season 3 episode 14

The Taking of Dispatch 9-1-1
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Lindsey's morning had been pretty boring. Her and Athena had just been driving around, patrolling the areas. It had been awhile since they had gotten a call but they weren't complaining. Lindsey was texting with Penelope while Athena was on the phone with May.

Lindsey heard Athena hang up the call. Looking up she saw that there had been an accident. "Looks like they've been sitting here for awhile. How come no one responded to the scene?" Lindsey asked. Athena shrugged, "Who knows."

They got out of the car and made their way over to the scene. A man and a woman seemed to be arguing back and forth. "Okay, folks. Settle down. Why don't you each go to your own car and let us sort this out." Athena told them. The man shook his head, "We were in the same car."

"That's my husband."

Lindsey looked over at Athena with wide eyes. "Okay, anybody call 9-1-1?" The lady looked at Lindsey confused, "Isn't that why you two are here?"

"727-Adam-30, they're requesting you at 19124 Sunset. Assault and battery in progress."

"Copy. Dispatch, at 9th and Los Angeles. Non injury car accident." Athena spoke into her radio.

"Yes. Units are already en route to that location. Please proceed to assault and battery in progress."

"Copy that."

Lindsey looked back over to the woman, "Ok, officers are on their way. Try not to kill each other before they get here."

When they pulled up to the scene there were already multiple officers there. Athena rolled down her window, "You mean to tell me it took four of you to subdue a two person brawl and then you called for us?"

"We didn't call you. Still trying to figure out who called us. Jackson already had the fight handled when we rolled up. Maybe dispatch had a late night last night?" Officer Williams said. "Maybe." Lindsey shrugged while Athena grabbed her walkie, "Dispatch, is there a reason you sent four officers to break up a fight? Six now including us."

"Sorry Sergeant, we're having some technical difficulties this morning. Apologies for the mix up."

"Hey, is that incident downtown taken care of?" She asked dispatch.

"Affirmative. Everything's clear there."

Lindsey knocked and when the door opened they were met with Chimney. "I think someone already did." They heard him say. Letting them into his apartment, he started to explain everything. The weird phone call with Maddie, 9-1-1 not answering, both Maddie and Josh's phones going to voicemail. "That's weird because Josh was the one that sent us here." Lindsey told Chim.

Athena called the Captain to let her know what was going on. Chimney, who was on the phone with Buck, looked over to Lindsey. "Is there anything you can do? You have FBI connections." The brunette sighed, "Look, I agree that there is some weird stuff going on but it may not even be that serious."

Athena walked over to them, "Captain needs to make some calls. As evidence goes, an "I love you" is less than convincing."

"But they sent you down to my apartment for an assault with a deadly onion. That feels more convincing."

Athena sighed, "Well, she's gonna talk to Operations, see if they can get eyes in the building. See if anything's wrong."

"No, no, no. We can't just send in SWAT. If there is someone inside the call center doing something, they'll know we're onto them."

"I'm with Buck on this one. If something's going on and we send in people, it could only make things worse." Lindsey agreed, looking over at Athena.

"Let's go for a drive."

The drive to the call center was silent. "You're quiet. Should I be worried?" Athena asked Chimney. "No, I mean, I'm still freaked out but least now I got some partners in this."

"We are not partners. You're here so we can keep an eye on you. Make sure you don't do anything foolish." Athena said and then a jeep sped past them. A jeep Lindsey knew all too well. "Like that."

"Is that who I think it is?" Athena asks as she pulled the car over. "Yep, I got this one." Lindsey laughed as she got out of the car.

"Okay, now don't be mad." Buck said as he watched Lindsey approach his window. "What was your plan? Walk in there and save the day? If something is really going on then you could have ended up getting yourself killed!" Lindsey stated as she placed her hands on her hips.

Buck sighed and with a shake of his head he said, "I know, I know."

"You made a promise to me Buck. A promise that i'm not going to lose you. You know, you're not supposed to break a promise." She continued to say. "I'm not gonna break my promise. I'm sorry for being reckless." He muttered.

"Good! Now let's go." She pulled open his door and he just stared at her. "We don't have all day Buck." Her boyfriend sighed as he got out of his car and walked over to the cruiser.

"Hey Buck." Chimney said as Buck sat next to him. "Hey Chim."

Athena turned to look at the men, "You two tell anyone else what's happening at the call center?" Both of them shook their heads, "Good, because we are running out of room in here."

Athena pulled the car into the alleyway next to the center. "Okay, we're here. Now what?" Chimney asked. "Well, if everything's normal, Lindsey and I will be able to walk in that front door and go inside. Take a look around and see if everyone forgot to charge their damn phones."

Buck looked over at Athena, "And if it's not normal?"
Lindsey unbuckled her seatbelt and said, "Guess we'll find out."

The two women made their way out of the car and into the building. "Morning." Athena said and the man smiled back, "Morning."

"We're here to follow up on a call. Mind if we go up?" Lindsey asked. "Uh yeah, sure." The man said and Lindsey noticed the hesitancy in his voice. They made their way over to the elevator when they heard the man mutter something. Turning around, Athena asked, "Did you say something?"

"Nah, just worlds gone crazy." He said holding up the newspaper. "Don't I know it?" Athena laughed.

Waiting for the elevator, their radios went off.

"727-Adam-30, we've got a report of a code 77 at Eagle Rock Lanes."

Turning away from the elevators, Athena looked over to Lindsey, "Guess we'll have to follow up later." They passed the man at the desk, "I hope your days quiet."

"Yeah, you too."

Getting back in the cruiser, Athena immediately called the Captain. "I'm sure Captain. They knew we were downstairs. Yeah they're using the CAD to monitor our locations. That was Sue Blevins on the radio giving us the code 77. Who's ever running this, they're doing it from inside the dispatch center."

Once Athena hung up the phone, Chimney immediately asked, "What's a code 77?"

Lindsey sighed, "Ambush. Proceed with caution."

Athena was removing the tracker. That way they would no longer be able to track where they were. Chimney and Buck were trying to come up with a plan. "There has to be a way to communicate with our people inside." Chimney said.

"Well if they're tracking our vehicles, they're most likely monitoring our calls too." Lindsey said and Athena pulled out the tracker. "Screen went blank." Buck informed them.

"Okay good. We're off the grid."

They met the Captain at an empty lot not far from the call center. "Construction crews are closing down streets between here and Dispatch. Getting ready for SWAT to move in." Maynard told them. "How are we doing with GPS?"

"Well, we've kept off the radios. Calling units individually. Everyone's been told how to disable their system before coming here." Athena informed the Captain.

Buck and Chimney made their way towards them, "Kay, so what's the plan? You know, what happens next?" Buck asked. "We're still trying to get eyes into a damn windowless room." Maynard told him. "That's it?"

Lindsey placed her hand on Bucks arm, "We were able to get eyes on the digital logs. They share a system with Valley division. According to the logs, five LAPD officers were scheduled for sit alongs."

"None of the names on the list checked out. They're not LAPD." Maynard added. "So five bad guys inside and no plan to get our guys out?" Chimney asked and Athena shook her head, "No we got a plan. We just don't like it."

"Scott, you've dealt with hostage situations before?" Captain Maynard asked and Lindsey nodded, "More than I can count."

"Good, because I'm gonna need you in there."

"Captain Maynard. Dave Morrisey, Valley Communications." A man walked over and shook the Captains hand. "Mr. Morrisey, thanks for coming." Athena, Maynard, and Dave walked off while Lindsey stayed behind with Chim and Buck.

"You're going in there?" Buck asked her. She could see the worry in his face. He was already stressed enough with Maddie being stuck in there but now Lindsey was going in too. Sighing, Lindsey grabbed Bucks hand. "I've dealt with many situations like this. I know what I'm doing. I'll be okay Buck, and so will Maddie and Josh and everyone else in that building."

Buck squeezed her hand, "Linds, that promise that I made, that goes for you too, okay? I can't lose you." Her eyes met his worried ones, "You won't. I promise."

"Scott." Maynard called.

Lindsey looked over at Chimney, "We'll get her out." She turned back to Buck and placed a soft kiss on his lips. "I love you."

"I love you more."

Lindsey had finished talking with SWAT. Making her way over she heard Chimney ask Maynard, "You're not gonna negotiate, see if they surrender first?"

"They don't want us to know they are there. Whatever their plan is, it doesn't involve any negotiations. They haven't asked or made any demands. There's something else they want." Lindsey told them. Maynard added, "If we reach out to them, we're gonna lose the one thing we got going for us: the element of surprise."

Lindsey nodded, "We do this right, we hit them fast. Take the building before they even know we're outside."

"And if you don't?" Chimney asked. Maynard sighed, "Why do you think we asked for so many RA units?"

"Green light. Green light." They heard Maynard say through the walkie. Waving her hand one of the SWAT members kicked open the door. Lindsey followed behind, gun in her hand. The lights had been killed as they made their way up the stairs.

A smoke bomb was thrown into the room. Lindsey could hear people yelling. SWAT members also began yelling, "Get down! Get down!"

Lindsey made her way around the room, using her flash light to look around. Her eyes fell on Maddie and she let out a sigh of relief. Hearing gun shots, she turned to see a man running past her. SWAT continued to shoot. Lindsey felt something hit her face as she watched the man go down to the ground.

"Lindsey?" She heard Maddie call and she turned back to her. "Are you okay?" Lindsey asked. She watched as Maddie didn't say anything, but her eyes held a sense of sadness and relief. Lindsey noticed a man laying next to Maddie and Josh. Looking at his face she recognized him. He was Josh's date from the graveyard. "Oh Josh..."

Once everything was secure, the lights came on and RA units started coming in. Lindsey helped Maddie up and led her and the other dispatchers out of the call center.

Leaving Maddie to reunite with Chimney, Lindsey made her way over to the Captain. "Good work Scott." Lindsey shook her head, "All honesty Captain, I didn't do anything. The dispatchers seemed to have already taken control by the time we got there. Made it a whole lot easier."

Lindsey scanned the crowd of people till she found Buck. He breathed a sigh of relief and immediately made his way over to her, pulling her into a tight hug.

"Maddie is safe, so is Josh." She pulled away slightly so than she could look at him. "Yeah I saw her with Chimney...Are you okay?" He asked as he looks at her cheek. Scrunching her eyebrows, "Huh?" She raises her hand to her cheek. Pulling way she sees the blood on her fingers, "Oh uh, it's not mine." A relieved look passes over Bucks face and then he smiles down at her, "Good, I don't need my girl injured."

Lindsey scrunched her nose at his words. "You're girl?" He gave her his signature smirk, "Yeah my girl. Now common, let's get that blood off you."

Maddie entered the living room, a beer in hand, as she said, "Turns out she was the real mastermind and Greg was just the hired hand." She was referring to Tiffany, the brian's of the operation. She was the one that set up the whole plan to take over the call center.

"Yeah, but Greg didn't know who had hired him. The team was all men Greg knew. They had worked together before. Had even done time together." Lindsey added from her spot next to Buck. They were all in Chimneys living room, discussing what happened. "If they knew each other, how did she get herself on the team?" Buck asked.

"Their last job, that they went to prison for, the driver had been killed. Which meant that they needed a new one." Chimney said to the group. "And she came highly recommended by herself. So Greg walked them all through the plan. It was precise, flawless, everyone was impressed."

"The only thing left was to get them inside the call center." Josh spoke up. "And that's why they targeted you." Buck said and Lindsey shook her head, "Not exactly."

"Tiffany already had an inside man. Jake, the security guard. He knew our protocols, could get them on the visitors list, he had access to the entire building. He was perfect." Josh told him.

"So what went wrong?" Buck asked. "Jake was a little too perfect." Lindsey said and it seemed to click in Bucks head, "Tiffany fell in love with Jake."

Josh nodded and Maddie added, "Well, her plan was to use Jake and let him take the fall but now she needed a new fall guy."

"Me."

Maddie continued, "They couldn't steal Josh's badge because it would be cancelled the second that it was reported stolen. So they borrowed it, duplicated it, and then returned it. Lindsey then recovered your keys and your wallet."

Lindsey nodded, "And then it was go time. But now instead of one plan, there were two."

"Greg and his guys took over dispatch, waited on the alarm call, diverted all police units away from downtown and then he sent his team into the museum."

Josh continued, "Once everyone was in position, Jake was free to sneak out. And rendezvous with Tiffany."

Buck leaned forward, taking another sip of his beer. "So they took the paintings and left the others holding the bag."

"They thought they got away. Turns out they weren't as smart as they thought. Jake didn't turn off his GPS. We caught them right before they got on the train." Leaning into Bucks side, she continued, "That driver that was killed, was Tiffany's father. And they had left him to die."

"Wow..." Buck said and they all nodded. Maddie stood up. "Yeah...anyone want another beer?"

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