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Corbett pulled his phone out as soon as he walked out the front door of the hospital. In his other hand, he clutched the folder that Amine had given him, afraid to even let his grip slacken on it for fear that it would be carried away by the wind, or perhaps someone would snatch it from his grasp. He'd programmed Sylvester's number into the phone before he left so he wouldn't have to remember it.

"Sylvester, get Beanpole on the line and get him to send someone out to keep an eye on the doctor. We're going to need him."

"You got it, inspector. You want to get him out of the city right now?"

"No," Corbett said after a moment's thought. "We need him here for the next couple of days, but that doesn't mean that we can't at least give him a little cover."

"All right. Where are you headed?" Sylvester asked.

"I've got to go and make sure that my family gets out safe," Corbett said.

"You sure you want to do that, Rat?" Sylvester asked. "If Lewis or his goons see you out there, he's gonna know something's up."

"I know, but I have to be there. It's just something I've got to do."

"Okay. What else do you need?"

"I'm going to go see what I can track down about Hunter. The lab results are just the first part of the puzzle, and I'm going to need all the pieces before I go in front of the magistrate. See if you can give me a location on him. Maybe if I can get him alone, I'll be able to talk some sense into him."

There was a pause on the other end of the line and Corbett could hear typing in the background.

"All right, inspector, it looks like Hunter has one of the newer phones. It'll take me a while to get plugged into it and get you a location, but I should have it by the time you've taken care of your family."

Corbett didn't say anything else, just hung up the phone and walked across the parking lot to his car. He half expected to see another note under the windshield, thinking that despite everything that Sylvester had done to keep the tracking off of him, Lewis' goons would have found him anyway. He sighed in relief, though, when he came around the corner and saw that there was nothing there waiting for him.

He slid behind the wheel and pulled out of the parking lot, heading for downtown. He'd been at his wife's office plenty of times before and it was easy enough to navigate the familiar streets. He knew he shouldn't be going in person, but he had to be sure. He had to see with his own eyes that his family was safe.

The street outside the office building that housed his wife's office and the associated labs was mostly empty, with only the standard cars parked along the street. Usually, the street was busy enough that parking was at a premium. Today, though, he managed to find a spot almost directly across the street from the main entrance.

Years of living in the city had made it easy for him to slide into any parking space he could find, especially with his wife working so close to the city center. He always griped about how hard it was to get to her building and how surrounded by the bustle of the city it was, but today he was glad for the extra motion and the people. It would be easier for his wife to slip away and meet Duke's men.

His practiced eyes roamed the street once he had the car stopped and turned off. The meeting wasn't for another twenty minutes, and he gave himself the time to look at every vehicle parked on the street. It was something he'd learned over the years of policing the south side. If something felt out of place, it probably was.

That was why the grey car at the end of the block caught his eye. It wasn't something blatant, or something that screamed out to his conscious mind. It was a combination of things. It was the way that the car was parked, just like his, ensuring that there was enough room in the front to get out of the spot quickly. It was the way that the wheels were turned out to the street, even though all of the others around it had their wheels pointing straight forward.

Or perhaps it was the vague silhouette he could discern through the shaded glass. Whatever it was, he focused on that grey sedan while he pulled his phone out to call Sylvester again.

"Leonard," he said when the other officer answered, "I need a plate."

He read the plate off into the phone and waited while he listened to the typing in the background again.

"Holy shit, inspector, that's SNAG."

Corbett paused, at a loss for words. SNAG was the State Narcotic and Gang division. "Why is SNAG sitting outside my wife's office?"

"I don't show any active investigations outside of gangtown, inspector. There's nothing going down today. Hold on."

More typing sounded over the phone, interspersed with pauses and muttered curses.

"I'm pushing through to the secure section on Central. If there's anything that SNAG's up to, it'll show up there."

Corbett waited while Sylvester worked his magic, still in awe of the younger officer's skill with the tech. If they all got through this, he was going to have to sit down with Sylvester and learn whatever he could. Some days it was a wonder that he could use his phone without someone holding his hand.

"All right, inspector. I've got four ops on the board right now. One warrant out on seventy third, one undercover running something for Homeland, and two training ops. One's showing your address there, and the other one is out on fifth. From the map, it's right outside..."

"Angela's school," Corbett finished for him.

"What the hell? There's no way they could have known about all this, inspector. Our crypto is too good for them to crack. I designed it, and even I can't crack it. How the hell did they know about it?"

"Doesn't matter. Knowing Lewis, he's probably just hedging his bets. He doesn't strike me as someone who takes chances."

Corbett remembered the conversation with Lewis and that the senator had told him he'd be watching his family until after everything was done.

"All right, I've got something we can do. I'll call you back," Corbett said and then hit the end button on his phone.

He watched the silver car for a moment longer, thinking. It figured that Lewis would send the gang unit. They were the ones that did all the undercover buys for the police force. They were the ones that fit in with the misfits of the city so well that they were accepted in some of the roughest parts of town.

And if he'd gotten two of them to do his bidding, then the chances were that there were more that were corrupt in the unit. It didn't take a leap of imagination to think that some of the undercover guys would go a little rogue. They played with millions of dollars worth of drugs and weapons and money on a daily basis. How much temptation, then, would it take to get them onto the side of someone who could give them that for real instead of for play like the department did.

Still, the fact that he'd used that unit gave Corbett a little bit o an edge over any other unit. That thought had him smiling as he touched another number into his phone.

"Ricky? S'that you?" Corbett could hear the kind and familiar voice over the phone and he couldn't help but smile. The old man sounded worried, but he wouldn't let that stop him at all. He couldn't have asked for a more loyal friend.

"Yeah, Jimmy, it's me," Corbett took a deep breath. "I was hoping I wouldn't need to ask you, but do you remember what we talked about?"

"Course I do, Ricky. You ready for me and my boys, then?" Jimmy sounded eager and Corbett could almost see him with that intense stare that he always had on his face when he got interested in something.

"Yeah, I'm ready." Corbett quickly explained the situation to his friend and when he was finished, there was silence on the other end of the line.

"Where do you want the boys, Ricky? You want us to go make sure your girl is okay?"

"No. I've got someone coming to pick the two of them up, but they're going to get made when they come by. I need you and the boys to get something going down off of seventy third. It's got to be something big, Jimmy."

Jimmy scoffed and Corbett could almost hear him rolling his eyes over the phone.

"The boys all remember you, Ricky. You did right by all of us. Ain't been another dude as straight as you since you left, and they all want to return the favor. There's probably a hundred guys here that want in on this. You want a riot? We'll give you a riot."

"You're amazing, Jimmy," Corbett said hoping that the huge smile on his face translated over the phone. "Tell the boys that if everything goes off, I'm going to start a block party for them."

"I'll tell 'em, Ricky. Just make sure you live up to it, huh?"

"You got it, Jimmy. Go get your boys. I need them soon. You got about thirty minutes."

"We'll be there. Just you worry about getting your lady and your girl. Then you can do right by that Kincaid girl like you done right by us."

"Thanks Jimmy."

It didn't seem nearly enough to say given what he was asking them to do. The plan was for Jimmy and whoever he could scare up to go out and cause a disturbance wherever Corbett needed them to. A big enough fight in just the right place would get people's attention and it might draw off the manpower that was needed to keep his wife and daughter under watch. By starting a riot on the same street that a SNAG officer was serving a high-risk warrant, they'd get all the other SNAG units running for fear that an operation had been compromised or something.

Corbett put the phone in his pocket, wishing for the moment that he had something he could do other than wait. He stared at the grey car, watching the silhouette inside. He couldn't do anything until that car left, and he still had close to half an hour before Duke's guys arrived to get his wife out.

They'd be picking up his daughter, too, but Corbett could only watch one at a time. He figured that Lewis would be more likely to move against Jennifer than risk being tied to something that hurt a kid. Though Lewis seemed like the kind of man who would do whatever he needed to do to get what he wanted, he didn't start out with high-risk tactics. If he knew what Corbett was up to, then he'd start with Jennifer and he'd probably only go after Angela if that didn't work.

While he waited for Jimmy and the boys to get the riot started, he pulled his tablet onto his lap and went over the case file, trying to find the holes that he could make even larger. He had the falsified lab report and the confession from Amine. The man would never work as a doctor in the city again, but at least he'd find a way out.

Now he had something that said that Kincaid was likely not the killer, but he needed more to go on. The Magistrate wouldn't reverse his decision on just a maybe or a likely. He needed something solid, and he needed another suspect. He needed to be able to pin the blame where it really belonged, back on Hunter Lewis.

Every angle that he thought through in his head was sure to be blocked by the Senator. If he could just talk to the kid, he was sure that he could get the kid to give him something, but that required the senator letting him sit down with the boy, and that was unlikely to ever happen.

He started making notes on his tablet, reminding him to talk to Sylvester about a blueprint for the Lewis house. Maybe he could get inside and talk with Hunter there. There had to be a way for him to get alone with him.

A starting engine had his head lifting from his thoughts and his notes and when he looked out the windshield, he couldn't help but smile triumphantly. The grey car was starting up and pulling away from the curb. As it pulled out into traffic and started down the road with a squeal of tires, Corbett's phone rang on the seat beside him.

"Corbett," he answered.

"Inspector, I don't know if I want to know how you did it," Sylvester's excited voice came through loud and clear, "but the radio is screaming about riots and looting on seventy third, just a few blocks from where SNAG was serving that warrant. They managed to get a reporter there, too, and the news is covering everything."

"That would be just like Jimmy to give the news a warning so they could cover it. It'll give the department a black eye and the chief will be all over everyone he can to get them down there."

"That's perfect, Inspector. The news is saying there's a couple hundred people tearing things up. Shit's on fire!"

Corbett shook his head and laughed, "Call Beanpole and tell him we need him now."

"You got it, inspector. He should only be a few minutes away anyway, and it's going to take them a week to get the mess on seventy third cleaned up. Looks like every officer in the city is heading that way. Bet you're glad that it's your day off, huh?"

"Sylvester, you have no idea." Corbett laughed and hung up the phone. Just the thought of what Jimmy and his boys were doing was enough to hold a smile on his face. He didn't want to think about what was going to happen to the ones that the force caught. He owed Jimmy big for what he'd done.

He looked back at the door to the office building as Jennifer came out the door. She looked one way and then the other and took a seat on the grey brick wall just to the side of the door. Still looking down the street, she pulled her phone out and dialed, then held it up to her ear. Corbett's phone rang and he answered it right away.

"Hi, hon," he said, not taking his eyes off her.

"Hi, yourself. I'm outside waiting for Duke."

Corbett ached to tell her that he was watching over her, but he didn't want her looking for him. There still might be someone watching, and any proof that he knew what was going on would be used against him in a way he didn't want to think about.

"He's always on time, honey. He'll be there."

As he said the words, a dark colored minivan turned the corner. The van looked like it had seen the bad end of too many soccer games. Dents and dings covered most of it, and there were parts that were obviously repainted. Corbett looked again through the window as it drove past and smiled when he saw the man behind the wheel.

It was one of the old non-coms that used to help him keep order in the twenty third. Duke must have had his fingers in about every pie in that unit, given how many people he managed to get on his side when they got out. Just seeing the familiar face put him a little more at ease. He knew that the man was competent and he would keep his wife safe.

He watched as the van pulled to a stop outside the building. The driver rolled down the window and said something to Jennifer. She looked over at the van and smiled.

"You're right, hon. He's here now. I'll see you soon."

"No matter what happens," Corbett said, "I love you."

Jennifer hung up the phone and walked to the van. She talked with the driver for a minute and then went around the far side and slid into the passenger seat. Nothing out of the ordinary at all, just a nice lady getting a ride home from a friend.

Corbett sighed in relief as the van pulled around the corner and then he started his car and drove off after them, giving them a little lead time so that it wasn't obvious he was connected to them. Without even thinking about it, he started driving towards Angela's school. He was hoping to pass the car that had picked her up.

He had only driven a couple of blocks before the phone rang again. Sylvester's number popped up on the screen.

"What's up, Sylvester?" he asked after he hit the answer button.

"Just wanted to let you know that everything went smooth with your daughter, inspector. She's been collected and she's on her way out to Stringbean's ranch. Everything go okay with Jennifer?"

"Yeah, we're good."

"All right, then, Inspector. They're out of harm's way. Let's get down to business. What's the next move?"

"I've got to talk to Hunter," Corbett said as he turned the car toward the Lewis house. "Think you can find me a way in to talk to him?"

"Hold on a second, Inspector. I'm getting some chatter on the radio. With the riot going on, it's getting drowned out, but there's a missing persons call from the Lewis house. It's not going to be long before central starts dispatching more units to that."

"Is it Hunter?"

"Yeah, looks like he's been missing for a few hours. He's not in the house, and the Senator called it in personally. It's his voice on the call."

"Where would he go?" Corbett wondered out loud. "Think he's got his phone with him?"

"It's not something I'd do, but then again people do dumb things all the time. Want me to try tracking it?"

"Yeah, give it a shot. Sometimes luck favors the foolish."

"Did you get Chinese when you were out, inspector? That sounded like a bad fortune cookie."

"Something my grandfather used to say all the time. Just try the cell."

Corbett pulled off the road into an empty parking lot and stopped the car while he listened to Sylvester typing up a storm in the background. After so much risk, it was still gratifying to know that the other officer put as much importance on this as he did. He could tell that Sylvester wanted to get the truth as much as he did.

"I think I got it, inspector, but I'm not sure that it's the right location. The crime scene boys went over the Brighton's house with a microscope, didn't they?"

"Yeah, as thoroughly as always. They don't usually miss anything," Corbett frowned. "Why?"

"Well, Hunter's phone is there. Can't tell you whether he is or not, but his phone is definitely there."

Corbett frowned even deeper.

"Okay, Sylvester. I'm heading there now. I'll call you when I get there."

Corbett pulled out of the drive and turned down the road, trying to figure out if someone had just missed the phone in a bedroom or something or if Hunter had really gone back. They hadn't let the Brighton's back into the house yet, since it was still an ongoing investigation, and it would remain that way until after Kincaid's days were up.

Corbett had questions, and now he knew where some of his answers lay.