Skeletons in the Closet (Sue Thomas FBEye)

Intro

It drizzled in the dark autumn night, the cold breeze sifting through their wet jackets, chilling them to the bones. Her shoulder against his, Jack felt her shiver. Soon he would need to call it quit, but not before Smoky left the back alley. He couldn't risk anyone noticing their presence.

He placed an arm around her shoulders to offer warmth, not that he succeeded, but Sue still granted him a smile, before returning her attention on Smoky who was lighting his next cigarette.

How did they end up in that predicament, wondered Jack, not for the first time tonight, his mind reminiscing about last week raid.

A tip from one of Myles' informants had led them to an abandoned warehouse on the East side. There was no sign of activities inside and Jack had given the go ahead. Myles and Bobby were guarding one entrance, as he covered the other with Bruce Davis, a rookie agent temporarily assigned to the position Dimitrius vacated when he became supervisor. Jack had to admit he had been impressed by the young man's assiduity and initiative, and was seriously considering making him an integral part of the team.

Like they suspected the warehouse was deserted, but far from empty. Myles almost pulled his hair out when he saw the stolen art paintings scattered throughout the warehouse.

"Those are worth thousands... or at least they did," Myles had said, carefully lifting a damaged frame. He'd noticed the small tear in the corner of the canvas. "The curator may never recover." Myles remembered the short, bald man, and dreaded the moment he would need to inform the man that his collection was in a less than perfect condition.

After securing the building, Jack had watched as the young rookie meticulously searched each inch of that warehouse, before going up the stairs, only to see him come back down from the second floor with a giant grin and a yellow envelop in his hand.

"What is it, Bruce?" Jack had asked, raising his brow at the enthusiastic agent.

"Not sure, sir, but it was well hidden between two walls," he'd said, handing Jack the envelop.

Bobby approached the group. "Apparently not well enough, mate."

"Blueprints? Looks like a handgun," Myles observed, peeking over Jack's shoulder.

Bobby pointed at the bottom of the first diagram. "Military seal."

"Secret weapon?" The voice of the rookie was high pitched with a hint of excitement, quickly curbed by the stern looks the three agents gave him.

"It could potentially be worth way more than those paintings," Myles commented dryly. "Coincidence?"

The team was eventually able to establish the blueprints they'd stumbled onto were the latest designs of a new laser gun the military was secretly developing. The military would be investigating the leak and share the results they deemed necessary with the FBI. Unfortunately, at the moment, the team couldn't tie the two cases together. The culprits in the art extortion case had either conveniently vanished into thin air or earned hasty trips to their graves after the FBI identified them, but before they could be apprehended or interrogated.

The team was left with absolutely no lead, until Sue called him as Jack was heading for bed. She had received an anonymous tip on her blackberry. Her source stated a meeting of some sort would soon be taking place in an alley. Since he had nothing better to do besides sleeping, and suspecting Sue would follow the lead even if he warned her against it, he figured the safest course of action was to tag along his intrepid partner.