Chapter 28: We Need Each Other

Alex and Jack returned to the Chicago Field Office.

Alex had just called the head agents together for a briefing. He was standing in front of the board where all the cons pictures were posted.

"Patoshik, dead," he said as he crossed out the picture, "Franklin, incarcerated and assisting in the capture of Scofield and Burrows."

"What exactly is the protocol with that?" asked Wheeler.

"I'll handle that," snapped Alex as he handed Wheeler the marker, "We're at the halfway point now, people. Burrows, Scofield…, Bagwell, and Sucre are still out there. Now, I heard that a report came in from…"

"Mexico," answered Lang, "Fernando Sucre was almost apprehended at the airport in Gestapo."

Alex nodded and looked up to reply, but froze as he looked over Lang's shoulder. Standing in the doorway was none other than Brad Bellick.

"You've got to be kidding me," whispered Jack, under her breath.

"Excuse me," said Alex as he walked between the other agents towards Bellick, "My office, please."

Jack followed them and closed the door behind them.

"What in the world are you doing here?" demanded Alex.

"I came for my money," retorted Bellick.

"Your what?" asked Jack.

"The Patoshik reward money. You see, how a reward works is somebody gets rewarded the money and since I was the one who blood hounded Haywire, the money gets rewarded to me."

Alex laughed in disbelief, "You come to my office…"

"If you would have taken any of my calls, I wouldn't have had to. We had a deal!"

"The deal as I remember it," said Jack, irritably, "Was that you stayed under the radar. Does this look like under the radar to you?"

Alex answered for him, "No, it's an office full of federal agents who now have all seen your face!"

"I don't care what they see," retorted Bellick, "Shoot, if you don't pay up, I'll go out there and tell 'em everything you said."

Bellick sat down in the chair across from Alex's desk and propped up his feet. Alex kicked them off angrily and placed a foot on top of Bellick's ankle, twisting it awkwardly to the side.

Jack glanced out the door to make sure no one was watching. She turned back and smiled at Alex and shook her head.

Alex shot her a quick smile back, and then turned to Bellick.

"Patoshik died, you idiot!" he hissed, "There's paperwork involved. You'll get the money, but you're going to have to be patient. And if you ever come in my office again, you'll not only never see the money…but you'll never see another sunrise."

Bellick winced in pain as Alex applied more pressure to his ankle to drive the point home. Then, with a quick movement, he removed his foot and released Bellick.

"Now," he said in a lighter tone, "Are we going to keep crying about money you've already got coming to you…or do you want to make some more?"

"I'm listening," muttered Bellick.

"Ever been to Mexico?"

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Alex and Jack went to Fox River Penitentiary where Franklin was being held.

Franklin was sitting in a room with a laptop on a website called silence," said Alex, frustrated.

"Look," said Franklin, "I just don't know how often he checks this thing, alright?"

"Obviously not that often considering you've posted three messages," sneered Jack.

"I'm starting to wonder why we even need you at all," agreed Alex.

"To get Scofield," replied Franklin, "What…what are we doing here?"

"Well," said Jack, "We can type to Scofield too considering he can't see whose sending him the messages."

"Look, he's going to see whatever rent-a-cops or places you set up, okay? Now I think we all know how smart this kid is."

"Clearly smarter than you considering you're the one wearing bright orange," snapped Alex.

Jack smirked.

"Oh yeah?" said Franklin, angrily.

"Uh, yeah," retorted Alex, sarcastically.

"Scofield's not going to come out from behind whatever rock he's hiding unless he sees…"

"A familiar face," finished Alex, "And that's your face, right?"

"Yeah, you bet it is! So don't pretend like you don't need me!"

Alex had had enough of this. The two men began to shout angrily at one another.

"You said you overheard him telling Sucre about a website!?" screamed Alex.

"Don't pretend that you don't need me!"

"You said you overheard?!"

"Don't play this game with me man!"

"I don't see anything here, at all!" yelled Alex, gesturing angrily at the laptop.

"If you would have a little bit of patience, he will hit me back!"

Alex took a deep breath and forced himself to calm down.

"We're the only ones in the world right now helping your family."

"I help my family, okay?" snapped Franklin.

"So do we," said Jack, "We're the ones who got Casey released, D.D. medical care, we're the ones who allow you to visit them, and we're the ones that can take it away!"

"Well you know what?" asked Franklin, "It looks like we all need each other."

"Do we?" asked Alex, incredulously.

"So I'm going to hold up my end of the bargain, and guess what? You'll hold up yours. Now get off my back!"

"You can get what you want," said Jack, "Just give us what we want."

Alex nodded in agreement.

"Give us Scofield."

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