AN: I know I haven't updated in a loooooooooong time, but please forgive me and enjoy the new chapter. And for those who thought I wouldn't continue any of my stories (cough…little birdie…cough)- IN your face!

PS- Notice I changed my pen-name? I like this one better...

Chapter 6

Five days ago, Joseph Gordon's apartment, New York

"No one is coming for you, you piece of shit!"

Armand's words still rang in Joe's head. Just like the image of every blow he received, and the pain radiating from every cut and bruise. But they did come.

Not Callahan or the rest of his team, not Frank or his dad, but David Belov and his men. Joseph Gordon was an invaluable asset, a great 'right hand' as everyone called him. Right now, operations were at their peak, and Belov needed Gordon. As far as he was concerned, what happened in Bangalore was that Armand had ambushed Gordon, and let Sayeed get away with the bomb, only for him to be caught by the Indian authorities. So Belov had Armand hunted down to whatever remote location in Serbia he was at.

Joe remembered Belov's rescue, which reminded him a little of the ending of Body of Lies.

After Armand's cocky declaration of 'No one is coming for you, you piece of shit!' and the volley of blows that followed, just as Armand had shown up with a knife with which he planned to test his skill, the door burst open and a whole lot of Belov's men swarmed in, followed by the man himself. Belov didn't even look at Armand, whose bravery had suddenly failed him on seeing the intimidating Russian arms lord, and was surrendering to Belov's men, hoping they wouldn't shoot him. Belov felt that someone like Armand didn't even deserve the punishment for his badly executed acts. He walked up to Joe, who was sprawled on the ground, semi-conscious. He put a palm to his bloody face, looked into his blue eyes, ringed with bruises and gestured some oh his men to get him out of there.

Joe had awoken in his own bedroom, well, Joseph Gordon's own bedroom. Belov had somehow gotten him there, by methods Joe felt were better left unknown for now. Feelings or emotion didn't make him do it. Personal gain did. After working with Belov for nearly two years, he knew that the Russian would expect him to be back at work as soon as he got vertical. Questions and enquiries would come later, or never come at all. Joe decided that the first thing he should do was go thank Belov, and hope his cover wasn't blown. After that, he'd have to somehow contact Hansen. Painfully he got dressed, wincing as every move hurt. His head was pounding and suddenly he felt breathless and quite nauseous. He lent over the bathroom sink, his pale hands clutching either side of the sink, and leant his forehead against the cool surface of the mirror. He was black and blue all over. His face seemed better than the rest of his body, though one eye was still sore, and the skin on his cheek under that eye was still tender. He was limping. He drew a shaky breath in. What had he gotten himself into?

That day, as he swallowed a breakfast of dry cereal, for nothing else was edible anymore; twice his hand hovered over his phone. He wanted to call Frank. He assumed that Callahan would have sought Frank's help, and that Frank would know the whole story by now, and hoped that he could forgive him for not keeping in touch for so long.

The third time, he made up his and was about to pick up his phone, when the phone rang. It was Callahan, who seeing the mobile phone come back online as Joe had turned it on, called him.

"Yeah?" Joe answered hoarsely.

Noel half gasped, half sighed and then half chuckled while he half talked, "You're alive!"

"Barely."

"What? Are you okay? Where are you? Who got you? Was it the feds? Did they work with the CIA or something?"

"M'okay. Belov found me," Joe replied, chuckling internally about Noel's theories that pulled in every investigative and intelligence agency into anything unexplainable.

"Look man, I didn't wanna stop looking, but after a month and a half, Hansen just told us to stop. But, whoa, Belov?"

"Not out of the greatness of his heart or anything, more for the greatness of his bank account."

"You're going back to work with him right away?" asked Noel, his tone overly serious. Joe sighed as he ditched his bowl of dry cereal and explained everything to Noel, from what happened in Bangalore, to how he ended up here, and finished by explaining Belov's peculiar nature.

"So tell Hansen that I'm sorry she was denied the pleasure of calling me a 'true patriot' at my funeral," he finished and hung up. He really disliked Hansen more and more, as continued to work under her.

Earlier he had looked around his apartment and found everything in its place. He had searched the place for bugs and hidden cameras. He had found nothing. Belov still trusted him, or so he hoped. Presently, he took his keys and headed to his car.

Five days ago, Chet Morton's house

Over the past two months, Chet had noticed Frank go from distracted, to worried and through all the stages in between to a total mess, as he was now. As Biff, Tony and Chet were discussing one of their basketball games from high school, Frank didn't even seem to be in this universe. He had dropped by for breakfast, accepting Chet's invitation (probably without even paying attention but just saying 'Yeah, yeah'.) Chet and the guys had planned an intervention- they felt Frank was too absorbed in his job and it was consuming him, his personal life. They really wanted to call Joe too, but for some odd reason his phone was turned off. Maybe he had changed his number and didn't even bother letting his friends know.

Chet had also noticed something else. Recently, Frank, however absorbed in his thoughts he may have been, always snapped up at the mention of Joe. Something was obviously wrong, and today Chet meant to pry the truth out of Frank.

"…. How is Joe? Haven't seen him in ages," Said Tony, finishing off a story from their high school days.

"What?" asked Frank looking up from his phone.

"Joe. Your brother. Used to hang out around here once in a while."

"Oh, he's, you know, um, busy and stuff."

"Busy and stuff?" asked Biff, quizzically.

"Tell us the truth Frank. What's up with you two? Lately you've been so out of this world, and Joe's nowhere to be seen. We havn't seen in him almost two years and I really-" Chet was interrupted by Frank's ringing phone. Just as he was about to answer it, Chet saw the caller ID. Lt. Noel Callahan. Lieutenant? Something to do with the military? Something to do with Joe?

"Oh thank god, he's alive" sighed Frank in relief, as he sat down again, a hint of a smile spreading across his face. "Is he okay? Mmm hmm… Oh… No, I'll come right away."

Chet, Biff and Tony sat listening to Frank's conversation on the phone. All they understood was that Frank thought someone was dead, but he wasn't. Maybe he was okay, maybe he wasn't, and Frank was leaving right away.

"Guys, I really have to go," said Frank as he tucked the phone into his pocket and was halfway to the door.

"No." said Chet adamantly, blocking his way. "Not until you tell us what's happening."

Frank opened his mouth to speak.

"No, don't tell us its work stuff. That was too much relief on your face for something work-related."

Frank seemed really restless. He was in a hurry to go. He mumbled something and tried to leave. "See it's –Joe was– this arms dealer guy– and he was missing–He's back now!"

As his three friends tried make sense of what he said, Frank left. Frank's reply left them more confused than they were to begin with. What was Joe doing with an arms dealer? Who was missing and now back- Joe or the arms dealer?

Five days ago, David Belov's Mansion

It was just as he had expected. Belov went about as if it was just another day in his life, and Joseph Gordon had come back from a long weekend. He told him about an upcoming exchange ("This one's the real prize, da?") and asked him to coordinate and make arrangements.

Another "highlight", as Joe sarcastically called it, was meeting Elena again.

"You may think he trusts you, and he may, but I know something is not right here," she threatened, "And I will find out. Four years I work for him and he still believes, against everything I tell him, that you are on his side. You always get the glory, you bastard, and I'm left cleaning up behind you. I'll find out who you really are, and I will destroy you." She punctuated each word of the last sentence with added malice.

A soon as he got home that day, Joe emailed the details of the upcoming exchange to the office and came as close to begging Hansen as could be expected from Joe Hardy to not take any "heroic measures". His position right now was still a little shaky. He needed to completely regain Belov's trust, and somehow get rid of Elena. Until then, he couldn't even think of going to the office or meeting Callahan, or Thomas, or Frank.

As he lay down to sleep that night, he imagined asking Thomas out once all this was over. Little did he know how "all this' would end, how messed up a future awaited him in the coming week.

AN: No action in this chapter. But worry not, this is the calm before the storm… hee hee hee… Excuse all typos, I didn't have time to proof read twice. The lesser reviews I get, the nicer I will be to Joe. Now, all my fellow Joe-girls out there, REVIEW if you want more whump! :D