After dropping the rental car off at the airport in Portsmouth, Red led the three agents to his waiting plane. It sat white and pristine in a hangar of the small airport, refueled and ready for them. As they walked toward it in the mid afternoon light a familiar sight greeted them at the foot of the stairs. Ressler had barely spoken to the man on the flight over, with having to deal with a nervous Aram almost the entire flight. But now he stopped as Young looked to Red.
"Why the sudden change of plans, boss?"
"Unforeseen circumstances, Mr Young. Inform Charles I have a course change for him," he said, waiting on Liz and Aram to ascend the ladder.
Ressler looked to Young, watching him in his role as Red's employee. Apparently in Reddington's world, previously having planted a bomb on their plane and causing it to crash in the snow was some kind of twisted job interview. A rite of passage. He glanced at Red, struck again at how everything and everyone could become a resource to the criminal. Including the FBI.
"Coming, Donald?" asked Red, climbing up the stairs in front of him as Young stepped aside.
"After you, G-Man," added Young with a humorous glint in his eyes. Ressler simply regarded him with a hint of a smile and shook his head a little before walking up the stairs and entering the jet.
###
As they levelled off at 35,000 feet, in true Red fashion of never travelling economy, they were served a first class meal. Ressler didn't feel like eating. Listening to Aram chattering nervously for the duration of the flight was giving him a stomach ache. Or perhaps it was the rich English meal with black pudding Red had insisted they try earlier that day. Either way, he fidgeted in his seat, trying to ease the discomfort in his gut. And listening to Aram wasn't helping. He'd never picked the guy as a nervous flyer. Though he was nervous about everything today, come to think of it. And the news he'd have to stay longer in the field with them had sent Aram into a complete spin.
Ressler would have gone to sit by Liz, but she napped the entire flight. Part of him couldn't help but wonder if napping was her way of avoiding discussing what had happened between them in front of Garrison Clarke. But as Aram started grilling him about how much longer he thought it might be before they returned to the Post Office, he drew his eyes of Liz and put his game face back on with Aram.
As their plane came in to land at Bangor International Airport, Aram was still talking Ressler's ear off. Liz had been awake for a little while, and she'd sent him plenty of sympathetic glances regarding his chatty companion. But in the end Ressler had just stayed where he was since they were descending.
"Oh, dear. It's raining. Hard. I don't have an umbrella," Aram worried as they taxied to the terminal.
"I'll buy you one," Ressler replied shortly. The plane was still rolling to a stop but Ressler was up, standing in the aisle and then moving toward Liz. As the plane lurched to its final stop, he grabbed the back of her seat to stay upright, wincing as he did so. Liz instinctively put out her hand to him as he pitched forward.
"Let's get outta here," he said, leaning over her, before reaching up and retrieving their overnight bags from the overhead bins. While Aram was talking to Red at the rear of the plane, Ressler made his escape, moving forward to where Young was opening the cabin door. As Ressler passed him, Young gave him another small smile before standing aside and addressing them in his best fake stewardess voice.
"Thank you for flying Reddington Air. Have a pleasant day. Buh bye."
Behind Ressler, Liz snickered at Young before exiting the plane, walking down the steps to stand with her partner in the hangar.
A silver BMW was already waiting beside the plane, testament to Red's organization working like a well oiled machine behind the scenes. Joined by Red and Aram, one by one they threw their bags in the trunk and climbed inside the car. Ressler again took the driver's seat as Liz climbed into the passenger seat beside him. With Red and Aram in the back, Ressler pulled out of the hangar and into the rain.
"So when we find Conrad Lucas, assuming we do, how do we know he'll talk to us? Sounds like he's consciously gone off the grid," Liz asked Red, turning slightly in her seat as the rain beat down on the windows, cocooning them inside.
"Oh, he'll talk to us, of that I have no doubt," he told her, and then glanced at Ressler. "Well, he will if Donald is front and center."
Ressler looked up at the criminal in the rear view, wondering what the hell he was up to now, before glancing sideways at Liz.
Aram eyed Ressler and voiced the question on all their lips. "Why…?"
"Oh, Donald is just his type," smiled Red, tilting his head as he looked at Ressler gritting his teeth and refusing to meet his eyes in the mirror. "Big, broad shouldered and blonde."
"Oh," replied Aram.
Ressler shook his head and hissed through his teeth, and looked in the rear view again. "I swear Reddington, one of these days," he told the criminal as Liz burst out laughing beside him. He rolled his eyes at his partner, "It's not funny."
"Yes, it is," she laughed as Ressler returned his eyes to the road and continued on toward Rockport.
###
The rain eased as they drove south, and as they reached the small coastal town of Rockport the clouds were scudding over the ocean, leaving patches of blue sky in their wake. As Ressler parked on the main thoroughfare they exited their vehicle and took in the surrounding view. The small fishing town sat on an enclosed bay, the bare masts of several yachts bobbing on the ocean swell. Seagulls floated on the air currents, their cries carrying up from the beach front.
Small businesses lined the street, full of tourist shops selling porcelain lighthouses and replicas of fishing vessels. A few restaurants and small mom and pop shops completed the row of one story buildings.
Sucking in a lungful of sea air, Red smiled. "Aaahh, never can get enough of that. Surely even you can appreciate the beauty here, Donald," he quipped, looking to the FBI agent beside him.
Ressler's eyes slid to Red. It was beautiful, but he wasn't going to give Red the satisfaction. "The Post Office is across the street. We should go talk to them."
Red chuckled, turning from the beach front and spying the small post office a block up on their right. "Yes, but not all of us. If we walk in there like an armed posse of Feds raiding the joint, no one will tell us anything," he said. "Lizzie, let's have you go in and find out when Conrad comes and gets his mail."
Looking to Ressler briefly, he nodded once in confirmation to her. Leaving the group she walked across the street and down toward the post office. As she walked away, the three men felt very conspicuous.
"We look like a gathering of funeral directors. Shall we?" Red indicated to a small park near their vehicle. A bronze anchor filled the centre of the memorial park, adorned with its tragic inventory of those lost at sea. Finding a couple of park benches in the shade that faced the direction Liz was walking, they sat, taking in their surroundings.
Apparently something was still on Aram's mind. "Mr Reddington, ah, what did you mean when you said that Agent Ressler is just his type…?"
Ressler shifted uncomfortably on his bench, not wanting to hear the answer. Red grinned as he readjusted his hat in the afternoon warmth and looked at Aram. "Well, let's just say that Conrad has an appreciation for the male physique."
"I see," replied Aram, not really seeing.
Ressler changed the subject somewhat, "What interest do the Cabal have in him?"
Red tilted his head a little in thought. "Well, he's caused them some problems in the past. When I knew him he had something that belongs to them. And the very fact that his name is still on their list, I can definitely make the assumption that they would still like it back."
Ressler knew Red would not be forthcoming on just what Lucas had taken from the Cabal. "Can he be trusted?" he asked, turning to the criminal to gauge Reddington's reaction.
"He's always been up front with me, Donald. But time can change a man. I haven't seen him in some twelve years. I thought he was dead, thanks to some intel that I now see was a red herring."
"So he really did go off the grid then, if you couldn't find him," said Aram, standing up as he saw Liz exit the post office.
"That he did, Aram. Though to be fair, I certainly didn't go out of my way to look for him once I heard he had been killed."
Liz returned a few minutes later, joining them in the shade. Stepping over Ressler's long legs that were stretched out in front of him, she sat down on the park bench beside him.
"What did you find out?" he asked her.
"Well, they were a little reluctant to talk until I flashed my charm…well, cleavage… at the young guy. Someone comes and collects his mail around 5:00pm every day. They have a large box to be picked up, so it should be easy to spot whoever leaves with that," she informed them.
Red looked at his watch. "Just over an hour from now. I don't know about the rest of you, but the salt air always gives me an appetite. I see a very quaint restaurant a little way down where we can keep eyes on the post office while we eat."
###
Entering the restaurant as a small bell rang above the door, they took a booth near the front windows, enabling them to keep an eye on the post office across the street. Red insisted on ordering for them, ignoring Ressler's comment that he'd just have coffee. As the waitress produced platters of fresh seafood before each of them a little while later, Aram looked at his plate of lobster in appreciation. He'd finally found something good about being in the field. As they ate in relative silence, Aram looked to Ressler who had barely touched his food.
"Agent Ressler, you don't like seafood?"
Red glanced up at Ressler, "Maintaining that girlish figure, Donald?"
Ressler shifted in the seat, his stomach feeling very uncomfortable now as he dropped his fork to his plate. "Excuse me," he said and he left the table for the restroom at the rear of the restaurant. Liz watched him walk away, her eyes narrowing.
Rejoining them at the table a few minutes later, Ressler sat down and waited while they finished their meals. "I take it there's no sign of Lucas yet. How will we know it's him?"
"Oh, we'll know," said Red, studying Ressler before him. Their meal finished, they left the restaurant and sauntered back to the vehicle in the late afternoon light. Liz hung back with Ressler as Aram and Red walked up front.
"What's going on with you?" she asked him, keeping her voice low as she leaned into him.
He slowed to a stop and faced her. "I guess I ate something that's trying to poison me," he shrugged, "but hey, I'm not dead yet," he smiled, glancing over at the post office.
They immediately turned back to each other at his comment. "Definitely not dead," she smiled, and then hesitated before adding, "So that's how we're going to handle this? We're just going to joke about it?"
Raising his eyebrows to her a little with his small smile, he didn't miss a beat. "Hey, it works for me."
It was safer to joke about it. Because no matter what he felt for her, it was a line he couldn't cross while they were work partners. And as their eyes locked, full of things they couldn't say to each other, he knew she understood that too.
"Come on, it's almost 5:00pm." Taking her by the elbow he turned her back toward the car, to where Red and Aram were standing nearby in the park. All eyes were on the post office. It was time, yet still no one had come and exited with the large package Liz had seen earlier.
###
Sitting in their vehicle, Ressler was almost ready to call it a day. The post office was about to close. No one had shown and it was looking like a bust. He was also considering asking Liz to take over the driving, but right before he did, a black SUV pulled up outside the post office. The similarity to their own Bureau vehicles was not lost on them. As the two male occupants walked into the post office, Ressler started their car, ready to follow them.
"Won't they know we're following them?" asked Aram from the back, but Ressler ignored him. It was a chance they were going to have to take on these quiet roads. As the two men came out of the post office with the large package, they placed it in the back then pulled back out onto the main street. Ressler eased out into the traffic and left the down town area. Turning north, they travelled along the coast road lined with trees on one side and the ocean on the other. Keeping a fair distance back from the SUV was a fairly simple process. There appeared to be no turn offs on this road according to the GPS, so there was only one direction their quarry could go. Keeping a couple of curves behind them, they proceeded for about three miles out of town, heading along the winding ocean road.
A large Seaside Inn came into view, sitting back against the trees with a view to the ocean through its open window shutters. To the side of the white painted inn, a black SUV idled, waiting to pull onto the road. Ressler eyed it warily, stealing a glance at the occupants as they drove by. Inside it were two men, looking unlike any tourists he'd expect to see around here. The men waited for them to pass before pulling up onto the road and settling in behind them. Red saw it too and spoke up.
"Donald, at the risk of sounding paranoid, or like our friend Aram here, I believe the occupants of that vehicle waited for us to pass and are following us."
"I know. Damn it," swore Ressler, as Liz looked quickly to him.
Aram slowly turned around, eyeing the car behind them, and swallowed hard. "Oh, dear."
As they approached a curve in the road, Ressler just knew something wasn't right. His gut was telling him loud and clear they were being set up – and it had nothing to do with the current gastric distress he was under.
"Ress!"
As they came around the curve the black SUV was stopped on the road in front of them. Parked side on, it had completely blocked their way.
"Shit," swore Ressler, hitting the brakes hard. He couldn't back up. The vehicle from the Inn was on their tail and had now swung around blocking any exit to the rear.
"Oh my…" whispered Aram in the back.
Ressler and Liz already had their weapons drawn. From the front car the two men exited, drawing weapons on them and walking steadfastly toward them.
"Get down!" Ress called to Red and Aram in the back, as he and Liz opened their doors, taking cover behind them. But they were outnumbered, Ressler already knew that. Kneeling down he aimed his weapon to the men approaching from the front. Liz had turned and was facing the two men now approaching from the rear.
"We're trapped, Donald. Don't fight it. You can't win this one." Red's voice of reason sounded from the back seat.
Ressler didn't turn to Reddington. Instead he looked through the car across to Liz. Even if Aram had been armed they'd still be outnumbered. Not that he held much confidence in the IT guy's ability to assist them in holding off 4 armed men.
Red opened his car door and stepped out onto the road.
"Mr Reddington! What…what are you doing?!"
"Damn it, Red. What ARE you doing?" demanded Ressler, now turning from the guns pointed in their direction to see Red step out from behind him into the road. Raising his arms and lacing his fingers behind his head, Red stood before the men and raised his steady voice to them.
"Gentlemen, I am Raymond Reddington. I am unarmed. I assure you we intend no harm to your employer, Mr Conrad Lucas. We come simply with a message. My colleagues here are the FBI. We are no threat to you."
Red's eyes held the unflinching gaze of the man in front of him. Standing silently around them, the four men let Red speak, but did not lower their weapons. Red glanced at Ressler and Liz, still kneeling with their weapons drawn.
"Donald. Lower your weapons. Now."
Ressler hesitated.
"Donald."
Gritting his teeth, Ressler looked to Liz again and nodded. Standing slowly, he held his weapon up in the air, then reached out and dropped it, letting it clatter to the road in front of them. Drawing her eyes from him, Liz then did the same on her side of the vehicle.
The men moved immediately. One ran to Reddington and held him at gunpoint from a few feet away. And one by one, the three remaining men approached their individual targets, picking up the two weapons from the roadway. The two men from the front stood by Red and Ressler, while the two from the rear held Liz in their sights and dragged Aram from the car on the other side of the road.
At Aram's strangled protest, Ressler cursed under his breath, trying to watch all four men at once.
"Gentlemen, I assure you, we are of no threat to you," continued Red.
"We have orders," said one of the men, and then nodded to his companions. Immediately the men held their weapons with one hand and retrieved something from their coat pockets with the other. Ressler tried to see what it was, but his view was blocked by Red and the car door in front of him.
"No!"
Ressler spun at Liz's cry, helpless to do anything. And as he saw a white cloth slapped over her mouth and nose by the gunman, stopping her struggle, he was aware of the same method being employed to overpower Reddington behind him.
"Damn it! No!" Ressler yelled at his own gunman before he could suffer the same fate. Hitting him hard in the nose with the heel of his palm, his attackers head jerked back. The strong smell of chloroform assailed Ressler's nostrils as Red was being subdued right behind him. Whirling and keeping his head down and away from the ether, he barged headlong into Red's gunman, dropping all three of them to the road way.
Dragging the cloth from Red's face, he elbowed the gunman who was rising, again sending him reeling. Behind him, he quickly realized the two gunmen from the other side of the car had successfully rendered Liz and Aram unconscious and were coming for him now. Spinning on them, he rose to his feet and faced them. It was four against one now and he was outnumbered, but didn't mean he couldn't hurt them. Kicking out with one sideswipe, he dropped his gunman again, hearing his head hit the side of their vehicle. Red's attacker was on his feet and with one swift move he grabbed Ressler's arms and held them behind his back. As he was forced to his knees feeling pain shudder through his belly, Ressler hit back with his head, ramming his skull into the man's nose. Hearing the satisfying sound of a bone cracking as the man howled, Ressler ducked his head as one of the other men took aim at him with his fist.
"Stop!" Liz's attacker held a gun in his face. "Stop, or I'll kill every one of them right now!" the man yelled, motioning to Red, Liz and Aram.
On his knees, arms held tight behind him despite his struggles to free them, Ressler glared defiantly up at the man. "He was telling you the truth. We are no threat to-"
A wet cloth was thrust roughly over his face from behind; the reek of chloroform so strong his eyes watered. Trying not to breathe, he threw himself back into his attacker. And as he did so he was held fast from the front as all three men now held him. He couldn't move. The fourth stood firm and held the chloroform to his mouth and nose. Straining, almost turning blue with holding his breath Ressler knew he was going down. And as his lungs strained for air, any air, even ether filled, consciousness robbing air, he opened his mouth involuntarily under the cloth and sucked in a lung full of chloroform. It immediately went to his brain, causing the roadway, car and men to spin violently around him.
No! No!
Still breathing in rapidly, he was falling now. Falling into that darkness and now only vaguely aware of the hands holding him as he fell forward, unable to kneel any longer. As he lost consciousness the road came up to meet him. His final thought was of Liz. Of holding her tight, feeling her soft and supple against him. Of pressing his lips to hers. And he couldn't help her. Couldn't help any of them.
And then there was nothing but blackness.
###
The first thing Liz was aware of was that her head hurt. As she struggled to remember where she was, she became aware that she way lying on something cold and damp. Her eyes wouldn't open. Trying to move her body was also an exercise in futility. There was a voice in the distance.
"Liz! Liz, wake up!"
She knew that voice. Who…? It was familiar. Aram. The memory came flooding back. Of being ambushed on the road and subdued against their will with ether. Her eyes sprang open now, and in the darkness she couldn't even tell if she'd opened them or not.
"Liz, it's me. It's Aram." His voice was close to her ear. "I don't know where the others are. I can't find Agent Ressler. I can't find Mr Reddington!" His voice rose, and she reached blindly for him.
She felt him now. Close to her. "Aram…" she whispered as her eyes slowly adjusted. It was night. Trees came slowly into view above her, swaying gently in the night breeze. The light of a half moon shone through the trees to her left.
"Where…"
"Can you sit?" he asked, not waiting for her answer. "I'll help you sit up," And then she was rising as his arms were under her shoulders, bringing her up off the cold damp grass underneath her. But it felt better. Not so suffocating.
"Breathe in deep. Take in deep, steady breaths of fresh air," he told her. She obeyed and within a few breaths, her brain started to clear.
He was kneeling beside her, looking anxiously into her face. "I don't have any water. I… I'm sorry," he offered.
"It's okay," she told him, reaching for his arm. "Help me up."
As he hauled her to her feet she leaned on his arm to steady herself. The scene around her became clearer. They were a little way off the road, judging by the sound of the waves reaching them from a short distance away. Their vehicle was nearby, shining in the pale moonlight, having been rolled down out of view of anyone passing on the road.
Aram's words sunk in.
"You can't find either of them?" she asked quickly, standing by herself now. As he shook his head in apology, she turned and headed to the car.
"I already looked. They're not in there."
Looking in the back seat, ignoring the brief wave of dizziness that caused, she could see he was right. They weren't in the vehicle. But a thought occurred to her.
"Pop the trunk!"
He looked at her, wide eyed in the dim light. "Oh god…" Doing as she asked, the trunk popped open and they both cautiously looked inside. Apart from their overnight bags, it was empty.
"Phew…" breathed Aram. In silent accord they both looked up to the road, then turned together and made their way up the slight incline. As he helped her, they slid a little on the damp grass, making their way up the slope. Two minutes later they stood on the deserted ocean road. There was no sign of either SUV that had ambushed them.
No sign of Ressler or Red.
Something glinted in the pale moonlight and Liz walked over to it and bent down to retrieve it. It was a phone. Turning it on, she saw Ressler's number come up on it. As her face lit up in the glow from the phone, Aram stepped beside her and met her eyes.
"It must have come out of his pocket during the ambush."
They stood together and looked up and down the road, the silence broken only by the soft roll and surge of the waves on the beach. And all Liz could think of was her missing partner. Unbidden, the memory of him lean and firm against her came to mind. Of him holding her tight as his mouth met hers.
"Where could they be?" Aram asked beside her, breaking into her thoughts. He looked at her with concern, his dark eyes glinting in the moonlight.
"I don't know…" she whispered, looking up and down the road before turning back to him.
"I don't know!"