Author's Note: Thank you for the reviews (they inspire me to write more)! None of this is mine.
Chapter 13
Elizabeth Keen wakes up in an unfamiliar room, in an unfamiliar house, with an aching head and a distinct memory of being captured.
She looks around the room she is in. A mahogany desk sits in the corner with a matching bedside table sitting next to the grand king bed Liz is laying on. Sunlight streams in through a giant window casting a soft glow through the room.
Liz is confused. Why is she not tied up in some dungeon in a godforsaken place where no one would ever find her? She glances out the window and sees a massive green lawn that stretches until it meets sand. Her room is looking out on a small stretch of beach with golden sand and sparkling blue water.
She assumes that she is in The Banker's mansion. Why hadn't he restrained her? She figures that this either a trap or a cruel trick The Banker is playing on her. Unless he thought he had a chance at bringing her over to his side- Liz shutters at the thought.
Determined, she walks over to the window. It is locked, like she had expected. She decides that two stories up is probably too high to jump from without injury anyway.
Liz notices that she is still in her blouse from yesterday- it now has a crimson stain on it that Liz assumes is blood. She is glad that The Banker hadn't taken advantage of her unconscious state.
Liz walks to the door and presses her ear to it. She hears no sounds from outside. She tries the doorknob and is surprised when it opens- Amin had left the door unlocked.
She cracks the door open and peers out. There is no sign of anyone in the hallway. Liz steps out of the room, with even greater confusion. The Banker hadn't even put security on her?
Liz steps carefully towards the large carpeted stair case. As she walks down the hallway, she tentatively peers into each room.
She profiles The Banker based on his furniture and personal effects (or rather his lack of personal affects). He is a loner, afraid to make personal ties to others. The order in all of his rooms suggests he feels a need to have constant control of every aspect of his life. He is intelligent and calculating, and possibly a little cold hearted.
Liz reaches the staircase and looks down. She doesn't see anyone, but can hear voices drifting up from below. They're too quiet for Liz to fully make out what they're saying.
She slowly descends, wincing every time the stairs creak under her weight. When she reaches the bottom she finds herself in a small living room, furnished with only a slightly worn out couch and a wooden table.
A pistol lies on the table. Liz is shocked by that- The Banker just left a weapon lying around? She slowly approaches, glancing around the room with a paranoid look as if The Banker might suddenly appear and attack her.
She picks up the gun and looks in the clip. It is filled with bullets. Liz can't believe her luck. She cocks the gun and points it ahead of her as she continues walking through the house.
She follows the voices. She hears someone let out a loud laugh. They must not know she is awake yet. She can catch them by surprise.
She approaches the room and then leans against the wall. She takes a deep breath and then jumps into the doorway, pointing her gun out.
"FBI, freeze!" she shouts.
She looks at her targets to see a surprised looking Ressler and a deeply amused looking Red. They are sitting around a large table covered in documents, pictures, and a couple of computers. The rest of the agents at the table are giving her incredulous looks. She lowers the gun.
"Lizzy, how nice of you to join us!" Red exclaims with a bright grin that makes Liz want to stab him with another pen. "How are you feeling this morning? The nice agent over there says you might be in some pain."
Liz drops the gun on the table and collapses in the chair next to Red.
"I feel like hell," she mutters through gritted teeth.
Red gives her a concerned look and then leaves to go get some pain killers. Ressler fills her in on last night's rescue mission. Samar hasn't woken up yet.
Red returns and hands Liz two pills and a glass of water. She takes them without hesitation.
Red starts to fill her in about what they had learned about The Banker. Every time Ressler tries to add something Red cuts him off with a glare. He seems to enjoy telling the story,t so Liz pretends to listen attentively when most of it was information she already knew from the investigation.
Suddenly a thought hit her, "Where's Cooper?"
A worried look passes over Ressler's face. "We haven't had contact with him. We think The Banker got him."
That didn't make sense to Liz. "The Banker would have been too busy sending agents after us. I'm not even sure if he knows about Cooper's involvement in this- Cooper never went undercover."
Just then she notices Red's gaze. He is looking at Liz and she can see a slight flicker of guilt cross his face before it disappears behind his mask again.
"Reddington, can we talk? In private?" Liz gives him a look that tells him he has no choice in this matter. This is not a question, but a demand.
Red sighs and follows her out of the room, ignoring the curious looks from the agents and the suspicious look from Ressler.
She walks into the closest empty room, a small guest bedroom. Red closes the door behind them and then crosses the room to look out of the window, facing away from Liz. He has never lied to her and isn't about to start now.
"What do you know about Cooper?" Liz asks him. He turns to look at her. God she is beautiful. Especially when she is angry, like right now.
Red sighs again. "I suspect that Cooper wasn't taken by The Banker, but I think you already know that." Red's legs seem to move on their own accord and he finds himself in front of Lizzy, only about a foot of space in between them.
Liz's face is slightly flushed but Red suspects that it is not from anger anymore.
"What do you know about Cooper?" she repeats, but her voice contains less of an order in it and her eyes are on Red's lips.
Red takes another small step forward. He hears Liz let out a small breath. He gently reaches up a hand to cup her cheek and guides her lips to meet his.
The kisses are light at first, almost a little tentative. But Red soon deepens the kiss and before they know it they are both lost in it.
Red presses her against the wall earning a low moan from Liz that only seems to drive him on. He wraps one hand around her back and the other starts to work with the buttons on her blouse.
He breaks off the kiss for a moment to say in a low, quiet voice, "I wanted to take this off you last night but couldn't find a good excuse for Ressler."
Liz is unable to answer; instead she just lifts her head to give Red access to her neck. He places hot kisses down her neck and unfastens the last button of her blouse.
Just as they reach the point of no return they hear a loud knock on the door. Red pulls back and Liz's eyes fly open. They are both out of breath and Liz's blouse is almost completely off. Their obvious arousal would be very hard to explain to Ressler.
The knock sound again.
"What is it?" Liz calls out, managing to keep her voice steady even though her entire body is trembling. Red moves away from her with a glare at the door, giving her space to quickly rebutton her blouse.
"Why the hell is the door locked?" Ressler asks angrily, shaking the doorknob a little more violently than necessary.
Liz shoots a glare at Red that says why-the-hell-would-you-lock-the-door? Red gives her an innocent shrug.
Liz runs a hand down her face, hoping Ressler wouldn't notice anything and then moves to let him in. He peers into the door as if he half expects to find Liz naked and tied to the bed.
"Sorry I didn't realize the door was locked." Liz lies. Ressler doesn't look convinced, but decides to get to the point.
He turns to Red, "What aren't you telling us?" he asks him angrily. Which is definitely a big mistake because Red hasn't quite forgiven him for interrupting him and Lizzie.
"I don't have to tell 'us' anything. I believe that the terms of my agreement state that I speak only to Elizabeth Keen, and I expect you to honor that agreement. Now if I choose not to tell Elizabeth Keen something, that is still in no way violating my agreement. I believe I have said it before- I have no interest in cases I have no interest in."
Ressler's face is so red that Liz thinks that he might punch Red. Instead he uses the method he had learned at the hospital and storms out, slamming the door behind him.
Liz gives Red a disapproving look. "Was that really necessary?"
Red just gives her a slightly frustrated look that says "yes it was." Liz sighs. She takes a step back when Red starts to approach her again.
"No. Distracting me won't work Reddington. You are going to tell me what you know about Cooper and you are going to tell me right now," Liz demands.
Red quirks an eyebrow at her. "Reddington?"
"Please Red," Liz responds in a voice that Red can't possibly turn down.
He gestures to the bed with a sigh. "Sit down, this is a long story." Liz obeys.
"The year was 1987. I had only just started my business. I was in Kuwait to meet with some associates of mine. Powerful people, people who had the ability to move me up on the ladder quite quickly if they wanted to. I hadn't quite made a name for myself yet, I was desperate for any chance at power. And it seemed that Cooper felt the same way."
"He was a young FBI agent, who had been out of Quantico for 6 years. His career wasn't really going anywhere. I first crossed paths with young Agent Cooper at one of my business meetings. We were there to meet with a slightly shady figure known by the name of The Keeper. He had connections all around the world and would do anything for a high enough price. His empire was already at a pretty large size, and was growing rapidly."
"The Keeper had one problem- he had caught the attention of some local law enforcement. Normally he would just kill any officer who had any clue about his business, but the officer chasing after him was rather high profile. His name was Henry Price and he was the leader of a task force at the FBI. He had somehow managed to find The Keeper's base of operations in Kuwait. The Keeper had some political figures in his pocket, but none of them were willing to get their hands dirty."
"He needed a reliable witness so the operation wouldn't lead straight back to him. He told Cooper that he would pull some strings for him at the FBI if he would perform a few tasks for him. He didn't tell Cooper what these tasks were, but Cooper's ambition blinded him and he took the job anyway."
"How the story was told to me was this: Cooper was given a gun, 5 million dollars in cash, and a fake ID with Henry Price's face on it. He was given an address and the code to a safe. His job was quite simple and did not involve any casualties. He was told to place the money, passport, and gun in the safe at the given address. Then he was to leave and return after Henry returned home and confront him about the contents of the safe. He was to arrest him and then testify against him."
"Things did not exactly go to plan. While Harold was planting the evidence Henry returned home early. He was going home to make a phone call to his wife and 3 year old daughter. When he walked in and saw Agent Cooper there, there was some type of fight, no one knows what truly happened in that room, but I do know the end result- Harold shot Henry and he bled out."
"Agent Cooper later said it was self-defense, but he let Henry go down for a crime he didn't commit. His family has spent their whole lives believing that their beloved hero was actually a heartless criminal." Red shakes his head at this, looking disgusted with the entire thing.
"Cooper returned home and rose up in the ranks. The Keeper's empire was able to grow without any opposition. The Keeper is still quite powerful today. But I believe he goes by a different name now- Senator John Philips."
Liz feels her heart drop. "Cooper said in his phone call yesterday that he was meeting with one last contact- Senator John Philips."
Red watches the emotions flash over Liz's face. At first she is shocked, then she is angry, and then she is horrified. "Red we have to save him, before it's too late!"
Red chooses his words carefully. "I understand your need to save Harold, but The Banker is not just going to stop going after us to give us time to save him. Philips is just as dangerous as The Banker, if not more dangerous and we're low on resources as it is." Red just stops there because he can tell that Liz is not taking this well.
"How can we leave Cooper to fend for himself?!" Her voice grows in volume as she becomes even more enraged with Red.
As beautiful as Lizzy is when she's angry, Red knows that her anger is being quite counter protective at the moment, and time is not on their side. He has yet to find an effective way to calm her down- staying silent seems to make her just as angry as when he tries to argue back. And telling hear to calm down clearly isn't effective considering last time he had tried that he had earned a pen in the neck.
"Lizzy," Red says to stop her. She is rather animated in her argument and doesn't even seem to notice that Red had said anything.
"Lizzy," he says a little louder and she trails off, keeping a hard glare on him.
"I will try my best to save Harold, but my first priority, no matter what, will be to protect you," he tells her in a calm and collected voice.
"I am coming with you."
Red considers saying no, but he knows that will just bring on another argument that they really don't have time for. If Cooper isn't dead already he will be soon.
"Fine, but you will do everything I tell you to do, without question or hesitation. If I tell you to run, you run. If I tell you to shoot, you shoot. If I tell you to leave me, and save yourself, you will do so without argument. Do I make myself clear?"
Liz nods but Red already knows she had no intention of following his orders. She is independent and strong willed, which is one of the many things that Red loves about her, but it does not help when he is trying to protect her.
"We need to plan for this. I happen to know where The Keeper's base is. That thing was a fortress 30 years ago; I can only imagine it has become even more fortified since."
Liz follows Red out of the room. She hopes that Cooper can hang on until they get there. Each minute that passes decreases the odds of any of them getting out of this alive.