Disclaimer: Credit to Jonathan Nolan, Greg Plageman, and the POI writing team. Bolded sections are straight from the episodes.


QUEENSBRIDGE PARK

Chapter 14: after Razgovor


Joss Carter spies on a meeting between top-ranking members of HR and the Russian mafia, snapping a few more photos to add to the growing mountain of evidence she's collected.

As she returns to her car, she spots a figure lying in wait for her and whips out her gun.

She huffs as she recognizes him.

"John ... one of these days, I'm just going to shoot you," she declares.

"I get that a lot," he admits.

He pops the cap off a beer bottle and hands it to her while gesturing for her to hand over her camera.

"Busted, huh?" she says, taking the beer and giving him the camera.

"Finch and I have known about your side project for a while," he reveals as he flips through the photos she'd just taken. He opens a beer of his own. "From what we've seen, you've got enough to bring down half the organization. You could bust them," he suggests. "Make deals to take down the rest."

She shakes her head. "Special Agent Donnelly tried that," she reminds him. "But HR rebuilt itself from ashes because we didn't cut off the head. If we had, Cal might still be alive. I'm playing by different rules now. No deals. And I won't make a move until I can bring down the boss.

"They're running some joint operation with the Russians. If I can just get eyes on that meeting, I might finally ID the head of HR."

"Need help?" Reese asks.

"No. But if I do, you'll be my first call."

The clink bottles to seal the deal.


"So, I, uh ... disobeyed some ... pretty much all of your orders," Shaw admits to Finch as they walk away from the fancy prep school where the billionaire had just enrolled their latest Number, a 10-year-old girl whose hobby of spying on people had landed her on HR's hit list. "Am I fired?"

"On the contrary, Ms. Shaw. I think you finally got the job," Finch says. "Now about that bug in my library ..."

"Haven't found it yet, have you?"

"Miss Shaw, if we're going to work with each other, a little bit of trust is in order."

"Okay, I'll tell you where it is, if you tell me something in return."

"What would you like to know?" Finch asks guardedly.

"Who is Elena Cassidy?"

Shaw will never stop getting a kick out of startling Finch.

"How do you know that name?" he demands.

"So you know it, too," she points out.

Finch closes his mouth, irritated at being tricked.

"She's ... none of your concern," he flounders.

"But she's Reese's concern. I saw them together in a park the other day. He was really concerned about her."

"Why? What was wrong?"

"So you're concerned about her, too. Huh," Shaw muses, and Finch is very irritated with himself now. "She was just hungover. Because she'd just had her bachelorette party. Which makes me wonder why Captain America is hanging around a soon-to-be-married lady."

"She's just a friend."

"There are friends, and then there are friends."

"Miss Cassidy is the former," Finch says sternly.

"You know what? Because we are talking about Boy Scout here, I just might believe you. So, what is she? Former Number?"

"She has a dog, Bailey, whom Bear has taken a liking to," Finch explains reluctantly, and Bear barks in agreement. "We meet at the park sometimes so the dogs can play."

Shaw scoffs, unimpressed. "That's the best you can come up with, Harold? A doggie playdate?"

Finch gives her a sidelong glance. "The problem with the truth, Miss Shaw, is that sometimes it's harder to believe."

Shaw pauses as Finch opens his car and gets Bear situated. That couldn't possibly be it, could it? That seemed too ... normal.

"Miss Shaw, can I offer you a ride back ...?"

Finch looks up and finds he's talking to no one. Well, nothing new with that. And it looks like he'll be spending the rest of the day trying to find that bug in the Library.


When Elena texts John on Sunday to tell him she can't make it to the park after all because of work, Reese is naturally curious.

City Hall is dead on a Sunday, so he wonders what the real reason is. His increasingly dark thoughts are centering around the nosy neighbor reporting to Parker about his visit to Elena's house. The increasingly annoying voice in his head that sounds like Finch is telling him he's just looking for an excuse to beat up Parker.

He pulls up the GPS tracker on Elena's phone and sees she actually is headed for City Hall.

Elena Cassidy might be the most honest person he's ever met.

And yet ...

After dropping Bear off at the Library and giving a vague explanation to Finch about where he's going, Reese heads toward City Hall. Elena's already inside by the time he gets there, so he sits down with a coffee at the cafe across the street, surrounded by Sunday brunchers.

He spots her the instant she comes out. Maybe it was the flash of her blue dress under her trench coat, or when her hair flew up with a sudden gust of wind as she hurried down the steps. Or maybe it was just the strange way he's always aware of anything concerning Elena Cassidy.

He glances at his watch. She could have still made it to the park and only been a little later than usual. But what on earth would be important enough that she would miss her weekly visit to her grandmother at the hospital?

She's talking on a phone. He looks down at his own phone, but the call isn't registering. Which means she has another phone.

He supposes she could have a work phone that he hasn't bluejacked, but judging from the emails going to her personal cell, that's the same one she used for work. So why would she need a second phone?

He quickly stands and begins following her before she's out of sight.


"Someone's following you," Carter tells Elena over the phone. "Don't look. He won't harm you, he's just too curious for his own good." She sounds more irritated than alarmed. "Just do as I say. I'll help you shake him."

Elena feels her heart pumping, and while part of it is fear, there's also a little bit of excitement, too.

"Can you get to your other phone? Turn it off and take out the SIM card. Keep walking. Steady. Cross the street at the light. All right, there's an alley coming up on your left. Walk almost all the way past and turn into it at the last moment. Good. Stick to the wall. Now —"

A hand reaches out, grabs Elena by the arm and drags her into a doorway. Another hand clamps over her mouth and presses her against the door.

And Elena finds herself face to face with Joss Carter.

They both watch silently as a man's shadow moves across the entry of the alleyway, pauses, then doubles back to take a closer look down the alley. Elena's eyes grow wide as he stands there for a moment before moving on.

Carter holds their position for at least a minute longer before she relaxes her hold on Elena.

"Who was that?" Elena whispers.

"Oh, no one," Carter replies, and there's that irritated tone again. "A busybody who doesn't know when to mind his own damn business."

"You know him?"

"Like I said, he won't harm you, but he has some ... boundary issues, and a bit of a hero complex." She gives Elena an appraising look. "It's the other people you have to worry about, Miss Cassidy. This is dangerous. I hope I made that clear to you."

"Very," Elena assures her. She holds up a thumb drive and pulls aside her trench coat to show the files she tucked in there.

"No one's going to miss those?"

"I made copies, the originals are still at City Hall."

"And no one's going to question why you swiped in on a Sunday?"

"My fiance asked me to pick up some files for him." She points to a second folder. "He's in the Hamptons, and I'm going to run them up tomorrow morning. That's why I had to do it today."

The corner of Carter's mouth goes up. She really didn't think Elena Cassidy had it in her.

"All right. Let's go back to my place and see what you've got, Miss Cassidy."

"Officer, considering the circumstances, I think you should start to call me Elena."

Carter pauses.

"Joss," she finally says. "You can call me Joss."


Reese circles the block where he'd lost track of Elena. He even takes a closer look at an alley but finds no sign of her.

He doesn't understand. He'd managed to keep her in sight after she'd left City Hall. She'd been on the phone the whole time, seemingly unaware of her surroundings, he'd noted disapprovingly.

When he'd surprisingly lost visual, he'd turned to his own phone to track her, but the GPS signal was gone. It was like she'd disappeared into thin air.

Either she'd known he was following her and had successfully shaken him, or she just had the best luck and managed to unwittingly slip away.

He doesn't know which option is worse.


"Well?" Elena asks as Joss finishes scanning through the files she'd copied. She feels like she's back in school, wanting to impress a teacher. "Does any of that help?"

"Yes," Carter says. "Thank you, Miss ... Elena."

Elena holds out the thumb drive. "I also got copies of the calendars of everyone on the mayor's staff, including the mayor. I thought maybe we could crosscheck the appointments, see if any line up with any known HR activity, or if there's some kind of pattern?"

Carter stares at her. "You sure you're not a detective?"

Elena shakes her head. "I think I just grew up knowing some good ones."

Carter nods. "Don't tell him I said this, but Fusco is good at his job. And from what I've heard about your dad, he was one of the best. And that's why I can't let you help me any more than this, Elena. I've already let you help too much."

"Joss —"

"I'm a cop, I signed up for this. They did, too. You didn't. Just keep paying attention to who's coming and going at City Hall, let me know if you see anything suspicious. More suspicious than usual, anyway."

"I will. But I think I can help in another way. I'm guessing you have lots of other evidence already. Let me help organize it, crosscheck the calendars. I'm a secretary — this is my job."

Carter considers it. She has dozens of files, hundreds of photos. And checking the calendars would take time she doesn't have and might not pan out anyway.

"Please," Elena insists. "I want to do this, for Mike, for Lionel. So they can get out from under HR once and for all."

Slowly, Carter nods. She stands and walks to her closet, pulls open the doors, and pushes aside her clothes, revealing the bulletin board she has set up there. She pulls down one of the baskets at the top of the closet, revealing more files and photos.

"Some of the names you'll see here are names every person in this city already knows. No turning back from this point, Elena. I'll protect you as much as I can, make sure none of this can be traced back to you, but I can't guarantee your safety absolutely."

"No such thing as a risk-free life," Elena muses, beginning to flip through the top of the pile. Despite it all, her mouth twitches upward. "I told Ken I was helping a friend organize her scrapbooking. Not exactly a lie, I guess."

"Just hopefully a different kind of booking at the end."

The joke startles a laugh out of Elena, and Joss gives her a first true smile before they both get to work.


A/N:

"If we're going to work together, Detective, a little bit of trust is in order."
— Finch to Carter, in Legacy (s1e11)

"She's none of your concern."
— Finch, incognito as Mr. Egret, to the guy selling a missile on the black market, in Wingman (s4e03)

"Finch, what's our ETA on Captain America?"
"Mr. Reese should be with you directly."
— Shaw and Finch, in Allegiance (s3e18)

"No such thing as a risk-free life"
— Finch to Reese, in Shadowbox (s2e10)