It was a tense meeting. King Gillian spoke for the Commissioner, the Major had sent an aide. Gillian was there on Cooper's behalf. Banks attended as the local link with the FBI. And Cook was there mostly because it was his office.
The Major's aide let them speak and then took a moment to weight the situation. "We can talk to the main local networks, so only the small, marginal news media would have anything about it. But we can't hold them back forever. News networks care only about ratings."
King Gillian turned to Banks. "How long it would take to have a name or a sketch?"
"Forty-eight hours tops," replied Gillian right away, and she sounded way more confident than she felt. "And then, they can give the news along with the chronicle on the arrests, so people won't panic."
"Two days is eternity in the news business," said the aide. "But it's a rational time." He turned to Gillian. "Are you sure? Do you have already any break?"
"We'll be ready to deliver a profile on the subjects this afternoon." You better be, stupid bitter man.
"Subjects? Plural?" asked Cook.
"Yes, sir. Two of them," Banks replied.
"Russell's on the case, right?" asked King Gillian.
She nodded, tempted to smile. "Yes. He and Agent Brockner." She enjoyed to see on his face that he recognized the name.
"Should those names ring a bell?" asked the aide.
Gillian met the man's eyes. "Agent Brockner is a top profiler, and the Violent Crimes Supervisor for New England. He and Russell Coleman handled the hostage crisis at Orlando's, last February. The first part of it, of course." The shooting and the killing were all on the old man sitting at your left.
"Oh, I remember. So you say they can give our boys a good profile, and we can catch those weirdos in two days?"
Banks nodded. "At least one of them has a record. That should make it easier. We're already pulling files."
The aide looked at Gillian again. "So forty-eight hours? Tops?"
"Yes, sir."
The man turned to King Gillian. "Can you guys make sure there are no more leaks for the next two days?"
King Gillian stiffened, taking offense. But there was nothing he could say to deny the accusation. "You have my word," he said.
"Then let's do it."
* * *
Russell was with the team at their office, going over what they had, when he got Gillian's call. Since Brock wasn't around, he took it straight on speaker. "Hey, Reg," he said, so she would know she could speak freely.
Gillian hardly checked her sides before striding across Cambridge Street, launched on the shortest way from the police station to the field office.
"What the hell is going on, Russ? Frank Muller just called me! Brockner called on a press conference at four!?"
Surprise pushed Russell to his feet. "WHAT!?"
"I'm just out of a meeting to keep this low despite the leak, so we don't cause a commotion! And he's going national on the evening news!?"
The team traded a look. It'd been a good while since they last heard her so upset.
"If the news already got the tip, we better get ahead of them and go public, for the Bureau's sake."
Gillian hurried to reach the curb, snorting. Now Russell played the proper fed? Her harsh words startled up the security guards as she stalked to the elevators. "This is gonna make the subjects lash out!"
She pressed the button to the fifth floor, heat burning her ears at Fred's reasonable voice. "Maybe it's not that bad, Reg. In the rush, they may make a mistake that will help us catch them."
She needed to remind herself that was the hunter in him speaking. And she couldn't blame them for being so focused on the case. Anyway, they needed to see the big picture. "Wake up, lads! If a single body remotely resembling the Libra's MO pops out after the conference, the public's gonna pin it all on us. It'll become even more personal for Brockner and the brass is gonna pull him off the case!"
"C'mon, Reg. You know he shouldn't be working on it, to begin with," said Ron.
That was the friend caring about her. "I know, Ron! But he's already in, and we're in with him! And the PD and the City Hall know! So now we gotta solve it and shut everybody's ass! So buckle up, lads, 'cause you're the ones to help'im make that happen. As of two days ago."
She disconnected as she rushed out of the elevator at the fifth floor. At the same time, Cooper stormed out of her office, thunder and lightning radiating from her glare on her way to the team's office.
"Where is he!" she demanded from the doorway.
"Ma'am?" called Gillian, hurrying to her. "What happened?"
Cooper turned to her as if she were about to jump to Gillian's throat. "Your precious Brockner! That's what happens!" Most of the staff paused to look up at her broadside. "He just trampled over everybody's head and now he won't even take my calls!"
Cooper's assistant called over from her desk. "Ma'am? The Major on line two."
"I'll get'im," said Gillian.
"You better!" Cooper spun around and clicked away.
Gillian walked into the office, eyebrows arched, waiting for some kind of clue or answer.
Tanya waved at her. "Brandon says Agent Brockner isn't at his office."
"Press Office, at the third floor?" ventured Aldana.
Gillian let out an exasperated sigh and rushed away.
"Jeez, what's with'im now?" muttered Hank, frowning.
Russell sighed. "He feels no one has his back."
"Well...," said Ron, a whole statement in that single word.
Fred grimaced. "Yeah, but Reg's right. We need to work this out. For us, if not for him."