Lee Goldberg - McGrave

There's one guy sitting on either side of him. Both are well muscled. One is a blonde, with a square jaw, blue eyes, and a chemical tan, who probably never misses the opportunity to look at his own reflection. The other guy has a nose that resembles a clump of mashed potatoes, which means he's been in a lot of fights and doesn't know how to protect his face.

McGrave hasn't had a look at the driver yet. But the fact that Pretty Boy and Mashed Nose haven't blindfolded him means they don't care about what he sees.

Which means they aren't worried about him coming after them later.

Which means there might not be a later for him.

It doesn't take long for them to arrive at their destination, maybe fifteen minutes.

The side door slides open and the driver stands there. He's also muscled but has a blockhead that looks as if it's attached directly to his square shoulders. But No Neck's most striking feature is the huge serrated knife in his hand.

No Neck raises the knife above McGrave and brings it down for the kill.

And cuts the duct tape that binds McGrave's ankles.

The three guys all have a hearty laugh at the flash of fear that passed over McGrave's face. Then Pretty Boy and Mashed Nose lift McGrave up and push him out onto his feet.

They are parked in an abandoned industrial building, a factory of some kind, along a narrow canal off the Spree River. It's a vast space cluttered with rusting machinery and crisscrossed above with pipes and beams. The walls are brick, with hundreds of windows, most of them broken.

McGrave is led through the machinery towards Richter, who stands a few yards away, a look of smug satisfaction on his face. He is holding a gun at his side.

"Thank you, McGrave, for sparing me the effort and expense of going all the way back to LA to kill you. But you could have picked a week when I wasn't so busy. Let's make this quick. I still have lots of work to do."

Richter aims the gun at McGrave's head and Pretty Boy rips the duct tape from McGrave's mouth.

"Any last words?" Richter asks.

"You're under arrest."

Richter shares an amused look with his men and says, "Re ist ein hirnloser kleiner Kampfhund. Geh einen Schritt zurck, ich will nicht da? sein Hirn auf dein T-Shirt spritzt.

The three men distance themselves from McGrave.

That's because Richer has just told them that McGrave is a mindless attack dog and that they should step back unless they want to get his brains on their shirts.

But McGrave remains surprisingly at ease for someone about to be executed.

"Keep your eyes open when you die, McGrave, and the next time I'm in LA, maybe I won't rape your daughter."

Richter is about to shoot when Maria Vogt yells from somewhere, "Halt! Polizei!"

The cry gives Richter a second of hesitation. McGrave uses that instant to head butt Mashed Nose in the face, breaking the thug's nose yet again, and dive for cover behind some machinery just as Richter shoots. The bullet ricochets off the machine and shatters one of the windows.

And that's when Maria, Stefan, Heinrich, and a tactical team of police officers in Kevlar spill into the warehouse, taking offensive positions behind whatever cover is available.

Pretty Boy, No Neck, and Mashed Nose take cover themselves and open fire on the cops.

Richter does the smart thing.

He runs away.

McGrave, lying helpless and angry on the ground, tries to cut his bindings on a sharp piece of metal sticking out of the old machinery.

Then he senses Pretty Boy standing over him.

McGrave rolls on his side and finds himself looking down the barrel of a gun again.

Maria is at the van now and can see what Pretty Boy intends to do.

She takes aim and fires. The bullet obliterates his right hand.

It's a hell of a shot.

Pretty Boy screams in agony and clutches the stump where his hand and gun used to be.

McGrave kicks Pretty Boy's feet out from under him, and when the guy falls, kicks him in the head to shut him up.

One down.

McGrave goes back to work trying to cut the duct tape around his wrists.

The ground around the factory building is surrounded by cops.

So Richter doesn't try to flee out.

Instead, he flees up.

He effortlessly and gracefully scales the pipes and girders to the ceiling and across to the bank of windows.

The guy knows parkour.

Maria takes aim at Richter but can't get a clear shot at him, so she gives chase, running right past McGrave, leaving him on the ground.

She reaches the same pipes that Richter used, holsters her weapon, and starts to climb, but for her it's far from easy.

Maria looks up.

Richter has traveled clear across the arched ceiling of the factory and is heading towards some open windows.

She climbs as quickly as she can.

####

McGrave finally frees himself, sees Richter and Maria climbing, and knows there's no way he can catch up to either one of them.

So he makes a run for the way out, making himself a target for Mashed Nose and No Neck.

Mashed Nose pops up from behind the cover of machinery to take a shot at McGrave, and Stefan shoots him.

The bullet hits Mashed Nose in the chest and puts him down forever.

No Neck sees Richter above them, making his escape, and Pretty Boy with a stump where his right hand used to be, and Mashed Nose bleeding out beside him, and wisely decides that maybe single-handedly taking on a squad of heavily armed police officers isn't going to end well for him.

He tosses his gun and raises his hands in surrender.

Richter runs along the rooftop of the factory and leaps onto an adjacent warehouse, and swings from pipe to rooftop to girder, making his way across the industrial area.

Spider-Man would be impressed.

McGrave tries to follow Richter by running alongside him on the ground, but it's futile. There are too many buildings, fences, and pipes in his way.

Richter drops onto one of a line of houseboats and floating cafйs moored along the river and leapfrogs from boat to boat until he reaches a bridge, climbs up over the side, and disappears.

McGrave stops at the base of the bridge, breathing hard and pissed off.

Richter is long gone.

####

McGrave heads back to the factory and is met halfway there by Maria.

"You moved in too soon," McGrave says, walking right past her.

She catches up, falling into step beside him. "I saved your life."

"I was doing just fine. But now, thanks to you, we've lost him."

"It wasn't until I was driving away from that shitty hotel of yours that it suddenly hit me. You wanted Richter to know you were here," Maria says. "You've been trying to attract his attention from the moment you got off the plane in that hideous shirt."

"What's wrong with my shirt?"

"The fight in the club, throwing Beimler in the river, it was all just a show."

"I don't know Berlin and I don't speak German. So obviously it's a lot easier to get him to come to me. But you've blown that."

"You dumb bastard," she says. "The only reason you're alive is because I figured out what you were doing and put you under surveillance."

"That was the plan all along."

"What plan? You never talked to me about any plan."

"It worked, didn't it? Except for the part where you let Richter get away."

"You should have told me what you were doing."

"I don't see why."

She steps in front of him, cutting him off. "Because while you're here, we're partners. And partners have to trust each other."

"Please don't call us partners," he says.

"Aren't we?"

"I hope not," he says. "My partners usually end up dead."

She cocks her head at an angle, studying him in a new light. "That may be the first real thing I've heard you say since you arrived."