. His eyes were holding onto Shawn´s in an almost pleading way, in the desperate need for someone to tell him that things were still the same. That they would be all right despite of all that had happened. So close. So close he had been to lose the ground beneath his feet, to fall down into that abyss. And it had been Shawn from all people in the world, the fake psychic, the overgrown child, that had saved him from this fall. When Shawn now nodded at him reassuringly, Lassiter felt the strength vanishing from his body. What had happened to him? What was he doing here?

In this moment Feldweger took advantage of his weakness that had overcome him and reached for his gun. The push he gave him was so suddenly and so unexpected that Lassiter fell backwards without any struggle. Feldweger took his gun and used it. But instead of pointing it at Lassiter he aimed at Shawn. The fake psychic who had started to run over to them to help, tried to stop and slipped on the sandy ground. His hand reached behind to find the ground before his butt did, while his eyes could only see the gun in the bad guys hand. The black hole that was pointing at him. And then there was a shot.

But it wasn´t Shawn who was hit. It was Feldweger.

The criminal looked over to his right, where Lassiter sat on the ground, the little gun in his hand he had just pulled from his ankle holster. Feldweger chuckled. Then he turned to look at Shawn again and raised the gun a second time. Lassiter shot again before he could.

Shawn heard Jules voice calling his name. The next thing he knew was that someone was by his side. But it wasn´t Jules. It was Gus. His hands were clinging into his shoulders.

„Shawn, are you ok?" he asked and tried to pull him to his feet.

On the other side Jules was helping Lassiter to stand up, casting worried eyes over to them, while the chief was checking on the suspect. She kicked the gun away from his hand and then bowed down to feel his pulse. She found none.

„What happened?" she asked.

„He … he tried to shoot me." Shawn stuttered. „Why did he try to shoot me? This doesn´t make any sense."

„It does." Lassiter replied. „Feldweger never intended to kill me." he said looking down on the dead man. „He only wanted to crack me. By hurting people I care about. He would have shot anybody just to make me watch it." He met Shawn´s gaze again. „Thanks by the way." he said.

„Any time." the fake psychic replied.

Jules threw a confused look at the chief, who answered her gaze the same way. „Didn´t he just save him?" Jules asked confused.

Gus could only shrug.

...

„We have to hurry." Lassiter said and holstered his gun. „You said they are in Mexico?" he asked Shawn.

„Yes, I saw …" Shawn made himself stop before he gave away that he simply saw the passport. „I see them heading for the border. I see passports and bags."

„Then we´ll go there too." Lassiter decided.

„Detective, wait." chief Vick cried. „This is outside of your jurisdiction. You have no authority there."

„Chief with all due respect, I don´t care about my authority. These men have my wife. I will not sit here and wait while they are doing I don´t know what to her."

„But … the Mexican border is hours from here." the chief argued. „Until you are even halfway there everything could be over. Let me make the call. The colleagues down there will take care of everything. And we could get a positive report much sooner this way."

Lassiter hesitated.

„You did everything you could, detective." Karen told him. „Now let us do the rest."

Eventually he gave in. She was right. The way was far too long for him to drive. Spencer had said they might have left two hours ago. So their headstart was too big for him to catch up even if he had no other traffic members to watch out for. His limit was reached. There was truly nothing he could do. Not anymore.

He felt a hand on his arm and looked down into his partner´s eyes. She motioned him with her eyes that it was ok. No one would blame him from stepping back now, especially not Victoria. And of course she was right. It was just so hard to do, to stop and let others take over what was truly his responsibility. She had been taken hostage because of him after all. But his strength had reached its limits and he just couldn´t fight against logic any longer. At the beginning of this day he might have been able to ignore it, to fight back reasoning and rationality. But the sun was going down now and he had barely slept three hours in the last two days.

„All right." he said quietly but the feeling of reluctance was there nevertheless.

He saw relief in the eyes of all his companions. The chief maybe more than the others. She took her hand radio up and called the operator to inform them about what had happened and that someone should give the police down at the border a call. After that nothing was left for them but to let CSI take over the dead suspect and drive home. And wait, the hardest part in all of this.

...

It took hours. Hours in which they kept themselves awake with coffee and the pathetic tries to assure Carlton that things would be fine. As soon as the phone would ring the cops from down at the border would tell them that they had found Victoria and that she was fine. The phone rang a couple of times but everytime it was something different. After a while even Carlton was too tired to do more than to threw a glance over to the chiefs office. As long as he saw no reaction from her he could be sure it wasn´t about Victoria. But at last the chief took a call and immediately started to wave for them to come into her office. She had been about to stand up but could keep her anxiety under control. She was sitting bolt upright though while she listened to what the officer on the other end told her.

„That´s right." she said. „Did you …? Ok. I understand." She threw a brief look at her detectives but there was still nothing clear in her face. She was still waiting herself. Then she listened again. „Yes." she said, trying not to sound tensed. „What happened?"

She listened nodding and then her face went pale with shock. Her reaction was so pervasive that it instantly planted itself on all their faces. Karen blinked. „Are you sure?" she asked for confirmation. Her voice was choked. „I understand." she said at last. „Thank you, Officer Ramirez." Then she hung up and looked at Carlton with desperate eyes.

He was struck and wouldn´t be able to move even if he´d wanted to. She didn´t need to say it. They all had already understood.

„I …" Karen started shaking her head. „I´m so sorry, Carlton."

...

The appartement was quiet. Quieter than usual. Though there were definitely more people in it than usual. Juliet, Spencer and Guster were still here, but as far as Carlton was concerned they could have been on the other end of the world. In his mind there was nothing. It was just blank.

Somehow he managed it to wonder. He would have expected to feel sorrow. Pain. Something. But there was nothing. He had identified Victoria´s body over a foto the local authorities down at the border had sent them. The coroner hadn´t given a full statement yet but it as pretty sure that she had been raped. Several times. The cops had found her body after they had failed to catch the criminals before they could get away to Mexico. At the end they had been a few minutes too late. For both parts of their mission. They could neither arrest the criminals nor save the victim. The whole thing had gone down rather unspectacular. Not even a car chase had been involved. At the time the cops had reached the border the criminals had been gone already. Nothing to chase after. Obviously Feldweger had given order to kill Victoria if they shouldn´t hear from him within a certain time. Or, what Carlton believed, he had ordered to kill her right away, since he´d never really intended to let her go. It was true what he had said back at the construction side. Feldweger´s main target was it to hurt him. And what would hurt him more than to face the fact that after all the efforts he had bearded himself with all day long, he hadn´t been able to save her? He was right. It hurt. And still he couldn´t mourn. He tried but there were no tears.

„They´ll come." Juliet had said trying to comfort him. „Just give yourself some time. The chief has signed you free for a while. For as long as you need." There her voice had cracked a little but she had tried her best to be strong. „If you need someone to talk …" she´d said and he had nodded. More he couldn´t do anyway. There was nothing left to say. Not today at least. It was almost two in the morning now. Almost the time when he had gotten the call twenty four hours ago. It did surprise him that not only Juliet but also Spencer and Guster were still here. That was strange. Usually that wasn´t a time for them to still be awake and working. It was also strange why he thought about things like that in this moment.

„Are you sure you are all right?" Juliet asked one last time and he nodded.

„Don´t worry, I´m fine." he said.

She gave him a doubtful look that he could only answer with a blank one. Her hand was still in his shoulder but if he was honest he had rather not have it there. But he didn´t say it. She was just trying to help.

„You know you don´t have to be fine." she said and he nodded again.

At last she threw a look at Shawn and Gus, who were as helpless as she was. She squeezed his shoulder one last time.

„I could stay if you want to." she offered. „Maybe it´s better if I do."

„No, I´m fine." he said. „I´m fine."

Shawn and Gus exchanged a worried glance with each other but didn´t say anything. At last they said their goodbye and left. If that was possible then the appartement was even quieter after the door had shut behind Juliet. Carlton had no idea that silence could hurt so much in ones ears. After a while, that could have been five minutes or five hours, he stood up and switched on the radio. He needed to hear some sounds to know that the world out there hadn´t come to an end. They just played the last accords of a song and then the moderator´s voice was talking.

„Good night or good morning to all of you out there who are either still awake or have to stand up early to go to work." he said. „It´s a beautiful night here in Santa Barbara. A night one should use to be together with his sweetheart if he can. Look at the stars in the sky and remember how good it feels to be alive." And with that he played a slow love-song that had the potential to make a person feel sleepy hearing it at this hour at night. Feeling sleepy was exactly what Carlton needed. Yes, he wanted to sleep. Sleep and forget. But first he needed something else. So he went over to the kitchen, got a glas out of the cupboard and poured himself a Whiskey. It was time to let this day come to an end. Oh, yeah, that was long overdue. God, he was so tired.

Well, I always said the character death is possible in my stories. You´ve been warned. But that ending was inevitable for the next story. So yes there is a third one coming up. See you then.

And thanks for reading.