Part Five – To be Dragged Back into the Fold

The Federal Aviation Administration Centre
58th Street
Miami-Dade County

Agent Dani Pearce sat on the passenger side of the black, unmarked SUV, staring out at the blurring scenery through the tinted window. She was tired, worn out to the bone, and severely jet-lagged.

The call had arrived just after eight. She had returned home a little after seven, just as she had been doing for the past two years at the end of yet another exciting day at the office staring at mountains of reports on all kinds of Mumbai's lucrative businesses. For all intents and purposes, she was there as a business consultant, which she actually was, from time to time, when she wasn't wading through the exhaustive muck looking for counterfeiting needles hidden in massive haystacks of their imports and exports.

The phone had started ringing just as she was curling around herself on her comfy sofa with her dinner.

"You're being recalled," said the voice on the other end of the call. The '703' prefix left a little doubt of its origin, "There's a new assignment."

That was all it took to rearrange her life yet again.

She had been with Langley under contract for sixteen years. She was used to it. But the speed with which things actually moved after the initial call even took her by surprise. She hadn't seen that kind of urgency attached to a recall since…well, the 9/11 incident.

The twenty-two hours that followed were a blur. The itinerary that had arrived in an email required her to make it to the airport, which was located about twenty miles from where she lived, in less than half the time it would usually have required. The urgency had forced her to break a number of traffic laws, and dig out the reflexes from her army days to drive. But she had made it on time to make it to the private jet the agency had diverted to bring her back home.

After nineteen hours in the air, she had finally landed at a private airfield in Fort Lauderdale, where a company driver had swiftly collected her to bring her to the field office in Miami-Dade County.

She found it peculiar that they brought her to Miami, instead of Virginia or DC. If the location itself was a clue, she could only think of one person who had the tenacity to get the lumbering bureaucratic wheels of Langley to spin breaking records at NASCAR.

She didn't even want to imagine what Michael Westen had done this time for the agency to pull her out like that with no warning, from what had essentially been a post of reprimand.

"Ma'am," said the driver, breaking her out of her thoughts, "We're here."

That was when she realised that they were parked at the entrance of the local FAA.

"Uh, yeah, thanks." She flashed a weary smile at the driver before getting out of the vehicle. The SUV took off without further delay, along with the rest of her baggage except for the small backpack of essentials she kept with her. That was how it always worked. She would reunite with the rest of her belongings at some point, wherever she ended up next with this 'new assignment.'

Another surprise greeted her when she found the assistant director, Reginald Meyers, waiting for her in the office that used to be hers when she was last there. The tall, dark-skinned man in his early sixties was a living legend at the HQ. With a highly distinguished career spanning over four decades behind him, he was the head of Clandestine Services. It was also a well-known fact that he only left his comfortable corner office at Langley to travel when his presence was an absolute requirement to deal with a brewing disaster.

He was standing behind the desk, gazing pensively over the expanding view of Southeastern Miami the 12th floor of the FAA building offered.

At her knock, he turned and nodded at her to enter.

"Take a seat, Pearce," he said once she locked the door behind her.

"Thank you, sir." She said, doing as instructed, and glanced at the three thick folders that were on his side of the table.

Meyers walked over and pushed the files towards her. She noticed that all three of them had the 'classified' seal on top with the familiar name at the bottom.

"I guess you don't need an introduction to this man."

"Sir," she said noncommittally and opened the first file.

Her introduction to Michael Westen four years ago had been an interesting one. At the beginning, she had tentatively trusted him, deciding to give him the benefit of the doubt. Despite what his atrocious, allegedly-altered file told her, she had recruited him to help on Max Newman's murder investigation. Then she had lost all that faith when she discovered how Westen had been deceiving her the entire time, keeping the fact that he had been at the crime scene from the start and that all evidence pointed towards him being the killer. Then, everything had turned upside down again when Westen and his merry band of vigilantes managed to trap the actual killer and coax out a confession.

It had taken time to build up that broken trust. It had required patience and a few missions where she had witnessed firsthand how he truly operated. Those had been fascinating experiences, to say the least, and she had been reluctantly impressed. He possessed an incredibly agile mind to adapt to unpredictable changes to missions on the spot, and had an uncanny ability to salvage operations that seemed utterly unsalvageable. She had gotten to know the man beneath the operative - his uncompromising values, and the depths of his loyalty to the ones who had earned it, especially when he had gone all in with her to take down the man who had killed her fiancé all those years ago.

It had taken time and trials, but Dani had finally come to believe that there may have been some truth to Westen's claims that his record had been altered by a shadowy organisation, in order to have him burned.

It had been his crusade to unearth the hidden illegal network that had gotten her transferred to India, since she had skirted the rules to get him some of the answers he needed. Although she had hated the blow to her career, Dani had never regretted the decisions she had made. By then, she had come to trust him and his friends implicitly.

Then again, she knew that people changed. It had been two years without any contact and she didn't even know where Michael's quest for answers and justice had led him in the end. The implications of having three classified files and an assistant director with a grave expression in front of her, hinted that things may have gone down a dangerous path.

The first file she opened was a murder investigation of a senior agent named Tom Card.

"A little over a year ago, Michael Westen killed Senior Agent Tom Card at the Intercontinental, Miami – shot him point blank in cold blood–"

Dani opened the file and started to skim the reports, partially to see the evidence herself and partially to hide her reaction to the blunt proclamation by the director. There were autopsy reports of Tom Card and an ex-marine named Tyler Gray, whom Dani assumed was the sniper that shot Anson and Michael's brother. Then there was a detailed incident report from another agent named Olivia Riley, the agent who had been in charge of securing the scene and subsequently arresting Michael.

"... he surrendered to the agent in charge at the scene," Director Meyers continued, looking down at Dani from across the table. "He was then transferred to Guantanamo Bay for detention indefinitely–"

Dani looked up from her reading at that.

"Wasn't there a trial, sir? According to Riley, he confessed," She asked, doing her best not to let her emotions bleed into her indifferent tone.

A transfer to a black site meant Michael was off the books, which in turn meant he lost all his rights – not only as an ex-asset, or even an American citizen, but as a human being – the moment he was carted off to Cuba. It took immense effort on her part not to react to the way Meyers went on, as if it was all a perfect punishment for a perfect crime. It felt wrong to her, somehow, especially since she had already noted the inconsistencies in the file in her hand: such as the missing copy of Michael's formal debrief after his arrest.

"Was the transfer off the books or was there some kind of a deal?" She added innocently.

"A deal? For a murderer?" Meyers, Dani noted, had a hard time keeping his own emotions in check. He glared at the file in her hand contemptuously. "You and I both know after a colourful career like his, all a trial would have done is get him to spend the rest of his life in a nice, little secure facility here at home. Westen didn't deserve that after everything he'd done. It would have been a waste of an asset, even a dangerous, out-of-control one like he is. He had other uses–"

Dani didn't do anything outwardly other than nodding passively to let her superior know she understood. In the mental list she was compiling, tracking down the post-arrest interview had just made the top spot, or finding out if there even was one.

One thing she knew about Michael Westen, was that he didn't kill, not when it wasn't extremely necessary. For him to have gunned down an agent of Tom Card's calibre - short of a mental breakdown - there must have been a glaring necessity. Dani knew she had to find out exactly what that was.

Closing the file to thoroughly review it later, she moved on to the next.

"There was an incident in Cuba two weeks ago–" Meyers said as the images of the burning wreckage of a Globemaster on what looked to be a small airfield greeted Dani when she opened the file. There were police reports in Spanish along with English translations.

"Westen was being returned to camp when a group of mercenaries attacked the military cargo plane on the runway upon landing. They killed two military personnel, along with three agents. They took Westen. It's still unclear whether it was a kidnapping or a prearranged jailbreak–"

Dani saw the crime scene photos of the said agents and soldiers. They weren't a pretty sight. A supervisory agent called Andrew Strong seemed to be the only one who had been recovered from the scene alive. Then he succumbed to his injuries and died in the hospital two days later.

"There's a team on site still investigating," Meyers continued, his tone implying heavily that somehow Michael had arranged for all those people to be killed so he could get out. Exactly how he could have managed all that from inside of a cell in Guantanamo Bay, Dani had no clue. Or why he would go through all that to break out of a jail he had willingly walked into. Not to mention the fact that the director's favoured theory didn't align with Michael's character or the way he operated in the slightest.

To her, it was starting to look like the director and his team of investigators were intent on pinning the responsibility of the assault and the deaths on Michael's shoulders. And, just like the first file, she could already see that, either by coincidence or deliberate act, there was plenty of information missing.

She looked up with a frown she hoped conveyed curiosity, not anger. "Why was he out of prison?"

"Agent Strong," said Meyers, shrugging in a way to suggest that it was just an insignificant detail that had no impact on the grand scheme of things, "He was in charge of a top-secret mission to apprehend a highly dangerous terrorist, Randall Burke, a former associate of Westen's. He needed Westen's involvement in certain areas of the operation–"

Dani flipped a few more pages, and her eyes went wide when she saw where the operation had taken place. "Here in Miami?"

She had an uneasy inkling about the scenario she was being fed and the crucial information that was being kept from her, or being brushed aside as unimportant. If there was one thing that could drive Michael Westen off the rails, that would be a threat against his friends and family.

"Yes," Meyers nodded. "The details of the operations are there, in the next file, along with everything Strong had on Randall Burke. Everything you need to know, it's all there."

"Thank you, sir. I appreciate it," Dani smiled, closing the file.

She had a feeling the next file was also the same, with all the reports and details the director thought were necessary, not everything, despite his claim. She would have to go through all of them slowly and carefully, before figuring out exactly what story was being orchestrated and what really took place.

"If I may ask, what precisely is my involvement at this stage of the operation?"

"Roughly forty-eight hours ago, Westen surrendered to the US embassy in Havana," Meyers revealed. "He was handed over to the investigation team already there. He refused to debrief. He initially requested Strong, and when he was informed of the agent's death, well… he requested you."

Dani stared at him, this time not bothering to hide her shock. "Why?"

"We don't know," Meyers said, finally dropping onto his seat in frustration. "Like I said, he's not feeling talkative. The team's been trying to get him to crack for two days, no luck."

I hope they haven't resorted to breaking out the electrodes, she thought to herself glumly. While it had all the facilities to securely hold a few international criminals until their logistics were sorted, an embassy wasn't necessarily a place where the said criminals could be thoroughly interrogated. That was the reason they had black sites. By surrendering on the embassy grounds, Michael had brought himself some time. For what, Dani didn't know yet.

"What do you want me to do, sir?"

"Get over to Cuba and handle his debrief," said Meyers. "Find out everything he knows and what he's been up to for the last ten days since his escape. And once that's done, I want you to take over Agent Strong's operation to take Burke down."

"How about the investigation of the assault?" Dani inquired, knowing that it was going to be an integral part of Strong's op.

"You'll meet the team handling it at the embassy, they'll report to you," Meyers replied. "But, your main focus should be on finding and apprehending Randall Burke. I want you to squeeze Westen out of every bit of intel he has on the terrorist and figure out a plan of attack."

"I need full control of the operation, sir," Dani informed her boss pleasantly. "I need freedom to pursue all avenues I believe are relevant, including resources, support and assets."

"You'll have whatever you need," Meyers said, pinning her with a narrow-eyed gaze. "Provided that you manage to make Westen talk, of course."

Michael had requested her. She had no doubts that he would talk to her. She had a feeling he was running out of people to trust, and calling out to her had been somewhat of a desperate act. That was more than enough reason for her to take complete control of this operation, just as Westen had meant to happen by stubbornly holding onto whatever information he had. That way, she would be able to get to the bottom of whatever he had gotten himself tangled in this time around.

"I'll do my best." She said simply, not letting any of her thoughts show up on her carefully blank expression.

"I'm leaving now," Meyers said, glancing at his watch, "I expect updates as soon as possible once you've made contact. Your flight leaves for Cuba in an hour."

Dani decided to give the director a quick preview of exactly how she wished to run her operation. "No, it won't, sir."

Meyers' eyes went wide in surprise. "Pardon me?"

"You just handed me the reins, sir," Dani replied calmly. "To get Westen to talk, and to make sure he leaves nothing out, I'm going to need to know all about the operation Agent Strong handled here in Miami first–"

The director's irritated gaze turned into one of calculation as if he was trying to parse out if she had ulterior motives, such as prioritising helping an old friend out over the mission. Michael was the one who held the cards, and Dani was the one he had picked to share. Since the mission to capture Randall Burke seemed to be one with very high priority, that gave Dani a lot more leverage while in charge of that mission.

"Westen has vulnerabilities that I can exploit," she said, not letting the revulsion she felt uttering those words play on her expression. "To do that, I need to learn everything that happened leading to his current situation. Trust me, sir. I won't waste time chasing unnecessary avenues."

"Fine," Meyers nodded, reluctantly mollified. "But I expect you in Cuba to interrogate him no later than twenty-four hours," he ordered, leaving no room for debate. "Whatever you need to do, get it done before that, Agent Pearce, understood?"

Twenty-four hours was still better than just one. She could get a much better understanding of exactly what was going on during that time period. Dani smiled and nodded. "Crystal, sir."

Carlito's Restaurant
Miami

Agents were trained to read Intelligence files, and it was a skill that took time to master. Most of the time, raw intelligence was presented as stacks of unrelated documents, reports, receipts, transcripts and such. You had to go through all of them carefully, sticking with them long enough to sort them according to relevance and emerging patterns. The other thing you had to keep in mind, was that not all the information given to you was reliable, or relevant. Which was why it was a good practice to check the source once you were done with the file. Your workload doubled in the rare case that you couldn't really trust the source that provided you with the file. That was when you had to pursue the things that were not in the file to begin with.

The files were incomplete, just as Dani had feared. Everything that was in them led to the neat little analysis that had been attached to Strong's case file at the end: Michael Westen was somehow in league with the most wanted terrorist, Randall Burke, and they both needed to be apprehended, at any cost.

Randall Burke had a connection to Michael, which was true. They had both been involved in a mission in Afghanistan several years before Burke had gone rogue. But there was nothing else connecting them until the terrorist surfaced in Miami out of nowhere, looking for Michael, who had been locked up at Guantanamo Bay for over fourteen months by then.

The only reason Dani could figure out for Burke to appear in Miami was to contact Michael's family. Since being transferred to the black site usually meant disappearing off the surface of the planet, Burke would have figured the next best thing was to see if his friends and family knew his whereabouts.

There were no details, records or after-action reports on the mission Strong conducted in Miami with Michael in tow. The only things that were on the file were the prisoner transfer logs for Michael, the usual logistics, equipment, weapons and staff requests, a rap sheet of a person of interest under the name of 'Dexter Gamble', some surveillance photos of that person making contact with Michael's friends and nothing much else.

After four coffees and three hours spent reading and rereading the three heavily doctored files, Dani was more than convinced that what she needed was the other side of the story.

That was how she found herself sitting at a corner table of Calito's, with her fifth coffee since arriving at the field office, waiting for one of the four people who could actually give her exactly that.

"Agent Dani Pearce."

Dani turned around at the sound of the jovial greeting, and stood up with a smile to return the enthusiastic embrace the ex-CIFA agent, Jesse Porter, offered. She took him in when they parted, noting the weariness in his gaze even though his joy at seeing her seemed genuine. It was yet another indicator that a lot had happened since her transfer, and she needed to catch up as quickly as possible.

"Looks like Mumbai's been good for you." He said as he took the seat across from her.

"Jesse Porter," Dani shook her head. "Still need some work on that poker face of yours."

"Hey! I can't just come out and say you look like shit, now can I?" Jesse grinned mischievously. "That's a nasty way to greet an old friend. So, what's up?"

Dani decided to play her cards straight. She was on a deadline as it was and she had a feeling Michael needed her presence at the embassy sooner than later.

"I got recalled," she revealed. "I have a new case. One that involves a terrorist named Randall Burke and our mutual trouble magnet."

Jesse's entire demeanour changed at her words so quickly and completely that for a moment, it looked like a stranger had replaced him - a highly suspicious, wary stranger who started eyeing her as if she was the enemy.

"You found him," he demanded in a low, impatient tone, "Tell me you found him."

Feeling rather taken aback by his sudden change, Dani stared at him, confused and uncertain.

"Pearce, I need to know," Jesse repeated. "Please."

It was the heartfelt plea that did it. There was a story there that she really needed to learn as quickly as possible.

"I met with AD Meyers only four hours before I called you," she said softly. "That's the reason why I was pulled from my station to get here. He told me that Michael's at our embassy in Havana–"

"Is he in one piece?"

"I wasn't given any reason to believe otherwise," Dani said, beginning to feel as agitated as Jesse seemed. "What the hell's going on, Porter?"

Jesse took a deep breath in and let it out slowly, visibly trying to calm himself down. "There's one thing you need to understand right now, Dani," he said, his voice still low. "As things stand, the others and I have no reason to trust anyone from the Company when it comes to Michael, none at all. I'll tell you what we know, after you tell me what you know, and what you've been told."

She found it curious that he phrased his request like that, as if he already knew that she had been told a version of things by her superiors that didn't quite align with the truth. It also didn't help that he seemed to have erected an invisible barrier between them, as if they were on two sides as things stood, and that she needed to gain his trust again in order to be accepted.

"He's in trouble, isn't he?" She sighed. It wasn't even a question at that point. The real question was what kind of trouble and how deep he was in it.

"Like you wouldn't believe," Jesse said. "And it's not really his fault this time, if you can believe it. Langley was responsible for what happened to him."

The way he said it let her know that he was quite convinced of the fact too. Which meant she had to share what she knew in order to learn what wasn't in the files.

"Fine," she said, deciding to take the leap of faith first. "Here's what I know…"

She filled him in on everything she had learned from the files she had been given by the director. She revealed what she knew about Michael's involvement in Tom Card's murder, his arrest and his subsequent transfer to the black site.

"Did the reports say why he killed him?" Jesse asked with a knowing gleam in his narrow-eyed gaze.

"No," Dani admitted. "There was no copy of his interview or the final crime scene report. All it had were some photos and Riley's final account on what happened."

"Alright then," Jesse nodded, as if it was exactly what he had been expecting. "So they're feeding you the bits and pieces to fit the narrative they've already decided. Can't say I'm surprised."

"Are you saying Michael didn't shoot Card?" Dani inquired, starting to feel extremely uneasy by each passing second.

"Oh no, he did," Jesse said. "What's missing in your file is the reason why he did it. We were there at the hotel to get the bastard to confess. We had Tyler Gray, the sniper who shot Anson, working with us–"

Dani stared at Jesse, wide-eyed. Did she hear that right?

"You got Michael to work together with the guy who shot his brother?" She blurted incredulously.

"Well, long story short, we tracked Gray to Panama," Jesse explained. "The asshole tried to get us killed. Didn't work. We caught him, and he dropped the bomb that Card was behind it all, that he was working under Card's orders. We didn't believe that story at first, until the bastard called up an F-18 air strike on us. Card tried to wipe us all out in one fell swoop, but we got away. Another CIA agent died during that screw-up. Then Mike and Gray got caught by a gang of drug traffickers. They worked something out and managed to get out. We stole a plane, again, and on the way back Mike talked Gray into switching sides, and working with us to bring Card down."

Dani blinked, trying to put all of that together. There was a lot Jesse wasn't saying, that much was obvious. But the gist of it was that somehow Michael had joined forces with the same man he hunted in order to bring the puppet master down.

"Michael working with his brother's killer, Card wouldn't have seen that coming," she muttered almost to herself, realising the reason Michael would have gone to such extreme lengths.

"That was exactly the plan," Jesse nodded, continuing. "But the meeting didn't go down the way we wanted. Card had smelled a rat and he came prepared. When his own teams started surrounding the hotel, Michael went in to get Gray out. Card killed Gray and Michael killed Card. What your people are hiding here is the reason."

"Which is?"

"Card was Anson's inside man," Jesse said, surprising her in the worst way yet again. She knew all about Anson Fullerton, or at least, what the agency had on him and what they learned during that investigation. Learning that Fullerton's plan to revive the rogue cabal within their own ranks hadn't died with him as it should have was a revelation that sent a chill down her spine.

"Michael said Card tried to talk him into working with him to continue the work of that damned Organisation again," Jesse went on as she continued to stay silent, trying to absorb what he was saying. "Now, we weren't there, and we still don't know what exactly Card said to Michael. But for some reason, our man decided killing him was the best option available. After that, he made sure we got out of there before surrendering himself to Agent Riley."

"If that little fact had made it into records," said Dani, piecing things together, "Even the slightest thing connecting Card to Fullerton, Langley would have had to launch an investigation into Card's career, if only to tie up loose ends, at least–"

"It's just the word of a disgraced, burned spy against the reputation of a highly respected senior agent who got killed in cold blood." Jesse added in a bitingly sarcastic tone, "Why open up a can of worms when you could easily make sure those flimsy accusations never saw the light of the day, yeah?"

"Instead, they carted Michael off to Cuba without a trial for indefinite detention." Dani finished his line of thought out loud, finding herself agreeing with what Jesse was rather scathingly implying.

"Why muddy the waters when you can bury the murderer in some hellhole to use him when you see fit, right? What's the harm in that? He deserves it, right?"

"Jesse–"

"On top of it, they slapped a classified seal on his file and made everything around that clusterfuck radioactive," Jesse continued right over her, still very much furious. "None of us had any idea what happened until this scumbag, Dexter Gamble, started sniffing around us looking for him."

Dani understood how he felt and sympathised. All of them, including Sam Axe and Fiona Glenanne, had contacts they could have used to find out about Michael. By classifying his status, the agency had made sure that Michael was cut off from his previous life completely, leaving everyone in his life in the dark about his situation. A year of fruitless searching would have left them extremely worried about Michael and righteously pissed off at the agency.

"Dexter Gamble has a rap sheet a mile long and he's a person of interest on almost every continent," Dani said, recalling what she had read. "But what I don't know is why he was here, sniffing around you guys, looking for Michael."

"He was hired by Burke," said Jesse, "He tried to stab Sam, hacked my servers and when all that failed, kidnapped Fiona to bargain her in exchange for Mike."

Dani cursed, and then winced.

"Yeah," Jesse said. "Also what's not in your file is that your Agent Strong planned to use Mike for bait. He tagged him like a dog and brought him here thinking he could throw him at Burke and see if he'd bite, only the mission didn't go as planned."

"It wasn't even a deal, was it?" Dani said, feeling disgusted at the whole thing. Strong had been pushing limits and crossing all kinds of lines. No wonder there were no records on the highly illegal and unethical operation he had conducted, on home soil, no less. "Strong pointed out that you guys were in danger and Michael had no other option but to go along with it."

"Now you get it," Jesse agreed. "Gamble made his play, saying he would kill Fiona if we couldn't find Michael for him. What we didn't know was that Strong and his team were shadowing us the entire time. Then out of nowhere, Michael showed up for the exchange."

"By himself?" Dani raised an eyebrow inquiringly.

"We learned from Michael later on that Strong initially agreed to help save Fi," Jesse said. "But he diverted his team en route when they suddenly got a lead about Burke showing up at an airfield in Lauderdale. So Michael decided to take things into his own hands and split from Strong. When he came back to haul Mike out, we learned that the lead turned out to be a hoax."

"The rescue went well, I hope?" Dani asked softly, dreading the answer. If that operation had gotten Fiona hurt, Michael definitely wouldn't be the same person she would be meeting in twenty hours.

"It got a little hairy," Jesse said, shrugging. "We got Fiona out, unharmed, but Gamble didn't make it."

He didn't sound very torn up about it, Dani noted. And she didn't blame him. She was, however, relieved to find out that Fiona had made it out unscathed. "What happened after that?"

"Now that we knew where he was, I spoke to a contact of mine in Cuba," said Jesse, "That's how I learned the next day about the attack on the CIA transport back to the camp. Sam talked to a buddy of his who told us about the deaths and Strong's critical condition."

"He didn't make it," Dani added.

"Yeah, we heard," he nodded. "Anyway, we knew Burke got to Mike. To this day, we don't know why. We weren't even sure if Mike was alive at this point until you showed up with the good news."

"I don't know how good the news is, Jesse, to be honest," Dani sighed wearily, feeling her mind spinning in a hundred directions at once. "I don't even know how much of this is being kept under wraps. The investigation on that attack is already being steered towards making it look like Michael arranged the whole thing to escape–"

"He didn't," Jesse protested vehemently. "It doesn't even make sense. The entire reason that man was hellbent on staying put in that hole without doing a thing to defend himself was to keep the rest of us and what's left of his family safe. He would never do that!"

"I understand, Jesse, I do," Dani said quietly, "In fact, I'm beginning to think that's the reason he requested me, specifically, for his debrief. Meyers told me they handed him over to the team on site, but our man isn't talking."

"He could use a friend. He doesn't have any left in the agency, and he's probably counting on you not to pull a stunt like Strong when you learn whatever he's got to say…"

"Jesse, I'd never!"

"I know," Jesse said, averting his eyes to look over the ocean in the distance. "But you might have to."

"What?!"

Jesse took a deep breath and let it out slowly before turning back to her. "I'm guessing your boss wants you to debrief Mike and take over Strong's investigation, right? Because Mike isn't willing to deal with anyone else."

"Yeah, pretty much."

"If he killed Burke and escaped, then that'd be the end of that mission. Then your people can haul him back to the camp until the next round."

"Shit," Dani shook her head, grimacing at the prospect. Michael was a friend, and she was having a hard time reconciling with what he had been through during the time she hadn't been around. "I'd hope not."

"Yeah, me too," Jesse said. "But, if he had managed to get intel on this guy and his work, you'd need him to be involved as much as possible, wouldn't you? Because he'd be your way in."

"Well, yeah," Dani frowned. "Where are you going with this?"

"Dani, Mike's changed," he said slowly. "Nate's death hit him in a way none of us saw coming. Whatever information he has for you, the chances are, he'd share it with you and walk away."

"What?"

"That's why Sam, Fi and I started digging around the moment we learned about what happened," Jesse said. "We were trying to figure out where Burke took him. Sam and Fi went to Cuba just last week to backtrack a few leads. They're at Baracoa beach right now."

"Well, I'm sure they'll be relieved to find out that Michael is alive and at the embassy–"

"I wouldn't count on it," Jesse said, and a faint trace of a smile appeared when Dani did a double take. "I mean, they're gonna be happy he's in one piece, but not so much about the fact that he once again handed himself over to the authorities. The preferred option here would have been recovering Mike and disappearing with him where your people couldn't find him."

"After what I learned today, I'd even look away if it comes to that," Dani said, shaking her head. She wasn't even joking. "But, I'll do my best to get him a better option than that."

"That's better than nothing."

"Anyway, why'd you get left behind?"

"Someone had to keep an eye on Maddie and Charlie," Jesse shrugged. "I drew the short straw."

"Charlie? That's Michael's brother's son, right?"

"Yeah," said Jesse, "Mike's mom is in the process of getting his custody. Mommy dearest fell off the wagon and started using all kinds of drugs a few months back. It's a shit show."

Dani nodded, and stayed quiet, unsure how to respond. It seemed that the fallout from Anson's death was still haunting the entire Westen family.

"When he talks to you, Mike's going to ask you to keep him out of it, whatever it is, as long as he feels like he could endanger any of us by getting involved," Jesse spoke up again after a moment. "I think that's why he asked for you. He trusts you. So, if it looks like your operation is going to need him, reach out to us first. We'll help with anything you need to keep him out of Gitmo. Who knows, if all of us start nagging at him from all corners we might just be able to get him to cave, you know what I mean?"

She knew exactly what he was implying. Blackmailing Michael with the well-being of his friends and family was one thing she'd never do, even if she was ordered to. But, if those said friends were willing to get involved of their own volition, there really wasn't much Michael could do to stop them, other than agreeing to get involved himself. If only to make sure his people stayed safe.

"I do," Dani said, returning his smile.

"If it turns out to be a dead end, promise me one thing?" Jesse pinned her with a serious look.

"What is it?"

"That you'll at least make sure the Company isn't going to make a scapegoat out of him just because it's the convenient thing to do?" he asked sincerely. "He's given up and there's no one fighting in his corner–"

Dani understood his concern. Michael had been thrown under the bus one too many times, since the moment his burn notice went up. He never really got the chance to clear his name, and lost too much in his fight to get back in. Now, he was once again caught in the middle of another dangerous web he hadn't even wanted to get tangled in the first place, and his friends had gotten caught in the crossfire right along with him.

She needed to make sure that he didn't end up shouldering the brunt of the aftermath, not if it was undeserved. That was what Jesse was asking her to do, to give the man a fair chance.

"Thank you for being frank with me," she said, feeling as if she had a goal and a direction for the first time since the call she had answered from the other side of the hemisphere. "I'm glad I got to talk to you. As for this mission, well…they gave it to the pit bull. You know me. I don't let go of anything until I get to the bitter end. I can promise you that I'll get to the bottom of this mess, wherever it actually leads me. Not where the Company would like me to take it."

Jesse stood up with her and shook her hand with a solemn nod. "I'll take it."