Fooling Ourselves

Chapter 11: Betrayal

A/N: I've found my passion for this story once again. Like I said, there are lots of surprises in store.

"Guess who your mystery caller is?" Munch asked Olivia, wasting no time in getting down to business.

Olivia took Zack out of Elliot's arms and sank down in the chair "I don't know John. That's why you're here," she replied flatly; she wasn't in the mood for guessing games or sarcastic banter. She felt Elliot lift her free hand and give it a gentle squeeze. She turned and saw him smile softly at her.

"Just tell us John," Elliot told his colleague firmly.

Munch placed a folder on the desk in front of Elliot "The call came from the office of one Henry Fisher."

Olivia's mouth dropped open and Zack slipped a good six inches down her shoulder before she caught him again. She couldn't even begin to comprehend that her boss, Zack's Godfather, the man whom Dean had admired and had put unwavering trust in, could have anything to do with this whole mess. "It can't be him," she said at last, pulling from her mind every piece of evidence she could use to contradict what sat in front of them, as plain as day "On the phone, I didn't recognize his voice."

"He probably disguised it somehow," Elliot's hand was on her arm and he was looking into her face with nothing but concern and sympathy.

"It can't be him," she murmured "It just can't be," she looked down at her son "He… he's not that kind of person," she finished meekly.

"I know you don't want to believe it Olivia," Elliot was saying "But if he does have something to do with this, we should follow up on it."

"He did want the investigation to be handled by his people," Fin stated.

Olivia nodded and stood up "I'm coming with you guys," she said firmly.

"Liv," Elliot murmured warningly "You can't be hauling a baby around in the middle of the night, especially not to go talk to a potential murder suspect."

"Liz and Dickie can watch him," she told him. When his expression hadn't changed she added "If he does have something to do with this, I want to know why."

Elliot could see the betrayal in her eyes. She had come to trust her new boss and this recent development had shaken that trust. She needed to know what was real. He nodded and turned to go upstairs and wake the twins.

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Elliot drove and Olivia sat in the passenger's seat. Chester had gone with Munch and Fin back to Elliot's apartment to look for any additional clues there; interviewing a suspect didn't require more than one detective and having a very determined FBI agent along for the ride never hurt.

"He was in charge of Dean's undercover," Olivia said quietly "He would have been able to get his hands on Dean's wallet and place it… on the body," logic was taking over and the realization of how big a fool she must have been to trust Fisher, simply because Dean had trusted him, was finally setting in.

"I'm sure there are at least a dozen different ways that the killer could have gotten his hands on Dean's wallet," Elliot tried to make her feel better "And there's nothing that says that the person who made the call from Fisher's office was actually Fisher."

"No one gets into that office without him knowing it," Olivia told him in a monotone. She turned her gaze from the road in front of the car to Elliot "Either he made the call or he knows who did. He's the paranoid type. The room itself is literally crawling with surveillance and alarms," she looked away again "I still can't believe it," she whispered.

Elliot placed a hand on her knee "We're gonna get to the bottom of this," he promised.

She managed a small smile "Thanks," she whispered and turned away towards the road again.

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The building was dark, much too dark. Even at such a late hour, there should have been receptionists running to and froe, agents turning in last minute paperwork and security guards, making sure everyone that was there, was supposed to be.

They walked through the front entrance without any opposition of any kind into a hallway lit only by the orange exit signs. Elliot turned to Olivia as he flipped on his flashlight "How many security guards should there be?" he asked.

Olivia glanced down at her watch "Four," she answered, her heart beating faster by the second "Two at this entrance and two at the other," this wasn't right.

As they walked down the hall they soon learned what had happened to the two security guards assigned to the entrance. Elliot's flashlight beam reflected off their lifeless eyes first "Oh God," he said quietly as he and Olivia approached. The two men were bound and gagged and upon closer inspection Olivia spotted the gunshot wounds in the backs of their heads.

"Executed," she said sorrowfully; she recognized both men. She looked at Elliot, her face full of terror. This was a federal building, there was no way that someone could possibly…

"We should get out of here and call for backup," Elliot said. He grabbed Olivia and headed back towards the exit when the door to one of the elevator opened.

Elliot and Olivia froze for a moment, staring at the man, backlit by the elevator's lights, which were apparently still working. Elliot raised his flashlight to try and illuminate the man's face.

Elliot didn't notice when the man raised the gun at his side but Olivia did "Elliot," she half screamed, grabbing him and pulling him down the hall and through the nearest door. The first shot barely missed them as they dove through the door.

They looked at each other, very much aware of the man's rapidly approaching footsteps. They were in a stairwell. Elliot pointed to the stairs leading up "You go up, I'll try and get him when he comes through the door."

"Like hell you will," Olivia retorted breathlessly as she sprinted up the stairs, dragging Elliot with her.

The man burst through the door to the stairwell after they had disappeared from sight and he couldn't accurately tell whether the footfalls he heard in the echoing space were coming from above or below him. He chose down thinking that they would have gone that way in the hopes that they could run faster in that direction. He took the stairs slowly on his way to the basement and subbasements; if they were there, he would find them.

Olivia and Elliot finally stopped running when they had reached the fifth floor. Olivia leaned against the railing while she caught her breath "I don't hear him," she whispered "I think we can take a minute," she withdrew her gun, which hadn't left her side since she had left Elliot's apartment, and peered down the stairs into the blackness.

"What the hell is going on here?" Elliot asked, pulling out his cell phone and flipping in open. He frowned "No signal, Damn it."

"It's probably the stairwell," Olivia told him "If you go through that door," she pointed to the door that led to the fifth floor offices "You'll probably get a signal."

Elliot went through the door and returned a few seconds later "Still no signal," he said almost afraid "I hate New Jersey."

"I've always been able to get a signal in this building," Olivia rebuffed "Don't blame New Jersey."

Elliot took up Olivia's former position at the top of the stairs with his gun raised and Olivia walked out into the hall to try and get a signal on her phone. When she returned he didn't even have to look at her, he heard the failure in the sigh that she gave as soon as the door was closed again "No luck?" he asked.

"Not so much as bar one," she said angrily "Our best bet is to find an office and call for help from there."

Elliot turned and followed Olivia into the hall. He stayed as close as he possibly could to her "This is really bad," he whispered.

Olivia nodded as she approached the door of the first office on their right. She tried the doorknob, it was locked. For a moment she wondered if they could knock it down without drawing attention to themselves when she saw someone get up from under the desk in the office and walk towards the door. It was Fisher's secretary, Amy. She opened the door and waved the two in, closing it softly behind them and locking it again. Amy ushered them behind the large desk "Olivia," she began in a terrified and small tone "What are you doing here?"

"I came to talk to agent Fisher," Olivia said quietly as she crouched down beside Elliot.

"Don't bother," Amy whispered back "There's no reasoning with him. He's lost it."

Olivia stared at Amy for a long time "Amy?" she asked afraid of what she might find out "Is Fisher the one who killed the security guards?"

Amy nodded, ducking her head quickly and wiping at her eyes "Four men came into the office. I thought one of them looked familiar and I went up to the door to listen in," she looked almost ashamed but she continued "He opened his desk and handed them guns, told them to stay there until he'd gotten rid of security," she looked away again "While he was gone, I went back to my desk and I found the picture of the one that I thought looked familiar," she paused.

"Let me guess," Olivia was finding it hard not to choke on her words "Trent Nash."

Amy nodded again "I'm sorry Olivia."

Olivia turned to Elliot and wiped furiously at her eyes "He set Dean up," she said sadly.

Elliot wrapped an arm around her "I'm sorry," he whispered. He reached up and felt along the top of the desk until his hand came into contact with the phone.

"Why didn't I think of that?" Amy asked, her cheeks flushing bright pink.

"Sometimes when our bodies are under a lot of stress," Elliot began "We don't always think of the most logical option first."

Amy nodded "Dial 9 for an outside line," she told Elliot as she and Olivia and Elliot crossed their fingers.

Elliot hung up the phone "Not even a dial tone," he said in defeat."

"That's not possible," Amy said in disbelief "We need to get some help out here."

"Amy," Olivia started "Was there anyone else working late tonight."

Amy nodded sadly "When Fisher got back, he told the others to find anyone in the building and kill them. He rerouted all the security cameras to his office."

Olivia stared up at the camera over the door "They know we're here," she stated and she shared a quick look with Elliot.

"No," Amy reassured them "I disconnected all the ones in this hallway.

Olivia shook her head, her hand grasping her gun firmly "How did you get here from Fisher's office?" she asked.

"When I heard him tell them to kill everyone they found, I started running," Amy replied evenly, though a dark shadow had fallen across her face.

Olivia shook her head. Of all the things that Amy had said, the one thing that had seemed most peculiar to her was what she hadn't said. She hadn't asked who Elliot was, because she already knew.

Olivia had drawn her gun in seconds and wasn't surprised when Amy drew one of her own "Nice gun Amy," Olivia remarked "Where'd you get it?"

"Henry gave it to me," Amy smiled slyly "But you already knew that didn't you?"

"Who are the guys with Nash and Fisher?" Olivia asked venomously as she watched Elliot out of the corner of her eye, his gun drawn, his lips pursed. She was more than prepared to shoot Amy if she had to but she wanted to get as much information as possible out of her first.

"You know who Nash works for don't you?" Amy asked with a toss of her head "It seems your darling husband got on the bad side of the mob."

Olivia was shocked but she kept her composure "What do you mean?"

Amy heard the footsteps coming down the hall. She grinned maniacally "You don't need to know that." Amy raised her gun and pointed it at Elliot "All you need to know is he's not invited to the party."

Elliot's gun went off, hitting Amy right between the eyes. She fell backwards and he stood up, pulling Olivia to her feet after him "What parts of this building don't the cameras cover?" he asked.

"Um…" Olivia thought for a moment "Stairwells and restrooms."

Elliot turned his eyes towards the ceiling. That did them no good. He could hear the footsteps coming closer. Then suddenly he saw it "What about air vents?" he asked.

"What?" Olivia questioned, absolutely confused by his question.

"Do the cameras cover the ventilation system?" he asked frantically.

"No," Olivia responded and following his line of sight, she understood his plan. With the footsteps drawing closer by the second, she hopped up on the desk and removed the panel over the air vent.

Before she could even turn around, Elliot hoisted her in and climbed up after her. Before they could even catch their breaths, the door to the office burst open and two men came into view beneath them. Olivia didn't recognize either one.

"They killed the secretary," one of them observed nonchalantly.

"Yeah but where are they?" the other asked but he didn't need to wait for an answer because his eyes had drifted to the open air vent. He had jumped on top of the desk before Elliot or Olivia had noticed. He stuck his gun in the waist band of his pants and jumped up to the vent.

Without thinking, Elliot punched the man in the face, causing him to fall backwards onto the floor of the office. There was a gunshot and the man screamed. His gun had gone off while it was in his pants. From where Elliot and Olivia observed the scene below, it was obvious that the shot had nicked his femoral artery. He was bleeding profusely and his broken nose was the absolute least of his concerns.

"FUCK!" he screamed "FUCK! ONE OF THEM FUCKING SHOT ME!"

Olivia almost yelled back 'no we didn't' but thought better of it and hurriedly followed Elliot down the narrow passage. The second man never followed them into the air ducts. Either from fear that he would meet the same fate as his colleague or something else, they didn't care, the only thing on either's mind was escaping.

After about fifteen minutes of twists and turns, Elliot stopped "What is it?" Olivia asked fearfully.

"The phone was unplugged," Elliot told her.

"What?" Olivia asked.

"Amy must have unplugged the phone before we got there," Elliot clarified "If we could get to another office, we could call for help."

"Good plan," Olivia sighed, leaning against the side of the duct, exhausted "One problem though, the second we drop down from the ceiling into an office, they're gonna know where we are."

"Good point," Elliot conceded "There aren't any phones in the bathrooms are there?" he asked with a small chuckle.

"No," Olivia responded with a sigh.

"Amy said there were four men besides Fisher right?" he asked.

"If she was telling the truth," Olivia said ruefully.

"What she told us is the best estimate we've got," Elliot told her as he continued on with his train of thought "It's safe to say that if Fisher rerouted the feeds from the cameras to his office that he's there keeping an eye on things," he paused and managed to turn himself around to face Olivia in the cramped space "How many rounds do you have left?"

"Eight in the gun and another clip in my pocket," she replied.

"Good," he smiled slightly "I've got seven left, I didn't think to bring an extra clip… no I'm fine," he said as Olivia reached into her pocket and attempted to hand him the spare clip.

"You're gonna need it more than I am," she told him "Remember, you're not invited to the party. Apparently I am. I don't think they're gonna kill me."

"All the more reason I'd rather have you take it," he told her but when he attempted to hand it back to her, she simply shook her head.

"El, I'll be fine. Take it, please," even in the dim light from his flashlight, he could see her eyes pleading with him.

He reluctantly slipped the clip into his own pocket "But if you run out first, I'm giving it back to you."

"Fair enough," Olivia said with a half smile "What's your plan?"

A/N: So a federal building would have a lot more than four security guards and would be a lot harder to take over than this but I'm taking author's privilege on this one people. I hope you are enjoying this and I'll try to update soon.