Chapter 2
Zoe sat in the back corner of the restaurant, dressed in her usual sharp but understated, sexy attire. She looked calm, cool and collected but appearances can often be deceiving. She was anything BUT calm, cool and collected as she waited for John Reese. She had been looking forward to this 'date' with John for quite some time. Since meeting him months ago as her driver, she had been intrigued with the enigma that was John Reese. His distinguished good looks were certainly lovely eye candy. The gray at the temples had always been her weak spot, add in the salt and pepper hair and she was hooked.
Discovering his dry sense of humor had been a pleasant surprise as well. He gave off an air of no nonsense, all work and absolutely no play. But during the course of their time together, she was privileged to be given a glimpse or two of the twinkling in his seriously blue eyes. His deadpan delivery of lines at the most inopportune times was almost her undoing. Keeping her poise while on the 'job' had been her forte. Well, until John would toss off a line that made her almost break out of character that was! She hoped tonight would be the start of their non-professional relationship.
Trying to decide the best approach for greeting John, she finally decided to take off her jacket and have her arms bare and her feminine assets on display but in a conservative manner of course. She wanted to give only a hint of what was there while at the same time, making him want to see more. Something she hoped he would later in the evening. She folded the jacket and turned to place it on the chair next to her. When she turned back around, she jumped because John had appeared out of nowhere with two drinks in hand.
"Oh!" She exclaimed, before she caught herself. "Glad to see you could make it, I was beginning to wonder." Zoe said, as she tried to cover her momentary loss of the upper hand. She was used to being the one in control of a situation. It was what made her good at her job. But John Reese had a way of making her feel almost like she had a loose wheel on her roller skates...smooth but with an unexpected wobble now and then.
"Wonder about what Zoe? I'm only two minutes late. I would have been here on time but I had trouble deciding on what to ...uh...wear."
Zoe looked at John with one eyebrow cocked while she looked him up and down. "What? You're wearing what you always wear, a black suit with a white shirt. You have other suits? Other colored shirts?" She laughed.
"Well, as a matter of fact I do have different colors of shirts. I have different colors of white...pure white, off white, eggshell white..." purred John with a slight up-turn at the corner of his mouth. It had the desired effect and completely disarmed Zoe, preventing any further questions about what he'd been doing. He wasn't sure he wanted her to know that he and Finch had been trying to find out more about Elise. Finch was concerned about her background considering how much she knew about how they worked and where they were located. So far they had pretty much come up with nothing other than what Zoe had already told them.
Not privy to Reese's thoughts, Zoe smiled back at John and relaxed, taking a sip of her drink. "How did you know I liked vodka gimlets?" She asked with a surprised tone of voice.
"Well, I do work for Mr. Finch who is very good at finding out important details." John smiled as he took a swallow of the beer he'd brought with him to the table along with Zoe's drink. John sat back in his chair and enjoyed the view of a very attractive Zoe sitting across from him. He was a man who enjoyed beautiful women; enjoyed looking at them, but not necessarily being involved with them. He had learned that the hard way. His defenses were in place and he was pretty much ready for anything she might throw at him tonight. He enjoyed their working relationship. He respected her intellect, her instincts and that steely resolve that took care of Zoe first and foremost.
Zoe's long hair fell in waves across her shoulders, and his eyes were drawn to the smooth expanse of skin above the neckline of her dress. When he dragged his eyes back to Zoe's he saw a look there that he had never seen before. The calculating look in her eyes was softened by the smile she gave him. He felt like a boy caught with his hand in the cookie jar. He had almost forgotten that Zoe was a master manipulator of situations, turning almost anything everything in her favor.
Zoe forced herself to act like the mature woman she was, not the school girl, all gaga over the very attractive man across the table, that she felt like. He was doing nothing but sitting there but he had almost completely erased her plan to 'understand and get to know' the enigma that was John Reese. She was very good at her job, which was getting people to like her, trust her and eventually tell her anything she wanted to know. The fact that she knew almost nothing about John had more than piqued her normal curiosity, it had become her raison d'etre. He had such a way of answering her probing, open ended questions without actually saying or giving anything away.
John and Zoe enjoyed a relaxing dinner getting to know each other in a superficial way. Both used all their abilities to try and pull information from the other. John was more successful than Zoe. She found herself giving him more details about herself than she had given to almost anyone. Becoming wary of how penetrating his questions had been and how easily she gave him the answer he was seeking, she stopped herself in mid-sentence, sat back and smiled at him. "You're good, John Reese, you are very, very good" Respect for him grew with every topic they discussed and those were many and varied. But she felt she was no closer to learning anything important about him than she was when he first sat down.
After dinner they stood outside the restaurant making small talk. John easily deflected any advance that Zoe threw at him. She finally realized that the evening was not going to end as she had hoped, with a night cap at her place. She stepped back from John and gave him her most beguiling, come hither look then thanked him for a lovely evening.
"I look forward to the next time, John."
That caused him to raise one eyebrow and smile. He flagged down a cab and opened the door for her. A quick kiss on the cheek and he deposited her in the seat and shut the door. Zoe quickly rolled down the window and asked if he needed a ride home but he replied no, he preferred to walk.
Sitting back in the cab as it drove away, Zoe replayed the dinner 'date' in her mind and realized she had learned absolutely nothing of substance about John Reese. She had learned what music he liked, what brand of beer he liked, that he had traveled extensively and loved living in NYC, but she had learned NOTHING about John Reese the man. 'Well, there's always next time', she thought as the taxi merged with the late night traffic.
Standing there watching the taxi drive off, Reese was quite pleased with the way the night had turned out. He had enjoyed his time with Zoe and wouldn't mind having another dinner date with her. She kept him on his toes with her verbal assault and he did enjoy a challenge. But all night, while talking with Zoe and laughing, much to his consternation he had found his mind continually drifting back to her partner Elise….
Finding out information about this latest number was proving a bit more challenging than normal. Vincent Raven was a very paranoid man. He only took his own personal car back and forth to work via a route that varied every day, he appeared to be self-employed and worked alone in an office building that had some rather tight security. When Reese finally did get into the building last night, he found no personal items. It also appeared that all the man's computer files were wiped daily. This strongly argued for Vincent transporting the files back and forth from work and home and the main reason for Reese standing here contemplating something drastic.
The front door was guarded, not by a doorman but rather by a strict, no non-sense security guard. Reese had tried his usual means of getting by the man had failed miserably. He knew he didn't have much longer before Vincent would be back from his date with a Ms. Kearney. Finch was to be keeping an eye and ear on the two of them through the woman's cell phone as it appeared that Vincent never turned his on if he even had one.
Well, no help for it, if he couldn't get in the front door, he'd have to go in through a window. Luckily or un-luckily depending on your point of view, Vincent Raven's apartment had a window that backed up to the alley. While he was used to entering a place with stealth, he really hated climbing in through windows because there's a brief second, as you're getting yourself over the sill, that you're vulnerable to attack. Reese sighed, he wasn't getting in the place just standing here. He drew his gun from his waistband at the small of his back and stepped into the shadowy alley on the side of the building.
Elise gripped her Beretta and slowly eased her way along the wall, taking care to stay in the shadows. Earlier that day, she had made sure to shoot out the security lights so that her route in would be concealed. She had every confidence that they would recover the files for their client, Mr. North. It was just a matter of stealing the blackmailer's laptop. Elise shook her head, why would a man write such incriminating things in an e-mail? If you were draining your wife's trust fund, why would you brag about it to your mistress? Zoe said it was simply a case of a man thinking with the wrong part of his anatomy but to Elise, it just illustrated once more the fact that most people were untrustworthy. To pledge yourself to one person but then turn around and have a secret relationship with another was just wrong in her book. If you couldn't keep your word then what kind of a person were you?
Unfortunately in her distraction, Elise didn't see the trash can in front of her. She walked right into it and it fell over with a loud crash. Shit! What the hell am I doing? She thought angrily to herself. Elise stopped dead and listened while looking carefully around her in the dark. A small sound came from the corner of the building ahead of her, the sound of cloth sliding against brick. She never would have heard it if she hadn't been listening for it. She had both hands around the butt of her gun as she advanced slowly towards the source of the sound.
Reese entered the alley and looked up to make sure there were no faces in the windows above before advancing. He had had one too many a close call with unfriendlies appearing behind him. He was always careful to make sure there was no one on his "six" before he entered a confined area like this alley. Training his gun back and forth in front of him, he was glad that the alley was so dark. He had pulled his coat tightly around his collar to block out his white shirt. He knew as long as he kept his head down, no one from above would see anything except a black shadow if that. Suddenly from the other side of the building, he heard a loud crash. Reese froze. What the hell was that? A cat? A neighbor throwing out a bag of trash? Or something….else? Reese started forward again but crouched down as he advanced. If there WAS anyone there with a gun, they would be aiming higher and would miss him. He was just about to round the corner when he saw a black shape materialize in front of him. Damn it! He didn't have time to think of anything else before he heard the whistle of a blow swing past his ear.
Elise moved carefully, transferring her weight slowly from foot to foot, being careful not to make a sound. She pressed her back against the wall once she reached the edge of the building, taking a split second to decide if she wanted to enter the situation with stealth or with power. Power, she decided and came around the corner swinging the butt of her pistol at the head of the shape she saw not a foot in front of her.
Reese kicked out with his leg and connected with the leg of the person who had just come careening around the corner. The person went down heavily with a grunt but sprang up instantly and was able to get under his guard with a swift punch upwards. Damn that hurt! He sprang back but then re-engaged a second later and grabbed the assailant's arm.
"Don't think so buddy!" He heard the person say as they turned into his body and flipped him over their shoulder. He was expecting that and landed a blow on the person's side. Wait! Wasn't that voice…..
"Elise?" He asked disbelieving.
"Who….the…fuck…are….you?" She gasped out between the waves of pain radiating out from her side.
"Elise, it's John. John Reese. What the hell are you doing here? Why aren't you with Zoe resting up? Are you alright?"
Elise reached her hand out to the wall to steady herself. "I'm fine thanks for asking and no thanks to you. Did you have to hit so…hard?" She gasped again but straightened up.
"I'm sorry, I thought you were a perp. Here, let me help you." Reese reached over for her arm with the intention of picking her up and carrying her out of there. He wanted to see if she had opened the wound again.
"Keep your hands to yourself!" Elise slapped his hand away. "You've already done enough tonight!"
"I'VE done enough?" Reese's hissed. "That WAS you that made that racket a few minutes ago wasn't it? YOU probably just alerted everyone in the building to the fact that we are out here!" He shook his head, "Didn't they teach you ANY thing about stealthy approaches in HRT?"
Elise sucked in her breath. "How DARE you? What I've done before this is none of your or your boss's business! And how do you think I knew to come out swinging? You weren't exactly Mr. Silent and Deadly yourself!"
"Elise, I…."
"Just leave me the hell alone! I have a job to do here if you're done beating up on me!" Even Elise felt bad about that the moment the words were out of her mouth. He didn't do anything she herself wouldn't have done had she been in his shoes.
"I'm sorry." They both said at the same time. Elise smiled and could see the white of his teeth as he smiled back.
"Look, I've got to get back to work here." She explained quietly. "If I don't get the laptop I came for tonight, it will be too late for our client."
Reese sighed. "Well at least that explains why you're here but shouldn't you still be at Zoe's, recovering?"
"Would YOU still be lying in bed if you had been shot? I was driving Zoe crazy and she finally told me it was time to get back to work. What are YOU doing here, Reese?"
"It's John." He deliberately didn't answer her question. Why couldn't she remember his name for God's sakes!
"Ok….. John…. Why are you here?" She spoke slowly and enunciated her words carefully.
"I'm on the job too. Look, it seems like no one heard us after all. Let's take care of your job and then I'll finish mine."
"I don't need your help!" Elise spoke hotly. "And why don't we take care of YOUR job first and then I can finish mine."
Reese rolled his eyes though he knew she wouldn't be able to see it. "You are such an exasperating woman!" He ran his fingers through his hair and sighed. "Ok, we'll both take care of both of our jobs. And then I want to take a look at your wound."
"Well since time is of the essence, I suppose I can go along with that…all except the checking out my wound, that is. I can take care of myself."
Reese just let out a large sigh and let that go. As Elise said, time was of the essence here and he felt that he could be arguing here with this woman all night. If he said the sky was blue, she'd probably try and argue that it was purple. "Lead the way, Elise."
She gave him a sharp look and turned to go back the way she had started. "I couldn't get in the front door with that security guy there, so I'm afraid I'm going to have to get in through a window."
"What, the guy didn't succumb to your considerable charms?" Reese joked.
"And what are you doing back here, John? Don't tell me that you, with all that black-ops ninja stuff you do, you couldn't get in the front door either?" Elise chuckled. "Well here's to someone actually doing their job for once though in this case I wish the guy would have been a bit more lax."
"I need to recover a laptop from an apartment on the second floor. Can you boost me up to that one?"
Reese sucked in his breath as he realized that he and Elise were intending on breaking into the same apartment! What the hell? "Who owns that apartment?" He asked more sharply than he intended. He needed to be sure.
"Some guy by the name of Vinny, something or other, the guy is a professional blackmailer. He has something on one of our clients. Why?"
"Well it just so happens that I also need to get into Mr. Raven's apartment."
"What? Why?"
"Someone is either going to kill Mr. Raven or be killed by him. I need to find out which. I'll lift you up there, but you have to promise me that you'll plug this into the guys' computer." He handed her a USB drive. "If Finch can remotely find out what's going on with this guy from his laptop, I won't need to find a way up there. Otherwise, I'll be joining you. Can I trust you to do that immediately?"
"Yes, of course you can. Now lift me up."
Reese picked Elise up as if she weighed nothing and boosted her onto his shoulders. He intensely disliked having her enter the apartment alone, but as she would never be able to lift him, he didn't think there was any choice. At this point, it would take too long to find something for him to climb up on to get in. He would just have to come back tomorrow if this didn't work out.
Elise lifted herself up over the sill after jimmying the window lock open. She took a second to get used to the layout of the apartment before moving to the safe where she knew Vinny kept his hard-drive locked up. Somehow, Zoe had been able to provide her the combination to the safe. It still amazed Elise how Zoe was able to obtain SO much information.
"Elise!" She heard her name hissed from the alley below.
"Keep your pants on, Reese!" She whispered back while pulling the laptop and hard drive in. She plugged in the USB drive and the computer beeped to life. She leaned out the window and spoke softly to Reese, "How will I know when it's done sending the information to Finch?"
"Hang on." Reese held a hand up and listened to Finch's voice in his earbud. "Well that explains it. Ok. I'll be in touch."
"You can come down now Elise, we got what we need. Turns out Mr. Raven was going to kill his mark once he had received the payment from your client. We can turn this over to the police now."
"Ok, hang on." Elise quickly scrolled through the emails and deleted the ones their client was being blackmailed for. While she wouldn't have minded if the police arrested him for his despicable behavior, it would be bad for business. She shut to the computer down and stuck the laptop in the back of her waistband so she'd have her hands free.
She swung her legs out the window and hissed to Reese below, "Are you ready?" She was used to repelling off buildings so heights didn't frighten her but she was worried about Reese catching her below.
"Trust me." He said.
She shut her eyes. He couldn't have said anything worse. But she didn't have any choice in the matter so she let her feet feel for the top of his shoulders as she inched down the wall while holding onto the sill. She felt the top of Reese's head with a foot.
"Ow! Careful! Those shoes hurt!" Reese exclaimed softly.
"Sorry, I…." At that moment, two things happened. A flashlight clicked on in the alley below and she suddenly lost her grip on the sill. Her legs fell on either side of Reese's head and he caught her at the same time with his up-stretched arms. She came to rest with her legs looped over either of his shoulders and her crotch right in his face! She was mortified and tried to squirm out of his arms. Could this possibly get any worse? Just then the flashlight shone on the two of them and a voice came out of the darkness.
"Well, what have we here?" And then the voice chuckled. "Good thing for you, it was me that took this call!"
Reese almost dropped Elise as she was squirming around, trying to get him to release her. "Hang on, Elise." He slowly slid her down the front of him and he couldn't help but enjoy the sensation of her warm, soft body pressed tightly up against his. He got her on her feet, but for a second she swayed uncertainly. He chalked it up to dizziness and her weakness due to her wound. He kept his arms around her until he felt her pull away.
Meanwhile, Elise was relieved when Reese started to let her get down from his shoulders. He eased her down his body and she couldn't help but feel butterflies in her stomach as she slowly slid down his hard, warm body. Damn, she hadn't been this close to a man for a long time. Just as she regained her feet, she made the mistake of inhaling his scent. His smell was a heady combination of a calm, clean, outdoorsy scent. It was all man and had her legs feeling like jelly. Why did he have to smell so gosh darn appealing? She just wanted to snuggle in closer and be held. Reese held her tightly against him until she pulled away, alarmed at the direction of her thoughts.
Reese turned to the voice behind the flashlight. "Well Lionel, now that you've seen there's nothing to be concerned about, you can just run along. And stop shining that light in our faces damn it."
"Yeah, great to see you too. You know if you're gonna meet up with a woman you might wanna think about doin it somewhere that the neighbors aren't gonna call the police on ya."
Reese heard Elise gasp beside him. "Lionel," Reese said in a warning tone. "I appreciate your concern about my dating habits, but I'm on a case here."
Now if you want to really be useful, you can arrest the guy in apartment 24. He's about to commit murder."
"Yeah, sure, whatever you say." Lionel chuckled again. "Where's the proof? I can't just arrest the guy on your word ya know."
Elise removed the laptop from her back and handed it over to the guy Reese referred to as Lionel, a man she assumed was a cop. At this point, she didn't need it and if the guy, Vinny, was arrested, she knew her client would be satisfied with the outcome.
"Everything you need is in there, Officer." She told him. "Perhaps you could say it was recovered during a break-in. Then you'd have probable cause to have seen the evidence."
"Yeah sure honey, thanks." Lionel replied. Elise bristled a little at being called 'honey' but before she could retort, Reese was grabbing her arm and pulling her towards the head of the alley.
They stepped out of alley and Reese dragged her towards a car. "What are you doing?" Elise demanded, trying to pull her hand out of his.
"I told you, I want to make sure your wound is ok." Reese answered, opening the backseat car door. "I didn't think you'd want Lionel and every other nosey neighbor seeing you with your shirt off."
"The hell you will, John! I told you I'm fine. Now, let me go!" After what she had felt in the alley when John was holding her, the LAST place she wanted to be was in the backseat of a car with the man and half naked to boot.
Reese couldn't understand the panic he heard in Elise's voice and paused and released her. "Elise, what's wrong? You know I'm not going to hurt you. I just want to make sure you're ok."
Elise took a deep breath. "I know John, but I'm fine. Trust me. I need to get back to Zoe and report."
"Well if you're sure…."
"Yes, John I am. Thank you for your help tonight. Now I need to get back. Good-bye."
Reese watched her walk away from him and he couldn't help but feel a moment of disappointment. Then he remembered that at the end of their conversation, she had called him John. For some reason he felt like smiling as he got into the car and drove away.