+18 eps. 17-21 - After a hard case that takes the team to DC in order to catch a blackhat and prevent a bombing, all hell breaks loose on their return to Boston , when the ghost of the Libra killer comes back to torture Brock seven years after the m...
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Gillian saw Ron wasn't with the security guards at his post and pressed on, ignoring the people calling her out and shooting questions and complaints as she walked by. It was the access to the parking space on Stuart St., and she found Ron right outside the door, his back to the mall and folded arms, no trace of a smile on his suddenly hardened face, eyes moving over the five people in street clothes—four men, one woman—talking in low voices a couple of steps away.
He didn't even look at her when she paused by his side, he just nodded at them. A single glance was enough for Gillian to know they were all strangers. Why wasn't she surprised. Not easy, finding five competent officers she had never met over her twenty years with the Boston PD. They couldn't be all locals. But her father had made sure she didn't know any of them. So she couldn't have any influence on them. He still had his precious SCU, and he'd been careful to prevent any interference from her.
It was time to play the fed. So she wore her most dismissive face and approached them.
"Who are you, people?" she demanded, dry and cold. "Why are you interfering with a federal procedure?"
One of the men turned to her and she had to fight a smile when he looked down at her from his 6'3", his small head like a pear on top of his short, thick neck, to face her as if he were forced to inspect a disgusting bug.
"I'm Lieutenant Ward with the Special Crimes Unit, Boston PD," he said, rock and steel. Military. "And you are...?"
Behind Gillian, Ron also had to fight back a smile. Bad thing he couldn't radio the rest of the team to come watch this match. At least they'd listen to it.
"I'm the federal agent in charge of this federal procedure. And you didn't answer why you're interfering with it."
All over the mall, her team swallowed a scoff. At the field office, Cooper approved with a sharp nod. At the fourth floor, Brock raised his eyebrows and Russell smirked, shaking his head.
"We have orders to help with the search and arrest the perpetrator. So you need to let us in asap and let us work."
Gillian raised her eyebrows—really. "This case falls out of your jurisdiction and your captain is aware of that. So, who sent you? Was it Superintendent Gillian?"
"I don't have to answer your questions, Agent. Now if you'd let us in..."
She allowed herself to purse her lips. Her father surely loved this thug. Had he personally trained the man on how to treat feds and women? Or he'd made him unit chief because he was a natural? She moved her eyes over the other four officers. They stood behind their team leader in a way that reminded her a lot of a gang, trying to show off how tough they were.
"You're not cleared to enter the site. Call your station if you want. I'll talk to your senior officer." She paused as her lips curled up a little more. "That is, if you protected your phones from the ongoing hijacking we're trying to stop."
Ward produced his phone, touched the screen and scowled, then he glared up at Gillian. She glanced over her shoulder. Ron handed her his phone.
"You should've asked what was going on before coming," she said and dialed, putting the phone on speaker.
A moment later, Cook's voice asked, "Bellison?"
Ward's face was a neon billboard of his surprise, when he understood she'd called his captain from the other guy's phone, whose number was among Cook's personal contacts. Behind Ward, the rest of the new SCU did the same math and traded puzzled looks.
"Good morning, sir, it's Gillian," she replied, holding Ward's eyes. He tried to hide his jolt at hearing her last name. "We have a situation here, sir."
"Yeah, I know. The SCU," Cook said, and she was surprised at his apologetic tone. "I talked to your SAC, but they were gone before I had time to inform your father."
Ward's eyes widened at those words. All of a sudden, the disgusting bug looked more like a snake. This fed chick was the Superintendent's daughter? The so-decorated first SCU unit chief? The Gillian they'd heard so much about?
"Don't worry, sir. I'll talk to him."
"You sure? I can try to..."
"It's okay, sir. Thank you anyway. Can you transfer me, please?"
"Sure. And Gillian..."
"Sir?"
"Take it easy."
"Of course, sir."
Gillian still processed Cook's friendly, concerned ways when Francine, King Gillian's secretary, picked up. She kept her eyes on Ward as she sensed how her face hardened and all of her body stiffened.
"Superintendent Gillian's office, how can I help you?"
Gillian needed to breathe deep, but she couldn't help the hostility in her voice.
"Fran, it's Reg. Go tell the King to call his men off or I'm arresting them for obstruction of justice," she said. "I've got them right here with me and their phones are down, so I'll wait for his answer." Ward's brow furrowed in an alarmed frown at her words. Gillian covered the phone to say, "I'm not joking, Lieutenant. If you and your team stay here, keeping us from doing our job, I'm pressing charges against all of you, including your senior officers."
"Reg?"
It was the first time she heard her father's voice since that terrible morning at Orlando's, and the sound of it saying her name was enough to make her heart hammer her chest.
"Sir," she replied, as cold and distant as she was able.
King Gillian snorted. "Turn off the speaker."
Her stomach twitched with a mix of rage and rejection she'd never expected. He just couldn't help it. His first words in six months, after almost killing her, were to boss her around. She breathed deep again and took the phone to her ear.
"What the hell's going on, Reg? What's this bullshit about arresting my men?"
"Ask Cook, he has the details. Now call them off or I'm taking good care of them." She gave Ward the phone while her father was saying something.
Ward's tough pose melted away when he took the phone, turned into a hesitating lamb. "Sir? It's Ward, sir." He listened with a serious frown and said, "Yessir." He gave the phone back to Gillian.
She took it only to disconnect, holding the man's eyes. "Have a good day, officers," she said, spun around and headed to the door.
She left Ward talking to his team. The phone buzzed in her hand and she rejected the call. King Gillian had something more to say, but she wasn't about to waste even a second longer on him.
She paused by Ron to give him back his phone. He rested a hand on her shoulder with a quick, understanding smile. She would've needed a hug, but Russell wasn't there. Or at least curse her father aloud, to swallow back the furious tears stinging her eyes. But Ward and the others were still there, and her whole team listened over the radio—along with Cooper, Russell and Brock back at the office. So she only let out a sigh, shaking her head.
"C'mon, they need us inside," she said in a low, dull voice.
Back at the field office, sitting together at Brock's desk, Russell sighed with a bitter grimace while Brock looked away, controlling his impotence at hearing her tone.
