Inevitable Series 06 The Unavoidable Read online

  April 1999

  Here's another installment in my Inevitable series. If you haven't read the first five parts, you may be a little confused by some of what goes on in this story. Sorry for the delay in getting this one up. I had some requests to fulfill first.

  As always, Megan Conner does not appear in my story . Although I think Anna Galvin is a fine actress, I just don't see the need for her character and thus cannot write for her.

  Thanks to everyone who takes the time to drop an e-mail. It's always nice to know someone is actually out there reading this stuff! A special thanks to Sandy who was nice enough to re-read my entire series before reading this one for me…just to be sure I'm still on track. You're a real pal!

  This one is for Missy because she just loves those Brackett stories!!

  Without further delay.....

  The Unavoidable

  Part Six of The Inevitable Series

  By Beth Manz

  "Jim, I think I'm being followed."

  Jim Ellison looked up from the case file on his desk, his hand tightening around the phone receiver he held to his ear. His gaze fell to the empty chair that his partner had occupied not fifteen minutes earlier.

  Blair had spent the morning with Jim at the station, helping him finish the paperwork on the car ring case they'd closed the day before. It had been three weeks since Blair received the letter from his father. They hadn't talked about it since Jim had read it to him in the hospital. But Blair seemed more settled, more satisfied with his life now and Jim was glad for it. He still didn't quite understand all they had found out but he trusted Blair. Trusted that whatever this new development meant, they would face it together.

  Things had been good for them. Until now.

  "What makes you think you're being followed, Chief?"

  "I stopped at a light and the guy beside me was staring at me," Blair explained, tension easily detectable in his Guide's voice. "Then when the light changed, the guy got behind me and he's been behind me ever since."

  Jim stood and snagged his jacket off the back of his chair. "Where are you now?"

  "Almost to Rainier."

  "Don't go there." He slipped on his jacket and signaled to Simon who stood in the doorway of his office watching him. "If someone is following you, I don't want them to know where you work."

  "Okay, I just turned off at Clairpoint."

  "Good Chief. Clairpoint's good." Jim covered the receiver as Simon drew up next to him. "It's Sandburg. He thinks someone might be following him."

  Simon's brow creased in concern. "Where is he?"

  "On Clairpoint." Jim removed his hand from the phone. "Chief, stay on Clairpoint. It circles back this way." He pulled out his cell phone, pressed the speed dial and poised his finger over the 'one' key. "Listen, Blair, I'm going to hang up this phone and call you right back on my cellular, okay?"

  "Yeah, okay."

  Jim hung up the line and hit the 'one' key. He started across the bullpen as he listened to the phone automatically dial Blair's number. He licked his lips as he waited for the line to connect him back to his Guide. Blair picked up before the phone could finish its first ring.

  "Jim?"

  "Yeah, it's me. Still got your tail?"

  "Yes. Dammit! I thought he'd see me on the phone and think I might be calling the cops and decide to stop following."

  "It's never that easy, Chief." Jim glanced over his shoulder as the elevator doors opened. Simon stood behind him. "Captain, I'm going to meet up with Blair. See if we can box in this tail he's got."

  "Do you want some backup?"

  "Let me check it out first and then I'll let you know." He stepped into the waiting car and hit the button for the parking garage. "It might be nothing but I don't want to take any chances."

  "Keep me updated," Simon called as the doors slid shut.

  Jim reached the garage and jogged toward his truck. He slid behind the wheel, cranked the engine to life and tore out of the garage. "I'm just leaving the station, Chief. Why don't you take Clairpoint to Reilly. I'll cut over that way and come up from behind."

  "Reilly. Got it. I'll see you there."

  "No, Blair, don't hang up." Jim had lost Blair too many times to risk it again. "Stay on the line until we've got this guy boxed in. Okay?"

  "Okay."

  Jim put his police light on the dash and weaved through traffic with practiced ease. He held off on the siren, not wanting to alert Blair's tail to his presence too soon. "You said he looked at you. Did you recognize him?"

  "No."

  "Describe him to me."

  "Thirty five to forty. Dark hair. I only got a quick glimpse at him but there was nothing distinct about his face."

  "What about the car? What kind of car?" Jim needed the details, just in case this guy caught up to Blair before he did. He knew that Blair understood the reason for the questions but to his credit, he remained calm and gave each detail clearly. Late model sedan. Dark blue in color. Four doors. "Okay, Chief, I'm about three car lengths behind you." He saw Blair's gaze dart to the rearview mirror and focus in on him.

  "I see you." Relief shown in his eyes, came through in his voice. "What now?"

  "You've got an alley coming up in about a block. Hang a right. Hopefully this guy will follow you in then I'll follow him."

  Jim watched as Blair made the turn. He smiled as the blue sedan followed right behind him. "We've got 'em, Chief." Jim turned in and pulled his truck to a stop behind the car, effectively locking the sedan between his vehicle and his Guide's. "Okay, Blair, stay in your car until I tell you to get out. Keep your head low."

  "But Jim--"

  Jim hung up his cell phone, cutting off Blair's protest. Pulling his weapon, he pushed open his door. "Get out of the car," he ordered, his gun trained on the man behind the wheel.

  "What's going--"

  "Get out of the car!" he said again, advancing toward him.

  The man stepped out, his gaze going from Jim's weapon to his face. "What's going on?"

  Jim took in his appearance. Jeans and polo shirt. Short, dark hair. He looked non-threatening but it was obvious he worked out. Not an ounce of fat on him and Jim could see the muscles beneath his casual attire. "Why are you following my partner?"

  The man's eyes widened. His gaze darted to Blair's Volvo. "I thought that was Blair Sandburg."

  Blair pushed out of his car and crossed to them. Jim gave him a hard look. He had told him to stay put. {Should have known he wouldn't listen.}

  "Do I know you?" Blair asked , coming up beside Jim.

  The man nodded nervously. "I'm Professor Reynolds, Paul Reynolds. I've got a meeting scheduled with you today and when I saw you on the road..." He shrugged one shoulder. "Well, I'm from out of town. I thought I could follow you to Rainier."

  Jim glanced at his partner. "Do you know the name, Chief?"

  Blair's brow creased in thought. "No. And I don't have any meetings today."

  The man smiled amicably. "This is embarrassing. There must be some kind of mix-up. I talked to a Sally Rogers."

  Blair nodded. "She works in the main office but she didn't tell me about any meeting today."

  "I confirmed it just this morning."

  Blair looked up at Jim, uncertainty pulling down the corners of his mouth. "No one told me anything about this."

  Jim did not lower his weapon. Something about this man felt wrong to him. He appeared non-threatening yet Jim still felt threatened somehow. Maybe it was his muscular build that just seemed so out of place for a professor. Or the cold glint he saw in his eyes every time he looked at Blair. Or the line of sweat that slid down the side of his face. Whatever it was, Jim did not trust him.


  "I have my appointment book in my car," Reynolds said. "If I could just--" He leaned in the open door.

  "Move away from your car," Jim ordered.

  "Just let me show you this." The man stood, darted to the side and fired the gun he now held firmly in his hand. Blair lunged in front of Jim. The dart from the tranquilizer gun hit him center chest. He gasped once then collapsed into the Sentinel. Jim caught Blair on his downward plunge with one hand and managed to fire off three rounds with the other. But his shots went wild and the last he saw of "Professor Reynolds" was the man's back as he disappeared around the corner of the alley.

  Jim lowered his Guide carefully to the ground. He listened to his slowed heartbeat, knowing he was unconscious. His jaw clenched as he gripped the dart and pulled it from his friend's chest.

  "Dammit, Chief." His gaze swept the alley as he pulled out his phone and punched in Simon's number.

  ########

  Blair came awake slowly. He blinked, seeing the white walls all around him. {Oh man. A hospital.} He tried to remember how he had gotten here. What had happened. But his mind was a foggy haze of jumbled images. {A blue sedan. An alley. And then a sharp pain.} He reached up and rubbed a hand across his chest, feeling the bruise beneath his shirt.

  His gaze slid sideways as Jim's voice reached him.

  "…didn't recognize the guy and--" The Sentinel's words stopped abruptly. A moment later, the curtain around the bed was pulled back and Jim stepped to the bed Blair lay on. "Hey, buddy." Worry wrinkled his brow. "Thought you might be awake. How you feeling?"

  "Confused." He swallowed against the dryness in his throat. "What happened?"

  "You got hit with a tranquilizer dart that was meant for me."

  Blair nodded as the images in the alley came into focus. "How long have I been out?"

  "Almost two hours."

  "The sacrifices I make," he muttered, smiling.

  Jim returned the grin. "Yeah," he breathed.

  "What'd that guy want? Did you catch him?"

  "I kind of had my hands full with you," he said quietly, concern evident in his tone.

  And Blair realized that Jim had let the man go because of him. "Jim, I was only unconscious. You could have left me there and gone after him."

  "And if that guy wasn't working alone? Did you think of that? I leave you and his partner comes back and just 'collects' you. Because he didn't want to kill you, Blair. I knew that the second I saw that tranquilizer gun. He wanted to knock you out and take you somewhere else."

  Blair shivered at the thought. At the idea that he could have awakened in a very different place and under very different circumstances. "Thanks, man."

  "Part of the service," Jim said quietly. Then after a moment's hesitation added, "Blair, don't ever do that again. That guy could have had anything in that dart. You could have been killed."

  "Hey, man, it was instinct. I saw him pointing that thing at you and I reacted. I can't promise not to do it again. It's part of my service." Blair sat up. A wave of dizziness swept over him. He closed his eyes and dropped his chin to his chest. "My head is still spinning."

  Jim put a hand on his shoulder, steadying him. "It takes a while for the drug to work its way out of your system. Just take it easy."

  When Blair looked up again, Simon stood behind Jim. "How you feeling, Sandburg?"

  "Dizzy."

  "And this is unusual because…."

  "Ha ha." He slipped his legs over the side of the bed and stood. "You're too funny." His gaze shifted down to the files Simon had tucked under one arm. He nodded toward them. "What are those?"

  "A big problem." Simon walked forward and handed the folders to Blair. "We found these in the perp's car."

  Blair leaned against the bed, needing it to keep him steady. He opened the first file and found himself staring at….himself. Photos of him at the loft, at Rainier, the station. Behind those, a copy of his school schedule, his office hours. With trembling fingers, he flipped open the second folder. He had expected to see the same kind of information inside about Jim. Instead, he found himself looking at…. "Lee Brackett?" He checked through the files again. There were only two. Only Brackett and himself. He looked up at Jim. "I don't mean to sound cold but where's your folder? We're usually a matched set."

  "Yeah, I wondered about that too. Seems they want just you."

  "Who? Who wants me?"

  "Good question." Jim tapped the cover of Brackett's folder. "Did you see this?"

  Blair squinted at the writing on the front of the folder – {Target Attained.} Blair looked up again. "They already have him."

  Jim nodded. "Seems Lee Brackett's in a bit of trouble."

  ######

  "So what did we get on the car?"

  Jim glanced at Blair where he sat on the couch in the living room. He had his glasses on and the two folders open before him on the coffee table. He'd been studying the files since they got home from the hospital. The lights of the city twinkled beyond the balcony doors as night once again claimed Cascade.

  "The car was a bust," Jim said. "A rental. Full of prints. None that we've found so far have brought up anything useful. Taggert went to the rental office but the name on the paperwork was a fake. So far, 'Professor Reynolds' is a blank."

  "You think he was just some hired muscle? That he's working for someone else?"

  "That'd be my guess."

  "Yeah. Mine too." Blair sighed. One hand came up, massaging his forehead as if in sudden pain. "This has to be connected to Grahm and Therman." The words were said softly, more to himself than to Jim and the Sentinel knew his Guide was trying to work this out for himself.

  {Grahm and Therman.} The names repeated in Jim's mind. With them came the memory of their abduction of his partner. Their "test" of Blair's shaman abilities. Their order to Ken Walsh to drown Blair should things not go as planned. He clutched at the counter top as the memories swept over him. As the images of their corpses flashed through his mind.

  {Very efficient, Brackett. One bullet to the brain for each man and they were out of the game forever. But what ramifications did you bring down on us? On Blair?}

  His gaze fell once more on his Guide. Blair had not moved. Still stared intently at the files. Jim wanted to take the files from him, toss them in the garbage and pretend none of this was happening. Because he hated thinking about the fact that there was someone out there who wanted Blair. Who would, more than likely, try again to abduct him.

  He shuddered involuntarily at the thought and picking up the sandwiches he had made, crossed to his partner and sat down beside him. He set the food on the coffee table before doing a quick assessment of his Guide's condition. He thought Blair still looked too pale. And he'd noticed a slight tremor in his hands. Aftereffects of the drug he knew but it bothered him nonetheless. But overall, he seemed to be doing okay. "I agree with you about Therman and Grahm, Chief. But that doesn't get us any closer to an answer."

  "But it's a start and that's better than nothing." Blair flipped to another page. "I expected trouble from that case but it's been almost two months." He shook his head, letting out a long breath. "After two months, I really thought we were in the clear."

  "Yeah, me too."

  Blair closed the first file and opened the second...again. "Well, we've got to come up with something fast because Brackett's already in trouble and--"

  "Chief," Jim cut-in. "I'm just as anxious as you are to figure this out…but not for Brackett. For you."

  Blair looked up, his eyes wide behind his glasses. "Jim, Brackett saved my life."

  "He's the one who put your life in danger. You're forgetting that part. They balance each other out in my book. You don't owe him a damn thing."

  Blair pulled off his glasses. "Jim, Brackett could have easily just let Walsh kill me. He didn't. He stepped in and stopped him. You said it yourself, the Brackett we met three years ago would have never done that. He's not the same man and I just can't stand by knowing he's in trouble and do nothing to he
lp him."

  Jim studied his Guide's sincere expression. Blair's compassion was one of the things he admired most about him. But it had also gotten him into trouble on more than one occasion. Jim feared this time would prove to be no exception. "What do you want to do?"

  "We both agree that this has to be connected with Therman and Grahm. Do you think Simon would authorize a background check on some of their companies? See if there's been any major problems since their deaths?"

  "Only one problem with that scenario, Chief."

  Blair slanted a glance at him, his eyebrows raised in question.

  "Neither your name or Brackett's appears anywhere in the police reports regarding Therman and Grahm's deaths."

  Blair closed his eyes. "Right."

  Simon and Jim had discussed at length the idea of what to put into the report about the death of the two millionaires. How could they explain why the two men had abducted Blair? Why Brackett had killed them? Why he and Simon had let Brackett escape so easily afterward? There had simply been too many questions that could not be easily answered. So they had done the only thing they could. They had lied.

  Simon claimed to have received an anonymous tip telling him where to find the bodies of the two men. Then he simply dispatched a team to the area and began an investigation as if he had no prior knowledge of the crime. With the discovery of Walsh's body so nearby, killed with the same caliber bullet, the murders had been immediately linked.

  The papers speculated for weeks on why the three men had been killed execution style. Most settled on the obvious answer – Grahm and Therman had become involved in some sort of illegal activity, hiring a mercenary to help them carry out their plan. But things went south and all three lost their lives. No suspects had ever been caught or questioned.

  Jim was sure most of the guys in Major Crimes suspected the truth. But no one had ever challenged the report or questioned Blair's abduction further, seeming to understand without being told that it was a matter of safety for their young friend.

  "So you think there must have been someone else working with or for Therman and Grahm? Someone who knows all about what really went down?"

  Jim glanced at his Guide, drawn back from his thoughts of past events. "That's the only thing that makes sense, Chief."