Something New

Chapter Twelve

The next day, Derek walks out of the hospital, holding his clearance papers in his hand. He's finally allowed back in the field. His doctor wasn't Meredith, but some other woman, Jo Wilson. He gets a lot of looks as he makes his way through the halls, some more friendly than others.

He's used to it, he's the leader of the team trying to find the chief of general before she's murdered. He's going to get looks from people.

He crosses the parking lot, always on alert for any suspicious activity, and gets into his car. He flicks the sirens on and speeds back to the police station. When he arrives, Olivia is walking in as well, a large cup of coffee in her hand.

"How's Lindsey taking all this?" He asks, falling into step with her.

"She hates it. Obviously, she doesn't want to be taken but she doesn't like having security details wherever she goes." Olivia shakes her head.

"I'm sorry, about all this."

"Don't apologize, Derek, you're the good guy here, trying to save lives not destroy them like the unsub." Her tone signals that the conversation is over, leaving him no room to argue. They both walk into the room where the rest of the team is waiting for them. 

"So, here's the problem. We have a suspect but no idea where to find him. This guy isn't in any of our databases at all." Derek says, pacing the room not minutes later.

"That's not even our biggest problem, we're his endgame, he'll be stepping out of his comfort zone to get to us." Ryan shakes his head.

"Meaning, he'll start taking victims outside of his usual victimology, and possibly speeding up his timeline. He might stop sticking to his schedule, so we really don't know when he's going to strike next," Olivia clarifies to no one in particular.

"We probably don't have four days to find Meredith, he could kill her today or tomorrow, or for all we know she's already dead," Derek says, stopping his pacing to stare out the window. The room falls silent, nobody really knowing what to say. After a minute, Derek snaps out of his daze and collects himself before resuming his pacing.

Jake is sitting at the table flipping the envelope that the pictures of Derek came in around in his hands as he studies the photos. He leans back in the chair and holds the envelope above his head. The ceiling lights should shine right through it, but there's a darker square right in the middle of it. They missed something. 

Faster than the speed of light, he's looking in the envelope. There is a small piece of white paper taped to the inside. He mutters something incoherent, probably a string of curses as he reaches in and pulls out the paper.

"We missed something." He announces, and everyone rushes over to him. Jake unfolds the paper, but instead of finding a name or address or something actually useful, it's a shape. A circle with three lines in it, all evenly spread out and meeting at a point in the center. 

Olivia just sees it, groans, and walks away. "What the hell is that?"

"I have no idea," Ryan responds, pulling the paper away from Jake and holding it in front of him for a better view.

"Let me see?" Vanessa requests from across the room, having watched the whole thing go down. Ryan crosses the room and hands her the paper. She scans it into her computer and begins typing away. The room is silent, everyone watching, waiting, for Lohan to find something. "Here! I knew it looked vaguely familiar. It the logo for an old restaurant in South Seattle. about ten miles from here. I just sent the coordinates to all your phones.

In twenty seconds, the entire team except for Vanessa are running across the parking lot to their black bulletproof SUVs. It takes another twenty seconds for them to hand out and strap on the bulletproof Kevlar vests.