Chapter 5

Jim Gordon

The ride ended outside of City Hall. Barsad forced Kate out of the SUV, Kate saw that the building was heavily guarded; the outside had a few guards at the door, around the corner and again across the street. She mentally counted sixteen guards and took another mental note of the weapons they carried. Assault rifles a few, pistols strapped to the leg and if they were a lot like Barsad and the two other guys that were behind them as they walked up the steps. They were carrying more than she could see, maybe knife strapped to the back of the belt and grenades around the chest for easy access.

"I hope you're not getting ideas for an escape route? If so you forgot about the guys on the roof." Barsad informed Kate. Kate closed her eyes and bit the inside of her lip. She didn't consider the guys on the roof. If she made a run for it, she'd never make it down the steps and back to the SUV.

Barsad grinned to himself and knew exactly what she was thinking. Messner was well known for making quick exits, although in the past she couldn't do the same whenever she crossed paths with Bane. "Bane always plans ahead; He tends to think like the prey and the predator."

As they entered the building Kate could see right away that they had taken over the building completely. The lobby was occupied with five big men that served as security, two came up to her but Barsad lifted his hand to signal the clearance. Suddenly Kate realized that Barsad hadn't searched her, she remembered the small pocket knife that was tucked into her right boot. Getting it out without getting caught was the problem.

Barsad led her to the elevator, "I'll take her." He informed the other two guys that went along. They nodded and let them enter the elevator alone. Kate watched as Barsad hit the button for the eighth floor. She backed up against the wall Barsad watched. Suddenly Kate shoved Barsad head first into the elevator door. Barsad pushed back with his weight slamming Kate against the wall. She wrapped her arms around Barsad's neck and face. Barsad slammed himself back to the wall. The elevator made its stop dropping both Barsad and Kate to the floor. Kate crawled out the elevator; the doors began to close as Barsad crawled out grabbing Kate's leg. Kate fling herself around just as Barsad elbowed her leg. Kate screamed feeling the impact of his elbow.

Kate lifted her right leg to her stomach and reached for the pocket knife. The handle was in her grip when Barsad slammed his elbow into her gut. The blow knocked the air out of her lungs. Kate lay still for moment to catch her breath when she saw a pair of big black combat boots a few feet from her face. Her eyes followed the boots and there stood Bane.

He eyed her curiously with his head at a tilt. Barsad flipped Kate onto her stomach and pinned her down with his knee into her back. "Don't do that again." He warned as he picked her up off the floor. He held on tightly to her arms behind her back. She didn't take her eyes off Bane. In the last seven years she hadn't closed enough to actually take in his figure. Both times before she was groggy and couldn't focus. Now here he was standing before.

Barsad waited for Bane to make the first move. There was a strong and uncomfortable silence between the three. Bane kept eye contact with Kate.

"You have a great amount of rage in you." Bane said and took a step forward to get a better at Kate. She turned her head away from Bane then looked back. She had never seen his eyes before until now. They seemed to have no emotion or life in them, a chill ran down her spine. She had seen many cold hearted killers in her line of work, but none of them could ever compare to Bane. Barsad watched the scene and could tell that Kate was fearful of Bane. Her usual strong words of courage could not escape her lips.

"Come. There is much to be done." He said turning away from Kate and walking down a pearl colored hallway. Barsad followed and pushed Kate ahead of him still holding her arm. Kate breathed slowly from the pain in her gut. She still had the knife in her boot. She wasn't going to give up, she'd wait for the next opportunity to try and escape. She needed to find the only friend that she still had in Gotham. Jim Gordon.

Bane entered an office and waited. Kate stopped for a moment to read the name on the door. It was the Commissioners' office. Jim Gordon's name was print in bold letters. Kate glared at Bane then turned around to Barsad who shoved her into the office. Kate smiled; Barsad had blood dripping from his nose. She silently hoped it was broken.

Barsad reached for his red scarf and wiped the blood from his nose as Bane went straight to the window overlooking the city. Kate took a seat at the desk. This is Jim's office. She looked across to the cabinet and saw the family picture of Jim, Barbara and the kids. Kate felt her stomach in her chest as she looked away. If must have been hard for Jim when Barbara left.

Barsad watched the emotions on Kate's face into harden as she looked away. She was good at channeling her emotions. He reached into his cargo pants pocket and pulled out the address book and flipped it back to page it was left on when he found at Kate's apartment. Jim Gordon's name was there completed with his home phone number, work number and personal cell along with the house address. Barsad saw the numbers had been scratched out and rewritten due to change of numbers and the home address.

Bane remained quiet until he heard Barsad's footsteps behind him. He turned away as Barsad held out the address book.

"I found this at her home." Kate snapped a hard look at Barsad and caught a glimpse of the name on the page. Fuck she shouted on the inside.

"The Commissioner managed to escape today, Agent Messner." Bane said as he flipped through the rest of book. Kate didn't dare let out the breath she was holding, Jim had been in the hospital for nearly a week. Of course he would be Bane's target.

"From what you have written down Agent Messner. You have his first and last name, a list of numbers that have changed from time to time and home address. I noticed you didn't have him under his title as Commissioner." Kate slowly exhaled and waited for Bane to connect the pieces. "It indicates that you knew the Commissioner long before his promotion. That has been quite a long time, don't you think?" he asked Barsad.

Barsad eyed Kate at the desk; she let her emotion slip for a moment. She knew the Commissioner on a personal level. Bane could read that as clearly as he read the name in the book. Kate kept her eyes on the desk.

There was a small mess of papers and files; He left them the same way it was when he out on his last call before the congressmen went missing. She remembered the text that he had sent her when he cancelled their meeting the same night. Hours later she received a call the Gotham General that the Commissioner had been taken there after an incident.

Jim lay there on the hospital bed barely breathing, his leg bandaged from the wound. Kate had been there since the call and left for a few hours for sleep. His breathing from time to time worried her but Jim was strong and would pull through as he always had. Kate had been dosing off when she heard a small shift in the bed next to her. Jim was awake.

"Kate?" he asked, Kate nodded with a smile. "Jim you're awake." Kate said still smiling. "How long have you been here?" he seemed worried. Kate shook her head, "Don't worry I took some time to get some sleep." Jim nodded and relaxed. Kate had known him long enough to know that he was hiding something. "What is it?" she asked leaning forward on her knees. Jim took a deep breath as if too prepare himself, preparing to tell her the truth. Kate waited, but nothing. Jim shook his head. "It's nothing." He said. Kate rolled her eyes. "He was here wasn't he?" she asked and accused. Jim turned away from Kate. "I don't know what you're talking about." He said closing his eyes. Kate ran her hands over her face. She knew that the Batman was here. "For the last eight years the Batman's been on the FBI most wanted list. Eight years, and in one night he shows up." Kate snapped. Jim turned around and looked at Kate, "What about the other masked man Bane? He's here in Gotham and you're worried about the Batman?" Kate growled and slide back in her chair standing up. "I'm not an Agent anymore and that's not my case." Jim began moving the blankets around to sit up. "Don't do that you're not well enough." Kate shouted and pulled up the blankets. Jim slide back on the pillow and let Kate fix the mess he made. Kate sighed and sat back down on the chair beside the bed. "You remind me so much of your father." Said Jim staring at Kate, Kate kept her eyes on the floor. "He's dead Jim. And I am nothing like him." Kate stood up and grabbed her sweater. Jim sighed. "I'll come back in couple of days, don't worry you can keep your little secrets I won't ring them out of you." Kate said walking out of the room.

That was two days ago. Now Kate was sitting in his office that had been taken over by Bane. She looked back up at Bane.

"Yes I knew him before and after his promotion. Well not much after" Bane walked toward the desk and ran his hands over the papers. "You lie." He said. Kate swallowed what saliva she had in her mouth. "The visitors log at the hospital he escaped from says otherwise." Barsad added. Kate glared back Bane. "You're going to help me find him."