"You let her go?" Lincoln bursts.
"Hey," Daryl raises both palms in the air, "I ain't her daddy, all right? Neither are you."
Lincoln runs a palm over his scalp. Behind him, Michael sits on the bed. Michael.
God.
Lincoln hasn't let him out of his sight since he got here. He's too afraid Michael will disappear again, wherever he was these past four years—wherever he is now.
The man quietly staring at his hands right now is not his brother.
The man who just tried to strangle Sara cannot be his brother.
He shows no reaction when they mention Sara. Lincoln has tried everything. Cajoling, talking, even slapping him. But Michael has failed to so much as open his mouth.
If it hadn't been for the strangling part, Lincoln might wonder if his brother is even alive right now.
"You idiot," Lincoln shakes his head at Daryl. "How long ago?"
"I don't know. Ten minutes?"
Lincoln grabs the collar of his shirt. "You couldn't come and get me right away?"
"Hey, fuck you all right."
Daryl pushes him off him. Lincoln has to remember that Daryl is a lot like him, only younger, and without a family who's ever shown him love.
But he doesn't have time for Daryl's feelings just now.
"You watch Michael," Lincoln says. "I'll go get Sara."
"Linc," Alex stops him on his way to the door, one hand on his shoulder. "I worry about her, too. We all do." His gaze sweeps over the room, from Daryl to Giles and finally, Lincoln. It doesn't stop on Michael—that would be absurd, right at this moment. "I agree, she shouldn't be alone. But she's made it very clear she doesn't want us around. Maybe we should respect that."
"She's not in her right mind. You've seen her."
Alex drills his eyes into his. Grave. "Maybe it's time you tell us what happened in Washington."
Lincoln's blood boils. "No." He shakes Alex's hand off, ready to cut toward the door.
"Lincoln—"
"It's not mine to tell."
"I respect that," Alex says. "But if Sara is in a state where she'd put herself in harm's way, there's more at stake than sitting on each other's secrets."
"Who's talking about her getting in harm's way?" Lincoln knows the words fall flat. He's never been a good actor.
Alex sighs. "I saw the bite marks on her neck."
Daryl's arms bulk up, crossed against his chest. "Wait, what?"
Giles lowers his eyes, in modesty. "Lincoln's right. It's not his story to tell."
But Lincoln can't hear him. His jaw clenches, so tight he thinks any second now, he'll spit out teeth.
Bite marks.
In a blink, he's tied to that chair, watching the smirk on Kellerman's face.
I should have killed him.
No matter what Sara said about it. How did she ever talk him out of killing him?
Bite marks.
His brother's wife, scarred with that man's teeth. Lincoln's fists bulge, and he knows one of these days, he's going to go back to Washington and beat Kellerman's head to mush.
Go on death row for killing a senator this time, eh?
"You want to help Sara?" Lincoln says. "You find a way to make Mike right again. I'm gonna go find her."
Alex shakes his head. "You're missing the big picture."
"Well, why don't you enlighten me?"
Lincoln doesn't have time to feel bad for snapping. He loves Alex, he does, but he hasn't slept in sixty-two hours, and he's biting down on pent up anger the size of a mountain.
Alex has the courtesy of looking queasy as he answers. "I assume something went down between Sara and Kellerman. Some kind of deal."
Lincoln doesn't reach for Mahone's collar, like he did with Daryl. He and Alex have too long a history for that. But his eyes spit out blazes as he stares him down.
"Don't you say that again. Ever. Not in front of us. Not in front of her. And especially not in front of my fucking brother."
Pain splinters into his chest as he glances at Michael. He sits perfectly quiet, staring at his hands. As if the mention of his wife selling herself to a man she hates is nothing to trouble him.
"For Christ's sake, Linc," Alex snaps, too. "Do you think I want to be saying it? Thinking it? But let's look at what really went down here. Who stood to gain from sending Michael back to us? He didn't send us those codes—no way in hell he could have, in this state. Someone wanted us to find him. And if what I think happened in Washington really happened—"
Giles interrupted, "The only person who got what they wanted out of the whole thing is Paul Kellerman."
A block of ice goes down Lincoln's stomach.
Daryl scowls. "Man, that's fucked up. You think that snake orchestrated the whole thing just so he could blackmail her?"
"All I know is this is organized destruction," Alex says. "Someone wanted Michael back with us. Now. And it wasn't because they wanted to help us out."
Lincoln heads out the door, without waiting to hear more.
A thrill quickens the beat of his heart.
Part of him is glad that Alex gave him a reason to pay a visit to Kellerman.