Chapter 5

Following Finch's instructions being whispered in her ear, Elise was closing in on the spot that they both agreed Snow would be found. The abandoned building seemed to be a perfect location for Snow to work out of. Being in an industrial area, there were no houses. Foot traffic was practically non-existent and the only vehicles were delivery trucks coming and going with their daily deliveries. Anyone approaching the building would be noted immediately from any of the many windows.

Having Bear with her gave Elise a renewed sense of intent. Snow was going to be the key to understanding Stanton. And understanding Stanton would lead them to….him. She could barely think his name much less speak it aloud without the pain threatening to take over. They had to know what it was that Stanton was going to do and figure out what she needed John for before they could predict where she and John might be.

Snow seemed to be the weakest link in the entire equation. He had not done any actual field work in a several years as far as they could tell. From the information that Finch had been able to gather, Snow had been a controller. He controlled the handlers who controlled the dangerous, killer 'weapons'… those agents who did anything and everything required to get the job done and did it without question. Finch and Elise knew that John had been such a weapon in the service of the CIA, a killer drone to be released whenever and wherever his superiors deemed necessary. And Stanton had been his mentor, his partner, but ultimately his handler. He followed her orders. Maybe she still had some sort of hold over him? A hold so tight that when she said 'Come' he'd followed, no questions asked, no messages left behind. Or maybe there was more to their relationship...

NO! Elise mentally slapped herself for even letting that thought slip through. She had to concentrate on the job at hand, not let her mind run wild with unfounded speculations. She felt a cold nose rub against her fist holding the leash; Bear had obviously sensed her tension. Relaxing her white knuckled grip on the leash, Elise scratched him behind the ears and whispered 'Thanks Bear, I needed that'.

Using Harold's handy dandy 'dis-arm any alarm' device, Elise shut the alarm off but only on the door in front of her. Opening it quietly and listening intently, she heard nothing but the sound of her own breathing and Bear's panting. Stepping through door, Elise let Bear pass her. She gave the command and knowing what was required of him, Bear set to work checking the premises. The task took him all of five minutes before he returned to her and sat down on his haunches. She immediately praised him and gave him a treat as a reward. Knowing the building was empty and secure now made Elise's job so much easier.

Telling Bear to stay and guard the door, she reset the alarm and made her way towards the front of the building and the only other door. With the alarm in place and Bear guarding the back door, she felt confident she would have Snow well in hand shortly. Finch had been able to track Snow to this location but was not quite sure when he might return. Several hours passed and Elise was getting antsy and anxious as time was ticking away. Like any 'kidnapping', the first day is the most crucial and it had already been 36 hours since John had gone missing!

Settling into yet another spot she felt was secure, she found a comfortable position to wait for Snow. From what Carter had told her about Bear's training, he would sit and guard until she called him or 'released' him. She was so glad that Carter was familiar with the type of training Bear had been given. And she was especially glad for the help with the Dutch commands. She and John had not had that much time with Bear for her to learn more than the commands for sit, stay, and come and her accent was horrible. Thinking of him with Bear made her heart hurt. Biting hard down on her bottom lip she snapped her thoughts back to the matter at hand.

Elise heard the alarm turn off just before Snow walked into the warehouse. Glancing over towards where Bear was waiting in the shadows, she was pleased to see that Bear had not moved nor made his presence known. He was the perfect backup.

Walking into the warehouse, he panned around with his gun and a flashlight. Things must have met with his satisfaction because he turned off the flashlight and lowered his gun to return it to its holster. That was when Elise made her move. Lighting fast reflexes and adrenaline fueled her body and she was on Snow in a second. Kicking his gun out of his hand, she grabbed his other hand and pulled it up tight behind his back before he knew what had happened. Being smaller than Snow, Elise used surprise and her CQC skills to quickly take him down. Sitting astride him with her gun pointed up under his chin, she quickly checked him for any other weapons. Finding none, she stood up and stood over a very surprised Snow as he lay on the floor.

"Agent Mark Snow I presume." said Elise through clenched teeth as she chambered a round in her Glock. In the quiet of the warehouse the noise was deafening and certainly got his attention.

"Who the hell are you?" He demanded. Even with a gun pointed at his head, he still didn't think he was in much danger. All he could see was a smallish woman with a gun who'd gotten 'lucky' and surprised him. He must be losing his touch or maybe he was thinking too much about Kara to have not heard her coming. Either way, he'd take care of this problem and move onto the job at hand, trying to catch that woman before she could implement her insane plot.

A smile twitched on Elise's lips. She and Finch had come up with a couple of different scenarios for her when she finally got a hold of Snow. As best they had been able to ascertain, Snow had no idea who she was or what she meant to John. That was definitely in their favor. They wanted him to think they were after Stanton and if possible, avoid even mentioning John.

"Let's just say I'm a concerned third party," she said with a smile that did not reach her eyes.

John made it back to the hotel in plenty of time and it was a good thing he did because Kara was nowhere to be found. He sat down on the bed and silently cursed the woman. He tried to decide what he would do if she didn't show up in time. He got up, pacing back and forth. The anger that had subsided before he'd seen Elise, rose to the surface once more. He thought that Kara would return before the time was up. After all, she still needed him to take out Mark but he wasn't 100% sure and that made him furious. He hated it when he wasn't in control, when he had to do what someone else told him to do. He'd had enough of that in the CIA to last him a life time. And now, to be back at Kara's beck and call, he felt like he was back in that dark time, like he hadn't been able to climb out of that hole after all. Harold had found him, had given him a job, a purpose and John thought he'd moved beyond that man who'd been a contract killer, who'd done what he was told without question. And then he'd met Elise and he was sure he had. The man that had committed all those murders, albeit government sanctioned ones, could never have felt what he felt for her. She was his whole life now and he would do anything, go anywhere for her should she ask.

'Then how the hell had he ended up here?' He railed.

His thoughts were interrupted by the sound of a key turning in the lock. He immediately reached back and grabbed his gun, training it on the door. Kara's dark head appeared and it took all of his control not to pull the trigger. If he wasn't so determined to get rid of the threat that was Snow, he honestly couldn't say that he wouldn't have shot her and been done with this entire mess.

"Where the hell have you been?" He snarled at her, reluctantly lowering his gun.

"Well hello to you too, John. Did you miss me?" Kara simpered. "Perhaps you're finally remembering how good we were together?"

"Whatever, Kara. It was only ever sex between us. Lonely, empty sex and don't you forget it!" He turned and stormed off into the bathroom. He needed a hot shower to work out some of the tension in his muscles. He slammed the door behind him or he would have seen the grin spreading across her face and immediately been on his guard.

"A what?" Snow said as he slowly got up off the floor. Any further movement was halted by the gun now trained on his head. Holding his hands out in front of him he tried to get a more accurate picture of the woman standing in front of him while appearing harmless. Not very tall, dark hair pulled back in a ponytail or something. Dark clothing…seemed to know how to handle a gun….didn't seem nervous at all. Rather calm and definitely cold and calculating, he thought. There obviously was more to this woman than he'd originally realized.

"What do you want with me? How do you know my name?" Snow questioned as a means of buying time so that he could decide how best to take the woman down.

"Doesn't really matter….Mark." She spat out his first name, mockingly, as if daring him to try anything. "I just want some information from you." Elise said quietly, never relaxing her grip on her Glock. It had been a while since she had done any work like this. It felt good to have her gun in her hand. She'd enjoyed the adrenalin rush she got when she put Snow on the floor. She missed her job! The ghost of a smile flickered across her face at the thought.

At that moment the sound of something falling came from behind her, too late she realized it was a piece of the roof jarred loose as a large and heavy truck rumbled by. Her attention wavered from Snow for the merest second and he was on her. Grabbing her gun arm he forced her arm straight up so the gun was pointing at the ceiling. He wasn't a lot taller than Elise but he had enough height on her that he lifted her off her feet. With his other hand he tried to grab her but missed. Her feet made quick contact with his knees and he let out a groan, but held tight to her gun arm. Using his free hand he grabbed Elise by the neck and began to squeeze tight. Elise lashed out with both feet but made contact with air. Her free hand groped for his face, trying to reach his eyes but to no avail. The weight of her body was adding to the choke hold he had on her neck and she was gasping for air. Knowing she was about to pass out, she used the last air she had and barked out to Bear 'Attack' in Dutch.

Bear had been watching from the other end of the warehouse, whining quietly as he waited for the command to attack. Hearing it, he was in full stride attack mode almost by the time Elise finished saying the word. Launching himself at Snow he knocked him to the ground. As Snow's hands released Elise who'd fallen next to him, Bear growled deep in his chest and bit down hard on Snow's arm. Screaming in pain Snow tried to get away from the four-legged tornado that was trying to rip his arm off. But once Bear had a hold of him, nothing would make him let go except a command from Elise.

Lying on the floor almost under Snow, Elise was gasping for breath, trying to get air back into her oxygen starved lungs and clear her head. Pushing him away from her she became aware that Bear was still holding him down. Scrambling back away from Bear and Snow she rubbed her neck and tried to calm her breathing. Once she felt in control she gave Bear the command to release Snow but to be on guard. Bear immediately let go of the man's arm and sat back on his haunches. Snow hugged his bloody arm to his chest. Bear had bitten through the overcoat sleeve and the suit jacket sleeve and drawn blood.

Crawling over to where her gun had been dropped, Elise pointed it back at Snow and said in a chilling voice, "That wasn't very nice, Mark. Now, where were we?"