Chapter Thirty-Five

Meera Malik stood in the waiting area just outside of Director Peter Kotsiopulos' office. She had spoken to Harold Cooper and Reddington about it, and she had taken the assignment after being fully briefed. She and Reddington had had a very serious conversation about having all of the facts before going under, and he had been surprisingly compliant with the demand. That had led her to where she stood that Monday evening, a thumb drive in her purse that, according to records, never left the Post Office.

"Meera?"

She turned, startled by the last voice she would have expected there. "David. What are you doing here?"

Her ex-husband flashed her a smile. "I've been working with Director Kotsiopulos on some legal concerns recently. The firm has had me on loan for the last three months. He didn't mention that you were stopping by."

"He wouldn't have," she answered tightly.

David offered a slow smile. "Let me guess? Classified?"

"A bit, yes," she answered slowly.

"I guess this means we'll be seeing more of each other."

"Agent Malik," Peter Kotsiopulos greeted as he strode into the room. "Ah, I suppose you already know Mr Ellis, don't you? I hope this won't be a problem."

"Why would it be?" she answered evenly.

Kotsiopulos smirked and motioned for her to follow him in. "Good seeing you, Meera," her ex said and she nodded.

"You have something for me, I believe," Kotsiopulos said.

"The information you requested, yes." Meera pulled the jump drive and handed it over. "Sir, I don't believe a great deal in coincidences."

"I'm sorry?"

"David."

"Well, he's one of the best legal minds on the hill. He's on the fast track to becoming a judge, but I'm sure you know that. He will likely be working very closely on a variety of issues for the duration of your time undercover with Cooper's team."

He wasn't saying it, but it was clear enough. David was there as insurance. "Is there anything else you need, sir?"

"Full files on this team of yours. I need details that wouldn't be provided to me in a cursory search. Masha Rostova and this husband of hers, especially. I hear he has something of a juvenile record that isn't readily available."

"Are we still building a case on her for the bombings?"

"We are exploring a variety of avenues," the director answered. "I'll be in touch."

Meera nodded, turning to leave. Kotsiopulos had David close as insurance in case her loyalty to her team was stronger than her ability to blindly follow his orders. She and her ex had had their share of trouble over the years, but he had been the reason she had made the move permanently to the US. He was the father of her children. If she were honest, there were plenty of feelings still there, even if they fought like mad when they were around each other too long. The kind of secrets they each had to keep for their separate line of works could do that to anyone.

She risked a glance back to where David was entering the office she had just left. She had thought it couldn't be more complicated, and she'd only been proven wrong.

"This isn't our guy," Liz said as she leaned over Aram's shoulder, peering at the photo of the potential suspect. It was late and they had been at this for hours. It seemed like they were moving further from the answer rather than closer.

"What makes you so certain?" Samar asked from her desk. "He has the right contacts, the right skill set-"

"Problem is that he's dead." All eyes turned on her and Liz offered a shrug.

"My contacts at Mossad would know if he were," Samar argued.

"Not if the body was never found and his younger brother looks enough like him to pass at a distance."

"Then how do you know?"

Liz flashed her an innocent expression. "If you're asking me if I committed a murder or was was aware that someone else had, I think I'd rather just settle on saying that I have connections and that's why I'm here."

"Have I mentioned recently that you're a little scary sometimes?" Aram asked, his voice bordering on teasing even though she could tell that he was at least halfway serious.

"It's okay. You've been nice," she offered with a playful smile.

A light on his computer started flashing and he leaned in to examine it. Before he could say anything, Cooper was halfway down the stairs of his office. "Aram, lock things down."

Liz looked up, the question about to leave her tongue as the lights kicked off. The room was thrown into darkness for a moment until the generator came on, and Cooper was already downstairs, having received some sort of warning. She turned a look at him. "What's going on?"

"We've been breached. Surveillance videos caught site of a team making their way in."

"Phone lines are down," Aram announced.

"Get them back up," Cooper ordered. "Navabi, take Ms Phelps to the box."

Liz's eyes widened. "I didn't have anything to do with this!"

"Less than a week after we stop this Cabal's director for taking you into custody our black site is found and accessed? Nothing is that coincidental. This is for your safety." He paused, gaze sweeping the mostly empty area. "Where're Phelps and Ressler?"

"They went to grab dinner and bring it back," Aram said, his expression worried. "You don't think they-"

"They're trained agents. They'll be fine. Samar, get her to that box. We're not letting these people get her."

Liz stared. "Do you have footage of this guy? If we know who we're fighting, we'll stand a better chance." Samar reached out for her and she ducked away. "No. If they're after me, I'm fighting this with you. I won't just hide away."

The doors burst open and the four of them turned to see a man that Liz recognized, but had had never met personally, walk through the door. Tall and broad, she had heard stories about Luther Braxton. He was a thief. This made no sense.

"You can put your weapons down," Braxton said, motioning to Samar. "You're more than outnumbered. Not a good night to work late." His gaze turned to Liz who kept her expression neutral. "Masha Rostova. You don't look like much."

"Come over here and we'll see if you feel that way."

"We'll make this easy," Braxton said, motioning for his men to move around to make sure none if the agents tried anything. One hauled Aram out of his chair roughly, and he turned wide, frightened eyes towards her. Braxton stepped closer. "You have something called the Fulcrum. I want it."

Liz blinked at him. "I don't know what that is."

He smirked. "We'll see."

"I've got something I need to talk to you about," Ressler said as they entered the lift, bags of take out in hand for everyone that was working hard on the case.

"That sounds serious," his partner quipped with a grin, pressing the button and the lift jolted into motion.

"Audrey wants to have the wedding Saturday."

Jacob turned towards him and gave him that blank sort of way that always left Ressler wondering if he had heard him right. He gave it a moment, and when there was no reaction Ressler settled for a smirk. "You okay?"

"Wait. You guys moved the wedding up? Where have you been, Ress? We're looking at the Cabal coming in and after Liz, probably our whole team, and-"

"And there's always going to be something, Jake," Ressler sighed. "Audrey doesn't ask me for a lot, but she wants the wedding now. We've already called all the right people and gotten things squared away. She doesn't want anything big and fancy, just family and-"

Jacob blinked at him. "So am I not even coming?"

No matter how intelligent Ressler knew he was, there were times when things went right over his friend's head. He rolled his eyes. "Of course you're coming," he grumbled. "You're my best man, and I shouldn't have to tell you blood doesn't make family."

A slow, slightly mischievous smile tilted his friend's lips. "You see me as family, Ress? So, what am I? Distant cousin that drops by all the time or-"

Ressler snorted. "Don't be stupid. You're the closest thing to a brother I've ever had." He looked away. "There is no reason to make a big deal out of this."

"Same, Ress," his friend answered softly, most of the teasing washed out of his voice. The grin didn't return until Ressler turned back to look at him. "See, now you'll never get rid of me."

"It's not like the whole team isn't invited," Ressler grumbled and Jacob feigned hurt.

"Way to ruin the moment, partner."

He cleared his throat. "I'm good at that, apparently. Listen, Audrey-"

The lift jolted to a stop and the lights flickered out. Both men looked at each other. "Seriously?" Jacob grumbled and reached for the comm system.

Ressler caught him by the wrist, straining his ears. "Listen."

They stood in silence for a moment until the sound of gunshots in the hallways below became more clear. "Someone broke into the Post Office," Jacob breathed, dropping the food to the floor. "We've got a skeleton crew at this hour. It won't take them long to blow through them."

"If they got in, they're professionals," Ressler agreed. "Give me a boost?"

Jacob blinked at him. "Say again?"

"We can go up and out through the elevator shaft. You're taller. Give me a boost."

"Taller by like two inches."

"Which you've pointed out to me pretty regularly for the last ten years of our friendship. Are you going to help or not?"

Jacob snorted and knelt down to give himself leverage. "You know I have a bad back, right?"

"You're cleared for field duty. You're fine."

It took a moment, but Ressler got up to the ceiling, removed the barrier, and crawled out. Jacob followed, barely giving Ressler a chance to help pull him up and the two moved as quietly as they could out of the shaft.

"They're after Liz," Jake said as they landed, their shoes making more noise than either of them were comfortable with.

"You don't know that."

"Are you kidding? Kotsiopulos gave them a free pass and is hoping to knock us off in the process. It's a win-win for him. He was probably hoping to catch Reddington here."

"Where's he been, anyway?"

"Throwing a tantrum," Jacob huffed. "He thinks Liz and I are lying to him."

"Are you?" His partner blinked, pulling a soft chuckle from him. "You know the innocent look never has fooled me, right?"

Jacob smirked, but both men jumped back as bullets filled the space. Ressler jerked behind a pole for cover before diving for the corner of a hallway, pulling his own firearm to return fire. He couldn't spot Jake, but he hoped at least one of the guns firing was his. He needed to get him over to where he was. If he could, at least for the moment, they had an escape route.

Ressler risked a look around the corner to return fire and found himself thrown hard to the ground. It took half a beat for the pain to follow, but when it did his left shoulder felt like it was being ripped apart. He gave a pained sound, barely looking up as one of their attackers kicked the gun from his right hand. His vision blurred dangerously as he looked up, watching the gun aimed at him to fire again.

Jacob rolled out of the way, dodging the bullets that were coming his way. He barely caught sight of one man going down before a bullet pinging too close for comfort had him ducking back down for cover.

He pressed his back against the machinery that he didn't entirely trust to stop a bullet and forced himself to breathe. There were three, he was fairly certain. That meant now there were two. He listened carefully before leaning around, shooting towards the sound of boots on the floor. He heard a satisfying thump and popped back up, spotting the third man standing over his partner.

The shot was off in an instant and the man down. Jacob didn't even check to make sure it was clear before racing across the space. "Ress? Ressler. C'mon, man, open your eyes."

Ressler gave a short, pained cough as he came around and Jacob loosed a breath, turning his attention to his friend's bloody shoulder. He started peeling his jacket off and pressed it against the wound. "Easy," he coaxed. "Easy, Ress. You're okay. You're fine."

"Sound like you're convincing yourself," his friend said with a pained smirk.

Jacob tried to return it. "They're going to have heard all that. Can you move?"

Ressler grimaced as he shifted and Jacob moved to help ease him up. He immediately sagged against him. They weren't getting far like this. His partner needed medical help, which didn't look like they were going to get very easily.

"Go."

"What?"

"They're after Liz. Go."

"If you think I'm leaving you you're nuts."

Ressler gave a low chuckle. "We're asking for it like this. You can move better-"

"Shut up," Jacob growled. "I'm not leaving you."

The final argument seemed to do it. That or Ressler was in too much pain to argue with him any longer. Jacob tightened his hold around him and they started down the hall, his friend leaning heavily on him. There was a supply closet somewhere along the hallway they were in, he was almost certain. There was a chance that there would be something that he could use to stop the bleeding.

Jacob froze as he heard shuffling at the far end of the hall, and he strained to hear more. When he didn't they started forward again until they found the door he was looking for. He eased Ressler down into the floor, receiving a pained sound for the effort, and started digging through the drawers.

"Jake?"

"Yeah?" the younger man answered as he continued his search. They really needed to keep things better organized.

Ressler didn't say anything for a moment, and when Jacob turned he saw his expression was tense. "Talk to me, buddy," he prompted.

Blue eyes fluttered back open. "Audrey wants Liz at the wedding."

He was talking. That seemed like a good sign. "How about you?"

Ressler snorted. "It's important to you, right?"

"Yeah," Jacob answered softly, fingers finally closing on a first aid kit. "Got it. We're you to get you patched up."

Ressler leaned his head back and it gave a soft thump on the cabinet behind him.

"Liz is still pretty fond of you, you know."

"That's surprising. Why?"

Jacob worked carefully and quickly to tug his jacket off without jarring his injured shoulder too badly and pull the shirt away. "You've always got my back." He winced at the site of the mess the bullet had left. "Good news, it missed your collar bone. That hurts like hell."

"You never would shut up about it," Ressler chuckled, tensing as Jacob started to clean some of the blood away. "Got you a trip home for a while though."

Jacob smirked. It was good to know that his partner was with it enough to follow his train of thought all the way back to their days chasing after Reddington. "Yeah. I think Liz regretted offering to help me out with that. We'd just started dating." He felt his partner tense again as he pressed gauze against the wound. "I don't see an exit wound, Ress."

"Less bleeding," the older man managed.

"That looking on the bright side. C'mon, I need you to lean forward." He was careful as he wrapped the gauze into place, but Ressler couldn't stop the pained sound that escaped him and both men froze, looking towards the door. If anyone were in the hallway, they would have heard it.

After several still beats, Jacob finished what he was doing and helped Ressler ease his shirt back over it. "I'm going to check the hall, and if it's clear we'll go, okay?"

He waited until Ressler gave a drowsy nod and stood, reaching for his gun as he eased the door open. He found the barrel of another gun in his face as he did, and he didn't have a chance to raise his own weapon. Slowly he handed it over and kept his hands visible.

"Name?" the man demanded.

"Phelps."

He turned briefly to his cohorts. "We've got the husband and another agent. Tell Braxton we're bringing them up." He turned a smirk on Jacob. "You're going to help us get your wife to talk."

There weren't many times in which Raymond Reddington allowed himself to sink too deeply into the past. It was dangerous, especially in these days, but he had found himself desperate for something kinder since Elizabeth had so blatantly lied to him, choosing distrust after he had given her what he could about her mother. It was a difficult position they found themselves in and the last thing he wanted was to be the one to hurt her in the end.

He had settled in that evening with a glass of scotch and a film that played out on the projector in a halted fashion. It didn't matter, though, not with the subject matter. The child on the screen laughed and smiled, carefree and innocent with her bubbles and a yard in which to run until she tired herself out. Those were simpler days, no matter how complicated they may have seemed then. So often he found himself missing them.

"Raymond."

Red turned, finding Dembe standing at the door and he offered a sad sort of smile. "It's hard to believe she's all grown up, isn't it?" His friend's expression didn't soften and Reddington straightened a little in his chair. "What is it? What's happened?"

"I just received word. Luther Braxton has taken the Post Office."

His expression didn't waver, but Reddington felt his chest constrict. "Does the FBI know yet?"

"No. Should I send in an anonymous tip?"

"Absolutely not. They'll only get her killed. Call Baz. Set up a team."

Dembe didn't wait a moment, but turned with his phone already pressed to his ear as if he'd already known what his orders would be. Reddington lingered only half a moment after he had left before standing and hurling his scotch glass across the room in a rare fit of rage. The Cabal knew who she was and when they couldn't get to her through their usual means, they sent someone like Braxton after her. He wouldn't stand for it. He'd deliver the man's head to Kotsiopoulos if that's what it took.

TBC

Notes: You guys are amazing. I don't think I say that enough. I'm sorry this chapter has been a bit delayed. Life's been crazy and stuff keeps jumping in the way.

So, I just took a look back for a couple of questions that I couldn't answer directly and realized I'm just a few reviews shy of 200. That's so exciting! Thanks guys!

First, there's been some sadness over Red saying he's not her father. I do have a theory that I'm running with (unless Blacklist straight up contradicts it, which at this point I doubt they will, just because they seem utterly incapable of giving us answers), so trust me, that will be coming back around.

Becca, happy belated birthday! That was totally your birthday present :D And, Liz is being Liz. She doesn't trust Red entirely, so she's backtracking. Don't worry. It'll be okay ;)

The Silver Ebon Hawke, you asked for a timeline. I have this insane file under Evernote to keep myself straight in everything. Sometimes I kind of wish I could post it up. I may do that over on Tumblr after the story's finished so that it doesn't spoil the ending, but I've kept things pretty close. Right now, we're in late June of 2014. It's been just shy of a year since Reddington dropped into everyone's lives. In this AU he showed up in August of 2013. If you'd like any specifics, just let me know :)

Next time - Braxton takes Liz, Red and Jacob team up to go after her, and Liz is a badass.