Harold was busy on his laptop. John approached Root's bed stone-faced. Shannon and Dr. Tillman looked at Elizabeth with concern and fear across their features. Dr. Tillman reached for Elizabeth's arm.
"Beth, don't do this. It could be dangerous. I couldn't bear…." The doctor's voice trailed off and she glanced at Shannon who was staring at her daughter.
"That's right honey. It's too dangerous… why don't you leave it to those guys, they are professionals."
Elizabeth's face reddened briefly, anger flashing in her eyes.
"Before your accident, Mother, I was one of those professionals. If you hadn't needed me, I would have been doing this stuff and more for the last year or so.
"I know how to take care of myself, I know what I'm doing and these are my friends as well as teammates. If they go into a situation and I stay back when I can help… well that ain't happening. Now this conversation is over- we have work to do."
She approached Finch, who was still working feverishly on his laptop. Shaw walked over to Dr. Tillman and Shannon. She smiled gently.
"Elizabeth is as good as any operative I worked with before I joined these guys. She has gotten out of situations that would have taken down some of the most capable people I worked with in ISA.
"Hell, she's a badass. I don't think I can pay her a higher compliment.
"I can't guarantee her safety anymore than you could guarantee that Root was going to be fine yesterday. But I can tell you that she's going into a situation she's trained for and is capable of handling, with competent people as her teammates and back-up.
"And knowing she's with me will give Root comfort, even though she'll be frustrated and worried."
Root smiled at Shaw's words and nodded.
Dr. Tillman and Shannon glanced at each other. Dr. Tillman was the first to crack.
"When you put it that way, Ms. Shaw, it's hard to argue."
Shannon looked at them and nodded reluctantly.
John, quietly fuming, took this opportunity to approach Finch.
"I'm in… and don't argue with me. I'm ready- and all the PT people agree with me."
Finch looked up from his laptop and called Dr. Tillman over.
"Why don't you and Ms. Ruben give us some time? We need to strategize and, quite frankly I don't want you getting concerned- sometimes these sessions get a little intense."
Dr. Tillman looked at John and shook her head.
"Fine- but Mr. Reese… oh never mind." She gently took Shannon's arm and led them from the room.
Once alone, Finch looked at the group.
"I wanted us alone but not because I was concerned with their reaction to our strategizing. It's our number."
Finch approached the bed and set his laptop on it so everyone could see it. The picture on screen was of an African-American man in his late teens to early twenties. He was handsome and looked vaguely familiar.
"His name is Carson West Jr. His father was just here an hour ago. I don't want either the doctor or Ms. Ruben tipping him to his son's situation until we have it in hand. We should be able to eliminate any threat to the young man without causing undue stress to Dr. West.
"If necessary, we can advise the doctor of his son's situation, but I would prefer to do it after the operation is complete and the threat eliminated."
Shaw looked at Finch.
"Do we know what the threat is?"
"Yes, and it's lethal, but we have time to intervene. A local gang leader has put out a hit on young Mr. West for interfering with his activities."
Another picture appeared on screen. A twenty-something man with shaved head, piercings and two tattoos on his face, one a tear drop, appeared.
"This is Julian Davis- JD to his friends, or maybe cronies would be a better word. He apparently came her from East St. Louis six months ago after being driven out by rival gang members. Once here, he tried to establish himself as a force in drug trafficking.
"He also dabbled in prostitution, and here's where he and young West clashed. Two weeks ago, one of Davis' women escaped the house she was being held in and sold to whomever. As she was about to be recaptured, West happened along in his car.
"He managed to get the woman to safety, however his identity was discovered by the thugs who were after the woman. Davis thinks he can make a name for himself in the area's underworld by eliminating West and securing his reputation as a man not to be crossed.
"I think Mr. Davis can be persuaded to set up his enterprises somewhere else if he believes there is a heavy mob presence in Albuquerque. The plan the Machine has devised may work without getting law enforcement involved which would be beneficial to us, to Dr. West and to his son- not to mention the women who are currently being held in the same warehouse the first one escaped from.
"Davis is a neo-Nazi and a pig, but exposing Dr. West to this could compromise his ability to be of assistance to us, not to mention our whole operation here at the hospital. Getting him to leave is a better alternative to getting the police involved.
Shaw frowned at Finch.
"Wouldn't killing him be a more efficient solution?"
"Probably, Ms. Shaw, however do we really want to start down that road, especially if we're trying to give the Machine a moral code of sorts?"
"Touche. Why do we 'have time' as you said?"
"The Machine has interfered with Davis' cash flow and he's been unable to produce the down payment on the hit. We have until tonight to implement the plan that will get Davis to leave without putting the hit in motion."
"So what's the plan?"
"It's fairly simple and straightforward. Mr. Reese, yes, you will be involved. John will be our 'Mob boss'. Ms. Shaw and Ms. Ruben will take Davis to Mr. Reese where he will intimidate Davis into leaving the area.
"Davis has a mother and two young siblings still living in East St. Louis. By all accounts, these are the only people he cares about. Mr. Reese can threaten to have them eliminated unless he gets out of town by tonight, and takes his small gang of thugs with him.
"Tell him you don't care where he goes as long as it's not here. Tell him you'd kill him but it's cleaner for him to just leave, maybe you don't have to spend so much covering up your activities by bribing local law enforcement.
"We may have to persuade Davis we're serious, but today we can restrict it to shooting kneecaps unless something unforeseen occurs. We also want to bring young Mr. West to a secure area before this all goes down. I thought Ms. Shaw and Mr. Reese could go pick him up and bring him here before you three go to meet Davis.
"That gives Ms. Ruben time to join the consult with Dr. West and Dr. Tillman this afternoon. Once Junior is safe and secure, you three are a go. I'm securing a private room in one of the hotels near the airport for the meet. Oh and John….."
Reese looked at Harold.
"You're still not 100 percent cleared. Please don't get too out of control."
"No worries, Finch. I promise to be restrained- as long as nothing unusual happens."
Harold raised his eyebrows.
"I'm sure."
….
Several hours later, with Dr. West's son safely at the hospital, Elizabeth and Shaw pulled up to a rundown apartment complex in a seedy part of Albuquerque. As they waited, Shaw looked over at Elizabeth and smiled.
"Just a heads up, Elizabeth- you and Dr. Tillman are doing a piss poor job of being discreet. It's probably not your fault- sometimes chemistry just wins. From what I've been told, everybody knew about Root and me before I would even admit there was a Root and me.
"I'm just letting you know I've seen your mom looking at the two of you like she knows, at least during her more lucid moments. And she's going to start having more and more lucid moments now that she's here. It's just a matter of time before they figure out a strategy to help her."
"I know we've been obvious Shaw. Hell, I don't know what to make of this whole situation. I was never a big 'relationship' person until I got involved with all of you. My relationships were all tied to a computer and lines of code. Maybe with only a mother who had her own life and absent a dad, I never learned about relationships.
"I figure if I concentrate on letting this 'thing' with Megan develop, the rest will sort itself out. But since I've never had something like this before, I'm learning as I go. Right now, I'm focused on Megan when we're together and not on hiding anything."
"That's probably the way it should be Elizabeth, but none of us are very good relationship people- just a group of loners who bonded over a cause."
"Maybe that's all any of us are Shaw- loners who bond over different causes. Maybe those relationships are our causes."
"OK, Dr. Phil, I'd love to continue this but our target just showed."
Half a block ahead an older model Explorer pulled to the curb and three men exited. Davis climbed out of the back seat after the two in front had glance around in a pathetic sweep of the area. The group had to walk past Shaw and Elizabeth's vehicle, a newer minivan with markings indicating a flower shop, to get to their entrance.
As they passed, the two ladies followed. Shaw opened the rear hatch electronically, then the two quickly approached the group from behind. Shaw tased Davis then stepped back as he fell between his two "bodyguards". The two turned, gaping at their fallen leader, then before they could even react, went down holding their knees.
Shaw and Elizabeth dragged Davis to the back of the van, threw him in and jumped back in the front seats. As the two injured men writhed in pain on the sidewalk, the van pulled into the street and around a corner.
The entire operation took less than three minutes from the time Davis' crew first exited their vehicle. Shaw looked over and smiled.
"Nice job, Elizabeth."
Elizabeth smiled back.
"Thanks, let's get this asshole to John."
….
Davis' returned to awareness thinking he was dead. When he opened his eyes all he saw was pitch black. As he became more aware, he realized someone had put a hood over his head and secured him to a chair. His fear manifested itself in bravado, which lost a little of its bite since his voice was muffled by the hood.
"I'm going to kill you." The words came out muffled and weak and Davis realized it as he said them. "What do you want?" Got the hood removed.
As his eyes adjusted to being freed from the blackness, he realized he was sitting in front of a desk. The desk was in front of a large window which, because of the sun's position, blinded him to the figure sitting at said desk.
A voice came from the shadowy figure.
"You've gotten yourself into some trouble, Mr. Davis. I'm feeling generous today, so I am going to give you an opportunity to get yourself out."
Davis didn't recognize the voice. He looked down at his wrists and noticed they were zip-tied to the arms of the chair. He started to turn his head from side to side to see who and what was behind him when he felt a stinging pain in his right cheek.
"I wouldn't turn my head if I were you. That was just a scratch- the next time you'll be marked. You will be marked so ten years from now people will still flinch when they see you. If you still persist in turning your head, the second time you'll lose an eye. The third time you'll never be able to identify anyone again.
"Do I make myself clear?"
A hand came into his field of vision. In that hand was a surgeon's scalpel. It was stained with enough blood to give credence to the threat. Suddenly the blade flashed downward, severing the tip of Davis' little finger of his right hand. As his head reared back uncontrollably, the hood was returned to his head and a hand covered his mouth, muffling his scream.
As agony marched up his right arm, a second searing sensation caused him to temporarily black out. Moments later, as the fog of pain began to lift, the hood was removed again. As Davis blinked the tears back and shook his head, the voice returned.
"Consider that your final warning, Mr. Davis. My colleagues and I don't have the time or the patience to play games with you. The only reason your body isn't in the dumpster behind your apartment building is that I pay good money to keep local law enforcement from interfering with my enterprises. With that goes a certain protocol- and leaving bodies behind is not part of it.
"Now in ten minutes I am going to leave this room. You will be given a sedative which will put you to sleep for less than an hour. When you awaken you will leave this room, leave this building, go back to your apartment and leave both this town and this state.
"If you do, I'll let you start over and irritate some other people in some other part of the country…"
The voice paused for a full thirty seconds.
"If you don't, the consequences will be serious."
A hand reached around with the scalpel- a warning to not move. Then the scalpel disappeared, only to be replaced by a picture- and Davis gasped.
"No, please not my family…. leave them alone…. oh God I'll go, I promise I'll go."
"Mr. Davis, this is not a game, you will not receive any more warnings. Do you understand?"
"Yes, yes, God, please, I'll go…. I'll go tonight."
"You'll go immediately- if you don't I'll send you your baby sister's ear as a little reminder. Then, if you get anywhere near this town again, I'll send you the head that ear was attached to.
"We're done here."
….
Forty-five minutes later Elizabeth, John and Shaw arrived back at the hospital. Shaw disappeared into the rest room to finish cleaning up. John and Elizabeth waited, but when five minutes turned into ten and no Shaw, Elizabeth knocked on the door.
"Shaw?"
No answer.
"Shaw, are you OK in there?"
No answer. Elizabeth looked over at Reese, concern written on her face. John approached the door and banged on it.
"Shaw, Hey Shaw! Open the door."
When there was no answer, Reese reached into the inside pocket of his suit coat and removed a small lock picking kit. Thirty seconds later they heard a click and John opened the door. They could only get the door open a foot or so because something was blocking it. Elizabeth slipped through and looked toward the left.
"Shaw!"
She pulled Shaw's body away from the door so John could enter. Shaw had collapsed against both the door and the wall less than three feet behind the bathroom's sink. She showed no outward sign of injury but was unresponsive when Elizabeth tried to awaken her.
She looked at Reese.
"Get Megan- now!"
Reese nodded and left the bathroom.
Within five minutes Dr. Tillman and John were at the door. Dr. Tillman entered, checked Shaw's vitals and used her flashlight to check Shaw's eyes. She looked at Reese and Elizabeth, concern written on her face.
"We need to get her upstairs and we need to get Dr. West back here- stat."
