A delayed and shorter than I would have liked chapter. Enjoy!

They found Weston tied to a buoy off the east side of the island. It was clear Mike hadn't been in the water long but somehow Joe's people slipped past the parade of ships and officers that had lined the area. The crews had been too busy for Mike to notice two individuals in the dark murky water at night. They had had exactly twenty minutes to find Mike before the tide rode high enough to cover the bottom of the buoy and him. The ship with Hardy and Parker had arrived with five minutes to spare.

Once in the hospital the doctors covered Weston with warming blankets, ushered him into a room to check all his vital signs and clear his lungs from any water that had threatened to fill them. Ryan and Debra were left behind the swinging doors as Mike was rushed away from them but placed in good hands. The doctors checked everything, knowing that his wounds were both physical and not. Mike passed out from exhaustion, his body and his spirit broken from fighting so hard. His face was cut up, his lip split, and his wrists raw from struggling against the restraints they had kept him in. Joe's people had not been kind to Mike during the three days that they had had him but Mike had not made it easy for them to hurt him. He had spent much of his time behind a computer screen like Deirdre but his field skills helped him enough to stay alive for the past three days. Finally he could rest.

The other agents, the coast guard and the local police force scoured the area that they found Mike in for any sign of Joe's people but it was as if they had slipped in and out of their defenses like smoke. Not a bit of evidence was left behind aside from the plain sailing rope that had been used to tie Mike up and that was completely useless. They had Mike back but it appeared the victory still belonged to Joe.

It took almost two hours for the doctors to clear Mike for visitors and even then he wasn't conscious. They would derive little benefit from being at the hospital but Hardy refused to leave Mike's side. Ryan didn't like to get attached to people but for once he had found someone he didn't mind. Mike was a good kid and a strong agent, he was someone that Ryan could have seen himself befriending years ago. Now, Ryan didn't have friends or at least he didn't make new ones. He figured the less ties he had to people the less he could hurt them. Ryan fully believed in his death curse and he knew Joe would exploit that if he could. Ryan only hoped that what had happened to Mike wasn't because he had let Joe see them together as co-workers.

While Ryan remained at the hospital Debra knew she had to get back to work. She knew that the whole team would have gladly rushed to Mike's room to wish him well but with the young man passed out and kept that way through painkillers there really was no use taking the team off of their task. Joe's people continued to push forward in their plans, getting more and more daring as they faced lines of agents and passed through them as if it was nothing. Debra was getting sick of being one step behind and she hated that Joe held them exactly where he wanted them. It was time to break free from the puppeteer's grasp and take control of this situation but for now they all needed sleep.

Debra returned to the prison to relieve her agents, coming into the room to find everyone at a standstill, waiting for orders since they had run out of things to do. They still needed to find Joey Mattews but with no leads as to where Emma, Paul or Jacob were they had no idea where to look. Hardy had injured Paul so no one even knew if he was in the game anymore, his body would be the first new lead towards Joey in a while but so far they had come up empty handed.

"Is everything alright?" Deirdre asked the moment Debra entered the room.

"Weston's safe, he's at the hospital."

Liette stood from the table at Debra's words, grabbing her blazer from the chair that she had placed it on just two hours ago. Waiting had been torturous and the hours had dragged on but now that the waiting was over Liette felt herself spring to life again.

"Where are you running off to?" Deirdre asked.

"To see Mike."

"He's unconscious, there's no use rushing to the hospital." Debra halted, raising her hand to steady Liette. "I'll take you there in the morning if you still want to go." no one was going to let Liette go into that hospital alone, not with Mike defenseless and Liette's innocence still not proven. "For now you should go get settled in the hotel and get some rest. You're going to need it."

"I want to see him." Liette resisted slightly as she threw her blazer back on and continued to move as if she would get what she wanted.

"Tomorrow."

The finality in Debra's words rang out loudly and her tone was harsh enough that it silenced the room. Liette stood against her, tempted to fire back but withholding any shot of words she could use against her boss. Liette was painfully aware of every motion she made and every syllable that rolled off her tongue. Normally she wasn't so withdrawn, she spoke bluntly and without a care of social consequence. The only reason she acted differently now was because of how Debra was treating her. Liette knew that one wrong word would just put her in an interrogation room and for once she wouldn't be the one asking the questions.

The eyes of the other agents lingered on the three women in the middle of the room. Deirdre stood between Debra and Liette, the centre between the two uneven scales that seemed to sway against each other now. Debra caused the motion with her swaying confidence in Liette; her want to trust each member of her team crashing against her fear of trusting too easily and being fooled again by one of Joe's people. Despite her hatred for office politics, Debra knew that this case could make or break her career. If many more people were killed or hurt she'd be reporting to someone instead of leading this investigation.

"I suggest you go get some rest." Debra said again. "Be ready to come back here and work the case in the morning."

Liette knew what that meant. She'd be kept around here to be watched and monitored but to also be used if Joe wanted to bargain with them again. If he wanted to see Liette again he'd have to make a deal and Debra would make that clear. Liette was not getting back into that interrogation room with Joe unless Joe was willing to give them more information. Debra figured it would be unlikely that Joe would give up his son but there had to be other things he could bargain with that would help their investigation.

Liette chose to lay down her arms, dropping her head down in a solemn nod before she moved past Deirdre and Debra to go to the door. She moved through the hall, her arms swinging unevenly as she moved. Like a grandfather clock that was off time she moved with uneven clicks and uncertainty. For a moment she regretted not saying anything against Debra but it only took her a few minutes to convince herself she had made the right decisions. Setting herself up as a bigger suspect would see her interrogated until every last story she had of Joe left her lips and there were some stories that she just wasn't ready to tell.