Chapter 8- Information and Trying to Convince
Lyla Diggle held up her tablet that held information. "Meet prisoner 38085, aka, Cayden James and that girl, Anna's, father," Lyla said.
"What are you holding him on?" Dig asked, grabbing the tablet from his wife.
"He's a person of interest," Lyla said.
"So, no crime, I'm guessing no trial either," Dig said in a slight accusing tone that Oliver had heard before.
"Do you have something you want to say to me, Johnnie?" Lyla asked, apparently knowing when Dig was accusing too.
"Not right now, Lyla. Me and Oliver have to talk to Anna and try to make her see that you are the reason why her father disappeared," Dig said.
"After Anna lost her family, we promised Cayden James that we would bring his daughter to him. Despite what the two of you think, I never wanted to hurt a little girl," Lyla said with some steel.
"There's something we're not considering. What if Felicity and Anna are right? They might be right. We give James a terminal, we make him find Chase, and then we hand him back to Helix and give him his daughter back," Oliver said.
"I know you want Chase off the board, Oliver, but Cayden James is as dangerous as a loose nuke. I can't put him back in play," Lyla said, apparently deciding to be obstinate.
"Helix has compromised your security. And now they have hired mercenaries that are gonna go after A.R.G.U.S. to get James out. And Felicity told me that Anna knows how to hack into a computer. She has gotten that skill from her father. She could find out where you are holding her father and can decide to go after him with Felicity, Helix, and the mercenaries," Oliver said.
"Which means we go after them first. Curtis has intel as to where their base of operations is," John said.
"And we'll be going in completely blind. We have a greater chance of success if we let Helix come to us," Lyla said.
"Wait, Lyla? You wanna set a trap for Helix and use James as the bait?" John asked with a stunned look on his face.
"I don't think I need to tell either of you how dangerous Helix is. This is our chance to take them down. This is happening with or without your help. I'll let you boys wrap your head around that," Lyla said as she walked away.
"We have to get Felicity and Anna out of Helix. We can't let them get involved in this," John said in a low voice.
"You mean any more involved. We knew they was into something. We knew it was bad. We just let them get in deeper," Oliver said.
"Oliver, grief can make people do crazy things. No one knows that better than you and me. Anna lost everyone in her family with the exception of her father. And Felicity- I'm not the one she was gonna marry," John said.
"What's your point?" Oliver asked, taking his hand from his face where he had been rubbing his eyes.
"My point is- Oliver, look, maybe we should have talked her and Anna out of Helix. Maybe not. I don't know. But the point is, we're here now and you're the only one they will listen to," John said, after sitting down.
"I am not sure how much credibility I have with her or Anna," Oliver said.
"You all three want to catch Chase, right? You have that in common. Which tells me you are the only one who can pull them back from the brink," John said, his words making sense to Oliver.
"Are you ready, Ann?" Felicity asked at her apartment later that evening.
"Yeah. I guess so. Felicity, thank you for helping me find Dad," Anna said as she picked up her laptop.
"You're welcome. Do you really believe your father could help us find Adrian Chase?" Felicity asked.
"Maybe. This is my father and Alena did say he built a biometric scanner. I'm not opposed to the idea of Dad doing that. A biometric scanner is probably not any harder than hacking into a server," Anna said as she picked up her jacket with her other hand.
"All right. Let's get going," Felicity said, going to her door. She opened it to reveal Oliver standing on the other side.
"Oh, hi," Felicity said, her surprise evident on her face.
"Hey," Oliver said by way of greeting as he looked at Felicity and Anna.
"Nice of you to use the front door for once," Felicity snarked.
"May I come in, please?" Oliver asked.
"Actually, Anna and I was just leaving," Felicity said.
"I can see that," Oliver said and waited a long moment.
"Sure," Felicity said, letting him in.
"Looks like you and Anna are not sitting behind a keyboard for this one," Oliver said as he walked in.
"Can you blame us, Oliver? If it was your dad, wouldn't you do anything to save him?" Anna asked.
"No, I can't. If it was me, I'd probably be doing the same thing you are doing Anna. I, more than probably anyone else, understand what it's like to be willing to do whatever it takes to stop Chase . And the fact that Cayden James is your father makes me understand it even more. You are trying to save your father," Oliver said.
"Then, let us do it," Felicity said.
"Let me just tell you both how I'm seeing things. You both are willing to do whatever it takes to stop Chase, because I was willing to do whatever it takes to save this city and that created him," Oliver said.
"Okay, so it's ironic. That's what it is," Felicity said.
"It doesn't have to be. You see, we can think of another way to find him, and then we can find another way to stop him," Oliver said in a condescending tone.
"Okay, how? The SCPD tip line? No, that's not gonna work this time, Oliver, All three of us know that. Look, this is our only chance," Anna said, feeling tears burn her eyes as she thought of her father being held prisoner and that his biometric tracker could help them.
"And this is me asking you as your guardian, Ann. Don't do this," Oliver said.
""For the past four years, I have watched you do whatever you had to, whatever it took, to stop the people threatening this city. How can you stand there and not ask me and Anna to do the same thing?" Felicity asked, sounding angry.
"Because, over the last four years, you, more than anyone else has seen the toll it has taken on me," Oliver said softly.
"And I told you-" Felicity started to say.
"And I understand, I agree that I should not shelter you both from making hard decisions. But you wanna talk irony? Fine. You are willing to sell your souls to destroy a threat I created. How did-" Oliver couldn't finish his thought.
"One of the reasons I fell in love with you is because you are always willing to do what was right, no matter what the cost. Even if it's unbearably hard. It's what makes you, you. So how can I be any different? You have sacrificed your soul for the team, for the city, and for me. You don't have to carry that burden any longer. Let me and Anna do it," Felicity said.
"Felicity, I...I can't," Oliver said.
"Then you will have to stop us, Oliver," Anna said. Oliver nodded his head as Felicity and Anna made their way to the door.