+18 - eps 22-27 - A case takes Russell and Brock to the brink of death. It'll be up to Gillian and the team to rescue them before they're killed by a white supremacist militia. And in the aftermath of the Paris attacks, the threat of a bio attack fo...
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**picture: Cambridge PD SWAT officers at Harvard Yard, November 16 2015
Uniforms and SWAT moved up and down the buildings around Harvard Yard, evacuating staff and students. A joint command post had been set in a structural tent at the park, where team leaders of the different units with the Police and Fire Departments studied blueprints of the five halls and the Science Center.
Lieutenant Ward, with the SCU, looked up at the others and around the table. "Perkins," he said to the Bomb Squad Leader. "You take the Science Center." He turned to the SWAT leader. "Thompson, send a team to Evers Hall and another to Emerson Hall. Jules, you take the dorm..." he trailed off at the sound of engines approaching.
All of them turned in time to see three black SUVs pulling over by the Yard's curb.
"What the hell are the feds doing here?" asked Jenkins, annoyed.
"Nobody called them, so they can leave the way they came," said Ward.
"Actually, guys, this is National Security stuff," said Jules.
The others turned to glare at him and missed how the feds got out of their fancy SUVs. When they looked again, the feds were already upon them and a firm, energetic voice said, "Hey, guys! Are we in time for some fun?"
Ward's face darkened when everybody's glare turned to big smiles and happy jokes to greet Ron. When Gillian's team finished shaking hands and patting shoulders, she waved at Dillon and his squad to join them.
"Guys, this is SA Dillon and our CT squad. They're here to run the investigation."
"And you?" asked Thompson, puzzled.
"Oh, we're here just for the kicks," replied Fed, and nodded at the cases they carried.
Perkins' eyes widened. "Holy crap! You brought the nukes!"
"You bet," said Ron.
Gillian smiled at Dillon's and Ward's suspicious looks at the cases, while the others gathered around to open them.
"Man, you gotta lend me one today!"
"Sure. Let's take a look at the site first."
Dillon turned to Ward and Gillian. "I'm gonna check in with the campus police and the heads of staff," he said. "Need any of my agents to help with the search?"
Gillian beat Ward's grunt. "We're good here, Thomas. Thanks."
Dillon's hard, inquisitive look lingered on Ward for a heartbeat, as if inviting him to try some bully. Since Ward held his peace, he glanced at Gillian with a quick smile, put on his sunglasses and left.
She motioned at Ward to join the others around the table. Ward was the kind of guy that made her hands tingle. She would punch him every five minutes. But she also knew all too well what it was like, feeling like nobody wants you around. She'd learned to work like that when Russell quit the force, until Banks accepted he was stuck with her as his partner, and they were able to start functioning like a real team. After Brock came by for the rape case back in the nineties, by the way, and thanks to his profile, she'd made her first important arrest—how the hell did she end up thinking about him? Couldn't she take one damn step without stumbling on a memory or a thought of him?
"We should use the big ones on the large buildings," Ron said when she finally joined them.
"That'd be the Science Center and... this one." Thompson pointed at one of the compromised halls on the diagram of the campus.
"The dorm, Thayer Hall," said Perkins.
"It's not fully evacuated yet," said Ward, oozing his bitterness.
All of them looked up and out for a moment, then turned again to the blueprints and resumed their conversation.
"Aren't these the same buildings we evacuated back in 2013?" asked Gillian, taking a look at the diagrams.
Perkins rolled his eyes. "Yeah. Tell me about clichés"
She noticed Ward frowned, about to ask about it. But he seemed to change his mind. Yeah, not good, being new to town and office.
"Jules," said Ron. "Take Al and one of the big scanners to clear the dorm. I'm taking the other for the Science Center. Thompson, can I borrow three of your boys?"
"Only three?"
"Yeah, no need for more. Perkins, you take three of the small scanners, one for each building. We're keeping the other two here, to scan the yard itself and the cars, just in case." Ron turned to Ward. "D'you and your team have any experience in explosives search?"
Ward faced him, trying his best to look dismissive. "Of course. We all have ATF training and—"
Ron cut him off. "So no field experience. Then keep your unit out of the buildings while we search them. Reg, I'm taking Hank. Can you and Fred set the motion scanner with the big dishes?"
"Sure thing."
Gillian smiled when Ron took the men back to the cases, to show them how to operate the different scanners. She noticed Ward was about to argue and anticipated him.
"Save it, Ward. I don't wanna call my father again." She nodded to the park. "Can you secure the perimeter and keep people out as soon as the evacuation is complete?"
"Of course we can."
Yeah, well, he was bound to take offense at her question. The others left to put their teams to work. Fred was a few yards away, already assembling the motion scanner. She went to the only case left by the tent and took out a small scanner. Ward couldn't hide his curiosity when she showed it to him and explained how it worked. A minute later he summoned his team so Gillian could show them too, and headed out to instruct the uniforms.
The only woman in the new SCU stayed with Fred to help him set the dishes, the rest of the unit split in two and spread out with Gillian and Ward to canvass the park.
* * *
Tanya and Kurt had figured out the email had been sent from inside the campus, using the university's wireless network. So they've contacted Harvard's IT department to trace back the access log and get a list of suspects. Meantime, searching the buildings took four hours straight, non-stop, until the last corner of the last building was cleared.
Night closed by then, and the wind grew colder. Gillian and her team thanked Jules yet once more for bringing them in, said goodbye to their old colleagues and left.
Only then did Gillian check her phone, and found about a dozen missing calls from her father. So she signaled Aldana to warm up the SUV and called him back.
King Gillian didn't waste time in playing nice—as if he'd ever bothered. He just shot his accusation. "You could've told me Connor's not going to Harvard! He's going to MIT!"
Gillian was too tired to pick up a fight. "I did tell you. A year ago. Should've known you didn't listen."
Her father tried to reply but she disconnected. Maybe one day he would understand she wasn't taking his bullying anymore. Maybe some other day he'd understand that if he wanted to have any kind of conversation with her, he'd have to mind his manners.
She got in the SUV and nodded at Aldana to go. Maybe he'd get there before his funeral. He was too used to abuse everybody, all the time. As for her, she was in no hurry to restore any kind of bond with him, but rather the other way around. So he was free to take all his sweet time.
