Chapter 4
John woke early the next morning and upon getting out of the bathtub, he took the time to slowly stretch all of his muscles. For the first time, he wondered if he was getting too old for this kind of thing and then he remembered all the physical gymnastics he and Elise had been engaged in and he put that thought to rest. If he could do all of that, he could do this job for at least a few more years. But thinking about Elise had put a serious damper on his mood. He took a deep breath and removed the chair. The sooner he got this job done, the sooner he'd be able to get back to her.
Kara was already up, sitting on the bed in front of the TV and sipping coffee. She looked at him and grinned as she watched him shuffle over to the coffee pot in the room.
"How did you sleep? Not too comfortable was it?" He just threw her a cross look.
"I DID offer you the bed." She continued, obviously delighted with the chance to play the innocent, 'I told you so' card.
"Cut the crap, Kara. I'm not in the mood." Asking himself, not for the first time, what had ever possessed him to take her as a lover. "So, what's the plan today? You said you knew several tech companies that do work for the government?" He asked, impatient to get down to work.
"Yes. I think we should infiltrate a few of those over the next day or so. But first I have something for you." She got up and pulled out a small vial from her bag. "They'll be trying to track us once Mark catches on to what we're doing. We need to avoid that happening before we're ready to take him on. Come here." She told him, walking into the bathroom. He followed, curious as to how she was going to keep them from being detected by the all the resources the CIA could bring to bear in the search.
She positioned him next to the sink and before he could even react, she'd sliced him on the upper arm, making a small incision about half an inch wide.
"What the hell Kara?!" He exclaimed.
"Hold still. You've been hurt worse. I know; I patched you up." She opened the vial and using a pair of tweezers, she took out a small metal object that reminded him a bit of a computer chip. She then inserted it into the incision just under the skin. "This special RFID chip will jam all of their tracking technology. You'll truly be a ghost to them when you've got this in your person." She turned so that he could see a similar scar on her arm. Judging by the healed condition, she obviously had had hers for quite some time. She closed up the edges of the wound and secured it with a large bandage she'd pulled out of her pocket. While John was very nervous about having anything in his person that SHE'D put there, he had to admit if it really worked it would come in handy. They wouldn't have to waste as much time avoiding security this way.
"Where did you get these?" He asked, curious as to how she was able to get ahold of a technology he was pretty sure Mark would kill for. Or anyone else from The Company for that matter since the technology was intended to confound their surveillance capabilities.
"Sorry John, but you really don't want to know." His eyebrows rose at her answer. He was curious, but if anyone would know about how this technology worked, it was Harold. Once he got out of this, he would make sure that Harold had the chance to examine it.
"I'm going to go out and pick up some spare clothes." He told her.
"No need." She answered with a smile and opened the small closet door next to the bathroom. Inside were three suits and white shirts along with an unopened package of boxer briefs.
"Um, thanks." He said, surprised. He probably shouldn't be. Kara was excellent at planning all the small details of an operation. "I'm going to get cleaned up and then I'll go out and get us something while you shower."
She gave him a strange look but then her faced closed down so quickly, he was wondering if he'd just imagined it. "Alright."
He cleaned up quickly and grabbing his wallet, he left to get some breakfast for them. Once he reached the small coffee shop, he paused in the act of ordering, dismayed as he realized that he'd remembered exactly how Kara liked her coffee and what she usually preferred for breakfast.
"Hey buddy, you gonna order or what?" A short, balding man asked in a broad New York accent. John shook himself out of his reverie and finished ordering. As he walked back, he pondered just how easily he'd slipped back into the routine he and Kara had followed for years. He was only now realizing just how hard it was to run from his past.
As the sun slowly rose outside the windows, Harold explained his theories about how he might be able to find out exactly where Stanton might be at any given time.
"I wish I knew how she was doing this." Harold complained for the fourth time. "I should have seen this coming!" Grace leaned over and patted his shoulder.
"None of us saw this coming Harold and you need to stop beating yourself up over this. It won't help us get John back." Harold covered her hand on his shoulder with one of his own and looked up at Grace perched on the arm of the couch next to him, giving her a small smile.
"Yes, you're quite right my dear, I just…."
"So Harold, now that we can find Stanton, what are we doing sitting around here?" Elise interrupted and rose to her feet, cracking her knuckles and making a move towards the door.
"Hold on Ms. Tate…Elise. If we rush into this without knowing what Stanton's motive is in all this and she slips away, we risk tipping her off and not having any idea where to look for her next."
Elise growled, "She WON'T be slipping away Harold." Her eyes narrowed and all three of them could see the dangerous, predatory look in Elise's eyes.
"Nevertheless, I think we need to know her plans before we can proceed with our own." Harold returned.
"You want me to leave John in the hands of that psychopath? For even a minute longer than I have to?" Her voice rose shrilly on the last sentence. "You've got to be kidding me Finch. I wouldn't leave Bear in her hands for even that long and I'm certainly not going to leave John behind either!" While Elise's voice was hard, they all watched as she swiped away the tears from her eyes with one hand.
"Elise…" Zoe walked up and took one of Elise's hands in her own. "Harold's right. I know you want John back but we might only get one shot at this."
Elise turned to look at Zoe, "But…..John….he needs me! He was there for me when…..I mean I can't just…" The trickle of tears became a full-fledged torrent. "I WON'T LEAVE HIM!" She cried in an agonized voice.
"Sweetheart, John wouldn't want you to rush into a dangerous situation without knowing as much as possible." Grace spoke to her softly. "He'd want you to find out all you could so that you can both be together at the end of this." Elise hung her head in defeat for a moment, knowing they were right but…
Her head rose and she looked directly at Harold. "Finch, you've come to be one of the best friends I've ever had….but if John is hurt…or…." She couldn't finish the sentence as a sob escaped her. "If this delay results in John being hurt, I'm not sure that I'll be able to remain friends. I just thought you should know that up front."
Harold nodded, noticing that she'd stopped calling him by his first name. "Fair enough Elise." He answered her, trying to hide the pain in his eyes that her words had created.
He and Kara sat outside what looked like an innocent office building…people coming and going… and for the most part the building was. It was what could be found on the 15th floor that had brought them here today though. This was the third NOC that they had discovered and like the previous two, the intention was to break in drawing as much attention as possible to their presence and then getting out. Things had almost gone south at the last place, mainly due to its location within a warehouse. They'd been unable to penetrate the place very far before shooters on the catwalks above had made the going too dangerous. John was in fact surprised when Kara shot a guy who had his rifle pointed right at John's back. It would have been a kill shot for sure had Kara not intervened and her actions had him a bit puzzled. He'd initial thought that Kara had killed the sniper so that John could help her in 'making noise' when breaking into the NOCs but sitting outside the third one, John began to have doubts. Kara could be doing this alone, luring Snow out by herself, he realized. So why did she need him? What was her play here?
He had to push those thoughts aside though as they exited the vehicle and walked into the building. Once more they took the elevator up to the top floor and in a hail of gunfire they destroyed the place, leaving several witnesses to confirm their identity to Mark. John noticed that on the way out, Kara pried something out of a nearby laptop and shoved it in her coat pocket. He made a mental note to determine just what it was that had interested Kara so much.
They had no sooner arrived at the car when Kara began laughing. "Wow John! Tell me you missed this! Whew! That was some destruction we just brought down, I could do this all day!"
John couldn't stand the egotistical maniac that was Kara Stanton for even a minute longer. The fact that she could take such joy when endangering others repulsed him and he reached for the door, intending to get out and take a walk. Where, he didn't know or care, just so long as it was away from her! Suddenly the sound of a gun being cocked reached his ears.
"And where do you think you're going John? You wouldn't want to leave me all alone here, would you? No, we can't have that. I think it's best if we stick together. Besides, Snow is out there looking for us, we…" She never got to finish her sentence. With lightening quick moves, he turned and disarmed her, pushing his forearm up against her throat, leaning in and cutting off her air.
"Don't you dare tell me where I can and can't go Kara." He leaned in and captured her eyes with his, letting all the anger and disgust he had for her show in his face. Meanwhile, she was clawing at his arm in an attempt to remove it so she could breathe. "I'm not your trained dog! I will do what I want and when I want." He pulled back suddenly and she doubled over in her seat, gasping for air. "Now, I'm going to go for a walk. I'll meet you back at the hotel."
Kara looked up at him and for a second, he thought he saw a look of pure hatred distort her features. It was gone in an instant, replaced by a small smirk. "Oh…John, I forgot….to mention…one little thing. That RFID chip in your arm...it contains a small but lethal dose of cyanide and if I don't send a signal from my remote every two hours….well I suppose you get the idea. Oh and I wouldn't recommend trying to remove it, without the proper code, the cyanide capsule will break before you can get it out." She gave him a twisted look of triumph. "So, have a good walk, John, but don't stay away from me too long, or….."
John made a sound of revulsion but otherwise remained as stoic as usual. Inside though, he was one mass of anger, turmoil and death. He should have known that Kara would twist something that appeared beneficial into something that benefited only her. He got out of the car and didn't hold back when closing the car door behind him. The crash of metal hitting metal was a very small comfort to him in his state of fury.
"So how do you propose to find out what Stanton is up to, Harold?" Zoe filled the awkward silence that Elise's words and brought down on them all.
"Well Zoe, we know that Ms. Stanton at one time held Agent Snow in a similar manner I believe, to the one she's currently employing with John. It stands to reason that Agent Snow must have some idea what she's up to. Locating the man should not prove to be very difficult, however getting him to divulge what he knows may prove to be more so."
"He'll talk." Elise spoke in a clipped, hard tone of voice.
"Indeed." Harold nodded in acknowledgement of what she was implying. "I will go back to the library and use my resources to locate Agent Snow and call you when I've located him."
"No way Finch. I'm coming with you. I don't want to waste any more time." Elise argued harshly.
"Elise, this may take me a bit of time…." Harold looked to Grace in helping him convince Elise.
Grace stepped up and spoke to her in a soft but determined voice. "Elise, you haven't eaten in at least a day." She tried to argue logically. Of course Elise didn't appreciate her efforts and was shaking her head at Grace. "Elise!" Grace spoke a bit more firmly. "You MUST eat. If you don't, you're risking having your body fail you just when John needs you the most. Now, Harold will go to the library to locate Agent Snow and then send the car back for you. In the meantime Zoe and I will make you something to eat. When you're done, you can go right to the car, no need to worry about getting a taxi in rush hour or any of that nonsense."
Elise nodded her head in defeat, wishing she didn't have to acknowledge that Grace was correct. Her eyes didn't miss Grace making shooing motions in Harold's direction but she stood where she was until he'd left.
"Why don't you go take a shower Elise, while Grace and I fix you something?"
"No. I want to eat quickly and be ready for the car when it arrives."
Grace and Zoe exchanged looks but knew that the concession of staying to eat was the only one they'd be getting out of Elise, at least for now. Within thirty minutes, Elise was on her way to the library having choked down as much food as she could manage under the watchful eyes of her two very worried friends.
John wandered aimlessly, trying to get his emotions under control. He knew if he couldn't, if the anger took over, he'd be blinded by it and Kara could and would take instant advantage of that. For at least half an hour, John walked blindly forward, his eyes unseeing, his legs moving without thought. Finally he felt he was calm enough and he focused on his surroundings. Without realizing it, he'd been drawn in the direction of the library and he could see before him the solid stone edifice. The library had always functioned as a place of safety and connection for him so he was not really surprised to find himself outside, wishing he dared take advantage of that comfort once more.
And then, as he'd secretly hoped, he saw her coming out of the back entrance along with the dog they'd adopted on the beach. He was shocked to see the change in her, a change that had come about in only the last two days. She moved slowly and deliberately as if she was afraid of a misstep, afraid that if she fell, she wouldn't be able to get back up again. Her hair that beautiful black, softness that he loved to feel, was hanging down on the sides of her face, the rest pulled back in a messy knot on her head. But even more startling were her eyes. The skin around them had a bruised look to it while her eyelids were red and swollen. His heart almost broke looking at her, knowing the woman he loved more than life itself was hurting, hurting badly…..and it was all his fault. He would rather have ripped his heart from his chest than see her this way. He took an involuntary step towards her but stopped just before he called out to her, wishing to end the pain she was in. He knew he couldn't go to her now, no matter how badly he wanted to. He couldn't endanger her life by drawing attention to her and her importance to him. He watched as she reached down to slowly pet Bear on the head. Even from his vantage point in the shadows several feet away, he could see the tear roll down her cheek. It was more than he could bear, he turned and slowly shuffled away, determined to end this thing as soon as possible so that he could come back to her, so that he could ease her pain and return her back to the determined, vibrant woman he knew and loved.
If he'd stuck around a minute later though, he would have seen Elise visibly draw herself together back to a functioning person. Determination replaced the sadness on her face and she walked across the street, listening to Harold's instructions in her ear, never realizing that that which she desired most, that which she was seeking as hard as she could, had been only feet away.