I was going to skip updating today but realized I'll be busy tomorrow, so I figured I might as well try and write today…
Chapter 32: Dead End
Alex and Jack left the hotel and climbed back into their car.
Alex's phone rang as he put the car in drive.
"Yeah?"
"She's heading west on Ledwell," said Agent Lang.
"Alright," replied Alex, stepping on the gas, "Stay on her, we'll be right there."
………………………………………………………………………………………………
A few minutes later, Alex and Jack pulled up behind a squad of police cars and undercover FBI vehicles. Sara Tancredi stepped out of a car and held her hands in the air.
Alex cursed under his breath and threw the car in park. He and Jack got out of their car, flashed their badges to some nearby police officers, and approached Sara.
"Where is he?" demanded Jack.
"I don't know," muttered Sara, staring at the ground while Agent Lang cuffed her.
"No more games, Sara," snapped Alex, "You were on your way to see him."
"No…no I wasn't."
"Oh, you were just compelled to leave the custody of federal agents?" asked Jack, sarcastically.
Sara hesitated but then whispered a quiet, "no."
"If not for him, then for what other reason?" demanded Alex.
"I just wanted a donut," said Sara, dejectedly.
Jack glanced behind Sara and saw a donut shop. She sneered and shook her head in disbelief.
"Well get her a donut…can we get her a donut?" asked Alex, beginning to lose it, "Get her a dozen donuts!"
Alex through several dollars into the air and stormed back to his car in fury. He turned around and snarled over his shoulder.
"Lock her up!"
………………………………………………………………………………………………
One week later…
Alexander Mahone's house….
Alex sat on the floor in front of a desk in his basement. He stared up at a wall covered in notes and pictures of Scofield's tattoos.
"Where'd you go, Michael?"
……………………………………………………………………………………………..
Fox River Penitentiary….
"So," said Sullins as he and Wheeler walked down one of the long hallways, "Where is Mahone?"
"I don't know," replied Wheeler, "He's been MIA for the last week or so."
"Think he knows I've been barking up one of his trees? How 'bout his partner, Harper?"
"She's been visiting the office regularly."
Sullins frowned and turned to open a nearby door. He and Wheeler slid inside the room and sat down at a table across from Benjamin Miles Franklin.
"Mr. Franklin," said Wheeler, "Good afternoon. This is Richard Sullins, Director of Internal Affairs at the FBI."
"Which means," interjected Sullins, "That whenever one of our people does something wrong; it's my job to make it right."
"Well," said Franklin, looking skeptical, "How right are we talking about?"
"Well, let's be pretty clear," replied Sullins, "You are a convicted felon. You broke out of a state penitentiary, so there's only so much that I can do."
"Well then there's only so much I can say," replied Franklin, giving him a suspicious look, "I'm sorry if I seem a little bit skeptical, but the last time a federal agent came up in here offering me a deal, there was a string attached…that I was supposed to put around my neck!"
"I've been authorized to offer you a reduced sentence in exchange for your testimony against Agent Mahone and Agent Harper. Instead of eighteen years, you'll be looking at eighteen months."
Franklin laughed, "Eighteen months? You know that they tried to kill me. So as soon as they find out that I'm singing, I probably won't even last eighteen days."
"Mr. Franklin…" said Wheeler.
"They threatened my family! Now, I need to be out there protecting them. So until you can offer me something like that, I'm not testifying to a single thing."
"Freeman," said Sullins, "You and your family. Witness protection, fresh start."
"Clean record?"
"Spick and span."
Franklin hesitated for a moment, "Now you put that in writing and you got yourself a witness."
………………………………………………………………………………………………
Jack sat in her desk at the field office and glanced over at Alex's office. She sighed and put down her pen. It had been a week since she had heard from him and she was on the verge of panicking. What if The Company got him? What if he found the brothers and they got him? What if he abandoned her and fled the country?
She glanced over at Lang and wondered whether or not to confide in her. She glanced briefly at Wheeler's desk. He wasn't there. As a matter of fact, he hadn't been there most of the week. She frowned in suspicion, and then looked back at Lang. She took a deep breath and decided to spill her worries to her.
"Agent Lang?" she asked quietly.
"Yes?" asked Lang looking up from her paperwork.
"Have you seen Alex?"
Lang frowned and shook her head, "No and, actually, I haven't heard from him in a long time."
Lang must have seen the worried look on Jack's face. Her gaze softened.
"You want to go to his house and see if he's there?" she asked.
Jack's eyes brightened, "Yeah…I mean, I guess I could."
Lang smiled kindly, "Honey, I'm not Wheeler. You can trust me."
Jack smiled back, "Yeah, I know."
"You and Alex…you have a thing for each other."
Jack glanced up sharply. How did she know?
"Easy Jack," said Lang, calmingly, "It's slightly obvious…the way he looks at you and all."
Jack felt herself blush.
"So, we going or not?" asked Lang.
"Going?"
"To Alex's house. You coming or am I going alone?"
………………………………………………………………………………………………
Alex stood over the desk in his basement, rummaging through a large pile of papers. He was muttering to himself as he searched for something.
Just then, Lang and Jack walked in.
"Alex?" asked Jack, relief in her voice.
Alex looked up and saw Jack. But his eyes were almost crazed. He acted like he did not even recognize her.
"Sir?" asked Lang.
Again, Alex did not respond.
Lang and Jack shared concerned and confused looks.
"Sir, are you okay?" asked Lang, hesitantly.
Alex suddenly grabbed a piece of paper and held it up for them to look at. It's a copy of the English, Fitz, and Percy tattoo with a small symbol in the corner that had been highlighted.
"What's that look like to you?" asked Alex, "There…right there."
"It's a triangle," replied Lang, looking utterly bewildered.
"Yeah…I thought so too."
Alex hurried over to his bulletin board and stuck it on top of some other papers. He began looking around frantically for another paper. He grabbed it and held it up to them again.
"What about this one…right here?"
It was the bar code tattoo with another small symbol highlighted in the corner.
"Mathematical symbol for pie," responded Jack, also confused by Alex's erratic behavior.
"Three point one four…I'm thinking date, area code…"
"Three one four," said Lang, "That's Missouri. So we think Scofield's there?"
"I doubt it," replied Alex, "How's your Greek alphabet Agent Lang…Jack?"
"I don't know," replied Lang, still confused.
Jack, however, was beginning to catch on.
"You think they're numbered? Like a sequence of sorts?" asked Jack.
Alex ran over to his coffee and took a swig. He nodded to Jack and then turned to Agent Lang.
"What if I told you that triangle was a delta and that pie was not the symbol pie, but the letter?"
"I didn't see these on the original tattoos," said Lang, skeptically.
"They weren't" replied Alex, "We pulled these from his original sketches on the hard drive."
Alex grew fidgety and tried desperately to keep himself under control.
"Scofield numbered the steps of his escape," he continued, "That's how he kept everything in order. But it looks like he didn't use numbers. He used letters like Jack said…like…um, ah ha! The sketch of this tattoo, Allen Schweitzer, marked with an alpha, first letter of the Greek alphabet, first step of his plan…"
Alex began to ramble off the other steps, throwing page after page into Lang's arms.
"How about this one?" he asked, "Bolshoi Booze…meet at the border, getting closer right?"
"So you think that…" said Lang, still not entirely sure of what he was getting at.
"His omega…" said Jack, the pieces beginning to fall into place in her mind.
"Last letter of the Greek alphabet…" said Lang.
"Is the last step of his plan," finished Alex and he ran to the bulletin board and posted a new picture on it.
"What is that?" Alex asked the other two agents, "Christ in a flower?"
"A rose…and the numbers down here," she said, pointing to the stem of the flower, "Six one seven…could be Biblical. Chapter six verse seventeen."
"Six one seven," murmured Jack to herself. Suddenly, her face lit up with understanding.
"What's today?" she asked.
"June fifteenth," replied Lang.
Alex's eyes glittered as he picked up on what Jack was trying to say.
"So whatever Scofield is planning…" said Jack.
Alex smiled victoriously.
"It's going to happen in two days…"
………………………………………………………………………………………………
PLEASE REVIEW!!!