Chapter six.
When Jesse drove away from Michael's loft he did not have a clue where to go. He had honestly thought Michael was going to kill him. The look on the man's face had been downright scary, Jesse could see that Michael had to fight hard to control himself.
After driving around for ages he finally pulled over into a car park. It was across from the spot where he had first met the man who had set all this in motion.
I was looking at private military, arms dealers or retired spooks. I should been looking at the guy laying the phone lines.
What I had wanted to say is, I should have been watching the guy who I thought was my friend... Jesse porter.
It had been just before the hurricane hit. He had gone over Michael's head and put the word out through his own contacts looking for Simon Escher. Michael was taking to long, and why should they only look through his friends.
He had been a counter intelligence agent for eight years. He had been working this case for three. He had his own people who would know as much as Michael's did.
He was proven right when one of his trusted informers contacted him with a lead. He had found a man who knew Simon Escher. The man wanted a private meeting, nobody else present. As soon as the man arrived Jesse had known why. He had seen the man's file, but dismissed him as a viable suspect. Tyler Brennan, had the man power but not the money or the expertise to run the sort of mess he was looking into. Brennan was very much into war for profit though. Maybe he was a middle man.
By the end of that first meeting, Jesse was left shocked, Brennan had a copy of Simon Escher's arrest record along with Michael Westen's. The list of offences was staggering. Almost as staggering was the fact that they had both been released into the custody of an unnamed agency.
Michael not only knew who Simon Escher was, he had worked with him and he probably knew exactly where he was. Brennan had then produced more photographic evidence of the two men together, cctv footage of them at Coral Gables outside a tv shop where a man was found murdered.
Jesse had wanted to know why he was doing this. Brennan was a successful international arms dealer.
"Oh me and Michael have a bit of history." Had been the reply. "If I was you I would look into who he actually works for, and why he is so interested in you. Michael doesn't do anything out of the goodness of his heart. Last year he threatened my daughter's life to make a point."
He had left then, with a promise to be back in contact in a few days. Jesse spent that entire time looking into what Michael had been doing while pretending to be his friend.
While they had ridden out the storm together, he had wondered if Madeline knew what her son was doing to him. He did give Michael a chance. He had asked him if he had any news on Simon. When he said he was still waiting to hear from some of his friends. Jesse had to choked back his anger.
He continued to help Michael, he was after all a professional. But it was taking it's toll, he went to see his old boss. He needed advice, he needed help. He came away even more upset. Fiona, the woman he thought he could love. She had kept information from him. She too had betrayed him. He was becoming suspicious though. The was only one man Fiona would protect.
Brennan's second call couldn't of come soon enough. Jesse had wanted to hurt Michael in so many ways it was becoming hard to be around him. Brennan said he had a piece of cctv footage that he wanted him to see.
So he found out who burnt him, he found out they had all known what Michael had done. They had fooled him, probably laughed at him. He had trusted them. At that moment he had hated them.
He had spent the following couple of days confused as what to do. He wanted Michael to pay for what he had done. Somehow he had found himself listening to Brennan's advice. Looking back he could barely credit it. He was taking advice off an arms dealer. In fact he found himself agreeing to work with him to damage Michael's plan with Barret. Ruin his reputation with his boss. Maybe get him fired.
His part of the job was to separate Barret from his security. Brennan left it up to him if he killed Michael or not. When Michael had been grabbed, Jesse took the shot. At the time he honestly didn't know if he tried to kill him or not. But Barret had still pulled him into the car.
He had seen the SUV turnover, he had watched through his scope. One of Brennan's men had taken the case containing the bible and at least part of the cipher. He had also seen another car drive up and take the bodies away. Setting light to the vehicle before they left.
The next day, he sat feeling strangely dirty. He had forty thousand dollars handed to him in a plain brown bag. He declined Brennan's offer of an employment opportunity. He kept seeing Michael's eyes, wide open as he was pulled up and dumped into the trunk of the car.
Over the following weeks he stayed out of the way, fiona was looking for him. He didn't want to be found. Not until he was ready. He found the most likely place they would have Michael. It was only then that he had approached, first Madeline and then Sam.
He couldn't admit what he knew, that would of let them know how deeply he had been involved. So he had continued to act like he was looking for a mysterious third party.
But now Michael knew. And it seemed liked the tables had turned, Michael was trying to decide whether to kill him or not.
He started up his car again, he had to find a way to make this right.
.
.
"Ok we've got four names, all of them have been around causing trouble in the last couple of years. All of them have resources to do a hit on Vaughn. And none of them have business cards here." Sam tapped the stacked up cards. "You should contact Barry, ask if he knows of anyone we've missed, and see if he knows if any of these are in Miami. Also check around your gun running contacts, see if the are any rumours out there about some one hiring on extra men."
"And while I'm doing all this?"Fiona asked.
"I'm going to sit down with that folder that Mike and Jesse have been hogging and try and see what we've missed."
"Good luck with that." She meant it the folder was massive filled with what they had dug up on Barret, and Drake Industries plus all the intelligence that Jesse had gathered.
.
Some say a picture is worth a thousand words, but it really depends on what you want to say.
Michael entered his loft after watching Jesse drive away. The was still a part of him that was unhappy at letting Jesse go. It was the part that he was relying on now more and more to keep him going.
He looked around and could instantly see somebody had been inside. On his bed were photos, black and white grainy photos of his recent interrogation. Close ups of his face screwed up in agony, others of him lying in his cell. He stood frozen to the spot, heart hammering in his chest, he couldn't breathe. Then he felt bile rising in his throat, he rushed to his bathroom just making it in time.
He came out of the bathroom, his legs were rubbery and his heart was pounding. He forced himself to walk back over to his bed. He hurriedly grabbed up photos, noticing the was a cell phone on his pillow. For now though he wanted those photos gone. He dropped them in the sink, and searched for matches. Only once they were on fire did he feel himself relax slightly. He ran a trembling hand across his forehead the skin was cold and clammy. He now had to deal with the phone.
He picked it up trying to compose himself. Looking at it he saw the was one number programmed in. he hit the dial button.
"Mr Westen." It was that damn voice that sent chills down his spine.
"Yes." He managed a response.
"Do you have the information we want?"
He swallowed, he wasn't even in the room but Michael feared that man and what he could do. "Not yet."
"You have time to have your previous handler killed though?"
"That wasn't me." He lied, the man wasn't in the room, he needed to pull himself together.
Previous handler? He thought. Was he talking to his present handler?
"You will have to learn not to lie to me Mr Westen. Wasn't those earlier lessons enough?"
Michael didn't respond, what did he expect him to say.
"Twenty four hours, Mr Westen we want the bible and if not, I would not want to be one of your friends. Do you understand?"
"Yes." Michael whispered. He turned the phone off. He felt worn out, and his plan was still not completely in place. He knew who had the bible, six weeks ago. Jesse had confirmed that. But six weeks was a long time in the intelligence industry. He looked at the bed, but he could still the photos on it in his mind. He climbed up the stairs and laid down on the couch.
Fiona found him there three hours later. He didn't respond to her coming inside or her calling his name. She looked around the loft and saw the burnt photos in the sink, she sorted through and found fragments that made her curse. Throwing them back into the sink she headed upstairs that being the only place she hadn't looked.
He was on his side knees drawn up to his chest, shivers were racking his body, and he appeared to be talking though no sound was coming out of his mouth. She touched him gently on the shoulder expecting him to jerk awake. However apart from flinching he gave no sign that he knew she was there.
"Michael!" She shook him, trying to bring him out of it. They should of seen this coming. Sam had said he seemed to quiet before. He had been blocking out what had happened, until someone, and she could guess who left him a load of photos of his incarceration. He came round, seemingly confused, she noticed the greenish complexion and reached quickly for a small metal bin. Getting it under his chin as he threw up.
She took him downstairs and into the bathroom. She helped him clean up. "That's it, you're coming back to your mothers."
"No Fi, I can't I've got a meeting here tomorrow." The was something different about his voice.
"So I'll stay then. You're in no condition to take a meeting on your own."
He wanted to argue with her but felt strangely lethargic. He rested his head in his hands as he sat on a chair.
"I'm going to take a job." He told her.
"A job? What sort of job?" She was confused.
"I Know who has the bible, I need to get it back so I've accepted a job with the person who took it."
His tone was flat, when he looked at her, his eyes were cold.
"Who has it?" She was half afraid to ask. She had an idea though, but she wanted to hear him say it.
" Brennan, Tyler Brennan."
"The man who strapped a bomb to a child's arm. Who threatened to kill Nate. You're just going to work for him?" She was astonished.
"Yes. That's why you can't stay."
"Michael you were having a flashback when I came in. You are in no state." She stopped as he grabbed her, pulled her towards the door. His eyes were blazing, his mouth a thin line. He threw her against the door, a hand on either side of her shoulders.
"Do you think, that you could go through what I did? Do you think my mother could? Because that is what is going to happen if I don't give them what they want. So I am going to do whatever job Brennan wants me to do. So I can steal that bible back or find who he sold it to."
"Not alone Michael you need our help." Her voice was small, he had never spoken to her like this, he sounded so vicious.
"Alone Fi, now go." He shoved her out of the door, slamming it shut in her face. He leant against it, he could hear her going down the stairs. He was doing it for her, his mother and Sam. It would his fault if anything happened to them. It didn't matter what happened to him. He felt dead inside now anyway.