Within an hour, there was a knock on his door. He jumped up and rushed to the door hoping he would not have to chase anyone down to the street this time. Unlike last time, the messenger in question was still waiting at his door when he opened it. A young twenties something boy with freckles and glasses stood holding a yellow envelope.
"Are you Donald Ressler?" he asked Ressler.
"Who sent you?"
"Mr. Reddington says to hold on to this." The boy handed over the envelope and left without any explanation.
Ressler watched him exited down the staircase at the end of the hall before closing the door and locking it behind him. The envelope was smaller and bulkier than normal. A rectangular bulge in the center told Ressler that his message had worked. When he opened the envelope, he was not surprised to find a burner phone. No call history, no saved numbers, completely blank and untraceable. Ressler set the phone down on the counter and not a second after he did, the phone was buzzing with an awaiting call.
Red did not waste any time, he thought. He flipped it open to read UNKNOWN CALLER.
"Hello?" Ressler answered.
"Donald, good to hear from you so soon," Red greeted him.
"So, I take it you got my message."
"I did. Splendid job. After your hesitations, I did not expect in my wildest dreams that you would follow through so quickly. Though Lizzy warned me of your unique talents."
"My unique talents?" Ressler was very intrigued to be hearing praises from the criminal underworld.
"Yes. Quite fond of you she is. Says if it wasn't for you, she'd be dead. Lizzie said you're the most loyal person she has ever met. Said you're the right man for the job. Was she wrong?"
"No, no Mr. Reddington." Although happy to hear he was on the good side of his new "boss," Ressler remained suspicious of Liz's intentions. Where her loyalties lay were still in question in his mind.
"Just call me Red." Great, Ressler, was on casual terms with America's Most Wanted.
"You said you wanted Gale out of the way. I can set up a meeting for you with Gale. He thinks I am creating a trap for you to walk into."
"So, there will be FBI at said meeting?" Red asked.
"Yes and no. There will be FBI at the original meeting spot, however, once were all on site I figured you'd have some plan of moving it somewhere more secluded and secure. That's when you can deal with Gale."
"Are you sure you don't want to come work for me permanently? A great mind you've got there, Donald."
"I'm sure. I'd like to continue working for the good guys."
"Good guys? If you only knew more, Donald. I think your idea of good and evil maybe be one sided."
Ressler ignored this comment, "You pick the time and location and I'll let Gale know."
"I'll text you with that information once it is set. Keep this phone on you. And when I call, if you don't answer it by the third ring, I'll assume you've been compromised."
Before Ressler could say goodbye, Red had hung up on him. He was now in business with a criminal planning at best to abduct a federal agent and at the worst, he was looking at being an accomplice to premeditated murder of a federal agent. He could also assume treason and few other charges would be sprinkled on top of that. Life in prison at a maximum-security prison or worse in solitary were ahead. That was if Red or Gale did not kill him first. It was hard to remember what life was like before the Reddingtons entered his life. Death threats had since become a daily occurrence along with broken bones and hospital stays.
The next day, Ressler woke up to a text from Reddington with a time and location. No secondary location was provided. Ressler would be kept in the dark for that part either for deniability or for Red's suspicious Ressler might double cross him. He informed Gale once in the office and Gale set the gears in motions. Warrants and resources had already been approved. Ressler told Gale, Red was in town for a business deal and Ressler was asked to be on hand for extra security. Ressler told Gale as Red's inside man; Ressler's responsibility was to oversee that there were no surprise drop ins from the FBI during their meeting. Gale laughed knowing there definitely will be FBI crashing his party.
The meeting was scheduled for the afternoon that day, giving Red enough time to fly in last night from wherever he and Liz had flown off to. Gale had approved Ressler to go in as Red's security to not raise any suspicions, although they told the rest of the team, Ressler would be doing precautionary surveillance to keep his cover as an FBI agent.
The closer they got to the actual time of the meet; Ressler realized how much fire power Gale was bringing with him. SWAT trucks, loads of armed agents, snipers, explosives, firearms galore. This might turn into a blood bath. For some reason, an image popped into his head. The last time the FBI had crashed Reddington's meeting, Liz had been shot. Ressler could not explain why, but he worried about her and wished she would not be present this time. There was no reason to put her in the line of fire.
"Ressler, it's time." Gale shouted at the teams to head out.
When they were parked a good distance away, Gale informed the teams of the plan once again. Ressler hopped out of the van upon arrival to do his fake surveillance. He, along with several snipers split in different directions to take their posts. Once on his own, Ressler shed his FBI jacket to not spook Red's people. He was dressed in black pants, black boots, a black polo and sunglasses, differentiated himself from the FBI agents all clad in bullet proof vests and FBI apparel. Red had requested this in case a fire fight sparked, Ressler could be identified as their own and stay out of the morgue. Ressler was blending in as Red's security. Red texted him to meet on the south side of the location. Yet another abandoned building. Was there an Airbnb for abandoned sites for criminal activity? If there was, he was sure Red had his foot in the door of operations.
Red exited an obviously armored SUV along with Dembe and the same white pony-tailed thug he encountered in Vienna. He thought he heard Liz call him Boz last time. Two additional SUVs were parked in front of them, a handful of thugs dressed identically to Ressler were on standby each carrying a high-powered weaponry. Thankfully, as far as Ressler he observed, Liz was not here. One worry he could set aside.
"Donald, glad you could make it," Red exclaimed. "Gorgeous day, isn't it?" Red looked up at the blue skies disregarding the violence lingering in the air waiting to take place.
"Yes, beautiful, I guess," Ressler said. "Look Gale and the other agents are waiting a couple blocks away. I just need to give them the signal and they will come. Gale will not be alone, and I just have to ask you to not kill any other FBI agents."
"You know I can't promise that Donald." Red said checking his gun was loaded.
"They are not a part of this. It's Gale you want. No innocent blood needs to be shed today."
"If they affiliate with Gale, then they are not innocent. Like you Donald, you do not affiliate with him. You are innocent. They are guilty."
"They are just following orders." Ressler pleaded with Red to not do more harm than needed.
"As should you. Follow my orders and you will stay out of harm's way. Now call Gale. It's time."
He would now have to inform Gale everything was set and send the FBI into a trap. They thought Red would be unsuspecting and accompanied by a few body guards, one of which was Ressler, rather than the army of thugs that were actually there.
Ressler had been wondering which side he belonged to after being blackmailed by both. He was an FBI agent, though he only got his job back because of Red. Gale was his boss, though his boss hated him and was as corrupt as the day was long. Thinking of the statement Red made about who the good guys were early made him wonder. Was Gale really a part of the good guys? Nevertheless, Red was not the good guys either. No criminal of his prominence could be considered good. So, what did that make Ressler?
Would he be good for handing over Red to the FBI and allowing Gale to continue running the taskforce despite knowing he was corrupt? One criminal would be off the streets, but Gale was up to something. Ressler did not know what his master plan was, but he knew his bad reputation for skirting the lines of justice and obviously blackmailing people to get what he wanted.
Would he be a good guy for handing Gale over to Red knowing Red would most likely torture and kill him? Red knew what Gale was up to and he would not rest until he got what he wanted. He would also be free to continue committing crimes and wreaking havoc, but a corrupt law enforcer would be out of power. Red also had an agenda in the works and Ressler was unaware of where that would end. Would there be more bloodshed? How far up the governmental food chain was Red planning to climb? Ressler hated to admit it, but he was much more scared of Red than he was of Gale. And his alignment seemed to tip because of it.
He tried to convince himself he was just brokering a meeting between vengeful killers, he was not actually doing any of the crimes, right? Regardless, Ressler felt like he was part of the bad guys either way. He could not be good for leading two men into a gulag. No matter the fact that he was being blackmailed by two bad guys, it did not make what Ressler was about to do good. He vowed when he started this job, he would do good and help rid his country of evil. Today he was working with the evil and no matter the outcome, evil would still be out there.
He wanted no part in what came after the meeting. He would not kidnap, torture, or kill. Blackmail or no blackmail, he had a moral code, and he would rather die than commit those atrocities. Ressler had made up his mind. Once this was all over he would vanish and wait for what came next. If Gale came out on top, he would take his lumps under Gale's authority. If Red came out on top, he would tell Red he was done. He would not continue being his inside man anymore. Retirement crossed Ressler's mind briefly. It was too early, and he was too young, but maybe that was the solution for him.
"Do you think we can trust him?" Dembe asked Red as Ressler left to join the FBI forces.
"Liz says he's loyal. Loyal to whom is the question," said Red raising his chin in thought as he watched Ressler disappear.