John made his way back to the Library to wait for Finch. When he entered the room, he saw that Finch had already put Carter's picture up on the cracked pane of glass, along with the pictures of some of her enemies. Elias was there, along with Snow and mugshots of some of her recent arrests.

John took a minute to stare at Joss's picture. It was her official police portrait; she was in uniform with her hair in the ever present low ponytail. She was looking into the camera with a ghost of a smile on her face. John thought she was absolutely beautiful. The picture captured her perfect complexion and the intelligence and kindness he'd seen in her eyes at their first meeting. He raised his hand and gently traced her full lips with his finger. He wondered if he would ever get up the courage to kiss those lips and tell her how he felt.

He dropped his hand and closed his eyes; he had no right to love her. She was a good person, she had been helping and protecting people her whole life, and her path had not deviated from that objective at all, unlike him. She had never killed anyone in cold blood, unlike him. In Texas, when they had been searching for Root, it was her meticulous and thorough investigation that had solved the disappearance of Hanna Frey. When John had been ready to fly off with the case half solved, she was the one who kept at it until she brought Hanna's body home and unmasked Root as Samantha Groves. She was the person he wished he could be.

And, whether he had the right or not, he did love her; he finally admitted that to himself after a few months of struggle. He'd felt a connection to her the minute she had walked briskly into the interrogation room to confront the homeless drunk who had beat five thugs on the subway, and every interaction he'd had with her since then fed that connection, and left him wanting more. He called her Carter to try to hold her at arm's length, to remind his heart that she was untouchable for the likes of him, but it wasn't working very well. She had breached his defenses and taken possession of his heart without even trying.

He had to keep her alive.

He looked at the pictures and information Finch had posted on her recent arrests. There were a couple of petty criminals who had accidently killed their victims during robberies and muggings. He dismissed them immediately; they did not have the resources or the smarts to orchestrate a hit on a cop.

He dismissed Elias as well. Finch felt that he was not involved, and Finch was almost always right. He also crossed Snow off the list. Snow was a ruthless bastard, but the CIA did not kill police on US soil. Even Snow would not cross that line.

He looked at the remaining suspects. One was a spoiled rich boy who killed a girl during rough sex. From what Carter had told him about the case and from what he had read in the papers, Bradley Peeler was completely amoral and had all the empathy of a rock. Peeler had probably been getting away with doing horrible things his whole life, thanks to the fact that his parents were members of the Filthy Rich class and were willing to pay out lots of cash to keep their only child out of jail and out of the papers. Peeler had the money to hire a top notch hit man, and John could easily see the spoiled Bradley in his arrogance thinking that he could get away with it.

There was also Carlos Vasquez, head man for the Cordova Cartel in New York. He had shot and killed his mistress in a fit of anger when she informed him that she was pregnant. He already had six kids with his wife and didn't want any more, or so he had told Joss during the interrogation. He was certainly ruthless enough, and he had access to lots of money and all the resources of the cartel.

Suspect number three was Chu Vang, high ranking member of the one of the Bronx gangs. Carter nailed him for a brutal drive by on rival gang members that resulted in six deaths, some of them innocent bystanders. Vang had a whole gang that was willing to do his bidding without hesitation. Killing a cop would be a badge of honor for them.

John let his eyes travel up to Carter's picture again. "You're not alone," he whispered to her and he meant it from his heart, a heart she owned without even realizing it.

He almost jumped as Finch came limping into the room. He had been so engrossed in his thoughts, he hadn't noticed his employer until he was halfway across the room.

"How was your meeting with Elias?" He asked, turning to Finch.

"Just as I thought, Elias is not involved this time." Finch smiled at John. "It seems you make him nervous, Mr. Reese, and he knows the fastest way to anger you is to go after Detective Carter again."

John raised an eyebrow at Finch, "I make him nervous?"

"Yes Mr. Reese. What do you know about Chaos Theory?"

"Chaos Theory? You mean like in Jurassic Park when the computer nerd cut the power and the dinosaurs started eating everyone?"

Finch shot John a look at the mention of computer nerd, but continued. "Yes, exactly. You are the unpredictable element, the loose cannon as it were, the equivalent of that greedy computer programmer from the movie."

Finch stood next to Reese at the pane of glass. "Have you reached any conclusions on our list of suspects?"

"I put Peeler, Vasquez and Vang at the top of the list," Reese replied.

"Elias did say that if it were him, he would pay particular attention to the drug cartels. His organization had not heard of the hit on Carter, so he's pretty sure it's not the Mafia or the Russians."

"He wouldn't know if Peeler or Vang put out a hit, either. Peeler isn't a gang or mob member and Elias doesn't work with any of the Bronx gangs."

Finch looked thoughtful. "No, probably not. So we have three suspects that we know of. And, to make things more complicated, there may still be someone else out there that we don't know about."

John pressed his lips together in a thin line. "I hope not, three is enough," he growled.

"What is your next move, Mr. Reese?"

John turned to the computer and hit a couple of keys. A picture of Carter at her desk popped up on the screen from the doll camera on Fusco's desk. "Carter is still at her desk in the precinct, so I think I will start by having a chat with Bradley Peeler. See if you can find Vang or Vasquez for me while I'm gone."

"I will Mr. Reese, good luck."

Bradley Peeler was settled comfortably on the terrace overlooking Central Park, eating his lunch and chatting with his best buddy, another amoral trust fund baby, over the phone.

"No, the trial won't be for another couple of months at least. Dad's hired the best lawyers money can buy and they will punch holes in the stupid police bitch's story….No I'm not worried, I pay people to be smarter than that snotty cop."

Suddenly the phone was ripped from his hand and he looked up in the stone cold face of John Reese. John spoke into the phone, "He'll call you back", and he hung up.

"Hey," Bradley whined. "How did you get in here?"

John gave him a predatory smile. "I walked in. Your bodyguard is bit careless."

"What did you do to my bodyguard?"

"Nothing permanent. He'll recover."

Bradley shrank from Reese in fear. Despite Reese's outwardly calm and quiet demeanor; Bradley still sensed that this was a very dangerous individual. Reese oozed menace out of every pore as only he could.

"So, Bradley," Reese said, sitting down in the chair opposite Peeler, "let's talk about that lovely lady cop who arrested your miserable ass for murder."

Bradley's lip curled into a snarl. "The one who thinks she's so clever? If she was so smart, how come she can't afford anything better than a polyester pantsuit?"

"She works for a living, you should try it sometime, it might make you better person." John said softly staring at Bradley the way a wolf stares at a rabbit just before he runs it down and kills it.

"Oh please. That low-class bitch is going down in court when my lawyers get a hold of her."

"I'd watch your mouth Bradley. I happen to care very much for the lady, and I'm the guy who knocked out your expensive bodyguard with one punch."

Bradley looked a bit sick at that; Reese just stared back at him with cold, dead eyes.

"So Bradley, let's cut to the chase. There is a hit out on that lady cop and I was wondering if you had anything to do with it?"

Bradley was not out of false bravado yet. "Why should I tell you?"

Reese moved with insane speed. Before he knew what hit him, Bradley was dangling head first off the terrace, over the street. The only thing that prevented him from plummeting to his death was Reese holding onto his legs.

"Any more questions, Bradley?" Asked Reese in the same quiet, cold voice.

"I swear man, I didn't have anything to do with the hit on the bitch."

Reese let his grip slip a bit and Bradley shrieked like a little girl. "Bradley, remember, I care for the lady cop, I really don't like it when rich brats call her bad names."

"I swear I didn't put a hit out. I have lawyers, I don't need hit men."

Reese, somewhat reluctantly, pulled Peeler up. John slammed him against a wall, grabbed him by the throat and put his face in Bradley's so Peeler could see the death in Reese's eyes, but Reese kept his voice low, quiet and deadly. "Think about this Bradley. The only reason I did not drop you off the side of the building was that that lady detective would be quite upset with me if I did and I don't like upsetting her. However, if I find out that you lied to me, I'll be back, and I WILL drop you off the building the next time, regardless of how the lady feels about it. There is nothing you can do to stop me if I decide to do it.

"Have a nice day Bradley. Don't forget to call your friend back."

And Reese left, stepping over the unconscious form of Peeler's bodyguard in the process.

As soon as he made it to the street, he called Finch. "I don't think Bradley Peeler is our guy, Finch. He doesn't have the brass for a hit."

"Well that cuts our suspect list down to two."