Elizabeth sat on the wooden bench across the pier, the one she spent countless weekends sitting with her father Sam when she was younger, eating ice cream and gazing at the ships coming and going, while he would tell all sorts of stories from when he was in the Navy.
She liked to come here every now and then to clear her head. There was something calming about the place, the soothing sound of the waves that allowed her to forget about everything and relax.
She wasn't relaxing much now, though. Because she was aware she was being followed.
The nerve of him. How dare he push her away and then not respect her wish to be left alone for some time. He had no right to push her away and then want her back whenever he found it most convenient to him.
And above it all, to send him. Ezra. She was trying to figure a way to lose him off her tracks.
Thinking about it, he might not even be working for Red. He might be here for some personal vendetta. She did get him arrested.
She used all kinds of advanced tactics to mislead him, but the guy was a pro. He made a living of stalking people, of course.
She got up resigned and started walking. Next block, there was the parking lot she had left her car in. She did her best not to look like she knew she was being followed. She could only hope Ezra believed she was going to get her car.
She turned left, out of the sniper's view, entering the parking lot. But instead of stopping she continued walking.
Desperate times require desperate measures. She tried to make her best coquette smile and headed towards a old Chevrolet parked with two young men inside.
"Hello, gentlemen. Would you give me a ride?"
Dembe glanced at the rear view mirror and saw Reddington light up the third cigar in a row.
"You're going to get yourself killed, my friend." He hit the power window switch to lower them all the way. "A slow and painful death. Also, don't smoke inside the car. It's bad manners."
Red made a face and looked out the window at the winter scenery. He shivered. No heater on if the windows are lowered. He has to choose, or he freezes to death, or he stops smoking and the angsty thoughts about Lizzie return. Talking about slow death, he thought he preferred the smoking.
Dembe shook his head lightly. This excessive smoking, and also drinking, was a bad habit of his when he was frustrated about something. He had noticed how the smoking had diminished, almost stopped, while Red and Liz were together. She hated when people smoked, so Red refrained to do it in front of her.
The road started getting more sloppy and the car's tires traction was losing the battle against the frozen ground. Dembe pulled the car to a stop.
"The road will get more difficult onwards. I'll have to put the chains on the tires."
"Hmmhm." Red replied half-heartedly, breathing the smoke out.
The next sequence of events happened too quickly. As soon as Dembe got out from the car, he realized something was off and had a split second to duck behind the open driver's door to avoid the bullet.
A rampage of shots followed and Dembe was hit on his unprotected leg while he made for the back of the car for cover. The slippery road plus his wounded leg made he lose his footing and fall to the ground.
"Dembe!"
Red called, laying down on the car's floor to avoid the incoming of bullets.
He had his gun in hand, but there was no way he could get out of the car without being shot.
The hitchhike wasn't as bad as she thought it would be, the gun pointed at the driver's back avoided whatever ideas he and his friend could have entertained of not leaving her at the place she requested.
Her phone ringed, she was half expecting it to be from the Post Office. She had taken leave from work, since Red found fitting they go "on a break" as a celabration of completing half of the Blacklist. But he could have given Copper a new name, just to make her obligated to go back. In regards of the old times.
She was surprised. The caller's ID was Nick's Pizza.
Now, that was unusual. Completely out of character. Hiring a sniper to follow her around, sure. Forcing her to see him through her work, typical. But a direct call, after she told him not to?
She toyed with the idea of rejecting it. He surely deserved it. Although it would make her look childish. Yes, she might as well just pick it up and act like nothing happened. Be all " Yes? Can I help you, Reddington?" with that maddening detachment he always managed.
She decided to answer it. Once again, she was surprised. It was Dembe, not Red the one on the other line.
"Miss Keen. Where are you? I need-"
"Look Dembe, I'm not coming back. I made a decision. Tell him-"
"You don't understand. He is gone. We were ambushed and they took him. I'm wounded. I couldn't- You must find him."
Thank you so much for all the reviews, favs and follows. I must say, writing is Hard for me. Writing in english is even harder. I'm not na arts/literature person. I'm a science person. A geeky lab rat. But i'm having fun writing this. It's not perfect, far from it. There are really gifted people writing fanfiction for this fandom. But I guess having fun is what matters!
Also, this is turning into... not quite what I had planned originally. Sorry for those Who wanted to see Naomi back. But Jennifer will be in the next chapter, so look forward to it!