This is my first fan fiction story ever. I haven't really written anything since I was in junior high and since I'm only a year younger than James Spader you can do the math to figure out how long that has been. I find the character of Raymond 'Red' Reddington to be fascinating and I only hope I'm able to do him justice.

Despite the title this really has very little to do with Tom Keen aka Tom Bond.

I don't own any of the characters from the Blacklist. I'm only playing with them and I promised to return them only a little worse for the wear.

Chapter 1

Red found himself looking up at the warehouse roof in shock. He remembered entering the warehouse and moving towards the only light showing. Then a feeling like a punch in the chest and here he was laying on his back with a growing pain in his chest. He slowly tried to sit up but found that he couldn't move. He heard steps slowly approaching him from the dark.

"You're slipping in your old age Reddington. You should have made sure that O'Brien was really here before walking in here alone." the voice's owner came forward until he and Red could see each other clearly.

"Tom Keen. You know that Lizzie is aware that you married her because your boss made it a part of your job. She's never going to let you get close to her again. She also knows you killed Jolene. What she doesn't know that you also killed an old asset of mine that I sent to bring Jolene to me. " said Red.

"Well, you don't need to worry about telling her about my killing that old cowboy. I'll make sure to tell her before I kill her too. I'm not going to drag this out Reddington. I'll figure out what to tell Berlin about how your death came about. And, here's a thought in your last minute of life, Lizzie's going to be glad to you are out of her life and I'll figure out a way to explain all the evidence she found that I'm not her loving husband. Then I'll be right back in her house and in her bed." Tom smirked pointing the gun at Red's head.

A shot rang out in the quiet of the warehouse. Red couldn't hide the flinch when he heard the shot followed by a ringing echo. After a few seconds he opened his eyes in time to see blood covering Tom's torso as he slowly slid to the floor. He looked in the direction of the door trying to see who fired on Tom. He saw Dembe coming through the door behind Lizzie. He watched her as she hurried to kick the gun away from Tom's hand and briefly checked for a pulse before rushing to his side.

"Red!", Liz said as she ran to his side as knelt next to him on the floor. She grabbed her phone and frantically started calling for an ambulance.

"No, no ambulance," said Red as he tried to grab the phone from her hand.

She easily evaded him and continued trying to contact 911. Dembe walked up to her from behind and pulled the phone from her hand. He quickly knelt next to Red and started to assess how badly Red was hurt. Dembe stripped his shirt off and pressed it hard against the wound on Red's chest. Red let out a gasp in response and gritted his teeth to prevent any other sounds from escaping.

"Call Mr. Kaplan. She can deal with this, she has all equipment she needs already set up in another safe house." Red told her through his gritted teeth.

"Red, I can't do that I'm an FBI agent. I have to get you to a hospital and get this all reported per FBI regulations." Liz responded. "Someone is going to report the gun shots shortly. The police can't come in here and find a dead body and a pool of blood with no explanations."

"As soon as the police run my name or finger prints and I'll be under arrest before I even get treatment. Then when the FBI steps in my deal is going to become common knowledge and I'll be useless to the FBI. Which means I'll be put into a deep dark hole never to be seen again. Dembe is going to take me out of here with or without your approval. You can stay here and explain away the dead body and since he's your husband you know who the prime suspect is going to be, second pool of blood or not. You've got until I pass out to make your decision. That should be in about a minute or so." Red said, his voice barely audible at the end.

Lizzie grimaced as she looked at Red trying to make the right decision.

"Alright, alright . . . I'll call Cooper and let him know we are getting you treated somewhere the police won't find you." Liz conceded. "Can I please have me phone back?" she said to Dembe.

"I will give it back to you as soon as we are on our way to the safe house and Mr. Kaplan has been called to meet us there." said Dembe.

Liz did a double take, shocked to hear Dembe say more than a couple of words at a time.

"Keep pressure on the wound while I carry him to the car." Dembe said to Liz.

Liz put her hands over Dembe's on the shirt that was quickly becoming soaked with Red's blood. She looked at Red's face and found the he was right when he said he'd be passed out in about a minute. His face looked peaceful even though his breaths were shallow gasps.

Dembe picked Red up gently and they shuffled to the waiting car. Once they reached the car Liz quickly opened the closest back door. She slid across the seat and used her lap to pillow Red's head after Dembe slid him onto the backseat after her. She reached over his head to keep up the pressure on his chest.

Dembe slammed the back door shut and was behind the steering wheel with the engine started within moments. As he pulled on the street he dialed Mr. Kaplan's direct line. The phone on the other end of the line was picked up on the second ring.

"This is Kaplan" said the voice on phone.

"Red has been shot, we are on our way to the St. Charles street safe house. How quickly can you be there? He's losing a lot of blood." Dembe told her in a tense voice.

"I can be there in ten minutes. How far out are you?" Kaplan calmly asked.

"'We are about seven minutes away. We will get him inside and onto the examination table to await your arrival." Dembe then hung up. He turned to Liz and said "Here is your phone Agent Keen."

Liz took the phone from his outstretched hand and started dialing one handed. After the first ring she heard her boss's voice give a quick answer of "Cooper" and after a slight pause, "What do you need Agent Keen?".

"Reddington has been shot and we are on the way to one of his safe houses for treatment. We have to make sure all calls of shots fired at the warehouse where the meeting was schedule to take place to be cancelled. I'm not sure how you'll handle that, but I'm sure Aram can figure out a way to do it. Inside the warehouse you'll find the dead body of Tom Keen, my husband. He's the one that shot Red and I shot and killed Tom in return." Lizzie said all this in what seemed to be a single breath.

"We'll deal with the situation at the warehouse. I'll need a full report as soon as Reddington is treated. How badly wounded is he?" Cooper's voice actually sounded concerned.

"It's bad. He was shot in the right side of his chest. He's lost a lot of blood and is unconscious. I'll call you as soon as I have an update on his condition." Liz stated before quickly hanging up the phone.

"How much longer Dembe", Lizzie called to the driver.

"We are only about a block away" Dembe responded.

Lizzie realized she'd been so concentrated on Red and her call with Cooper that she hadn't paid any attention to how fast Dembe was driving. Dembe made a sharp right into the driveway next to a modest single family home. He quickly shut the engine off and ran around to the rear passenger side door. As he reached into the backseat to grab Red's legs Liz heard the sound of a screen door slamming shut and there was a man with long grey hair next to Dembe. He took Red's legs from Dembe and Dembe reached up to place his hand over Lizzie's on Red's chest.

"Agent Keen, please get out and come around to this side of the car. I'll need you to keep pressure on the wound while Anderson and I carry him into the house."

Lizzie gently lifted Red's head off he lap and slipped out the door next to her. She ran around the rear of the car and when they moved Red far enough out of the car she quickly replaced her hand on the blood soaked shirt. She was grateful that Red was unconscious and didn't feel them pressing down on his wound.

Anderson and Dembe made quick work of getting him into the house and on to the examination table. Dembe grabbed a pair of scissors from the counter top and began to cut off Red's suit jacket and vest. With Anderson's help he pulled them out from under Red and tossed them in the corner.

"I'm going to cut the shirt and when I tell you I want you to stop pressing on the wound long enough to get if off completely." Dembe informed Lizzie. She nodded her understanding.

"Did Mr. Kaplan give you any instructions on what she needed to have setup for when she gets here?" Dembe questioned Anderson while he worked cutting off the blood and sweat soaked white dress shirt.

"She told me she wanted the surgical setup from the third cabinet. She also wanted two pots of water put on to boil. I've gotten the water and I'm getting surgical instruments setup. She also wanted two pints of blood taken out of the freezer and placed in the sink to start thawing out. We only have two pints of A negative in the refrigerator. I think she's going to pick more up on her way here. She's afraid it's going to take more than two pints to get through the surgery." replied Anderson.

Just as he stopped speaking the back door flew open and everyone jumped and turned towards the door. In walked in the sharp featured Mr. Kaplan with her ever present large hand bag. "How is he doing? Has he regained consciousness since we spoke?" she asked to the room.

"His bleeding has slowed, but I don't know if that is due us keeping pressure on the wound or because he's lost so much blood. He hasn't regained consciousness, His breathing seems fine if a bit fast" Lizzie answered unable to keep the fear from her voice.

Mr, Kaplan was quickly unpacking various items from her bag. As Anderson said there was three bags of blood placed within reach of the surgical table. "I need to wash my hands and get the anesthesia ready. Just finish getting his shirt off and keep the pressure on the wound. I'll be ready to start within the next few minutes."

Dembe and Lizzie nodded their understanding of the instructions. Dembe finished the last cuts left on the shirt.

"Agent Keen on the count of three pull your hands off the wound. Anderson come help lift him up so I can get the shirt off." instructed Dembe and he started to count. At the count of two Anderson slipped his hands under Red's shoulders. At the count of three Lizzie pulled her hands away and Anderson lifted Red's upper body as gently as he could. Dembe quickly yanked the shirt away and tossed it in the corner with the rest of Red's clothing. Anderson laid Red back down as Kaplan reentered the room.

Kaplan quickly grabbed the IV kit and prepared to start the IV. She swabbed the inside of Red's left elbow and ripped open the packaging containing the IV needle and plastic tubing. She tied the tourniquet wound his left bicep and slid the needle into the vein that had popped to the surface. She tapped the needle down and slipped the needle at the other end of the tubing into one of the bags of blood. When the blood had filled the tube she slid the other end of the tubing to the needle in Red's arm. She turned and hung the bag on the IV stand at the side of the bed.

"Alright, if anyone is squeamish at the sight of blood they need to leave the room now. I can't deal with anyone retching while I'm trying to remove the bullet." Kaplan announced to everyone standing in the room. When no one made a move for the door she nodded her approval and turned back to Red.