Friday Afternoon
Major Crimes Bullpen

"My office. NOW!"

Jim and Blair looked at each other like two little boys being called to the principal's office. Jim had just sat down at his desk and Blair stood, his jacket in his hand, reaching for the coat stand.

"Gentlemen? Today would be nice!" Simon's voice called from across the bullpen. As everyone in the room made it a point to look elsewhere, the two detectives hurried across the room to their Captain's office.

Banks settled into his chair, glaring at his best team. "Now. Would you care to explain to me what happened this morning? Lee Brackett showed up at your loft?"

"Captain." Jim started, standing straight in front of Simon's desk. "We haven't had a chance to go over the details with you until now. I didn't think you'd want to discuss it at the convention center."

Banks sighed. "You're right and I'm sorry. After dealing with that egotistical company president all day, my nerves are shot. Before we get to Brackett, your impressions of what went on this morning?"

Jim looked at his partner since Blair had spent most of his time talking with the president of Tech-Pro and the security personnel while Jim had searched the area looking for how the thief had gotten in.

Stepping forward, Blair pulled out his notebook and looked over his pages of notes from his interviews. "Basically, no one knows or saw anything. After last night's presentation and unveiling, Alderman locked up the prototype chip. Smallwood, the head of security for the conference witnessed the lockup, but didn't have the combination or the key that's required to open the box where the chip was stored."

"Who had access to the key?" Simon asked. He had heard some of the interviews but wanted to hear the facts without the emotional outbursts.

"Alderman and a man named John Grenwall. Grenwall is the vice president in charge of development at Tech-Pros. His room was broken into last night and his briefcase, containing the key to the chip box, was taken. Again, no one saw anything."

"What about the security tapes?"

Jim spoke up. "I viewed the tapes, several times and quite closely. There's nothing there." He said, a bit uneasily.

"Nothing? What do you mean nothing?" Simon asked.

"Nothing. The first of the tape showed Alderman and Smallwood locking up the 2001 Chip in its case and the case being locked in a steel cabinet. No one went close to it until early this morning."

"Then you missed something."

"No Sir, I beg to differ. I didn't miss anything, as there was nothing to miss. No one went near the cabinet or the case. Forensics didn't get a single print that wasn't Alderman's or Smallwood's."

"That's impossible. Unless you're saying that one of them is a suspect." Simon said.

"Right now, we don't have a prime suspect. Other than the one person who would know that a Sentinel would be investigating and took great care to erase any evidence of his being there. Lee Brackett." Blair said. "And there was something else taken."

"What?" Simon asked. "Nothing else was mentioned in the initial reports."

"That's because the vendor didn't notice it until we were almost ready to leave." Jim told him. "One of the vendors had a white noise generator to use during their presentation, to filter out distracting background noise. They discovered it missing after last night's break-in."

"So you're telling me that in addition to the Tech-Pro Chip, a device that can be used against Jim was taken?" Simon said. "That seems to point directly to Brackett because how many people would know the effects of a white noise generator."

"Yes, Sir." Jim said, clearly not happy with the idea.

"So tell me about his visit to the loft this morning." Simon said.

"There's not a lot to tell." Jim said, glancing at his partner. "He surprised us as we were leaving this morning."

"He surprised you?" Simon asked, his disbelief evident.

"That was probably my fault." Blair spoke up. "I was running late and Jim was arguing with me to hurry up. Neither of us had any clue that he was outside. Jim was focusing on me, not outside the door."

"It's not your fault," Jim argued. "I think he had a white noise device which is why I didn't hear him."

"So what did he want?" Simon interrupted the exchange between the two friends.

"All he said was that he wanted to propose a business deal. And that he knew about the dissertation fiasco from last year." Blair answered quietly. "He didn't say anything then because he wanted to hold it over us later. Such as now."

"Chief."

"It's okay, Jim." Blair looked up. "Really. It's okay."

Nodding slightly, Jim turned back to their Captain. "He did say the deal involved a laser and the Tech-Pros 2001 Chip."

"Which has now gone missing." Simon said. "Guess that puts Brackett at the top of the suspect list for that. He would know how to get in and out without leaving anything. Especially since he knew you would be checking out the scene."

"Either Brackett or someone working for him. He said that he had a source for the chip." Jim pointed out. "That still leaves Brackett as our main suspect."

"So what's your plan from here?" Simon asked, sitting up to lean on the edge of his desk.

The two detectives glanced at each other, each mentally listing their next steps. Jim spoke for the two of them since he had a good idea of what Blair had come up with.

"We're going to continue checking out anyone that had any kind of contact with that chip at the convention center. Plus, see if we can get a line on where Brackett is and what kind of laser equipment he'd be interested in."

"Then get on it!" Simon said, his sharp tone had both men moving towards the door.

Saturday Morning
Major Crime Bullpen

"Morning Jim!" The cheerful voice of Detective Henri Brown rang out as Jim walked into the bullpen. "Where's hairboy this morning?"

"Good Morning, Henri." Jim greeted him. "Sandburg's coming in a bit late; he wanted to get to the bank as soon as they opened this morning." He picked up his coffee cup and headed for the break room before settling back at his desk to work on the never-ending stack of reports.

"Jim?" Simon's voice interrupted him as he finished reading through yet another report and set it aside for his partner. "Will we be seeing Sandburg anytime today?" The police captain asked, looking pointedly at Blair's empty desk.

"Sure, Captain." Jim answered, looking at his watch. "He should..." Jim paused as he realized the late time. "Should have been here an hour ago.

"What time is it?" Jim asked, worry nagging at him.

"Your watch is right, it's ten o'clock. I thought you said earlier he had a quick errand to run and would be in."

"He did. He just had to run by the bank and should have been here over an hour ago." Jim picked up his phone, dialing a familiar number. A few moments later he broke the connection and called another number. Several minutes passed with no response and he set the phone back down. "There's no answer at either the loft or his cell phone. Something's wrong."

"Maybe he just got distracted." Megan Connor offered.

"Maybe, but not for this long." Jim turned to Simon. "I'm going to backtrack and see if I can find him."

"Sure Jim. If you find him talking to some pretty girl, pop him once for us." Simon said.

"Will do," Jim put on his jacket, but before he made it to the door, his cell phone rang. "Bet that's him."

"Ellison."

"Hello Detective. I told you I'd be in touch." Brackett's voice came over the phone.

"Brackett!" Jim almost yelled in surprise. "Where is my partner?"

"Detective Sandburg is fine for the moment. He's going to be my guest while you run an errand for me."

"What do you want?" Jim growled into the phone, ignoring the shocked looks from his co- workers.

"Just what I explained at our last meeting. There is a laser that I'm interested in. You are going to get it for me. Retrieve the laser and your partner will remain in good health. Refuse and he will suffer."

Jim closed his eyes, his jaw clenched in frustration. "Let me talk to him."

"The laser is being kept at Science Technologies. It's an experimental laser called the HAL2001. It's small enough for one person to carry. Once you have it, I'll contact you on where we'll meet."

"Let me talk to Blair." Jim demanded.

"Do you understand the instructions, Detective?"

"Yes! Now let me talk to Blair." Jim repeated, gripping his cell phone in frustration and worry.

"Good." Silence followed and Jim was afraid that the connection had been broken. Suddenly a weary voice came over the phone.

"Jim?"

"Sandburg! Are you alright?"

"Yeah, I'm okay. Just a bit bruised. I'm sorry, man. My fault."

"Don't worry about that. Just hang in there."

"Jim..." Blair's voice disappeared to be replaced by Brackett's. "As you can hear, he's alive and with me. How you get the laser is up to you and don't tell me you need your Guide. You've progressed a lot since we last met and I think you can do this without Mr. Sandburg's assistance. Good bye."

The connection went dead. Jim stared at the phone, anger, worry and determination building inside of him as he resisted the urge to throw the phone across the room. He looked up to see Simon standing beside his desk, the captain's concern reflected in his features. "Simon, we need to talk."

Jim paced in Simon's office, pausing only to stare out the window that overlooked Cascade before turning to pace more. He ran his hand over his hair in frustration as Simon entered the office and leaned on the corner of the desk.

"Brackett has Blair." Jim stated quietly looking directly at his captain.

"I gathered as much." Simon said. "How's Blair?"

"He's okay. At least he sounds okay. Said it was his fault. Which I know is a load of bull."

"So Brackett wants you to go after his laser?" Simon asked.

Jim looked at him in surprise. "Your hearing getting better these days?"

Simon gave his friend an offended look. "I may be a Captain, but I was a detective long before you were. It didn't take much to guess what he wanted. He wants you to get the laser in exchange for Sandburg. Right?"

"Yes. That's it exactly. It's an experimental laser by Science Technologies. Called the HAL2001. Evidently its creators like the movie." Jim gave a small smile, thinking back to his conversation with Blair several days earlier.

"Jim, the head of security at ST is a good friend of mine. We went to the academy together and were even partners for a while. Do you want me to call him and ask for his help?"

Jim thought about the question. "Brackett said it was up to me how I got the laser. Although I have the feeling that he'd prefer it if I had to break in. Maybe we could bring your friend in on this. Let him know what we need and that it's to help capture a federal criminal."

"It's worth a shot." Simon nodded. "I'll call Joe and see what we can get set up. Worst case is that he says no and you really have to break in. Best case is that he can arrange a loan of the laser. If nothing else we may have to set it up for you to get in and remove the laser without incident."

Jim nodded his agreement. "It'll have to be tonight. Brackett said he'd contact me as to where we'll meet, but I'm not going to waste anytime. He said he'll trade the laser for Blair."

"We'll get him back, Jim." Simon tried to reassure his friend.

"I know. If I know Sandburg, he'll be angry that Brackett was able to take him and use him against us in this. We both thought we were past this happening."

Simon shook his head. "With you two? Anything seems to be possible. Okay, Detective, get back to work. I have a phone call to make and you have work to do."

Saturday Late Night
Washington Scientific Laboratory

Jim stood in the shadows watching the building across the street from the gray building belonging to Washington Scientific Laboratory. He had only been in the building twice when investigating a robbery several years ago. He felt his jaw clench as the thought hit again that he was about to break into the building to steal a laser for Lee Brackett.

He felt in his pocket to make sure the key card was still secure. At least Simon's friend had been willing to help them as much as he could. A former FBI agent, he was more than happy to arrange for Jim to gain access to the laboratory and the laser. In the event that Brackett wanted the laser obtained by theft, Jim had decided to make it look real. He would break into the building and remove the laser, but he did have some help from Simon's friend, Matthew Leah and the CEO of WA Scientific Labs. The key card they had provided would open several of the coded doors without alerting security and Matthew would be taking care of the security tapes the next day.

Jim quietly made his way across the room to where a large metal box sat on a table against the wall. The paperwork lying beside the box confirmed his assumption that the box contained the HAL Laser. He inspected the box and let out a soft moan. There was a combination lock on the box that Leah had forgotten to mention or possibly hadn't known about.

Closing his eyes briefly, the Sentinel thought back to another time he had faced a combination style lock. That time had also involved Brackett wanting to steal a military prototype plane. He let his memories drift back until he heard his Guide's voice speaking to him.

"All right, now Jim, I'd suggest not relying on your ears, but on your fingertips. Just let the tumbler tell your sense of touch what to do."

Jim reached for the lock and slowly began turning the dial. The lock was a basic combination lock so Jim decided to try listening as well, hoping that by using touch and hearing that he wouldn't zone. Also, his hearing would help if the gloves he wore hampered his sense of touch.

As the dial reached the number four, he felt the first tumblers move and heard a click from the lock. Carefully he turned the dial to the left until a soft click signaled another number. He turned the dial back to the right and stopped on sixteen, feeling the tumblers fall away inside the lock and it slid open easily in his hand.

Breathing a sigh of relief, Jim removed the lock and carefully opened the lid. Nestled inside the box was a simple looking device that had to be the sought after laser. The box was too large to carry or to fit in the gym bag, so he lifted the piece of equipment out of the foam lined box and set it in the gym bag he'd set on the table. He wrapped a couple of towels around the laser to protect it while being carried. Finally, he closed the lid to the box and reset the lock. Taking a quick look around he left the room and made his way downstairs to the freight entrance. Carefully securing the door behind him to make things look undisturbed, the Sentinel kept to the shadows as he left the property and didn't pause until he was a couple of blocks away from the laboratory building.

His hearing turned up, Jim heard the footsteps long before he heard the voice. "Very good, Detective Ellison. I knew you wouldn't have any problems," Brackett said.

"What are you doing here, Brackett?" Jim asked, his grip tightening on the straps to the bag he carried. He moved a step closer to the former agent anger flooding through him.

"Watching a professional at work." Brackett answered easily. Pushing away from the wall he had been leaning against, he moved forward to face the angry detective. "Don't get any ideas about taking me out now. You do and you'll never find your partner."

"Does this mean you're ready to trade?" Jim asked, ignoring the remark.

"Not yet. I have to admit that I was curious to see if you'd really pull off the job." Brackett said, stepping away. "I wanted to see just how far you'd go to protect Mr. Sandburg. It was interesting to see how well you could use those special talents of yours without his help."

"Why me?" Jim asked. "Why pick me for this? You could have gotten in there and taken the laser yourself."

"As a precaution. If you had tripped an alarm, I knew you could talk your way out of it. True, I wouldn't have the laser, but I have backup plans. Besides," Brackett smiled easily. "I knew you wouldn't trip an alarm. Not with your senses. Even in prison I've kept an eye on your career since we last met. You've made incredible progress with Mr. Sandburg."

Jim glared at the man in front of him, wishing he could simply punch Brackett and be done with the whole mess. "Okay, I've got the laser, where's Blair?"

"Not so fast, Detective." Brackett raised a hand that held a gun to silence the detective. "All in good time. The trade will be made tonight, during the New Year's party at the Cascade Convention Center. I'll contact you there."

"What?" Jim almost yelled. "Brackett, if this is some trick, I'll take you into custody now and you will tell me where my partner is."

Brackett continued to smile easily, despite the Sentinel's threats. "I don't think so. You take me; you'll never find Detective Sandburg. The trade will take place during the party, that's where my buyer will be.

"Brackett..." Jim moved towards the former CIA agent.

"Later, Detective." Brackett fired, a small dart embedding itself in Jim's shoulder. "I'll be talking to you later. Please excuse the dart, but I don't need you following."

Jim stumbled and fell to his knees. He flashed a murderous glare at Brackett, unable to focus to speak.

"I've called Captain Banks, he's on his way and will find you here. I'll be long gone and you won't be able to track me." With that, Brackett turned and ran down the alley away from Jim and the laboratory building. The last thing Jim heard were sirens, followed by Simon's voice calling out to him.