Death of Innocence

Day 7

Manhattan streets, November 2013, same night

Late now, and Shaw was pushing herself to find him. Made a grid of the places she'd thought he might go, and she was doubling back on each of them now. Like a needle in a haystack, though. It'd be a miracle for the two of them to arrive at the same place at exactly the same time so she could actually lay eyes on him. He didn't want to be found. He knows how to disappear.

And he's wounded, besides.

Would he be using this much energy out on the street? Probably holed up somewhere to conserve resources. Food's everywhere in Manhattan, so that's not his concern. And likely he's got more than enough cash for whatever he needs, to get through the day.

She'd gone over it with Finch, to get his take on it. What'd be the places he'd want/need to go to? What'd be meaningful to him, if he was getting ready to leave, like really leave, Manhattan?

Shaw wasn't built that way, herself, wasn't sentimental at all – so that's why she'd talked it out with Finch. He'd know better what Reese might do.

So once they'd made their list, Finch started setting up surveillance around the sites – CCTV and private cameras he could hack to give them more eyes on the locations. But they could still be wrong. Or maybe they'd missed one and that's the one he'd gone to, to see it one more time.

Shaw didn't get this at all. Why would Reese leave like this? Anyone who did what they did for a living had lost people. She had. But it hadn't bothered her the same way as Carter's death had gotten to the rest of the Team.

Maybe she'd have to read more about this – to understand what to expect from them. Probably had a book, somewhere.

Headed over to the City Morgue.

Reese kept saying it out loud, like something had happened there, when he'd been delirious on that third day. The Morgue, and Carter, Quinn, they were coming after them, trapped. Didn't make much sense at the time. And Reese had refused to talk about it later, when he woke up. She'd guessed it must have been something big for him to react like that. Finch agreed.

Left her car a half-block away around the corner. Raining again and she pulled her hood over her hair while she trotted around the corner to the entrance. Typical smell inside. No one around at that hour at the desk, so she just wandered in and took a look around. Nothing fancy, but why would dead people care, right?

She walked down the one main hallway, shaped like an L, with the labs and offices along it. Most of the dead people were probably stored in the basement. Cold storage, in drawers, or on gurneys if they'd run out of room.

Couldn't imagine Reese having anything big happening down there, but they needed to be sure. She took the elevator down – wished she hadn't. The stairs would have been quieter, and faster. Had to smell the air in the elevator a lot longer than if she'd used the stairs.

Her steps echoed in the hallways down there. Spent ten minutes scouring the place and came up empty. Took the stairs two at a time back to the main floor. This time, something interesting. She'd noticed the walls this time. Rather, the holes in the walls. Looked like bullet holes to her, patched, but not very well.

This must have been where the HR cops and street thugs had gone after Reese and Carter. They'd holed up here somewhere with Quinn for a while, when she'd been going after Fusco's kid, Lee.

Had to decide between saving his kid, or Fusco. Felt bad about it but figured Fusco'd want her to get the scum going after his kid. Turned out, Fusco took care of things on his end, anyway.

Turned out right. Except for Carter, and for Reese, too. That cop, Simmons, didn't do too well, either. Had it coming as far as she was concerned.

When she didn't find Reese at the Morgue, she headed down to the 3rd Precinct. If Reese needed to see anyplace to do with Carter, this would be on the top 3 of their list. That corner where Simmons ambushed the two of them. Finch had been there for that, and he could barely speak about it, himself. Pay phone ringing across the street, and Finch was just getting there to pick the two of them up after Carter got Reese out of jail. Just standing there talking. Wasn't right.

She stayed in her car. Drove around and around in the rain. He wouldn't be out here in this, she kept telling herself. But then, it was Reese, so she couldn't be sure.

Nothing after five passes, so she gave up on that one. Drove around by the Courthouse, a couple of bars he'd used to meet people. Nothing at any of them.

Needed to eat then. She'd missed lunch and dinner and now it was gnawing at her. Stopped at an all-night diner, and flashed Reese's picture at the waitress. Shook her head no. Just the dishwasher guy in the back at this hour, and he hadn't seen anyone from back there.

There was the Chinese place where Reese had taken the rags to stuff under the duct tape when he'd been slowly bleeding to death. The name was still visible on them. Couldn't imagine he'd return there, though. But after she'd picked her food off the counter at the diner, she'd headed there, anyway. Took a few trips around the block, and even drove down the alleyway behind the restaurant, in case he'd gone back there for some reason. Nothing.

Checked back with Finch, munching on a burger when he picked up.

"Anything, Finch?"

"I'm afraid not, Miss Shaw. How've you done?"

"Ditto. Just got through the grid again and nothing."

"Why don't you come in and get some sleep then, Miss Shaw. It won't do any good to stay out in the rain like this. He's unlikely to be wandering around out there now. Wouldn't you agree?"

Shaw's natural tendency, maybe since birth, but certainly since Med School, Residency, then the ISA, was that you didn't let a little rain stop you. You kept going 'til you had your man. It bristled inside to change tactics. Finch noticed her hesitation.

"The Machine is monitoring all of the same sites now, Miss Shaw. Please. Come in and rest – at least for a few hours. We'll start fresh at sun-up."

Made some sense, she thought. Since Reese had gone "radio-silence" on them, not much hope of hearing from him any time soon.

"Can you hear me, Miss Shaw?"

"Roger that, Finch. I'm comin' in, then."