Next episode next week! Who's excited? I know I am.

I'll try to wrap up this story before 3x12 but I can't promise you anything. I can't even promise that it'll have a proper ending. It might end on a cliffhanger since this is basically an idea of what could happen in the next episode (but won't, of course).

I love reading your reviews, and I try to always answer you guys when you're logged in.

The sewers are just as expected: disgusting and dark. For once, Shaw does not even bother to hide what she thinks and her reluctance at having to walk in the sewers shows on her face. Root, on the other hand, seems to enjoy her time out of the cage.

"How will we know which direction to follow?"

"Just be quiet and let me work," Shaw answers shortly.

Root merely shrugs and waits until the other woman decides which way to go, and then she walks quietly behind her. So quietly in fact that Shaw has to turn back several times to make sure Root is following. Each intersection is a new challenge for Shaw: she observes the muddy ground and sometimes she can spot shoeprints. She notes that there are four different types of prints; all of them belong to men. A bunch of times, they have to backtrack and take the other way because she chose the wrong path when there is nothing to indicate which direction Finch and his captors took. Still, Root says nothing and after a while, it unnerves Shaw. She spins on her heels suddenly and Root, who was walking right behind her, bumps into Shaw.

"You realize that I don't like to have you here, right?"

"Where would you want to have me then?" Root asks with a smirk.

Shaw rolls her eyes and turns her back on the hacker.

"Let's keep moving. We're getting closer."

"Right behind you, boss."

Lionel hangs up his phone and turns to face Reese, standing a few feet back. The taller man looks absolutely uninterested in whatever just happened but Fusco knows that this is just a façade. There is no way John missed a single word of the conversation he just had with Shaw. Still, he plays the game and says:

"It was Shaw. Control kidnapped your boss. She's trailing them with the crazy chick, but they need help."

Finally, John looks at him.

"Finch is in danger?"

"I'd say! She ripped me a new one through the damn phone!"

"Any way we can get back to New-York faster than with a car?"

Fusco seems to think about it for a minute and then pulls out his phone.

"Let me make a couple of phone calls."

They reemerge in another dark alley but it doesn't surprise Finch at all. The black SUV waiting for them is no surprise either. Arthur seems resigned now, accepting his fate. Harold fears that he is going to talk. What could he possibly say to Control? What does he know that Finch does not? And if his information is valuable, what will they do to him? He has no doubt that if he doesn't give them what they want, they will put a bullet between his eyes and be done with it.

Hersh handcuffs them and orders them to sit in the backseat while he takes the wheel. The fourth man is nowhere to be seen. They drive away without him. His clothes reek from the sewers, but Finch already regrets leaving the shadow of underground because it means that they are one step closer to interrogation, torture, and quite possibly death.

He does not believe in any god. He believes in science and math and logic. But in that moment, for the first time in as long as he can remember, Harold prays.

After what seems like an eternity, Shaw and Root stumble upon a body at the bottom of a ladder and they know that their trip in the sewers is over. Shaw doesn't even bother to check the man's pulse. There is too much blood around him. She finds nothing in his pockets and he has no firearm either. But she knows this type of killing.

"He was an agent for the government."

She takes a look at the ladder and thinks aloud:

"Hersh goes first. Then Finch or Claypool. Then this guy starts climbing and… Hersh shoots him."

She turns back to face Root who is watching her intently.

"You've done that before."

It's not a question. Shaw doesn't deny it. In fact, she gives no indication that she's even heard Root. Instead, she starts climbing the ladder carefully, her pistol drawn. When she is sure that the way is clear, she motions for Root to follow her and she even goes as far as to extend her hand to help the other woman to find her balance. Their eyes meet briefly, and Shaw knows that the fire she sees in Root's matches the one burning inside of her. This is the home stretch. At the end of the night, they know that the chances of them getting out of this alive are close to none. Yet none of them backs out.

"We need a car," Root states.

Shaw raises an eyebrow as she understands that Root is not talking to her but asking the Machine. Then she simply follows the woman who is walking confidently toward a car parked nearby. At this hour of the night, there are not many people in this area of town. Shaw spots a camera on the other side of the street, but from where it is, there is no way it can see what happens in this alley. Once they're seated—Root is driving this time—she asks:

"A car left this place a little over an hour ago. I need to know where it went."

She listens carefully, then nods and starts the engine.

"Here we go."

John is restless during the whole ride to the nearest private airport. Fusco turns the radio on only to have it turned off by Reese a few minutes later. The ex-CIA agent stares out the window but his fingers drum endlessly on his thigh and it makes Fusco nervous.

"We'll be there in time. Glasses will find a way to gain us some time. And don't forget that he has the two psychos hot on his tail. They won't let anything happen to him."

"Lionel?"

"Yeah?"

"Just shut up and drive."

Shaw kicks the passenger door of the black SUV in frustration. They are way out of town now, and they've found the car in which Finch and Claypool have likely been in, but it's empty and they're in the middle of nowhere. The road is dark and there are no lights on either side. They almost missed the vehicle parked on the right and Root hit the brakes quite violently when they spotted it.

"They were in this car. This is a button from Harold's ugly suit," Shaw remarks as she holds the button for Root to see.

Where are you, Harold, she thinks. Give me something to help me, anything.

"Shaw? We have a new lead," Root speaks suddenly. "She just spotted Claypool on a rest area twenty-seven miles east from here, through the camera of a kid's console. They took off in a grey Chevrolet, license plate C-43974."

"That has to be the best thing I've heard coming out of your mouth tonight."

She doesn't show it but internally, she is relieved. They're back in the game.

So, what do you think so far? Seriously, your suggestions are always welcome. Anything I've missed that needs to be addressed? Let me know.

Thanks!

OTH-FOQ