7.

~ Arthur waited for Lake to arrive.

He didn't bother to stick around the hospital to see if his email was responded to or not. He hurried to the dollar theater in the bad part of town, to wait for the FBI agent.

The Broken Horse movie theater was a washed out place that could, in the right hands, be restored to the magnificent glory of it's heyday. But now, it showed forgotten movies no one wanted to see at a dollar a ticket. It was visited mostly by the homeless looking for the joy of being indoors for a few hours with climate control.

The Point Man spotted the FBI man, his clothing disheveled, hurriedly leave his government issued car and walk quickly to the theater, buy a ticket and rush inside.

Arthur scanned the parking lot. His careful eyes checking rooftops and even the men sitting on bus benches. None of them looked like agents waiting for him.

No, Lake had come alone.

The Point Man secured a baseball cap over his face and walked with his head down to the theater.

~ No one bothered him as soon as he was inside. The cold blast of air-conditioning was a welcomed relief from the outside. Lake wasn't in the lobby, he must already be inside the theater.

Thankfully, Arthur had chosen a movie with a lot of sound effects and explosions. It was easy to come inside, and find Lake with all the distractions on screen.

Lake was perched at the top of the row of seating and noticed the Point Man approach only at the last moment.

The agent didn't say a word, just looked strait ahead at the boring, horrible movie as Arthur took a seat next to him.

"You have something new about the bomb? Or do you want to confess?" Lake said casually.

"This has nothing to do with the bomb and you know it." Arthur told him curtly.

Lake chuckled.

"Look, I'm not into guys alright? That's my brother. So if you asked me down here to this theater to try and seduce me-"

Lake stopped talking when the Point Man pressed the barrel of his handgun into the agent's side.

"Put your hands on the seat in front of you." Arthur told him in a whisper.

The agent complied and looked worried.

The Point Man made quick work of taking the agents gun away from him and ran a hand over his chest to see if her was wearing a wire.

"Sure you're not hear for romance?" Lake teased.

"Where is she?" Arthur asked.

"Who?"

"My girlfriend." Arthur almost shouted but managed to keep his voice low at the last second. "Ariadne Richards. Where is she? You called me, threatened to cut her fucking finger off. You got my attention, asshole. Now I'm done playing games with you. Tell me where she is and I won't kill you right here."

Lake was quite for a long time.

"Tell me!" Arthur hissed.

He could't stand this anymore. He hated being at the mercy of this puppet master.

"I should warn you that what you're doing right now is felony. I'm a federal agent." Lake said.
"A federal agent who knew I used to be secret service. A federal agent who knows how to override an alarm to my house, kidnap my girlfriend and plant a bomb in a museum. All to distract people. Yeah asshole, I know what you are." Arthur spat.

He was ready to pull the trigger. He wanted to shoot this prick in the belly and have him die a slow and painful death.

Lake seemed to have sensed the Point Man's frustration.

"Calm down." the agent said. "You're girlfriend is missing?"

"You know she's missing. You took her." Arthur hissed.

"No, I didn't."

"Fuck you."

"I didn't. Take . Your. Girlfriend." Lake said slowly. His words were careful and self assured.

Arthur felt the tension break slightly. Lake sounded like he was telling the truth.

"How long has she been missing?" Lake asked.

Arthur didn't respond.

"How long? Did you get a ransom?" Lake asked again.
"I left here after Lee called me about the bomb. When I was talking to you, someone called and said they had her. I left you, went home and found her gone. Signs of a violent struggle." Arthur said. His blood pressure was spiking again.

"How could I have called you if I was talking to you at the same time, man?" Lake asked.

"An accomplice." Arthur growled.
"Alright. WHY would I take your girlfriend? I just met you today." Lake asked.
"You tell me. You've been planning all this."

"Planning what? I work in counter terrorism. You're a glorified rent a cop at a museum. Why would I want to hurt her or you?" Lake laughed.

"Her father was senator, Lake. A lot of people were mad at him before he was killed." Arthur said sourly.

"Yes, killed by his own head of security. Think you should have caught on to that earlier? Isn't that what they train secret service to do? Or were you just having a bad day?" Lake asked.
"What do you know about me?" Arthur demanded.
"Everything." Lake told him. "After the bombing, I made sure I knew everything about you. I know you were on the protection detail for former first lady Winter. I know you were there the day those two maniacs broke into her house. I know that after she passed, you worked in private security and your last job was to guard Senator Richard's daughter… wait for it… Ariadne."

"Why did you kidnap her?" Arthur demanded.
"How many times do I have to tell you, I didn't?" Lake said coldly. "If someone was pissed enough at senator Richards before he died to stalk his daughter and kill the old man, isn't it reasonable that someone is still mad? I mean a lot of people were screwed out of a lot of money."

"Is she still alive?" Arthur demanded.

"How would I know that?" Lake said.

The agent breathed out a long sigh when the Point Man pressed the barrel of his gun deeper into his rib cage.

"Look, I'm sorry this has happened to you. It seems I can't convince you I didn't do this. If she's really gone, I'm guessing you need help. If you want my help, that is. The kidnaper was most likely the bomber as you said. But if you're going to shoot me, go ahead. You'll spend the rest of your life in prison. You and I both know they will catch you and soon. And your lady will still die." the agent said.

Arthur felt his own stubbornness, his own unwillingness to give in, wanting to take control. If Lake was telling the truth, the Point Man would go to prison forever for shooting a federal agent. Ariadne would die a horrible death if he lost his cool just now.
"Make the right call, man." Lake offered.

Arthur eased his gun away from Lake's ribs and the agent breathed a little easier.

"Good." Lake said.

"I didn't bomb the museum." Arthur said. He felt weak all of the sudden. As if all the strength he had ever had was leeched out of him and now he was a shell of a man. All he had was the truth and no way to prove anything.
"If it makes you feel better, I never thought you were a suspect." Lake grumbled. "Security footage caught one of your guys, Wilson, putting that toy car behind a display at the front entrance. We can't find him now, so it's pretty good theory he's our guy."

"Wilson." Arthur repeated. "Wilson isn't smart enough to have done this. I know the guy, he has trouble keeping up with the plot of 'The Expendables'."

"You're not the first person to tell me that." Lake grumbled. "Can I have my gun back?"

"No." Arthur said. "You still have to prove to me that you didn't help Wilson take my girl."

"I don't know who took you girl, man." Lake said honestly. "But from the look of you, the risk you're taking now, I think you're telling the truth about the disaperance."

Arthur said nothing.
"Give me back my gun and I won't call this shit in." Lake said.

"He said if I contacted the FBI, he would kill her. I think he'll do it to. I tried to reason with him. Tried to get him to talk to me." Arthur was rambling now.
"He just might kill her." Lake said. "How did he get into the house? You said you and an alarm?" Lake asked.
"The alarm was set, the front door locked. He would have had to have the codes. No one but Ariadne and I have the codes." Arthur said helplessly.

He handed Lake his gun back and the agent, true to his word, put it back in the holster and didn't arrest the Point Man.

"You said Wilson lacked the brain power to do any of this." Lake sighed. "Maybe he was paid to plant the toy car. Has he ever been in your house?"

"No, never." Arthur said quickly.

"Are you sure no one at the museum knew you two were a couple?"

"I told you, we were discreet." the Point Man said.

"Someone knew you were living together. Someone knew you were former secret service and how to gain access to your home." Lake said. "Do you have any enemies? Anyone who would want to do you harm?"

"I used to work for the U.S government." Arthur said darkly. "Where should I start?"

"zMaybe the unsub want's to hurt you and not her. He's just using her to get to you." Lake summarized.
"Why didn't he just come after me?" Arthur almost barked.
"If I knew you, knew your relationship with Miss Richards, it's how I would hurt you." Lake said. "Now all we have to figure out is, how did he know everything about you?"