III. Countdown
Sam tapped her ear as she and John looked at Calvin's prone body slumped over his study desk "Finch were too late, Calvin's dead….It looks like he killed himself, single gunshot to the head..looks like he's been dead a few hours…I didn't know your machine cared about people who commit suicide?"
"That can't be the reason why the machine gave us Dr. Calvin's number…it's impossible. I didn't design the machine to observe self harm unless the person's actions directly led to the harm of another person," Finch replied puzzled.
"Your right Finch, we didn't get Calvin's number because of a suicide…he was murdered…and from the looks of it, professionally," John stated as he tilted his head and looked closer at Calvin's left hand.
"How'd you figure that?"Shaw replied as she watched John.
"If Calvin willingly shot himself I doubt he'd have a thumb tap bruise on his hand."
"Thumb tap?" Finch questioned.
"It's a type of stun technique that utilizes the pressure point between the thumb and the pointer figure..It can be painful but it's usually used to distract," John replied.
Shaw looked at the thumb sized bruise on Calvin's left hand "Distract enough for the perpetrator to force Calvin's figure onto the trigger?"
"If it's done right and the person has the proper training." John stated as he began looking around Calvin's desk.
"What kind of training, Mr. Reese?" Finch questioned.
"The kind of training that I went through," John replied.
"So what the CIA or an independent group took Calvin out? Why?" Shaw stated.
John looked at Shaw and shrugged his shoulders as he walked out of the study into the rest of the house.
"Is there any clue as to why anyone would want Dr. Calvin dead?" Finch asked as he turned towards his computer and brought up Calvin's most recent bank transactions and phone calls.
"Not that I can see…his study is pristine…I can't tell if he had a laptop or files in here, if he did who every killed him probably took it with them." Shaw replied as she moved out of the study.
"I'm going over Dr. Calvin's recent phone calls and over a one hour time period he made a call to an office building in Manhattan, then to a home address in the upper east-side and then he placed 4 calls to a cell phone number. All the numbers have one person's name in common, an Elizabeth Harris."
"Who's she? Friend? Lover?" Shaw asked as she walked into the kitchen and watched as John moved around opening and closing cabinets and the refrigerator.
"She seems a bit young to be involved with Dr. Calvin in that fashion Ms. Shaw."
Sam smirked, "Ever hear of Hugh Hefner or a 'Sugar Daddy' Finch."
A distasteful frown graced Harold's face "Unfortunately I have Ms. Shaw, though I doubt she is in need of Dr. Calvin's money it seems that Ms. Harris is quite wealthy in her own right. She's an independent billionaire. She's quite an impressive lady she holds multiple degrees from Harvard, Yale and Columbia. She was even featured in Forbes Magazine as a business prodigy and she's quite the philanthropist, although she doesn't voice her charitable donations, she personally finances over a hundred soup kitchens in New York, but most of her focus is directed to Orphanages and child care programs. On top of owning independent companies she is also the CEO of Dynamic Systems."
"So she's a walking brain with a bleeding heart?" Shaw asked.
"Depends on who you ask, her colleagues and the public rarely know that she gives back. Within the business world she doesn't have such a saintly image; she is quite the ruthless business woman, shes spear headed multiple hostile takeovers and buyouts. Three years ago when she took over the position of CEO of Dynamic Systems, the former CEO, Luke Myers referred to her in the press as a 'Shedevil in a nice suit, and a heartless thief with a power complex'," Finch stated.
"What's Dynamic Systems?" John questioned.
"It's a private defense firm, her company provides everything from body armor to supplying the materials required for developing battleships and advanced tactical weaponry."
"That's strange, why would a crackpot doctor try and contact Harris?" Shaw asked.
"It gets stranger; I don't think Calvin has been in his house for quite some time. His fridge is mostly empty except a gallon of milk that expired back in 2013 and there is a lot of dust on things that a average person would come into contact with on a daily bases ,"John stated.
"Should we try and questioned Harris or break into her home and snoop around?" Shaw asked.
"Unfortunately, Ms. Shaw that will be impossible; Ms. Harris is currently out of the country on business until the end of next month. At this point there doesn't seem to be anything we can do until Ms. Harris returns to New York."
"So what do we do about the dead Doctor?" John questioned.
" I have contacted Detective Fusco and informed him of the situation. Ms. Harris seems to be our only connection and given the line of work she's in approaching her estate unannounced will more than likely draw unwanted attention to our activities, to my knowledge Ms. Harris' s life is not in danger. I have reviewed her financials and she hasn't made any unusually payments or deposits to suggest that she has any connection to Dr. Calvin's death." Harold replied.
John and Shaw back tracked their step as they exited Calvin's home and made their way to Finch's parked car.
"That was a bust. What do we do now?" Shaw asked with a board tone as she slumped into the passenger's seat.
"Sadly, we were too late to help Dr. Calvin, we will have to let Detective Fusco investigate the crime. I will keep tabs on Ms. Harris, in the meantime we will continue business as usual and respond to any other numbers that come up," Harold stated.
Elizabeth sat down at a small café outside her hotel, as she waited for the corporate jet to be prepped for her next departure. She was brought out of her thoughts as she heard her cell phone ring. "Dr. Cassidy, thank you for calling me back so soon, I don't think that the matter is anything serious but Hank contacted me … I know you're busy with your own projects but he asked me to send you a flash drive containing some research he did…No, I don't know what it's on…I don't have the drive on me now, I'm currently overseas and I won't be back until the end of next month...Ok, thank you Dr. Cassidy... I'll send you the flash drive when I get back home."
Elizabeth hung up her cell phone and continued eating her lunch as she thought about what was so important that her Godfather contacted her after almost a year of no communication.
Joss stared at her reflection in the bathroom mirror,although she was assured that their was nothing wrong, she still felt off about the differences between her eyes. Her right pupil was larger than her left pupil, if she looked close enough she could see a small dark spec in the center that was slightly darker than the rest of her pupil. She had asked the doctor why her right eye looked different but he said it was just a natural occurrence and she shouldn't worry about.
She sighed as she looked at her watch she had fifteen minutes before Agent Perry came to get her. When she woke up, after she passed out she was in a different facility, one that was owned by the NSA. They debriefed her on the events that culminated in her attempted murder and they had informed her of her full name.
After her psych evaluation and her psychical exam she was given the okay to begin her training and reconditioning. Apparently her employers wanted her back in the field because the terrorist group that tried to kill her was becoming active again and they wanted her to find and capture the ring leader, a man named Harold Finch.
Joss flicked the light off in her bathroom and moved back out to the bedroom. She was kind of nervous to meet her instructor; apparently the lady had a reputation for being crazy. Joss finished putting on her workout sweats and was in the process of lacing up her tennis shoes as she heard her door open.
"Are you ready to go Carter?" Perry asked.
Joss nodded her head and followed Perry out of the room and down the hall toward the elevator. Once they were in the elevator Perry hit the button for the basement.
"Don't look so nervous Carter, she's not as bad as Sarah made her out to be," Perry replied with a smirk as he touched her shoulder.
"Easy for you to say you don't have to spend the next 6 weeks with her," Joss fired back.
"Just listen and follow her orders and you'll do fine," Perry stated as the elevator came to a stop and the doors opened and Perry gestured for her to step off the elevator.
Joss looked around the training and conditioning area, the entire room was missive, there were numerous amounts of workout equipment and the entire gym floor was covered by blue padded floor mats. Joss stopped her roaming as she spotted a woman in a black tank top sitting cross legged on the ground, her back was facing towards them and she was fiddling with something. Joss was brought out of her thoughts when she heard Perry' s voice.
"She's here…and try to be nice," Perry stated as he addressed the woman sitting on the floor. Joss watched as the woman raised her hand and flipped Perry the middle figure without turning around.
Joss turned around and looked at Perry as he stepped back into the elevator. She watched as he leaned against the back wall and smiled at her.
"Like I said follow instructions and you'll do fine Carter...oh and try not to say anything about the burn scars…she's a little sensitive about those." Perry remarked as the doors closed and he left her to her fate.
Joss's panic attack was interrupted when she heard the woman speak again.
"Are you just going to stand there?"
Joss hesitated a moment then slowly made her way over to the woman. When she was a few feet away the woman stood up leaving a hand gun on the floor. As Joss stood behind her she watched as the taller woman put her hair in a messy pony tail.
While she was putting her hair up Joss's couldn't stop her eyes from looking at the healed over burn scars that ran completely up her right arm into the right side of her neck. When the woman turned around Joss had to control her expression as she looked at the woman's face.
Extending from her right arm up the right side of her neck were slightly red ripples of skin from a burn. She realized now why Sarah called her two faced. Although her right check, ear and forehead were scared from burns the left side of her face was unblemished. Joss was brought out of her staring as she heard the woman clear her throat.
"Sorry…I didn't mean to stare..I just never….uhm…never mind…I'm Jocelyn Carter." Joss stuttered out as she extended her hand to greet the woman.
Joss watched as the woman looked at her before she smiled and grabbed her hand. Before Joss knew what was happening, the woman yanked her forward. Joss felt a fist strike her chest, her throat and finally her nose before her legs were swiped out from beneath her. As soon as her back hit the mat the woman knelled down on her stomach.
When her head stopped spinning, Joss finally looked up and at the woman and saw her smirking as she held a gun to her forehead. As she lay on her back Joss felt blood run down her nose and slide down her cheek.
"It's so nice to meet you, Jocelyn, I'm Kara."