Chapter 54

                                    

                                          
A few moments later, Briggs walks back into Muse. I have no idea how long has passed since he left the building, but it's felt like forever. Dean has stayed close, and I can see that he wants to comfort me and make sure I'm alright with what I've figured out, but I also see the pain in his expressions. 
                          
I've been home for days, almost weeks and I didn't tell him about Oliver. I know for sure that if the situations were flipped I'd be disappointed as well. 
                          
Briggs clears his throat, obviously trying to calm himself. "We've got a body at an abandoned warehouse in Arlington. It's not Genevieve Ridgerton."
                          
A small relief sets off in my chest, but not big enough to overcome the heavy weight still resting there. 
                          
Genevieve is still alive. But somebody else isn't. 
                          
"Starmans, Vance, and Brooks: I want the three of you to take the kids back to the house. I want one of you posted at the front door, one at the back door, and one with Kathy at all times," Briggs says as he turns, walking out. He expects us to follow, and for some reason this new heir of authority he's grown angers me. 
                          
But I also don't need Lia or Michael here to tell me that his confidence is a lie. 
                          
"No," I say. "I'm coming with you. The exact same logic that made you bring me here applies to Arlington. The UNSUB turned this into a treasure hunt. She wants us, me, to follow it to the end."
                          
"I don't care what she wants," Briggs quips. "I want to keep you safe."
                          
His tone is warning, yet I can't keep the questions in. 
                          
"Why? Because I'm valuable? Because Naturals work so well as a team and you'd hate to throw that off?"
                          
Briggs walks back to me swiftly until our faces are inches apart. "Do you really think that little of me?" He asks quietly. "I'm driven. I'm ambitious. I'm singleminded, but do you really think that I would knowingly put any of you in danger?"
                          
I think back to the first time we met. The baseball over golf. 
                          
"No. But we both know that this case is killing you. It's killing Locke, and now there's a senators daughter involved. If it weren't for me, you wouldn't have sent someone to check out that warehouse. We wouldn't have discovered the body for hours- maybe days, and who knows what the UNSUB would've done in the meantime. If you don't want to use me as bait, that's fine. But I need to go with you, we all do, because we might see something you can't."
                          
That's the whole reason Briggs started the Natural program. The whole reason he'd gone to twelve year old Dean. No matter how long they did this job, or how much training they had, these Agents would never have instincts as finely honed as ours. 
                          
"Let her come," Locke murmurs, placing a hand on Briggs' arm, and for the first time I wonder if there really is more going on between them. "If Kathys old enough to play bait she's old enough to learn from the experience." She looks at Sloane and Dean. "They all are."
                          
...
                          
Forty five minutes later we pull outside of the warehouse on 4587 North Oakland Street. The local police were ordered to seal off the scene and keep onlookers out. They were also told not to check out the body itself, to avoid any further contamination. 
                          
Sloane, Dean and I waited in the car with Vance until the others had cleared out the police, so they could then take us inside unnoticed. 
                          
Inside it's almost like a house. There's stairs on either side leading to a second floor and double swinging doors in front of us. As we begin to walk in Briggs steps out of the doors and stops us.