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May 10th
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After nearly a month of silence, Root showed up.

She already knew. She said (somewhat dismissively in Finch's opinion) that the machine was doing everything possible to find John as well. Root was fairly certain that Samaritan was involved - but if it was Samaritan, then why weren't they all being hunted? Their carefully crafted, false identities were like dominoes - if one was discovered, the likelihood of all of them being discovered increased tenfold - a hundredfold. But they seemed to be undetected - so who had taken John? Who else could possibly be capable of not only taking him and keeping him this long?

Of course the fact that he might already be dead weighed heavily on all of them, but they held on to hope and did not speak of possibilities.

Elias was contacted and was genuinely dismayed to hear the news. He promised to watch for signs of John and to let them know if he heard anything. But he also couldn't help being pleased that his illegal activities had lost their most formidable foe.

Shaw began to encourage Finch to start looking for a replacement. He'd never find someone as talented and perfectly suited for their mission as John, but surely there was someone… She even offered to go through a list of her former associates… Finch shut her down every time. It was just too dangerous now, to involve anyone else. And Finch knew John himself would never condone it.

oO0Oo
June 1st
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Late one night, Shaw was attempting to get a Number safely out of a building that was full of enemies. Fusco was waiting at a back entrance, but there were five gunmen between her and freedom. Once again she found herself wishing that John was there. Not that she wasn't perfectly capable on her own, but… oh who was she kidding? She missed him.

Just then an increase in gunfire tore her mind back to the present. Someone else had come to join her side. Had Fusco taken the initiative to come in after her? But it was Root.

"Wow. I just never know where you're going to show up." Shaw groused as she grabbed the number's arm and dragged him towards Fusco.

"Hi sweetie." Root flirted. "Did you miss me?"

Shaw sighed. "You're not here just to help this guy." She shook the man's arm and propelled him towards the back door. "So why are you here?"

Root's smile fell. "It's about John. She finally told me something."

Shaw watched as the guy opened the door. Fusco was there and took him into custody, and throwing a nod in their direction, disappeared.

"I'm afraid it's not good."

"Of course not. If it was good news, you'd be telling Harold instead of me."

"She was able to confirm that Samaritan has him."

"Big surprise…" Shaw dead-panned.

Root looked away as she concluded, "They're trying to brainwash him."

Shaw snorted. "Yeah - like that'll work. Do you have any idea the kind of training he's had in resisting that? Not to mention his own natural stubbornness…"

Root sighed sadly. "And have you thought about what resisting will do to him?"

Shaw just looked at her. Of course she had. She also knew that John would prefer death to joining Samaritan. "Let me guess. You want me to tell Harold."

"If you would, please. I have to be at work in less than an hour. I'm a bicycle messenger this week. It's really thrilling."

Shaw nodded sullenly and watched Root turn to leave.

But she paused and looked back. "I am sorry, Sameen. If there was anything we could do…"

"Yeah." Shaw replied. "Whatever."

How was she going to tell Harold that they had proof John was alive, and then crush him by explaining what was happening?

Good thing she didn't have any feelings.

oO0Oo
June 4th
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"Finch - I got nowhere else to go." Shaw whispered breathlessly.

"Miss Shaw, if you take that route you will be outside the Shadows. Samaritan will be able to see you."

"You want me to get this guy to safety or not? It's the only way. I'll only be off the map for a hundred yards. We just have to hope Samaritan is looking the other way."

"Miss Shaw, if saving this man puts you in Samaritan's sights, I would prefer… I would prefer that you leave him where he is and return to safety."

"Finch - that's not what I'm here for." She responded angrily.

But Finch pleaded with her. "If I lose you too…" He couldn't finish. And Shaw did not respond. Finch only heard the usual rustling noises, as Miss Shaw did what she'd set her mind to.

When he heard a frighteningly familiar 'phut!' noise he sat up straighter. "Miss Shaw?!" He'd unfortunately come to recognize the sound of a bullet hitting an inanimate object. And he was certain someone had just fired at Sameen and her charge, their latest Number. "Miss Shaw!"

And he sat through the agonizing silence until, "Yeah, Finch. We're good." She whispered breathlessly. "Someone took a shot at us, but they missed. Jimmy here is as good as out of the country. I'll check in soon." And with that she was gone.

oO0Oo
June 5th
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"Yo, Glasses." Fusco called early in the morning. "You know anything about a homicide on 61st? Kinda looks like your kinda thing."

"I'm not sure what you mean, Detective." Shaw's close call the night before had been on that street, but Finch knew of no deaths that were related to Jimmy Davis's flight from the city.

"Guy here… If I didn't know better I'd say it was a pro taken out by another pro. You don't know anything about that?"

Finch frowned. "I do not, but if you would care to send me what you have I will look into it." A strange feeling had begun to crawl up the back of Finch's neck. But he would have to see what Detective Fusco had before he could come to any conclusions.

Later that night, he asked Miss Shaw to join him in looking over the file. They both came to the same - unlikely - conclusion: The dead man had been found in a position that led them to believe he was the sniper who had taken a shot at Shaw and Jimmy - probably one of Samaritan's agents, as Jimmy's enemies didn't have that kind of firepower or talent.

But who had killed the sniper? The crime scene was absolutely clean - no weapons, no prints - no clues of any kind - which only served to reinforce the idea that someone very good at their job had killed this guy.

Finch spoke without meeting her eyes. "It certainly looks as if someone was protecting you."

"Finch…" She sighed. She'd love to believe that it was somehow John, too - but that was just crazy. "If it was him - why didn't he give us some kind of signal? Something… to let us know he's alive?"

At that he did look up at her. The hope in his eyes was almost enough to break her heart. "I have lost far too much to give up on John." He looked away and finished in a whisper. "Not without some kind of proof…"

oO0Oo
TBC...
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