In Time | The Flash

Chapter Eleven | Aspen

"No half-heartedness and no worldly fear must turn us aside from following the light unflinchingly.”

- J.R.R. Tolkien

>>>·<<<

CHAPTER ELEVEN

>>> Aspen's P.O.V. <<<

Moments after Cisco tells us over the phone that Barry should be back any minute, and after Julian steps away to converse both on the phone with someone at the station and with the officers at the scene, Barry comes racing back into the parking lot. He stops behind a parked car so no one sees the Flash making a surprise appearance. 

"Just where the hell do you think you've been?" Tril asks, arms crossed over her chest.

Barry walks, at a normal pace, over to us. His face is flushed from running, and he places his hands on his knees, leaning over to catch his breath. "I just ran...all over the city. I checked every warehouse, school, stadium, office building, and library that I could find. I even...I even checked the streets and any suspicious cars." He pulls himself up, looking defeated. "I couldn't find Persephone anywhere."

I reach out to place my hand on his shoulder. "Thank you for looking, Barry, but I think we've found a suspect."

He looks at me with surprise. "Who?"

"A gym teacher," I reply. "While you were gone--"

"--She means while you ran off without telling anyone--" Trillium interrupts.

"--Julian found out that there were two other kids taken from the school. Both were in Persephone's gym class."

"So, give me the address, I'll go get him now."

I shake my head. "Joe said you would say that."

Tril pulls up two fingers on each hand to make air quotes as she talks in a deep voice, attempting to imitate Joe West. "'And whatever you do, don't let Barry run all over this gym teacher before we get there.'"

Barry rolls his eyes slightly. "That sounds like Joe. So, what now?"

"Now, we move out," Julian says, walking back over to us. "I have the address for the perp. His name is Frank Torres. He has a history of assault in the first degree in Keystone, where he spent three years in prison for the crime, and assault in the third degree in National City, where he spent a year in jail. Now he lives with someone named Maria Marcus on the outskirts of Central City."

Barry nods, and Joe joins us again. "I have a team ready. You have an address, Julian?" The blond Brit nods. "Then let's go."

>>>·<<<

"This is a terrible, terrible idea," Cisco says through the earpieces that Barry and I are both wearing as we walk up to the apartment door of Frank Torres. "You're gonna die if he's a maniac like the Trickster."

"Fransisco Ramone," Caitlin chastises.

"What? Just sayin'."

Our plan is simple. Barry and I are going to walk right into the lion's den wearing one of Cisco's devices under our clothing. We're going to stand there and talk to Mr. Torres about the camping trip he usually takes the elementary school kids on every spring. While we're talking, Cisco and Caitlin are going to remotely activate the device that scans for heat signatures, cold spots, and movement. They could do this using the S.T.A.R. Labs satellite  but the area where Mr. Torres lives is out of range for another ten hours and we can't wait that long. Just outside, Joe has a group of cops ready to break down the doors at any time. If Caitlin and Cisco find anything suspicious, we arrest Mr. Torres and find Seph.