Chapter 7

As was his habit, John woke early and found Kara still asleep beside him. He couldn't help but wish it was Elise's warm, comforting body he was waking up to rather than the cold-blooded Kara. He climbed out of bed as quickly as possible and began to dress as Kara stirred in the bed. She sat up and the sheet that had covered her prone form, slipped down to reveal her state of undress. John quickly averted his eyes, knowing in his heart that Kara had done it on purpose. She still hadn't accepted that he didn't want her and while John knew he was faithful in his heart and mind, he still felt guilty not only because he caught quick glimpse of a naked woman that wasn't Elise but that he'd slept in the same bed with her. He resolved that if they didn't figure out a way to get rid of Snow by the end of the day, he would break contact with Kara and go it alone. But he kept the resolution to himself; he suffered no delusions about Kara's reaction to his plan to leave her. She would not take his desertion lying down and would most likely do anything in her power to get him to stay, perhaps up to and including wounding him. With today's upcoming op, it was a chance he could not afford to take.

As Kara rose from the bed, she made sure to strut by him, completely nude, on her way to the bathroom. Her blatant attempt to interest him disgusted him and moved to the door, mumbling that he was going to go get some coffee for them both. Kara's mocking laughter followed him out the door.

Several hours later, the noise of the garage door opening and closing caused the two occupants of the house to stir and Elise nudged Snow into a standing position, moving them further into the house. Coming into a dining room, a voice they'd heard speaking low and softly stopped. Fully furnished, there was a large dining room table with six chairs, a china cabinet with a full set of china and sideboard with a coffee pot and coffee cups. Seated in one chair was Carter; she'd been talking to someone, probably Finch, on the phone. Feeling the buzz in her pocket where she kept her phone, Elise touched her ear to answer.

"Elise, I'm glad you made it to the house safely. Detective Carter will be able to hear both of us via her ear bud. We're all in sync. Agent Snow is not supposed to know I'm listening."

Motioning for Snow to sit down, Elise tucked her gun into the back of her belt. Nodding to Carter she said nothing. Reaching over she unwrapped his arm where Bear had bit him. It looked pretty bad but the bleeding had stopped and for once, Snow made no complaints. Calling Bear into the room, Elise gave him the command to guard Snow.

Walking to the door, Elise motioned to Carter to follow her, knowing Bear wouldn't allow Snow to move from that chair. Shutting the door to the kitchen, Carter pulled Elise into the light.

"What the hell happened to you? Who did that to you?" she said after seeing the bruising on Elise's neck.

"It's nothing." Elise rasped. Damn it! This was not the time to worry about her throat or her neck, not while John was still out there alone, God knew where and being forced to do God knew what! And with that hussy to boot! The thought was enough to elicit a snarl from Elise.

"Did Snow do that? John is NOT going to like that ...at all." Carter warned.

"Then don't tell him!" whispered Elise with a glare.

"Fine, you deal with John after we get him back!" said an exasperated Carter. Seeing the look on Elise's face, she reached out and grabbed both of Elise's arms and said, "We WILL get him back. You know that, right?" Not trusting herself to speak, Elise just nodded.

"Elise! Joss! We need to take care of the matter at hand, immediately. We need whatever information we can get from Agent Snow about Kara Stanton. I have my suspicions about what her goal is, but I'd like it confirmed before we act." An anxious sounding Finch spoke to them through their ear buds. Looking at each other, an unspoken connection gripped the two women as they set about reaching their common goal: getting John home safe.

"We hear you Finch; we're ready to get what we need from Snow." Carter said, as she gave a small smile to Elise. Turning around she walked back into the dining room where Bear was sitting two feet in front of a very uncomfortable Snow. Bear never took his eyes off of Snow but one ear turned back as Carter came into the room. Giving Bear the command to stand down, Carter walked over and had a seat across the table from Snow. Visibly relieved to not be alone with Bear, Snow carefully placed his injured arm on the table.

Elise searched the kitchen, came up with some basic first aid supplies and walked back to the dining room. Placing the items on the table next to Snow, she turned and went back into the kitchen. Keeping her mind as blank as possible, Elise concentrated on finding a bowl and filling it with warm water. Gathering up some dishtowels she made her way back to the dining room. Sitting down next to him, she began to clean up Bear's 'take down' bite. The bite was clean and had probably bled out most of the possible germs. Using various antiseptic ointments in the kit, she felt reasonably certainly everything would be fine.

Snow watched as Elise bent over his arm and cleaned and bandaged him. He also took note of the bruising on her throat where he'd grabbed her earlier. He had a very uncomfortable feeling that those marks, getting darker as he watched, were going to come back to haunt him.

Carter sat there and said nothing, just watched Elise tend to the bite wounds and watched Snow watching Elise. Carter could tell the moment he saw the bruises on Elise's neck. His reaction, even though he covered it quickly, was plain to see. She might be able to use that reaction later she thought.

"So, Agent Snow," she began, "we meet again. Although I don't think this conversation will end quite the way our last one did."

Looking up from watching Elise who was ignoring the conversation, Snow answered "Only because she doesn't know where I am...just like I don't know where I am." Snow said defensively. "And I don't know who SHE is….", motioning with his head toward Elise "…..her and her demon dog. He almost killed me."

Elise looked up at the mention of Bear and smiled, but the smile did not reach her eyes and she said nothing. As she finished wrapping up his arm, she stood up, nodded at Carter and took the first aid things back to the kitchen.

"Now that we have gotten through the pleasantries, let's get down to business. Where have you been and what have you been doing since we both escaped that shoot out in the basement?" Carter asked hands folded and deceptively calm. Watching Snow glance at the kitchen door and then back at Bear laying quietly by the hallway door, Carter knew they had a tactical advantage over Snow. He was off balance and had no prior knowledge of Elise, Bear or their connection to John. He'd obviously given Elise some grudging respect and was now very wary of her.

Trying to decide the best approach, Carter noticed that he was not the same confident, cocky CIA agent she'd first met. He was nervous, uncertain about just what was going on and did not bother to hide the fact, a weakness she doubted he would have shown before this. She decided to keep him off balance.

Keeping things formal, Carter tried again, "Agent Snow, tell me about Agent Stanton." That simple question caused a profound reaction in Snow before he was able to cover up his surprise. Stanton had kept herself so deep under the radar he had begun to believe she really WAS invisible.

Good, thought Carter, she liked having the upper hand with him and forcing him to wonder just what she knew. At the same time, she knew she also had to make sure he didn't know how little they actually did know. They knew Stanton was involved and knew it was something major, but the particulars were still unclear.

Trying to decide which way to play this was causing Snow to begin to sweat. The fact that she knew about Stanton spoke volumes about the type of surveillance these people had access to. Lying about her would be futile. Realizing his best bet was to come clean, Snow spilled his guts.

"We are on our way to the most secure NOC yet," Kara told him as they drove into downtown Manhattan. "We won't be able to just waltz in this time and get everyone's attention."

"Then what are you proposing here Kara?" John asked.

"We need to pose as partners. I have some cloned ID cards here that will allow us access to the building but we need to play this cool, act normal, until we get inside and upstairs."

"If this place is so dangerous, why are we bothering? Don't you think that we already have Mark's attention? Why take unnecessary risks?" He questioned.

Kara shook her head and said "Tsk, tsk, John. Haven't you learned to see the bigger picture yet? I thought I'd taught you better than this! If we show Mark that we CAN get into a place like this, he'll be afraid that we can get into ANY place we want and that fear will lead him to make a mistake."

John didn't answer but looked out the window and thought, 'You may have taught me all that YOU know Kara Stanton, but you haven't taught me everything that I know. After this is over, we'll see if I can teach YOU a thing or two…'

Looking away from her, he failed to miss the smirk Kara had on her face as she thought she had John right where she wanted him.

Two hours later Carter had enough information to make her fear for the world in general and John in particular. She had become so engrossed in Snow and the information he was giving her, she had lost track of Elise. Looking around for her, she was concerned when she realized she neither Elise nor Bear were in the room. She couldn't leave Snow alone but she needed to find Elise and talk over the information with Harold. Having Harold in her ear during the interrogation of Snow had been a huge help. He was able to provide her with any technical information to provide a smoke screen to keep Snow from knowing how limited their information was. Surprisingly enough, Snow had no idea that Kara had kidnapped John and it appeared that while he was still hoping to find him, he was not at the moment, actively looking for John.

Not daring to leave Snow alone even for a moment, Carter decided she needed some more back-up and put a call into Fusco. He surprised her by saying he'd be there in less than five minutes. Finch spoke in her ear telling her that he'd contacted Fusco earlier for assistance. Carter shook her head in wonderment, Finch always seemed to be five steps ahead of...well, everyone!

Once Fusco took over guarding Snow, Carter went looking for Elise and Bear. She found them out on the patio in the backyard. Watching them through the glass door she was a little concerned at how quiet Elise had been. She'd said nothing to Snow. She had let Carter, with Finch's prompting, handle the entire interrogation. Carter realized she had no idea when Elise had walked out but she knew Elise had heard everything because they were all synched together.

Approaching closer and making sure to make noise so as to not startle Elise, Carter realized what Elise was doing. She was cleaning her gun. Taking it apart, piece by piece and giving it a detailed going over. That activity gave Carter an idea of Elise's mindset. Carter walked closer to where Elise and Bear were sitting. Bear did not move from Elise's side but he wagged his tail in recognition. Raising her eyes but not her head, Elise looked at her with a bored, neutral expression that surprised Carter…and she continued to clean her gun.

"So, you heard Snow spill his guts. Stanton is crazy and a danger to the world at large." Carter spoke quietly. "He's looking for help to take her down. He thinks she's a loose cannon. If only he knew that she'd taken John after he escaped, he'd be even more worried that she'll continue with her plan. Any thoughts?"

Holding her gun up to the light and sighting down the barrel, Elise said nothing. Methodically cleaning and putting the gun back together, her silence was rather unnerving.

Carter cleared her throat, "So, what are you thinking? Do you have a plan?"

Shoving the clip back into the grip of her gun, Elise chambered a round and then checked to make sure the safety was on. Placing the gun on the picnic table in front of her, she finally looked up at Carter.

"I had to leave the room. I had to get away from ...that poor excuse for a man. The more he talked the more disgusted I became. I remembered what he did to John; he wanted him dead. Almost killed him in fact. And he regrets NOTHING! If I hadn't left when I did, I would have beaten him to death right then and there." Elise said in her still raspy voice. Talking was obviously still painful. Bear picked up on her agitation and let out a low whine. Reaching over, Elise rubbed him behind the ears to ease his tension. The act of stroking the dog seemed to calm her down as well.

Finch's voice came through their ear buds. "Ladies, I think I have enough information to figure out just what Stanton's target will be and why she needs another pair of hands to complete her mission."