Chapter Thirty-Six

Ressler had gone too quiet and it was making Jacob nervous. He kept trying to get a look behind him, but every time his captors would push him roughly forward. They had his hands bound with zip ties and one man had a rough hold on his collar, keeping him faced forward and moving. His gun was gone and these people had somehow infiltrated the Post Office. Unless Cooper or one of the others had gotten an alert out before the lines were cut, there was a good chance that no one knew it had happened. They were there late that night and only a skeleton crew was on hand. As far as Jacob could tell as they walked down the hallways, many of those men and women had simply been put down. Apparently they were looking for specific people and he and Ressler had met some criteria. Just like he'd expected, they were after Liz.

They turned a corner and Jacob recognized the hall that led towards the main section of the Post Office. He was shoved through the door and the first thing he saw was his wife strung up by her wrists by a chain tossed over a low-hanging pipe. She was already bruised, standing on her toes to keep her feet on the floor, and her gaze flickered over as soon as he entered, meeting his, and immediately Jacob started fighting his captors. He managed to get a solid blow, hearing something in the man's face crack, before they slammed him to the ground, a boot pressing against his back hard and he could barely see them dragging Ressler over to cuff him to the work stations with Cooper, Aram, Samar, and a few other lucky members of the night crew that had survived the invasion. He thrashed for a moment before he heard the sound of a gun being cocked and felt the pressure on the back of his head. Jacob stilled, lying against the floor with his hands tied behind his back at a painful angle, and heard the man that was standing next to Liz laughed.

"Your boy's got some spirit, Rostova," he chuckled. "Must be fun."

"You know who I am, Braxton. You know you're not getting anything from me. Beat on me all night, but you'll kill me and have nothing to show for it." She offered him a lazy sort of smirk. "Get it over with, would you?"

"I do know who you are," he answered. "I don't expect you'll bend and break for the feds. But how much you wanna bet he will?"

"If I don't know anything what the hell makes you think he does?"

"It's amazing how many rumours fly with someone like you. I doubt they're all true, but the fact that you're here means the one about falling in love with a fed is. I bet you tell the mister everything, don't you?"

One of his captors hauled Jacob to his feet so that he had a better view of things. He kept his expression even as Braxton crossed the space between them. "Where's the file?"

"What file?"

"The blackmail file of Reddington's your wife has."

"You know, buddy, here's the thing. My wife is a trained agent. There's a hell of a lot she doesn't tell me, and-"

Braxton motioned and a shot rang out, one of his thugs putting a bullet in the head of a woman Jacob was pretty sure was an analyst. He didn't twitch, even as Cooper and Aram made small sounds of protest from their spot. "I can't tell you what I don't know. Why don't you ask Reddington?"

"I asked you."

"Guess you picked the wrong people to interrogate then."

Braxton glanced to where Liz was, her hands wrapped around the chains that were biting into her wrists, her scowl dangerous. He needed her alive, that much Jacob was sure if. The rest of them were expendable, but Braxton's test had failed. He had likely expected a reaction at the quick trigger finger and had received none from either of them.

"The ginger," one of the men that had found them said. "They were together when we came across them. He's been protecting him."

Liz caught Jacob's gaze briefly, worry flashing through her eyes, but he wasn't sure if it was for Ressler or the idea that Jacob might say something because of him.

They hauled Ressler to his feet only to toss him back to the floor. The injured agent was only halfway conscious, and Braxton took hold of him, hand clamping down on his injured shoulder. Ressler jerked fully back to consciousness with a yelp and Jacob fought the hands on him. "Fine. Okay," he snapped. Liz turned a horrified look on him and he shook his head. "The damn thing isn't worth Ress' life." He turned back to Braxton. "Redford Bank. Box 3929. It's there."

Braxton nodded and took a step closer. "I hope you know that if you're lying, I'm going to put a bullet in you so that you can watch your buddy die as you bleed out. Your wife knows where it is, and all I need is one of you."

"Box 3929," Jacob repeated.

"Get it," Braxton barked. "Cuff him and keep an eye on both of them."

They hauled Jacob over to the others, but away from Liz. Her expression was frustrated, but it was an act. He knew it was. She was doing her best to back him in this.

Jacob took a hard seat and was cuffed to one of the tables. Ressler was all but tossed down beside him, his expression strained as he held his arm close in. "Jake-"

"Shut up. All I did was buy us time."

Reddington trusted a select number of people in crisis situations, and this was most certainly one. Baz's team was scattered and they were on more of a time crunch than usual, so Red settled for the man himself, a couple of his own men, Dembe, and he would go in with them.

"The lockdown is in effect, but no distress signal has been sent," Kate Kaplan said as they bent over the layout of the Post Office. "We've had eyes on all possible exits for the facility and only one small team has exited. None of them were faces we know as part of the task force."

"When did they leave?"

"About twenty minutes ago."

"But there's no way to reach the inside is there?" Reddington mused.

Kate's brows drew together in a worried manner. "There's no guarantee she's alive, Raymond."

"It doesn't matter. I'm going in."

She nodded and Baz reached forward to point as he spoke. "Our most likely entry points, with the lockdown, are here and here, but both will take time. There's a good chance we'll be spotted before we ever breach the facility."

"I have a better idea. Do we have a tail on the ones that left?"

"Of course," Kate answered a little indignantly.

"Pick one up. They'll get us into the Post Office the way they came out." He bent down to pick up the shotgun leaned against the table. "Don't bother with the others. We don't need them. If they get in the way put a bullet in their heads and be done with it."

Baz nodded and Reddington watched he and Dembe move out. Kate reached a hand out for him. "I'm only going to say this once, dearie, but you'll do her no good dead."

"I'm aware," he answered tightly, "but I won't lose her again, Kate."

Jacob was playing them. She could tell that much, because as far as she knew her husband didn't have a secret bank box hidden away, much less had the blackmail file stored there. He was buying time and trying to keep them alive while doing it. Braxton was certain Liz knew where it was, so as long as he didn't know, she was the only one really safe. Until then, anyone else was fair game.

Liz tried to look around as best as she could in her awkward position. Ressler looked miserable, his shirt covered in blood and his face pale as he leaned against Jacob, only about halfway conscious. Even if Jacob broke free of his bonds - Liz certainly didn't have that option with the way her hands were tied above her head for the whole room to see - he wouldn't get two steps before getting himself or someone else killed, and Liz knew he wouldn't risk his partner like that. In a selfish way, she hoped he wouldn't risk her exposed as she was, even if Braxton needed her alive.

Liz's gaze darted over as one of Braxton's men came in and spoke quietly in his ear. Whatever was said didn't appear to be good.

Braxton snorted and motioned to Liz. "Get her down. Kill the others."

The first gunshot went off and another agent fell dead. There was no way they could have broken into the bank and found it empty yet. There hadn't been time. "You're going to have what you want," she hissed. "Jacob told you where to find the damn thing. Go to the bank. Get it and leave us alone!"

"There's not time sir," one of the men said. "Reddington's already inside."

Liz froze, blinking hard. Reddington had come to help them? How had he even known? One of Braxton's goons started to lower her down, but she kicked out, catching him in the gut and sending him stumbling back.

"Hey!" Braxton yelled.

"Hey," she growled back. "Leave them alone. You don't touch one hair on any of the ones left and I'll go quietly with you. You hurt any one of them and I'll fight you do hard you'll kill me before you ever get what you want."

Braxton watched her for a second, as if he was sizing her up. "Fine."

"Liz!" Jacob yelled from where he was still cuffed to his place.

She didn't have a chance to say anything as they dragged her out the door and down the hall roughly. She could hear the sound of gunshots and a fight following them, but Braxton had ahold of her shoulder. "You fight me and our deal is off. Your husband's life ends with one radio call, you got it?"

"I got it," she growled.

"Maybe I underestimated your attachment to him, Rostova. I should have used him."

"I'm going to kill you either way," she told him simply. "All that would have done was made it more painful."

"Your husband lied to me about the file, didn't he?"

"I wouldn't know."

Braxton snorted. "I have ways of getting the information from you," he assured her and shoved her forward.

They rounded the corner and she spotted an ambulance waiting there. The doors opened as they moved closer and a paramedic - she assumed he was, anyway - tossed Braxton a jacket with a patch just like his own sewed in. There was another woman waiting inside. "You can get the chip out?"

Liz tensed a little. The tracking chip that had been part of her deal. They had dug Reddington's from his neck at some point, so she understood, and now they were going to do the same to her.

The lady paramedic nodded nervously and Braxton grinned. "Good. Time to put some distance between us."

Jacob fought hard against his restraints, working his wrists against them. He had never mastered the art of pulling his thumb from its socket to slip them, but he was a damn good lock pick. He, like the others, were fastened to the mesh fencing behind the desks that separated the pull pen from a hallway, and he pulled hard on it. If he could pull it loose, he could then use the wiring to cut the holdings.

The sound of footsteps could be heard on the catwalk above and Jacob cringed, wondering if Braxton's boys had come back to finish the job.

"Where is Elizabeth?"

Reddington's voice was, somehow, at least a bit of a relief. "He took her."

"If we can get the systems back up we can track her chip," Aram offered.

Reddington and Dembe moved into their line of view and Dembe knelt with wire cutters that snapped the restraints. "Do it," Reddington snapped.

Jacob was on his feet as soon as he was free. "Call me as soon as it's up."

"Halfway there now that they're not jamming the signals," Aram answered, looking over at Ressler. "I hit the alert as well. An ambulance is in its way."

"Ress…"

"Go, you idiot. Go save your wife," Ressler grumbled.

Jacob nodded and started towards the stairs. Reddington was on his heels as he dropped off to pick up his sidearm from where they'd dropped it. "Whatever you have to drive, I guarantee I'm a faster driver."

"Dembe will follow for backup."

The fact that Red didn't argue was both a relief and a surprise, but not one that he was going to linger on. "What's going on? This guy knows about the file."

"I have told you time and again that the Cabal is dangerous, Agent Phelps. They want the Fulcrum. They'll stop at nothing to get it. This isn't your car."

Jacob paused half a beat as his brain processed the sentence that didn't seem to fit. "It's the bureau's. You can get in or I can go save Liz by myself. Your call."

Reddington offered the Mustang a brief look of distrust before climbing into the passenger's seat. Jacob revved the engine and the tires spun as he left the garage, his phone connecting with the system and ringing through with Aram's name attached to it. "Where are we going, Aram?"

"I've sent the coordinates through. You should be able to track them as we do."

"Sounds good. Red's on speaker."

"You take the Mustang?" Ressler's tired voice sounded over the phone.

"We need fast."

"Please don't crash and kill yourself."

Jacob snorted as he glanced down to the gps tracking the chip that should lead them to Liz.

"Dembe, have you found her?" Reddington asked as he pulled his burner phone to his ear and Jacob took a sharp left, following the signal. "Stay on her. I'll let Agent Phelps know."

"You'll let me know what?"

"You're going the wrong direction."

"This is where-"

"They've likely removed it. Take a right up here and get going in the other direction."

Jacob growled irritably, but didn't argue. If they knew where to look and didn't care about hurting her, it'd be easy enough to dig that chip out and toss it, sending them on a wild goose chase and losing her in the process.

"You and Elizabeth have the file."

"Liz already told you-"

"This isn't a game, Agent Phelps. The fact that neither of you are willing to trust me with this is part of what has put Elizabeth in danger in the first place. Right up here."

Jacob realized he was getting the lecture while Red was still taking instructions from Dembe. He took a hard right, causing the tires to squeal. "And what's the other thing, Red? Handing a dangerous blackmail file to a four-year-old?"

From his peripheral vision Jacob saw Reddington frown. "Left and then a right two streets up. They were desperate times, Jacob. You…weren't there. You couldn't possibly imagine the choices at hand."

"Ever thought maybe we don't trust you because you withhold information? A lot of it, by the way."

"Let's focus on saving her now. We'll discuss What happened after."

"I'm not going to let you turn her into you," Jacob said dangerously.

Reddington gave a sad sort of smile, but refused to answer. Instead he gave another direction and Jacob drove.

Her shoulder was burning from where the medic had dug the chip out, but she knew she had to focus on it. A close compartment like this was her best chance of surviving. She was unarmed, and Braxton thought that gave him the advantage, but she had always excelled in using her surroundings.

Liz drew a steadying breath and closed her eyes, mentally counting off. Two paramedics, Braxton, and the driver. This was a walk in the park. She'd been trained for this sort of thing.

The lady paramedic leaned in to stick her with a needle and Liz jerked up, her head colliding with the other woman's and knocked her back. She swung a leg around, slamming into Braxton and knocking him back hard. She ducked under the other paramedic, slipped around him, and used the momentum to slam him hard into the wall of the ambulance. She reached out on instinct, grabbing for the gun in Braxton's hand and it went off. Immediately the ambulance swerved, throwing them both hard. The stretcher slammed into them and she kicked out at it as hard as possible, popping the door open just right.

Braxton grabbed hold of her as she made a dash for the door, but Liz swung around, using the out of control ambulance's movements and the large man's own weight against him. They both went tumbling out, hitting the pavement and rolling.

Liz was on her feet in an instant, her fist slamming into his jaw hard and she shook out the ache it left before dodging a clumsy attempt to reciprocate. It had been a while since she had gone all out at someone, and this guy deserved everything she had and then some. He had threatened her husband, her new team, and… her friends. Yes, on some level, they were. Enough that the threats levelled at them were helping her to send her over the boiling point as she waylaid on the man.

"Elizabeth!"

Her name stopped her and she took a hesitant step back to see Braxton all but twitching on the street. After a beat and a careful breath she turned to see Reddington coming towards her, Jacob just behind him. Just beyond them stood Dembe next to a second vehicle.

Jacob moved passed Red and suddenly Liz was in his arms. She felt the rage die down as she returned the embrace, burying her face in the crook of his shoulder and holding tight. "Damn," he managed when they parted and he got a better look at Braxton. "Remind me not to piss you off."

"I went easy on you that time," she tried for a tease. She almost regretted it, but he cracked a smile and pressed a kiss to her forehead before releasing her.

She turned, still coming down from the rush, and found Reddington staring at her, his discomfort barely covered. Why he was the one that looked uncomfortable with her display when her husband had taken it in stride, she couldn't be certain. "I didn't tell him that you don't have your precious blackmail file. I'd guess that's what you're worried about."

"Hardly," Reddington managed. "I…" His expression was so strained, so pained, and she wasn't quite sure why. "Lizzie, I am so sorry to have brought this down on you."

"He's alive," Jacob said from behind. "How are you? Now that the adrenaline is wearing off and you might actually be able to tell."

"I'm okay. I'm… alright." She leaned in as he put his arms around her again, pulling her close and kissing her head.

"We came to rescue you," he offered with a small chuckle.

"You'll have to be faster next time," Liz managed. "How's Don?"

"They were calling an ambulance when I left. I got him patched up pretty well before they found us. It got the bleeding slowed at least. He'll be fine."

"Audrey's going to kill him."

Her husband snorted. "They'll have to push the wedding back a couple weeks. She was wanting it Saturday."

"You're optimistic."

"That she'll push it back or that he'll be there?"

Liz just smiled at him and pecked him on the cheek. He took hold of her hand, inspecting the damage done to her wrists from the chains and he ran a thumb along her tender jawline. "I'm so sorry."

"It's not your fault. I'm a big girl."

"Doesn't mean I don't want to protect you," he whispered.

"Well, as long as I can protect you too," she answered and he gave her that quirked smile of his she lived.

"Deal."

Liz drew in a deep breath and glanced over to Reddington and Dembe who were speaking quietly. "We need to tell him."

"Liz, this-"

"I can't explain it, babe. He wasn't here for the file. That's what I thought when I saw him. That… That he was here to make sure I didn't spill his secrets, but you didn't see his face when he spoke to me."

"People fake emotions, Liz. I don't have to tell you that."

"No, but I know when they do, and that was real. We either need to start trusting him or cut ties. Either way, I want to get rid of this thing. He knows what it is and we don't. It's… We're playing with dangers we don't understand."

Her husband nodded slowly. "Okay."

"Okay?"

"Yeah. I trust you."

"Really?"

"Yeah. I'm choosing to. I love you, Lizzie."

A warmth rushed through her and she had her arms around his neck suddenly. He chuckled softly and returned the embrace. "I love you too."

"But he has to be honest with us," Jacob murmured seriously and she nodded.

"That's part of the deal."

She looked over to Red and swallowed hard. Once again, things were about to shift. It was strange, but for some reason, it felt right. She wasn't sure if starting to trust Reddington was a good idea or she just wanted it to be, but if she was right and he really was in this for more than just the file, she needed to learn to trust him. This was just the first step.

TBC

Notes: Is anyone else really excited for the Gina episode this Thursday? Because I know I am :D

Next time - Jacob throws Ressler a surprise bachelor party and the wedding gives everyone a few minutes to breathe.