Chasing Carter

Kara Stanton watched the front door of the 8th precinct the way a cat watches a gopher hole. The late, unlamented Mark Snow had led Kara straight to Detective Joss Carter last time she had been in New York. Thanks to the cowardly weasel, Kara knew that Carter was the only known associate of John Reese, and the only known avenue to find the elusive ex-op.

John Reese, her former partner and lover. The man had been in New York for several years acting as some sort of do-gooder vigilante. Snow hadn't known exactly what John's deal was, all he knew was that John somehow found people in trouble and saved them. Snow didn't know how John found those people or if he was working with anyone other than Carter, though he suspected there were at least a few other people. Reese's little crusade also appeared to be very well-funded, but the source of that funding was a mystery as well. Even with all the resources at the CIA's disposal, Mark had been unable to find Reese and eliminate him. Snow's dogged pursuit hadn't even put a dent in Reese's do-gooder activities, if the papers and their stories of "The Man in the Suit" could be believed.

Kara sneered as she thought about it; that sounded like the overgrown Boy Scout she used to know. He never embraced the Dark even as he became part of it. She snorted to herself as she thought of Reese trying to atone for his sins by playing Batman-in-a-suit. Kara knew there was no redemption for people like them, and frankly she didn't care. She wasn't interested even if there was.

As Kara sat in her car across the street from the 8th precinct, waiting for Detective Carter to end her shift, she spent her time mentally reviewing everything she knew about the woman Snow had told her was the only known friend and ally of John Reese. One of Lambert's men was an accomplished hacker who had obtained a copy of Carter's NYPD and Army personnel files for her, so she had a considerable amount of information at her disposal. Everything except Carter's address, for some reason she used a PO box in one of those UPS stores as her address. Kara sighed, given all the corruption in the NYPD, that was probably just Carter being careful.

Kara knew that Carter was married with two children, one of whom must only be a few months old since she had recently returned to work from maternity leave. The other ankle-biter was listed in her Army file so he had to be quite a bit older. She was listed as Wolf in her police file, but not her Army file meaning she had probably been turned rather than born into the pack. Kara didn't waste much time wondering just why Carter had allowed herself to be turned, Carter seemed to be the right type for turning. A lot of people turned voluntarily were cops and fireman seeking the Wolf's strength to better "serve and protect" like some fucking Lassie dog. Wolves were predators, not some damned collie with a savior complex.

Carter's evaluations were invariably noted that she was brave to the point of recklessness and very smart. She had been an interrogator in the Army, with an impressive record of being able to crack even the toughest cases. She was tenacious and fiercely loyal to her friends and colleagues. These where all qualities that Kara could appreciate and admire, but she wasn't about to ask the woman out for a Girl's Night. Carter had a lot of drawbacks to her as well.

Carter was often rigid and inflexible; insisting that procedures be followed to the letter and she had little tolerance for colleagues who stepped outside of the boundaries of the law. Kara snorted when she had read that last part; it appeared that Carter had a stick up her ass the size of a redwood tree. How she ever became entangled with the roguish Reese was beyond Kara's understanding.

However, Kara did notice that the comments on Carter's inflexibility had ceased in the past couple of years. It seemed Reese had corrupted yet another woman with those baby blues of his. While Reese was hardly a Lothario, during their years together he had used his good looks to seduce and extract information from numerous women while Kara listened to every gasp and moan on the other end of the bugs she and Reese had planted. Kara chortled to herself as she conjured up a picture in her mind of the staid and boring detective being seduced by the handsome assassin. Kara was even willing to bet that Reese had convinced the little goody-two-shoes he cared for her. The thought made her smile with glee. She amused herself by wondering if Carter liked it rough or stuck with the missionary position.

Kara sat up and prepared to pull out when she saw Detective Carter walk out the front door of the precinct with a pudgy, rumpled looking man Kara knew to be her partner, Detective Fusco. The two walked around the building to the parking lot at the side and paused for a minute by Carter's car to have a short conversation. Kara wasn't close enough to hear it, but it looked like they were saying good night. With a smile and a wave, Pudgy got in the car a few places down from Carter's as Jocelyn got into her own car, returning his smile with her own.

Kara started her vehicle just in time to follow Carter as she pulled into traffic. Kara followed a few cars behind.

Kara followed at a discreet distance for several blocks until Carter parked by a grocery store and went inside. Kara parked down the street where she could keep an eye on Carter's vehicle. Carter came out about thirty minutes later with a couple of bags and got back into the car. Kara grinned a Wolfish grin, Carter gave no indication she had spotted Kara.

Carter once again started her vehicle and pulled back into traffic. She drove leisurely towards downtown with Kara maintaining a two car distance behind her. Just as Kara was beginning to wonder where the heck they were going, the light in front of her suddenly turned red. The car in front of Kara slammed on its brakes as Carter sailed through the intersection just barely in time.

Shit! That was a short yellow! Kara thought as she had to slam on her brakes to avoid hitting the car in front of her. Kara continued to swear as she watched Carter proceed through the next light down the block, which was green, and then turned the corner so that she was out of sight when the light in front of Kara finally turned green and allowed her to move.

"Lucky bitch," Kara hissed in frustration. It had been a long time since anyone lost Kara that easily.


"Thanks Harold!" Jocelyn Carter sighed in relief. "I lost my tail."

"Happy to help," Harold Finch said. "Did you know who was following you?"

"Nope, I didn't get a good look at them," Carter said as she negotiated a turn. She sighed, "It could be anyone, The Russians, the FBI, the CIA, some other enemy of mine or John's. It's a long list."

"I have my chess game with Elias tomorrow; I'll ask him if he knows about any contracts out on you or John. I hesitate to ask, but are you sure they were following you?" Finch asked with some concern.

Carter nodded even though Finch could not see her. "She followed me to the grocery store and waited outside while I was shopping."

"That does sound definitive. Please be careful and don't hesitate to contact me if you require further assistance."

"Thanks again Harold. My tail is clear now so I'm going home. Good night."

"Good night, Detective." Harold Finch disconnected the call and closed the stoplight app on his phone. He put his phone back in his pocket and went back to watching Bear romp with a lovely Afghan hound from his seat on a bench in the dog park.


"Hungry?" Lambert asked as he deposited a bag full of takeout on the counter of the Decima safe house.

"Starving," Kara snapped with ill humor as she dug in the bag for a spring roll. New York may suck but it did have good food.

"Failure makes you hungry," Lambert commented with a smirk as Kara found the spring roll and eagerly started munching on it.

Kara stopped in mid bite to glower at her companion. "I told you she got lucky with the stop lights. She didn't see me."

"Just keep telling yourself that," Lambert sniffed. He did enjoy provoking the temperamental Kara.

"Keep it up and I'll show you how many ways I know to torture someone, Lambert," she snarled.

Lambert snorted. "Charming. Now I know why you had to put bomb vests on your former colleagues to get them to cooperate last time. I wonder how this man Reese managed to work with you for over four years without putting a bullet in your back when he had the chance."

Kara glared at him. "He was a good soldier and did what he was told, unlike some people I could name."

Lambert just grinned at her. "Oh I understand the concept of being a good soldier; you're not the only professional here, my dear. I just can't believe he passed up a chance to shoot you under orders."

"You know what else he was good at? Keeping his mouth shut." Kara stroked the knife in her hand while she eyed her antagonist in one of the coldest, calculating stares Lambert had ever seen.

Lambert decided that he had poked the beast enough for now. He would continue this later when they had Harold Finch and he could kill Kara without compromising the mission. He was looking forward to it.


After several more failed attempts to follow Carter, Kara grudgingly had to concede that the detective was a pro at spotting a tail. She guessed that Reese had been training his little pet; Carter was far too elusive for a mere cop. This only made Kara want to break through all Reese's layers of security and find him all the more. She was going to WIN this little game, dammit. It was personal now.

Kara had to call on Lambert and all of his available men before she finally found out where Carter lived. They tag teamed the surveillance with each car only following Carter a short distance before another car took over. Even then it proved difficult, Carter remained cagey and often made sudden and unexpected turns and varied her route. Kara grudgingly gave the elusive detective credit, John had taught her well, and she was smart. Even Lambert was starting to get angry at their lack of progress.

They finally got lucky one evening as Carter was on her way home and one of her sudden turns that was meant to shake anyone on her tail actually brought her right into the path of one of Lambert's men. Confident that she had lost anyone that might be following her, Carter had driven home, which turned out to be a former factory complex turned high-security luxury apartments.

Kara was so pleased that they had finally found Carter's home she gave the man a large cash bonus, even though she knew it was luck, not skill, which brought him there.

She dismissed the man and began looking the apartments over. On the outside they looked like the former industrial buildings they were. They were solid concrete with little ornamentation. They looked very stark and industrial.

Kara frowned as she parked across the street and looked at the buildings where the detective made her home. Something wasn't right here, these converted buildings were in a nice neighborhood, and converted buildings in nice neighborhoods usually meant expensive high-end apartments. Kara was a bit perplexed as to how Carter could afford to live there on a cop's salary, but then remembered that she was married. John's little pet must have caught herself a millionaire, Kara thought and made a mental note to find out who her husband was and what he did.


"You're not going to wear that?" Joss crossed her arms and lifted an eyebrow at her mate.

John, caught completely off guard, blinked back at her in surprise. He looked down at himself and then back at her, his eyes showing his confusion at her question. "Um, what's wrong with what I'm wearing?"

Joss sighed as her eyes traveled down his lean body. He was wearing a black button down shirt, black jeans and black motorcycle boots. "John, baby, you're going to a picnic in the park with your family. Aren't you a little old to be doing the emo hipster thing?"

John looked his mate over. She was wearing a light blue ribbed tank top that hugged her figure perfectly and made his mouth water if he looked at her too long. She was also wearing a long, flowing skirt in a paisley print in shades of yellow, blue and green, and sandals with straps decorated with colorful beadwork on her feet. Their daughter Cali Alexis was dressed in a pale pink sundress with a matching headband with a huge flower in her thick, wavy black hair. John was forced to concede he looked like a walking black hole next to his ladies.

With a mumbled "I'll be right back," he hurried off to the bedroom to change into something more appropriate. A few minutes later he emerged from the bedroom wearing sneakers instead of the boots and a blue polo shirt that made his eyes look so intensely blue that Joss made a mental note to jump his bones as soon as they got home from the park and put Cali down for a nap.

"Better?" he asked giving her his best mischievous grin as he held out his arms and turned slowly in a circle for inspection.

Joss's eyes went straight to his rear end which ,by the way, looked fabulous in those jeans. Yup, Joss thought. Definitely jumping him as soon as we get home. Joss handed over their daughter. "Much better," she said with an approving smile. "Let's go."


Kara sat in her car parked a short distance down the street from the complex where she now knew Carter lived, using a pair of high powered binoculars to watch the entrance. Kara had Lambert's pet hacker break into the timecard system of the NYPD and get Carter's schedule, so she knew today was Carter's day off. When She'd had Snow in a bomb vest, he had told her he suspected that Carter spent a lot of her off time working with Reese. Kara planned to spend the day following Carter, hoping she would met with Reese at some point.

Kara sat up as she saw Carter walking out of the complex pushing a baby stroller with a cooler in the seat and walking with a man carrying a baby around eight months old. Kara grunted in annoyance, it looked like Carter was planning on spending the day with her family rather than her vigilante do-gooder.

Then Kara's remaining eye opened wide as she realized the man with Carter was John Reese. He was wearing jeans, a polo shirt, sunglasses and a baseball cap pulled low over his forehead, but it was definitely him. Kara would recognize that long graceful stride anywhere.

Kara's eye nearly popped out of her head as Reese kissed the child on her round little cheek. The baby laughed and tried to remove his sunglasses while Carter giggled. Kara adjusted the focus of her binoculars - she zoomed in tight on Carter and raised her lips in the ugliest of snarls as she realized she could plainly see a mating scar at the junction of Carter's neck and shoulder. Previously, that scar had been hidden by Carter's work suits so Kara had never noticed it before. She couldn't see one on Reese thanks to the collar of his polo shirt, but there was no doubt in her mind that he had one too as she watched the happy couple stroll along the sidewalk.

The cop and the killer, the Light and the Dark, were in love and making babies. Kara had hoped that Carter would lead her to Reese, but she had not expected this. It was almost too good.

Kara followed at a discreet distance, observing the happy couple as they walked to the nearby park.

The couple walked out onto a wide grassy area and parked the stroller. Carter spread out a blanket and Reese lay on his back holding the baby up in the air making airplane noises and swooping her around. The child laughed and kicked happily while Carter watched, smiling. Then she started pulling food out of the cooler. John set the child down and sat up, accepting a plate of food from his companion giving her a slow loving kiss in the process that nearly made Kara gag. Reese gave his spawn a couple of potato chips off his plate then the happy family settled down to eat.

Kara, hidden in some bushes a distance off watched carefully through her binoculars. "Well, well, well, the boy scout found himself a girl scout and they started making little scouts," she purred. She was delighted to see that her former partner had built himself a good life; it would make destroying that life that much more rewarding and that much more effective.

She was happy she now had leverage against him. He had been quite recalcitrant last time she had recruited him to help her seek her revenge; but this time he had something more precious than his own life to lose. Kara was going to use his family against him, just as her CIA masters had taught her to do.


Joss, oblivious to the danger she and her family were in, was having a wonderful day. It was a lovely warm late spring day, and she had a rare day off that coincided with one of John's rare days off. She kicked off her sandals and wiggled her toes in the sun, enjoying the feel of the warmth on her skin. She stretched out on her stomach, propped her chin on her hands, and kicked her feet up in the air. She watched happily as Cali crawled off with John following along behind to make sure she didn't stuff anything in her mouth that didn't belong there.

Joss pulled out her phone and took a picture of Cali crawling across the lawn with John crawling behind her. John looked over at her and despite his mirrored sunglasses; she knew he was glaring at her. "You just took a picture and sent it to Lionel, didn't you?" he growled.

Joss giggled. "Yup," she said, completely unrepentant. Just then her phone buzzed with a text message and she laughed out loud when she saw Lionel's reply, I always knew a woman would drive him to his knees.

Cali picked up a leaf from the lawn and sat down heavily to examine it with an intense frown of concentration on her little face. John knelt next to her, smiling. Cali turned the leaf over, traced a vein with her tiny finger, and then made a move to stuff it in her mouth.

John, laughing, gently took it from her. "No sweetie, that's not very tasty, trust me." He shuddered, remembering his survival training, while Joss put her hand over her mouth to keep from laughing too loudly at the expression on her mate's face. She was unsuccessful and John shot her a look, trying to look severe, but he failed as a smile slowly crept across his face, and they wound up laughing together.

Today is very good day Joss thought as Cali took off crawling again with John in hot pursuit.