We listened to the audio file until it finished.
"Oh my God..." I breathed.
"Yeah" Lincoln agreed. "If we give this thing to the press, the government's gonna discredit it. Just like they did with the tape we made"
"Okay. So, what do we do with it?" I asked.
"Dad said there are still people in the administration he was working with. If we give the tape to them, they'll finally have the smoking gun they need to bring Caroline Reynolds down. But they'll release the tape, not us" Michael said.
"And how can she discredit her own appointees? Sure" I agreed.
"We're gonna give the only thing that can exonerateme to someone who works for the government? The same government that set me up?" Lincoln exploded.
"We'll have to find someone we can trust. Someone honest" Michael said, thinking.
"Jane Philips. She'll know someone that can help us. She worked with Dad. She's watching LJ. I trust her, Michael. She'll do it. She'll find someone" Lincoln said.
"Well, I hope you're right. Because this is our last shot" Michael said. We left Lincoln in privacy to make the phone call.
"How you holding up?" Michael asked, putting his arm around me.
"As well as I can be" I replied.
"Well, hopefully after all this is over, we can be together in peace" He said, kissing my hair.
"I'd like that"
"See you, Jane" Lincoln hung up, Michael sighed and checked his watch. Lincoln handed Michael a note.
"Cooper Green?" He asked.
"Former deputy attorney general. Splits his time between D.C., Chicago and New York. Jane says he's been an ally of Dad's forever. We find him, we got a shot" Lincoln said.
"How's LJ?" Michael asked.
"He's all right" Lincoln replied, turning away. Michael rang the number on the note.
"Please, this is very important. Just tell him I have some information regarding the sons of Aldo Burrows" Michael said, I couldn't hear what was being said on the other side.
"Yes. He and Mr. Green used to work together"
"She's tracking him down" Michael said to us.
"Cooper Green. This is Michael Scofield. Do you know who I am?"
"Well, so are we. We have something"
"You've heard of it?"
"If you want to find out, there's a bronze statue of a mammoth at the south west corner of Ebert Park. I need you there in an hour. Do you have a blue suit?"
"Wear it. And a red tie. That way we'll know who you are" Michael hung up.
"Ready?" Lincoln asked.
"Yeah"
"Good luck" I said.
"This'll work" Lincoln said.
"You think?" I left Lincoln and went to the cemetery, visiting my parents and sister's grave. Bruce Bennett showed up.
"Hello, Riley. I figured you'd show up eventually" He said.
"You look good, Bruce" I said.
"How have you been?" He asked.
"I've been better" I said, looking down at their graves.
"What do you say, we go out for lunch. Catch up?" He said.
"I don't think I'll be able to, seeing as I'm kinda on the run" I said.
"Well how about we go to my office then" I thought about it and then shrugged.
"Sure"
"Riley, I wish you'd come to me first. Cooper Green and I go way back. If anyone can help Michael and Lincoln, it's him" We walked to the receptionist.
"Can I help you?"
"Yeah, is Mr. Green in?"
"Is he expecting you?"
"Bruce!" I turned around to see another man.
"Oh, good, you're back. I'm here to help you" Bruce said.
"Help me? With what?" He asked.
"Scofield and Burrows. Where are they?"
"I'm sorry, I'm Riley Black. I trust you've met with Michael Scofield and Lincoln Burrows today?" I asked hopefully.
"I'm sure I'd remember if I did" He said, I got what was going on. The man Michael was meeting with was not Cooper Green. I rushed to the phone and snatched it off the receptionist.
"Yeah?" Lincoln aswered.
"Lincoln it's me, the man that Michael's with right now is not Cooper Green. Do you hear me? The man that Michael's with right now is not Cooper Green!" I shouted down the phone.
I knocked on the door of the hotel we were staying at. Michael opened the door, and I walked in.
"Michael this is Cooper Green. Cooper this is Michael Scofield" I said. I showed him to the laptop and fiddled around with it for a bit.
"You know what you have?" He asked.
"I think we have a pretty good idea" Michael said.
"What you doing?" Lincoln asked.
"Getting all unique data from the memory key...so we can identify this key from any other...label it, start a proper record of the chain of custody to present to the judges I trust" Cooper replied.
"Cool"
"No" Cooper suddenly said.
"What's wrong?" I asked.
"No, it's the date stamp on the memory key. It's the copy date" He replied.
"I'm sorry, what's that?" I asked.
"It's the date the damn thing was copied. Not the date that the conversation was originally recorded"
"So what? I mean, you heard what was on the tape" Lincoln argued.
"Without a time stamp of exactly when this conversation took place, we can't prove that this is Terrence Steadman talking after you supposedly killed him. This could've happened a year before his funeral. No, it can't be authenticated so it can't be admitted to any court as evidence" Cooper said, I closed my eyes. Why does nothing ever go right for us?
"People died because of this. My family died" Lincoln said, getting angry.
"I'm sorry. Legally speaking, this tape is useless"
"It's not over. We're this close" Michael said.
"You've already said it's done" Lincoln said.
"Actually, I said it couldn't help exonerate you in a court of law. Maybe it can help you outside the law" Cooper interjected.
"How?"
"Well, we all heard the conversation. There's more to this tape than potential proof of Lincoln's innocence. There is proof of Caroline Reynolds' guilt. Guilt about something she does not want anyone to know anything about"
"So we blackmail her" Michael concluded.
"I'm an officer of the court. I didn't say that"
"Blackmail in exchange for what?" I asked.
"A presidential pardon" Michael said.
"So the woman that set me up is gonna set me free" Lincoln smirked.
"I think she'll sign it with her own hand" Michael said.
AN: Another chapter done :) Woo. Cooper Green's awesome.