Blood Crimes

Chapter 4

"What do you mean dead?"

"Dead, as in died from a bullet to the chest. Donald, I don't know how else I could put this for you. The woman is dead. She was of no use to me, thus quite expendable."

Ressler sighed a deep heave of relief between his clenched jaw, having Reddington's last words confirm that no harm had befallen on Liz. There was no way that Red could be that flippant and dismissive of Liz, of one who was on the utter opposite on the spectrum from being expendable. He gave Reddington a quick nod of understanding, but the old man didn't flinch a flutter in his eyes, as expected.

But Reiko wasn't to be easily fooled, "That's a rather quick change of heart, seeing that she was boasted of an inside connection with you. I gather she meant more to you than a mere useless agent…"

"She was my go-to gal…a dime a dozen. I suppose now I need another to replace her…know of any trusty fed agent?"

"How did you get here, anyway? How did you find me?"

"I asked your men how much you paid them…then I offered them double the amount to escort me here."

"Damn it…" Her piercing eyes lit up as in fire, in fuming anger, "Where are they?"

"I killed them."

"What…"

"They sold you out…they hold no value in loyalty and they're not to be trusted. They became collateral baggage, and I have no use for them…and neither do you."

"My, you are quick to judge who is useful to you or not…"

"It's people economics, madam…in this business of criminal operations, loyalty is everything. Those who's proven otherwise…well, it's simply bad investment to keep them alive."

Reiko's countenance remained unmoved and unaffected, and she kept her gun pointed, "Mr. Reddington, you speak as though you did me a favor."

"I did both of us a favor."

She shook her head with a haughty flair, with a tint of disgust thrown in, "Well, if you're waiting for a show of gratitude, you can just…"

"And madam, you can wait until I care for such trite formality."

"Then why are you here? Why did you walk in here knowing that I will kill you? You don't strike me as a fool, Mr. Reddington…"

"I'm here because I've been looking for you."

"Why?"

"I have a business proposition."

Reiko cocked the gun and pointed it toward Reddington's head, and muttered with jagged revulsion, "Did you kill my brother?"

"You mean Mako Tanida?"

"Answer my question."

"Yes…" Ressler could only watch in suspended gasp, as Reddington unflinchingly held his ground and even added a smirk, "Yes, I killed him."

"You son of a bitch!" Reiko screamed, her high pitched words reverberating though the hollow dusty grounds, "You will die…"

"Then you can bury me, along with the information on how your brother had embezzled your business funds for the last ten years…"

"Shut up!"

"You ran Mako's business when he was in prison, but what you didn't know is that your right hand man…Mr. Kenji Hideki…was also under the payroll for your brother. Mr. Hideki wrote two checks for every transaction, forged your name on the duplicate, and then deposited directly into Mako's accounts."

"But…I gave Mako half of everything I made…"

"Apparently he wanted more. Or he didn't care for you as much as you thought he did."

She kept the gun at him, but Ressler could see that her hand was beginning to shake in uncertainty, "Don't you dare speak of his mind."

"I could speak of his bank account. During the last ten years, Mako had managed to put away close to one-hundred million dollars, all untraceable, all in highly protected invisible accounts."

"What…" She had now altogether dropped her arms to her side, the gun limply dangling in her hand, "How do you know this…"

"He told me."

"Why would he tell you?"

"I had him at gun point, and he offered to give me half of the assets if I let him live." Reddington then snorted in a haughty jest, "Needless to say, I didn't let him live."

"Why didn't you take the money?"

"Madam, your own brother embezzled money from you. That's not loyalty, therefore I cannot enter into confidence, let alone an agreement, with the man. He's a bad investment."

She was now pacing back and forth, with her hands clasped and her shoulders slumping in seething anger, "Why should I believe you? Why should I believe anything you've said?"

"You don't have to believe me."

"What?"

"But I could show you where these accounts are located. I cleaned out Mako's files after I killed him and destroyed everything else, so nobody knows they are in my possession. I even have direct access to them."

"How…"

"I asked Mr. Hideki. Well…" Reddington laughed again, and it was clear as day what he had done to her right hand man, "I paid him a visit yesterday. He was surprisingly very willing to share the information, or perhaps it's my impeccable persuasion."

"And…"

"I killed him. He was a bad investment for you."

"No…no…this can't be…" However resistant, the realization had now finally started to settle in her fiery dark eyes, and she nodded to Reddington with contempt and acceptance. "What do you want from me? You give me this information, and you want me to let you go…is that it?"

"Something like that. But I know you're not too keen on keeping deals, so I'd like to propose a business transaction."

"Which is?"

"I've instructed my assistant to make available one half of the assets, but freeze the other half until our transaction is completed. If you renege on the terms, then, well…the half of the assets become none of your concern."

"And what are the terms of the transaction?"

"You let go of Agent Ressler."

"What the hell…" Ressler mumbled through his gritted teeth, but neither of his company flinched at his words.

"Mr. Reddington, I'd advise you against such a ridiculous notion…" Reiko laughed with derisive condescension thrown at Ressler, just as he looked up at Reddington with cautious indignation, "All this…for an FBI agent. He's just a useless accessory…"

"Yes, but he's my useless accessory." He snorted towards Ressler, "I'm his informant, and I get paid through him. I can't have him die in my watch, that's bad for my reputation."

"Your reputation as what, Mr. Reddington…a thief? A criminal? A killer?"

"Oh, madam. You have no idea who you're dealing with…and the depth of my vices."

"I believe you, Mr. Reddington. Rest assured, I do believe you." Reiko sneered at him, "But I also didn't take you for a man who would care for his tarnished reputation."

"It's for business. I'd make for a bad investment if I had death of a bureau agent attached to my name. No criminal who operates in invisible wants to invite that kind of attention."

"Fine…" She purred with her vile hand resting upon Ressler, "You can have the agent. But what about you…why are you not bargaining for your own life?"

"We can discuss the terms regarding my life when you have completed the agreed transaction."

"Oh, my…" Reiko's hand remained on Ressler's shoulder, and he shuddered under her frigid hold, "How very valiant. I'm no fool, Mr. Reddington…Agent Ressler must mean more to you than you're letting on…what game are you playing at?"

"Madam, I don't play games when there's a gun pointed at me."

"Don't trifle with me, Mr. Reddington."

"No, madam. I don't have the patience or the willingness to trifle with you…it'd be a waste of my time."

It was at that very moment when suddenly, a loud boom was heard from somewhere beneath their feet, and the entire floor shook with merciless punishment. Another piercing boom was heard, and the wooden beams crossing the vast ceiling rattled like mere rubber hoses, with wafts of dust falling onto their heads. With another boom and a shake, Ressler was certain the windows surrounding the building would shatter into millions of jagged pieces, and the wooden beams above them would surely give out. Whatever the hell was going on down below, he knew they had to get out of there, now.

"What was that?" Reiko bellowed toward the bustling men who were running toward the hall exit, "Somebody find out what bloody hell is going on!"

"Reiko!" One of the men ran towards her and yelled, "The feds are here, they have the building surrounded. They just blew through the metal door downstairs."

"No…"

"Oh, drat." Reddington mumbled flatly, "They must've followed me here. And most likely they brought their friends, the SWAT team."

Reiko's nose flared in fuming panic at his direction, but instead she turned to her men and screeched, "Keep them occupied…engage in fire arm!"

The rest of her men quickly ran towards the exit door, but Reiko signaled one to stay at her side. Then she stood before Reddington and growled, seeped in a coarse contempt, "You brought them here…this is your doing."

"No, madam. I would never agree to a plan which places me at the center of the target. Especially this…shack…which seems to be falling apart right as we speak."

"We need to get out of here." Ressler broke in hastily, "This building will collapse any minute."

Just then, another thunderous boom was heard from floor beneath them, and this time, their feet vibrated like in a deep vacuum, with an ominous sound of crumbling dirt encircling them. Not only the ceiling, but also the floor seemed ready to give out at any moment. Ressler shouted amidst the deafening buzz, "We need to leave…"

Reddington kept his focus on Reiko, "Madam, everything we talked about…our business transaction…still stands if you can get us out of here."

"Let me think…"

"Do you want the money Mako stole from you?"

"Yes…"

"Then get us out of here. Do you have a plan B?"

"A what?"

"Madam, surely you have a way to get yourself out of this building. You couldn't be so careless as to…"

"Alright!" Reiko shrieked above Reddington's demands, and just when Ressler had decided she was ripping through the seams, she pulled out a walkie from the belt holster and yelled into it, "Get the chopper ready, now!"

Then she signaled to her hired gunman, and he roughly grabbed Ressler's arm, pulling him off the chair and forcefully setting him on his feet with a gun nudged to his back. Reiko clutched Reddington's jacket by the shoulder, and with the gun pointed at his head, she yelled, "Walk!"

She led them out through the small door on the far wall, and they were standing before a narrow row of rickety staircase. She pushed Reddington up the stairs and ordered, "Move!"

They must've climbed at least five levels of staircases when at last, Reiko opened a double door to the pitch black night and frigid icy air. The violent roaring sound of the chopper engine greeted them, as well as the ferocious gust of wind from the whipping rotor blade. It was difficult to see their path, save for the blinking lights from the chopper, and Reiko pushed on without haste, "Get in!"

Ressler looked up to the night sky, wondering and hoping there was a SWAT chopper flying about, but he didn't spot any, not even one. And as soon as the chopper door slammed shut, Reiko screamed at the pilot, "Get us to the compound!"

Ressler was pushed to the seat by the window, and by now his hands were cramping due to being tied for so long. He wriggled his fingers in an attempt to get the blood circulated, but already, his fingers felt clammy and cold. Reiko's gunman was seated in front of him, and when they made eye contact, Ressler saw the flash of the gun pointed at him in the darkness. He glanced at Reddington seated next to him, but he was pointedly looking ahead, his eyes fixed upon the blinking lights and knobs of the chopper cockpit.

As the chopper lifted from the top of the building, and proceeded to fly through the air, Reiko turned to them from the front seat, "We're in the clear…and I'd advice you from doing anything stupid."

Ressler leaned against the window and looked out into the darkness, attempting to study the grounds below as best he could in order to ascertain their location, but it was nearly impossible with only the moon to guide his vision. He had not once given up the plan of escape, and even now, his mind raced to calculate how he can get get out of Reiko's grasp. He had no idea where they were flying to, and there were absolutely no lights below, which would indicate they were definitely not near a city or a town. No, what he saw was pitch blackness, as if they were traveling above a mountainous area or even a desert. And getting farther away from civilization was never a good idea.

"This is a nice chopper." They had flown for a considerable amount of time when Reddington leaned into Ressler and spoke amidst the deafening engine roar.

"Huh?"

"This chopper…it's Hatch M5W, the top of the brand…quite luxurious."

"Uh huh…" Ressler simply nodded at the old man's musings, as himself had no knowledge of choppers, but he threw Reddington a quizzical squint, trying to figure out just what the hell he was getting at.

"Have you ever flown a chopper, Donald?"

"No."

"It's nothing like driving a car…that's always the first lesson, the mental shift."

"Shut up, back there!" Reiko turned to look at them and screeched towards their direction, her sharp tone clashing with the engine sputtering.

"Madam, I was just about to compliment you on this beautiful chopper."

"I said, shut up."

"And what a quaint coincidence that I've once flown this very chopper, some twenty years ago…but what is time but fluid…"

"Red…" Ressler threw him a warning, and it wasn't the untimely chatter that bothered him. Rather, what unnerved him was the sheer hint of where this conversation was headed, if he wasn't mistaken.

"You know what's interesting about Hatch, is that it's actually owned by Maserati…and M5W has top of the line, the ultimate Italian engine. Smooth as baby's bottom, so efficient and powerful." Reddington leaned close to Reiko so she could hear him, "Madam, I hope you appreciate what a fine machine you have at your disposal."

"I appreciate it enough."

"Just out of curiosity, have you flown the chopper yourself?"

"No."

"Oh, madam…to own such a beauty and depriving yourself of operating it…well, that is just travesty."

"Are you about done?" Reiko turned to face him again, but this time she had her gun drawn toward his forehead, "Because I am."

And it was at that instant, much to Ressler's jolted shock and astonishment, Reddington grabbed Reiko's gun in one swoop, and smacked her head with it in one hard blow. She hardly had any moment to react, even to scream, as she passed out cold in blink of an eye.

The pilot shouted hysterically, and then Ressler saw Reiko's gunman point the gun toward Reddington, and without a breath delay, he charged into the body of gunman, pinning him against the pilot. The pilot screamed louder and the chopper plunged in elevation, just as Reddington grabbed the gunman's arm, trying to deflect from where the gun was pointed.

The gunman fought against Ressler's weight upon him, all the while trying to shoot Reddington. With his hands tied behind him, Ressler cursed at the gunman and against the inability to smack that damn face. But he thought better of it, as he lifted his weight from the gunman, then used his only weapon available…his head. Ressler snapped his neck and head butted the gunman, knocking him out cold, but not before his reaction, as his finger pulled on the trigger and a deafening shot rang out in that stuffy cramped space.

"Reddington!" Ressler immediately yelled out his name and searched for the old man's eyes in midst of the sharp buzzing from the gun and the chaos of darkness. He kicked aside the drooping figure of the gunman, and focused his eyes to locate where the gun had dropped.

"I'm fine." Reddington snapped back, "But we're not."

"What the hell…" Ressler shifted his focus onto the pilot, just as the chopper violently lost altitude and was now beginning to spiral in descent. The pilot was slumped over the cockpit, and there was a splatter of blood on the windshield. "No…not the pilot…"

"Donald, help me get the pilot out of the chair."

"I can't…my hands are tied. Cut me loose, now!"

"We don't have time."

"Reddington…cut me loose!"

But the criminal ignored him all together, and made his way to the front of the chopper, where he pulled the body of the pilot and dumped him onto Reiko's body on the passenger seat. He belted himself quickly, and proceeded to click on various blinking levers, then he pulled up on the throttle hard. But the chopper continued in its descent into the blackness, and now a warning red light had activated, along with the ominous ticking of depleting altitude. Ressler felt his lungs losing pressure and fought against his own breath as he screamed, "Reddington!"

"Hold on to something!"

"You should've cut me loose first!"

"Donald…just manage!"

"Damn you…"

Ressler looked around the seats and found nothing to hold onto, except for the dangling seat belts but that would just fling him out of the window on impact. Then he saw the still body of the gunman on the floor, and deprived of a better idea, Ressler crouched beside the body, wedging himself against the impact upon the front of the chopper.

"Donald!" Reddington yelled out, with the chopper still sputtering and spewing in descent, in all of its murderous hunk of metal.

"What?"

"Hold on…we're touching ground in about ten seconds…"

"Reddington…you better know what you're doing!"

"If it doesn't work out…well, kid, it's been nice knowing ya."

"Shut up, Red!"

Then he felt the chopper had encountered something on its wing tips, an obstruction of dreaded entity that shook and spun the entire chopper. Ressler wedged closer to the gunman's body, getting ready for the impact, or his own head imploding from suffocating pressure, whichever came first. Then in one swoop, the chopper nose dived into what felt like a concrete wall…and then everything went black.

. . . . . . . .

"Donald…Donald…"

"Huh…"

Ressler cracked open his eyes, but everything felt like a surreal trance, his own body a separate subsistence from that of his mind. Even the vision of Reddington pulling his body while gritting out his name…it all felt like a dream of death, of his wishes if he was still alive.

"Donald, snap out of it and get on your feet!"

"What the…"

Then his fuzzy dreams splattered onto the dark skies, melding into the reality that indeed, Reddington was clutching onto his chest and pulling him out of the chopper. Ressler hastily and clumsily found footing on the ground, and leaned into Reddington, as the old man now easily gripped his arm and led him away from the hunkering metal heap.

"Come on…we need to get as far as we can."

"What's happened…"

"It's going to blow."

Reddington had a firm grip on him, but Ressler couldn't help but to look back at the battered chopper, and saw yellow and orange fire engulfing the engine. And it was just a matter of time that the fire would reach the gas fuselage, and the whole thing will blow.

"What about Reiko…and her man? They're still alive…"

"We don't have time."

"We can't let them die."

"They will die with or without us. I prefer without." Reddington then pulled on his arm with an angry hook, "Now, keep walking."

Reddington quickened his speed, and Ressler grudgingly followed along, thinking he'd be a whole lotta more useful man if his hands were not tied behind his back. He ignored his throbbing wrists and the cold fingers, and focused upon matching his pace with Reddington, whose movements were surprisingly agile, even after the chopper crash.

But he was robbed of another thought when a thunderous explosion crashed upon them from behind, and a rushing force, carrying along every loose rocks and scraps, propelled onto their backs, sending them crumbling down onto the ground like a helpless heap of sack. Ressler fell chest first, and he wouldn't be surprised if he had just broken a rib or two. He attempted to get up, but squinted in pain vibrating from his ears, as everything felt like muffled in clamps, save for the sharp and mean buzz.

"You alright?" Reddington had few bloody scrapes on his face, and his jacket was now beyond recognition of its intended color.

"Yeah…you?"

"I'm alive."

Reddington helped Ressler stand up, and they stared at the fire, as red as blood, swallow the chopper whole and light the dark skies in eery orange. They watched the scene with not a word, but in silence and in awe they agreed that it was a miracle that they were alive. And the tormentor of the last twenty-four hours had died. But the torment had not ended…their new foe was how to survive this, whatever this was.

"Where the hell are we?" Ressler muttered, looking around the surroundings for the first time. The sun peeked a sliver from the east, and in its hazy orange glow, he could make out vast stretches of flat dirt ground reaching beyond the horizon. Dry and parched trees were strewn about, but not another living soul was detected.

"No idea."

"I don't know what direction we flew, but it's safe to say we're out of the DC area. Maybe either Virginia or Pennsylvania..."

"Neither of those states look like this, as I recall."

"Hmm..." Ressler agreed with him, "Well, anything that might help us just got blown up to bits."

"Indeed."

"You got anything on you?"

"A gun." Reddington pulled out a revolver that had belonged to Reiko, and he checked the magazine, "Six bullets."

"Great…now, how the hell are we gonna get out of this?"

. . . . . . . . . . . .

A/N: Thanks for reading! Spoiler alert: Ressler will have his hands freed real soon. He's a tough badass…COME ON!