A/N: I didn't get into much detail in this one. If I had it would have been super long. Just be prepared that the next few chapter will probably be a little gory and long. Julie will be coming back for a short stint for those of you who wanted to find out what she was like, you will get your chance. Just hang with me people, I promise you that this ride isn't over yet. There will plenty more to come, more mayhem, more love, and more UNDERCOVER LIV. ~ JET

Chapter Thirty-Five - Montgomery

Abbie had been pounding on the door for twenty minutes and still had no answer from their room. It was still quiet. She pulled out her cell. She tried Alex's and got nothing. She tried Liv's and still nothing. Finally, she went back into her room and called down to the front desk. Minutes later she heard the phone in their room and then, she heard Alex.

"ABBIE!"

She waited at the door adjoining their rooms. Alex ripped the door open and stared at her. She did not look amused. Abbie didn't care. She did however give Alex an approving look.

"That sheet looks good on you," Abbie told her.

"What the hell do you want, Abbie?" Alex asked her.

"We have to be down town at the local bureau in less than an hour. I just figured that you would like to get up so you could be ready in time. Sorry, I woke you," Abbie stated.

"The hell you are," Alex started, turned around and started to shut the door, "But, thank you. You have thirty minutes to have coffee for me and I'll forget this stunt."

"See you downstairs," Abbie told her as the door clicked shut.

"They going to be ready?" Huang asked her as she rejoined him in the hallway.

"Yeah, but breakfast is on you today."

"Liv, sweetheart," Alex said, shaking her.

"Five more minutes."

"We have less than thirty, honey."

"We'll go tomorrow. Sleep today. I promise."

"Liv, get up. We've got to go. There are things we have to take care of today. We can stay in bed later. We can sleep in tomorrow, if you are good today. Today we have briefings and a crime scene to inspect. Tomorrow is entirely up to you my dear," Alex told her.

"Fine, I'm up. Do we have time to shower? I'm a little messy."

"Yes, darling, we have time. Go ahead and get in. I'll join you later."

"Don't worry about wearing something nice. Jeans and a t-shirt will be fine. It might get dirty, so wear something that you don't really care about that much," Liv advised.

"Yes, dear," Alex stated, pulling out some clothes and laying them out on the bed before she went to the bathroom to join Olivia in the shower.

Alex had to stop Olivia several times as they bathed. Liv would start with a touch and then a kiss. Twice she had Alex backed against the tile wall, panting, wanting and moaning, before Alex came back to her senses and pushed Liv away. Alex chided herself for thinking that she could shower with Liv without Liv wanting to touch.

"Do we really have to go?" Liv asked.

"You asked to come here so you could look at this case. We are here. So, yes, we have to go."

"Well, when you put it like that, I guess I'll get ready."

Alex laughed at her. She knew that Liv was nervous. She knew that Liv was still shaken by the case and the events since she came back into the real world. She knew that Liv was still trying to process everything. Alex loved her. Alex knew that Liv knew that and she knew that Liv knew that she was there for her. It was all that mattered now.

They met Abbie and George in the lobby. Abbie had two coffees waiting on them. She handed them each a cup. George handed them both a Danish. Once they had both gotten their breakfast, they headed out the door to the Suburban that they were using courtesy of the FBI.

"Rock said he wanted to me up at the office. Is there anything that you want to add to what we already know before we get there, Liv? I know that you were studying the binders," Abbie asked.

"No, not that I can think of. We all know that the locals were the first on the scene. I don't know how much the botched. They weren't prepared for what they came across. The FBI didn't get there in time. I am not blaming them, but if they had really been watching this aspect of the case where were they? That is the only thing I can think of right now," Liv stated.

"That is an interesting factor. I am sure that Rock won't want to answer that, but it is an answer that we will need before I can prosecute. I need to know that the evidence we have will stand up in court. I am not trying to rankle anything, but we need to be sure that we have everything we need. If D. J. and Robin are as good as they seem to be on paper, then I am sure that their lawyer will be good, too," Abbie stated.

"That is why you have Alex, Abbie. She'll eat them alive. It is what she does," Liv stated.

"Liv…"

"No, it is true. If we find a weakness, Alex will know how to exploit it on our behalf. I have seen you do it in court rooms countless times. All we need is to get Liv to the scene and let her see what she can find. I am sure that we will have enough to deal with this situation."

"I am glad that you have faith in me, George. I have no idea what I will find. I have no idea what happened. I want to find out. I want to know what happened in that place before everything went to shit. We have to find out."

"We will, Liv. We will. Let's go and find out what Rock and the local team knows before we go parading into the crime scene," Alex suggested.

"I hope he has something to tell us. This binder is lacking. It only raised more questions than it answered. This is going to be an interesting meeting," Liv stated.

"Promise me one thing, Liv," George stated.

"What's that, Huang?"

"Don't tear him apart as soon as he lays out the case for you. Wait until after he is done. I am sure that he walked into this late and he is trying to pick up the pieces."

"Meaning?" Abbie asked.

"The way I read the binder, it seems that FBI got to this case later than they wanted."

"I gave them all the information that I could as fast as I could," Liv countered.

"I am not saying that you didn't. But, this case got bigger, faster than they wanted. The DEA, the FBI and the ATF were all working this case from different angles. The only common part of the case was the Goldings in Atlanta. You helped bring all the agencies together. You helped the agencies realize that we were all working the same case from different angles. You gave us a starting point," George explained.

"So?"

"We need to stay together on this. If Mara is connected, we need to make sure that we don't step on toes. We need to make sure that we work together, no matter how we feel about the situation," George stated.

"I will do what I have to do to get justice. Everyone can either help me or get out of the way. I am not going to let politics and bureaucracy get in the way. Other than that, I don't think that we should have a problem," Liv told him.

Alex smiled. Liv was turning more and more back into the detective she remembered. She had to admit that the more that she was with Liv and the more that Liv dug into the case as a whole the more Liv became Liv again. She could still see parts of Julie, but she knew that the Julie was going to help Olivia be a better detective and person. She wasn't afraid anymore.

"Let's just see what Rock has to say. We can form opinions and speculations later. We are all here to solve this aspect of the case. If we find anything, we still have to play nice and share," Alex told them, "But, let's see what they have. Maybe they have discovered more since Dana told them that we were coming. We need to give them the benefit of the doubt right now. We can all talk about it later, behind closed doors and with each other."

"Sounds good. Let's see what Rock actually knows. I think we're here," Abbie stated as they pulled into a parking lot.

Liv looked at the building. It was non-descript like most government buildings. She wouldn't have known that it was the building in question, had there not been a FBI logo on a sign in front of it. She wasn't impressed, but then again, she knew she wouldn't be.

Rock met them outside the building. He had a pair of sunglasses on and a sharp grey suit. Liv cocked her eyebrow at him, but was polite enough to say nothing. Alex wasn't sure what to think of the man. Her quick meeting with him the day before didn't give her enough time to form an opinion. The sight of him wasn't helping her for any opinion of him, but that he was a "company" man.

"Good morning, ladies and Doctor Huang. If you'll come with me, I have a conference room waiting for us. I am sure that you would like to question the locals and the rest about the case," he told them ushering them in the building.

He took off his sunglasses as he entered the door. He led them down the hall to the conference room. He stopped at the door and surveyed the small grouping.

"Oh, and Agent Benson, don't worry. Your reputation has preceded you. Everyone has been made aware of your abilities and your knowledge of the case. Agent Lewis made it painfully aware that you and Agent Cabot were calling the shots here. I am here to help no matter what your preconceived notion about me or the case. I want to help, in every way I can."

Liv nodded. She then looked at Alex with a questioning look. Alex just smiled and shrugged. She knew that Liv didn't know that she had been vetted as well. She just nodded at Rock as she took a seat at the table. Liv sat down next to her, with her binder and notes, but gave Alex a look that told her that her questions would be answered later and in private.

"That's good, Agent Griswold. What do you know about the investigation? What is your impression of the scene?" Liv asked him.

"It is a mess. There is so much rage. Frankly, we didn't know what was going on there until Special Agent Lewis called us and filled us in. Needless to say that the locals LEOs aren't exactly happy that they weren't informed about the complexity of the case. They've turned everything over, however. They didn't want to deal with it once they knew what was going on with it all," Rock told her.

"Any personal thoughts?" Liv inquired.

"I don't know what the hell you got yourself into while you were undercover, but that was some seriously messed up shit. Frankly, I don't want to know what you were dealing with, but that girl didn't deserve what she got. The locals did a bad job on the scene, because they didn't know what they were getting into when they started their investigation. I hope that you can shed some light on it. I know that you want to go to the scene. We've still got it in custody. Hell, the FBI practically owns it until we figure out what to do with it," Rock told her.

"Why is that?" Alex asked.

"Because it was used in the commission of a crime and it is still considered evidence. Because Miss Ireland was listed as the owner of the building, the City of Montgomery will end up auctioning it off at the end of the year if no one else comes forward to claim it. We have already searched for a will. We haven't found it."

"Well, let's see what we can figure out. The LEOs did a number on the crime scene. I can tell by the photos that you sent. Did you find any useable evidence?"

"Everything that we found was in that binder," Rock told her.

"Damn it. Okay, that's enough talk. Let's go out to the scene. I need to see it for myself," Liv told them.

Alex grabbed her hand and gave it a good squeeze. She knew that Olivia was upset, but she also knew that it she would take it out on everyone. It was a gentle reminder that Alex was there for her and she could be pissed. Liv knew exactly what Alex was doing. She helping her stay grounded when all she wanted to do was yell and scream and beat something.

"Fine, let's go," Rock answered.

Twenty minutes later, they were on the scene. Abbie decided to wait out in the vehicle with Rock. He decided not to go in, when Liv shot him a look. He didn't know what he had done to piss her off and he didn't want to do it again. He opted it was smarter to stay out of Liv's way until she needed him. Abbie just didn't want to see it. Pictures were enough for her.

Huang and Alex followed Liv into the scene. They let her lead the way. Alex watched her as she methodically made her way into the building. She followed the notes given on the path the earlier detectives had, not wanting to disturb the evidence, if there was still some. Huang followed next and Alex right behind him.

Liv didn't stop. She didn't wait for them. She had the binder and the pictures. She made her way through the building and to the offices on the second floor. She stopped outside the door marked "IRELAND." She let out a breath she didn't know she was holding and she pushed the door open. She stood in the doorway for a few moments before she fell to her knees.

Alex immediately was at her side. She grabbed Liv's hand and waited for her to say something. She didn't know what to say. She didn't know what to do. The case was breaking Liv a little more every day and it hurt to see her that way, but she couldn't stop her. That would be twenty times worse and everyone knew it. She would just stay there by her side and wait.

"This is her business office," Liv said.

"Is this where she was killed?" Alex asked.

"No, she was killed in her other office," Huang stated.

Liv turned and looked at him. The fire in her eyes was evident. He knew that she was sliding back into Julie and they were both powerless to stop it. He wondered if Julie wouldn't be the right person for the job right now. She would be the one who would know what to do.

Alex looked into Liv's eyes. She saw the fire. She saw the want for justice and then she saw the smoke clearly as the flames died. Her azure eyes bore holes into Liv's soul as her eyes darkened and Julie came to the forefront. Alex didn't flinch. She just kept looking into Liv's eyes.

"Alex?" Liv asked.

"I am still here."

"Why?"

"Because we have to find justice for them all, including you, Julie."

Alex felt her squeeze her hand. She knew that Julie and Liv both knew that Alex wasn't going leave. Alex smiled at her and waited.

"What do we need from in here?" Alex asked her.

"I don't know. I want to look around. I am sure that there is something in here that they missed."

"This place is a mess. How are you going to find anything in here? How do you know that there is still anything here that will help us with the case? Liv, we don't even know who trashed this place. Do you even know what you are looking for?" Alex asked her.

"I don't, but Julie does," she replied.

Alex watched her. She stood in the doorway with the ghost of Olivia as Julie took over and searched the room. George stood behind her and watched the scene. He knew that Alex was releasing the reins and letting Julie do the work that had to be done. He only hoped that they could all bring Liv back when they were done.

She tore the desk apart. She was looking for something to link the cases together. Julie knew this place. She knew Mara. She had to think like Mara. Mara had trusted Julie.

"If you wanted me to find something, where would you hide it?" she mused out loud.

"Only a place that you would look," Alex offered.

"Yeah and where would that be?" Julie asked, sitting at Mara desk.

"Well for starters, I wouldn't leave it in my desk or a safe. I wouldn't leave it out in the open, either. It would have to be a place that you would only think of or somewhere that we had used a drop before. I wouldn't leave it to chance. I would use somewhere that you would look, somewhere that only you knew about or somewhere you asked me to put, even if it was indirectly," Alex explained.

"Okay, Alex, if we were at home where would that be?"

"If we were in New York, I would send it straight to the precinct."

"Okay, that's true. But, we need to think outside of the box. She was involved with a criminal organization. She didn't have that luxury. She would have to find a way to get word to me."

"Alright, let's think about what happened the last time that you were here. What did you do? What did you talk about with Mara?" Alex asked.

"Her room!"

"We are in her office," Alex stated.

"Not this room, her other room, it's down the hall," Huang stated, holding up the binder.

"Her personal room?" Alex asked with a cocked eyebrow and a hint of jealousy.

"Yes," Liv stated, jumping up from the desk and running down the hall to Mara's room.

Alex moved out of the way just in time as Liv ran past her. George and Alex followed her down the hallway and waited outside the doorway of Mara's other business room. Alex just stared into the very red room. George actually smiled at them, knowing how uncomfortable Alex was, but was hiding it, and how at ease Julie/Liv was walking around the room.

"She wouldn't put it in the closet or under the bed. They would have looked there. Hell, it looks like they trashed this room too. They smashed her bureau open looking in it, too."

"Would she leave it here?" George asked.

"I don't know."

"Think, Liv. You knew her. You were getting her to give you information that would bring them all down. You were getting her to turn. We would have helped her and you know that. What would you have told her to do in case something happened?" George questioned.

"I told her to be sure to back up all her computer files. Put it on a thumb drive. Hide it. If something happens, I'll come looking for it. I'll know where to find. It would have to be hidden somewhere that no one would think to look. It would have to be somewhere that only Mara and I would know about, somewhere that we talked about."

"Where would that be?"

"She didn't go by Mara all the time. Sometimes she didn't want to be the madam of the house. The other girls knew that. She had a different room, a room that wasn't hers."

"Whose was it?"

"I can't remember," Liv stated.

"Think hard, Liv. Think back to the last time you were here. Did you join her in that room?"

"Yes, I did."

"Can you remember which room it was?" Alex asked, pushing her jealousy down.

"I can't."

"Think, Liv. You were Julie. You were here. What room was it?"

Liv stood still for a moment. She growled and held her head, trying to remember anything. She stared around the decimated room. Her eyes scanned everything. She landed on a picture, taped to the mirror. She walked over to it and pulled it off the mirror. She turned it around to show Alex and George.

"The girl on the right is Mara. The girl on the left is her little sister, Rebecca. She is the reason that Mara broke. D. J. got her pregnant and shipped her off. She got word that Rebecca gave birth to a healthy baby girl, who was promptly sold off to the highest bidder."

"Sweet mother of …" Alex started.

"D. J. didn't know that Rebecca was her sister. She was just another girl in his machine. She was nothing to him but a quick lay and incubator. It broke Mara. She was looking for a way out. She wanted justice for her sister and she wanted to find her niece."

"What was Rebecca doing here?" George asked.

"She was working for Mara. She was helping with the books and the girls. She was a coordinator. She wasn't working in the backrooms. She was more like a manager. She kept everything in line when Mara wasn't there."

"How did she get involved with D. J.?" Alex asked.

"We never found out. I tried to find out what I could about Rebecca after she told me. I don't know why she felt the need to tell me. I think she was warning me because of Frankie. She was scared for Frankie, I guess. I let her know that I would look around Atlanta for her."

"Did you find her?" Alex questioned.

"No, I didn't. I didn't have to. When I got back from the Montgomery run that time, she was deposited on me. I had to clean it up."

"Clean what up?" George asked.

"Rebecca was dead. I don't know how or when, but she was mess. Robin ordered me to clean it up and make it go away. I took her down to the police station after I called Ike. Ike made sure that she was taken care of and not listed as a Jane Doe. I went back to the bar and drank like nothing happened. The only thing was that I didn't know that Rebecca was the girl. She was so disfigured; I couldn't have told you who she was."

"How did you find out who she was?" Alex asked.

"They ran her prints at the Bureau. Mara had filed a missing persons report at my suggestion. She popped up as a runaway teen from Alabama. Ike sent word to the local LEOs to do the notification. Then, he let me know. I realized that I had to find a way back to Montgomery, so I could tell Mara. I started trying to watch the runs and the chatter amongst the guys. Nothing was making sense. I could follow the drugs and give the routes. I could follow the guns and give the locations. But, the children and the women, the brothels, nothing made sense in the gang chatter. I had nothing go on," Liv stated, sitting on the bed.

"What did you do?"

"Frankie asked for another long run. She figured I just needed to get out of town again. D. J. was happy to see that we were willing to take the longer runs as partners. He sent us right back to Montgomery with another run. We decided to stay with Mara at the brothel. It was then that I told her that her sister was dead.

"What did she do?" George asked.

"She took it well. She took me to her office and showed me the files that she had. She began tracking everything that was being done. She had shipments, birth, rendezvous points, pick up points, everything from her end of the operation. She told me that the money was no longer worth the casualties. Now, it was too close to home, it had affected her."

"That is when she turned."

"Yeah, she told me everything. I don't understand why she did. I never broke cover. I never told her who I was."

"You told her that her sister was dead," George stated.

"What the hell did that prove?" Liv asked, angrily.

"That you could be trusted. That you cared about what was going on and that you didn't agree with it. She may have thought that you were looking for an out. She may have thought many things. We will never know. But, you must have said something, done something, that made her think that you could fix things. It doesn't matter now. What matters is that we find the information that she was hiding so that we can get her justice," George explained.

"What name did she use on the other room? She was the madam. Ireland was for her office. Mara was for personal business. Where did she go when she didn't want anyone else to know?"

"To Rebecca's room," Liv stated.

She started out of the room slowly. She stood in the hallway. The rooms were all labeled. The doors were mostly all open and the rooms trashed. The girls that didn't get out the way and tell Robin or D. J. what they wanted to hear were killed in their rooms. It had turned into a bloody massacre. The report told her as much, but seeing the aftermath and the destruction was totally different. She turned around in a circle taking everything in and then she headed to the stairs.

Alex and George followed her blindly. They didn't know what was pushing her or where she was going. They only knew that she knew the building and the scene better than anyone. She ran up the stairs to the top floor. They knew that most of the girls kept other rooms in the top of the brothel. It was their room, their place to have a life outside of the sex and service. She knew that Mara had one, too. So did Rebecca. It was the only room in the brothel that no one was allowed in. Liv stopped in front of the door.

"The first two floors were for the working girls and business. The next two were for their personal space and personal affairs. The next floor was rented out rooms or rooms for the gang to stay in while they were in Montgomery. The top two floors were for VIPs and other clients. Rebecca's room was up there."

"I take it that is didn't say Rebecca Ireland on it so D. J. would know who she was," Alex stated.

"No, it didn't. It simply stated R. C. All the girls knew that it was Rebecca's room. She was the one who took care of the pregnant girls. They became the other clients and stayed on the top floor with her. Everyone liked her."

"Would D. J. look there?" George asked.

"I doubt it. He didn't know that Rebecca was Mara's sister. He also didn't know that I knew."

They walked into the room slowly. It wasn't destroyed. Most of the rooms on that hall weren't. D. J. had known enough to know this is where Mara kept the "merchandise." He was on the run, but he wasn't stupid. He wouldn't hurt those girls. He needed to get them out. He could start up somewhere else if he had them. He just had to get them out of Montgomery first.

Liv slowly pushed opened the door to Rebecca's room. It was all decorated in soft pinks and greens. It definitely had a feminine touch. She scanned the room. It was then that she remembered that the local LEOs hadn't touched the room. There were no notes in binder about it. This room was her missing piece.

"What is it, Liv?"

"The locals never came in here. They probably opened the door, looked around and saw no damage. They decided that this room had no significance to the case and left it alone."

George handed her a pair of gloves that he had stashed in his pockets. She immediately put them on as she continued to scan the room. As she scanned, she tried to remember what Mara had told her about Rebecca. There had to be something. Something that would hold the USB key so it would be hidden from everyone except those who knew where to look. It was then that she spotted it. She crossed the room and picked up a cup.

"A Chewbacca mug?" Alex questioned.

"They loved Star Wars. It was the one thing that they actually shared," Liv stated as she turned the cup over in her hand and held up the USB key, "It was also the one place that no one would dare to look. No one knew that Rebecca was her sister. No one knew the bond they shared. No one knew that she kept this room as a shrine to her dead sister or that she would hide in here when things became too hard to handle. This was her sacred space."

"But, who took care of the girls after Rebecca disappeared?" Alex stated.

"Mara did it personally. She never let anyone into the room. No one questioned it. No one asked. Most figured it was a storage closet because she brought towels and such out of it."

"Rebecca kept stuff in there for daily use. Mara kept it up as a ruse. Clever girl, she was."

"That she was, George, that she was. Now, let's get this back to the Bureau so we can see what's on it. I have a feeling that D. J. and Robin just earned the needle," Liv stated, with a triumph in her voice.