Okay, everyone, there has been at least two Lisbon taken hostage fanfics so I thought I'd jump on the bandwagon. : D I don't know much about law and law enforcement and hostage situations, etc. so please take this all with a grain of salt. Just pretend that this is the way of things. SRU in this fic stands for Strategic Response Unit (think Flashpoint). This will be my first multi-chaptered Mentalist fic (with a continuous plot, I mean) so hopefully it doesn't suck. : ) I think the style is rather different from my other fics, just to let you know. I promise to try to keep any future ANs to a minimum.

Here is my blanket disclaimer—I. do. not. own. them. But I wish I did. ; )

Chapter One: Okay

"Lisbon, I don't think this is a good idea."

Lisbon sighed and turned to the consultant. "You just don't like the fact that you can't go in too. You're a control freak."

He lifted a brow as if to question just who the control freak was, but he refrained from speaking the words. His face turned serious once more. "Really, Lisbon."

Van Pelt nodded her earnest agreement. Cho spoke up. "I agree, boss. This guy is off his rocker."

Before Rigsby could chime in, Lisbon cut them off. "Look, guys, I'm his main target and I'm not about to let him hurt all of those innocent people because of me."

Thirty Five Minutes Earlier

"Boss, there's a call for you. Someone from the Sacramento PD." Rigsby shrugged in answer to her questioning look. "Didn't say what he wanted."

Odd. Usually the police chief would call the CBI superiors if they needed help. The actual cops working the line hardly ever wanted the assistance—it was well known that CBI teams took over investigations. She sometimes wondered why they felt the possessive need to hold on to a case that would be better left to the CBI. Lisbon had no doubt that, if it were possible to do so with an intangible thing, the PD would piss on the case just to mark their territory.

Like a frustrated alpha dog.

She shook these thoughts off and picked up the phone, dialing the extension for the operator who then connected her to the right line. "Agent Lisbon."

There was a pause after her words before a man spoke. "Good morning, Agent Lisbon. This is sergeant Willowby of the Sacramento SRU. We have a situation that involves you."

She was silent, listening to his description of said situation. Apparently, a man had taken hostages at a high traffic bank north of downtown. Not an unusual occurrence—sad, but true. What was unusual was that he wasn't demanding money. At least, not yet. He was using the thirty-two hostages (which included children) as bartering tools for his real objective.

And, apparently, that objective was the custody of Agent Teresa Lisbon of the CBI.

His name was Jack Merkowitz. Wasting no time, Lisbon leaned toward the keyboard of her desktop computer to type his name into the database as Willowby continued to talk.

Ah, yes. Merkowitz. Convicted of arson conspiracy seven years ago. It had been early in her career—before she was anywhere near head agent. He had been sentenced to ten years jail time, with possibility of parole. Lisbon vaguely remembered him. She had been the arresting agent and somehow he had fixated on her. She had received hate mail from him for a month after his incarceration before she took action. The letters had stopped and so she forgot about him. After all, in her line of work this kind of thing was not an unique happening.

Well, he had been out on parole for nearly two months now. He had been a busy man. A bank heist took planning, even if the end goal wasn't the money in the safe. Willowby paused and Lisbon summed up. "So, Merkowitz is threatening to kill off the hostages one by one every 10 minutes, starting in an hour and a half. If I give myself up to him, he'll let twenty-two of the hostages go. Does he have any other requests?"

"No. He claims he will give us his other demands after we comply with his first," Willowby replied. He didn't ask her to give herself up. Not a word about it. He had simply outlined what had happened. She stood, pushing her chair back from her desk.

"I'll be there in twenty minutes."

Not waiting for a response, she hung up and headed to the door, grabbing her coat on the way. As she shut her office door behind her, Cho approached.

"A case?"

She hesitated. "Not exactly. Whoever wants to join: feel free, but we're taking one car so I only have to explain once."

Of course, they all went. None of them, not one, were easily left in the dark. Jane was curiously quiet as he climbed into the car stuffed with agents. Good thing the CBI used SUVs instead of mid-size cars. That could have been uncomfortable. As it was, Jane was sure that Rigsby was taking up more than his share of the backseat. How had Cho made it to the front passenger seat so fast?

At Lisbon's request, they were silent during her explanation. She had Minelli on speaker phone so she could keep him informed. Surprisingly, he was rather subdued when she finished.

"Lisbon, do what you think best. As of right now, you are off the clock—just an agent on a day off. Just make sure you're back tomorrow. I don't have time to find a new head agent." With that, the line went silent and Lisbon shut her phone, waiting for her team to start speaking. Since they had arrived at the destination, she parked the car and climbed out. The others followed suit.

That is what had brought them to this point. Jane spoke once more. "Lisbon, he hasn't asked for an escape route. That is not promising. It means he's not planning to leave."

She ignored the truth that lurked in his words and the agreement in the eyes of her agents. "He hasn't made all of his demands. That could be next on the list."

"Yeah, after revenge." While Cho's usual sarcasm laid out the words, the bite behind them had Lisbon turning her eyes to him. He had been with her the longest. Not there for Merkowitz, but it didn't matter. Since she had started working with Cho, they had always had an understanding of sorts. She had never heard him speak to her with that bitterness lacing his words. She held his gaze for a moment.

"You would do the same, Cho. I can get twenty-two of those people out of there or he can start shooting them. Not much of a choice in my book," she said solemnly. "Once I'm in there, there's a good chance that the other ten will be safer."

She didn't have to say aloud that she would be the sole focus of Merkowitz. They were all thinking it. She looked past Cho's shoulder, seeing a uniformed member of SRU approach. Probably Willowby. She turned back to her team.

"Van Pelt, I need you to dig up everything you can on the last seven years of this guy's life. Why this bank? If there's a reason, find it. Rigsby, Jane. You two find his place of residence for the last two months. I need you to know this guy, okay? Cho, you stay with sergeant Willowby and keep the team informed. You're the boss for my day off, alright?" She forced her orders to come out calmly, as if this situation was no different from another. Her team was silent and still. Willowby was almost to them. Lisbon's voice lost any lightness it had, becoming hard and demanding. "I'm doing this. Are you all in?"

"Silly question, Lisbon. We'd come in with you if it were possible," Jane responded, annoyance breaking his normally blasé countenance. "But since it's not, we are going to do everything we can to save those people. Besides, Minelli expects you back tomorrow."

It was as close as he could get to telling her to be careful, to be alright, to come back to them. Rigsby, Cho, and Van Pelt nodded. Lisbon avoided meeting Jane's eyes as she briefed Willowby (who had, by that time, arrived) on her team's orders. He was actually helpful and willing to accept help. She was glad he was one of those rare guys who really just wanted to defuse the situation with as little bloodshed as possible, no matter who got to be the alpha dog.

He explained that there was a possibility that Merkowitz would lose it once they gave in to his demand, that he could just take out everyone left in the building.

"If we don't, though, someone will die every ten minutes. And that is not just a possibility," Lisbon pointed out coolly. Finally sure that Agent Lisbon knew what she was getting into, Willowby motioned for her and Cho to follow him. Jane quickly grabbed her wrist, preventing her from going further than a few steps. He spoke quietly, only for her ears, but the softness of his words didn't disguise the intensity of them.

"You will come out of there, Lisbon. You have to." His direct gaze bore into her. It was rare that he issued something sounding indisputably like an order. He tried to lessen the seriousness of the situation. "We still have those trust issues to work on, after all."

His closing words lightened the mood a bit, but she wasn't fooled. His face may be smiling now, but his eyes hadn't lost that driving force. She chose to ignore the fervency displayed in his eyes and focused on his words.

"Jane, no matter how many trust falls you make me do, it's not going to change anything. You'll still be you and I'll still be me. And that's okay." She wished she could be flippant or soothing...But there was a possibility that she wasn't leaving that bank the same way she went in and she wanted him to know that, even if she didn't trust him, it was okay. He was okay.

They were okay.

Even if things weren't going to be okay.