A/N: Finally some action in this chapter.
Thirty minutes later Liz was knocking on Harpers door. Dembe was with her, both of them deciding that he sitting in the car at this hour would draw more attention. He would find somewhere else to relax while Liz and Harper spoke.
Harper answered the door, the shock of Dembe standing next to Liz quickly registering on her face. "Come in." She stepped aside to let the two visitors in.
"Harper this is Dembe." Liz introduced them hearing soft music coming from the living room. "He is an associate." Liz purposely did not say who he was an associate to, she expected Harper to not be too happy that Liz brought one of Red's men with her.
"I have a den if you would like to hang out in there or you are welcome to join us." Harper said wanting to be nice to the man.
"I can sit in the den." Dembe said.
"Would you like anything to drink?" Harper asked as she led him to the den.
"No I am fine. Thank you." Dembes voice was pleasant. She knew he was African but she could not quite place the accent. Harper had spent a few months in Africa working as a doctor without boarders. It had been one of the most rewarding parts of her career. However, the man she had been engaged to at the time insisted she come home to be with him, and she foolishly had listened to him. It was only a few months later that she left him, and moved to the house she calls home now.
Harper returned to Liz who was looking at pictures on the fireplace. It felt like she was once again on her psychiatric rotation, the shrinks couldn't quite help but study each other and other people.
"Would you like anything to drink Liz?" Harper said, "Is it ok if I call you Liz."
"Of course." Liz said, "And yes if you do not mind I would love something to drink." Liz could sense how nervous Harper was and Liz was whatever she could to put her host at ease.
"I have beer, water, or I opened a bottle of white wine?"
"Wine will be fine." Liz said following Harper into the kitchen.
She was studying the woman, cataloging the similarities and differences between father and daughter. The woman appeared to be happy. The picture on the mantel that included Harper, also had a lot of other people. Liz guess she had a decent size friend group, and that she was still in contact with many of those people. Clearly a difference from her father, who had few friends, and no one close.
"Just so you know whatever you ask or say here stays between us." Liz said, "Red will likely ask, and I will tell him nothing. He'll get annoyed, but he will understand."
"Does the same go for Dembe." Harper asked handing Liz a glass of white whine.
"Yes. If Dembe hears anything he will keep it to himself."
"Ok." Harper said both women moving into the living room and taking a seat. Liz choose the couch, and allowed Harper the chair. They sat in silence for a few minutes until Harper asked, "What is he like?"
"Red?" Liz asked really to fill up time while she thought of a way to describe the enigma that was Red.
"Yes." She said, "I have some memories of him, but not many."
"I don't know where to start." Liz said honestly, "He is the most stubborn, caring jerk I have ever meant. Most of the time he is infuriating. At first glance he seems like a smug arrogant jerk. Loves to tell stories, and he has lived an interesting life having been it seems almost everywhere." Liz thought about what else she could say about Red, she knew very little about his personal life, but she had studied him ever since she meant him. "He is very good at hiding himself away from people. I have worked with him for a year and I know very little about his life outside of the cases he brings me, and the few times he has slipped up and allowed me to see bits of him."
Liz paused for a few seconds while she thought of other things she could say about Red, "His loyal to those who matter to him. There are very few people that matter to him, but those who do will never want for anything and he would set fire to the entire earth to ensure they are safe. Dembe is one of them, and there are a handful of others."
"Are you one of those people to him?" Harper asked trying to keep jealousy out of her voice. She hated her father, but she wanted to be one of those people.
"I think so." Liz said. "I know it is better to be friends with Red than enemies. He can be brutal at times, but other times he is caring and kind. Surprisingly, he is a good listener and a good shoulder to lean on when you need it."
"He saved Dembe from a really bad situation when Dembe was younger." Liz said not giving details because it was not her place. "He has done that for a few people actually."
"So Dembe works for Red?" Harper asked confused about exactly who Dembe was.
"He is sort of like Red's bodyguard. They are close." Liz said answering her question.
"Is it because Raymond saved him?"
"No." Liz said, "I am pretty sure Red would have liked Dembe to do something else. He paid for Dembe's education and made sure Dembe never felt like he owed him for anything."
"So he can be a good guy who also is a monster is what you are saying."
Liz said, "No one is all good or all bad, but yes from what I have observed."
"What are you two seeing each other?" Harper asked because she had suspected it, why else would this FBI agent go through all of this for Raymond.
"Oh god no." Liz said, "He started out as an asset. Someone I was assigned to work with and I was simply around to get to the information he had on the bad guy's he was willing to give to the FBI."
"But it is more now?" Harper asked mostly to see if Liz would lie to her. It was not her strongest ability, but she could read people when she tried.
"Yes. I am not sure when it started to change, but he grew on me." Liz answered honestly.
"Is he gay?" Harper asked wondering if maybe she had not been wrong to think that Raymond was seeing Dembe.
"No. " Liz said, "I know he has seen a few women, but mostly I don't know about that part of his life and I am ok with not knowing."
Harper laughed because she could understand not wanting to know the details. "Has he asked about me?"
"Yes." Liz said, "After we were at your house earlier."
"What did he say about me?"
"He just hopes you are happy. He also wanted me to see if there was anything he could do for you." Liz said honestly, "I know he spoke with Dembe about you too."
"You said you would want to meet your dad, that he wasn't a good guy…" Harper decided to turn the tables on Liz with this question. Maybe she could understand the Agent a bit more, or at least decide if she was actually wanted to meet her father. Part of her really did want to see him, if just to spit in his face, and another part of him just wanted to spit on his face or ignore him all together.
Liz frowned, "I don't remember much about him. I was young when my father died." Liz rubbed the scar on her hand, "All I know is he was a criminal." She decided to leave out the part where she was not sure what Red's role in her fathers death.
"How did Raymond start working with the FBI? Did that agent Don catch him and flip him."
"No." Liz was laughing at the idea of Ressler catching Red. She had heard stories from Ressler side, and Red's side and realized that Red was never in danger of actually being captured. Thought Ressler did come close to killing Red once, it was all due to Red's arrogance. "He turned himself in."
"Raymond actually turned himself in to help the FBI."
"Yes last year. I was told he walked right into the headquarters in D.C. and turned himself in. Went right up to the receptionist asked for the Assistant Director, and than went and kneeled in the middle of the room."
"That is a bit ballsy." Harper stated laughing at the idea. "I can't believe he could get that far without anyone noticing."
"That is how he is, ballsy." Liz said smiling, "And you would be surprised by the number of people who can move around unnoticed. He has been an asset to the FBI since that day, but it's unofficial. No one can know about it."
"I won't tell anyone." Harper said thinking about her next question "How many people has he helped you catch?"
"A lot." Liz said, "I cannot really give you a count, classified. You are not even supposed to know about the agreement we made with him."
"Wait, didn't he get caught awhile back. Like two or three months ago. It was all over the news." Harper remembered suddenly the day had been another busy day at the hospital but she caught the news on her drive home.
"He staged it to get at a dangerous man." Liz frowned at the memory of Luther Braxton. "Red needed to get into the secure facility, and stop the man from stealing government secrets."
"Kind of ironic that a traitor wants to stop another traitor." Harper stated taking a sip of her coffee after finally remembering she had coffee.
Liz frowned, she wanted to defend Red, but she was not sure how that would be received. "Red is a lot of things, but I do not know if I would completely label him as a traitor."
"Really. Than what else do you call a man who takes secrets from naval intelligence and sales them to the highest bidders." The anger clear in Harpers voice.
"That is not all he has done." Liz stated, "He has also saved a lot of lives."
"With his work with you." Harper said.
"Yes and even before than." Liz said, "There are certain things he doesn't do. Yes he can be a bad guy, but there is goodness in him too."
"I'm sure there is. No one is all bad." Harper said throwing Liz's words back at her, "But some people are more bad than they are good. Raymond is more bad than good from what I have read about him, and what my mother has told me.."
Liz knew this line of conversation would get them nowhere, so she tried to change the subject, "Red has saved my life a few times."
"Really." Harper could not help but be jealous. The man who abandoned her seemed to find himself an entire new life, a happy life. He replaced her with the agent that sat in front of her now, at least that was how it felt. Not that she cared, of course, because she did not care about her father. Lies she told herself ever since she was a teenager. When she was younger, she never accepted that her father abandoned them. She was sure he would come back one day, so sure that she looked for him on each big occasion. In their home, she spoke of him often enough that her mother started to lose her patience. It was in those moments, that her mother would tell Harper exactly who her father way and the horrible things he did and continued to do. It was only after years of hearing about how horrible he was, that she finally came to accept that her father abandoned her and her mother, and was out living a great life without them. That he never looked back or missed them. Years of that mindset left her not to care for him at all.
"Yes. More times than I can count. Red has been there for me ever since he started working with the FBI." Liz almost added probably even before than.
"Has he ever talked about my mother or me to you before today?"
"Yes." Liz said wondering if she should add the next part, "He thought you both were dead."
"What?"
"This is from his file, he has not told me the story himself, and I do not think he knows I know it. I am in no way trying to defend him." Liz stated trying to caution Harper against the emotions she expected to come out as Liz told her the story, "He ran out of gas on the way home Christmas Eve." Liz waited to make sure Harper was following along with the story, "He walked in the snow to your home. Once he got there, it was empty, except for blood everywhere."
Harper was listening to each word Liz spoke, wondering what her motive was for telling her this. Was she defending Raymond, as Harper expected that when it came to Raymond, the Agent before her was not able to provide an unbiased opinion about his character.
"He was sure you were dead." Liz said again, "He spent years searching for the people who killed your mother and you, or so he believed."
"But we are alive."
"He knows that now. I do not know when he found out. If it was last year when a man went after your mother to get to Red, or if it was before. Either way he never stopped looking for the people he thought killed you, and I know he was searching for you. He had asked your mother about you and he had one of his top men looking for you." Liz felt the triumph rush over her because she had done what Red had not been able to do, "I know if he could he would do anything for you. He does care deeply about you, it is tearing him up that you grew up without him ever getting to know you."
"Too bad for him. He should have made better choices. If he had not been a traitor none of this would have happened." Harper was bitter, "Imagine how it felt, I was just a kid, and it was Christmas Eve. I was so excited, I knew when my father got home I would get to open a gift. He always let me have one of my gifts early. A car pulled into the driveway, and I rushed to the door to greet my father. Instead of my father, there were men in black suits telling my mother we had to leave now. They arrested her, and grabbed me because I was screaming and kicking. They carried me out to the SUV and put me in the back with my mother. We were kept in a house, a room really, and I spent my Christmas huddled with my mother scared. They take her from the room and leave me with just a book. For hours she would be gone, and she'd come back crying. It was not until New Years that my mother convinced them she knew nothing about my father who sold secrets and who killed a family of people. I guess he burned down the house, killing everyone inside, including another little girl. They said he did it to frame the other man, so he could continue to sale secrets to other governments, and the guy would take the fall instead. The thing is, I remember my father being ill for months after having been burnt badly. He claimed it was an accident at work, but men who work in offices do not get severe burns all over their back."
It was Liz's turn to be shocked into silence. "Excuse me, may I use your bathroom." Liz got up quickly searching for the bathroom. She barely made it inside before she felt herself start to shake. Red had burnt down her family home, or at least that was what Harper had just said. He had been injured in the process. Liz pushed her hands against her eyes trying to clear the memory from her mind. The man on the floor, it had been Red. Not her father. Red had killed her father, to frame him? Was that true?
"Sorry." Liz said as an apology when she returned to the living room.
"It's fine." Harper said, "I thought you would have known that bit of the story."
"No." Liz said, "All I know is what was in Red's file. About him finding blood in his house and thinking you all were dead."
"He must have lied." Harper said.
"I don't think so." Liz said, "You would need to see how he looked when he saw your mother. What he did for her."
"You know him better than I do." Harper said, "And I guess it is your job to know people."
"Yeah." Liz said with a fake smile. "Anything else you want to know about him?"
"Is he happy?" Harper asked.
"No." Liz said, "He is at times, but I think most of the time he is miserable. He hides it well though, and looking at him you would think he is living his dream life."
"Good." Harper said, "I spent years waiting for my father to come back. Every Christmas Eve I was sure he would come home and surprise us. He never came back."
"If he had, he would have put you all in danger, and he did not know you were alive." Liz said.
"Why is he back now?" Harper said.
"He did not know you were the reason we were coming here."
"No I mean back in the US, back trying to be a good guy. Is he trying to make up for years of bad deeds."
"No I don't think so." Liz said. "I don't know why he came back or why he is doing what he's doing. He is a bit of a chameleon that way. Every time I am sure I know him, he shows a different side and it changes everything I thought I knew about him."
Harper said, "I'm sorry but I do not want him in my life in any way."
"I understand." Liz said feeling defeated even thought she knew this meeting was unlikely going to change Harpers mind. "If you ever want to talk, call me at that number. It's my personal cell number. I am occasionally in town to lecture for a friends undergraduate class too."
"Are you going to keep tabs on me so you can report back to him?" Harper asked honestly worried.
"No." Liz said, "And I am sure your father will not either." That was a lie, she knew from now on it was likely Harper would have security around her she would never know about. But Liz did not want to scare the woman and make her upend her life again.
"You really think he'll respect my wishes and stay away?"
"Yes. He was angry with me for surprising both of you earlier when we visited your house."
"Good. I just do not need him in my life." Harper said standing up indicating their conversation was over.
Liz took the hint and stood up, "One more thing." Liz pulled out the number Red had given her in case she was ever in need of his help. It was another hotel number, and an alias, but he had said it would always work. "If you ever want to talk to your father or need his help, call this number and ask for Mr. van Buuren."
"Thanks, but I don't think I'll need that." Harper stated looking at the sheet of paper in front of her.
"Take it please. Put it away somewhere and forget about it. You never know." Liz said, "If you don't want to talk to him a couple years from now throw it away."
Harper took it from Liz and held it in her hand. She looked down at the paper and wondered if she would ever use the number.
"I can tell you that your father cares for you." Liz said, "And he would do anything for you. Whether you ask him is up to you. Again I am not trying to defend him or say you must meet him or forgive him. That is up to you to figure out."
Red stood outside of the house watching the shadows in the windows. On the other side was his daughter alive and well. His daughter who wanted nothing to do with him. The chill in the night air left him shivering, and yet he stood in the dark watching. Police had passed by a few times, but they passed right by him not seeing him sitting in the dark park.
It seemed like hours later that he saw Dembe and Liz walk out of the house, both speaking quietly too each other as they moved to the car. Red thought about walking across the park and getting a ride with them, however, he knew both parties would be mad at him for different reasons. Liz would be upset that he came even though he had said he was staying behind, and Dembe would be mad at the risk he was taking. Red had been careful, he had the taxi drop him off blocks away and he had walked to the park. His gun was loaded and ready, hiding in its holster inside his coat. He could not sit in the suite while Liz and Dembe were socializing with his daughter. If anything, he needed to see Jennifer one more time just to know that she was ok that he had not ruined her.
With these thoughts he turned and walked across the park. He knew he was walking towards one of the housing projects, but he was not too worried about it. How likely was it that some gangster in the housing project knew how to look up hits on criminals of his caliber. It was his arrogance that blinded him to the danger he was in.
He knew he needed to get to the other side of the projects before a taxi would be willing to pick him up. Liz's cell phone was in his pocket, twice now it had gone off, with Donald trying to contact Liz. Red choose not to answer whatever Agent Ressler wanted could wait until later. He walked briskly because of the cold towards his destination. He received a few looks, and a couple of cars drove by him slowly as he made his way across the projects, but no one seemed to bother him.
It was on the other side that he finally stopped and pulled out the phone to call a taxi. When he hung up the phone from the taxi company who assured him it would only be a few minutes until a taxi would pick him up, he having claimed car trouble to get the taxi company to be willing to come this close to the projects, he had the worse case of dejavu ever. Two black males walked by him wearing blue. It would not have peaked his interest as much if they had not been in the wrong part of town in those colors, and if they had not looked very much like the two males that had walked by him outside of the flower shop earlier today.
Red was too busy watching them, that he barely noticed the car doing a slow drive by as he walked towards the two young men. It was than that he noticed the guns come out the window and the two males walking pulling their guns out. He moved quickly pulling his own weapon and firing at the two men in front of him as he ducked behind a car.
As he fired he felt what at the time felt like punch to his shoulder that sent him flying back against the car he was trying to duck behind. He fired again taking out both of the men now that had been walking towards him. He counted at least two guns in the car, one in the front seat, another in the back, and there would be a third, a driver.
Standing up, he found that he arm that felt like something had punched him did not seem to want to work. Did not matter the gun was in his other hand. The car reversed towards him, and he fired at the back window hearing a scream.
It was the third man that had surprised Red. He had been hiding in a doorway when it all started, and waited until Red was too occupied with the car to notice him emerge from his hiding spot. The third man shot at Red from ten feet ahead, one of his bullets hit their desired target.
Red dropped to the ground when he felt a searing pain in his side. He had managed to keep the gun in his hand, but it seemed to do no good because he cold not sit up. Laying on the ground he lifted his head and moved his good arm aimed and fired, scaring the third thug away.
He heard a car door open, someone scream, "the dude has to be toast, we got to get out of here before the police show up." And than tires screeched as the car tore away from the location.
Red knew he had to move, he was in one of the areas of downtown St. Louis that were almost abandoned. But he was too close to one of the police substations. It would not be long before the police came. Grabbing for the phone in his pocket he quickly dialed Dembe's number.
"Where are you?" Dembe said worried Raymond had not shown up at the hotel yet.
Red looked at the sign behind his head and told Dembe the cross streets. Red knew his adrenaline was his friend right now. He stood up, leaning against the car more than standing. He slowly made his way towards somewhere other than the location of two dead bodies. He managed to leave a blood trail in his wake. He felt the bullet in his side but it was not until he shifted, and his shoulder came into contact with a car, that he realized he had been shot in the shoulder as well. The pain soon overtook him, he cried out in pain as he crashed to the ground. His back against the tire of a car, his legs collapsed under him somehow. Any strength he had felt like it was quickly leaving his body, much like the blood pooling under him.
Soon he realized he was struggling to breath. He knew his chest cavity was filling with air, and soon his lung would collapse. That would cause him to pass out, and than he would suffocate and die. He willed himself move. He managed to somehow drag himself slowly towards the cross street away from the scene, an ever present blood trail behind him. It was sheer will that go him to the corner before he collapsed unable to move anymore.
It was only a few minutes later, but it felt like a lifetime to Red, he heard Dembe and Liz talking. "Get in the front seat Elizabeth you are going to have to drive."
Dembe tried to gently pick his friend up, but it caused Raymond to cry out, his eyes opening. Red had not even known he had passed out between dragging himself and when Dembe showed up.
"Sorry brother." Dembe said carrying the severely injured Raymond to the car. Red looked up at his friend, not trying to speak but wondering how Dembe knew where he was. In the haze of bleeding out, Red forgot he had spoken with Dembe on the phone. Once inside Dembe slammed the door and told Liz to drive away, to not stop even for the cops.
Dembe grabbed his knife and cut Red's shirt and vest away from his blood soaked body. He found the bullet hole in Red's upper chest/shoulder. The second one was in the lower abdomen, either of them could be contributing to the wheezing he heard from Raymond. Dembe grabbed Liz's purse searching for a pen, finding one, he told Liz to reach over to the glove compartment and get the duct tape out. Liz took the corner fast, sending Red's head into the arm rest on the door, eliciting a moan from the injured man.
"Sorry." She said now blindly reaching for the duct tape in the glove compartments. She found it and passed it back to Dembe. "What are you doing?" She asked when she heard Red cry out in pain again, this time not because of her driving.
"He is getting air in his chest. I'm creating a field chest tube." Dembe said. "I need you to keep the car steady, I have to cut into him and if I go to far I'll knick his lung." Dembe ordered as he maneuvered himself, so he could hold Red down and cut at the same time. Speaking to Red who barley had his eyes open, "My brother, you must not move".
Red thought he shook his head, but he could not be sure. He was in pain, and whatever Dembe was doing was not stopping the pain. Red trusted the man though, to do what he must to keep him alive.
Dembe took a deep breath and than started to make a one inch incision between two of Red's ribs. He felt the body under him tense, and Red screamed in agony, but did his best not to move. Quickly, Dembe stuck the now empty cylinder of the pin into the small slit he had made in Red's side. Air and blood came pooling out of the tube. Dembe used the duct tape to keep the tube in place.
Using a mixture of Red's shirt and Dembe's down shirt, he used both to make dressing for the bullet wounds. Dembe tired to get Red to use his uninjured arm to hold the dressing on his upper arm, while Dembe held his own shirt to the wound in Red's abdomen. Shortly after pushing Red's hand to the shoulder wound to apply pressure, Red passed out and Dembe had to take over holding both wounds.
"Where are we going?"
Dembe was not sure where to take his friend. They could not go to the hospital, even if Elizabeth could explain away why she was with the fourth most wanted man in the United States, it would not be safe. The nearest save house was in a town three and half hours away in Bloomington, Illinois. They rarely traveled to this part of the United States.
"We can't go to the hospital." Liz said already knowing where she was going to take Red. She just hoped they would not get turned away.
"Are you sure?" Dembe said knowing by the direction Liz was driving, the same direction she had been driving the entire time without consciously knowing it.
"She's our best chance." Liz stated not sure if she would be able to get the woman to help them, having seen the hatred the woman held for Raymond. However, Liz knew it was Harper or Red died in the backseat of the Mercedes.
Thanks for reading! Hope you enjoyed.
