They stopped at a red light and Michelle heard Jack shift in his seat. Feeling his eyes on her, she turned to face him.
"You okay?" he asked.
"Yeah," Michelle half-lied, offering him a small smile. The truth was that she was worried their visit with Vladimir Zuskin would just turn out to be a dead end... after all, since when was anything this easy? Just because Murdock had been sighted with Zuskin - who, to be frank, didn't seem to her to be the type to seek revenge like this - well, it didn't mean that Murdock never worked for anyone else, did it? Despite the shortlist she and Tony had compiled, the truth was that anybody on any one of their three long lists could conceivably want them dead... and then there were all the relatives and friends of all those enemies who might have taken it upon themselves to get vengeance for their loved ones like this...
Michelle realized that Jack was still looking at her.
"We are gonna solve this," he said, and somehow, despite the seemingly endless doubts and worried whirling around her head, the confidence in his voice reassured her.
"Yeah," she said again, more resolutely.
Jack nodded, and they continued their drive.
-- --
"Mr. Bauer!" Vladimir Zuskin exclaimed, raising his hands from the table as if in welcome. "And Miss Dessler. What a pleasant surprise."
Zuskin grinned; an expression Michelle had always found strangely unnerving on him.
"What can you tell me about this man?" Jack put the photograph of Murdock on the table before he even took a seat.
Straight to business.
"What, no hello? No 'how are you, Vlad?' But I was so eager to catch up..."
Michelle sat on the metal chair next to Jack, playing uneasily with her wedding band.
"Why Miss Dessler, you got married! See, I'm so out of the loop..."
Michelle quickly folded her hands in her lap. This was not a situation where she should be showing any kind of weakness.
"The picture, Vlad," Jack reminded firmly.
"And what will you do for me, Jack?" Zuskin asked, bringing his hands together. He was done playing.
"Absolutely nothing."
Zuskin laughed. "Well then," he shrugged, "I--"
"But what I can do," Jack interrupted, "Is make life a lot more uncomfortable for you than it is right now."
The two men stared at each other across the table. Michelle would've sworn she could feel heat coming from the space between them.
"The man in the photograph," Zuskin said finally, "Is called Robert Murdock."
Jack leaned back in his chair, listening.
"He has several skills for sale," Zuskin continued. "Including the... strategic elimination... of people who have become cumbersome to his employer."
"Have you made use of him recently?"
Zuskin laughed. "What the hell for? I'm in jail, in case you hadn't noticed, and will probably remain here for quite a while."
"Exactly."
"Sorry Jack, but that's not really my thing. I haven't had any contact with this guy since before you put me in here."
Michele watched Jack scrutinize him; trying to figure out if he was lying or not.
"However," said Zuskin, and Michelle noticed the tiniest twitch of Jack's eyebrows. "I did recommend him to someone, a couple of months back."
"Who?" Michelle asked.
Both men turned to look at her.
"A man," Zuskin said, that unsettling grin spreading over his face once more, "called Tom Rees."
-- --
"Tom Rees," Tony was saying, typing the name into his computer as he spoke, "Is a name I haven't heard in a long time."
"Who is he?" Michelle asked, glancing down from the office to where Jack was having an apparently urgent conversation with Chloe.
"Some guy I helped put in jail, years back..." He beckoned to her and she went to stand behind him. Looking over his shoulder, she saw a picture of a pretty nondescript looking man with brown hair and eyes. Still...
"He looks kinda familiar," she said.
"You probably saw him in the papers or something when he was arrested. It was a pretty high-profile case. I just don't understand why... Oh."
"What?"
Tony pointed to the screen. "He was released from jail last month."
Michelle nodded. "And now he's trying to kill us."
"Probably just me, honey."
"That doesn't make me feel any better."
"Hey..." Tony stood up and turned around to face her. "We're gonna be okay. He failed to kill us, remember?"
She sighed. "I know," she said, giving him a weak smile.
"C'mere..." Tony pulled her into his arms, letting her rest her head on his shoulder. "We're gonna finish up here, go home and get those clean clothes you wanted, and go back to the hotel and get a good night's sleep. And then tomorrow we'll find an address for Rees and have him picked up, alright?"
Michelle nodded. "Yeah." She kissed him quickly on the lips. "I love you."
"I adore you. Now go pretend to do those reports for the next coupla hours, and then I'll take you home."
She kissed him again; smiling now. "Deal," she said, and left.