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takadasaiko · 5 years

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Home from the War: Chapter Fifteen

FFN II AO3

Summary: The two teams work to find a way into St Regis' compound only to find it's no safer outside than it is inside.

Chapter Fifteen: Angles

He could still remember the call that had come through to tell him that they had Raymond Reddington in custody. As the lead agent on the case, he had thought that meant that they were finally in the home stretch. Donald Ressler couldn't have known what was coming. The changes and the decisions that would be thrust upon him. He had bent his morals to the point of breaking and done things that he would have made him sick just a few short years ago. This task force had changed him. He had risked and he had sacrificed, and there were many nights he had tossed and turned, unable to sleep with the question hanging over his head on if it were worth it.

Tom might not be Reddington, but Ressler was still bending what he knew was right for the goal ahead and he hated it. He knew he should have expected it. Halcyon prided themselves on being able to do what they claimed the government agencies wouldn't or couldn't, and maybe they did, but letting Katarina Rostova in to interrogate Franks left him with a sour taste in his mouth. He wondered what he would have to give on once they were inside the compound and after they got back out.

"You about ready?"

Ressler turned, Liz's voice drawing his attention. Her expression immediately sobered and he wondered if he looked as torn as he felt.

"You okay?"

He cleared his throat. "Yeah. I have SWAT on standby, but…" He pulled a steadying breath in and met her eyes. "I know everyone has a slightly different angle on this."

"Ress, you know you can trust Tom."

Ressler snorted. "Trust is a stretch, but it's not him I'm worried about. I know what he wants out of this." He caught her gaze and held it. "I know what we want, what the Hargraves want, but the only person that we don't know what she's after is your mom."

Liz's lips tugged downward at that and her gaze shifted past him to the empty room for just a moment. "She's helped us."

"Reddington used to help us too, but he always got something for it. What's Katarina getting?"

There was a long moment of silence and Liz shook her head. "I wish I knew, but she hasn't shared. She won't, and right now we don't have time to question it. We need her on this."

"Then look me in the eye and tell me you trust her."

Liz met his eyes. "I trust her not to hurt the people I care about."

Ressler sighed. "It's like dealing with Reddington all over again."

That pulled a smile from her and Liz reached forward and touched his arm. "Good thing that the Task Force's deal isn't with my mother then."

Everything had started to stiffen up on the short plane ride to upstate New York and it was everything Tom could do to find a way to loosen his abused muscles without finding new ways to hurt through other injuries. Gramble had forced a low dosage pain killer on him. It wasn't the first time he had used it to jump back into the field early after an injury, and it was the only one that he'd found didn't leave him in a dangerous fog that could get him and those around him killed. The last time he'd used it, ironically enough, had been when Gina had had him shot and he had sought her out to offer peace.

Now he was chasing her down to save her life. He would get St Regis' files, be able to help the kids still in the program, and the Task Force would get dangerous killers, but as he stood ready to infiltrate the school that had trained him to do what he was so damn good at, he had to admit to himself that saving Gina was a goal he wouldn't give on. They'd watched each other's backs for years. It was time for him to pull her out of the fire one last time.

A hand curled into his from where Liz was seated next to him in the back of the van that would get the team close enough to get in. The plan was in place. Best case scenario meant that Howard, Aram, and Dumont would be inside of St Regis' systems by the time that they arrived, using Franks' access code to gain control. The more likely scenario had them all splitting ways as soon as they got close enough. Tom and Samar would slip in through an old, hidden entrance that Tom knew so that they could boost the signal and open up access to the security systems. Once they had that, the others would enter in pairs at three different locations around the compound: Nez and Solomon, Scottie and Katarina, and Liz and Ressler. All in, they had digital copies of the layout that Tom and Gina had gotten them early on in this mess and they would move through until they reconvened at the offices where Franks had confirmed that Bud's access point remained.

"What are you thinking?" Liz asked quietly.

Tom loosed a breath and brought her hand to his lips, pressing a kiss to her knuckles. "That this may be the only group of people capable of pulling this off."

"If you have any doubts about it, now's the time to pull out."

"We're past that," he murmured softly. "We've been past that."

There was a long moment and Liz leaned in, her shoulder against his and he felt the touch calm his nerves. "Do you think they ever would have left us alone? If you hadn't -"

"Picked a fight with them?"

"You said it, not me," his wife chuckled and Tom turned to press a kiss to her dark hair.

"The threat would have always been there."

They both looked to where Katarina Rostova had been sitting quietly and there was something unsettling in her blue eyes. Liz straightened next to him. "What do you mean?"

Katarina's lips turned downward and her gaze flickered to Tom. "They found an operative that made them more money in his tenure there than any other had. That's not something they let go of and certainly not someone they just let walk away. They would have found a way to make you pay, even if not directly."

Tom watched his mother-in-law for a long moment, letting the words sink in. She was right. Even if they weren't right in front of them, the threat would always be there hanging over his head and his family's. The exposure that came from being Halcyon's CEO was a double edged sword that both protected him and put him back on the map of old enemies. It wasn't anything that he hadn't thought of before, but it felt heavier coming from her. More deadly somehow.

"I guess we better finish this then," Liz said firmly at his side and he felt the van pull to a stop.

Howard felt a tug at his sweater, breaking his concentration from where he had been working through every path he could find to get into St Regis' systems. He turned, finding a pair of blue eyes so like his son's on him and his little granddaughter hadn't let go of the material yet. "I wanna help."

It took half a beat longer than it should have for Howard to pull himself out of his focus and process the words.

"Not right now, Princess."

"Mr Hargrave? They're in," Mojtabai called out and Howard grunted.

"And we're not. How close?"

The FBI's technician pulled his headset fully off. "The signal's not strong enough."

They had wondered if that would be the case. "Dumont, let Tom know we're going to plan B."

Agnes tugged again, her nose crunched up and determined pout in full swing. "I wanna help Mama and Daddy."

Howard felt some of his resolve slip. "It might be scary," he warned her softly.

"I'm brave."

"Yes you are,"

He agreed as he picked her up and set her on his lap. "Don't tell your dad when he gets home."

She made a motion like she was zipping her lips and settled in. Howard reached for the headset and heard his son's voice as he fit it in place.

"We're on our way in."

Howard pulled in a breath and tightened his hold on his granddaughter. He hoped this was worth the risk they were taking.

They didn't meet any opposition down the long tunnel that Tom hadn't set foot in since his teenage years, and as he and Samar drew closer to their entrance into the compound he made a mental note to thank her when this was all over for being the one person not to question his ability to get this particular job done. His wife's teammate had given him a quick look up and down when they'd decided she would accompany him in to help boost the signal for Howard and the others and simply accepted it. It had been a relief, and one he hadn't expected. If he said he was good for it, he was good for it.

He heard an amused snort of laughter from her as they neared the grate that would lead them up into the old locker rooms that had been turned into storage a decade before and Tom looked back. Samar motioned at the old, rickety looking stool leaned against the tunnel wall. "I'm just picturing a teenage Tom Keen slipping out of school. You were prepared."

"I wasn't the only one that used it," he said and scooted the old stool into place so that he could reach grate and move it from its place. He pulled in a deep breath. This was going to hurt.

Tom pulled himself up, the strain on his ribs and the jagged gash that Masterson had left in him forcing him to clench his jaw so that no more than a grunt of pain escaped him. He dragged himself onto the floor and laid there a moment, catching his breath as Samar followed much more quickly behind him. She shot him a look and he rolled, getting to his knees and then to his feet. He would have time to rest later.

Samar lifted a hand to the comm in her ear. "Aram, can you read me?"

"You're back!" came the excitable voice from the other end. "Are you inside?"

"Yeah," Tom answered quietly, one arm wrapped around the protective vest he was wearing and he forced his voice to remain steady. "We'll let you know as soon as we've got the boost in place."

"We'll know, son," Howard's voice filtered over. "Be careful."

"Both of you," Aram pressed.

Tom saw a small, fond smile tug at Samar's lips. "We will," she assured him and the voices went quiet over the comm. The connection was there and solid enough for them to reach the outside world should things go badly.

The old lockers were filled with equipment, but nothing there would be useful. Tom motioned to the door and they slipped out into a hallway he knew well. They were a building over from where they needed to be, but it wouldn't be until they had to cross over that they would likely run into trouble.

Neither agent or operative said a word as Samar followed his lead silently and quickly through the empty halls. They reached the door and Tom risked a look through a window to the side. Samar flattened herself, gun ready, on the other side of the door, her eyes on him and waiting for the signal.

"The next building over houses the security systems," he said quietly.

"My guess is that the security'll be a bit heavier than a storage unit."

"You got it. Ready?"

She gave him a curt nod and they moved together across the empty, open space, but not to the door with the security camera hidden away and aimed right at it. Instead they eased around, quickly and quietly, to a window along the southern side without any direct surveillance on it. Samar pulled a small device that Dumont had provided them with and stuck it to the glass, taking a step back as it buzzed and the window cracked before shattering, the glass raining down on the grass outside and the room inside.

They slipped in one at a time, both ready for whatever was on the other side of the window.

Tom had never spent a lot of time in this building. The rows and rows of servers weren't his forte, and now that he looked at them he was glad that they had the others in their ears to walk them through what needed to happen.

"Okay, we're in," Samar whispered into the comm.

Dumont was the one to answer this time. "Awesome. Tom-Tom, you got the map?"

Samar shot him a questioning look and Tom grinned, holding up a round, metal ball the size of a tennis ball. He rolled it out into the middle and it stopped itself, a sensor popping out the top and sweeping the room.

Tom turned to Samar. "It'll give them an up-to-date map of the room."

She didn't seem to hear him, though, and before Tom could turn to follow her gaze that had snapped to something behind him she was leveling her gloc, the shot going off. A St Regis guard hit hard, but others would be right behind him.

"What was that?" Aram demanded in their ears.

"Trouble," Tom answered and leveled his own weapon as another came around the corner.

"Hold 'em off. I don't have a full rendering," Dumont said urgently.

"Easy for you to say on that end of it," Tom growled, another shot going off as he and Samar jumped in opposite directions, taking cover amongst the towers.

"Okay… almost…. Gotcha. You're on the wrong end."

"Of course we are," Samar grumbled, popping up over her cover to take another shot.

"Just get us there, Dumont. Aram, you ready to walk Samar through it?"

"Yeah… yeah, I can walk her through it."

Tom looked over, a silent promise to cover her and Samar leapt to her feet, Dumont's instructions filtering over the comm.

Gina looked over to where Geffroy had been distracted by something on the tablet on her desk. There was something in the movement that struck her, but it was difficult to tell with a man like him. He turned a hard look on her. "Your play backfired."

"How so?" Gina asked lightly, but the unease that had been creeping up taking a firmer hold on her as he turned the tablet around and she saw Jacob and one of his wife's agents. Her expression hardened immediately.

"I would have thought Phelps would have been smarter than to deliver himself to our doorstep," Tallert murmured.

"Idiot probably didn't even know we needed him," Masterson grumbled.

"He won't have come alone," Tallert pointed out. "Do we know how many he has with him?"

Geffroy was already on his way towards the door. "No, but keep her in lockdown here. If Phelps comes we'll need them both in this room anyway."

Tallert shot him a dark look. "Where are you going?"

"To handle the situation."

Geffroy didn't give Tallert a chance to question him again. He was gone, and as Gina turned her gaze on her former teacher he met her gaze. "Don't be a fool, Gina."

"McCready made plenty of bad calls with Jacob, but he knew we made a hell of a team." She tilted her head, her lips stretching into a dangerous smile. "You've lost, Tallert. The question is if you want to get out alive or not."

Masterson snorted behind her and she saw the shift in Tallert's gaze, and in that moment, she didn't think he'd stop her. He'd ride it out to see who came out on top, and Gina didn't have a question about that. She landed a hard kick into Masterson's gut, sparking the fight she had been waiting for.

Liz shifted in her position outside of the campus. They'd taken cover in the woods there, waiting for the signal from Aram and the others that Tom and Samar had gotten in and gotten their signal booster in place. Once they did they would get the doors open and could control the security feeds and any number of other gadgets inside of the compound. It gave them their best chance.

"He'll be fine." She turned, finding Nez's gaze on her and the other woman smirked. "Your husband's a stubborn bastard."

"I'll second that," Solomon grumbled on her other side.

"Believe me, I know it," Liz answered softly. "I should have gone in with him."

"You two would have worried more about each other than the mission," Katarina pointed out from her place next to Scottie who looked just as worried as Liz felt.

Liz watched her mother carefully. She still didn't know for sure why she was there. To protect her? Maybe, but it was strange that she would be so determined to throw herself into this if she didn't have a piece of information that the rest of them didn't have. Just like Reddington. Those two must have been one hell of a match in their day.

Any question that might have found its way from her lips was instantly swallowed at the sound of a gunshot deeper in the words, the same direction that Ressler had stepped away towards not too long before. Liz was on her feet and racing towards the sound with low protests following after her.

TBC

Notes: I had some fun with infiltrating St Regis because I didn't actually expect to do it when I started out. I knew this was all going to come to head at the end and there'd be a battle of some kind, but the idea of sending them in seemed impossible. The story had other ideas, as stories do. At least I got to work with some fun match ups to send them in.

The last few weeks have been non-stop busy. I took another step towards deciding if I'm moving out to LA this summer, had a major appliance break (and I'm still dealing with that fun bit), and I wrapped up the first drafter of the rewrite of my pilot episode. I have a few people looking at it now for feedback and there's the briefest moment of reprieve... go figure all I want to do is work on it more lol

This story is almost done though. I'm working on the final chapter I think.

Next Time: Samar and Tom work to get everybody in, Scottie has to trust Katarina, and Gina fights for her life. Fair warning, the next chapter gets pretty violent. Oops?

#the blacklist #au fanfiction #tom keen #elizabeth keen #samar navabi #aram mojtabai #donald ressler #katarina rostova #howard hardgrave #agnes keen #Dumont Desoto #Scottie Hargrave

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