"Everybody, soon or late, sits down to a banquet of consequences."-Robert Louis Stevenson
XIII. John 8:32
DIA Operations Center…Bethesda Maryland…Monday…8:00AM
Emerson brushed her teeth and changed her shirt while she was in her office. They still had no idea where Ward was. Just as she finished buttoning her shirt her phone rang.
"Emerson" Ava stated.
"Ma'am I found something."
"What is it Clarke."
"I came back to the scene like you asked , but I found nothing in the apartment."
"I thought you said you found something?" Emerson questioned
"I did, do you have the still frames of the security footage?" Clarke asked
Emerson scanned around her desk and sifted through papers until she found the still frames.
"Yeah, I have them what am I looking for?" Emerson questioned.
"Underneath Ward's apartment is a convenient store and it has a sign that reads 'OPEN'."
Emerson looked at the sign.
"Yeah, what about it." Emerson questioned
"Which letter in the word OPEN is illuminated?" Clarke asked
Emerson looked closely at the picture and noticed that the letter 'P' was lighter than the other letters.
"It's the letter 'P', but what does that tell me Clarke?"Emerson asked
"How long is the letter illuminated for?"
Emerson began to flip through the pictures.
"It looks like all of them. Why?"
"Because I'm looking at the sign right now and the letters light up individually every 3 seconds."
"Damn, someone tampered with the security footage." Emerson stated
"Yeah lucky for us there's an ATM across the street and it has a security camera in it. I contacted the company and they are sending us the video."Clarke replied
"Good job Clarke, get back here as soon as you can."
As soon as she got off the phone with Clarke she dialed Crawford. After a few rings he picked up.
"Sir there's been a development. I think Ward was telling the truth."
Colombia…Monday… 11:30 pm
Joss crouched down and mounted her scope and silencer onto her sniper rifle. After she readied her weapon she took her position on the embankment by the forest line 210 yards from the secluded house.
Cargo plane…Monday...9:30AM
Ross watched with a smirk on her face as Carter and Reese sat on opposite sides of the cargo hold glaring at one another. Ross rolled her eyes they had been glaring at each other since they got on the plane.
"Do you have something to say Carter?" John asked
"Nope, just surprised you came." Joss replied
"I'm not going to let an innocent person get hurt because of your past and mistakes." John fired back
Carter laughed "That's rich coming from you. I'm sure Donnelly would have appreciated that sentiment before your past mistake put a bullet in his head."
"So Carter tell me, does Paul know you used him, as a matter of fact is the kid even yours or is he just another expendable prop piece for you to use and discard when you're done." John stated.
Ross watched as Carter stood up and pulled a combat knife from her boot.
"Talk about my son like that again and I'll cut your tongue out and shove it up your pretentious ass." Carter fired back
Ross let out a laugh and clapped her hands drawing Carter and Reese's attention towards her.
"Alright Whitney and Bobby, how about you both save the spousal drama for when we're back on American soil." Ross stated.
She watched as Carter sat back down and after glaring at each other one more time, they both crossed their arms and stubbornly turned their heads away from one another. Ross shook her head and looked at her watch.
"We'll be landing in 45 minutes, once we are on the ground we will do some reconnaissance, then will wait till midnight to strike, then we have until 5 AM to get back to the plane."
Colombia…11:50PM…Monday
After 5 hours of monitoring they were able to identify 11 men in total.
Every 15 minutes, 6 armed men would walk a grid pattern perimeter check around the house. After 3 hours they would change out shifts. Joss looked at her watch, 12:00AM, go time.
She leaned down and looked through her night version scope and started giving the locations of the men walking the pattern around the house.
"Ross you got one on your 2'oclock, closing in 50 yards…20 yards, you're a go." Joss relayed into her mic
Joss watched as the man turned his back away from the bushes Ross was hiding behind. She watched as Ross silently rose from behind the bush. She moved behind the guy and brought her foot into the back of the man's leg causing him to fall to his knees, before he had time to make a sound, Ross grabbed his head and snapped his neck. She drug his body behind the bushes and moved closer to the house and hid behind the large tree on the right side of the house.
Joss turned her scope towards the North West side of the house and tracked the man approaching John's location.
"John on your 10'oclock, closing in 20 yards… 10 yards, you're a go."
Joss watched as John swiftly moved from behind the side of the truck and walked up behind the man. He grabbed the man's gun arm and twisted until he dropped the gun and then he shove his hand over the man's mouth and knocked him onto his back and broke his neck.
Joss watched as he rolled the man under the truck and disappeared onto the other side of the house. Once Ross and John picked off the remaining four guards she grabbed her bag and made her way toward the house.
"Alright there should be 5 more in the house. I'll go in through the kitchen. Reese you take the living room window, and Carter you take the upstairs window above the porch." Ross stated before she disappeared around the back of the house.
Joss turned her focus back around and found herself looking at John, as she stared into his eyes she wanted to say something to him but when she opened her mouth nothing came out. So she closed her mouth and moved to his side and reached for the rain gutter so she could climb up on the roof above the porch. Just as her hand touched the gutter she felt a grip on her upper arm.
John pulled her close and stared at her she felt like he wanted to say something but he shook his head and schooled his face.
"Watch your back Joss."
He turned her around and grabbed her hips and lifted her onto his shoulder, and then he turned around and hosted her up so she could grab the ledge of the porch. Once she had a firm grip she pulled herself onto the top of the porch.
Once she had her footing on the porch she looked over the edge to thank John but he was gone. She closed her eyes, refocused and moved on.
She moved to the window and pulled it up and climbed through. Once she was inside she crouched down and silently closed it. She began moving down the hallway clearing the rooms upstairs.
As she was making her way down the hallway she heard the sound of a toilet flush. She moved to the side of the door and waited. After a few seconds the door opened and a man began to walk out.
She grabbed the back of his head and slammed his face into the door jab, when the man fell to his knees she cocked her gun back and bash it into the back of his head and watched him hit the ground. She quickly shoved his body inside the bathroom and shut the door and made her way down the hall towards the staircase.
John moved silently through the living room window. He peered around the corner and saw a man sitting on the couch watching a small TV. John slide down the wall and crouched, so that man wouldn't see his reflection in the TV screen and moved toward the couch. Once he was against the couch he leveled the silenced gun and fired two rounds into the man chest from behind the couch.
He heard a squeak and drew his gun and pointed to his left but once he saw that it was Ross he lowered his gun.
"Where's Carter?" Ross asked
Before he could reply he heard a gunshot go off.
As Joss made her way to the top of the stairs she heard a faint squeak she turned around just in time to see a man pointing a gun in her face, she moved her head to the side and the bullet grazed her shoulder. Before she had time to react the man rushed her causing them both to tumble down the stairs.
After a few seconds of falling they hit the bottom of the stairs. Before she had time to defend herself the man grabbed her by the hair and slammed her head against the wall.
John and Ross watched as two figures tumbled down the stairs. By the time they realized one of the figures was Joss the man had already slammed her head into the wall.
Before she could react she watched John strong arm the man into the wall. Ross saw her opening and grabbed Carter and dragged her away from the fight.
John saw red as soon as he saw the man put his hands on Joss.
One second he was standing by the couch the next second he had shoved the man against the wall and began to repeatedly striking him in the face. He could hear the sound of cartledge and teeth cracking, he didn't realized how hard he was hitting the man until the man slumped to the side and his fist went through the dry wall.
Once the man slumped to the floor he turned around to see if Joss was okay. He saw Ross kneeling next to her as she sat propped up against the back of the couch.
Ross looked at Carter as she groaned and tried to shake the dizziness from her head. Before Ross had time to check the other side of Carter face, she was shoved out of the way by Reese. She barley caught herself from falling backwards and muttered under her breath 'rude', but clearly he was to busy caressing Carters face and asking if she was alright, to hear what she said.
Ross stood up and surveyed Reese's damage. As she looked at the man slumped on the floor she knew he was dead. Her eyes drifted to the hole in the wall and back down to the man's bloody face, yeah he was definitely dead.
As she looked around the room she saw a key pad next to the door that she presumed led to the basement. She was brought out of her thoughts when she heard shuffling.
She turned her head and watched as Reese helped Carter to her feet. She watched as they held onto each other and locked eyes.
Ross rolled her eyes and disrupted their moment.
"Hey love birds, you two can suck face later, we have some questioning to do." Ross turned and moved back into the kitchen, where she bound the man she assumed to be in charge to the kitchen chair. She marched up to the man and slapped him across the face.
"You ready to tell me what I want to know yet?" Ross questioned
Ross pulled her knife from her hip and waved it in his face.
"You better start talking before I neuter you." Ross stated
The man remained silent; Ross looked over her shoulder and nodded at Reese.
"Your choice,Reese come hold him down."
Ross watched as Reese moved behind the chair and pressed down on the man's shoulders. Ross reached for his pants button and unzipped them, just as she reached for the waist band of his underwear he caved.
"Okay, okay. Fucking stop you crazy bitch!"
Ross removed her hand.
"Now who do you work for?"
"We were hired by a group of private defense contractors. I work under Frost, he used some ring of dirty cops to sell street weapons to an arms dealer. The dealer would then sell the shipment to militant and extremists groups at Frost's request."
"Why?" Ross questioned
"For the money, each shipment of weapons came with the location of a military base or convoy route. Frost wanted more dead soldiers'. The more dead bodies meant, angrier Americans. Eventually Congress would have no choice but to approve an increase in the defense budget and in doing so.
"More business for private contractors." John replied
Ross let out a sigh and straightened up.
"All this, for more money?" Carter questioned
The man let out a sarcastic laugh
"Why do you sound so surprised. Money and power rule the world, always has and always will." The man stated
"I don't suppose you have evidence of this?"Ross questioned
"Depends, are you going to kill me?" the man questioned
Ross smiled and twirled her knife in her hand and leaned into his face.
"That's the least painful thing I could do to you." Ross replied
The man raised his chin.
"Around my neck"
Ross reached around his neck and pulled on a necklace with a flash drive attached to it. She looked him in the eye and raised an eyebrow.
"How convenient?" Ross questioned
"When you get in bed with snakes you should always make sure your well protected." The man replied
"Where's the boy?" John questioned the man
"He's in the basement, drugged, but alive"
"What's the code to the door?" Joss demanded
"2434"
As soon as she had the code, both Carter and Reese moved out of the kitchen and into the basement. Once Ross heard them descend down the stairs she turned back towards the man bound to the chair.
"You know Frost is long gone by now. I'm suppose to send him an updated every 15 minutes."
Ross turned around and began walking out of the kitchen before she walked pass the door jab she turned back around and fired a bullet into the man's head before she made her way into the basement.
As soon as Joss had the door open she rushed down the stairs'. As she moved away from the staircase she saw Taylors prone figure lying on the floor with his wrist and ankles bound with zip ties.
Before she knew it she was on the ground next to him checking his pulse. She felt a weight being lifted off her shoulder when she detected a steady beat. She closed her eyes and kissed his forehead as tears leaked from her eyes.
She opened her eyes when she felt him move. She looked up she saw John cutting the ties from Taylor's wrist and feet. As she made eye contact with his eyes the words fell from her mouth.
"Thank you, Thank you so much John."
He gently touched her arm and for the first time since they reunited he smiled at her.
Ross stood at the foot of the stairs watching Carter and Reese smile at each other. Ross looked around the room and spotted a lone table with syringes filled with sedatives. She sighed as she grabbed them and made her way over to Carter and Reese, time to burst Carter's bubble.
"So what are you going to do Carter?" Ross questioned
Ross watched as Carter and Reese stared at her in confusion.
"As soon as he wakes up and sees you, his life's never going to be the same, he could possibly end up in danger." Ross stated
Ross watched as Reese closed his eyes as the realization of what she was saying dawned on him.
"Who's to say all of your enemies are dead or discouraged, as soon as he knows your alive he's going to want to stay with you. Are you prepared to drag him into our world? Cause the only way he'll be safe with you is if you turn him into one of us."Ross stated
She watched as the truth began to sink in and Carter held her son closer.
Ross crouched down and out stretched the hand that held the syringes full of sedatives, as she waited for Carter to make her decision.
After a few moments Carter slowly grabbed the syringes out of her hand.
Ross stood up, as hard as it may be on her now, she made the right choice. Keeping the kid unconscious on the way back to New York was the only way to keep him would never know his mother was alive and that she saved him.
Living a life filled with paranoia and lies were no place for anyone, especially not a child.
In their world their past always had a way of catching up with you. Once the DIA knew the truth who's to say they will let bygones be bygones. If Carter really loved her son she would do whatever it took to protect him, even if that meant letting him go forever.
Ross was brought out of her thoughts as her watch beeped indicating that it was 4:00 AM.
"Alright let's get the hell out of here."
AN: John 8:32 is in reference to the Biblical verse in the Christian Bible that states: "and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.".It's also the motto of the CIA.