Tuesday Afternoon
Major Crimes Bullpen

Jim walked into the busy bullpen and stopped at his desk long enough to hang his jacket on the coat stand behind it. Nodding a greeting to Joel as the captain walked through the door, Jim walked towards Simon's secretary, Rhonda. He couldn't help but notice the vase full of purple orchids that adorned her desk.

Holding back a sneeze, Jim pointed to the flowers. "Very nice. From your admirer?" It was well known that Rhonda had been seeing someone who evidently liked to send her gifts and flowers, but Rhonda would only smile when asked about her mystery man.

"Yes, they are." She looked at the flowers. "He just sent them this morning. We have a dinner date tonight." Looking up, she saw the detective was barely suppressing a sneeze. "Oh, I'm sorry! I didn't realize you were allergic."

"No, no. Flowers don't usually bother me unless there's a lot of them." Jim assured her. "It's just because I'm standing right here by them. Is Simon in his office?"

"Sure, go on in. He's expecting you." She waved him towards the Captain's office.

Jim took a couple of steps then turned back to the secretary's desk. "Rhonda, would you do something for me?" At her nod he continued. "Blair should be here in a few minutes, and we need maps of the National Forest area and the number of the main ranger station up there."

"Sure, Jim. I'll give them to Blair when he gets here, or I'll just leave them on your desk."

"Thanks." Jim stepped over to knock on the door to Simon Banks's office. At Simon's called out invitation, Jim walked in, greeting the big man seated behind the desk.

"Hi Jim, come on in. Want some coffee?" Captain Banks held up a glass coffee pot from the credenza behind his desk. In answer, Jim shook his head, holding up the bottle of water he carried with him.

"Where's your partner?" Simon asked when the young detective didn't appear with Jim.

The detective leaned against the conference table. "I had to drop Sandburg off at the loft to change." At Simon's questioning look, Jim grinned. "We stopped for lunch and he had a slight run-in with a tray of soft drinks."

"Do I really want to know the details?" Simon tried to hide his smile at the mental image that Jim described.

Jim chuckled. "Probably not. Besides, Sandburg would kill me for telling you about it. Let's just say that the man who has faced many of Cascade's worst criminals was taken down by a kid carrying a tray of Diet Cokes and fries."

"You're right, I don't think I want to know. While we're waiting for your partner to show up, why don't you fill me in on what happened at Kraynor's this morning, including the email and the map you mentioned on the phone." He paused to take a swallow of coffee. "I've got Brown and Rafe working on who set up the escape and I want you and Sandburg to focus on finding him."

After taking a drink from his water bottle, Jim proceeded to tell Simon about the morning's events and about Blair finding the emails that they hoped would lead them to their missing witness. He ended by explaining their suspicions that it had all been planned to help Kraynor escape.

"So you think the whole shooting was a setup? By whom?" Simon asked when Jim finished his report.

"It's a possibility that we should consider, along with the obvious that it was an assassination attempt. There are plenty of people that would want him dead. There's probably a waiting list by now."

"True." Simon nodded his agreement. "But I do agree that he disappeared a little too easily. With all the people we had in and around the house, he must have had a route planned that would get him away before we could get after him. The DA is going to love us for this, you realize. Without the testimony and books from Kraynor, he doesn't have a case."

Jim sighed. "I know. It was well planned, though. While the shooting was going on in the front, Kraynor evidently went out the bathroom window. He was supposed to be getting dressed for an appointment with the DA so no one was in the bedroom with him at the time. Someone must have known that a car would be coming to pick him up and simply got there first."

"What about the officer that was shot? He's going to be okay, from what Rafe said." Simon asked.

Jim nodded. "Johnson was grazed but treated at the scene. I think he was going to report back then head home. His arm was understandably sore."

"Between the emails and the map that Sandburg found, we have signs that the whole thing was planned with the aid of someone named Anders. A date or time wasn't specifically mentioned, but he got them less than a week ago. That's too close to be simply coincidental." The detective looked out at the bullpen and saw that Blair's desk was still unoccupied. With a frown he checked his watch.

"Sandburg not in yet?" Simon turned to look at the bullpen.

"No, Sir and he should be. He's had plenty of time to change and get here."

"Unless the road crews have rerouted the traffic on Robson for the ever continuing construction work." Simon pointed out.

"No, not today. I came in on Robson, and the traffic was fine." Jim pushed away from the table. "I'm going to go give him a call. He probably got started talking to our new neighbors and lost track of the time."

Simon groaned, "Not another new neighbor? Wasn't the last one a year or so ago enough?"

Jim laughed at Simon's pained expression. "It's not that bad this time. She's already taken, and I've met both of them. In fact, Sandburg and I helped them move in a couple of weekends ago. It turns out that Laura's partner loves to cook exotic food. As soon as Blair found out, he and Kim started exchanging recipes nearly everyday. It's become dangerous just to eat dinner."

Simon waved him out the door. "As long as he makes the famous Sandburg Chili for next Friday when we watch the Jags' game at my place, I'm happy."

"Yeah, but you don't have to eat the other stuff he cooks. Some of it belongs in forensics for identification," Jim grumbled as he closed the door behind him and headed towards his desk.

As he sat down, his phone started ringing. Muttering under his breath about ever-late partners and the creative excuses his seemed to find, he answered the phone as he turned part of his attention to his computer monitor.

"Ellison."

"Do you know where your partner is?"

Instantly Jim's attention was solely on the voice coming from the telephone. It wasn't a voice he recognized, and he couldn't be sure, but he could almost hear an electronic hum to the voice. His first guess would be that the voice was electronically generated. "Who is this?" He asked.

The voice spoke again only it did not give the answer Jim wanted. "Do you know where your Guide is?"

Jim's grip tightened on the telephone receiver as he stared at the phone, momentarily speechless. Guide? Few people knew that his Sentinel abilities were real and that Blair was his Guide. Outside of that close group, only one person had ever referred to his partner as his 'Guide,' and that person was supposed to be in prison. "Brackett?" He ground out between clenched teeth.

"No, Detective Ellison. This is not Lee Brackett. He is exactly where you think he is, in the Washington Federal Prison." The voice chuckled humorlessly. "You still haven't answered my question. Do you know where your partner is?"

"Yes, I know where he is, or at least where he's supposed to be. Now why don't you tell me what this is all about. If you've done anything to hurt him, you'll answer to me." As he spoke, he waved Henri Brown over to his desk. He silently handed Brown a hastily written note to get a trace on his phone. Brown nodded and quickly made the appropriate phone call for the trace.

"Are you sure you know where Blair Sandburg is? And why automatically assume that I might have anything to do with his current whereabouts?" The voice held the mocking tone that it'd had for the entire conversation, which only served to infuriate the Sentinel even further.

"Why don't you tell me where you think Sandburg is?" Jim asked. "Who is this? What sort of game are you playing?"

"This is no game, Detective Ellison. Let's call it a test. A test of your abilities." The voice laughed. "You're the Sentinel, you find him. You seem to be very good at finding people, so find your partner, and you may find your missing witness. Although I suppose I should warn you that there will not be clues left to lead you in the right direction this time. It's just you and your senses."

As the voice spoke, Jim continued to focus his hearing past the mocking words, hoping to hear any kind of background noise that would give him a clue about who the caller was and where he was calling from. Other than the sound of the voice, there was nothing at all.

"Good luck, Detective. I'll be most curious to see how you do. It's been interesting so far. Oh and give my regards to Detective Brown. Good bye, Ellison." There was a series of clicks and Jim quickly dialed his hearing down before the dial tone started, signaling the broken connection.

"DAMN!" Jim slammed the phone down and looked up at the members of Major Crimes who had gathered around his desk. A group of concerned faces looked back at him. He saw Brown standing at the corner of the desk. "Anything?"

The detective shook his head. "Nothing conclusive. The call was evidently from a cell phone, and it was routed through several switches. They couldn't trace them all."

Jim reached for the stack of maps he had collected. He and Blair had planned to sort through the maps to find some clue to tell them where to start hunting for Kraynor. As he spread out the first one, an aerial view of Cascade Forest, he heard Simon walk up to his desk as the members of Major Crimes moved back to their work.

"Jim? What's going on? Who was on the phone, and what was the call about?" Simon's tone of voice did not leave room for Jim to argue, although he looked at the maps spread out on his desk, his desire to start searching plain on his face.

"It's Sandburg." Jim told him. "The caller never identified himself, just wanted to know if I knew where my partner was. He also said if I find the witness I'll find Sandburg."

"You think he's the person responsible for Kraynor disappearing?" Simon asked.

"I don't think so. If he were, why use Sandburg to lead us to him?" Jim paused, lowering his voice slightly. "He knows I'm a Sentinel, and he called Blair my Guide. He also made references to the search in Alabama for the young boy. He said that I'm very good at finding people but that there be no clues this time."

"What?"

"Whoever this is has to have been watching us, although I haven't a clue how. I would hear or see anything unusual. What's important now, though, is that this person must have Blair." Jim stopped talking, his hands clenched on the edge of his desk.

"Are you sure? It could just be a hoax to get you off your game." Simon suggested.

Hope flashed across Jim's face, mixed with uncertainty. As much as he'd like to think that it was a hoax, his gut instinct told him otherwise. Just to be sure, he picked up his phone and tried both the loft number and Blair's cell phone. There was no answer at either number. But as he hung up, Jim had an odd expression on his face.

"What is it, Jim?"

"The more I think about the phone call, the more I think it was an electronically modified voice. That's why it didn't sound familiar and why I couldn't hear any background noise at all. No sound of breathing, no cars, nothing. And just now, as I called the loft, I heard a faint click as though the call was being rerouted. No one else would be able to hear it normally."

"So what does that mean?"

"I think it confirms that whoever this is knows what he's dealing with and how to manipulate both me and Blair. From his references, I'd say that he might even be the same person who took Brown." Jim stood up, grabbing his jacket. "It's getting late and I want to be at the ranger station before dark."

Simon moved to leave with Jim, but the detective stopped him. "This person seems to just want me and/or Blair. Please, I'm asking you to stay here in case Blair does show up and this is just some wild goose chase."

"No, Jim. You need backup," Simon started, but he found himself talking to air as Jim ran for the stairs, not willing to wait on the elevator. "I'm going to regret this," he said. "I'm going to seriously regret this after I've had a long talk with those two about following orders."

Tuesday Afternoon
The Loft

"Jim is never going to let me live this down," Blair thought to himself as he pulled off his damp jeans and dropped them to the floor. "And it wasn't even my fault. The kid wasn't watching were he was going. Nooo. He was too busy arguing with his mom over what toy he wanted."

Digging through his closet, Blair pulled out a clean pair of dark blue denim jeans, making a mental note to do laundry the next weekend. He pulled them on and tucked in his shirt, trying all the while to hurry. Jim had the map and email printouts, and he wanted to get started on searching for the location marked on the simple map.

Absently buttoning his jeans, Blair was thinking about the case when the phone rang. He jumped as the shrill noise cut through the silence. He stared as it rang a second time, tempted to let the machine answer the call. "Could be Jim though," he told himself.

"Hello."

"Hi, Chief. Simon wants us back over at Kraynor's. Meet us there." The connection broke before Blair could get in a word.

"Gee... hello to you too, partner. Why, yes, I am changed and getting ready to leave. Meet you at Kraynor's? Sure, no problem." The young man mimicked a conversation with his partner as he set the phone down. He thought about calling the detective back to see what the problem was, but he decided that Jim had probably left the precinct as soon he'd made the call.

A puzzled look came over Blair's face. "Jim must have made the call from the truck on his cell phone." Blair mused as he picked up his jacket and backpack to leave. "If he had been at the station, there would have been more background noise. Granted I'm not the one with enhanced hearing, but I didn't hear a thing except Jim's voice."

Shaking his head in wonderment at his partner, Blair picked up the keys to his Volvo and walked out the door. His mind still on the phone call, he started his car and drove away.

After the Volvo had turned the corner, a black van pulled out of an alley across from the loft. The van's driver smiled to himself as he watched the young detective drive away. He had been thinking of different ways to separate Ellison and Sandburg to achieve his tests. "How opportune," he thought to himself, "that their current case would provide the perfect scenario." After checking to see that the equipment he needed was all in the back, the man drove away, heading north out of Cascade.

Blair pulled his car into the driveway of the house where he and Jim had been earlier. He immediately noted the absence of his partner's familiar blue and white truck.

"Well Jim, this was your idea, so where are you?" Blair asked out loud as he got out of the car to walk around the house looking for signs of his partner or anyone else. "Maybe you're just stuck in traffic or caught at the station."

Digging in his backpack for his cell phone, he groaned as he remembered leaving it on his desk to recharge the night before. In his rush both times at the loft, he had forgotten to pick it up. "Just great, I guess I'll just wait for you to get here."

Being careful of the crime scene tape at the door, the detective let himself into the empty house. "While I'm waiting I'm going to go take another look at the computer in case we missed anything earlier. Evidently Terry from forensics hasn't had a chance to come pick it up yet." But as he sat down and started the computer, his thoughts kept going back to the terse phone call from his partner. He didn't think Jim was angry with him over the incident at lunch. Not with the amount of teasing Jim had done on the way to the loft. He hadn't taken that long to change and had been about to leave when Jim called and diverted him. Even when Jim was in a bad mood, he was usually more informative on the phone. Plus, something about the tone of voice bothered Blair the more he thought about it.

Convinced that something was wrong and perturbed that he hadn't picked up on it earlier, Blair decided to call the station, but to do that he'd have to use the phone on the desk. He paused, reluctant to contaminate the crime scene more than he already had, in case they needed to search for something else. But his worry for his partner won out and he reached over to pick up the phone to call the station. He figured he'd start there first and if Jim wasn't there, maybe Simon could fill him in on what was going on.

Just as his hand touched it, the phone rang, startling him. He pulled his hand back, staring at the phone, unsure if he should answer it. On the third ring, he decided to answer and slowly picked up the receiver.

"Hello?" He answered, his voice a bit uncertain.

"Do you know where your partner is?"

Blair stared at the phone in shock, unable to say anything.

At his continued silence, the voice spoke again. "Mr. Sandburg? I know you must still be there. Tell me, do you know where your partner is?"

Gripping the receiver tightly, Blair forced his own voice to remain steady. "Who is this? What do you want?"

"Who I am is not important. What I want is to know if you know where your partner is. Or should I say your Sentinel?"

Blair's breath caught in his throat. "Sentinel? What are you talking about?"

The voice sighed, a touch of impatience showing. "Your partner, James Ellison, is a Sentinel. I know about your so-called faked dissertation and Ellison's abilities. It explains a lot."

"Look, whoever you are, the paper was false. I made it up. Jim Ellison does not have the abilities described in my dissertation." Blair closed his eyes as he said the words. Even as he said them, he had the feeling that they were not believed.

"I don't think so, Mr. Sandburg." The mysterious voice told him. "Ellison can do things that no one else can. The two of you together are a formidable team."

Understanding dawned. "You're the one who orchestrated Henri Brown's kidnapping. Everything we experienced was designed for a Sentinel. You've been watching us, testing us, haven't you? When Jim heard someone calling him while at the convention. It was you."

"Very good, Mr. Sandburg."

Blair interrupted the compliment. "What's happened to Jim? Where is he?"

"Detective Ellison is just fine. Worried about his Guide, but he is physically unharmed. As for where he is, well, you find your missing witness, Randall Kraynor, and you just might run into Ellison. Good bye, Detective Sandburg."

"Wait!" Blair yelled at the phone only to have the buzz of the dial tone answer him.

"Damn!" He resisted the urge to throw the phone across the room, the conversation spinning in his head. Whoever the caller was had evidently been watching the two of them for some time now. He knew about Jim's abilities and that Blair was his Guide. The young man sighed. "This sucks. It really sucks," He announced to the empty room.

Now he knew he needed to find Jim. He headed for the door, reaching for his cell phone only to remember again, that he didn't have it with him. Grumbling, he turned back to the desk phone, his concern for his partner overriding any thoughts of being careful at a crime scene. He picked up the phone, momentarily thankful that he hadn't thrown it earlier and keyed in Jim's cell number. He frowned as Jim's voice mail answered. He left a message just in case the whole thing was a hoax, but he had a bad feeling that it wasn't.

Next he called Jim's number at the precinct. Hanging up on the voice mail that answered, he immediately dialed Simon Bank's number.

"Captain Banks."

"Simon, this is Blair."

"Sandburg? Where the hell are you? Jim tore out of here an hour ago to look for you. I've got APB's out on your car."

"What?" Blair sagged against the desk. "Where did he go? And did he get a phone call asking about me? I'm at Kraynor's house. I came here after I got what I thought was a phone call from Jim wanting me to meet him."

"Jim never called you about a meeting at the house, he was waiting for you here when he received a phone call, wanting to know if he knew were you were." Simon's voice lowered lightly. "The caller knows Jim is a Sentinel and called you his Guide."

"I don't have time to explain everything, but I think whoever is doing this has been watching us for a long time. I also think he's the one who kidnapped Henri a few weeks ago and insisted Jim and I find him. I don't know if he had anything to do with Kraynor's disappearance or if it's just a convenient coincidence for him. But I was told that if I found Jim, the witness would be nearby."

"That's what he told Ellison, that to find you he'd have to find the witness. Jim took off for the main ranger station at the hikers entrance to Cascade Forest. He had the map you found and maps of the area. I've been trying to call, but I can't get through to the rangers up there.

Blair turned to the computer he had turned on when he had first arrived. "I can print out another copy of the map and get up there."

"Sandburg, how do you think you're going to find him in the middle of the woods?" Simon asked. "Get back here and we'll set up teams to go in."

"I'll do what the caller suggested. I'll start at the ranger station and look for the cabin. If we can find where Kraynor has holed up, we'll find each other." He quickly hung up the phone, cutting off any further argument from the police captain. Finding the correct file and printing the map, Blair quickly shut the system down and left the house. Thankful for the recent tune-up on the Volvo, Blair headed the car north, towards the forest.

Tuesday Evening
Ranger Station, Cascade Forest

Jim brought his truck to a screeching halt in front of a quiet building that housed one of the ranger stations for Cascade Forest. It also marked the beginning of several hiking trails, some of which he and Blair had traveled on during previous camping trips.

Before he ever got out of the truck, Jim knew the station was deserted. There were two other jeeps parked at the back of the building, but there were no people. The door to the station was locked with no indication of where anyone was. Jim circled the building looking for any clues as to where Blair would be and if he had even been at the station.

He retrieved the map Blair had found from the truck and compared the aerial view to his present position. The location marked on the map looked to be a several hours walk from the station, and it was already late in the day. Also, the wind had picked up speed, and the sky was getting dark with rain clouds. Anxious to find his partner as soon as possible, Jim reached under the seat of the truck and pulled out a backpack stocked with emergency supplies.

Before starting into the woods, Jim carefully extended his senses, hoping for a sound or a glimpse or even a scent of something to indicate this was the right track. Nothing. All he had to go on was his gut instinct, which told him he was right.

"Hang on, Chief. I'm coming." Jim murmured as he shifted the pack over his shoulders and started a fast-paced walk into the woods.

Watching via a security camera attached to the outside of the ranger station, a man in a camouflage jumpsuit smiled as he settled back and awaited the next arrival.