I don't own Blindspot or any of these amazing characters.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
"Are you sure those are the two women you met?" Madeline demanded.
Arthur looked down at the pictures and nodded in jerky agitation.
"What did you tell them?" Madeline demanded.
"NOTHING!" Arthur insisted, "I didn't tell them anything, I swear."
Madeline just looked at him.
Shifting uncomfortably Arthur blurted out, "They drugged me!"
"Which is it?" Madeline asked him calmly, "You didn't tell them anything…or they drugged you?"
"I don't remember everything that happened," Arthur said reluctantly, "But I haven't been around for a while, so anything I knew would have been old intel."
"Exactly why haven't you been around?" Madeline raised her eyebrows.
"It was…the Cartel," Arthur gulped out, "They were targeting us because of…"
"Because of?" Madeline asked when he hesitated.
"Because of their hacker," Arthur finished. He could feel the sweat on his forehead beading up.
"I see," Madeline took a sip of her tea.
Sitting tensely Arthur waited.
"Aren't you going to join me?" Madeline asked him pointedly.
Looking down at the cup he felt his stomach knot. She was testing him to see if he still trusted her. He knew about her husband and the HCI Global board members.
Picking up the cup with shaking hands he smiled over at her sickly and took a sip. He could identify that it was tea and not coffee, but whether or not it was poisoned he had no idea.
Madeline stood up and he immediately put down the cup to rise too.
When the room began to spin he looked over at her in alarm.
"You really shouldn't have trusted me," She smiled.
As his knees gave out she watched him fall with no expression. Too bad she hadn't gotten to him before they had…
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Jane paced. She knew there was activity around her, but she didn't see any of it.
"Why haven't we heard anything?" She asked Patterson impatiently.
"I'm sure they're fine," Patterson insisted, "They'll contact us when they have it."
"I should have gone with him," Jane said impatiently.
"We needed you here to translate the intel we got from Shirley's computer." Patterson reminded her.
"I could have done that when we got back," Jane made another loop around the room.
"He has both Reade and Rich with him, he'll be fine," Tasha sounded calm, but Jane could read the same worry in her eyes that she felt.
"They should have been back hours ago!" Jane insisted, "I'm going after them…"
"No!" Patterson argued, "You said you'd wait here. You know one wrong move and we could give away their location."
"If it hasn't already been compromised!" Jane argued, "What if they don't come back? The longer we wait the more likely it is that we'll never find them."
"Don't say that," Patterson protested.
"She's right," Tasha looked over at Patterson, "Something's wrong. We have to go."
"Well, you aren't leaving me behind," Patterson relented.
Turning the ladies went to gear up, all determined to do whatever it took to get their family back.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
"Now what?" Reade looked over at Kurt.
"The compound has been abandoned," Kurt said reasonably, "So nobody is going to find us. We need to find a way out."
"You know the teams coming so let's just wait for them to get here." Reade said with a worried look at Weller.
"Weller told them to absolutely not come," Rich reminded Reade in exasperation.
"Do you really think Jane is going to idly wait when Kurt doesn't return?" Reade demanded.
Rich didn't have to think, "Okay, when do you think they might come? I'm cold and Kurt's been a little bit broken."
Kurt's shoulder was dislocated and he had a cut above his eye where he'd hit when the trap door dropped them down into the sub-basement.
"I'm not broken," Kurt automatically argued, "Just a little banged up."
"You look like you were the loser in a Zombie Apocalypse," Rich insisted, "I didn't know you could lose that much blood and remain conscious."
"Rich," Reade chided, looking over at Kurt in concern. He did look worse for wear. "Maybe you should sit back down."
"We need to find a way out of here," Kurt reminded them.
"If the team is coming," Rich denied, "Why not just wait for them?"
"It will be hours before they know for sure somethings wrong," Kurt pointed out, "Then they'll wait a little longer because we told them to. Then they'll come."
"That's too long!" Rich protested.
"Then I guess we better work on finding a way out," Kurt growled.
"The only way out of here is to climb out," Reade said in frustration, "Even if we had a rope Kurt would never make it out with his hurt arm."
Knowing the last thing he wanted was to draw the rest of his family into a warehouse rigged with various types of booby traps Kurt said with absolute determination, "I could climb out."
"Then let's find that rope," Rich began rummaging through things discarded in the corner.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Afreen looked down at the screen and then up at Mathew Weitz.
"I think I found them," She whispered.
"What?" He stepped closer and demanded, "Where?"
"There's an abandoned warehouse Madeline was using for some of her less than legal dealings. They moved out right before the team was targeted. We didn't find anything of value when we searched it, but I left a motion sensor. It was tripped." Afreen whispered.
"That could be anyone," Weitz said in frustration, "Even a transient."
"It wasn't," Afreen insisted pulling up street cameras in the area.
When Weitz caught sight of the three person team he demanded, "Get that off the screen!"
She immediately cut the feed.
"What do we do?" She worried.
"I'm going out there," Weitz told her.
"If Madeline finds out," Afreen protested.
"Then someone else will have to get rid of the bodies she keeps lying around." Weitz said in disgust.
"Be careful," She worried.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Jane, Tasha and Patterson entered the building guns drawn expecting the worst.
When everything was quiet they shared a look and headed deeper in.
"This isn't right," Tasha looked over at Jane with a troubled frown.
"It doesn't make any sense," Patterson agreed, "There are no obvious signs of a fight. No broken glass or bullet casings."
"Maybe whatever happened, happened before they got here?" Tasha suggested.
Jane was scanning the building. It was an open and empty space except for the offices in the back.
"Let's check the office space," She told them, "I'll go up the stairs on the right."
"We've got the left," Tasha told her.
Jane's heart was racing, but it wasn't from the threat in front of her. Where was Kurt? Was he hurt…or dead? The thought of having to face the rest of her life without him made the hand holding her gun tremble.
She started up the steps warily all the while listening for anything out of the ordinary, hearing nothing. Halfway up the steps it happened. The wood beneath her feet gave way and she started to fall. Dropping her weapon she grasped for something to hold onto. Since the majority of the steps had dropped there weren't many options. At the last second she was able to catch the edge of the railing. Hanging there she knew her grip was slipping.
"Hey Jane," Rich said from below her, "Fancy meeting you here."
She looked down in surprise. It was a long way down. She spotted Rich and Reade, but her eyes skimmed over them looking for Kurt. When she saw him what strength she had left deserted her. The blood that covered his face and shirt made her breath catch. As she started to slip she pushed back from the wall. Expecting to hit hard she was surprised when hands caught her.
Kurt used his remaining good arm to cushion her fall. He felt a rush of pain at the impact, but that was nothing like the pain he would have felt if she'd been injured and he could have stopped it.
"What happened?" She worried, her hands immediately going to his head.
"Rich fell on me," Kurt explained.
At Jane's glare, Rich protested, "I didn't mean to."
Just as the steps started to close Tasha and Patterson appeared at the top.
Patterson was quick to wedge a piece of broken banister into the angle to keep the door open.
"You guys okay?" Tasha demanded looking down at them.
"Kurt's hurt," Jane told them, anxiety leaking into her voice.
"I'm fine," Kurt insisted, trying to reassure her.
"You're in pain," Jane argued, "You might have internal bleeding…"
"Hey," Rich protested, "I'm not that heavy!"
"I dislocated my shoulder," Kurt explained, "I don't have internal bleeding."
Jane immediately turned her attention to his shoulder.
"Why did you catch me if you have a dislocated shoulder?" She worried.
"Because you were falling," Kurt explained patiently.
Jane examined him for damage.
"We need to put it back into place." She worried.
"We can't do that here!" Rich insisted.
"We have to," Jane argued, "The longer we wait the more damage he could have."
"Do it," Kurt urged her.
Jane extended his arm and placed her hand over the dislocated joint. Taking a deep breath she rotated his arm while applying pressure. The bone slipped back into place with a sickening pop. Kurt drew in a harsh breath before bending over double to keep from passing out.
Jane supported him against her. Her stomach was rolling and for a moment she thought she was going to be sick. Hurting him went against every instinct she had.
"Thanks," He whispered.
"We have to get out of here," Tasha insisted, "We've been here too long already."
Reade used the ramp created by the fallen stairs to climb out first, Rich followed after him with a concerned look back at Kurt and Jane.
Jane insisted Kurt go next. She wanted to be behind him if he had trouble pulling himself out.
They both made it to the top without incident.
"Did you have time to find the hidden document?" Tasha asked them.
"No," Reade denied, "We never made it to the offices."
"Let's get them and get out of here." Patterson urged.
"I thought you all were dead," The voice sounded loud in the empty space.
Jane brought her gun up and pointed it at the man walking toward them.
"Don't come any closer," She warned Weitz.
"I'm not here to hurt you," Mathew insisted, his hands raised.
"Says the man that sent a drone to kill us," Tasha reminded him.
"I didn't send that drone!" Mathew argued, "Madeline did that with the help of Lucas Nash the new Director of National Intelligence. I don't guess you need to be told how he got that job…"
"What do you want?" Reade demanded.
"I want to help you take Madeline down…" Weitz said, "She's crazy!"
"What do you think we've been trying to do?" Rich reminded him.
"You're doing it wrong," Weitz insisted, "You need to come in and tell them what you know."
"I'm not real keen on going back to a CIA Black Site," Rich denied.
"If you stay out here she's going to kill you," Weitz argued. "If it was up to her you would never make it back into custody. If I take you in and you tell them what you know…we can stop her!"
"What's to prevent her from just killing us once we're in custody?" Tasha demanded.
"She's corrupt," Weitz agreed, "And she's surrounded herself with people she's corrupted, but not everyone is in on it. There are people working to stop her, but we don't have enough evidence. If you testify against her, we can stop her."
"Nobody's going to believe us," Tasha argued, "You know what they do to problems, they get rid of them."
"Don't turn yourself into the FBI," Weitz agreed, "And I'm not saying CIA…but what about the NSA?"
"How do we know she hasn't corrupted them?" Jane asked seriously. "You're still around, what's she got on you?"
"The drone strike," Weitz admitted, "It was a set up. Dominic was the one that planted those bombs. I killed an innocent man."
Jane closed her eyes and turned toward Kurt. He reached out to support her.
"I didn't know what was happening until it was too late." Weitz was clearly upset, "She's ruining lives, and destroying good people…we have to do something."
"We're trying!" Tasha said in frustration. She knew firsthand just how easily Madeline would destroy everything without a tinge of remorse.
"Let me take you in," Weitz pleaded, "Tell Nas what you know, give her whatever evidence you have. If you don't Madeline will eventually find you and you won't get a chance to say anything."
"We can't trust him," Jane insisted, "He's been working with her."
"He's right though," Reade insisted, "Working outside the law we're going to end up corrupting any evidence that might be used to convict her."
"You can't be considering this," Tasha looked at him seriously.
"We need someone willing to take the chance to work on the inside of the law." Reade insisted.
"And what if you end up in a CIA Black Site?" Rich demanded, "Having been there myself I really don't recommend it. If you don't believe me ask Jane."
"We have to risk it," Reade insisted.
"I'll go," Jane offered abruptly.
"NO!" Kurt denied immediately.
"If this is a double cross," Jane said softly, "I can handle the Black Site. I know what to expect, I've been trained for this."
"No way," Kurt denied, "You aren't going."
Rich looked over at Jane silently. He would never willingly put himself in threat of ever going back to a Black Site. Her strength was humbling.
"It can't be Jane," Weitz denied, "She was a member of Sandstorm, it would give Madeline an excuse. It has to be someone else."
"I'll go," Reade told them, "I should have seen what was happening and stopped it long before it got to this point."
"We all should have seen it," Tasha reminded him.
"I was the Assistant Director of the FBI NYO office," Reade reminded her, "I had access to more resources and more classified information. I was too busy wondering if I could still trust you to realize what was happening. It has to be me."
"I'll go with you," Tasha immediately volunteered.
"No," Reade denied, "The CIA will demand jurisdiction of you."
"He's right," Patterson told her.
"So we're supposed to just let him go?" Tasha demanded with her voice catching.
"Tasha…" Reade walked over to her, "When you went undercover, you did it because you felt you had to. I need to do this."
When Reade pulled Tasha against him Jane looked over a Kurt with a worried expression.
Kurt pulled her against him with his good arm.
Jane turned to Mathew, "If you betray us, Madeline will be the least of your problems…"
"Understood," Weitz held up his hands. Madeline might scare him, but getting on the wrong side of Jane Doe was terrifying.
