First: It was pointed out to me that Alexander Hamilton was a founding father of the United States … Since I'm neither American nor have I ever been to the States that's actually pure coincidence. I have a soft spot for the name Alexander /Alex so I wanted to use it and the last name was just a spontaneous idea. So there are no similarities intended with the historical Alexander Hamilton. XD
This part was originally planned to be the end of chapter eleven but since that turned out to be even longer than expected it got to be it's very own chapter.
I kind of got lost in the bromance during the last chapter so I didn't answer nearly as many questions as I wanted to. I'll try to make up for it now … to a certain degree. :D
As always, please rate and review.
When Amy arrived at the car. Harvey was already sitting inside. The face stoic and unmoving. With a sigh she sat down in the driver's seat.
For a while they drove in silence. Harvey lost in thought and Amy focusing on the traffic. Once in a while she glanced at him and the file she had conveniently left on the dashboard. But for now he hadn't taken any interest in it.
"I suppose there is no use trying to remember the way?" Harvey finally spoke.
She smiled. "We're moving him today, if that is your question."
Silence again.
"Do you always go to such lengths to let a witness disappear or is it because Mike's special to you?"
Amy shortly glanced at him. "He told you about that."
"Yes he did."
"What exactly do you mean?"
"I seriously doubt it's procedure to erase all traces of a person. You hacked into Harvard, erased his and his grandmothers social security numbers, no you gave them to someone else. You even deleted his employee file at the firm. And how the hell did you let the grave disappear?!"
Amy hesitated for a moment. She wasn't supposed to tell anyone how they worked but then again, nothing involving Mike Ross aka Alexander Hamilton had ever been by the book. Her father had risked his career for him when he made up that threat just so he could attend Harvard despite his own stupidity. She had risked hers when she had allowed him to write those letters. Peterson would cover for her, she knew that and so far nothing seemed to have gotten out to the wrong people. And then, it wasn't really like, all of Mike's little disappearing act had been thanks to the marshals.
She sighed. "I can't go into to much detail. Let's just say, Mike has a way of making life long friends that a fiercely loyal."
Harvey listened quietly while watching the street lights passing by and the sun slowly turning the sky from pink to blue, but at that he booted around and looked at her doubting. "Trevor?"
"Bad example. Mike always had a weak spot for him. His only friend from his childhood days the only friend who knew his parents. His feelings for Trevor were very closely interlinked with the memories of his parents. That made it so hard for him to cut him lose. Trust me, my father was not happy when they bumped into each other by accident. He tried to talk him out of keeping in touch, but to no avail."
"Where is your father now? Did they transfer him after the Harvard stunt?"
Amy shock her head. "He's dead."
Shocked Harvey stared at her.
"No no no, it had nothing to do with that. He had a heart attack one year into Mike's Harvard stay."
Harvey nodded and returned to looking out of the window gesturing her to continue.
Amy sighed slightly annoyed. "Mr. Specter, I'm not one of your employees!"
Startled he looked at her. "Sorry, please tell me what you can."
She nodded. "As was saying. Trevor is an exception. But growing up in witsec isn't really beneficial for close social bonds so most of his friends are in some way connected to law enforcement. You are actually a pretty unique exception in that regard." she mumbled thoughtful. "Anyway. One of his friends happens to be a very talented hacker."
"Lola Jensen? But she said, she didn't know anything." Harvey asked anger creeping into his voice.
"And she didn't. Compared to said friend, Miss Jensen is but a mere child playing in the sandbox. He's the best there is at the moment. It wouldn't be the first time he hacked into multiple databases and stole files, or erased them or changed them. He took care of that part. My partner and I took care of the apartment. Cleaned it out without anyone realizing."
"How?"
She shrugged. "It's really not that difficult. You just have to be careful and very very patient. People usually never pay too much attention to their surroundings unless something extreme happens. Of course, we had to be extra careful because the apartment was watched."
"So they're keeping the apartment under surveillance?"
"We don't know for sure. We acted fast, hopefully fast enough. But if they haven't already put it under surveillance, they sure as hell will from now. The apartment, your apartment, the firm, everything. You have to be careful. Don't do anything that will raise suspicion."
He nodded understanding. "What about the grave?"
Amy laughed. "It's actually pretty easy. We just changed the headstones. Edith is still resting where she always was."
"Where the hell do you get old headstones from? Do the marshals have a depot full of old gravestones just in case they might need them?"
She shook her head. "Of course not. But every cemetery has old headstones. If someone can't pay for the berth the headstone get's removed and the grave is given to someone else. Usually people in New York don't have the space to keep the headstones so they stay at the cemetery until they are disposed of."
"Unbelievable! Don't you think that was a bit of an overkill?" he mumbled.
"Not really. That wasn't for Mike's protection but yours. Most of what we did was for your protection."
"What do you mean."
"To keep Mike safe, all we have to do is let him disappear, set him up with a new identity in a new place and maybe change his looks. To erase him the way we did, was to make sure, that they don't get to you. The less connection there is between him and you the safer you are. If they look into Mike Ross now, they're not gonna find a thing. Nothing that connects him to you ..."
"So they won't try to use us against him." Harvey finished her thought.
"Exactly!" She agreed.
They fell silent again.
After a while the file on the dashboard caught Harvey's attention. Amy observed amused from the corner of her eye how he tried to be inconspicuous and failed miserably. She pretended not to realize when he finally gave up and took the file and started to read.
Once in a while she glanced over at him. His expression growing sadder and more worried every time. She drove on an abandoned parking lot and stopped the car.
Harvey he didn't look up, eyes still fixed on the file in his lap. His fingers gently tracing over the pages. "That's why he didn't tell me."
"Yes."
"Shit! Is there any chances for this to ever end? Realistically?"
Amy sighed heavily. "I don't know. The last time there was absolutely no evidence. We just couldn't link them to what happened."
Harvey nodded sadly and returned the file to her when another car approached them.
"That's a colleague of mine. He's gonna return you to the firm. Remember, Mr. Specter, be carful. These people are dangerous, they will not hesitate to hurt you and everyone around you, if they think it will help them to get to Mike."
"Harvey." he said.
Surprised she looked at him. "Excuse me?"
"Call me Harvey." he clarified. "Please, take care of him for me."
She nodded. "I will."
"Goodbye, Amy."
"Goodbye, Harvey."
He got out of the car and without looking back went to the other car. His driver was a tall silent man. He didn't say a word and just drove. In the rear mirror Harvey saw Amy's car leave in the opposite direction, back to Mike.
The trip into the city was quiet and uneventful. When they finally arrived at the firm it was already past nine.
Harvey made his way to his floor ignoring the surprised looks following him. He knew his suit was crinkled and not up to his usual standards. He took pride in his appearance but today that didn't really matter. When he approached his office Donna jumped from her place and rushed towards him.
"Harvey! What happened?!" worried she looked him over unsuccessfully trying to straighten his tie.
After a deep breath Harvey pushed away her worried hands. "It's nothing, Donna. I was out getting drunk. Doesn't happen every day that your protegee just dumps you and leaves without a word."
Confused the red head looked at him. Harvey inconspicuously glanced at the people around them trying to listen in and hoped Donna would catch on. Of course she did.
Angrily she stepped back. "That's it? You were wallowing in self-pity?! Well you better get changed! Your first client will be her in a few minutes."
With an almost invisible nod he went into his office and she returned to her desk.
The morning passed fast. The last two days had left a lot of things to be done. Harvey's bad mood in combination with Donna's threats kept the curious questions to a minimum. The clients were pleasantly uncomplicated. When lunch approached Harvey signaled Donna to meet him.
Ten minutes later they met on the roof of the building. Harvey was already sitting on the ledge when Donna came with two coffees and a bag with sandwiches. She stopped right in front of him looking down at him questioningly.
He took a sip of the offered coffee.
"Harvey, what happened? Have you even slept?" she asked worry apparent in her voice. She gently traced the dark rings under his eyes. When she realized what she was doing she pulled back her hand embarrassed and blushed slightly.
"No I haven't. I was to busy talking."
"With whom?" she asked looking over the rooftops trying to avoid his eyes.
"Witsec … and Mike."
"You spoke to Mike!" she was stunned.
"Yes. Apparently we raised to much attention with our investigation. They knew everything we had done. So they picked me up and brought me to him, so I would stop looking."
She nodded slowly. "How was he?"
"Surprised, but unhurt. They're going to move him today."
"Who is he?"
"Did you ever hear of the Messana syndicate?"
She stared at him big eyed. Speechless she sat down next to Harvey taking a sip of her coffee. Of course she had heard of them. They had been one of the most powerful crime families of the entry country. Around twenty years they had taken a bad hit, when almost their entire leading group had been sent to prison. "How?" She finally managed to ask.
"The less you know, the better. Let's just say the Messanas killed Mike's parents and he testified against them."
The sat in silence and ate their lunch.
"You can't tell anyone."
"What about Rachel?" Donna asked.
Harvey shrugged. "I suspect Mike wrote something that will help her get over it in his letter. Let's leave it at that."
She snorted not amused. "You could say that. He told he, he just couldn't get over her and Logan after all and that every time he touched her, he saw them together. And so on and so on. She is furious."
"Good, it will help her forget."
"He's never coming back, is he?" Donna asked quietly.
Harvey tried to clear his voice but it still broke when he said, "No."
The next moment he buried his face in her hair. Their arms tightly wrapped around each other, they both tried more or less successful to fight the tears.
They both knew, they had to keep their sorrow hidden. Talk about Mike as little as possible and pretend everything was ok. Nobody could know just how much they really knew and how much they missed their friend, but now, here, together they mourned his loss and found comfort in each others warmth.
And I'm ending it with Donna and Harvey! Just because I like to write these scenes. ^^
Again, this turned out a lot longer than originally planned ... hm.
In my mind the hacker who erased Mike is a certain brilliant computer expert from another TV-show. Maybe because of the fact that another male character from that show was named Michael? Who wants to guess? The show was finished after four seasons. It's a remake of an older TV-show and it had some very strong female characters.^^
I can't exactly remember if Mike knew Tess before his parents died. If so, she just doesn't exist in my world. In my opinion not really a loss. I never liked her story arc anyway. :P
And yes, you will learn what exactly was in that file, but I have to keep some secrets, so, sorry, but you will have to wait another two or three chapters.
By the way, my story is unbetaed. I have no idea if I have the patients to wait for someone since I'm usually to excited after finishing a chapter and want to know your opinion immidiately, but if someone is interested, let me know.
