Please see first chapter for disclaimer regarding Blacklist. (Of course I don't own it! Just borrowing for entertainment purposes.) I've replied to everyone's reviews if I could ( I appreciate you taking the time to leave me a comment) and anyone I could not reply to Thank you as well! You are just as important!

Here we go again:

Post Office

Donald and Meera returned to Cooper's office a few hours later to update Harold on the current situation regarding Agent Keen.

"What do you have for me?" Harold asked leaning back and observing the two agents.

The two agents exchanged glances and a sort of silent coin flip occurred leaving Donald to conduct his report first. "We've checked their home and with his school. The school said he'd taken a few personal days and the home was completely empty, no sign of struggle. Even the dog was missing."

"Are we able to run a tracer on his phone?" Harold asked, making a few notes.

"According to Aram it was left at the house and hasn't pinged any other towers since we brought him in to interrogate him." Donald now turned his attention to Meera, "How did we not turn anything up on him when Keen brought him in for the situation with the box? I mean you interrogated him, right?"

Meera glared at him for his accusatory tone, "Need I remind you that Reddington's entire Blacklist is full of people we do not even know exist? For all we know Tom Keen isn't even his real name. Yes, I ran point on the interrogation but vetting his credentials and background fell to your people."

"Enough!" Harold yelled over the two bickering. "He played us - all of us. Malik- what have you found regarding Lucian from your CIA contacts?"

Meera had to control her desire to shoot Ressler in his other leg, "I have relayed the necessary information and will be meeting with a contact in an hour to collect the pertinent data and can report back after my meeting. So far there are no hits on any searches through the agencies relating to a 'Lucian' or anyone fitting that description."

"Where are you meeting your contact?" Donald asked quickly.

"A predetermined destination set by them, I am not sure how long this will take but if anything happens..." Meera nodded to the screen in the war room of Agent Keen lying unconscious on the floor of a small suspended cell. "Call me." Without any preamble she retreated from the office.

Donald held his position for a few moments before moving to the door and closing it softly as Harold reached into his desk and withdrew a small device. Setting it on his desk he hit the silver button on top causing it to flash red before he addressed Donald.

"The room is secure, has Reddington or any of his people attempted to contact us?" Harold inquired rubbing his forehead in a vain effort to relieve the tension headache that was building.

"No sir. I would have assumed he would have made some contact by now. I have also been running tracers on every person who leaves to see if they divert from their normal routine." Donald shook his head, "I have even reached out to local animal control as well in case any strays turn up matching their dog."

"A bit of a stretch don't you think?" A skeptical Harold glared at Ressler.

"It's all we've got at this point to try locating Keen's husband - if he is dead." Donald looked at the screens splayed across the war room. "She seems to be holding up well. Lucian appears to be following directives."

"So long as he continues to play ball with us," Harold snapped. "If he gets tired of waiting for Reddington we may lose control of him."

"Perhaps we should up his payment to help extend his patience." Donald glanced over his shoulder to gauge Cooper's reaction to his suggestion.

Sighing heavily he nodded his head, "Fine but let's not jump the gun yet. The less paper trail- the better."

xXxXxXxX

Meera quickly made her way out to her SUV. Once inside she removed her cell phone and disassembled it as she took off out of the parking garage.

Once she was safely enroute and away from the blacksite, Meera made a quick detour to swap her SUV for a Porsche 911 to ensure she was not followed or GPS tracked. Reaching into the center console she removed a burner phone, reassembled it then waited for it to power up. Immediately after powering on a text message arrived:

Mr. Kaplan: 198 Main Rm 15

After plugging the destination into her GPS she shot back a quick confirmation of receipt. She had everything they had collected since the link had arrived, including the link itself- the proverbial front row seat to Agent Keen torture. Throwing her car into gear she maneuvered quickly towards her destination.

Arriving in under 30 minutes, she quickly moved through the lobby and knocked lightly on the door to room 15. She didn't have to wait but a few moments before the door opened revealing Dembe looking stern as ever. Motioning her inside Dembe lead her through to the dining area. She had to maneuver around and over bunches of cables and cords running through the hallway, living, and dining area.

Dembe didn't stop until he arrived at the master suite doors when he paused only long enough to knock to announce their arrival before entering.

As soon as she moved inside she came face to face with Raymond Reddington, "Hello Meera."

"Mr. Reddington," she nodded to him, reaching into her pocket and removing the file and flash drive she had been instructed to bring with her. Handing it to him, he immediately handed the flash drive off to his tech then gave the rest of the file to Dembe. "How long has she been gone?"

"We are not sure about the exact time but she left the Post Office yesterday around 3pm and the link arrived last night roughly around 6pm." She kept her information on point. "That time frame helps to considerably narrow down the search radius."

"You'd be surprised how far you can travel in so little time." Red remarked sharply. "So she has been missing for roughly 24 hours." Red clipped out glancing at the screens as each one started coming up with the live link, the electronic information about Lucian and the link, and finally the video they had recorded previously. " Let me guess the only information the FBI was able to garner from all of their time with this through their masterful powers of deduction was his name is Lucian..." Red shot Meera a sarcastic look before they were interrupted.

"Sir we are ready." A young bespectacled man spoke softly from the table behind Red. "I've got the video cued up plus the live feed. There was a tracer program embedded in the link to coordinate the ISP location of the uplink that we have redirected to a random location in southwest.."

"Seymour, just play it." The entire room stopped at Red's comment. They starred at the screen; glancing back and forth between an unconscious caged Liz and a man monologuing who Red knew to be Lucian Striker. Lucian had not actually made Red's Blacklist prior to this incident but he had quickly earned himself a spot of his very own.

Reddington seemed to be solely focused on the screen and Meera couldn't help but wonder what was racing through his complicated mind. His facial expressions gave nothing away although she could feel the tension in his body, he was like a viper ready to strike.

Red wasn't really concentrating on the message from Lucian, he was a hired gun just like Anslo. The initial thought that Red had was Lucian would meet the same fate as Anslo: Red would end his life. The difference this time was he didn't know who had hired Lucian and it was Lizzie they were torturing to get the information he currently controlled.

No one dared speak until the recorded video was over. "Seymour - how long until you can get me the location?" Red didn't stop looking at Liz as he began formulating his plan.

"He is good, but I am better." Seymour was sitting in front of a laptop eagerly typing away. "I sent out a rogue virus to the tri state area, any computer that is on with internet access is running code to triangulate their precise-"

"TIME SEYMOUR! HOW LONG?" Red snapped at the young man.

Seymour's mouth snapped shut - he began to do some quick calculations in his head. "24 hours would be the earliest."

Red took a few moments to absorb what he was saying. Lizzie would be in Lucian's grasp for 24 more hours, leaving her to whatever diabolical plans he could concoct during that time. Scratching at the top of his head with his left hand he regarded Meera who appeared poised to say something. " Meera, please provide Seymour with your remote access information for the Post Office."

Meera looked taken aback as Seymour perks up, "With those type of resources we could cut the time down by at least 6-8 hours."

"Mr. Reddington, I cannot give him-"

Red cut her rebuttal off as he looms dangerously close to her person, dropping his voice down to a frightening level he addresses Meera in a private conversation. " I'm not asking Agent Malik: I'm telling you. I did not ask for classified CIA documents pertaining to national security or anything of vital importance, honestly not even anything he couldn't accomplish on his own given enough time. Now give him the access information so we can save valuable time in locating Agent Keen."

She continued to stare at Red weighing her options; it only took a few seconds For her to make her choice. Pulling a pad of paper to her, she wrote down her pass code and log in to remote into her system at the Post Office.

As soon as she finished writing, Seymour pounced on the notepad like a buzzard on a gut wagon. He grabbed it quickly and ran off before she had a chance to change her mind. "I need to give them something when I return, Ressler came up empty on Tom Keen - obviously because he is dead- and any information from their home was next to useless given the condition of the house."

The sound of Liz stirring in the cage drew Red's attention back to the live feed, "See Dembe on your way out. He will provide you with information to return to Harold and Donald about Lucian." Effectively dismissing Meera from their meeting Red continued to just stare at the screens thinking resolutely to himself, 'I will find you Lizzie.'

xXxXxXxX

Awaking with a start Liz glanced at her surroundings. She appeared to be in a small cage hanging suspended in the air barely a few feet off the ground, though she was high enough and far enough away from anything she could use to escape.

Realizing she was by herself, she tried rolling over slowly and gingerly climbed to her knees. The burning sensation in her abdomen had not ebbed in the time she had been unconscious. Lifting her shirt up she observed the sensitive burns across her stomach. The water boarding had been frightening. Though the knowledge that he wasn't trying to kill her - just yet- seemed to help control her panic. After taking those first few deep breaths of life giving air the panic subsided leaving the tremors from the electrical shock and pure adrenaline.

'Tell me what you saw?' Subconsciously she heard Red again from their tense conversation about finding Zamani when they had first met. "What do I see?" She mumbled as she used the cage to pull herself up and started glancing around for anything she could use to identify her location.

"No windows." Liz said aloud, recalling that the man called Lucian had said they were being recorded somewhere in the room. Closing her eyes she tried to concentrate on her other senses. The only thing she could smell was moisture- presumably coming from her semi moist clothes and damp hair but possibly due to being underground as well. "Moisture- maybe underground?"

Liz kept her eyes closed and tried to focus, " And it's very quiet. No traffic or railway sounds."

Red couldn't help but smile as she spoke to the empty room trying to provide any information she could to assist in pinpointing her location. "That's my girl. Keep fighting."

"That will be quite enough!" Lucian's voice came from off screen as he approached her suspended cell. "I thought you'd be out a bit longer not spouting off useless information to ghosts." Checking the time on his watch he shook his head as he paced around the cage, "I am surprised I haven't heard from him yet."

"I told you." Liz bit back at him. "You over estimate my importance to him, I'm a means to an end for him." Liz tried to not let her own words affect her. She had felt things changing between them prior to his disappearance and since he had confirmed he wasn't her father and he'd been gone- she'd felt her feelings toward him shift.

Lucian grinned at her rambling, "No love, you under estimate it. He places your well being over all else and you don't even know why. But I know."

xXxXxXxX

AN: I know cliffie right?! What does Lucian know? Thank you for reading my latest chapter. I had to separate this into 2 chapters because it needed it. Hope everyone enjoys Red's return- should flow a bit faster now.

Thank you again for all of the reviews and words of encouragement they are greatly appreciated! Also please give lots of love to nikkixsensei for the beautiful cover art to this story. Hope everyone enjoys the new episode tonight!

As always leave love or hate just let me know someone is still reading this.

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