Tolerance Book III

Chapter Eighty-Seven: Danger

The Fifth Avenue Hotel

In the luxurious 304 suite Jonathan Rigby was finally realizing that the young man whom had arrived was in fact telling the truth. The sixty year old mentally chided himself after all he had spent most of his adult life writing murder and mystery novels and so figured he should have grasped the seriousness of the situation immediately. He was normally a good judge of character so as his shock wore off the fact he had not initially believed his Visitor rankled him. Key to any successful novel was research and he prided himself on his thoroughness. As he watched the auburn haired man reveal a small explosive device he wondered if he could incorporate the current scenario into a future work. His musings were abruptly interrupted when his companion spoke softly.

"Stay exactly where you are," Jay instructed as he held the device with both hands and examined it carefully.
"Shouldn't you throw it out the window or something?" Rigby asked as he wiped a bead of sweat from his forehead.
"Well it might save us but I'm guessing the people below might not appreciate it," the Detective continued scrutinizing his find.
"Oh."
"And besides," Jay sighed before straightening up and casually placing the device on the writing desk without too much care, "this is a decoy."
"So you mean .....," the Author couldn't finish the sentence as he looked around his suite with fresh eyes now seeing it as a battlefield rather than the sanctuary it had up to a few minutes ago been.
"....... there's a real bomb here somewhere," the Detective confirmed gravely as he came back to stand beside the older man, "what's an RSI?
"What?"
"When I arrived you said you weren't interested in RSIs," Jay reminded hoping to calm the man down by way of mundane conversation.
"Oh," Rigby spoke distractedly as his eyes roved his suddenly unfriendly surroundings, "it stands for Room Service Interloper. People such as Fans disguise themselves as hotel personnel in order to gain access to celebrities."
"Bet you're wishing right about now I was a Fan," Jay chided with a wry chuckle wanting to put his companion at ease.
"You could be right," Rigby found himself smiling despite the circumstances.

Jay was running through various possibilities as he scanned the suite. Its' opulent interior with dark green and blue walls and thick green carpet underfoot bespoke of a high end suite in any hotel. Trying to put himself in Billings' shoes he sought out places that would be obvious and therefore likely to be overlooked. A thought struck him as his gaze landed on one specific item.

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Homeland Security Headquarters

In the cafeteria of the large building Mouse had retreated to a corner with his laptop. Working up on the busy floor with all the people coming and going had been wearing on his nerves. He sought out a brief respite of solitude as he continued to run various checks. It was gnawing at him that they still had not established a reason for the Serial Killer to have zoned in on his former Lieutenant. Any doubts that he had been doing so had been effectively negated by the latest development as Jay was away from Billings but obviously still being controlled by him. That maddened the IT Specialist. He knew his friend would tolerate anything to save someone, whether it was physical, mental or emotional. He also knew however at some point the green eyed man would have to assert his true self. Playing meekly by Billings' rules was clearly essential for now but if the man was to be stopped that would have to change. Mouse knew the change would only occur once they understood what attracted the stone cold Killer to the former Ranger but unfortunately finding a link or clue was proving as elusive as the disappearances in the Bermuda Triangle! He looked up as footsteps approached.

"Wondered where you got to," Kevin stated as he approached the table and sat down opposite the surprised man.
"Voight looking for me?" Mouse began to close the laptop but a headshake stopped him.
"Nope. He's out with Al somewhere."
"So?"
"What?" Kevin frowned.
"Why are you here?"
"Just checking .....,"
"I haven't found any link," Mouse cut the other man off abruptly, "I've tried every avenue I can think of but there's nothing."
"Well I figured if you had found something you'd have told us," Kevin pointed out, "that wasn't what I was going to ask. I was just checking on how you're doing?"
"Me? I'm fine. I'm not the one being manipulated by a Killer!"
"You know just because you're not out in the field with us doesn't mean you're not a vital part of this Unit. It takes us all to get the job done."