Chapter Twenty-Six

There were moments - often late at night and after making a dent in a bottle of scotch - in which Scottie Hargrave felt the strange, disconnected sensation that left part of her mind wondering if there were even a remote chance that this had all been some terrible nightmare. If she would open her eyes and find herself curled up in her own bed with a four-year-old Christopher sleeping down the hall. No abduction, no suspicious and traitorous husband, and certainly no Cabal ready to call the dues she hadn't been willing to pay in quite some time. Just her and the family she's chosen.

Somehow, though, it never failed that she would open her eyes to find herself exactly where she had been when she had closed them. Right now, that was wedged between every difficult choice that could or has been made.

It hadn't taken her people long to discover that the car the Keens had rented out had been picked up by the two of them, Agnes left in the care of the Task Force. It wasn't ideal, but it could have been worse. They could have run, leaving everything and everyone behind, but the fact that they had left Agnes behind was proof that they hadn't. Liz had proven herself to be willing, but even with some of his memories still fractured, scattered, and incomplete, Scottie knew wouldn't. That little girl was his world, just as he had been hers. And if the Keens wouldn't run without Agnes, that meant that they were chasing down some piece of intelligence or another that they thought they had found, and maybe they had. Maybe she just needed to be patient.

That patience was hard-earned as she dove into anything she could uncover about Jonas Bauer while they were gone. A businessman that valued his privacy, even Scottie was having difficulty uncovering information on the name Solomon has given his life over. There were tidbits that anybody could find: a couple of properties in his name - including an office building in Bonn, Germany - a wife and children, and some more public donations that were likely to paint him as a philanthropist. There was more, a few layers down, including a summer home held under a shell corporation and a bank account with a sizable amount linked to the same. Interesting. Not immediately helpful, but with boots on the ground she thought it could easily lead to more. The problem was knowing which boots to put on the ground.

A knock on the door drew Scottie's attention from her computer monitor to where Nez Rowan stood. She looked tired, eyes rimmed red and a determined expression etched into the lines on her face. "Tell me we're going after these bastards."

"Close the door behind you," Scottie said by way of an answer and took a sip from her drink. She nodded to the small bar and watched as Nez took her up on the offer after closing the soundproof door.

"How's Tom?"

"Angry. Reddington is responsible for his missing memories."

"We'll add him to the list," Nez answered darkly and rounded the desk with her glass to take a look at what Scottie was researching. "Is that him?"

"It is."

"And that's all we have?"

"For now. Reddington knows more, but he won't say what."

"He's just winning all the points, isn't he?"

Scottie snorted softly and reached for her phone as it lit up. She frowned. "Howard was just released into federal custody."

"Has to be Tom, right? I take it Howard's betrayal is one of the things he's forgotten?"

"My guess is it was Elizabeth's mother pulling strings from the shadows. She's wanted Howard involved for a while."

"Any idea why?"

"She needs him for something. What is still one of our outstanding questions. He hates her." Dark eyes flickered up. "This is going to get messier than it is now. If you don't want to —"

"They killed Mattie."

"That's my point. He gave Cooper a name and was dead hours later."

Nez gave a small, hollow smile. "Then I guess we'll need to move fast so they don't see it coming."

Scottie studied her for a long moment, hating that she'd known who she wanted to send all along. Not that she would have been able to stop her if she tried. "Small team, low profile," she said, shoving a jumpdrive into the port on her laptop, copying the information she was researching.

Nez set her drink down to take the offered drive. "Is there any other way?"

The younger woman turned to leave and Scottie stood. "Nez."

"Yeah, boss?" she answered, her voice right.

"Watch yourself out there."

There was a long moment of silence before she gave a stiff nod and was gone, leaving Scottie alone with the hope she hadn't just sent yet another person to their death.


Samar Navabi stood in the center of their war room, her eyes fixed on Aram and her voice was soft. "I know you."

Aram stared back even as Park tilted her head in question. "What's happening here?"

No one answered as Samar stepped forward, her gaze locked on Aram. Confusion flickered across her expression, as if she were trying to work through something, and her lips twitched down at the corners. "I can't…. remember your name, but I know you," she said after a long moment.

"Aram," he answered.

Her brows drew together, stress working its way into the lines on her face. "I wasn't supposed to see you again. If they know, they'll —"

"It's okay. You're safe here," Aram promised, moving towards her. It had been so long since he'd dared to even dream about seeing her again. He'd tucked that longing away and shoved it deep down under the weight of his need to find a way to move on. To be without her for her own safety.

But there she was.

He reached out and Samar flinched back, but her tone turned accusatory as she whipped around to look at Park. "You said you were bringing me in because of what happened to Dr Orchard. Was this all some elaborate —?"

"No." It was Ressler's voice that cut her off this time. "She really was taken. If you were there with her, we need your help to get her back."

Samar's distrustful gaze flickered between the three federal agents as they waited for her response. Finally her posture eased a little and she nodded slowly. "They didn't see me, but I saw them."

"Good," Ressler answered. "Let's start there."

They led her into the interrogation room and Park remained inside with her, the lack of emotional connection between the two women the best chance they had at finding something they could use.

As Samar spoke on the other side of the one-way glass, Aram felt the knot in the pit of his stomach grow and tighten. She looked like his fiancée and spoke with her voice, but the longer she went on, the differences showed in the uncertain stutter around words she couldn't quite remember and the way she would fade off. Her sharp wit was dulled down and she looked more uncomfortable than Aram had ever seen her.

"What are the odds?" Ressler breathed as they listened to Samar struggle to explain who the people were that broke in and each step of what had happened. "The woman trying to help Tom get his memories back is the same one trying to help Samar."

"It's different," Aram murmured. "Tom's memories were just buried. Samar…. from what she said, once it's lost, it's gone."

"It's not exactly a well documented science. Maybe Orchard was finding a way."

Aram snorted a soft, mirthless chuckle. They really were living in strange days if Ressler was their optimist. "We put her in danger bringing her here like this."

"We'll keep her safe." There was a beat of silence before, "Aram?" Ressler was looking directly at him when Aram turned. "She's one of ours. We won't let them hurt her."

He nodded slowly and focused back in on Samar's voice, hoping to find a way to believe the words.


They had gotten very little sleep when the alarm went off that morning. Liz had been on the phone updating the transport arrangements for Howard, and even after she had finally laid down to try to claim a little sleep all she had done was toss and turn. Tom had inched closer at one point, pulling her back against him and trying to ease some of the anxious energy away, but it hadn't done a lot of good. In the end, they both were awake when the alarm started to buzz, making Tom want to find the nearest window to chunk it out of. When this was over, he was just looking forward to sleeping again.

They picked Howard up the next morning and he seemed even more on edge than he had been the day before. His blue eyes darted and he fidgeted while he and Tom waited for Liz to sign the last transport paperwork.

"Something happened."

Tom cracked an eye open from where he was leaning back against the wall with his arms crossed and waiting. "Is there a question in there somewhere?"

Howard huffed at the response. "What?"

"Later."

"You want me to trust you then you need to —"

"Later," Tom snapped. He didn't have the time or energy to convince Howard to keep his trap shut until they got him out. Schmitz had known exactly where to go and had easily overtaken the federal agents that had been tailing her and Townsend. She likely had contacts inside of the Bureau and possibly the military as well. They needed to get Howard out and onto the plane before anything else went sideways.

"You ready to go?" Liz asked, drawing both of their attentions to where she stood with release documents in one hand and the key to Howard's ankle monitor in the other. That was the stipulation that she'd been worried they wouldn't budge on, but what she had said to make it happen was a story that would need to wait until later.

Howard lifted his pants leg to give her access to the monitor. "Very."

Monitor disengaged, it was a relatively quick trip out of the facility and to the car. It took a bit longer to take the roundabout way out to a private airfield where Reddington's jet was waiting. The man himself exited as they pulled up.

"Do you know the name Emilia Schmitz?" Liz asked as she removed the keys from the rental that someone would need to come out and pick up.

"Doesn't ring a bell," Howard answered.

"She's a lead Cabal operative. She kidnapped the woman that was helping Tom recover his memories."

"So this is all coming to a head?" Howard asked softly.

"It has to," Tom said firmly and stepped out of the passenger seat. He saw Reddington making his way towards them and steeled himself. He could hate the man - he didn't think he could stop himself from hating the man - but he also had to find a way to work with him. Howard was right: this was all coming to head, and Tom couldn't find a likely scenario in which Reddington wasn't a key player. They had to face this threat together or risk losing entirely.


She had barely said more than a handful of clipped words to him since they had arrived, but Reddington kept catching Elizabeth's side looks every time she thought he wasn't paying attention. They were quick and calculating, and he wondered just which part of this she was weighing silently. It had been the Task Force that had given him the location - even if it had also been the Task Force that had warned her to take the trip in the first place - to bring all three of them in safely. That was, he reminded himself, the end goal: to keep Elizabeth - and, by extension, her family - safe. At least someone had had the wherewithal to understand that he was not the enemy in this. Not hers, at any rate.

Of all people, it had been Tom that filled him in on how they had gotten to Howard. "But you already knew where he was, didn't you?" he asked tightly, the look he was giving Reddington in that moment reminding the older man too much of Howard's more frustrating attributes. Distrust that bordered on paranoia and a dangerously sharp mind that could easily find an angle to slip through to get to information that should remain secret. He'd done it with the bones and if Red wasn't careful, he'd continue doing it.

"I did," the Concierge of Crime answered carefully.

"Because you know him."

Red tilted his head, studying Elizabeth's husband as the engines roared outside of the aircraft. "I did, but you knew that, even if you don't remember that you do."

Tom drew in a breath, leaning back in the seat that faced Reddington. "All of you know each other."

"Yes."

"You gonna tell us how? Why?"

"You sound as if you have your own theories, Tom."

"You first."

Reddington weighed his options, glancing out of the corner of his eye where Elizabeth was scrolling through a case file on a tablet. "I know that you both believe you have a right to know —"

"We do. After everything this war of yours has cost us, we do."

Reddington quirked one blond eyebrow. "It wouldn't have cost you anything if you'd stayed out of it." He leaned forward, his voice hushed. "Instead your questions brought Ian Garvey in, which in turn signaled an entire branch of an organization that would have otherwise let sleeping dogs lie. Your curiosity into matters that had nothing to do with you not only put Elizabeth in the dangers she faced when Garvey came after you, but also put her in a bullseye of what his superiors' superiors will do now that they are here."

"Because she's your daughter."

The words cut and Red froze in place, finding it difficult to drag air into his lungs as he weighed the likelihood that Tom didn't remember the details he'd discovered about the bones against the possibility that he - and likely Elizabeth as well - had discovered some new piece of information.

From the answer he offered, the latter seemed more likely. "Thank you."

"For what?"

"Confirming it." He tilted his head. "I'm curious though: the bones. The DNA belonged to Raymond Reddington. So either you planted that or you settled into that persona a long time ago."

Reddington kept his expression carefully schooled, determined not to give anything away. Tom had always been a talented operative, but clearly any skills that had been dulled during his years playing house had been resharpened to a fine and dangerous point.

"We're going to figure it out," Tom warned as he stood. "It's better coming from you."

He moved towards Elizabeth and Reddington watched him take a seat next to her on the bench, the two speaking too quietly to make out what they were saying. Neither looked over at him.

"He's got a point."

Reddington looked up to see Howard Hargrave standing at the back of his chair and the missing piece of the puzzle - the new tidbit of information they had discovered - fit into place. He motioned for Howard to take the seat his son had just vacated. As he did, Red sized him up. There was more life in those eyes now, more purpose. This had to be played carefully. Howard was a fantastic ally when he chose to be one. None of them could afford to have him as an enemy.

Even so….. Reddington tilted his head, his voice quiet. "It wasn't your secret to tell."

Howard waved the statement off. "She deserved to know." He settled back, his gaze drifting past Red. "They're not children anymore and treating them as such has only alienated them and put them in more danger than we can fight alone."

"You sound like your wife."

Howard snorted. "A broken clock and all of that," he huffed and caught Reddington's gaze. "I can't lose him again, Red. Can you lose her?"

The other man cringed, feeling the knot that never seemed to fully disappear these days tighten in his chest. "And if losing her saves her?"

Howard chuckled, that old twinkle in his eye familiar. "You and I both know it's gone too far for that. That girl -" he nodded back towards Elizabeth - "is too much of you. You couldn't cut her loose if you tried."

Red watched his old friend settle back, the words hanging between them and, as the plane barrelled towards DC, he knew they were true.


She hadn't known what to expect when Tom said that he had taken a gamble by telling Reddington what Howard had told her the day before. He hadn't admitted it outright, of course, but Tom was convinced it was true after speaking with him. "The silence is his tell," her husband had told her, his words echoing ones from years before she didn't even know if he remembered. Liz hadn't been able to dwell on them too long, though, as they touched down on the runway and Ressler had met them with news they hadn't felt comfortable sharing over the phone.

Samar Navabi was Selma Orchard's patient who had witnessed the kidnapping.

Unless Red had picked up the habit of blatantly lying to her - something that, even as angry with him as she was, she found difficult to believe - he hadn't known Samar had any link to Selma. He had provided her with a new identity, but had respected her overall request for privacy. It was as much of a surprise to him as for the rest of them.

One more twist. One more tangle to trip over. Liz hated that she couldn't even find it in herself to be happy to see her friend. Instead of excitement, she found herself calculating how the new complication could affect their outcome and she hated it.

"Elizabeth."

Reddington's voice pulled her out of her thoughts as they moved through the parking garage towards the lift and Tom's steps paused half a beat after hers. He shot her a look and she reached forward, her fingers ghosting over his. "Tell Agnes I'm right behind you?"

Tom glanced past her at Reddington, his expression darkening as if in warning, but pressed a quick kiss to her forehead before following Ressler and his father down to the War Room. Liz turned back to find Reddington watching her and in that moment she thought she saw a few cracks in that confident mask he wore so well. She studied him, watching every move, every micro expression. Each small twitch told her the same thing: he was afraid.

He pulled in a breath. "I understand that you are…. frustrated with what you feel are answers owed to you."

And there it was. Like every time before he was burying his fear under a steadfast belief that he was right and that she should blindly trust in that. Liz shook her head. "If that's all this is, I don't have time," she snapped and turned, but he caught her wrist as she did, instantly releasing it when she paused.

Reddington started, then stopped, struggling and fighting with himself. Finally he squeezed his eyes closed. "I thought I could protect you. We thought…" He shook his head. "Perhaps Kate was right. Perhaps I should have stayed away."

"A little late for that."

He snorted, the sound devoid of any amusement. "I thought I could control it. That I could…. protect you from enemies from all sides, but in preparing you for the worst you are consistently moved into the cross-hairs."

"I'm here now, and there's no going back on that," Liz answered firmly. "You can help protect me by telling me what we're really up against. Why…" She pushed a long breath out as his words from years before rang in her mind. "Why does knowing my father's identity put me in danger?"

There was a long stretch of silence as he seemed to consider her question. "Because knowing who he was once, even whispering the name, will bring enemies more dangerous than the ones we're facing to the board. One, in particular."

She felt her anger collapse into desperation. "Haven't you figured it out yet? I don't care who you were. I care who you are. And I just want the truth: are you my father?"

"If I answer your question, will you trust me?"

"Not blindly, but it'll be a step in the right direction."

She knew the admission might destroy the choice he was balanced on, but it was the truth. If she was asking for it, she needed to give it.

"Yes," Reddington breathed out, the word so quiet she almost couldn't hear it. He cleared his throat and repeated, "Yes."

"I want to hear you say it. Fully, with no room for misunderstandings or misdirects."

Reddington looked struck by that, but swallowed hard. "I… Yes. Many years ago and far more briefly than I would have preferred. To your question…. Yes."

"Why did you tell me you weren't? Why did you lie to me?"

He shook his head. "It wasn't a lie. I gave up the right to claim you so long ago because I couldn't…. Do what needed to be done and be the father you needed. That you deserved."

Liz nodded, struggling to keep her emotions in check. She took a step forward and, before she gave herself permission, she flung her arms around his neck in a hug. Slowly, hesitantly, she felt him return it. They stood there for a long moment just holding on. She had been in this long enough to know that there would be more, but for now, just for a moment, she wanted to hold onto the answer she had waited on for so long.


TBC

Notes: If you like being showered with answers to all the questions posed in this story, you're really going to enjoy the final chapters of Love Me Twice. Like Howard said: it's all coming to head. ;)

Next time: Nez arrives in Germany, Aram and Samar have a chance to talk, and the team races to rescue Dr Orchard.