Coming up the escalator of the horse track, Olivia looked confident behind her sunglasses, but inside she was having a small mental breakdown, she hated escalators with a passion, she was smiling none the less, wearing a pair of black anklet elf boots, a dark pair of jeans that fit her curves perfectly and a tank top that was purple – it accentuated her growing cleavage with a fitted bust before the material flowed down her stomach.
She came to be standing behind Michael who was leaning against a pilar, wearing a tan fisherman hat and holding a book with the horses stats that were racing today.
"Whoa, Liv you look incredible." Michael said his eyes wondering all over her as she removed her sunglasses. "I mean, you always do but – well, wow." Michael wasn't sure he'd ever seen her that way.
"Don't get use to it." Olivia laughed walking by him now toward the betting stations, she could rock it, but it wasn't exactly her style.
"SparkleKid, gate 8." Michael said crossing paths with Lincoln who grabbed a small box device from his hand, pulling his ball cap down, he kept moving, Michael leaning against a table, Alex joining him with two beers in plastic cups.
"Hiii." Olivia said cheerfully to the lady behind the counter that appeared to be run off her feet. "I'd like to place some bets, please." She put the bet cards down.
"Sure." The lady said taking the paper and running them through the computer, taking the money Olivia had also set down and handing her some tickets. "There you are ma'am." She smiled.
"Thank you." Olivia said taking them, at the same time Brad stood at the booth next to her, starting to freak out about being given the wrong bet and causing a distraction.
Olivia glanced at him, before she started walking away, telling herself to remain collected and cool.
Hearing the commotion from Brad, Michael was staring at Fernando, before nodding, Fernando half nodded and looked around, he walked to where the horses were being kept seeing a security officer. "Hey someone is popping off at one of the clerks in there!" He pointed.
"I'll check it out." The guard said, leaving his post by the gate quickly. Fernando felt relief as Lincoln squeezed his shoulder and made his way into the gated area, looking back only for a split second.
Finding Michael in the crowd from a distance, Michael nodded standing up straight, with Alex and Olivia kept walking toward the officer standing in front of the employees only door, she casually adjusted her breasts.
As she walked by, she started digging in her small purse, making sure the ticket stubs fell out but she ignored them. "Excuse me, Miss?" She heard from behind her and she turned around.
The Officer as bent down picking up the tickets, "oh." Olivia said in surprise. "thank you so much." Olivia tried not looking at Michael and Alex sneaking into the door he left unwatched.
"You have no idea how much trouble I would've been in if I lost these, my boss would've killed me." She looked so revealed. "Thank you." Olivia touched his arm lightly. "Oh. Anytime." He said his eyes looking down her top. She felt creeped out, but it was all part of the scheme.
She joined Brad standing by a screen inside the track, Alex coming to stand with them, his arms crossed. "Lets hope his plan works." He spoke nervously. "It will." Olivia said positive. "Alex..." She didn't know what to say to the man who she only recently learned about his son.
She never cared for him, after everything he did, but she tolerated him to keep the plans moving. But she couldn't imagine his pain, "it's fine." Alex said quickly not wanting to talk about it.
Staying quiet, Olivia just nodded as the announcer took over the speakers.
"Here we go." Brad said seeing the gate sticking, and the crowds of people making their way back inside to complain, they watched as Mister Edison headed toward the mangers office looking pissed.
Michael holding the phone to his ear, Roland on the other end he was counting seconds in his head. As the door opened again and the manager came walking out, with Edison in tow.
"Did we get it?" Michael asked curiously. "100 percent." Roland said feeling accomplished. Michael snapped the phone closed and nodded in the direction of the others.
Now it was about getting the device back from the office that Alex and he had put there. Olivia knew her cue, she started walking back to the officer at the door.
"Excuse me?" Olivia asked the officer, "I placed a bet on SparkleKid for my boss and … Well, do you know what happened?" She watched Michael going one way and Alex walking in her direction again.
"Not at the moment sweetheart." He held his hands on his hips. "Oh." She looked flustered. "My boss had be put down more money then I make on a week for him and I just, I know he's gonna ask questions?" She watched Alex slip into the door.
"Really. I'm not the right person to ask, but do I wish I was." He was eyeing her up and down again and it made her skin crawl. "Maybe you could help me find someone who can help me?" She moved closer to him, seeing Alex coming back.
"Well..." He was kind of grinning before he noticed the diamond ring on her finger and his mood changed. "I can't, sorry." He said coldly. "Oh... Why not?" She knew Alex couldn't get out with them standing both in the door.
"Maybe you should ask your fiancee to help you." He glared a little and Olivia stepped back as Alex went a different direction. "Welp, I'm sure you have a tiny bird anyway." Olivia nodded curtly and walked off quickly.
"Hey." Olivia said happily feeling Lincoln pulling her into his arms as they all met outside. "Glad you're safe." She lent against him as he rubbed her shoulder. "I'm glad you are, too." He kissed the top of her head.
"Where's Mahone?" Brad asked noticing everyone was back, but him.
"He's right there..." Sara who had been waiting outside but joined Michael pointed to the two police cars across the grass, where Alex was staring back at them, hand cuffed.
"That's great, he's got the device." Lincoln watched them push Alex into the car, slamming the door. "I'd be more worried about how Nikole's gonna react to this." Fernando pointed out.
"Well, I'm not fucking telling her." Lincoln said quickly. Olivia kept still, before looking over and doing a double take seeing everyone staring in her direction. "Why do I?!" She exclaimed.
"Because, you're the one she's least likely to lose her frickin' mind on." Brad made an explosion like gesture with his hands...
"Knock-Knock." Olivia said leaning in the door frame of the office, seeing Nikole was scribbling stuff down on a fresh piece of paper, she stopped turning to look at Olivia.
"Hey." She said cheerfully. "Heard you guys got the card easy-peasy." She smiled. "Yeah, we did – I mean... It wasn't effortless." She stepped into the office, holding out a coffee cup to the woman.
"Thanks." Nikole said taking it, watching Olivia sit down on the stool, she pulled over to sit close to Nikole, she was tapping her decaf coffee cup anxiously.
"What?" Nikole's mood changed, watching her nervous tick. "Nothing." Olivia said quickly, taking a sip of coffee but it was almost empty. "What..." Nikole asked again.
"Just promise you wont shoot the messenger." Olivia put the cup down and watched as Nikole looked lost. "Okay, I promise." She said lightly, not understanding.
As she took a deep breath in and let it out, Olivia nodded. "Alex... Got arrested at the track, getting the device back." She lent away incase Nikole went back on her not shooting the messenger.
Opening her eyes, Olivia could see Nikole hadn't moved an inch. "So, we need to get the device out of lock up?" She asked and Olivia stared. "Uhm, I'm not sure if you heard me... Alex is in jail." She tried again.
"Oh, I heard you." Nikole played her fingers into her ponytail swishing it behind her back. "I... Erm... Okay." Olivia didn't expect her reaction to be so calm.
"Just thought you should know." She stood up, putting her cup in the trash bin and turning to the door.
Closing the door behind her, Olivia almost screamed, seeing five faces staring at her from around the corner. "She's fine." She shrugged. "What do you mean, she's fine?" Michael was holding a red sharpie in his hand.
"She didn't really react, all she said was something about getting the device out of lockup." Olivia repeated what Nikole had said. "That's it?" Lincoln was starting to wonder if Nikole already lost her mind.
"Yeah, that's it... Now what?" Olivia asked, Michael looked between them all. "We work on the fifth card holder." He started walking back to the table. "What about Mahone?" Brad had a horrible feeling. "What about him? He's toast." Lincoln shrugged himself, sitting down, with Olivia.
"So if I get popped tomorrow, that's it?" Fernando looked pissed. "Yup." Lincoln said darkly. "Mahone got caught, it sucks – and I feel just as bad about his kid as anyone else but we gotta job to do." Lincoln had his hand on Olivia's knee under the table.
"If there is one thing we cannot do, it's break Mahone out of a police station." Michael tried stopping the tension in the room and in his head. "We need to just focus on the next card." He rubbed his forehead.
Feeling Olivia's eyes on him, he stopped. "Okay?" He looked at everyone. "Self will do what he can." He added.
"All the cardholders and required to keep their cards on them at all times now as orders from the General." Sara played with the ring on her finger.
"So Scudari will, obviously." Brad couldn't help but feel the closer the end got, the tougher things became. "We need to stake him out, find the best possible way to get close enough for two minutes for the card to copy." Olivia said.
"Except, we can't do squat without the device, MY device." Roland looked angry, "Shut up." Lincoln snapped at him.
"Well, he has a state of the art alarm system, that will alert him if anything happens in his house," Olivia scanned over some paper. "Hey - " she sat up, "what if we don't cut the power, we double it... The alarm system to protect itself from overload should shut itself down and I swear to god if you call me a genius one more time Michael." She added seeing him opening his mouth.
"But you are." Michael smiled at her and she rolled her eyes. "Common sense." She tapped her head. "Okay, Linc, help me get what he need to double the power, Brad get the SUV ready, Olivia, Fernando help him." He said seeing everyone starting to move as his phone rang, he walked away to answer it.
"Michael?" A voice made him turn as he ended his phone call from Alex. "Yeah?" He asked seeing Nikole standing back. "Can I talk to you for a sec?" She looked as if she'd been crying, under her eyes puffy.
"Are you alright?" He asked her, put hand on the back of her arm as he moved them back toward her off...
... "This is insane, absolutely insane!" Fernando said before he started running his mouth quickly in Spanish and making cross symbols over his body.
"So is everything we do, this isn't any different." Lincoln sat passenger as Brad drove them toward the LA courthouse. "But this is like... REALLY insane." He couldn't believe they were trying this.
"I kinda like the adrenaline." Olivia said casually as they stopped around back of the courthouse, she'd dressed in an all back skirt, and jacket with a white blouse.
"You would, you freak." Michael wanted to laugh, but he was too busy running this plan over in his head.
The handcuffs tight around his wrists, Alex sat with the others being sentenced today, there was no getting out of his one, no finishing what he started... He wasn't even sure if after all he put Michael through, he would keep good on his promise to find Wyatt and kill him.
Bringing his hands up he scratched his forehead, watching the courtroom door open, he could feel his heart stop, Wyatt making his way down the aisle, Alex felt his mouth going dry and for a moment, he felt more fear then he had all his life.
He blinked and then he was sure he was seeing things, because he swore he could see Olivia walking down the aisle toward the defence desk with a brief case.
Watching him, watching her, Olivia nodded at him, getting to the desk, and getting his case file with his finger prints. She glanced back seeing Fernando making his way in.
Fernando winked at her and she turned forward again.
The lights went out Olivia moved swiftly finding Alex in the dark throwing his jacket over his cuffed hands and walking him toward the back door before the lights came back on.
Jumping into the back of the SUV, she squeezed into Michael as Fernando got in and Lincoln. Alex slipping into the passenger seat as Brad took off, Wyatt walking beside the SUV holding a newspaper with a gun enclosed.
"Look." Alex stood in front of everyone back at the warehouse, rubbing his wrists the handcuffs having come off on the drive back. "I don't know if you did that for the team, or me... And I don't care... Thank you." He said with a genuine tone, a tone that almost reminded him of the old Alex, who worked for the FBI and nothing more, who lived in Durango, Colorado... Who was a normal person.
"It's not us you have to thank." Michael was looking over a foot away where Nikole was watching. "It was Nikole's plan, we just executed it." He started walking away with everyone else.
"Here." Olivia handed him the card with his finger prints, taking Lincoln's hand who waited for her, walking away together. Looking from the card, he stared over at Nikole still watching him.
"So, does that mean you do still care?" Alex asked curiously, "you're welcome." Nikole said darkly and he realised he'd chosen the wrong words, as she started walking away. "Nikole..." He tried stopping her before remembering the red post-it notice in his pocket and the call he had to make.
"Are you okay?" Lincoln felt himself asking Olivia that a lot as they sat together, everyone going off doing their own thing for the evening. "Yes... Should I not be?" She asked answering that question.
"No, no." Lincoln played with her hair. "I just, I hate you doing all this stuff – you're pregnant, you should be sitting back on a beach with a fruity juice drink and a little umbrella." He shrugged.
"and a little umbrella?" She raised her eyebrow, "I'm fine, I would tell you if I wasn't... We're two cards away and this thing is over after we do a tiny break in." She made a tiny gesture with her fingers.
"Where are you going?" Lincoln was watching as Alex came briskly walking through the warehouse from the outside, looking like a man on a mission, but he had a gut feeling as to where he was going.
"Nikole." He said stone-faced, not looking anywhere but forward that phone call to Wyatt put him in a mood.
"We should go for a walk..." Lincoln looked down at Olivia who looked away from Alex and nodded, standing up, Lincoln offered his arm and she took it, they both headed outside.
The tension between Alex and Nikole had been known since the beginning of their warehouse accommodations, but only recently was it becoming unbearable for everyone else around, Micheal trying his best to keep them apart as much as possible and not agitating either of them.
Nikole looked up as the door to her small medical office opened and closed quickly, turning in her wheelie-chair, she froze seeing Alex and her eyes narrowed. "What?" She asked darkly, she was starting to regret having him broken out of lockup but her heart just wouldn't let go.
Alex knew he deserve the tone she was using, he hadn't been very nice to her as of late in attempts to keep her away from him while he continued his self-destructive path, knowing he was keeping something horrible from her.
"I need to tell you something." He finally couldn't keep it a secret anymore. "I know Alex, I'm not a dimwitted blonde." Nikole still sounded dangerous.
A wave of confusion came over Alex's face, "You know?" He asked, "You know..." He said again not believing it, if she knew she wouldn't be being hostile toward him, "you know nothing! His tone changed.
"I would've given you everything!" Nikole kept telling herself not to lost her temper, "You sneaking around making plans, little cosy cafe meet up with your ex wife!" Nikole finally stood up, the last time they'd been in such a heated moment she was in heels are standing at his height, but in flats she stood quite the difference shorter.
"You followed me?!" He ran his fingers into his hair, pulling at it a little bit. "I tried, but yes, I was worried about you and I followed you, what do you do? Run right back to Pam!" She said the woman's name with such distaste. "You and Pam, what happy family again with a son who has no idea how his daddy killed to save his own ass!" Nikole snapped.
Alex looked at a loss for words, his lips twitching as he tried to find wording; "is that what you think?" He asked her.
"Why shouldn't I think it?" Nikole's own voice had dropped in a low whisper.
"You..." Alex never imagined the direction this conversation was going to take.
"I..." Nikole tried to prompt him.
With his hand on the door knob, "I can't do this." He said.
Nikole rolled her eyes, "typical Alex, run away from conflict. Hope Cameron doesn't turn out like his cold heart father." Her words hit Alex like knives.
"He wont get that." Alex said breaking eye contact with the woman he loved, "no, 'cause you'll be a plastic dad. You and Pam can reset and can pretend the last years never happened and never look back on what we had!" Nikole watched him drop his hand from the door knob and he stepped closer to her, she stepped back as a natural reaction.
"SHUT UP!" Alex yelled at her, eyes welling up with tears of pain and anger.
"No." Nikole said darkly.
"Shut the fuck up!" Alex's voice shook.
"I won't shut the fuck up." Nikole warned him, "I can't take this – you're lying about everything to everyone and I can't watch you go back to her. I WONT let you live a lie." She pushed him a little as he got closer to her.
"Nikki, please..." Alex murmured, he didn't want to fight with her like this, if he had told her sooner all the hurtful words being exchanged wouldn't be happening.
"I want you to look him in the eyes and tell him, his dad is a monster!" Nikole glared.
"HE'S DEAD!" Alex finally screamed, "he won't grow old, he won't be a man … I'll never see him alive again! He's gone and it's all my fault!" He broke down.
Nikole's hard expression suddenly changed as the colour left her face, and she suddenly felt like the biggest bitch in the world. "Alex..." She voice soft.
"The Company murdered my son to flush me out and make me turn myself in... They killed my son, Nikole..." He used his wrists to try and stop the tears running down his cheeks. "They killed him..." He broke, feeling his legs give in, he dropped to the floor on his knees.
"They killed my boy, Nikki." He was right in front of her, breaking down, sobbing, he pressed his face against her stomach, his entire bodying shaking as he cried.
Nikole's hands found Alex's on her hips, and he took ahold of them, pulling her down to the floor with him, he looked at her like a broken man, the emotions of losing his son and lying to her for so long coming out.
"Alex..." Nikole said gently, taking her hands and cupping his face, she brushed some of his tears away with her thumbs. "I am so sorry." She swallowed.
Alex moved, wrapping his arms around her tightly, his face pressing hard against her neck, "shh, shh..." Nikole after a moment of shock wrapped her arms around him in return, rubbing his back slowly as they knelt on the floor.
"I'm so sorry I wasn't honest with you." Alex finally spoke after a long time of silence between them, "that is the farthest thing you need to be concerned about right now." She assured him.
"No, no … It's not." He moved to look over her, his hand touching her face. "what just happened wouldn't have happened if I just told you at the start."
"No, Alex." She stopped him from continuing, "I shouldn't have assumed and snapped at you." - "I shouldn't have kept pushing you away." Alex let the soft piece of hair he'd twirled around his finger gently free.
"The man who followed Sara, whose... Whose coming to find us. He's the one who did it and I, I have to make him pay for what he did Nikole." He sniffed, trying to calm himself down.
"We'll get him Alex." Nikole didn't like a deep feeling inside of her, but as Alex wrapped his arms around her again, she brushed her fingers into his hair, "we'll get him." She whispered.
