The man threw his prisoner roughly to the ground and turned to the others. "I caught this guy spyin' on us. He musta been able to evade our cleaner team somehow."

The attitude of the circle immediately changed from curiosity to anger.

"Wasn't that Jake's job?" one asked.

"Yeah." The big man nodded.

One of the men started to back out of the circle, but the guy next to him caught his arm.

"You ain't goin' nowhere, Jake," he snarled, pulling out a gun.

Shawn scrambled to his feet, barely noticing the rip in the knee of his uniform. He scanned the circle but couldn't see any way of getting through the group of men, all of whom had drawn their guns.

If he and Lassiter could somehow stall the gang, Jules would be there soon with backup. They just had to find a way to buy themselves another five minutes that wouldn't get them killed.

He could see from the look in the detective's eyes that his mind was also scrambling for an idea that would work.

"Greg, this isn't such a good idea," Lassiter spoke up suddenly. "The cops are going to come running the minute someone reports shots. Do you want this whole operation to go down because of one security guard?"

"Yeah, well, we can't let him go. Is that what you're suggesting? I think you might be going soft on us."

"Hey, I'm just trying to keep this group going here. That's the only reason I'm objecting."

"Guns ain't the only way to solve a problem," Greg snarled.

"Yeah, but if we leave a body, the DNA's going to be traced right back to our group. I don't know about you, but I don't want that to happen."

"You know what I think? I think you're goin' soft on us. Whaddya say, boys?" Greg turned to the others. "What say we let the new guy show us what he's made of?"

They all smiled and chuckled in agreement.

"Yeah, Robbie. Let's see what you can do," one called out.

Lassiter paused.

"What, you chicken?" Greg glared at him. "We can always let you join him. One less person to divide the money with doesn't bother me."

Lassiter snuck a glace at the clock on the wall. Only another minute or two until the team arrived. If he could wait long enough …

"Robbie!" Greg's voice was hard and threatening.

"Fine, fine. Don't get yourself in a wad; I'll do it." Lassiter stepped forward.

Shawn's eyes met his briefly, and the detective knew they had an understanding.

He paused for a moment. There had been numerous occasions when Lassiter had wanted to do this, but now that he was really doing it, he didn't feel as happy as he'd thought he would.

Pulling back his arm, he let his fist fly across the other man's jaw. Shawn's head snapped to the side, and he staggered towards Greg. The man just grinned and stuck out a foot, sending him to the ground.

Shawn shook his head to clear it before trying to get up. Knowing why Lassie had done it didn't make it any less painful. He just hoped Jules would show up and disrupt this party soon.

Another punch followed the first. There was blood running from a cut on Shawn's lip, and his eye was already swelling up. Lassiter raised his fist again but was interrupted by the bang of the warehouse doors flying open.

The room was flooded with police officers in bulletproof vests, guns trained on the men inside.

"Police! Freeze!"

"Drop your guns, and put your hands in the air!"

Most of the men obeyed, though Greg attempted to use his gun before a shot to his shoulder dropped him to the ground.

The officers handcuffed the thieves and escorted them out to the waiting cruisers. Greg was taken out to an ambulance under the careful supervision of two officers.

Detective Juliet O'Hara hurried over to where her partner was assisting Shawn to his feet. The younger man seemed a little unsteady on his own.

"Shawn! Are you alright?"

Shawn nodded and grinned, wincing as his swollen face protested. "Yeah, Jules. Thanks." His voice had a slight lisp to it.

"Carlton, what happened?" Juliet asked.

Lassiter sighed. "It'll all be in my report."

WMWMWMWMWMWMWMW

Later that evening, Lassiter found Shawn relaxing in a chair at the station, icing his injuries.

Shawn waved with his free hand as the head detective approached him. "Hey there, Lassie," he greeted.

"Spencer, I just wanted to make sure everything was fine between us."

"Aw, that's sweet. I didn't realize you cared that much."

"Not normally," Lassiter snapped. "It's just that what happened back there back there is something a police officer never wants to do. I just wanted to make sure you were all right."

"Well, I'll live, if that makes you feel any better."

Sighing in frustration, Lassiter turned to go. Shawn's voice behind him made him pause.

"You had to do it, Lassie. It's as simple as that."

Lassiter nodded in reply and made his way back to his desk.

Gus soon arrived to take Shawn home. They hadn't even exited the station before they were arguing.

"Shawn, what is your problem?"

"What do you mean?"

"Did you really have to blame Lassiter for your injuries? I mean, I know you and he aren't exactly friends, but you shouldn't accuse him of that sort of thing."

"But, Gus –"

"Come on, Shawn. What really happened?"

"I told you …"