Inspired by homeric's stories "Fix" and "Fixed"
Zoe sits at the bar, sipping her margarita. She sits in silence, trying not to draw any unwanted attention to herself. See can feel the eyes of a couple of men glancing at her occasionally, but for the most part she manages to remain anonymous. It's a nice evening, and normally Zoe would let herself have a relaxing evening but she's working. She hears someone walking up to her but she doesn't turn. She smiles as a man takes a seat next to her.
"Hello John," Zoe says turning to face Reese, holding her drink to her lips.
"Zoe," Reese greets back with a grin. Zoe sips at her margarita again. For his part John remains quiet, glancing around the bar.
"Well it's always a pleasure to see you John, but something tells me that this isn't two friends just hanging out on a lovely night." Reese nods, his face growing serious.
"We need your help." Zoe puts down her glass as she answers.
"What can I do?"
"We need help finding a man. Tomas Elliot," Reese pauses as Zoe contemplates the name.
"I don't think I've heard the name before," Zoe replies, still thinking. Reese shakes his head.
"We can't find anything. No address, no photos, no digital record, nothing. It's as if he doesn't exist."
Zoe thinks for a moment again, and Reese waits patiently.
"I'll see what I can do." Reese nods thanks and stands up.
"Gotta run?" The corners of John's mouth twitch up in a smile.
"Be safe Zoe."
"And the same for you John."
Zoe watches as John gets up and walks out of the bar. She can't help grinning as his coat seems to flow around him, giving an image of a cape. She makes a mental note to have Carter make John wear a cape one day. Maybe Joss could get him to put on a whole costume. Taking the last sip of her margarita, Zoe fishes around in her purse for her wallet, pushing the lovely image of John in a superhero costume out of her head.
After she pays, Zoe heads out of the bar. Out of earshot from anyone who could be listening, she pulls out her phone. After quickly dialing the number of one of her client's, she doesn't have to wait long before the person on the other end picks up.
"Hello?"
"It's me."
"Miss Morgan, do you have the information?" The man sounds nervous, but with good reason. At the age of only twenty-seven, the young police officer has already fallen in with the dirty cops in his precinct. Desperately trying to get out, the only thing stopping the officer from leaving is the information the corrupt cops are using to blackmail him – blackmail currently in Zoe's possession. It had been fairly easy for Zoe to pickpocket it from one of the men in the bar; It wasn't extremely hard to steal from a drunk police officer on his break.
"Yes. I have the recording and the flash drive." Zoe can hear a sigh of relief from the man on the other end.
"Thank you. I'll go the meeting place tomorrow at ten A.M. to pick up the stuff and give you your payment. And I can't thank you enough." Zoe smiles slightly in pride – compliments never going to waste.
"It's my job."
"Is there anything else I can do to repay you?" Zoe opens her mouth to politely refuse, but stops before she can begin.
"Well actually, something does come to mind,"
"Anything. You really helped me out here and I owe you."
"If you could give me any information on a man named Tomas Elliot, it would be much appreciated,"
"Yes, of course, anything. I'll use my resources and give you everything I can find."
"Thanks." Zoe hangs up, tucking her phone back into her purse. She continues her walk down the street, wondering if her client will have any luck finding out anything about Tomas Elliot.
Reese quickly climbs out of his car parked a few blocks from the library. He likes to change his parking spots frequently to keep anyone from finding the library. As he walks to the library, he checks his watch. He frowns slightly seeing the time, it's much later than he thought.
When he reaches the library, he glances around, making sure no unwanted eyes were watching. But because of the time, no one else was out, leaving Reese with nothing to fear. He quickly enters the library and makes his way up the stairs. He can hear Bear sitting up and he smiles. As he enters the main room, Bear runs over to him and Finch looks up at him.
"Evening Mr. Reese,"
"Harold," Reese returns, petting Bear softly on the head. He looks up at Finch after a moment. He smile falls from his face as he sees the exhaustion in Finch. He knows that Finch has been beating himself up over being unable to locate Axel Temple and his mysterious friend Tomas Elliot. And as far as Reese knows, Finch is still unable to hack into any of Axel's accounts. Reese felt his anger, being unable to track down either of the two men himself. Since the incident that ended with a dead body, Axel has joined Tomas off the grid. But he knew that Finch was being too hard on himself and in desperate need of a break.
"You should go home Harold."
"Trying to imply something, John?" Finch asks, raising his eyebrow. Reese shrugs.
"It's late. Go home and get some rest. We both need it."
"Although I appreciate your concern for me, I'm fine. I can keep looking for any leads."
"When was the last time you got any sort of proper sleep? A night off would be good for us both. There's not a lot more either of us can do tonight." Seeing that Finch is on the edge of agreeing, Reese continues.
"Plus, the last time I checked, your name isn't 'owl'," Reese jokes. His comment earns him the look – we all know the look Finch gives people.
"That can easily be arranged," Finch scoffs, but slowly stands up, listening to Reese's advice. He grabs his coat as Reese turns off the lights. They walk out together, Finch locking up the library as they leave.
Together, the make their way down the street walking side by side. They share the silence of the night as they walk. Finch speaks after a few moments.
"Has Carter or Zoe found out anything? Any possible leads?" Reese shakes his head.
"No." Silence follows.
"It's interesting, isn't it?" Reese turns his head to look at Finch, patiently waiting for an explanation.
"Mr. Elliot. No records. It's obviously an alias of some sort. But why would he need to hide like this? He's smart – probably erased his real identity and doesn't want to be found. Why? And how is Mr. Temple involved in all of this?"
"Think Axel is the victim?"
"I'm really not sure. Mr. Temple has a clean record and for the most part a seemingly boring life. Doesn't seem like the violent type."
"This man looks at a message on his phone, abandons his phone, a body ends up in a place he might have been near, and he drops off the grid. We don't have all of the facts. But I would assume based on what we know that Axel is the perpetrator." Reese muses.
"We are missing something important…" Finch shakes his head the best he can, clearing his head. "I guess we can worry about it tomorrow."
They walk for another moment before Finch turns to Reese, raising his eyebrow slightly. "I believe you just passed your car, Mr. Reese." Reese looks back and sees that indeed; he walked right passed his car.
"Ah…" Reese looks down at Finch. "Night Harold."
"Night John." Finch watches as Reese walks back to his car. He then turns his gaze upwards towards the security camera on the building above them.
Zoe knows she is being followed. Zoe is pretty good at realizing someone when someone was trailing her, and she knows for sure that someone was following. But being followed doesn't really bother Zoe. She knows her line of work is dangerous but she's confident in her skills to protect her for the most part. She leads her follower around for a while, trying to confuse them. Zoe then tries her best to disappear. It works, and Zoe knows that her stalker has lost her. She continues on her way, traveling with caution, knowing that her follower could find her again.
She makes it place where she is going to meet her current client and she can't say she's surprised to see him already there. She walks up towards him and he looks up, hearing her approach.
"Miss Morgan." He says, tipping his head towards her.
"James," She replies. She looks at him, expecting him to pull out her payment. He nods seeing her expression and he hurriedly pulls out a thick envelope from his pocket. In turn, Zoe pulls out the information she stole the night before at the bar. She hands it over and the young cop hands her the envelope at the same time. Zoe steals a quick glance inside the envelope and puts it in her purse, smiling at James.
"Did you find anything out about that other matter?" James gives her a quick nod.
"Yeah. Not a lot of information though," James looks around before continuing. "This Elliot guy isn't showing up on any records in our systems. But I asked around. This man is a ghost, but I did find out that he is a close friend of another man named 'Edward'."
"Did you happen to get a last name?" James shakes his head.
"It began with an 'N' but I don't know what it is." He pauses before speaking again. "I would be careful if I were you. Word is that they aren't good guys." Zoe nods in thanks.
"Thank you James." James grins a little nervously.
"I think I'm the one who should be thanking you."
"It's my job." Zoe gives him a small smile before turning and walking away.
Walking through the city, Zoe pulls out her phone dialing Reese's number. She puts the phone to her ear but is confronted with a strange sound. She pulls the phone away from her ear and looks at the screen. The words CALL FAILED comes up onto the screen and Zoe frowns. She quickly tries to redial the number but is faced with the same problem. Still frowning, Zoe puts her phone back into her pocket. She continues to walk, wondering why her phone isn't sending calls. She pushes aside the thoughts though as she sees a familiar face at the coffee stand not too far from her.
"Joss!" Carter turns, hearing Zoe call her name.
"Fancy seeing you here," Carter responds with a smile. She pays for her coffee and the two walk down the street together.
"What are you doing here?" Carter asks.
"Work brought me to the area." Carter takes a sip of her coffee as Zoe continues. "Think you could tell John something for me?" Carter swallows her coffee.
"Of course."
"Could you tell him Elliot is working with a man named Edward N.? And they are most likely working illegally." Carter nods.
"How do you find this stuff out anyway? John's been asking me to try to find records of Elliot but there aren't any."
"It's what I do." Carter nods again, not wanting to get into the details.
"I'll be sure to pass along the information."
"Thanks Carter. I'll see you later."
"Be careful Zoe," Carter calls after Zoe as she leaves.
Finch sits on the bench with his laptop, quickly typing. He ignores the pigeon that seems to have found a comfortable seat next to him, attracting other birds to the bench. Subconsciously, he's glad Reese isn't there to make some bird joke. He focuses on trying to hack the phone company to see if he could trace any calls Axel had made. His vibrating phone halts his typing and he taps his earpiece, answering the call.
"Mr. Reese?"
"Finch, I have some information," Reese continues before Finch has a chance to ask Reese what new information he has come across. "Elliot is working with another man named Edward."
"Edward?" Finch asks, quickly minimizing the phone company's records and opening a search engine to try to find the new player in the game.
"His last name begins with an 'N' and that's all I know about him." Finch stares at his keyboard. While the new information is useful, finding more pieces to the puzzle is not going to be as simple as he thought.
"And Finch," Reese pauses, waiting to get Finch's full attention. "These guys seem to be the perpetrators. They could be after Axel; he has to be the victim."
"Thank you John. I'll try to find anything about Edward. You have to go find Mr. Temple. There's a good chance they will find him before we do." Finch responds. He can almost feel Reese nodding on the other end and he ends the call.
Finch sits in silence for a moment, trying to think. He blocks out the rest of the moving world around him, focusing on the facts that he knows. Axel Temple. Twenty years old. Lives alone, no known close family or friends. Works five days a week and seems to have a small to nonexistent social life. Received a text and disappeared. Phone records… Finch looks at his computer, and begins to search through the phone records (It had taken longer than he had expected to hack the phone company). No, no unusual phone activity as far as he could tell. And the phone Reese had picked up from Axel after he threw it away had led to nothing; something was blocking Finch from hacking the phone itself, hence the reason to hack the whole phone company. Axel is smart and possibly paranoid – why else would he have such complex firewall Finch wouldn't be able to hack it. Finch looks up at the sky, still thinking. There is still the mysterious Tomas Elliot and Edward N. to worry about. They worked together, possibly for an illegal business – perhaps their own business. And there was still the dead body…Carter and Fusco had been the Detectives who took care of it…they said it seemed like a 'random' killing…it could be a coincidence that Axel was in that area when the murder occurred…
The sound of a public bus passing by brings Finch back to reality. He looks at the bus, not sure why the bus caught his attention. Maybe it has something to do with the giant Man of Steel promotion photo printed on it…
Something clicks in Finch's head. He stares at the Superman logo for five seconds before frantically typing on his computer, searching through the phone company's records.
Zoe knows she is being followed again. She's not sure who it is exactly, but she has a feeling it's the same person who followed her that morning. She can sense the person following her, and she picks up her pace a little.
Finch scans his computer screen before dialing Reese's number.
"Finch-"
"Edward and Axel are the same people!" Finch nearly yells, scaring the birds around him. A few people walking past give him a strange look.
"What?" Reese questions, astonished.
"There is no 'Edward', its Axel. He is the one who is working with Tomas! Axel is using the alias of Edward!" Finch suddenly becomes aware that Reese isn't on the other end anymore.
"John?" He asks quietly. He hears no sound on the other end. Before he has any time to think, a nearby payphone begins to ring. Finch looks at it for a moment before hastily standing up and shoving his laptop into his messenger bag, limping towards the payphone. He picks up the phone, listening carefully. He jaw visibly drops as he recognizes the authors and titles being listed to him. He slowly hangs up, his mind racing.
"Oh, shit…" Finch mumbles quietly to himself.
"Shit, shit, shit, shit…" His voice progressively gets louder but then falls quiet again and he dials Carter's number. She picks up on the second ring but it feels like forever for Finch.
"Detective, we have a major problem."
Zoe turns down a narrow alley, well aware of the dangers of moving into a secluded place while being followed. But frankly, she thinks that it's her best option right now. She walks quickly down the small alley, looking behind her as she walks. But she fails to notice the man who is now blocking way in front of her. She stops, seeing the man approach her, and she turns around to see another man come up from behind her. Before she can say or do anything, the man coming from behind her grabs her roughly covering her mouth before she can scream. Together, the two men roughly push her down the alley. Zoe tries to fight back but instantly stops as she feels a gun being pressed into her back.
"Get into the van," A low voice growls. "Try anything and I start killing innocent people." Zoe is about to ask him what van he possibly wants her to get into when she realizes that they are at the edge of the alley, next to the sidewalk. She can see a couple of other people walking around and a dark van parked in the street right next to the sidewalk. Taking a deep breath, Zoe makes her way to the van, the man with the gun following so closely behind her she can feel him breathing on her neck. Once they reach the van, the man holding the gun to her opens the door and shoves her in, jumping in and closing the door behind him. The other man makes his way around the car and climbs into the driver's seat.
They drive for maybe ten minutes, maybe fifteen at most. The man never takes his gun off Zoe and in turn, she keeps her head down the whole ride. The van finally stops, and the man with the gun hassles Zoe out of the car, her purse left in the van. Zoe looks around and sees they are at an abandoned building, and the very edge of the city.
"Axel, get her inside and find out what she knows," The driver orders, gesturing to the old building. Nodding the man with the gun, Axel, grabs Zoe roughly and drags her into the building and through winding corridors. They finally arrive in a large empty room with concrete floor; old light bulbs hanging from the ceiling being the only light source. Without warning, Axel shoves Zoe to the floor, his gun pointed at her. Zoe raises herself onto her knees, ignoring the pain and not daring to stand up anymore. Even with the bad lighting, Zoe recognizes the man standing before her – it's the same man who served her and Carter at the diner earlier in the week. The one who had called her and Carter 'angles'…
"Who are you?" He growls at her.
"Does it really matter?" Anger flashes in Axel's eyes and Zoe realizes that there's no reason for him not to kill her.
"How did you find out about us?"
"What?" Axel is clearly losing what little patience he has.
"You were asking around for me and Tomas. How do you know who we are? Who else did you tell? Did you tell the police how to find us?!"
"I have no idea what you're talking about." Without warning, Axel slaps Zoe across the face hard. Zoe gasps slightly in pain but makes no other movement.
"Answer me now bitch!" Axel screams, and proceeds to hit Zoe again. A tear streams down Zoe's burning face but she remains quiet and she shakes her head.
Blind anger clouds Axel's eyes, and for a moment Zoe thinks he's going to hit her again. But instead, he starts laughing; an insane, empty laugh that makes Zoe shiver. Axel takes a step back, aiming his gun at Zoe's head.
"Then I guess I have no more use for you," he says, smirking. Zoe looks at the gun and realizes that she is going to die alone and no one is going to know where to find her body. Tears streaming down her face as she feels death around her, Zoe closes her eyes waiting to die. A second later, the sound of single gunshot echoes throughout the building.
A/N: Cliffhanger! mwa hahaha! What is going to happen?
Well, I hope you guys are enjoying this story! I hope that this chapter didn't feel too rushed or anything...speaking of which sorry for the long wait! Thanks for being so patient everyone!
well, this story is coming to a close - only 2 more chapters. I'm not sure how long they will be or when i will have a chance to update, but i will try my best to get the last chapters up soon.
Feedback and reviews are always appreciated but not necessary. Also please let me know if you catch any mistakes!
Have a great day everyone!
