Chapter 2.

'Excuse me Miss Day?' Leigh-Anne Bugler asks. Leigh-Anne is a flight attendant and she was tasked to ask Shaw to stop threatening everyone on the flight.

'Miss Day. Please.' Shaw removes her headphones and looks straight at Leigh-Anne.

'What?'

'Well please don't take this the wrong way, but you keep threatening everyone who either walks past you or who looks your way. One of the people you threatened was the co-pilot.' Leigh-Anne stopped to see if that got through.

'I am sorry. I have had a bad week and now I have to travel to LA all because of a silly computer.' Shaw smiled, then put her headphones back in.

Harold, Tony and Grace were walking through Central Park when a phone started to ring. Without hesitation Harold picked it up and memorised what he was being told. Because of Samaritan finding out how the numbers were created it was hard to use books. Samaritan had got its people to be in the vicinity of all New York libraries and book shops.

The numbers this time are simply spelled out. The Machine now uses the phonetic alphabet. The number given was 586-10-257.

The trio made their way to a spot where they could find out who they were looking for. Harold opens up his laptop and starts to tap away. He looks up and then says.

'Corporal Austin Garcia. Thirty-three year. Has been in the US army since he was twenty…'

'What? And he is only a Corporal?' Tony says in disgust.

'He was born in Guam his dad was a Colonel and he had an affair with a local girl. Wait! Austin has had a few reprimands, for bullying and insubordination. I wonder if his father helped out, ensuring his son remains in the army.'

'Where do we find this Austin Garcia?' Grace asks. Tony was staring at his phone and seems to be typing as fast as Harold and then pipes up.

'Found him. He checked into The Herschel Bagel restaurant in Brooklyn. But that was an hour ago.'

'Impressive Mr Marconi.'

'Hey! Careful. I am a dead man remember. Stick to Mr John.' Harold looks at him and after a few seconds stands up, walks away and turns.

'Well come on Mr John. We don't have all day. Oh! and please contact Fusco. He may be able to put a bolo on Austin Garcia. Tell him he may have witnessed a crime and has been caught on CCTV.'

'Did you hear that?' Tony says down the phone. Tony hangs up and then looks at Grace and says.

'Was he always this serious?' Grace shrugged her shoulders and then Harold stopped walking.

'Mr John. I am a very serious man. Like you I had, have a job to do. I understand this is all new to you, so yes, I am always serious. The amount of times our paths crossed, and not once did I want to see you hurt or hurt us. The respect we seem to have had between us. I, John, Carl Elias and yourself, was founded and kept, despite on a few occasions we were at loggerheads, we always seemed to sort everything out. Now we will have no cause to step on each-other's toes. You work for the Machine now so when we receive a number, serious face on.' Tony nodded in agreement, but he and Grace shared a smile.

Shaw is walking out of the airport with her suitcase as she does so, she sees a rather tall, muscular man holding a piece of card with Farah Day written on it. She puts in her earpiece to only be told by the Machine, still in the voice of Root.

'His name is Yevgeny.'

'You Yevgeny?' Shaw asks.

'May be. You Miss Day?' Shaw nods and they both walk towards a black limousine. The window winds down when they reach the door and a head appears.

'Hi, I am James Wheeler. Please get in. We have work to do Miss Day.' Shaw gets in whilst Yevgeny gets into the front passenger side.

'Okay, let's go. So, you have met Yevgeny. He is a former agent of Samaritan, but when he was asked to kill his brother, he became a member of the LA machine crew. Anyway, the driver is Garry McKenzie.'

Wheeler then offers a beer to Shaw and she smiles, grabs the beer, but before a bottle opener is offered, Shaw had the lid removed and she had drunk half the bottle.

'I am not sure if Harold told you how I knew him?'

'Yeah a little.' Shaw came across as disinterested.

They eventually arrived at a huge warehouse, Garry and Yevgeny got out of the car first, both the passenger doors opened and as Shaw got out of the car, she stood stock still.

'No way? What the hell? How?' Shaw says.

'Hi Shaw.' Hersh replies.

'Okay, So, how come all these people I know who I thought were dead and, in your case, Hersh, still were, and then coming back to actually be alive? Root? Is John still alive?' Shaw awaits an answer then the machine replies.

'No! John Reese is dead. I could not save him. I ran over Four thousand trillion simulations, and not once did he survive.' Shaw smiled at hearing the voice of root.

'So, come on then. How did you survive?' Shaw asks punching Hersh in the face.

'Strange really. When Reese left me and ran there was a beeping sound. I found an ear piece and was told to stand by door. As the bomb went off the flooring collapsed at that precise position and though I got burnt on my stomach and face I survived. I was then told to make my way to LA and find a James Wheeler.'

'I don't believe you.' Shaw says. Wheeler claps his hands and gathers everyone in the Warehouse. They all follow and once inside another team member is visible.

'Shaw, this is Don Balaam. A computer analyst who was once being chased by the Bulgarian mafia who wanted his skills to hack a website on the dark web. Hersh saved his like and the machine helped me convince him to remain with us.' Once again Shaw didn't seem interested but nodded an acknowledgment.

'They found remains.' Shaw says testing Hersh.

'Look, they may have done. But they are not mine.' Hersh responds.

'Miss Shaw, I need to know your alias. We put it in this hard drive and we are then able to use your correct alias and the right time.' Wheeler confirms.

'Farah Day.' Shaw responds, still staring at Hersh.

'Excellent. Well I don't have an alias because I am an ADA and so I am a too high profile for Samaritan. Hersh, please confirm your alias again.' Wheeler says.

'Mason Cooper. Do you want the back story again?' Shaw starts to snigger and then laughs at the alias of Mason Cooper.

'What are you? A builder?' she snorts.

'No! A martial arts trainer.' Hersh responds confidently.

'Did you know he tried to kill me?' Shaw says to Wheeler. Out of nowhere Yevgeny pipes up and says.

'Don't blame him.' Shaw walks up to him but is stopped by the machine.

'Stop this. Three miles east of this warehouse thirty Samaritan operatives are scouring the local neighbourhood for a Sri Lankan man who stole a laptop from one of the operatives. I know where he is, and we need to save him.' The machine says. This gets the group in to action and Wheeler then holds back another surprise as he the reveals a under a tarpaulin a vehicle that Shaw reacts too.

'Is that what I think it is?'

'Possibly.' Wheeler responds.

'Wanna drive it?' Wheeler continues.

'Most definitely. I haven't driven a Cadillac for a long time.' Wheeler throws Shaw the keys.

'Hersh, with me and Shaw and Yevgeny and Garry I the cruiser. Go the opposite way we do okay, but we rendez-vous at the Brighouse Panini parlour in Burbank.' Wheeler instructs.

Harold and Tony are walking through the car park of a police station. They reach a back door of some kind and the door swings open violently and the two are met by Fusco.

'Glasses. How have you been?' he asks.

'Detective Fusco. I am fine thank you. Did you get hold of our mutual friend?'

'Yes, he is at my desk. Come in. You?' Fusco says looking at Tony.

'People may recognise you. Deny your roots okay?' Fusco continues.

'Hey, my name is Rees. No roots mentioned.' Tony replies. The three men get to Fusco's desk where Austin Garcia is sitting.

'Hello Mr Garcia. My name is Harold Swann and I am with the FBI.' Both he and Tony show there FBI cards. Fusco looks shocked but knows not to say anything.

'We need to have a word with you, so would like you to come with us?' Harold continues. Austin looks on in shock, but Harold reassures him it is nothing but good news.

'Okay, but what have I done.?' Austin asks. His accent is a mix between American and strangely Australian.

'We cannot say here, but it will require you to leave the army?' Tony says confidently. Austin not knowing the information is being fed live by the machine.

The foursome go to leave the station, but as the door to the car park is opened six Samaritan operatives are standing there.

'Thank you for a job well done.' Came a voice across the car park. The accent was British, and this made Harold roll his eyes.

'What do you want with Mr Garcia?' Harold replies.

'Well, he has been a very naughty boy.' Came a vague answer.

'Now remove your earpieces and step on them.' The voice continued. Harold and Tony do this.

'And you Detective.' Fusco responds immediately.

'Are you kidding. I am a Detective not the FBI.' Fusco hoping his ignorance pays off.

'I won't ask again. At your head there is a double-barrelled shotgun. Please remove your earpiece.' The voice shouting louder and started to gather an audience.

'Listen pal, I don't have a frigging ear piece.' Fusco replies showing that neither ear has anything.

'Just making sure. Anyway, on with the pleasantries. My name is Kieran and as I am sure you are aware, I work for Samaritan. With the guns pointing at your heads are Frederick, Job and Natasha. You see Samaritan is equal opportunity. The other operative who is not holding a weapon is Mr Garfield. He is Mr Greer's replacement.'

'What do you want with Mr Garcia? Answer the question.' Harold says.

'Nothing. He is the booby trap. Samaritan planted him in your system and now we have you. Step forward slowly. That includes you detective.'

'That is not possible.' Harold responds.

'Why not?' Mr Garfield asks eventually speaking. Harold shows frustration as Mr Garfield is also British.

'For gods sake. I have spoken to many British people and they always ask why do American film and tv producers make the British to come across as the bad guy. You are the living Hollywood cliché.' Harold says.

'Speaking of Hollywood. We were able to get this information on your system because we allowed you to think you were winning the war, but instead Samaritan had planned on a mole. The mole is currently in LA and they are doing sublime work over there. We have Miss Shaw back in our sights.' Mr Garfield says. Austin, Harold, Tony and Fusco are bundled in to separate cars which then drive away. Mr Garfield is standing in the middle of the car park when he is approached by a figure in the shadows.

'It is done. The plan has been implemented and soon we will retake overall control.' Mr Garfield states. There is no response from the figure. Instead it just disappears.