Chapter 6
Harold's eyes widened as he took in the scene. Zoe gasped and took a step forward. Meanwhile hearing the door open, John backed out from under Elise's dress, prepared to fight for their lives as best he could handcuffed as he was.
He saw who it was and let out the breath he'd been holding. "Finch your timing is, as always, perfect." Harold's eyes just widened further at that. "Zoe, can you please come over here and get the key out from under Elise's clothes?"
"Is that what you were doing just now, John?" Zoe asked in a strangled voice. She couldn't believe what she had just seen. The shock of seeing John underneath Elise's dress when he wouldn't even let her touch him, shook her to the core.
"What do you mean, Zoe? Look we have to get out of here before we are discovered here. Please come help Elise."
Zoe approached Elise, her eyes taking in Elise's flushed face. Elise couldn't meet her eyes and Zoe once again wondered at the relationship between Elise and John. She vowed that when this was over, she was going to pin Elise down about what was going on between her and John.
"Turn around Elise." Zoe told her so that Harold and John wouldn't see. "Where is the key?"
"Under the darn boustierre you made me wear." Elise answered quietly but without the usual heat her words would imply. "Near my belly button. Just pull the thing away from me and the key should fall out."
Within minutes, Elise and John had been freed and they were all getting ready to leave. "I'll catch up with you in a second." Reese told them. "I still have to find that evidence."
"You mean this?" Finch held up a small journal. "Ms. Morgan and I found it while looking for you two. We'll turn it over to Detective Carter tonight and Jonathan Fisher will be arrested before he can cause any more trouble."
"So we are done here right? I can go home and take this damn stuff off?" Elise almost begged. After tonight and the confusing feelings she was having, Elise just wanted to get as far from John Reese as she could, as fast as she could. Zoe and Harold smiled, knowing how much she had hated tonight but Reese just frowned.
Elise was surprised when Harold called the first time and asked her if she would like to meet him in a nearby park. They both had tea and talked about some of the classics of British literature. Not once did Harold mention Reese to her as she had been afraid he would and Elise found herself more and more at ease with the short, brilliant man. Elise really enjoyed the hour away from all the stress of the jobs she and Zoe worked and Harold must have felt the same way because he called her to meet twice more in the next five weeks. Elise came to look forward to those hours, even as intermittent as they were, where she could go back to feeling like a normal person.
For his part, Harold was glad that he had finally found someone with whom he could converse and not have to watch every word he said. He hadn't had a friend like this since Nathan was killed and knowing how rare it was for him to be able to connect with someone, made him treasure the friendship with Elise all the more. Harold had never been a social butterfly. He held his own, just barely, in the social settings he was forced by his parents to endure, but he always went straight back to his books and computers afterwards. Having conversations with someone who enjoyed reading as much as he did, was a bright spot in his life.
On one occasion, Harold and Elise were sitting in a coffee shop when Harold's phone started beeping at him with a loud urgency. Harold blanched and looked around, his eyes wildly searching for something. Elise had never seen the older man react like this and automatically reached for her gun.
"Harold, what is it? What's wrong?" She asked, scanning the crowds for any sign of danger.
"She's…..she's here…" He whispered, looking more and more agitated.
"Who's here? Harold I can protect you, tell me who I'm looking for!"
"I have to get out of here, now! I can't let her see me! I can't!" Harold almost wailed.
"Ok. Harold. Let's go." Elise got up and quickly grabbed Harold's arm and pulled him towards the back of the coffee shop. Elise led him to a fire escape door and she jammed a knife up into the alarm mechanism. They were just about to exit when Harold gasped and his eyes widened further. Elise immediately shoved him behind her and looked towards the front of the store where Harold had been looking. A red-haired woman entered and smiled at the barista as she placed her order. Elise didn't need to see any more and she shoved Harold out the door and they exited into the alley.
"Harold? Who was she?" Elise asked softly.
"She's…. I had to…... If anyone …" Harold looked as if he was about to lose it, giving Elise her first clue about her. The look of pain in Harold's eyes she recognized all too well; she'd seen it many times before in her own eyes before she stopped looking at herself in the mirror altogether.
Elise grabbed ahold of Harold's shoulders and looked him right in the eyes. "Look at me Harold." He reluctantly focused on her face. "I understand." And she nodded her head once. Under her hands, she could feel him sag with relief. "Now, you need to get back to the library and I need to get back and see what Zoe has for me."
Harold took a deep breath, squared his shoulders and said to her very earnestly. "Elise, if you ever need me, you need only call."
Elise smiled at him and they both walked out of the alley and went their separate ways.
Elise was just finishing up a job for a client when her phone rang. Looking at the caller id that said number unknown, Elise knew it was Harold. "Hi Harold! Where shall we meet this time?"
"I'm afraid that this isn't a social call Miss Tate. Mr. Reese and I could use your help." Harold replied in a serious tone of voice.
"Ok, what's up?" While dreading working with Reese again, Elise didn't even think about telling Harold no.
"We need you and Ms. Morgan to identify some clients of a psychologist we think is in danger. I'm sending the pictures over to you now."
"Got them. I'm going over to Zoe's and we'll get back to you when we have something for you."
"Thanks, Elise. I know you and Ms. Morgan will be a great help."
"Zoe!" Elise called when she entered the apartment. "Finch called, he…."
"Yes, he called here too." Zoe interrupted her. "I've divided up the photos. If you can locate these men," She asked, handing Elise a set of four photos, "I'll take these others."
"Ok, be safe Zoe!" Elise said hugging her before walking out. She and Zoe had become much closer since that ill-fated night at the gala several weeks ago. Honestly, it was a relief to have someone else who knew about Patrick.
Two hours later, Elise was on the phone with Zoe. "Ok, two of these guys are just average bored rich guys who have more money than brains, but these other two…One is David Sarkeesian, a city councilman who has a problem keeping it in his pants. The other interns in his office all know he's sleeping with his intern, Ms. Jordan. It's only a matter of time before one of them outs him to his wife, I'm guessing by the amount of jealousy I encountered. The other is Terrance Baxter, works at One State Bank. Apparently he's been playing fast and loose with the bank's investments. My contact at the SEC tells me he's being quietly investigated for running a Ponzi scheme. I'm going to dig a little deeper into their financials. Are you going to get in touch with Finch and Reese and let them know what we've found?"
"Yes, I'm meeting Reese in a few minutes. He's tailing his mark and can't break off without knowing the danger to her."
"Ok well, enjoy yourself and don't tell him I said 'hi'." Elise said flatly and hung up the phone.
Several hours later, Elise's phone rang with an unlisted number. Expecting to hear Harold's voice on the other end, Elise was shocked to hear Reese address her instead.
"Elise? Elise, I need your and Zoe's help." His voice sounded strained on the other end.
She didn't hesitate a second before asking, "You've got it John, what is it?" She was totally unprepared for his next words.
"Harold's been taken."
"WHAT?" Elise practically shouted into the phone. "Who took him? Where are you?"
"The psychologist we were helping. She took the hit out on herself to lure Harold out. She's been after Harold all this time and I…Damn! I never saw it!"
"There's time enough for that later, John. Tell me where you are and we'll get him back."
Reese, Zoe and Elise all met at the library and Reese explained to the two what had happened. "I received some intel that Finch was being held in an abandoned office building in the Bronx but when I got there, they were gone. All I could find was one of Finch's cuff links. He must have left it there for me to find." Reese shook his head. This woman, the one who took him, she MUST be the hacker that Finch ran into when you were helping us with Congressman Delancey's assassination. That's the only way I can think of that she would know exactly how to lure Harold out. I just wish I knew for sure. We can't afford the time and effort of going in the wrong direction."
"What was the hacker's name, Reese?" Elise asked.
"Hmm, can't quite recall. Let me think… tree…leaf...oh, root. That's what it was. Root."
"Root?" Zoe exclaimed. "That was the word that kept coming up as Turring's computer wiped itself!"
"Well then, I guess that confirms it, the hacker is the one who took Harold. But why?" Elise asked.
Reese was uncomfortable with the direction of Elise's questioning. He knew Harold would still not want anyone else to know of the Machine, so he tried to redirect her thoughts. "No idea, Elise we need to weapon up here. How comfortable are you with a Sig P226?"
"I've used those before, nice gun. But Reese, her motivation here might be the key to finding Harold. After all if she's a hacker, she has the same skill set as Harold. There would be no reason for her to take Harold unless she was taking….out…..a rival…." Elise blanched and her voice trailed off.
Despite not wanting to tell them about the Machine, Reese thought it would be cruel to make Elise think that Harold had no chance, that maybe he was already dead. He'd seen how much Elise meant to Harold and he could see the feeling was mutual. For a brief second, he was jealous but then he pushed that feeling aside and said, "No Elise, that's not it. I'm pretty sure that she thought Harold knew something that she wanted information on. At least that's what Harold hinted at." Reese tried to be as truthful but as vague as possible.
"Well, at least that's something. Ok, so he wasn't where you were told he would be. Any chance you'll get more information from the same source?"
"Yes, who is your source?" Zoe inquired, eager to help. All the talk of weapons made her a bit uncomfortable. Sure she could shoot a pistol, but a sniper rifle? No way but she didn't want Reese to think she was useless in this situation. "Maybe I can persuade them in ways you can't." She hinted to Reese.
"Um, no one you know Zoe. It's a brand new player to the scene." Reese HAD to get them away from this line of thought! Just then his phone beeped. Looking at the display, it contained the license plate number. Thank God! He finally had another lead to follow courtesy of his new "partner".
"Are either of you good with computers?" Both women shook their heads. "Ok, I'll do this the hard way then. Give me a few minutes. Let's hope I'm right about the vehicle they used to move Harold."
Reese sat down at a desk and dialed a number on his phone. After a pause, he spoke in a very matter of fact tone of voice, "Yes, this is Detective Stills, NYPD, badge number 98682. I need some GPS tracking info please on a Dodge van plate number HGP- 8340. Yes, I'll hold."
Reese covered the speaker and said to the women. "Every car that has On-star records the location of the vehicle every five minutes. The police have often used that data to catch criminals by seeing if they've been near the victim, to check places they frequent etc. I have it on good faith that Root rented a van recently. There's only one reason she'd need a van."
"Yes, I'm here. Thank you. Please send the information to this phone number. Thank you." Reese hung up. "Ok ladies, time to go get Harold back."
They all grabbed their weapon of choice and hurried out, eager to find Harold Finch.
Harold's mind raced. He had a hard time focusing with a gun pointed at him. He absolutely HATED guns. Twice now, he'd seen someone shot in front of him, point blank. He was looking in their eyes when the shot snuffed out their lives. He saw the…. Harold stopped this line of thought. It was getting him nowhere and he HAD to think of a way to get out of this or let John know where he was.
Harold looked around him and noticed the dilapidated condition of the warehouse. It looked old, very old; too old to contain any cameras apparently. Of course Root would have thought of that, knowing what she did about the Machine. 'How the heck did she figure out how we work?' Harold wondered. She wasn't in his system for that long, that time he let her in! It further unnerved him that she was able to worm her way past his defenses even though he had thoroughly checked things after their encounter.
"Well Harold, we are almost ready to have our little talk." Root purred from behind him. "We just have one more move to make to fool your Machine."
Harold frowned. They had been moving every six hours, trying to stay ahead of whomever might have found their location. Root was almost as paranoid as he was in that respect. She always moved them to a place with no surveillance capabilities.
A new van pulled up and another man he had never seen before jumped out. "Everything you need is in here, boss." He motioned to the back of the van.
Just then, two more identical vans pulled up. 'Hmm, she's playing the shell game.' Harold thought to himself. He knew it wouldn't fool John but it WOULD eat up valuable time trying to locate the real van he was in.
"Alright, get him in the box in the van." Root told the original man.
Harold was hauled to his feet, his hands still tied behind his back. The rough treatment was beginning to aggravate his spine injury. He was pushed up into the van and lay on his side next to a wooden box. They couldn't be thinking of putting him in there?
Sure enough, the man jumped up into the van beside him and then picked him up and put him inside the box. Root entered the van and leaned over the lip of the box. "Don't worry Harold, this won't be a long trip. But we can't have John finding us and interrupting our time together." She nodded to the man who placed the lid over the top and nailed it down but not tightly. There was enough of an air space between the lid and the box so that he could see a crack of light around the edge. Minutes later, the van started moving. Every time they hit a bump, Harold was jolted against the box and he groaned as his neck and back began to feel as though they were on fire.
Finally after what seemed like forever, the van stopped and Harold tried to ascertain where they were. It almost sounded like….water? Was that a seagull he heard? The box was suddenly shifted from the van floor and Harold felt himself being carried. When he was once again set down on a flat surface, he could feel a gentle rocking underneath him. He was on a boat. The realization that the Machine and subsequently John, would not be able to find him out on open water had him panicking. He tried to kick the box and yell but heard a gun being cocked up next to the box.
"Harold, be quiet." Root spoke in a low voice. "We wouldn't want you to get shot. There are no doctors where we are going."
Harold could feel the panic rising. He knew he'd have to hold on as long as he could. John would find him. Root might be good, but John was better.