Chapter 8.

Harold stares at the man in front of him. 'You? But how?' Harold asks. Hayden Price responds accordingly.

'After I was conned, I decided to lie low. I went to Miami, fell in love again and then one day about three weeks ago my cell rang. This pretty lady on the other end told me to come back to New York.'

'Did she leave a name?' Casey asked, not knowing who he was standing in front of.

'No. But I would recognise it again.' Price says. Harold opens up his jacket pocket and passes an earpiece to him.

'Please talk to him.' Harold asks tapping his ear.

'Hello Hayden Price. I am glad you…'

'Yes! That's her. Where is she?' he asks. Harold looks down and not wanting to really answer.

'That voice is from a talented lady called Root. Unfortunately, she is dead. But the Machine decided to use her voice. I am not one-hundred percent sure why, but I theorise that she uses it to make us hear the voice of a fallen victim to the monster that is trying to destroy us now.' Harold says. Casey signals for them keep quiet.

'Think we've found the tunnel?' Says an Irish accented voice.

'Stay there, I'll get more troops.' Came a reply from an American.

'Use your earpiece.'

'Nah! I'll get them face to face. Rile them up, hopefully we catch a few salmon.'

Finch, Price and Casey decide to walk slowly and then after being a few metres away, decide to pick up the pace.

Garfield is standing yet again with the shadowy figure. The figure puts their gloved hand in their left pocket and hand something over.

'What's this? Another frigging envelope?' Garfield asks. Nothing from the figure except a shrug.

Garfield opens it up and reads what it says. As he finishes, he hears another explosion and then some screaming.

'Are you sure?' he asks. This time the figure nods in agreement.

'How do I contact you? If this goes down, I am going to need help.' This time the figure removed their hood and lowers their scarf.

'Listen to me you whiny little man I am at risk in doing this. You agreed to work for me. This is the first time I have shown myself to you. So, listen well. Do what it says.' Zoe Morgan replaces the scarf and her hood and disappears back into the shadows.

Garfield reads the note again Weapon A is ready. Gather them and fight. He folds the note up, places it in his pocket and walks back to see Fergus with blood over his face.

'What happened?' he asks.

'Another bomb, but it appears to have been hidden underground. We have lost five men and two more injured, severely.' Fergus responds.

'Okay. Ramp up the searches. Leave the outside and find the tunnels. They are all underground. That bomb was strategically placed.' Garfield says.

Fergus runs to his guys walking the perimeter. Garfield taps his watch and writes the message Today is the day. Victory. He then walks over to be between both buildings, places the earpiece back in his ear and then asks for instructions.

'Welcome back Garfield. You have shown the most loyalty and the biggest risk. Bring the group together.' The Machine says.

Finch, Casey and Price reach the entrance The Machine told them about. They open the door and attempt to have a sneak peek.

'Welcome, come in.' Says a bubbly Grace standing with Harper Rose. The men do so and see the majority of team.

'Please forgive me. I need to find the core.' Finch says. He walks around the room and can see Fusco, but no one else. He continues to look, he sees Hersh has sneaked back but Tony and Shaw were missing.

'Where are they?' Harold asks

'Underneath you. We are all here.' The Machine responds.

Logan and Joey run over to Harold and with bated breath and said.

'We have had news that more operatives are on their way.' Logan looks pleased and Joey a bit frustrated. Joey then asks Harold.

'How many teams are there?' Harold looks at him and responds.

'Most major cities in North America, London and elsewhere. Too many to count. Root herself made that decision. Any word on the teams that have gone to destroy the hard drives?'

'Tomorrow we should have a full update. We have ensured that Samaritan cannot gain access to any air traffic control desk in the world. Was hard, cost me a bit of money, but done.' Logan says.

'So, who is this new team?' Joey asks.

'I have no idea.' Finch says. Jason and Casey look at Harold and then Daizo says.

'Did you put insiders in Samaritan?' Daizo looks for an immediate answer, but none was forthcoming.

'I asked you a question Mr Finch.' Daizo says. Once again nothing was forthcoming from Harold.

'Easy Daizo. Harold is the leader of all this.' Casey interjects.

'I know, I respect him so much. But I have been listening to conversations outside and there was talk about allegiances. Fergus, Hooper and a Jackson-Hyde were speaking. Now earlier after an explosion, Garfield called out to Hooper, but there was no response. But he was then heard talking. I lost contact as there was interference, so I shut down just in case Samaritan had cracked my code.' Daizo says.

Shaw, tony and Jake then receive a message from the Machine.

'Make you way up, there you will meet admin.' Shaw was surprised. The only people she knew as admin were herself, Root, Harold and Reese. She knew Harold was busy, she couldn't meet herself and the other two were dead.

They reached the ladder and started to make their way up. They started to hear crackling in their earpieces. They were starting to get access to all the conversations going on, but only silence with the odd word being said.

Miss Morgan was standing by a grated access to the tunnel that Shaw, Tony and Jake were making their way up to.

'Hurry up Shaw.' Zoe said down the grate. Shaw stopped, looked up and saw her friend Zoe Morgan. She hurriedly ran up the ladder, lifted the grate and made her way out of the tunnel.

'Are you admin now?' Shaw asked whilst hugging her.

'Are you showing me emotion?' Zoe quipped. This prompted Shaw to let go and act as if nothing had happened.

Jake was next out of the hole closely followed by Tony.

'Marconi?' Zoe says.

'You know him?' Shaw questions.

'Yes. When I was a fixer, I was given a few jobs by this man on behalf of Elias. Elias would make initial contact and then Tony, here, would tell me the job and I would give him the price. Never had any issues. Hey! I know I never understood your world the way you understood it, but your organisation took care of me and paid a few bills.' Zoe explained.

'I was devastated to hear of his death. This was the main reason I spoke to Harold to come on board. Been undercover for about four months and my contact was Root. I am sorry about her too Shaw. She told me you two were an item of sorts.' She continued.

'Why are you hear?' Tony asks in his usual calm manner.

'Root provided me with an alias and I was to contact a Mr Garfield. I decided to hide myself and I became a respected member of Samaritan. Apart from Root, you are the only three to know that I am undercover. Harold thinks I am in Washington overlooking Potus.'

'Make you way to the park across the road. A much-needed weapon is now available to us. Please leave now.' The Machine says to all members.

'Harold please. Is there any of us undercover? We need to know because I have just been notified Weapon A is on its way.' Casey begs.

'Fine.' Harold says begrudgingly.

'We have ten members undercover. I cannot give names as we may be heard by the wrong person. Both Machine and Samaritan are aware they have imposters but have allowed them to live as they need them. In a strange way these people have shown usefulness and loyalty. However, during this battle they will show them contempt and have then neutralised. I am aware of two Samaritan agents with us. One is currently with Shaw and the other is standing on his own by the fire extinguisher.' The operatives look over and see who they know as Dell from Mississippi.

'How do you know this?' Daizo asks

'When we recruited heavily, we noticed a few Samaritan turncoats had made themselves in to becoming a person of interest. They became an irrelevant number. Some were saved and left alone. The machine chose a couple to keep in contact as not to arouse suspicion.'

'Who's with Shaw then?' Casey says to Daizo.

'It's Jake. He acts all shy, but after a quick background check, we found out he is a very sadistic man. Was one of Greer trusted Operatives but couldn't quite get to become one of his trusted Lieutenants. Well not before Greer's death.'

'Does Shaw know?' Daizo asks.

'No, but someone does and at the right time he will be eliminated.' The small group smile and Harold walks off to speak to the group. As he does, another explosion and more screaming. Harold gives off a huge smile. The man they all know as Dell looked worried, but as a cheer went up with another group of operatives, he joined in.