Chapter 8
Roaring down the dark NYC streets, lights and siren blaring, Carter and Fusco were trying to figure out what was going on. All they knew was that John Reese was injured and needed help. They'd come to his rescue once before when the FBI and HR were both after him. But he'd laid low since then almost no contact with either of them which was very unusual.
"Tell me again who it was that called you?" Fusco asked Carter.
"I have no idea, it was a woman's voice and she was calling from John's phone. She said her name was Tate. I could hear shots in the background, and knowing John's line of work, I figured the call was legit." Keeping her eyes on the road, Carter replayed the call in her head. The voice sounded familiar but she was not quite sure where she'd heard it before.
A van came out of nowhere and almost broadsided them. "Idiot!" Shouted Carter as she twisted the steering wheel. "How the hell do you MISS seeing flashing blue lights!" Neither of them realized that the man responsible for the fire-fight they were about to walk into, was the man driving the van.
As they neared the warehouse district, Carter cut the lights and siren. No need to advertise that the cavalry had arrived. Sporadic gun fire could be heard in the distance, announcing that they were close to the action. Carter stopped behind another warehouse to keep the car hidden. Guns drawn, Kevlar vests on, Carter and Fusco hurried into the building where the shots were coming from.
Two bodies were near the door of the warehouse, Fusco checked both for a pulse and shook his head at Carter. Moving deeper into the warehouse they strained their eyes to get accustomed to the dim interior. The shots were getting fewer and further apart. By the time they reached the center of the warehouse, they had come across three more bodies.
Holding her hand up to stop Fusco from advancing, Carter pulled out the phone that John had given her. She sent a text 'don't shoot, we're here, next to forklift, where are you?' She didn't want them to end up victims of friendly fire. Apparently whoever was doing the shooting was a skilled marksman. All of the dead had been taken down with one shot each.
John's phone vibrated with a text message. Elise, holding one hand on his shoulder wound to try and slow down the bleeding, flipped open the phone and read the message. Nudging Zoe to take the phone she whispered, "Tell them to sit tight until I get a read on how many are left."
Elise listened intently for the direction that the remaining few shots were coming from. Pinpointing the direction, she grabbed Zoe's hand and pressed it down on the wound. Holding her finger to her lips she motioned for Zoe to apply pressure as she had been doing. She checked the clip of her one remaining gun, she had six shots left.
Moving away from the crate that was hiding Reese and Zoe, Elise moved with quiet stealth along the wall. Her black clothing helped her blend into the shadows until she became one with them. She was able to get behind the one lone shooter. She could see two bodies near him. That made a total of eight. Odd, because she had a'feel' that there were at least nine shooters. Well, she could have been mistaken in the heat of the firefight.
Watching the last shooter take aim, she realized he had moved and had a good chance of hitting Zoe. Without blinking an eye, she took aim and squeezed the trigger. And then there were none.
"Detective Carter!" She called out, "all clear." And she hopped down from her vantage point. She didn't bother to check the bodies below, she knew they were dead, she didn't miss what she was aiming for. But Elise was so exhausted from the adrenaline that was coursing through her system, she was very glad to have a chance to rest for several moments.
Carter and Fusco came out from behind the forklift and met her half way. Seeing Elise dressed in black with the mask still covering the lower part of her face and a Glock in her right hand, both Carter and Fusco raised their guns. Elise stopped where she was, keeping her right hand by her side. Using her left hand she pulled the mask down, revealing her face and then she pulled the cap down off the back revealing her hair.
"You!" Gasped Carter and Fusco in unison. Each of them had seen Elise once…in very compromising positions. The woman standing in front of them was far removed from what either of them remembered.
"You're Tate?" asked Carter.
Ignoring the question, Elise hurried over behind the crate where Zoe was valiantly still holding her hand on John's shoulder wound. Blood was still seeping out between her fingers and Zoe looked like she was about to faint. Kneeling beside her, Elise checked the pulse in his neck. It was still pretty strong but it felt a little weaker than before.
"Help me get him to Zoe's car so we can get him out of here. He's too big and heavy for us to do it by ourselves." Elise said. Taken aback at being given orders by someone they didn't know, Carter and Fusco looked at each other, looked around at the dead bodies and decided it would best to do as told.
Between the four of them, they were able to get Reese into the back seat of Zoe's car. Trying to wipe the blood from her hands so she could drive, Zoe looked like she was about to lose it. Seeing panic just under the surface, Elise stepped in front of Zoe and grabbed her hands.
"Look at me Zoe. LOOK AT ME!" She said firmly. Zoe slowly brought her eyes to meet Elise's steely blue ones. "You can do this, we need to get him out of here and get him taken care of. I'll ride in the back with him but I NEED you to be able to drive. You CAN do this." Not waiting for an answer, she turned towards Carter and Fusco and motioned for them to follow her.
Standing off to the side, out of earshot from Zoe, Elise turned those same steely blue eyes on Fusco and Carter. "I need you two to search the area and remove any evidence we were here." Looking down at her own hands still covered in Reese's blood, she added, "Anything with blood on it from him has to be removed."
Turning on her heel, she walked back to the car and opened the back door. Without turning her head, she paused. "Thank you for your help." And then she got in and shut the door, leaving Carter and Fusco staring after her open mouthed.
Once in the car, Elise was dismayed to see the shoulder wound bleeding freely once again. After checking that the head wound had not starting bleeding again also, she lifted his head and placed it in her lap. Applying pressure again to the shoulder wound, gave her a moment to check his vitals once more. His pulse was still ok but definitely weaker than before and his color was fading which told her he was going into shock. The fact that he had made no sound, even when they were roughly carrying him from the warehouse, gave her cause for concern. That told her that the blood loss was severe and he was in a pretty deep, unconscious state.
"Where are we taking him?" Asked Zoe from the driver's seat. "We can't take him to a hospital."
'Darn, she's right! Why didn't I think of that? What's wrong we me?' Elise berated herself. 'I've got to keep my mind together and figure out how to handle this! No Harold and now no Reese. They are both relying on me'. Looking down at Reese's face her breath caught in her throat. He looked as defenseless as he actually was. She had always found his overbearing self-confidence irritating. Now she missed it. She had come to rely on that irritation to keep him at arm's length and out of her mind. Emotions she had kept in check were stirring and she didn't like that and certainly didn't want it! All of those thoughts flashed through her mind in an instant.
Clamping down again on those unwanted feelings, she told Zoe to go to the library. "There's medical supplies there and I've had paramedic training. I believe I can handle patching him up. But we're going to need help in getting him inside." Sighing to herself, she once again picked up Reese's phone and called Carter.
"What the heck?" Grumbled Fusco. "Who is she to tell us how to do our job?"
Carter watched the tail lights of Zoe's car disappear in the distance and shrugged her shoulders. "I'm not real sure but she was right, we need to clean up this scene before we can call it in."
Right then the phone John had given her rang. "We're going to need your help one more time before you get started on the clean-up. We're taking Reese …we're taking Reese to a location that has adequate medical facilities. Here's the address." Before Carter could respond, the phone line disconnected.
'Darn! Not even a hello, just orders. Just who is this woman?' wondered Carter. Explaining the need to put a hold on the clean-up to Fusco, Carter started back to the car. Not recognizing the address she'd been given, Carter gave the address to Fusco but he didn't recognize it either.
Zoe drove fast but not reckless. The last thing they needed was to be pulled over by a cop. Looking down at herself, Zoe started giggling thinking what a cop would say if they did get pulled over and he found her covered in blood, a man bleeding to death in the back seat from two gunshot wounds and being tended to by another woman who was also covered in blood.
Just before her giggling got out of control, she reined it back in. Shaking her head, she thought, 'Elise said I could handle this. But she's used to handling things like this, I'm not! I work in boardrooms and banquet halls and restaurants where the worst thing that could happen would be getting food poisoning or something. Not being shot at and seeing someone you care for go down! Not having that person's blood on your hands! No, that was not the kind of life she wanted, not the kind of life she needed. Elise was more in her own element with the guns and shooting and physical aspects of this job. She could have it! After we get John safe, I am not getting into this kind of work ever again if I can help it! Having settled that in her mind, Zoe was calmer and able to concentrate on her driving. Checking the rear view mirror to see how things were going in the back seat, she was shocked at the look on Elise's face.
With her right hand firmly pressed on the shoulder wound, Elise found her left hand, of its own volition, brushing back Reese's hair from his forehead. Her eyes took in the salt and pepper color of his hair, making his age hard to guess at. His cheekbones would rival Johnny Depp's, that was for sure. She found herself willing him to open his eyes so she could see those blue eyes that always had a sparkle in them when he spoke to her. Except when they were arguing which was most of the time, she reminded herself. And his mouth, what a beautiful mouth! She seldom saw him smile but the few times she remembered seeing it, she had almost been blinded by it. His face changed with that smile. His eyes crinkled in the corners with a mischievous glint when he teased her.
And that was the moment that Zoe caught a glimpse of Elise's face. It was not what she was expecting. Elise had been all business since they had started out on this misadventure and then she'd calmly stepped into John's shoes when he went down. Seeing such tender emotions, directed AT John was a shock.
Finally getting Reese onto a bed was a relief shared by all of them. Elise and Zoe were covered in his blood and looked like they were suffering from PTSD. Carter had tried to help tend Reese but Elise waved her away with an almost angry gesture. Something about Elise's focus on Reese prevented her from pushing the issue.
Carter kept watching Elise as she stood over Reese. She frowned, remembering the only other time she had seen her was in the back seat of a car with John. 'Now she's here, dressed like a damn ninja with John's blood all over her. What the hell is going on?'
Standing off to the side, Carter and Fusco were trying to figure out how they were going to handle the shootout at the warehouse and the dead bodies there.
"Carter, you listenin' to me? We've got to come up with a story fast to cover what went down over there!" Fusco said in an agitated voice.
"I know, I know, Fusco." Agreed Carter. "We need to get back there and 'clean up' that scene before we call it in. We don't want anything of John's to be found there."
"Excuse me." Carter said, trying to get Elise or Zoe's attention. Only Zoe looked up. Elise had started to remove the Kevlar vest from Reese. "Can we talk for a minute?" Zoe looked at Elise in askance, but Elise kept her eyes on Reese and just nodded.
Walking around the bed, Zoe came up to Carter and Fusco, "I...uh...WE want to thank you for coming to help us with John. Especially coming so fast without asking a lot of questions first," Zoe said. Never having met her before, Carter and Fusco had no idea how different Zoe looked now, with her hair pulled back in a low ponytail, parts of her hair falling around her face; jeans and a flannel shirt, dirty and covered in blood and without any make-up. Her current appearance was a far cry from the studied elegance she normally presented to the world. Carter and Fusco were still unaware that Finch was missing. John had been adamant that they be kept out of that loop. The fewer people who knew he was missing the safer he'd felt Finch would be. Zoe hoped that Carter and Fusco wouldn't ask too many questions that neither she nor Elise had answers for.
"Can you guys handle John's injuries here? He doesn't need a doctor? That's an awful lot of blood." Asked Carter, looking over Zoe's shoulder as Elise began cutting away Reese's black, long sleeve shirt.
"Elise says she can handle it. She's had paramedic training. I trust her to know if it's more than she can handle." Zoe replied. Tucking her hair behind her ear, she let out a big sigh as she turned to observe Elise.
The look of concentration on Elise's face was total. Her mouth was in set in a small, thin line. Her eyes were huge in her pale face. There was blood smeared on one cheek and on her chin. Her own Kevlar vest was unbuckled but she hadn't taken the time to take it off yet but it was getting in the way. Elise stepped back from the bed, pulled off the vest and dropped it to the floor with a thud. She took a deep breath and closed her eyes for a moment. She still had on the black knit cap and most of her hair was still pushed up inside. But the strain of the night's actions had caused some strands to escape and hang out from under the cap. She slowly exhaled as she opened her eyes. Feeling like someone was watching her, she turned towards Zoe, Carter and Fusco. The coldness in her eyes did not go unnoticed by any of them. She almost looked like she was daring them to come near Reese. Feeling uncomfortable and unnecessary, the three of them began discussing what still needed to be done. Zoe walked Carter and Fusco out and down to street level as they discussed their options, leaving Elise alone with Reese.
Looking down, Elise saw a wounded man...not a wounded boy. She saw Reese not Patrick. That was her biggest worry and she had conquered it. She had been fearful that memories would cause her to freeze and not be able to help Reese. Her past had crippled her too many times but finally that seemed to have come to a close. 'What had this man done to her? How had he done it?'
Shaking her head, she once again put a lid on those thoughts and filed them away for later. Right now, she had to find out how serious that shoulder wound was. The bullet had hit Reese just above the neck of the vest. That was the worst of the two gunshot wounds. Looking around at the all too familiar area where the hospital bed was, Elise spied the cabinet with the glass door. Quickly going over and opening it she was pleased to see the necessary medical supplies. Grabbing what she needed, she set to work.
Cleaning the wound in Reese's shoulder showed that tending it would be relatively easy. The bullet had passed through and through and missed the clavicle artery. It had an entrance and an exit wound. Thank goodness she wasn't going to have to dig it out. But it would require stitches. She smiled at the thought that she was going to be leaving her 'mark' on him just like the 'mark' he left on her when he stitched her up. 'Amazing, what comes around goes around!'
Finishing the stitches on his shoulder she checked the head wound. It had already quit bleeding but needed to be cleaned up. It might need a stitch or two, thought Elise. It wasn't deep but it was rather wide. She was so involved cleaning and stitching the wound that she didn't notice that Reese was coming around.
All of a sudden she felt her right arm grabbed roughly around the wrist and twisted. Crying out she almost fell to the floor. Quickly regaining her balance and countered the move with a twist of her own. She found herself inches away from blue eyes staring wildly around.
"Reese...Reese...REESE!" She almost screamed at him. He finally focused his eyes and saw her.
"Elise." Was all he said as he fell back on the bed. Prying his fingers off her wrist, Elise was amazed it wasn't broken. It was certainly bruised and would be a multitude of colors by tomorrow morning.
Elise, still rubbing her wrist, went back to the cabinet to check on medications. She needed him to relax and sleep to give his body a chance to handle the trauma it had endured. Choosing a light sedative of Lorazepam, she gave him two ccs via the IV she'd hung by the bed. Standing back and looking at him she realized that rest of him he needed to be cleaned up as well. There were still bits of dried blood in a few places. But first, she had to clean herself up.
Finding the bag she had brought with her earlier in the evening she headed for the shower that she knew Harold had had installed. She'd have to hurry to make sure she was back before Reese woke up again. She felt that if she could wash off the reminders of tonight's activity, she'd be able to think more clearly about what their next step should be in trying to get Harold back. Elise knew Reese would be out of the action, at least physically for a while.
Fresh from her shower, Elise came back into the area of the hospital bed and was pleased to see that Reese was resting more comfortably. The frown on his face had relaxed and the tension seemed to have eased throughout his body. Sighing with fatigue herself, she put down her bag of dirty, blood stained clothes and shook her hair out. For once she decided to not put it up in its customary place under her hat. She ran a comb through it to get the tangles out while watching Reese. The only movement she could see was his chest rising and falling with each breath. His hand rested on the outside of the covers in a relaxed manner, not in fists like he was ready for a fight, as was his norm.
Walking back to the bathroom, Elise found a bowl under the sink, some towels and another washrag. After filling the bowl with hot water, she carried all of the washing supplies back to Reese's bedside table. Standing there looking at him she realized this was the first time she had actually looked at him. Usually she avoided eye contact with him at all cost. The few times she HAD looked him in the eye, she had been so angry she mostly just saw was red. He was a very attractive man, she had to admit. No wonder Zoe was interested in him. They had made such a striking couple at the gala.
Remembering the laughter that they had shared caused her to feel…what, upset? No…angry? No, not that either. Shrugging her shoulders, she ignored the nagging feeling, the one that said there was something more to her discomfort, rinsed the washrag and began to clean up Reese.
Holding his hair off of his forehead, she gently cleaned once more around her previous handiwork of stitches. She was always amazed at how much blood flowed from a head wound. Thank goodness it looked worse than it was. Wiping his face to clean off the dried blood she was again struck by how much she wanted him to open his eyes. Their blueness had imprinted on her mind, despite the fact that there were only a few times that she'd gazed at them directly. As she continued to clean his face, she remembered the times he had made overtures of friendship to her. Only to have her throw them back in his face. That was because those overtures came AFTER he had her at a major disadvantage: hanging from his shoulders by her legs, or underneath him while he was trying to rub warmth back into her frozen skin and she didn't even want to think about what had had happened at the gala.
Blushing from the memory, she rinsed the washrag out roughly, splashing water on the table. That made her angry and she grabbed one of the only two dry towels left and dried the table off. GRRRR! 'He can irritate me even when he's unconscious!'
Next she began to clean around his neck and the bandage on his shoulder. As she wiped more dried blood off of him she began to notice the scars. The ones she had seen that night in his car. There were so many! Some were obviously bullet wound scars but there seemed to be just as many knife wound scars. He certainly lived a very dangerous life. She knew he was ex-military but he also seemed like something more. His fighting style, the way he viewed a scene, instinctively looking for an out, watching everybody all the time, it all screamed something more than just trained soldier. Stopping her ministrations for a moment, she looked closely at the man on the bed; tall, slim, long-limbed with scars on almost every part of his upper body. His hands were smooth but strong and very capable. She had seen him handle a variety of different weaponry with ease, taking down multiple opponents. But she'd also seen how gentle he was with them when he'd taken care of her as she was wounded. He seemed to want to protect everybody, even people who didn't need or want his protection…..people like me, she thought. 'Who is this man? Why do I want, no, need to know? Why do I even care?'
After losing Patrick when she was so young, she'd felt her life was over when it came to being involved with a man. Losing someone who had been a part of her for so long, in such a violent way, had almost killed her. It was only by joining HRT and by years of dealing with Tim that she began to connect and relate to a man again. Because Tim was happily married, there had been no romantic attraction, just the need for a normal family life. Tim and his wife had provided that with their kids. She'd been happy with that arrangement right up until Tim had also been taken from her. The underhanded way Tim had been killed, so needlessly, sent her into a downward spiral that had taken almost two years to recover from.
Moving often during those two years had helped her stay detached from people. If she didn't know someone, she couldn't become attached to them or care about them. She'd hired herself and her skills out to the highest bidder. But her innate honesty and sense of right and wrong had prevented her from taking any jobs that were illegal. It was only after meeting Zoe that night that she actually felt something for someone again. Zoe was good about not pushing it, she never asked nosy questions and just accepted her like she was. To have finally been able to come clean and tell SOMEONE about Tim and Patrick had been the beginning of her feeling human again.
Looking at Reese, Elise realized she was changing once more. This man had come into her life, literally with guns blazing, and started that process. The irritation that he caused was founded in…..attraction, she was finally willing to acknowledge. She loved a challenge and that's what he'd given her. He challenged everything she believed in: about herself, about the world and about the people in it. He'd made her look at herself in the mirror, something that she had carefully avoided for years. Because she didn't like what she saw, she fought back hard, but still, his continued presence had challenged her and eventually, she realized that she cared what he thought and…..she cared about HIM. She sat back for a second, marveling at that revelation.
After a couple of minutes turning that idea over and over in her mind, she returned to her care of John. She dried him off and covered him with the sheet and blanket, taking the bowl and washrag back to the bathroom. Rinsing out the bowl she looked at herself in the mirror. Really looked. She wondered what he saw when he looked at her. She wasn't elegant and worldly like Zoe. She didn't like to dress up fancy. She was more comfortable in jeans and t-shirt. She liked beer better than a mixed drink. 'What did she have to offer him? Not much.' She thought.
Pulling up a chair next to the bed, Elise leaned on one elbow and studied John's face. He was classically handsome; the salt and pepper hair offset those blue eyes perfectly. That mouth, the one that she had studied on the ride back to the library was so expressive…..the elusive smile, or snarky grin or seriously PO'd frown…..was beautiful. The longer she gazed at him, the more relaxed she became, finally drifting off with her head on her arms on the side of the bed.
Bad dreams came to her quickly, flashes of Patrick and Tim were intermingled with flashes of John. Blood was everywhere, tearing her apart. She began to whimper in her sleep and tears slipped out of her closed eyes. Her hands gripped the blanket. The nightmare went on and on.
Reese was slowly coming around as the sedatives wore off. New aches and pains joined the all too familiar ones he experienced every time he woke up. He'd heard a noise that was causing him concern. His eyes opened, fully awake. He quickly realized he was in the library and all that had happened quickly assimilated in his mind.
Trying to locate the sound that woke him, he was surprised to see Elise's head on the side of the bed. Her hair was down and it waved about her face. He noticed she was asleep but he also saw the tears rolling down her face onto the sheet. He raised his hand to touch her head, to comfort her, but paused for a moment...he was hesitant to touch her, afraid she'd wake up and light into him for touching her. But the sound of her quiet crying moved him like nothing had in many years. Reaching out he gentle stroked her head, brushing her hair back away from her face. The texture of her hair was even more silky than he had imagined. The thought caught him off guard and he pulled his hand away. 'Imagined? What the hell? I haven't been thinking about her! She drives me crazy! Always jumping to conclusions when all I've tried to do was be nice and friendly and take the high road when things got...out of control. Ok, maybe he'd pushed her a little bit, though he wasn't quite sure why he had. But no way have I given the texture of her hair a second thought!' And yet he found himself stroking her head and hair once more. Pushing a lock of hair behind her ear so he could see her face better, he was amazed at the look of innocence there.
Normally she was frowning and had her bottom lip stuck out. She was without a doubt the most stubborn woman he had ever met. He was used to charming women into doing what he wanted, when he wanted but not her! She got her back up and crossed him at every turn. But he had found himself looking forward to seeing her. She was certainly a mystery and an enigma...and he realized that he'd been thinking about her more than he'd realized.
The more he stroked her hair and played with the thick waves of inky blackness, the quieter she became, until she seemed to be finally resting peacefully. The tension was leaving her shoulders and she snuggled more up to the side of the bed. Looking at her as he ran his fingers through her hair, he realized how much he wanted her to wake up. He wanted, no needed, to see her deep blue eyes, to see if she could possibly feel anything for him as he had come to realize he felt for her. Those deep blue eyes of hers, they always seemed to see right through him, into his very soul…..the same soul he'd kept locked away for many years. Could she possibly feel something for him despite all of that?
Realizing she needed sleep as much as he did though, he didn't wake her but rather continued to play with her hair between his fingers until he finally drifted off again, more relaxed than he had been in quite some time.
Zoe came in early the next morning, wanting to see how John was and if Elise had made it through the night ok. What she was NOT expecting to see was Elise sitting by the bed with her head on her arms, facing away from John, sound asleep and John's hand resting on her head with his fingers wrapped in her hair...