fire and rain // forheadedrose

8. Spilt milk pt.2

D E J A

"Dej, come." Riggs signaled me and I walked over as I checked my phone, Charlie was being discharged from the hospital soon enough and I was stressed with this case and having my super sick best friend live in my loft.

"You know, this place will grow on you. Nice weather, good partner, cases worth burning the midnight oil for." I joked as I walked over to his desk.

I moved a few files to reveal his flask, "I'll have a drink." I said and he looked up at me, "I'm off the clock, for another 12 minutes." Said and he motioned for me to sit down.

He got out a coffee mug and blew in it, he poured me some kind of liquor.

"You know, when I was in SEAL training, we did these uh, HALO jumps. High altitude - low opening. You don't pull the rip cord until you're a couple hundred feet from your impact zone. Terrifying. Well, at least, I was terrified." Riggs said as he leaned back in his chair and I leaned back in mine.

I was freaking tired because it was in the middle of the night and today was busy.

"Then you do it a hundred times and it's just another day at the ranch. But still, there's this thing in the back of your mind telling you, you know, this is crazy." He said and I just listened closely.

"So, Jackson.. It's like he lost that, you know?" He said and I slowly nodded, baby-sipping the alcohol.

"No hesitation. No fear, whatsoever." He said before tipping his flask back.

"Did you just admit that you know when you're doing something crazy?" I asked in disbelief.

"That's what makes it fun." He smiled at me.

"Jackson isn't the only one who's had this issue," Riggs said handing me some files, "Here's some guys from Jackson's therapy group. Drove 180 into a wall. Dead on impact."

"This one died cliff diving on Laguna beach." I said as he handed me another.

"And another one in a motorcycle accident." I said before sighing.

"I was going through Jackson's case file, a bunch of his SEAL team didn't make it back." Riggs said before he inhaled and leaned towards me, folding his hands into mine.

"This risk override thing, could it be caused by a drug?" He looked up at me.

"With anti-depressants it's not likely." I said pursing my lips.

"Jackson could've been part of a clinical trail. Before a pharmaceutical company can put a new drug on the market, they have trails before the FDA gives approval. They usually test on volunteers." I said and he sighed, "Or use vets as guinea pigs."

"If you want to find out who's running the trails, there's usually a paper trail, but it's proprietary information. You're gonna need a good lawyer to access it." I said and then he smiled.

"T." I said with my eyes closed.

I felt Riggs kiss my forehead, before I made a phone call.

--

"LAPD. We're here to see Trisha Swinton." Roger said as we stood at a big pharmaceutical company named Gaius.