Author´s note:

Hey everyone

I know it has been ages but life has been busy and stressful and all that and now summer is giving me a little more time againand my muses are waking from their slumber.

Unlike most chapters I decided to have just one "scene" and no cut in this one, it just seemed wrong to cut to another place after this. The next chapter will be up relatively soon and we will be returning to Liv and Fitz and the things happening on the big stage. Before I remark on individual reviews a big thank you to the people who faved and read the story in the meanwhile and who seemingly didn´t abandon it apart from the slow updating. Also, special thanks to whoever has been busy apparently browsing through the whole thing (yes, I see you whoever you are, thanks to statistics and thank you so much :)

I hope everyone enjoys the new chapter, the next one might be up as soon as the weekend.

In case I forget to comment on any reviews, I apologize, it´s not intentional. :) I value each and every one of your feedbacks:

Noro: Thank you so much, you´re often the fastest to read and review even if it´s just a short shout out I really appreciate you enjoying the story :)

Jennkyle: Lots of nice weekends since then. I hope you are doing well as well and thanks a lot. :)

JustbecauseIcan43: This really means a lot, reading it again after having lost track of the story. I hope the long wait for the update didn´t totally kick you out of it again and you still like it. Thanks for your really nice review.

Clio 1792: Oh I really enjoy writing Maya, she´s just so spiteful and evil, she´s such fun to mess with. And yes, things are getting a little tricky for Eli… Thanks for reading. Hope you´re fine :)

: Well, where indeed? You´ll find out now and well…he still does have a role to play…

Kelleekellkell: Thanks so much Well, I am sure this chapter will help with the fixation. ;)

Chapter 31

The puppet and the puppeteer

The man in front of him appeared fearless. That typical, semi relaxed, semi alert stand, shoulders squared, hands folded in front of his body, clasped loosely enough to be able to quickly reach for the gun in the holster under his jacket. The holster he had made sure was empty before the younger man faced him. Head held high without showing arrogance or dominance. A silent watcher always ready to attack and yet perfectly attuned to the habit of staying in the background, the kind of presence people were used to ignoring almost, unless they made an unexpected move, triggering the reflexes of a man trained half his life to protect. A man who had early on given up all personal safety for a higher aim, a call of duty that was the shining idea of anyone wearing his kind of weapon and his kind of decoration never noticed by the public. A young man who deemed himself a fighter in the background, a protector of an idea and an office, more so than merely a protector of just one man.

And yet, despite all their high ideals and oaths sworn, just like most others, the agent before him was just as bribable as most ordinary people. Strangely, sometimes even more so, if only one knew which tunes to whisper into his ears, about serving that higher ideal. And oh, he had whispered. With cunning, with his own unfailable logic, he had told the younger man of corruption and of the blemishes that stained the ideals the young agent had vowed to protect. It had taken time and patience, but eventually the other had understood, in his own simpler way that the eagle he believed to be protecting was a mere vulture clad in a far more impressive plumage. A man unfit to lead and represent what the agent himself and so many others believed to be the greatest nation on earth.

But there was no perfection. Every shining armour had its stains and Eli Pope had made it his task to erase it. To bring about proper order. And sometimes that meant that chaos had to be brought first, to cleanse away the filth.

He leant back in his chair, waiting a few seconds, just for effect, drinking in the power kick simple things still gave him such as being in this large room where every slightest breath seemed to echo, and having the other man face him, despite his confident body language probably still quivering inside. The gunman bereft of a gun. His personal tool, but helpless before him.

"So I believe you do have some information for me." A statement, not much of a question audible in the words.

"She returned to the White House and she has been meeting with him, behind closed doors in the Oval and with no others present that I would know of."

"And how does that tell us she has been sharing any of her information with the president?"

"She hasn´t been to the Oval in a while. After she left things fell apart and her return hasn´t been easy."

Eli couldn´t help but feel that slightly irritating mix of annoyance and pride. Things had looked good about his daughter, finally turning her back on that spoiled rich white boy, even better so since she had believed it her own idea, and truth be told that had been the hardest thing to achieve. Her return hadn´t been something Eli had been in favour of, and there were others that would have to pay for it. But while this was another matter, the man in front of him had his own slip ups to answer for.

"Please tell me I will not have to go through the painstaking task of explaining to you that she is far more intelligent and resourceful than most of the men who claim to be running this country, Tom." he said, a slight snarl to his words as he refused the urge to raise his voice just yet. He didn´t need the extra effect. Not with someone who was his puppet anyways. "If she was meeting with him there was a reason for her. She knows the backgrounds of this, it didn´t take her long to figure it out and part of this is. Your. Fault." He made a show of accentuating the last two words, because apparently the other man had not yet quite understood his role in all of this. "I told you to make sure that there were no traces left of Harrison Wright."

"There weren´t, Sir."

"Oh? Then imagine my surprise at my own daughter, the one person who I deem worthy of protecting in this sinkhole of a city to come knocking at my door and making all the right conclusions not just about her dear friend but no, also about that little boy you happened to poison in front of the eyes of the world." Eli´s voice was thick with sarcasm as he felt his right palm slam flat against the table. He hadn't intended this outburst and instantly reproached himself for it, only to feel his anger seethe all the more strongly inside him. "But I am telling you something, agent Larsson, if I get the feeling that you are not capable of doing your job, the job that you are obliged to do to serve the best interest of your, of our country, then I will see it as my duty to remove you from this burden and unfortunately for you this will not end well." His eyes were burning into those of the other man and he could feel his fingertips tingle with rage. He hated having to work with people he couldn´t rely on one hundred per cent, people he could not control completely and agent Tom Larssen was becoming more and more of a problem. "You do not want to get on my bad side, Tom. You do not want to become a liability."

"No Sir." The man shifted to his other leg, a small motion betraying his nervousness. Rightfully so. Eli knew that at this moment there were three guns trained at the man´s head, heart and legs and it would take only one tiny motion of his hand to release whatever hound he thought appropriate.

"There has been movement." Larsson said, in a pathetic attempt to appear in full control of his wits and fears. "not much leaking, but two agents on duty talked about a top secret delivery. And I could see in the security data files that there has been a change in arrangement of security detail."

Eli merely raised his eyebrows, indicating with a hand that he wished more information. He hated it when others paused for dramatic effect.

"The Attorney General´s office has been secured and he is assigned to have his security detail doubled." Larsson went on. "Effective starting this noon."

"Then make sure you are on his tail." Eli´s voice sounded icy. "because whatever is going on it means that my daughter has her hands in it."

"I cannot see how, Sir."

Another smack of his palm onto the desk but this time that just didn´t do and Eli jumped to his feet, leaned over the massive table, his face closer to the agent than the other man probably found comfortable. "Are you really that thick, agent Larsson? I want you to be the ears on the walls in the Attorney General´s office. I want you to be the little fly in the Oval and I do not care about changed security procedures or switched off cameras. You. Will. Watch everything that is going on because you know why? She knows and she will find a way to prove it, and she will drag us down with it. But before that happens, believe me, son, it will be easy for me to serve the president your head on a platter and make the public believe that it was just you. Just you who got a god complex and some tiny man´s resentment and maybe a few medical issues that led you to poisoning the president´s son. And before my daughter can even prove my involvement me or spin the story her way you will find your ass in a death row."

His heart was hammering with rage and he had abandoned his place behind the desk, approaching the younger man menacingly. Oh if only he didn´t need him any more… but if there was a conspiracy against him going on and he was sure there was, he needed a weapon inside the White House, he needed eyes and ears.

Larsson stood his gaze and did not respond. At least in that way the boy had the manners of an unflinching soldier.

"Go…" He let the word linger menacingly in the air. "do what you must and by tonight I want to know what is going on in the Oval. Whatver it is." He could certainly do without witnessing his daughter´s bad life choices but there were more important things to consider.

The agent didn´t say another word, just gave a curt nod and left, his steps echoing in the hall, the only sound for a moment as Eli stood and watched the man leave. "I want one of you in front of Rosen´s office" he then said into a room that appeared empty but that was anything but. "one in front of the White House´s service entrance and a third in front of OPA." He sat back down trying to calm his anger when a soft buzz from his cell caught his attention. He grabbed it and opened the text that appeared on the screen. The message was from Maya and he could almost hear the sweet, poisonous tone she would use if it were delivered in person. It read:

"Darling,

I hope you don´t miss me but I changed my plans. Burning those boxes seemed such a boring thing to do. I am sure our daughter will have more fun with these. See it as a little thank you for keeping me confined to that hole. It wasn´t a fun time. Enjoy your life as long as you have it. I will watch you burn.

Maya"

This time there was no way for him to confine his rage. His scream, a roar of shaking anger echoed through the hall, followed by the sharp clattering of the phone shattering on the nearest concrete wall-