I'm not dead, but it's kind of ridiculous that I haven't updated this in like two months. I've barely even had time to be on this website at all. :( But I'm (hopefully) back. I'll try to update something once a week, but at this rate, who knows? I could update tomorrow, possibly though. Let's hope. (And anybody that has hung on this long, just bear with me. We will get to the end of this thing sooner or later. Sooner, I hope.)

So this is probably going to be shorter than normal, but I'm typing from my phone. Also, 10th grade is murdering me. Chemistry, Spanish, Algebra, ugh. Just so much homework. Thank God for made up holidays. Happy Labor Day!Disclaimer: I do not own Blindspot or any of these characters

...

This - to Weller - was one of the worst things that could have happened. He was comfortable in the lead. He liked knowing where he stood. He was the type who felt calmer when he knew where his people were, knew that they were safe. And if that made him a control freak, then so be it. That was fine. Those exact traits were what made him good at his job. he was a better leader for it. But now? He was completely in the dark. Two of his people, his friends, his family, were gone. Patterson was gone. Jane was gone. And Shepherd was in complete control. She alone held the cards. The rest of them would just have to play along. After all, there wasn't anything else that he could do.

That in mind, he was pretty much living one of his worst nightmares. The initial shock and horror hadn't really worn off yet, but he still had had no intentions of allowing that to slow him down. He had a feeling that the abductions and demands were just a distraction concealing something huge – and that Shepherd had a different plan entirely. She was highly intelligent and was obviously very well aware of the fact that they couldn't just release prisoners. But, until Shepherd revealed her actual intentions, they would all continue to remain pawns in her game.

Something had to change. Soon. But, until then, this would have to be treated as any other high priority case. And that meant going to the scene of the crime to question witnesses and locate evidence.

However, when they arrived on scene to find the air thick with smoke and the side of the building blackened, they knew that there would be no leads found there. It was too late. Shepherd had covered her tracks thoroughly and was long gone. With matching groans of frustration, hopelessness, and concern, they made their way over to the fire chief.

"It was arson." He reported to them unnecessarily after seeing their badges.

"Were there any witnesses?" Zapata asked.

"Several." He replied. "Most of them claim that they heard multiple gunshots go off minutes before the fire started. The cops got here a little before we did, but there was nothing that they could do about that until we got the fire out."

"Any casualties?" Reade asked.

"A few injuries. But mostly, the tenants are alright. It could've been a lot worse. Something strange did happen though."

Weller looked at him expectantly. He continues. "The woman occupying the unit where the fire started appears to be missing. We've got the NYPD checking into it. They haven't called back yet. Are you looking for her?"

The NYPD was probably too busy laughing at the fact that they'd been told to look into a federal agent as a suspect to call back with the report.

"Yeah, we're looking for her."

As the other man's expression turned to downright suspicion, Weller hurriedly continued with "She's one of our best agents. She was abducted early this morning, along with one of our consultants." Better to keep the explanations as short as possible, he thought.

"How was the fire started?"

"It was started in a barrel. Probably to contain it until the perpetrators could get away. It spread a good bit and hit some propane tanks that had been placed throughout the rest of the apartment, probably to make it accelerate faster. That led to several explosions, but luckily by that time the building was pretty much evacuated."

Of course. Shepherd would have made sure that she had plenty of time to get away before complete chaos began. But that didn't nearly explain everything...

...

"You provided classified, confidential Intel for a terrorist organization?"

"No. I see where you get the idea, but the whole exchange happened far before Sandstorm ever surfaced. I only recently discovered Shepherd's involvement – and it seemed harmless at the time."

"Harmless? Harmless? Do you have any idea of how many agents are dead? You call that harmless?"

"How was I supposed to know all of that was going to happen? At the time, I had merely needed to get to the top. And Shepherd – Major General Ellen Briggs at the time – needed someone with access. I was young and foolish. She approached me with information on some corrupted individuals within the NSA. Once she brought it to light, it was only a matter of time before I was promoted. I was in the correct place and had access to the particular case files and software Shepherd needed. I provided her with a few secure logins and she did the rest."

"What exactly, Ms. Kamal, did she do?" Pellington asked, his voice icy.

"I have no idea; I never spoke to her again after I learned of Sandstorm, though I hoped for a while that she would make contact. But-"

"Thank you, that's all I want to know. I'm calling your supervisor and AUSA Weitz. They can take on this matter from here."

"But-"

"That will be all, Ms. Kamal. The FBI thanks you for your assistance. Dismissed."

...

"You gotta talk to Pellington." Reade stated to Weller as they left the scene.

"I know-"

Weller's growled response was drowned out as Tasha snapped indignantly "Borden and Roman are terrorists. He will never release them. Do you really not realise that? Or are you two dumbasses really too stupid to realize that he's too by-the-book to accept anything but the rules?"

Neither Reade nor Weller attempted to answer her. They knew it was best to just stand back and let her vent when she got like this. Either that or get scalded by her scathing comments.

Finally, Weller just said "All we can do is try and hope that things work out in the end. They usually do."

"Yeah? Well, what happens when they don't? What about that? We're not going to keep coming out on top if we keep doing what we've been doing. Sooner or later, something will change. And it won't end well for us."

She had a point. If one keeps dancing through the flames, eventually said one will get burned.