Disclaimer: I have nothing new to say. Does anyone really believe I'm making money from my stories? Honestly?
A/N There will be one more chapter to tie up the remaining plot points. I hope to get it written before the season 3 premiere. Thank God this long, long, long hiatus is almost over!
A/N 2: I'm not sure what happened when I posted this chapter originally. All I can think of is it was too long. I've broken it into two chapters and I'll see if that takes care of the issue.
The next morning the group gathered for any last minute instructions. The two teams were outside loading their equipment into the unmarked vans that would deliver them to their separate destinations.
"Lizzie it will take about twenty minutes to get to the black site. We will leave right after your team. I want you to text Ressler when you get to the site. By the time he gets here we should have Cooper and the Director." Red reminded her where they stood off to one side to say goodbye privately.
"I remember. Don't worry about me. Dembe will take good care of me. Don't think you've fooled me by sending him with me. I know that his orders to protect me take precedence over the objective of freeing Cooper. You be safe and come back to me Red. You aren't expendable either," she said being careful to not promise that she would let Dembe pull her out of the fight.
Red smiled at her tenderly. He knew that Dembe would have to drag her out of the fight kicking and screaming. Baz would have to do the same with him. He pulled her to him and gave her a kiss.
"Goodbye for now. I'll see you at the airport," he told her quietly.
"I love you Red," was her only answer. She wasn't going to say goodbye. That was too final to her.
"I love you too Lizzie."
They stepped over to join their respective teams. Before he climbed into the van his team was already loaded in he turned to speak with Mr. Kaplan.
"Kate if Ressler shows up here alone have your team capture him and get him to the plane. If he brings a team, let him go. We'll deal with him at a later time. No matter how this all ultimately goes down I want you to get out of DC. You can join us at the plane and I'll guarantee you a wonderful vacation someplace warm,' he said with a little laugh.
"I may take you up on that offer. What if Agent Ressler doesn't want to come quietly?" Kate asked in a tone of voice that someone who didn't know her better would call disinterested.
"The only reason I'm not having him dealt with here is Lizzie. She needs to hear what he has to say about all of this. Damage him as little as possible, but get him on that plane if you can," Red told her before turning and climbing into the van with his men.
Baz gave the command to move out. Once outside the gates Lizzie's team headed left and Red's team turned in the opposite direction.
BLBLBLBLBLBLBLBLBLBLBLBL
Lizzie sat in the back of the lead van. No matter how many raids she'd been a part of with the FBI she always had butterflies. If she'd been an actor it would have been called stage fright. She knew once the action started she would be fine. She was more afraid for Red's safety than her own. She knew how little value he placed on his own life. It was going to be her mission to get him to realize that there were people who loved and valued him and that he was absolutely worthy of that love.
"Elizabeth, he will be fine. Baz's team will protect him," Dembe assured her.
"I know Dembe. It's just that this is the first time we've been apart since Connolly."
It was still dark when they pulled off the road onto a rutted dirt track. The black site sat only a few hundred feet from the road. A fenced in compound this close to DC wouldn't cause anyone to take a second look. These types of unmarked compounds were common place. The plan was for the three vans to take up stations around each of the sides away from the road.
The men silently donned their combat gear. Lizzie was surprised how alike the team looked to the FBI taskforce when they'd conducted raids on any number of Blacklisters. The only thing missing was the white FBI on their body armor. After they completed an audio check to verify they were in contact with the other two teams, Lizzie pulled out her phone and sent off a text to Ressler. Once she was sure it was delivered she smashed the phone to prevent it being traced.
The group located furthest from the road were tasked with knocking out the power and communications. At Dembe's command small charges were detonated at the power connection leading to the compound, the generators, phone and data lines each received their own small explosion. They didn't need to knock all of this out permanently, just for thirty minutes or so. Keeping the charges small would help keep down the sound of the explosions in the quiet morning air. Anyone inside the compound should now be blind, deaf and dumb. The only means of communication left would be via any cell phones the employees had inside. Their van contained cell phone jamming equipment that would blanket their side of the building. The third van contained the same type of equipment and would cover the remaining portions of the compound.
The chain link fences that surround the complex were quickly cut and their forces flowed inside, ghosts moving without a sound. They were able to take out a handful of guards before the first shots rang out, deafening in the quiet. Then the louder sounds of more explosions ripped through the air as the building's outer doors were blasted open.
The team containing Lizzie and Dembe ran down a hallway lit only by the dim emergency lighting. Any guards that appeared in their way were quickly shot. The guards managed to get a few shots off before they fell. One guard got off a lucky shot that caught one of the team in the side where the body armor was weakest. They continued forward leaving any fallen members behind. Considering how far they'd managed to get into the building their casualties have been very light so far.
At the first sound of shots Red's contact was supposed to retreat into the control room that was used to monitor the cells and corridors. He was to stay there until their group reached him. The control room was ahead and it appeared that most of the remaining guards were making their stand outside of it.
Their three groups were converging on the remaining guards from all sides. The control room was situated along the wall that separated the cells from the interrogation and administrative areas. Due to the early morning hour none of these employees had arrived for work yet. It appeared that their situation was starting to dawn on the guards as they were forced into a tighter group with their backs literally against the wall.
"Cease fire!" yelled Dembe.
The sounds of gunfire died away. The two sides stood with their weapons still pointed at their opponents.
"You are outnumbered. Lay your weapons down," Dembe order the guards.
Lizzie was surprised to hear the normally soft spoken man speaking so loud and authoritatively. This was the man that was once a Sudanese freedom fighter. She could see him as a soldier in these moments. He really was as much a puzzle as his employer.
"There are reinforcements on the way. If you withdraw now you'll be able to escape before they get here. Otherwise, you will all get your own cells here," replied the clean cut Captain America wanna be at the front of the group. He reminded her of Ressler, which after what she's learned about Ressler was not a good thing.
Lizzie and Dembe exchanged glances. They managed to make them call for the reinforcements as Red needed. They looked back to the control room and noticed a sheet of paper taped to the window with a large B19 written on it. They could see a woman peeking around the paper at them. Lizzie gave her a tiny nod and the paper was ripped off the window. Apparently Red's man on the inside was actually a woman. None of the guards had seen the paper giving them Cooper's location.
She backed away and took two men with her as she sneaked away behind their gathered men. Once she reached corridor B they ran down to the steel door with B19 painted on it. She opened up the cover over the food slot and called out quietly, "Cooper are in here?"
"Keen? What are you doing here?" she heard Cooper say from just on the other side of the door.
"We're here to get you out. Now get back from the door," she told him urgently.
"No! They'll go after Charlene . . . "
"They are already safe. Reddington got them out of the country and we are going to get you back to them. Now step away from the door so we can blow the lock."
They heard Cooper move to the other side of the cell. Her men had already set the charge and after they moved to the other side of the hall they set it off. The charge blew out the lock and latch. Cooper pushed the door open and hurriedly joined them in the hall.
He was dressed in dirty dress pants and shirt. They stripped the body armor from one of the guards laying on the floor and gave it to Cooper. Lizzie signaled Dembe that they had Cooper.
Dembe signaled for one of the teams to withdraw down the same corridor that she was positioned in. This team's only focus now was to get Cooper and Lizzie to the airport safely. Dembe and the other two teams would remain behind to cover their escape and await the arrival of the reinforcements. Once they'd lured them into the site they would retreat.