Chapter 6

John undressed quickly and turned up the water to the hottest temperature he could stand. He stood under the torrent, head hanging, letting the water slide down his neck, shoulders and back. He knew he had to move this thing along; that his patience would only be able to be stretched so thin by Kara and her insane and delusional thoughts. And the image of Elise, distressed and alone, was burned into his mind. If he'd had his way he would have strode right up to her, grabbed her in his arms and kissed her senseless right there in the street. Once her eyes had lost their sadness, he would have scooped her up in his arms, moving back to the library behind her, all without breaking their kiss. He would have kicked the door, allowing him to walk in with Elise still in his arms and once they were inside, he would have let her body slide down his, her soft curves a stark contrast to the hard planes of his body. His hands would have roamed over her body, releasing it from the confines of her clothes and then lifted her up, pushed her against the wall and buried himself in her warm, welcoming embrace…. His hands reached down and he grabbed his erection, closing his eyes and dreaming that it was her. That it was her hand stroking him slowly at first and then, gradually…..

The door to the shower slid open and a naked Kara immediately stepped in. "Ah! So I was right, lover. You DO remember how good we were together." She licked her lips and reached for him. "Let me do that for you, Baby."

He quickly slapped her hand away and spoke in a low, frigid voice. "This wasn't because of you or meant for you. Now get the hell out of here, NOW!"

She made no move to go and instead pouted. "Oh, no need to continue to deny it my love. Come here and let me help you release some of that tension. A nice hard fuck would do wonders for you."

" . . .WAY." He bit off each word, ready to do whatever it took to get the hell out of there. When she moved too slow for him, he roughly pushed her up against the wall and for a brief second, he saw the ghost of a smile and a gloat of triumph in her eyes as she thought he was finally giving in and was going to fuck her senseless. The gloat turned to anger though as he pushed past her and exited the shower.

"What John, do you think you're too good for me now?" She spat out venomously. "Or is it that black-haired bitch I saw you with? What the hell can she give you? She's just a child! You need a REAL woman!"

John wanted to yell at her to shut her mouth or he'd shut her up….permanently. But if he revealed that he cared about Elise at all, he'd be giving Kara another hold over him and she already had too many. So praying to himself, may God and Elise forgive him, he spoke. "She's nothing but a passing fancy." He spit out. "But I wouldn't touch you if you were the last person on Earth. How many times do I have to tell you? WE ARE OVER!" He gave her one last, sharp look and left the room, wrapping a towel around himself. He put on a set of lounge pants Kara had supplied him with and lay down on the bed, trying to empty his mind and calm his riotous, angry thoughts. He couldn't afford them now and he knew from experience that that path led only to darkness. Instead he pulled up memories of Elise and wrapped himself in the brightness that her love had brought into his life. Seconds later, his breath evened out and he relaxed into sleep.

"Who the HELL are you? What do you want from me? What are you doing with a military trained attack dog?" Snow almost yelled. Clenching his teeth against the pain in his arm, he glared at Elise with loathing. Being taken down by a woman? With the help of that demon dog?! "And how do you know my name?"

Smiling slightly, Elise tried to clear her bruised throat. Her voice came out raspy. "There are some people that want to talk to you. They told me where you were, so I came and got you. End of explanation." She whispered. Standing up slowly, she listened carefully to make sure there were no more sounds coming from outside. Everything seemed to be quiet. The one working light in the warehouse was concentrated where she and Snow were and couldn't be seen from outside. Obviously Snow had changed the locks so anybody trying to get in would need a locksmith.

Seeing the blood on Snow's arm, Elise looked around for something to wrap it with. Last thing she needed was for Snow's blood to leave a goddamned trail when they left. Giving Bear the command to guard, she went looking. She found a disgusting smelling bathroom with an old canvas towel on a cylinder. It was old enough that it ripped off easily and she took it back to Snow.

"Here, wrap up. We've got somewhere to be."

Wrapping the dirty towel around his arm, Snow was looking for an escape but his eyes came back to the dog's eyes. They never left his face. He felt like the dog could read his mind! Even when that damn woman spoke to the dog, his eyes never left Snow. Just his ears swiveled to listen to her. He didn't think he'd try anything with that dog around. But he'd keep looking for the right opportunity.

Motioning Snow toward the back of the warehouse, Elise told him to move and move quickly. It still hurt her throat to speak. Bear was right behind Snow, literally on his heels.

Locking the warehouse behind her, Elise felt confident they had left nothing behind to show that SHE had been there. She didn't know and she didn't CARE if anyone knew Snow had been there.

Once again thankful that she had thought ahead, she unlocked Finch's town car and waited for Snow get in the back seat. Once he was in, Elise used a cable tie to tie his hands together. She was taking no chances. Snow was or had been a CIA agent and she knew what John was capable of, so better safe than sorry, she thought. Then she smiled. Walking around to the other side of the car, she called Bear to her, opened the back door and motioned Bear to get in. Snow shrank against the opposite side of the car, trying to get as far away as possible from Bear.

"Don't leave that animal back here with me! He'll smell my blood! He'll attack me again!" Snow almost shrieked.

Leaning into the car, Elise smiled and said in her raspy voice, "No, he won't attack you unless I tell him to OR if you make a threatening move towards me. Understand? You'll be perfectly safe if you sit there and behave."

Shutting the door to walk around to the driver's side Elise was positively grinning. She liked working with Bear! No arguments! He did what he was told, when he was told to do it. Not like working with John who questioned everything she said and did. Thinking of John wiped the smile off her face and made her heart ache.

Getting in the front seat, she started up the big Lincoln. Touching her ear she waited for Harold to pick up.

John subconsciously registered the fact that Kara had come out of the bathroom and then climbed in bed next to him. He woke and his body tensed but as she didn't make any moves toward him, he lay where he was.

"I'll leave you alone now, John." She whispered quietly, obviously aware that he was awake even though the room was engulfed in total darkness. "You've made yourself clear." She cleared her throat, almost as if she was holding back tears. "Tomorrow we'll do our last job before setting the trap for Mark and then you'll be done and….and you can go…." She even sounded as if she was sniffling, damn it! "You can go and you'll never have to see me again."

He told himself he would NOT feel bad about it if she was unhappy. She was as cold-blooded as they came but….but he had once cared for her. More than she had cared for him, but once upon a time…

"Good night, Kara." He spoke and for the first time his words carried no rancor, no anger.

"Good night, John." She replied softly and for once, the darkness that had always hidden him, had always held him safe, betrayed him, also hiding the triumphant, cruel smile of the woman in the bed next to him.

"Ms. Tate! Elise! Are you ok? Why did you turn off you phone? You had all of us very ...um... wondering what was going on." Finch's voice trailed off in her ear. Smiling to herself over the obvious concern that she heard in Harold's voice, she closed her eyes for a moment to let the feeling of love for this man wash over her. He knew her so well. He'd let her know he was worried but held himself in check by remembering her training and background...there was a good reason she had gone silent and he trusted her reasons.

"I'm good Harold. I got him with a minimal amount of damage." She said in a husky voice. Snow's grip on her throat had apparently done more damage than she'd thought but she didn't let it bother her. She'd go through that and more if it meant getting John back safe and sound.

"Damage? What damage? To Whom? You or Agent Snow?" Came Harold's quick, worried query.

"I'm fine. Snow will live. Bear took him down and gave him something to remember him by." She answered. "Am I still to take him to the safe house as we discussed?" She asked as she backed the Lincoln out. The big, shiny, black car stood out in this neighborhood of rundown warehouses. She had taken great care to park it out of sight.

"Yes Elise. Take him to the second safe house we discussed. I'll have Detectives Carter and Fusco meet you there in just a few hours, as soon as their respective shifts are over. We don't want them to do anything that might raise the suspicions of their superiors. May I suggest you blindfold him? I'd really prefer that he not know where the safe house is. He is technically our enemy." instructed Finch.

"Think I'll use one of his own 'CIA black hoods', that way he'll feel right at home." Laughed Elise, which immediately made her throat hurt worse. "I'll be there in about an hour. Talk later." Touching her ear again, she disconnected from Harold. Glancing in the review mirror, Elise grinned from ear to ear. Snow was as far away as possible from Bear and Bear just sat there staring at Snow from the other side of the car. Snow was obviously terrified of Bear which surprised her since she thought he'd be more familiar with the training these dogs obtained. There was no way that Bear would attack unprovoked. Then again, perhaps Snow's ignorance would be a good thing. It certainly was making him more biddable.

Pulling over to the curb once they were back in a safer part of the city, Elise reached over and grabbed something off the front seat as she got out. Opening the door on Snow's side, she quickly threw the hood over Snow's head before he could react. Elise then pushed him over in the seat so his head was right under Bear. Snow frantically tried to get away from where he knew Bear was but Elise pulled her gun and pressed the barrel up under his chin.

"Stop fighting. Just lay there quietly and Bear won't bite you again, do you understand me?"

Not waiting for answer, she shut the back door and climbed back into the driver's seat. Now, without Snow being able to tell where they were going, she could make good time out of the city.

An hour later, Elise pulled into the garage. She waited until the garage door came down, blocking any view of the outside, before she cut the engine. Snow had been very quiet during their drive, as near as she could tell. She'd played the radio loudly to cover any outside noises so Snow wouldn't have any references as to where they were.

Knowledge was the weapon of choice in this scenario. They wanted to learn as much as possible from Snow, without giving up any information themselves. He already knew Carter. Knew she was an NYPD cop. He probably did not know she was on loan to the FBI. He apparently knew nothing about Elise nor her relationship to John. All of which should work in their favor.

Opening the back door, she saw that Snow was still lying on his side with his head under Bear. Bear had been drooling and dripping right on the black hood over Snow's head, but Snow had not moved. Shaking her head to help wipe the grin off of her face, Elise finally regained control.

"Alright Agent Snow, you can sit up now." Snow slowly sat up but didn't try to do anything else. Taking pity on him, Elise pulled him out of the car and then removed the hood. Blinking his eyes at the returning brightness after wearing the hood, Snow immediately took in his surroundings. A frown quickly appeared when he realized he was in a garage and that there were no windows.

"Bear, come." Elise called to Bear in her still raspy voice. Bear pushed his way past Snow to get out of the car. Snow shrank back against the car, again trying to keep as far away as possible from the dog.

Prodding Snow with her gun, she motioned for him to go into the house through the connecting door. Snow would only have access to the interior rooms in the safe house. He was to be kept away from any windows where he could possibly get his bearings and determine where he was. His need for information would be paramount but they were going to give him little to none. They had already discussed that this would be how they would handle Snow. She pushed him ahead and took him to a room that had a couch, a chair and a small table in it. She waited until he'd sat down on the couch before seating herself at the table and placing her weapon on it without removing her hand. She waited to see how long it would be before Snow plucked up the courage to ask what was going on.

After twenty minutes of silence, Snow cleared his throat and asked, "Why are we here?" He didn't bother to ask where they were; they both knew she'd never tell him.

"What Mark? Are you anxious to leave me?" She laughed but without any real humor and the smile didn't reach her eyes. "And here I thought we were becoming friends."

Another twenty minutes passed before he spoke again. "Can I at least wash this bite out? How about some aspirin? I'm in a lot of pain here."

"Hmm…. seems they don't train you CIA boys in pain management anymore." She mocked. "I'm beginning to think all those stories I heard about how stoic you boys were under duress were all exaggerations…." Snow's eyes burned with anger and hatred and she smiled inside when she saw it. It was all part of the plan to knock Snow off-base, make him more vulnerable to the next part. And she couldn't believe he was falling for it! She let her contempt show in her eyes, trying to goad him into more anger.

"…..but as they say, seeing is believing." He moved to get up and lunge at her, despite the fact that his hands were still tied but a warning growl from Bear had him backing down immediately. She snorted and his hollow, blazing eyes moved to her but he remained silent for the next few hours. Elise simply stared at him, not backing down at all with her gaze until he finally lowered his eyes and eased himself down on the couch. And they waited….