Chapter 21 - John's POV
John didn't hear much. His shoulder screamed in pain, but the annoying thing was the whispering near him. One thing he remembered clearly, something has happened. "What is it?"
Complete silence. John tried to look behind the Holy Trinity standing in a doorway. Fusco, Root and Shaw were all watching him. "What is it?" After some clever maneuvering, he was able to sit by himself. "Finch?"
"Ehm," Lionel did a few steps to him, when Shaw pushed his back. Not much closer, only to became a center of John's attention. "He's fine."
"Alright." Good to know. "Is he... furious?" John could very well imagine the long speech about his safety and stupid decisions. The scariest part was letting Harold be somewhere alone, somewhere near Decima's people, somewhere near Greer. They would kill him this time. They didn't need him anymore. Samaritan was already online. Nobody could stop them.
"Listen... I was driving them away when he got a text."
Of course. The Machine. It was looking after Harold. John was never more grateful to her. "Ok."
"I don't know why. But he wanted me to stop in the middle of the road, dumped my phone and be gone. They went off."
John was waiting. What else? They went where? The Machine surely has a plan for them. This was like a painful surgery with a dull knife. "And then what?" he growled impatiently.
"Nothing."
John was still waiting anxiously, thinking he had to be joking, but there was only silence. Their faces had the calm and collected unreadable masks. "Nothing," he repeated flatly.
"Hm."
"You left him? Where is he now? Did he make contact with anyone? Or Andrew! Call Andrew and find out where they are. We have to go for them."
"Both numbers are disconnected," Shaw whispered. "GPS locators don't work."
"And She's not telling me. I asked. Repeatedly. She's revealing their position," Root seconded.
"Phone!" Walking with that shoulder and ribs wasn't pretty or even remotely comfortable. John could survive. He could survive anything. He could black out after he got Harold to safety, not a second sooner.
"John, we don't have any. She wanted all of them destroyed. I'm sure She made Harold and Andrew to do the same. They have much better chance if-"
No t a good thing for Root to say. "Well, tell Her I have to protect him!" John was forgetting about Andrew. One civilian and one hunted man in the middle of government agents without any chance to escape. They have to find Harold right this minute! "Phone. Anything with connection to her! Now!"
"It's too dangerous. She won't talk to you. It's-"
"I don't care," John stopped Root's sentence. "We have a deal. She will tell me where he is or I'm quitting. We were in this situation once, I'm not here to play games with you and government agents. I'm here to protect Harold. That's my job."
John was stiffly walking to the nearest payphone, Root and Shaw with him, both of them watching the surroundings for danger. He didn't give a crap, he was angry enough to function on his anger issues alone.
He could picture Harold very clearly. Somewhere God knows where, without any friends, without any word about his condition, without Machine's instructions. To top it all with Andrew. Someone, Harold had to protect at all cost, because if something happened to Andrew, it would be Harold's fault and he would have to live with that.
The phone was thankfully ringing the second he was in his proximity. Thank God for small miracles.
"Where is he? It's my job to protect him." John was already writing Machine's voice to a small notebook.
"Mike... India... November... Echo... Tango... Oscar... Oscar." God, they were back with this. Why the hell She couldn't talk now? Maybe it was too dangerous.
MIKE
INDIA
NOVEMBER
ECHO
TANGO
OSCAR
OSCAR
It meant... M.I.N.E.T.O.O.
"Where is he? Is he alright? You know I will search for him. I'm not gonna play games with government. You could enlist Shaw and Root for this. My priority is the man you are hiding. You don't want to do this. He's somewhere without protection. If something happens to him, we're done. You know I have to be with him. "
"Tango... Whiskey... Oscar... Delta... Alpha... Yankee... Sierra."
TANGO
WHISKEY
OSCAR
DELTA
ALPHA
YANKEE
SIERRA
T.W.O.D.A.Y.S. John could survive two days without him. Definitely. He lived six months without Harold and Bear before they were reunited. But the idea of counting on Machine's protection was absolutely unnerving. What if Greer's men find them? What will Harold do without John? What if-
John turn his back to his company and was looking directly into the camera on a street. "Make sure he knows I'm alive. It's important. The first thing you have to tell him. I know you don't understand why, but he has to know."
"Alpha... Foxtrot... Foxtrot... India... Romeo... Mike... Alpha... Tango... India... Victor... Echo."
A.F.F.I.R.M.A.T.I.V.E. At least that was something. When John hung up, it wasn't with a good feeling. Root was watching him like a newly escaped plague. Maybe she didn't like the idea of Harold's Machine talking to him, instead of her. Sucks to be her then!
"What did She say? She's keeping secrets from me. I can be trusted. Did I do something wrong?"
"No. We have to wait. She's keeping them somewhere holed up. It's safer that way." At least he hoped so. If not, he will find where the Machine transported itself and he will take her apart piece by piece. John was a confident man, he knew he could do that. "For some reason She didn't want them with Lionel. Maybe they would be a threat for him or his son's life."
"How long we wait?"
Shaw wasn't very patient woman. John could only agree, but he didn't want to gave up the information either. "I don't know. She will contact us." He found the lighter in his pocket, ripped pages from the notebook and set them on fire. No one would know anything. Just like the Machine wanted. It was only John's secret now. He hoped two days will pass very quickly.
Three hours later John knew exactly why the Machine hid Harold separately from them. They have to shoot their way out of another situation. Thankfully with only a few scratches on their part. Shaw was stitching Root's shoulder with barely restrained anger and Root was trying to annoy them to death by her statistics and inside information she shared with the oh-so-clever Machine.
But not even this encounter was satisfying for the Machine. She still didn't reveal Harold's whereabouts. On one hand John was glad. If they have to face another bunch of government agents, he didn't want Harold with them. He wanted him somewhere safe and out of reach. On the other hand John started to feel a bit antsy. If the Machine knew about Harold's safe house, that information could very easily be Samaritans info too.
John didn't understand how could She keep secrets from the government property, if they have the same data and images. That answer would be too much for his ordinary brain. He didn't like to trust the Machine. Not with Harold's life. His own? No problem. But Harold's was too important. Maybe She hid them from Herself as well. Maybe that was Her only option. If She didn't have them in Her sight, Samaritan couldn't know about them as well?
John just wanted to sit for five minutes and catch a breath. He knew nothing could be done. He knew they will probably entertain the government in round two in a near future, possibly round three. John started to lowering himself on a couch in a furnished house. Out of nowhere, there were Lionel's hands on his sides helping him.
"I have a message for you." Fusco looked the other way so Shaw and Root couldn't see his lips and read from them.
From Harold. "How was he?"
"Bad. He thought you're dying or already dead. It wasn't pretty watching him like this, but he wanted me to give you a message, in case I see you. He just wanted you to know he didn't want to go without you."
John nodded. "Thanks."
Of course he didn't want to go without John. John himself didn't like the idea of Harold being somewhere without his protection. He understood very well. They were like sitting ducks in the dark. No way of knowing if they would be under attack next second. The only protection would be the Machine, a computer God knows how miles away from their position.
"You have to get to him, man. He was in shock almost the entire ride. We didn't get one word from him. He had to know you're alright."
"Already done." Thankfully, the Machine will cooperate with John.
"Good. Now we have to find him."