Chapter Text
You are being watched. The government has a secret system — a machine — that spies on you every hour of every day. I designed the machine to detect acts of terror, but it sees everything. Violent crimes involving ordinary people. The government considers these people irrelevant. We don’t. Hunted by the authorities, we work in secret. You'll never find us. But victim or perpetrator, if your number’s up, we’ll find you.
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[July 5th, 2013]
[+€°¥÷=¥ “-a call in-” §¥×¥×©{ “-for only $19.95!” €÷°¥=¥= “-the third.” °¥π¢÷€π “-so she needs to go, soon.”]
A woman in a sweatshirt, button down, pants, backpack, and a baseball cap walks down the sidewalk of an avenue in midtown NYC, near Columbus Circle. Following through the pedestrian traffic maybe 20 feet behind her, is a man. He is about 6 feet tall, 40s, starting to grey at the sides of his short hair, wearing a black suit and white button down open at the top button. He puts his finger to his ear.
“Finch, I’m in position, I found the girl, she our latest number?” His voice is a gruff monotone that's somehow still soft and quiet.
“Yes. Sarah Lieberman, 27 years old, and is a graduate student at New York Institute of Technology. She speaks English, Spanish, Hebrew, and Arabic. She spent several years after high school abroad travelling to various countries including Morocco, Panama, Egypt, Italy, and New Zealand, and is now working on an graduate degree in engineering. According to her records she’s doing well in her classes.”
“That’s a lot of travel for a pre-college student these days, think she was up to something Finch?”
“She was apparently engaging in a mix of tourism and meeting extended family, according to her social media posts. Based on birth records and other information that seems accurate.”
“Well she seems to be taking a break between classes, heading somewhere. Maybe lunch?”
“A job actually. She works at a cafe biweekly when her classes only take half the day. I doubt she’s the perpetrator, so perhaps a fellow classmate or coworker?”
The man stops as Sarah stops to pet a dog, and gives it a treat out of her bag.
“You never know Finch, she could be a serial killer. Or a spy.”
“Don’t even joke Mr. Reese.”
“I’m just saying, these things aren't always so straightforward.”
“Trust me Mr. Reese, I’m well aware of that.”
“I’ll make a call to Carter, see if she’s got anything on Ms. Lieberman.”
******************************************************
Officer Joss Carter is currently sitting in a squad car, watching a warehouse near the docks. She’s watching through binoculars as two men in dockworker clothing carry boxes inside. She lowers her binoculars and writes something in the small notebook she’s holding. After she does, a cellphone rings. She picks up
“Carter.”
“How are you doing?”
“Best I can. Gotta work my way back through, though I’m not sure HR will let me further than this anymore. Too stubborn.”
“On the plus side, at least they aren't trying to kill you anymore.”
“I wouldn't be too sure of that, John. So, why are you calling? I doubt it’s just for a check in with me.”
“We were hoping you could run a name for us: Sarah Lieberman. 27 years old, currently a student at NYIT.”
“I’ll see what I can do John, I don't have as much access as I used to.”
“Whatever you can get would be great, Thanks.”
******************************************************
John Reese is currently sitting in a cafe, enjoying a surprisingly good cup of coffee and a danish, watching the crowd in the store. He takes a mental inventory of the customers their number seemed to know again.
There's a reedy thin nerdy guy, probably in his mid 30s, sitting at one of the tables eating lunch and not paying attention to anyone around him, a group of probable fellow college students, based on the couple of NYIT stickers on the water bottles and laptops, and the fact when they saw Sarah, they stopped and had a chat, rather than just ordering. None seemed hostile towards her, but looks can be deceiving. An older woman, late 70s, probably, short curled white hair, pink blouse, blue pants, walking shoes, sun hat, green brooch, and a small yappy dog in a carry bag. Currently doing the crossword, not a threat from her movements and lack of attention the last 45 minutes she’s been here. There's also a strong looking woman, tall, muscular, maybe mid 30s, brown hair in a ponytail, wearing a gym shirt and leggings, drinking an iced tea and having a yogurt. In addition, there's a woman roughly Sarah's age, maybe a fellow graduate student. Shoulder-length brown hair with purple streaks, a baggy flannel, tank top, black necklace, baggy pants, and punk-looking hiking shoes. She’s been at her laptop having tea and pastries the past hour. Seems somewhat aware of her surroundings, despite how engrossed in her laptop she is. Flirted with Sarah, though that's probably going nowhere as Sarah spent a portion of the past half hour after another employee around her age came in kissing him. Average height, medium length black hair, blue t-shirt, black pants, sneakers, silver chain necklace, seems fit. Which, speaking of,
He subtly takes a picture with his cell and sends it
“Finch, could you identify this guy? Seems to be a boyfriend.”
“Ah, Mr. Reese! Yes, thank you. I was beginning to wonder where you were.”
“Well, I had to assess her work. Aside from the boyfriend, her boss seemed decent, not particularly hostile, and none of the customers she’s familiar with seem like threats, but that's only on first glance for one day. It’ll be hard to profile every person in the college and every regular here without any leads as to who the threat could be. But I did get a starting read. She seems liked, not overly popular, but liked. What did Carter say?”
“Ms. Lieberman has a couple of fines for trespassing, another for jumping the turnstile last year, and a couple parking tickets in Nassau county. She did get a member of the Aryan brotherhood arrested.”
“That sounds important, we’ll come back to the trespassing. How did she get them arrested?”
“He apparently saw her on the way to synagogue from her apartment and said… well some things I won't be repeating. As well as threats against her and the synagogue that, well again I won't be repeating it, but the gist was they didn't belong here and he and his friends would get rid of the synagogue, and not as a construction crew. She stood her ground, and he proceeded to hit her until a friend and classmate of hers, Amira Saif, helped her pull him off of her. She reported it to the right person, and he was arrested on possession, menacing, and assault charges.”
“Sounds like the Aryan Brotherhood certainly have motive to kill her. Anything important in the trespassing charges?”
“A few months ago she was found in a… compromising position with Ms. Saif, in a closed building after hours. The other charge was from 2003, she and a group of friends were using someone's empty pool for skateboard, bike, and scooter tricks in highschool and were caught.”
“So she's got a bit of a daredevil streak? Between those, standing up to a neonazi, and travelling the world for several years, she sounds like an interesting student.”
“Yes well, unfortunately it also leaves a number of different avenues from which the threat could arise. We’ll have to keep a close eye on her. I’ve taken the liberty of getting John Gordon a job as a security guard at NYIT, so you should be able to keep an eye on her at campus tomorrow.”
“She’s heading out from the cafe to her apartment. That should give us some time to see if you can narrow down the threat list. Once she’s inside I’ll go have a talk with some blonde-haired, blue-eyed friends of ours.”
******************************************************
“Alright Finch, I’m at the Aryan Brotherhood’s nearest bar.”
“Are you certain Mr. Reese?”
John stares at the sign above the door that says “The Chancellor’s Chalice” with the address of 14 West 88th street, and through the window, a large bald guy with a swastika tattooed on the side of his face is sitting at the bar
“Yeah, I’m pretty sure Finch.”
John walks in, and swastika-face stands up to look at him, they're about the same height.
“You need something?”
“Yeah, actually, what are your plans regarding Sarah Lieberman?”
“And why would I tell you that, instead of tossing you out of this bar?”
“Because I asked nicely.”
And finishing saying so, Reese throws a punch at the guy's sternum, followed by a hit to the face, knee in the chest, and an elbow to the jaw, and the neonazi collapses on the floor, breathing pained.
“I was hoping you'd be difficult.”
“You're going to regret that.”
And so saying, the bartender presses something under the counter, and several guys come out from the kitchen door, including one John recognizes, at almost 7 feet tall, and much wider than John, in a tank top, and military pants and boots, with a dark short ponytail.
“Didn't you get arrested? How’d you get out so quickly?”
“Good behavior.”
And with that they charge John, the first manages to get a hit across his jaw, but is hit back with an elbow to the guts and a punch right in the nose, the next guy grabs a stool to smash it over John’s head, only for John to grab it and smash it over his head, grabbing the now loose wooden leg, and beating the next two guys with it, guys number five and six go down with simple right and left hooks to their faces, leaving the giant who beat John up last time.
“There's still time to back out of this, fancy pants. You can break from the payments those money-grubbing, rat-bastard K-”
John punches him across the jaw. It turns the giant neonazi’s head aside, and will probably bruise, but doesn't seem to have done much more than interrupt his speech. He turns back to John and grins. And then punches John in the stomach so hard he doubles over, John tries to follow up with a kick to the chest but he’s just too strong. He tries a couple more hits, but they seem rather ineffective. He gets punched in the side of the face so hard he feels dizzy, then he gets grabbed by the large man, and tossed out the door into the sidewalk.
“Next time you try to come in here, we won’t let you live!”
And so saying, slams the door shut.
******************************************************
“Hey! D-Bag!”
A woman in a black shirt, black jeans, and boots, hair in a ponytail, is running, gun in hand, after a 6 foot 3 guy in sweatpants and a t-shirt, with an expensive leather messenger bag over his shoulder. He is running very quickly. Behind them both are a bunch of guys in jeans and jackets bloody on the ground, mostly clutching their bleeding legs. The guy doesn't respond as he continues to dash ahead of her. She puts a finger to her ear and speaks
“Seriously Finch? You had to give me a case with a marathon runner?”
“I assumed, Ms. Shaw, that you would be the most physically capable of keeping up with him if necessary.”
“Special agent training does not equip me to keep up with a professional runner! HEY! If you don't stop, I'm going to have to end your career early, and I’m sure you'd rather not get shot in the leg.”
She says, breathing heavily.
As he keeps running, she shoots right next to where one of his feet would be, and he startles and trips. Shaw catches up to him.
“Wha-what do you want?”
“Look, I told you already, I’m not here to hurt you, I’m here to help. Those diamonds you stole? They're the Russian mob’s. If you drop them right now and run off to whatever other city you'd like, you’ll live. Or, I can leave you to get caught by the next group of them that corners you in an alley. And there Will be a next group, they don't give up that much money easily.”
******************************************************
Next morning, Reese wakes up sore, bruised in several places, including a very visible one on the side of his face, and a black eye. He gets dressed in the security uniform and heads into his new job at the college.
He gets some looks from fellow staff, as well as a variety of reactions from students coming in for classes, including from Sarah herself.
“I didn't realize they had new security guards duel for the job.” Sarah says amusedly
Reece smirks
“They don't, I just fell down the stairs.”
“And into somebody's fist? A few times?”
“Thanks for your concern but I’ll be fine…”
He holds out his hand for her college ID, and looks at it.
“...Ms. Lieberman. Have a good day.”
“Thanks, well, I hope you at least put up a good fight against “The Stairs”,”
However, as it seems like she's about to walk away, a woman with longer dark hair, a pink button down, black leather pants with spike belts, and hiking shoes walks up to her, and they kiss, rather intensely, to the point Reese looks away till they're audibly done.
“Hey babe, did you finish the differential problems Ms. Gavin gave us?”
“Yeah, why, you had trouble with one of the questions?”
“Yeah. Why are you doing so poorly in her class anyway, you could probably teach it?”
“Ms. Gavin's still pissed at me for skipping out on 2 days of classes for Shavuos, and she didn't like me much to begin with. But I won’t let her ruin my GPA, if I have to switch, I'll switch.”
They start to walk towards the elevators, but Reese stops the new arrival.
“ID please?”
“Right, sorry. Here.”
The name on it is Amira Saif.
He hands it back and they continue to the elevators, picking up the conversation as they do.
“Hey, Finch. We may have a second threat. Ms. Lieberman just kissed Amira Saif in front of me. On the lips. For a while. They were loud.”
“So either a boyfriend or girlfriend being cheated on might be rather angry. Angry enough to kill maybe?"
“Though it didn't seem like either were particularly angry at her, but they could be concealing their emotions, and the boyfriend was far enough away I might've missed nuance in his expression.”
“Great, so possible cheated on partner, and the Aryan Brotherhood. Anyone else might have cause to kill her?”
“Sounds like there's significant conflict between her and one of the teachers, in both directions.”
“That was Supposed to be a rhetorical question Mr. Reese. But I suppose it's best we find out all the possible perpetrators in advance to narrow down from.”
******************************************************
Sameen Shaw had been going through her calming routine of disassembling and cleaning her guns when Finch called her.
“Ms. Shaw? If you aren't too busy, I believe Mr. Reese could use your assistance today in questioning members of the Aryan Brotherhood. There was a rather Large man he had trouble dispatching in a nonlethal manner, and I assume your help with him, and the others there, would be welcome.”
“Alright Finch, where am I going to meet with Reese?”
******************************************************
They both arrive at the bar, after a not insignificant amount of Shaw teasing Reese about being unable to win a fight against just one guy.
“Well when you want to fight an almost 7 foot wall of muscle, let me know and I can point him out for you.” Says John
“I’ll take you up on that, though it looks like we won't get the chance, at least not without breaking into prison.” She replies, pointing at their destination
The bar has a whole group of black vans, unmarked black cars, and squad cars with flashing lights, around the bar. There is even a SWAT truck and a bomb squad transport.
“I’d better go find out what happened.” And he walks off towards the “police, do not cross” line, withdrawing a badge from his suit jacket.
In the meanwhile, Shaw contacts Finch
“Everything alright Ms. Shaw?”
“Yeah, everything's fine, the neonazis are getting arrested.”
“Oh? You saved Ms. Lieberman then. I suppose we should be glad that-”
As Finch has been talking, she has been, as is habit ingrained to her at this point, scanning the area and the people inside the police line, and she recognizes one of the NYPD, standing next to the suits and other people away from the rest.
“Hold that thought Finch, this might’ve just gotten more complicated. Could be nothing, could be something. But I wouldn't count this done till we know it is.”
“What's going on Ms. Shaw?”
“I’ll let you know, gotta talk to Reese first.”
After a minute or two of conversation, John heads back to her from talking with the various agents and officers outside the bar.
“The Brotherhood had plans for several of the city’s synagogues, they had cases of explosives enough to take out some buildings, and placement plans for at least a few already written up. So it seems we weren't needed.”
“I think we still are. See that cop?” She points at the officer she spotted earlier.
“Her name is Angela Reston, she's one of the NYC Northern Lights assets.” she explains
Reese raises an eyebrow at her
She recontacts Harold so he can hear her explain in more detail
“There were contacts put in place in high frequency targets for Northern Lights to notify in case of enough advance notice to prepare but not apprehend ourselves. Most are in New York and DC, but other places have as well. I got a file of assets that are options to notify when I first came here with the program.”
“So there was a Relevant number ours just happened to be threatened by?” Finch asks
“Seems that way.” Says Reese
“Of course, this means we still don't know the nature of the threat against Ms. Lieberman, but we have eliminated a possibility. The Machine wouldn't give us a number just because she was a priority target in a Relevant number event.”
“So someone out there still wants to kill her.”
“It seems that way. I suggest Ms. Shaw head to the cafe to keep an eye on Ms. Lieberman’s boyfriend, as he or Ms. Saif are now our likeliest threats. Meanwhile Mr. Reese, you should probably keep track of her, we don't know when or where the threat is coming from, and until we do, she could be killed at any time.”
******************************************************
John had followed Sarah to the cafe, and sat down again, making sure to ignore Shaw and keep an eye on Sarah while Shaw kept an eye on the boyfriend, who Finch seems to have forgotten to get the name of, which is unlike him.
But after watching them interact with each other and all the same regulars, and show zero signs of any issues or jealousy, Reese suspects that neither of them should be suspects. He follows her back out after work, again enough paces behind so as not to seem suspicious. Though apparently he failed, since as she cuts through a small empty park, and he follows in, a figure cuts in front of him, blocking his path once inside.
He recognizes her as one of the regulars. The girl Sarah's age with the baggy clothes, multi coloured hair, black necklace, and laptop.
She is standing completely in his way. Calm, despite his height over her and the secluded location, and says
“So, tall, dark, and creepy. Do I want to know why you've been following the barista home everyday or can I just assume you’re a stalker and deal with you now?”
“It's not what you think, she's in danger and I am trying to help.” Reese says
“Oh? Who's she in danger from? Cause from my point of view, it seems like you're the only one she's in danger from at the moment, though if you're really worried I can go escort her the rest of the way if she wants.”
“I don't think you understand, and I really need to go-”
“You're not going anywhere, I’m not just gonna let Mr. ‘watches-everyone-around him-for-hours-on-end-and-follows-women-home’ off to do something.”
“I’m not gonna do anything to hurt her, but I don't have time for this, so, I’m sorry.”
And as Reese goes to pull and redirect her to the side of him so he can keep moving, she, too fast for him to stop, right hand jabs him in the throat, at which point his hands come up to defend as his breathing is suddenly difficult. Which is apparently what she planned for, because as soon as his arms raise, she follows the jab with a surprisingly strong left hand punch to the gut, which Reese doubles over from. As he is leaned over, the last thing he sees before being knocked out cold is out of the corner of his eye, her elbow speeding towards the side of his head.
******************************************************
Shaw had been watching the cafe, and specifically the boyfriend for a while, maybe an hour or two, since Reese left to track Sarah. She is getting ready to leave, as it seems like the boyfriend is leaving early, when Amira Saif walks in.
“Hey, Finch? Amira Saif just walked into the cafe.”
“I’m sure you can handle it Ms. Shaw.”
That's unusual, even for the brief time she’s known him, he wouldn't just brush that off. Well, she can handle it alright. She gets up, ready to deal with whatever happens as Amira walks up to the boyfriend, and he spots her.
“Hey Amira, how was your day? Did you get around to asking Sarah for help with the extra work?”
“It was good, I spent the whole afternoon kissing your girlfriend.”
She says smugly
Shaw gets ready to intervene, only for the conversation to continue
“I told you, you gotta try harder than that to annoy me.”
“One day I’ll find something that actually annoys you.”
“Doubt it, if I didn't get pissed at Sarah for the surprise pilot’s lessons, hearing about you kissing our girlfriend isn't gonna do it.”
“I’m still shocked you went with that, took me 3 days to get over her last stunt, and I’m used to it.”
The conversation continues, but Shaw is busy contacting Finch & Reese
“Hey, so the girl is apparently dating both of them and they know about each other. Think that probably eliminates both of them as killers due to jealousy. And neither strike me as the murdering kind. So we're back to square one.”
Reese doesn't answer, and Finch responds, but in a somewhat distracted manner
“Alright Ms. Shaw. You and Mr. Reese keep an eye on her, see if we can figure out the problem. I’ll,” keyboard and page turning noises “I’ll get to seeing if there's anything we missed as soon as I can.”
“Hey Finch, is there a problem?”
“No, the only problem is our lack of knowledge regarding threats to Ms. Lieberman.”
“Then why are you so distracted and typing so quickly?”
“Go find Mr. Reese Ms. Shaw, and contact me if there are any issues.”
The connection cuts.
It doesn't take very long to find him, she follows the path Reese said the woman took from her job the past couple days. In the park she apparently usually cuts through, there on a bench lays an unconscious Reese, brown-bagged bottle under his arm.
“Hey.”
She slaps him
“Wake up!”
He stirs awake, the bottle dropping to the ground.
“Shaw. She got away.”
“Who did?”
Now that she was looking, there is an additional bruise on the side of his face that wasn't there yesterday, and looks newer.
“Sarah, one of her cafe regulars spotted me following her, and tried to warn me off, I tried to get her out of the way to keep track, but she caught me off guard and knocked me out.”
“I knew that muscled gym rat was a problem, though I wouldn't expect her to-”
“It wasn't her,” he looks reluctant to finish the sentence
“Then who?”
“The multicolor-haired grad student in baggy clothes.”
“She knocked you out Reese? Wow, you must really be off your game today. And she left an empty bottle, probably from the trash, to make you look drunk. Nicely done."
“Yeah well, she might be the threat, since we don't have any other good suspects, and she was following Sarah home, and flirting with her in the cafe.”
Reese is fixing his jacket, and dusting himself off, when he pats part of his jacket again, and then looks more serious
“Alright, I’ll-” Shaw continues, but Reese interrupts
“She's almost definitely the threat. She took my gun.”
“Crap. Finch? We think we’ve identified who wants to kill her, though we don't know why yet. Purple-haired girl from the cafe. Maybe a stalker or something.”
“Alright Ms. Shaw, see if you can find her, I’ll check the cameras for an image to search. Mr. Reese, go find Ms. Lieberman, hopefully our mystery woman hasn't reached her yet.”
******************************************************
Reese is standing outside Sarah Lieberman's apartment building when Harold calls.
“Mr. Reese, have you located Ms. Lieberman yet?”
“She's in her apartment, seems to be fine.”
“Good. The woman that knocked you out did so in the park, and there were no cameras that have an angle on that, or any that can see her entering the park. I digitally followed the route back to the cafe and found a hidden external security camera for a jewellery shop near the cafe, and it seems to have caught a woman matching the description you gave, sending the image to you now.”
Reese checks his phone as it gets a picture
“That's her Finch.”
“I’ll work on identifying her, in the meantime, please keep an eye on Ms. Lieberman.”
“Will do.”
******************************************************
Sameen Shaw is waiting at the cafe when Harold gets back in contact
“You got something for me Finch?”
“Unfortunately not, I can't seem to find any information on this woman, which is rather impressive. I tried reversing her path to the cafe to see where she was coming from, but I lost her camera trail rather quickly. Whoever she is, she’s good at avoiding being spotted it seems.”
“That's not good.”
“No, and the news gets worse I’m afraid. She only paid at the cafe in cash, her photo brings up no matches, and she also gave the cameras a slip After knocking out Mr. Reese, So I couldn't track her. I do have some questionably good news though, there is a surveillance camera outside Ms. Lieberman's apartment, and it caught this woman walking into frame across the street, and standing there for a few minutes before Ms. Lieberman enters the building, and staying for several minutes after, before walking out of frame. So whoever she is, it seems she wasn't planning on injuring Ms. Lieberman as soon as she had the chance.”
“Maybe not, but that means she knows where she lives, so either way, we need to find her.”
******************************************************
The next day, Reese follows Sarah as she takes a subway uptown, noticing a couple of guys watching her. He goes to knock them out as they exit the train after her, but sees more waiting around the platform. As he follows her into a less traversed area, even more join.
“Finch? We’ve got a problem. I’ve got a bunch of guys tracking her, and I doubt they’re here for something friendly. I think it's maybe 12 or more guys at this point, and more keep tagging along as we move into a more isolated area.”
“Be careful Mr. Reese, I’m calling in Ms. Shaw, see if you can delay them, making contact with Ms. Lieberman to keep her safe seems the wise idea at the moment.”
“Will do Finch.”
He heads forward and taps her on the shoulder. She startles and says
“Oh! The security guard from college, right? What are you doing here?”
“Keeping you safe, you have a bunch of guys following you, and they don't look friendly. Do you know why-”
At this moment, the BANG of a gunshot comes from one of the guys behind them, a bullet Just missing Sarah
“I’ve gotta get you out of here, come on!”
John leads her around, avoiding the shots, but he doesn't know this area of the city as well as he’d like, and they both end up in a dead end. He has her crouch behind a dumpster, and pulls out the replacement pistol he grabbed from one of his stashs this morning.
Shots ping off the dumpster as he leans out and fires, getting a count of the guys. There's six with guns at the entrance to the alley, he’s not sure where the others went yet, but hopefully Shaw gets here soon. He leans out again, and catches one of them in the shoulder. They yell out a curse in spanish, and one of the other guys yells towards them in accented english
“Look, we're just here for the girl! We’ll let you walk away if you give her to us!”
Shaw turns the corner, shooting one guy in the back and another in the leg, asking
“Does that lie ever work?”
Two of the remaining three turn, which give Reese time to shoot them in the legs as Shaw gets the last one in an arm.
“Thanks for the assist Shaw.”
“Really? Six guys, and you get cornered in an alley?”
“There were a lot more last I counted.”
“Well I’m not seein’ em.”
“Who are you guys, really? Because I doubt college security would follow me uptown and get in a shootout for me.”
“We keep people safe. And one of the ways we’ll do that is you're going to follow us to a safe house until we can figure out why they're after you.”
Reese calls Detective Fusco to pick up the guys they shot. Then they start moving back from where they came, towards the nearest safehouse, and as they do, they pass an alley. In it, they see a group of men laying out across the alley in what might be a search pattern if they were still up and moving around. But they're all still. Shaw gestures to Reese to stay with Sarah as she goes and investigates.
“You recognize any of these guys Sarah?”
“I don't."
“I do. A couple were in the initial group that followed Sarah off the subway.” Says Reese
“Are they dead? Sarah asks
“Yep. 12 dead from shots through the head, pretty damn good placement too. Another’s skull seems to have been hit against the wall and then shot in the head to be sure, and the last one’s got a bruise on his head and a broken neck.” Says Shaw going through the alley, checking on the guys laid out
“Well they won't be going after you any time soon, so that's a plus.”
“But we still need to get to the safehouse before any more show up. If there's 20 after you, there's probably more. Come on.”
As they continue towards the safe house, Reese calls Fusco again, and lets him know there’ll be some bodies too.
******************************************************
They’ve been alternating at the safe house apartment for a couple days when Finch calls them.
"It seems Ms. Lieberman is safe.”
“Why do you say that Finch? Just because they haven't found us here yet-” starts Reese
“Those who were after Ms. Lieberman have been arrested, and she has been requested as a witness for the trial.”
“How do you know?”
Reese receives a text with a tv channel number on it. He turns on the tv and flips to said channel, currently playing a news report.
“Panamanian officials still have yet to comment on the arrest of Canal Minister Jose Fuentes, other than to state their full cooperation with the United States government. Minister Fuentes will likely be sent to Panama for trial, though it is unclear how involved the United States will be in his prosecution due to the unique circumstances of his arrest.”
The report turns to footage of the six mercenaries Reese and Shaw shot, bandaged up and being put in the back of a prisoner transport before changing to show footage of an expensively dressed Panamanian man in his late 40s, early 50s, surrounded by reporters and security, not responding to the various questions lobbed at him
“Do you have any comment on the bribery allegations?”
“How much drug traffic did you allow through the canal? Do you even know?”
“How can you claim that wasn't your voice on the recording?”
Sarah has been watching the news quietly, but after it tunes back, she says
“I recognize him. I saw him talking to some guys when I-” she pauses
“Yes?”
“I might've snuck out of the canal tour to try and see if I could wakeboard behind one of the container ships, and I saw him talking with some guy in a suit surrounded by some other guys with guns? I left back to the tour immediately! I just kinda forgot about that till now.”
Reese grabs the bridge of his nose between two fingers
“And you couldn't think of it till now?”
“I don't know, that could've been anyone, for all I knew that was a perfectly legal meeting about security or something. And even if it wasn't, that was not the first or last time I saw something sketchy while wandering in a different country. Or even here. I didn't think it was worth killing me over.”
“Well, apparently it was.”
It tunes back to the studio where the anchor continues
“Minister Fuentes was initially attempted to be arrested after a new freedom of information hacker group under the name “Skynet” released a manifesto, followed by mix of phone calls and emails to and from Fuentes containing records of a variety of smuggling deals totaling in 450 Million dollars of goods smuggled through the canal, as well as other assorted bribery deals. In addition, he is charged with attempted murder for the contracting of a south american mercenary group for an as-yet-unnamed American citizen who was apparently being sought as a witness by a Panamanian investigation that was ongoing at the time of the hack. The following phone call excerpt is part of a number of calls that have been released, though the name appears to have been censored out.”
A recording of a phone call audio fragment starts to play, with Minister Fuentes’s voice audible first
“My contact in the investigation says they’ve found the witness.”
“Did they give you a name?”
“Yeah, ••••••••••••••••, and they’re gonna try and contact her as soon as they can gather the rest of the evidence, so she needs to go, soon.”
It cuts back to the anchor talking
“House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Jones commented-”
Reese turns the tv off and looks to Sarah.
“It sounds like you’ll be heading back to Panama, if you come forward about this.”
“I want to, guy sounds like a complete asshole. And he tried to have me killed. I’m gonna see if I can swing bringing my partners this time though. I had fun there.”
“Sounds like things are well in hand Mr. Reese.” Says Finch
“It seems so.”
“Thank you so much, Do you need me to pay you for this, or build something, or, how does whatever you’re doing work?”
“You're safe, and can go help prosecute that official. But just keeping you safe was enough.”
She heads out, and Reese leans back in his chair
“Everything seems to have worked out, Finch.”
“And yet we are left with more questions than answers Mr. Reese.”
“Better questions than what might’ve happened had the rest of those mercs caught up with us in the alley, or us taking longer to find out who was after Sarah Lieberman.”
******************************************************
“I’m not so sure Mr. Reese.” Finch says, cutting the connection.
He sits at his desk in the abandoned library. It’s covered in books, and pages of notes, but Harold “Finch” sits staring at a single piece of paper, with only six words on it, pen in hand, hovering over the page.
******************************************************
A few days ago, Harold was walking their dog Bear through a park past some public phones. One begins to ring.
“We already have a number, we don't usually get one while working on another. I suppose I’ll have to get one of our officer friends to assist Ms. Shaw with this one.”
He picks up the phone, and a robotic voice, swapping between various voices with each word, starts to speak
“Bravo. Romeo. Echo. Alpha. Charlie. Hotel.”
******************************************************
Sitting at his desk, Harold stares at the pile of books and sheets that prove there's no dewey decimal in any code matching those words, especially with the lack of title and incorrect amount of words for it. And he begins to write on the bottom of the sheet.
“Maybe it's not a code. The machine isn't supposed to do this except after a total reset, if this is what I think, we have a lot more to worry about than some mystery mercenary."
B. R. E. A. C. H.
Breach.
******************************************************
In Stoneridge Hospital, a brunette woman, slightly taller than average, early 30s, in one of the patient gowns for the psychiatric facility, walks past a yellow phone, and as she does, it starts ringing. She picks it up, and the faint sound of a robotic voice can be heard, though what it says is inaudible to anyone but her. When it’s done “speaking”, she replies
“I understand.”