Chapter 10

Time seemed to stop for Elise and Harold. There was no real world, only the cyber world of The Machine and the Internet. Harold was gaining on the virus slightly, not much, but hopefully enough to buy some time to figure out what had been done and how to undo it.

Numbers and coding raced across the two monitors they were working on. Elise was almost in a trance, keeping herself focused on the job at hand. Once she felt someone looking at her but steeled herself to keep on task. Harold needed her. Keeping her mind blank she processed every command he gave her to completion. Finally Harold's commands came slower and slower and lost that frantic sound to them. Suddenly Harold went silent. With her hands poised over the keys Elise waited for the next command. Realizing there was no sound coming from him, Elise rested her hands on the keyboard and looked over at him.

He sat with his hands in his lap, his head down and his eyes closed. "Harold? Did we do it? Did we stop it?" she whispered. After all they had gone through, after all she may...MAY have lost, they had to have stopped the virus!

Harold slowly opened his eyes and turned to Elise. "We slowed it down, we didn't kill it," he said quietly with a sigh. "But we may have bought enough time to try and find a way to stop it."

Reaching over Elise grabbed Harold's hand and squeezed it. Returning the gesture with a small smile, Harold looked around until he saw Reese.

"John?" he asked in a hesitant voice. Looking back at Elise he realized she had her back to John on the floor and her eyes were closed as she gripped his hand even harder. "Elise, go to him..."

Taking a deep breath and opening her eyes, she looked at Harold with trepidation, afraid of what she would see if she turned around. "Go to him Elise." Harold repeated.

Moving from the chair to John's side in one swift movement, Elise took everything in: his ashen coloring, shallow breathing, blood seeping between the fingers of his hand covering the bullet wound. The most important thing at the moment though was that she could see he was still alive, he was still breathing. Blood was everywhere but he was breathing. Crouching down beside him, she placed her hand over his, covering the wound. Leaning carefully closer to him she called his name "John...I'm here John, I'm here."

Hearing her voice nearby, Reese stirred slightly and a groan escaped him. He desperately wanted to see her face but could not summon the strength to open his eyes.

Harold stood up and came over to stand over John and Elise. "We've got to get him out of here, now. They cannot find us here."

"We can't move him, Harold! Look at him! I...we...are about to lose him! How do we move him? Where do we even move him to?" Elise's questions trailed off into a whisper.

Still reeling from the furious hacking and coding he had just done, Harold had trouble putting together a coherent thought for a moment. Stepping away from the scene before him, he noticed a body on the ground outside the glass door to the control room. Walking over he found two security men dead...and Stanton and Snow. Stepping back into the room in shock, he shook his head for a moment and then stepped back out and looked around. It was obvious from the positioning of their bodies that Stanton and Snow had taken each other out. Both appeared to be quite dead.

Hearing John's voice in his head he thought, "Good riddance to bad rubbish," he stepped back into the control room and reached for his cell phone.

Elise knelt all the way down, keeping her hand over John's, trying to staunch the flow of blood. Using her other hand she lovingly brushed his hair back. Seeing the pain etched on his face caused her to gasp. He must be in considerable pain for it to show; he was very good at hiding pain...physical, mental and emotional. This man was her life, her reason for being. They'd only had those three beautiful days and nights together without the ugly world intruding. It was not fair to show them their happiness only to have it taken away so violently! Elise desperately needed to see John's beautiful eyes looking at her. She needed to see them dance in mischief when he teased her, turn steely blue when they were on a job or darken with pleasure as they made love. He was a man of few words but his eyes spoke volumes.

Making a quick call to Carter, Harold enlisted her help and Fusco's in setting up a screen to cover getting Elise and John out of here before any 'outsiders' realized what had transpired here. Then he placed a call to Dr. Tillman, once again for her medical assistance.

Meg Tillman answered her phone after one ring, "Hello Mr. Finch, it's a pleasure to hear from you again...unless our 'mutual friends' are in need of medical assistance?" she asked in her usual direct way. Explaining the situation and what little he could tell of John's wound, he reminded her that discretion was once again of utmost importance.

"From the bullet wound and loss of blood you are describing, he's going to need more than what your 'library hospital' can offer. I run a clinic in an area of the city where gunshot wounds are not uncommon and I tend to not report them because then they would quit coming in for help." Meg said in her calm, quiet voice. "I've got the right equipment there." Giving Harold the address, she hung up to get her supplies ready to meet them.

Carter and Fusco, who'd been scouring the area for Snow after his escape, were close by when they received Finch's call for assistance. Using the same entry method that Finch and Elise had used, they were in the control room in short order. Using a utility cart they were able to literally man-handle an unconscious Reese out of the control room and into the freight elevator outside the secured area.

Time was fast running out though because the computer tech was due to make his hourly check-in shortly. Harold briefly apologized to the young man as Elise tied his hands behind him and put a blindfold in place. Harold asked that he consider not mentioning their involvement as they had, technically, saved the man's life. "There are two people out in the stairwell that shot each other and they will be blamed for this entire ordeal. Feel free to talk about a third, unknown man whom they had brought with them and then shot. The authorities will think he simply managed to escape." After a few seconds of silence, the young man nodded in agreement.

Seating him at a console, Elise wiped down the desk top and the keyboards for fingerprints. There was nothing to do about John's blood all over the floor. Any attempt to clean it up would call more attention to it. Having four dead bodies outside in the hallway hopefully would occupy any team sent to discover just exactly what happened here.

Getting an unconscious Reese into Finch's car was no easy feat. It took all of them to lift him from the utility cart into the back seat. Elise climbed in first and helped pull him into the car. The pushing and pulling caused fresh bleeding. Elise was amazed he was still alive.

Holding his head and shoulders close to her as best she could, she applied as much pressure as possible to the wound with her other hand. She was covered in his blood. This was frighteningly close to the nightmare she'd had at Zoe's apartment.

"Please hurry Harold, please." She whispered. Her voice was still husky from the abuse by Snow. Fear now almost robbed her completely of her voice.

Carter leaned in and said, "We'll take care of things here. Let us know about John as soon as you can." And then she carefully pushed John's long legs up into the car and shut the door.

Finch got into the front seat and quickly entered the address for Tillman's Clinic into his GPS. The fewer wrong turns, the faster they would get there. Starting up the big Lincoln, Finch quickly took off down the closest alley to get away from the building and any police units that would be arriving momentarily. Leaving the carnage behind for Carter and Fusco to clean up was something he hated to do but he knew John's life was as stake.

Crooning quietly as she rocked back and forth, Elise pleaded with John to stay with her. She spoke about their time in the house on the beach. The nights they'd spent together, the mornings they had woken up together...trying to give him a reason to stay with her. Every memory brought silent tears rolling down her cheeks.

Finch glanced once in the mirror and his heart tightened at the look of utter desolation on her face. It made him even more determined to get John to safety and get him taken care of. He was amazed at the depth of his own feelings for John. They were friends now, more partners than boss and employee. They both felt they had found each other at the lowest point in each of their lives. John having once told him that if Harold had not found him when he did, John would most certainly be dead now, having taken a more drastic step than drinking himself to death. It was just what Harold had known those many months ago, having seen a mirror image of his own pain in John's eyes. Having saved each other many times since, a bond was forged that neither of them could or would put into words; it was just there. John had risked his very life to rescue him from Root and now Harold was once again speeding through the streets of NYC with a bleeding John Reese in the backseat. Only this time John had Elise to keep him tethered to this world. He hoped to God it was enough.

Looking around at the run-down store fronts, many with cracked windows, Harold kept looking at the GPS, trying to see if there'd been an error. He knew Meg had told him it was in a 'bad neighborhood' but he'd at least thought it would LOOK like a clinic. Suddenly the door opened at the building just ahead and light spilled out onto the cracked pavement. Meg came striding out to his car and rolling his window down, Finch said, "I assume this is the correct place since you are here. I can see why most of your clients come here for discrete medical attention."

Patting him on the arm, Tillman smiled and picked up on his nervousness at being in this bad part of the city, "I know. The clinic needs to fit into the neighborhood so it's not too obvious when people come to me for help. The fewer people know about their gunshot wounds and knifings, the better. Now, let's get John in here so I can take a look."

Opening the back door, Meg was shocked to see Elise covered in blood and holding onto an unconscious Reese. The stark terror in Elise's eyes pulled at Meg's heart. She remembered seeing that same look on John's face when he thought Elise had died. Reaching around Elise, Meg felt for a pulse. Finding it was a miracle. He was obviously hanging on by a thread and needed help fast. Calling to two young men standing by the door to bring a gurney, she started speaking quietly to Elise, telling her step by step what she was going to do and what she needed her to do.

Harold had gotten out of the driver's seat and stood to the side, his eyes going from John's pale face with his closed eyes to Elise's blood smeared face and dark blue eyes filled with pain. Feeling helpless, all he could do was stand there and watch.

Holding John's head up, Meg coaxed Elise out of the backseat. Two young men reached around and grabbed Reese by the arms and shoulders and pulled him out of the car. An unconscious John Reese was not easy to handle. He was a big man with long arms and legs that were quite boneless in his current state. It took Meg, Elise and the young men to wrestle Reese onto the gurney.

"Harold, I need you to pull that car around the block to the back. We don't need a car like that in front of the clinic; it might scare some people off. I'm sorry to say I can't guarantee what condition you may find it in later."

"Yes, yes of course, I'll move it right now." Quickly getting back in the car, Harold drove it around to the back. There were a couple of men standing out in the alley behind the building. Seeing the very nice car pull up, they all stood there daring the driver to move any closer. Attitude rolled off them like a cloud. Normally Finch would have been afraid to be by himself in this situation but all he could think about right now was John.

Opening the door and getting out, he shut and locked it. Looking at the group in front of him he said, "I brought a friend here who needs Dr. Tillman's help. He needs her help very badly. I'd appreciate it if you didn't interfere with that."

At the mention of Dr. Tillman and her help, the group mumbled among themselves and then slowly parted to let Harold walk to the back door. Pulling it open, he glanced back and he heard a voice from the group say "Hope your friend's ok. Dr. Meg is good people."

Elise followed Meg and the gurney into the dirty front door of the clinic. Once inside she was comforted by the clean, bright atmosphere inside. You would never know this was here by looking at the outside. Meg directed them to move the gurney into the back examining room. Asking them to hang around, she began to assess Reese's injuries. The amount of blood soaked into his clothing was alarming. Taking a scalpel she began ripping through his shirt and undershirt trying to find the entry wound. She needed help in turning him over far enough to check for an exit wound, which there was not. That was even more worrisome; it meant the bullet was still in him and probably keeping the damaged area from clotting.

Turning around she saw Elise standing by the door. Whatever blood was not soaked into John's clothes, was obviously all over Elise. There was enough blood to cause Meg to ask, "Elise, are you wounded or is all that blood from John?"

Shaking her head slowly from side to side she whispered brokenly, "It's….all his...all his blood".

"Well, I'm glad you're not hurt. Do us both a favor and clean yourself up in the sink over there. I may need you." Turning back to John she began cutting his clothes away from the rest of his body.

Pulling the last shred of John's jacket and shirt and undershirt off, Meg began the process of cleaning him up to see just what she was dealing with. Seeing all the scars on Reese's torso caused her to wonder how he had managed to stay alive this long after the catastrophic injuries he must have sustained over the years. This bullet had entered his stomach below his rib cage and a little to the left. The bleeding had slowed but was still oozing sluggishly. That could be either a result of the wounds clotting or because his blood volume was so low. She remembered his blood type from when she had treated him before and called for a transfusion. She had to get his blood volume back up to keep him from going into full shock; he was border line now.

While removing his shirt and undershirt, Meg had noticed a recent cut on his right shoulder. Amateur looking stitches had closed it up. Rubbing her finger over the scar she was surprised that the incision was relatively fresh and that she felt something hard under his skin. That needed to be checked but not until she took care of that gunshot wound.

Elise moved over to the sink, pushing her sleeves up past her elbows. Doing as she was told, without conscious thought, she turned on the water and reached for the soap. Her mind was blank, a black pit of despair. She knew gunshot wounds first hand. She knew it was bad. The amount of blood loss alone was a telltale sign. Mechanically she washed her hands, washing John's blood off. Watching it go down the drain had a mesmerizing effect on her. Was that John? Was he gone? Would that be the last touch she would ever have of him to be his warm blood on her hands as she tried to hold back the flood?

Turning off the water, her arms clean, at least to the elbows she grabbed a towel to dry off. She steeled herself to turn around, knowing she'd have to face the truth at some point. Was John still with her or was he gone from her life forever? Closing her eyes, taking a deep breath and preparing for the worst, she turned around toward Dr. Tillman. Opening her eyes, she saw Meg working feverishly at getting John's clothes cut away from the entry wound. Her actions were not that of someone working on a lost cause, but of someone trying to keep someone alive.

Moving toward the table where John lay motionless, Elise refused to look at his face; best to keep this on the 'professional' level if she was to continue to function.

"What do you need?" she whispered to Meg.

"I do believe that all of John's previous injuries have actually helped him with this most current one. Scar tissue, which he has an overabundance of, is more resistant to injury. So when this bullet entered, it was hampered by all the scar tissue not giving way and helped keep the internal damage to a minimum. The entry wound, through the healthy muscle and skin is why there is so much blood.

"Then why is he...why is he unconscious? Why can't he respond to me...us?" whispered Elise as she looked at John's face. Seeing those dark lashes against his very pale face, it was hard to believe he wasn't dead. She needed to see his blue eyes looking back at her. She needed to see that smile that was meant only for her. She needed proof that he was not slipping away from her. Turning her own blue eyes to look at Meg, her voiceless question was plain to see.

"Yes Elise, he will be all right. We've just got to stop this bleeding and get his blood volume back up to a safe level. Come here and you can hand me the instruments."

Seeing the relief flow into Elise's face, Meg returned her focus back to the work at hand. She had told Elise the truth. The multiple gunshot wounds that John had endured were actually going to be the reason he would survive this latest one. Elise walked up to the opposite side of the gurney where Reese lay. Meg began calling for different surgical instruments in a quick, staccato voice. Elise's paramedical training from her time in HRT came flooding back and she quickly and correctly picked up each instrument that Meg called for and placed it in her hand. Between the two of them they made short work of tying off the bleeders from the wound. Meg had already found and removed the bullet and deposited it in a specimen dish. Meg asked Elise to check the flow of the blood and plasma dripping into John's arm. The bag was almost empty and Elise quickly prepared a second bag of blood so it was ready for a quick change over.

The increase in blood volume was having a miraculous effect on John. His color became more normal and his breathing was much deeper and less stressed as his heart didn't have to work as hard to get the blood circulating throughout his body. As Elise observed the changes with relief, John stirred and mumbled something. Elise's eyes flew up to Meg's only to be met with her reassuring smile. Nodding her head, she continued stitching up the wound in John's side.

"John, I'm here John." Elise said in a low voice. John's reaction to her voice was instantaneous. He turned his head toward her and struggled to open his eyes. Elise placed her hand on the side of his face and leaned in and whispered in his ear. A smile slowly appeared on his face as his eyes opened and slowly focused. They remained that way for several minutes, each one gazing on the other's face, lost in the joy of being together once more.

Once the gunshot wound was sutured and the bandage in place, Meg turned her attention back to the incision she had noticed on John's right shoulder. Giving John a local anesthetic, she carefully cut the stitches and excised what she had felt under his skin. John was oblivious to her working on his shoulder. He and Elise were caught up in their own world.

Looking at the small, metal object, Meg felt this was something that Harold needed to see. It looked like a type of computer chip. Maybe that was how Harold kept track of John? The amateur look of the stitches gave her pause. They were not done by a doctor or a nurse and Meg couldn't see Harold subjecting John to this level of ineptitude. If he wanted John to have something like this inserted in his body, he would have made sure it was done right. Cleaning the incision, she bandaged it up and spoke.

"John, do you have any idea what this is?" she asked, holding it up for him to see.

Dragging his eyes away from Elise, John immediately recognized it as the chip that Kara had implanted in him.

"Show that to Harold. He'll want to see it. It's important." John gasped out, pausing to catch his breath. He was still weak from the blood loss but was gaining ground rapidly. "Tell him I'll explain later but he needs to examine it carefully, there is cyanide in there."

Leaving Elise and John to themselves, Meg cleaned up her instruments, pulled off her gloves and went out into the hall to find Harold. She found him sitting stiffly on a bench in the hall. Knowing his back and neck problems, Meg was concerned about how long he'd been waiting and sitting on that hard bench. Seeing her walk out of the room, Harold struggled to stand up as she approached. His eyes were overly large behind his glasses, desperately seeking good news from her. Smiling at him, Meg held out her hands and grasped Harold's ice cold ones.

"He's fine Harold. He's going to be alright."

Closing his eyes and thanking whatever Powers That Be, he finally exhaled. He hadn't realized he'd been holding his breath since Dr. Tillman walked out of the room.

"John said to give you this, that it was important; said he'd explain later but to be careful because it contains cyanide." Meg gave Harold a small vial containing the computer chip.

"What is it?" He asked.

"I don't know, but it was implanted in John's shoulder, just under the skin. AND it was done recently. The incision had barely begun to heal."

Holding the vial up to the light, Harold was immediately intrigued. The fact that it had been implanted in John only a few days ago and the fact that it was obviously lethal made it rather obvious as to who had implanted it in John's body. Somehow this had to do with the security cameras being unable to track John and Stanton, he was sure of it. He was eager to talk to John about it but decided that it could wait for at least a few more hours.

"Come on Harold, you look like you could use a cup of tea." said Meg as she tucked Finch's hand under her arm. "Let the two of them have some privacy, I don't think anything else will happen for a little while, right?"

One of Harold's eyebrows rose at the last part of her sentence and Meg gave him a look and they both broke out into laughter. "Ok, as much as I admire John's ability to heal, even HE would find it difficult to…" Her voice trailed off. "Then again, we both know how determined Elise can be."

"Indeed. Shall we get that cup of tea, Meg?"

Tucking the glass vial into his pocket, Harold allowed Dr. Tillman to lead him away from the examination room that held John and Elise. He knew they needed the time to reconnect after being ripped away from each other so abruptly, each worried about the other's safety.

Approaching a common area that contained vending machines, Meg led Harold in and told him to sit. "Doctor's orders." She said with a smile.

There were two other people in the area, one looking relatively clean while the other looked like they'd come fresh off the street. Greeting the dirty one by name, Meg asked how he was doing and was he here for a wound check.

Harold tuned out the conversation and immediately pulled the vial out of his pocket. It contained what looked like some type of micro computer chip…very small and flat. Frowning as he remembered that Meg had said she'd dug it out of John's arm, Finch's mind began running through different theories as to why such a chip would be embedded in John's body. To track him? To control him by pain or threat of death? This had to be connected to what Stanton had uploaded. Harold was lost in thought as different scenarios played out in his mind.

Meg came back to the table carrying two steaming cups of hot liquid. Smiling up at her, Finch thanked her. He needed it so badly he didn't really care if it wasn't Sensha Green. Sipping the hot liquid he felt it refreshing him body, mind and soul. Hot tea was what his body craved. He, like everyone else, had been running on little to no sleep since John had been taken.

Sitting down next to Harold, Meg sipped her coffee, watching him. Her dealings with him had been mainly through John or during the time she'd been called in to save Elise. Seeing the depth of the bond these three people felt for each other made her remember that there was more to life than her job as a doctor. She remembered how they'd almost lost John when he thought Elise had died. Elise, in John's position this time, had held up much better than he had. Then again, she believed that was a woman's nature; to actually be stronger than a man when it came to a physical reaction to an emotional issue. She'd been glad to have Elise help her take care of John after she'd gotten that bullet out. It had made the actual surgery faster and shorter, so there was less stress on him. That, and the fact that John knew Elise was there, were what had pulled him back from the brink so quickly.

"Thank you for what you've done for John." Harold spoke, startling Meg. She'd been off in her own mind, re-evaluating her own priorities. She nodded depreciatively at his words. Maybe it was finally time to relax and get back out among healthy people once more. Maybe she could finally let the loss of her sister go and come back from that dark place. "You know you are always welcome to call me. Anytime when John, Elise or you need something, Mr. Finch"

"Harold, please."

"Harold." she repeated with a smile. "I can never thank John enough from saving me from myself, from keeping me from ruining my own life. How he knew what would happen to me…if I'd followed my plan..." Her voice trailed off, shaking her head slowly side to side. "He's an amazing man." She finished.

"That he is. I feel very lucky to count him as a friend." Harold replied.