Macgyver ~ news adventures

Chapter 21: Lieutenant Lynch's little secret

POV Eléa

Now that we know where Pope and his men are, we sent an infrared drone that should give us the number we're dealing with and we discovered that Pope was hiding in a secret meth lab. After what we can see, we clock nine total. One of them could be Pope. But there is another heat signature in the center that is a propane boiler. We can't take the fight down there. One stray bullet could send the whole place up. Chris is looking the building's plans and sees an entrance: a trapdoor built into the floor, smoke canisters could flush them out. Commander decided to send us up there before the lookout pops up for air again.

While preparing, Hondo comes telling Elisa and I to stand back. But we make it very clear for him that it can't be possible: we are secret agents well-trained for missions worst than this one. Consequently, he assigned us with a teammate: Elisa with Chris and I with Tan, as we know each other, it's easier to work together.

Arrived on the spot, Tan opens the door by cutting the lock with a mechanical iron cutter. I'm following Tan through the building like Hondo asked us, when all of a sudden, one of Pope's men goes out of the basement. So, we hide behind cartons or boxes. I saw Hondo and Deacon making a head sign to each other, I guess they'll do something when the guy is going to open the gates that recover the basement's entrance. I was right since when he went out, Deacon shot him with a bullet similar to the effect that procures a stun gun. I open the trapdoor with Elisa, and Hondo threw a smoke canister in it.

Hondo: LAPD! Everybody come out now, one by one! Let's go. Move. Move.

Tan: 8 so far, there's no Pope.

Chris: There's still one more.

Eléa: Conor Pope, come out now!

But when the last man to go up, it was not Pope.

Pope's accomplice: Pope cleared out an hour ago. Nice to see you again, Officer Tan. As foxy as day one, Officer Vidoni.

We brought them all to the HQ and we questioned the last to go up. Hicks didn't want Tan and I to attend the questioning, so Luca and Commander himself did it. Before that, Pope's man, Emerson, used to be just a common meth dealer, but with breaking out a prisoner, aiding and abetting, shooting authorities earlier, he's looking at 66 to life. That's before we tack on possession and intent to manufacture crystal meth. To be honest, I don't know what else we can throw at those kinds of men at this point. Commander asked him a question about dropping the meth deal if Emerson was telling us something. But as he didn't answer at first, Commander started to be pissed off.

Emerson: I don't know where Pope's going. He took two guys with him, though. Reinforcements.

Hicks: How many targets does he have left on his kill list?

Emerson: Just some woman, man. Whoever she is, Pope blames her the most.

With Tan, we're looking at each other without knowing who could be that woman. Then, Hicks comes to us and tells us what Pope's girlfriend has said to Elisa and Deacon earlier. So, we understood that the woman Emerson was talking about was Lynch. Yes, I really didn't like her, but that's not a reason to let her die. Unfortunately, she wasn't at the SWAT's HQ.

Eléa: Where is she then?

Elisa: She left by herself this morning. We've talked a little bit and she said she was going to check some things.

Hicks sends a patrol at Lynch's hoping to find her safe and secure. In the meantime, I couldn't stop thinking about Pope and all that stuff, and I thought about Pope's lawyer. Maybe he could help us. With Tan, we made him come to us and bring him to the kitchen.

Tan: Thanks for talking to us. We've got a lieutenant off the grid who could be in danger.

Eléa: Since you were Pope's defense attorney, we're hoping you can give us insight on where she or Pope might be.

He opens the fridge and takes a bottle of fruit juice. It seems like he doesn't care about what we are talking about.

Eléa: Sure. Help yourself, Counselor. It's not like we have a major emergency to deal with.

Lawyer: There's no drinks out there. I'm starving. Hey, listen, I'm still bound by attorney-client privilege.

Eléa: Unless you are aware of someone in immediate danger.

Lawyer: I don't know about targets, but I know Pope was obsessed with the task force that planted evidence on him.

Eléa: Watch your mouth.

Lawyer: Fruit of the poisonous tree, that ledger you found in his trash should never have been admissible.

Tan: You pressed me for 40 minutes on the stand. I promise you I didn't plant it.

Lawyer: Doesn't mean someone else didn't. it ever bothers you how easy that came into your possession?

Tan: We take the breaks wherever we can get them.

Eléa: We're not retrying a case here. We're trying to save someone's life. And to put your client behind bars again.

Lawyer: After I lost Pope's last appeal, I thought he was going to kill me right there in the courtroom. He's been adamant about that damn ledger his entire time in the pen. That's what this is about. He feels he was wronged. And if you ask me, he was. Not that I'm excusing violence. Look, Pope wouldn't have thrown that book in the trash. So, somebody else had to.

In the meantime, we still have no clue for Lynch even if Commander got a couple divisions trying to track her down. When all of a sudden, Hicks got a phone call from Lynch. So, we went to join her with Elisa, Tan and Deacon. When we arrive, we can see patrols bringing 2 men, probably Pope's men judging by their tattoos. Lynch found one of Pope's guys waiting to ambush the residence, so, she ambushed him first.

Tan: Who lives in this house?

Lynch: Woman named Raquel Lopez.

Elisa: And how is she connected to all this?

Lynch: She was an off-the-books source that provided me intel on the Pope case. I saw her forwarding address in the D.A.'s file, and I realized if the D.A. knew her, then maybe Pope did too. So, I swung by to check on her and looks like I got here just on time. 

Eléa: So, Raquel was the last target. Not you. 

Lynch: She's a brave woman, I owe her a lot. Lucky for us, Raquel hasn't come home yet, which means she's still out there. But Pope is trying to track her down.

Deacon: Wait a second. Why didn't you tell anyone where you were going?

Lynch: This was just a hunch. I didn't want to waste valuable resources on it.

Deacon: All due respect, Lieutenant, when you assessed a threat here, why didn't you call it in?

Lynch: I didn't want to engage a firefight. I think I handled myself fine.

She leaves, while we're inspecting Raquel's house. I'm just wondering one thing. What if Lynch had asked Raquel to put that ledger into the trash 7 years ago. No matter what, we still don't know where Raquel is. Her neighbors told us that she comes and goes for days at a time. It's normal for her to be unreachable. So, Pope doesn't know where she is and he's going to spread his resources trying to find her. I'm looking at the cork wall where a lot of pictures were displayed, when I recognized the woman on the picture.

Eléa: Hey! I recognize her. Think she went by a different name back in 2013.

Elisa: Raquel was part of Pope's crew?

Eléa: Nah, she was his housekeeper.

Elisa: What did his housekeeper do to make him go after her?

Tan: I got one theory.