12.

"Mr Keen? Mr Keen, please open your eyes. You need to..."

Blue eyes fluttered open, coming to focus on a face that took a moment to place. Aram Mojtabai. He'd gone so quiet during the fight that Jacob hadn't given him a second thought. Now, though, he looked determined yet a little terrified. If he had to guess, Jacob assumed the task force's hacker hadn't seen much action, and from the blood that was soaked through his shirtsleeve, there was a good chance he'd simply passed out.

"I'm here," the former operative managed, his voice raspy as he tried to piece together what happened. Everything hurt like he'd taken a beating, and as the puzzle of what had happened came together, he realized he had. Slowly he sat up, gaze falling on Gina's lifeless body and he felt the rare rush of guilt wash over him. They had been friends and he had killed her. He should have found another way. He should have been able to.

"Mr Keen?" Aram called nervously.

Jacob blinked as the rest of the fight came back to him. "Lizzy."

"I think they took Agent Keen. I'm sorry, I couldn't-"

"Not your fault," Jacob said tightly, rolling to his knees to force himself to stand. He had to focus. They had to save Liz. "I'm guessing you're not a field operative."

"I'm not," the computer expert said quietly.

The sound of footsteps down the hall sent Jacob scrambling for a weapon and his world rocking dangerously. He pushed passed it, gripping the gun and taking aim at the door. It might be a clean up crew following behind Masterson.

Instead, Raymond Reddington rounded the corner with his own weapon drawn and Liz's name on his lips. He stopped, staring at the mess, and Jacob could almost see him making sense of it. "Where is Elizabeth?" he asked, his voice cold and low.

Jacob slowly lowered his weapon and forced himself to his feet. His ankle threatened to roll under him, but he widened his stance to remain upright. He had just gotten himself to the point where he was going to try to answer the question when Reddington moved forward, catching a fistful of his shirt in his grasp and shoving him back against the wall hard enough that he saw stars.

"Mr Reddington, please, he did everything he could," Aram argued.

"If he had, she would be safe," Reddington said dangerously, turning his gaze on Jacob. "Or you'd be dead from trying."

"You know as well as I do how stubborn Liz is," Jacob managed. "I almost was."

Realization flashed through the older man's eyes. "She... No."

"I never would have wanted her to," the former operative managed. "That doesn't matter now. Nothing-" his gaze flickered to Gina and he steeled himself - "matters except finding Lizzy. You can shoot me for all I care after, but we have to find her."

"Director's been taken into custody," Ressler's voice drifted into the hall.

"And that makes Bill all the more dangerous," Reddington murmured, finally releasing his grip.

Jacob sagged against the wall, one arm wrapped carefully around his battered ribs. He forced himself up and pushed back the pain as best he could.

Reddington glanced over at Gina. "Shame. She was actually very talented."

"She didn't give me a choice," the younger man said flatly and Reddington quirked an eyebrow.

"You shot her? Well then."

"Where would McCready take her?" Ressler demanded, his voice all business.

"Masterson was the one that came, but with the clients out of the picture, he would deliver her to Bud."

"And what would Bud do with her?" the agent asked.

"Could go a couple ways. Have you announced that you arrested this guy?"

"Not yet. He's the head of Clandestine Services. You could imagine why the government would want to keep that quiet."

Jacob nodded. "Bud may not know then. He'll find out soon though, when he starts reaching out and gets nothing back."

"Then he'll have to make a decision," Reddington said thoughtfully. He turned, leveling a studying glare at Jacob. "Where would he be held up?"

"In the current situation? He'd go where he's the safest. The campus."

Ressler looked confused. "Campus?"

"Can you get us in?" Reddington asked, the question directed at Jacob.

"I'll need his help to override some of the systems," the former operative answered, motioning back to Aram. "But yeah. I should be able to get us in fairly quietly."

"You're barely standing as it is," Ressler pointed out gruffly and Jacob snorted.

"Doesn't matter. I can get the job done."

Reddington nodded firmly. "Both of you should get patched up while we reach out to Agent Navabi and Dembe. Do it quickly. I don't want to give Bill time to think."

Jacob had to agree. Giving his former handler time to gather the information would be a dangerous move. Bud was smart, and if he had time to think, he could make anything work in his favour.

At some point during the drive the windows darkened to the point that Liz couldn't see where they were going. She was left chained in the back of the car as they drove and drove. She didn't bother trying to speak to Masterson. It wouldn't do any good.

That didn't stop him from speaking to her of course. "Whatever you have in that pretty head of yours, it's not true. You don't know Jacob, only what he wants you to know."

Liz snorted. "I know him better than you think."

"Really? What's Jake's specialty then?"

The former agent blinked, trying to shift in her seat, but the cuffs held her in place. "What do you mean?"

"His specialty. What he's good at."

"I know he was trained in deep cover work. He's obviously good at it," she answered slowly.

Masterson snorted a laugh from the driver's seat. "Jake's specialty is getting people's trust. Doesn't matter how. He'll become their best friend, he'll seduce them, or he'll get to someone close to them. He gets what he needs by whatever means necessary. He's good at what he does, I'll give him that. I watched him pull information out of a government agent once after just a couple of months. I offered to bring her in, but Bill was determined that Jacob could do it...cleaner," he sneered. "He had her wrapped around so tight that she never saw it coming. She thought he was going to marry her and live out their lives together. Cute, huh? You know what happened?"

Liz swallowed hard, feeling slightly ill. She didn't like where this was going.

Masterson chuckled. "He got every ounce of classified intel we needed and put two in her head. Guess it was cleaner. That is Jacob Phelps, Agent Keen. Whatever you think you know... That's just what he wants you to know."

"He's not playing me," she managed.

"He may not be trying to get information out of you. Who knows? But he is playing you. He knows that if he were himself with you, if you knew everything, you'd put another round through him."

Liz set her shoulders as best as she could in her bent position. She had steadily been working on her cuffs when she was certain Masterson wasn't looking, but it was slow going from her position. "I know he's done terrible things. I'm not stupid. Jacob is... He's better than even he knew. He loves me."

"He thinks he does. Guy's gone off. Bill's going to be pissed when he finds out Jake killed Gina."

The car turned and Liz tried to get a better view. The windows lightened up considerably and she saw nothing but land stretching out in all directions around them. The car pulled up to a guard post that looked innocent enough and Masterson rolled down the window, joking with the man there like they were old friends. He let them through without pause and Liz heard the gate shut heavily behind them. "Where are you taking me? This isn't the Director's office."

"You think he'd want to pick you up there? Really, what does the FBI teach you people?"

He pulled the car around cut the engine. Liz waited until he was out the door to give the final turn to the lock on her cuffs. She wasn't going to make this easy for him.

"You know you-" Masterson started and Liz slammed her foot out, meaning to catch him in the face. He just smirked as he caught it, giving her ankle a painful twist. "Don't do that. You'll just make it worse."

"Let me go, you son of a bitch," she growled and he hauled her out by her leg.

Liz kicked and thrashed as he pulled her out, setting her in her feet and taking hold of her hair again. He yanked her back by it so she was looking up at him. "Stop. It's irritating."

"You thought I'd make this easy?" she demanded tightly.

Masterson chuckled and started forward with her. "At least you have a little spunk. I was really wondering what Jake saw in you."

Liz was dragged along, fighting the whole way. A few kids peeked out from the buildings, watching her as she was pulled along. She gave a sharp cry as he tugged her into one of the smaller buildings and she heard a startled sound from outside of her line of vision. "What the hell did you bring her here for? You think I want her?" A chair scraped across the hard floor, signalling that the speaker had stood. "You were supposed to deliver her to the clients. Reddington can't-"

"The client isn't answering his calls."

A snort came from the other man. "Where's Zanetakos?"

"Dead. Jacob's alive and he killed her for this bitch." Masterson pulled Liz around and she got the first look at the man he'd been speaking.

He was older, blue eyes still sharp and a frown set deep. He moved over to her and Masterson let go. "Elizabeth Keen," he drawled. "You've cost me a lot."

"Who..." She stopped, realisation rushing through her. "You're Bud."

The Major chuckled as Liz straightened. "Kid's been talking. You know, he never did before you. Not sure what the hell you did to my operative, but I'm going to have to put him down because of you."

"Don't touch him," Liz snapped.

"He knew the rules when he broke them. Justin, put her away and let the guards know. Jacob'll come for her. Or he'll try."

"Yes sir."

She was tossed into a small room without windows she could reach and without any immediate way of escape. Liz took a steadying breath. She'd find a way, she promised herself. She had to get out. She wouldn't let the people she cared for die coming to save her.

Jacob hadn't set foot on Bud's school campus in years. He hadn't had time to with the way the Reddington job had melted into the job for Berlin, and then he had found himself his ex wife's prisoner. Then he'd been off for Germany. There had been a time, before it all, that Jacob had discovered that he liked teaching a class or two at the school. It was never anything regular, but whenever he had been sidelined for any reason he volunteered. It kept his mind sharp and occupied, and if he were honest, he simply enjoyed it.

Now he was going to infiltrate it and he wasn't sure how he felt about that.

"I'm having trouble getting backup because of everything that's happened today," Ressler growled, storming into the room.

"We can't just leave her there," Aram piped up.

"Of course we won't. I have my own back up coming in," Reddington said firmly.

"A smaller group is safer anyway," Jacob muttered from his place, securing his ankle as best as he could with tape and a brace. It would be stiff, but it would hold his weight, and that was what was important. "Bud's going to know we're coming."

"I'd still like a warrant going in," Ressler pushed.

"Tough. You're not getting one. Bud has all the right people paid off, and if we're going to get her out of there, we have to stop wasting time."

Jacob could almost feel the irritation rolling off of the agent, but he didn't care. He was their best shot at getting into the compound undetected, and he'd be damned if they waited around for Ressler's precious procedures.

"Will he hurt Agent Keen?" Aram asked, only one hand moving rapidly against the keys of his laptop as the other one was bound inside a sling.

"She's more useful to him alive for now," Reddington said tightly. "How is it going?"

"They have some really sophisticated protections in place. It's like they're preparing for us, honestly. I'll need to get to the gate to get us in, but if Mr Keen's specs are still current, my program is showing here and here to be the most likely points of entrance."

"Not that one," Jacob said, pointing at the one Reddington was eyeing. "Trust me. I-" his jaw clenched a little - "Gina and I used to use that passage to sneak out sometimes. Even if Bud doesn't think about it, Justin will."

"And this one?"

"Better. There isn't a good way in."

"Imagine that. The Major has a well fortified base."

Jacob frowned, blue eyes scanning the virtual layout he had dictated as he'd secured Aram's bandages earlier. "That's the one. There'll be guards, but we can handle them."

The door opening and voices followed. The woman that Jacob had met before - Samar Navabi - Dembe, and Baz and a few of his men came through together. Thankfully Baz looked well enough armed for the endeavour, if they could be. "Someone say something about a rescue mission?" he asked.

"Yes," Reddington answered, though there wasn't a trace of a smile there. "We're going in to take Elizabeth Keen back from the Major."

TBC

Notes: I actually just wrapped up the writing for this story today, though I'm working on a one-shot that was supposed to follow it and it may be tagged onto the end. Not sure yet. It's going to be somewhere between 16-17 chapters, I think.

Next time: Jacob, Red, and the others sneak into the Major's school to rescue Liz, but Liz has found her own ally inside.