“And what, exactly, are we doing here?” I asked the mysterious man standing beside me on the opposite side of the street from the police station; as I simultaneously scanned our surroundings for any hint of someone who was watching too closely. I was worried about Snow, and how my presence with John’s “business partner” may put him in danger as well. That particular scenario was one that I had no desire to try and explain to the tall man who had done so much for me in the short amount of time I had known him. Keeping my hand close to the gun hidden at my back, I watched the man known as Finch as he replied:
“We’re meeting someone that I’ve known for a very long time, Ms. Gerard.” He turned stiffly to level an intense gaze in my direction as he continued, “And I trust that I have your promise not to mention a single bit of this encounter today to Mr. Reese?”
I nodded my assent, wondering what it was about this encounter that demanded the utmost secrecy; and despite how many doubts I had regarding the wisdom of lying to John, I couldn’t help but wonder if my secrecy would give me a chance at earning Harold’s trust. I wanted desperately to prove that I was someone that the two of them could count on; so I decided to take my chances with Reese’s irritation in an attempt to prove that Harold’s original assumption regarding my character was incorrect.
As I was mulling over the new dilemma I found myself presented with; a shift in Harold’s body language forced me back to the present to stand on high alert for whatever it was that had caught his attention. It didn’t take me too long to realize what it was that the mysterious man had seen; as I saw the young man that was now walking across the street to our position, smiling at the man standing beside me as he approached.
The young man closed the distance between us; and I caught Harold smiling at him as he said:
“Cut your hair…finally.”
I kept my hand close to the gun at my back, even though, for all intents and purposes, the young man seemed harmless; listening intently as he replied to Harold’s statement.
"Got new glasses...finally."
As the two men hugged, I brought my hand slowly back down to my side; chastising myself for my paranoia. It appeared that these two were just as they seemed: old friends sharing a reunion; despite the fact that one of them had just exited a police station. I shoved the numerous questions that came to mind with that knowledge to the back of my mind; intent on remaining alert, as it seemed that Harold was now introducing me to his “friend.”
“Will, this is Natalya. She’s my new assistant at the office” he said, gesturing to me with his hand, even as his eyes gave me silent communication to go with what he was saying.
I reached out a hand to receive Will’s as I made a concentrated effort to relax my face into as much of a natural expression as I could. Smiling at the young man, I found myself blushing at his next statement:
“Geez Uncle Harold, where’d you find someone like this to just sit around at your beck and call all day?” He looked me over once, clearly pleased with what he saw, before turning back to his “uncle” (I’d save my inquiry as to that label for later) to say:
“I’d have pegged her for something a bit more…sophisticated than that.”
Harold gave me an unreadable look, and I could swear I saw him roll his eyes before he glossed over Will’s astonishment at my job arrangements; and said
“I suppose you could use some rest before I lecture you on the perils of underground gambling?”
Will gave me one last smile before responding to Harold, saying “That’d be great. I’ve been up almost 48 hours…cellmate snored like a freight train.”
I bit back a laugh at his attempt at humor before falling into step behind the two men as I realized that Harold was leading us away from the station. We continued to move down the street towards whatever destination Harold had in mind; and I maintained my constant watch over our surroundings, even as I began to wonder over how these two men had come into contact with each other.
I was beginning to realize that there were many more secrets to Harold Finch than his brief reference to a “Machine”…secrets that, if I played my cards right, I just might find out.
………………………………………………………………………………………………………
After catching lunch with Will, and learning that he had just about as many secrets as his “uncle”; Harold and I returned to the abandoned building in silence. I knew better than to voice my questions to him in this early stage of the game; and, for his part, he seemed intent on acting as though I wasn’t even there. As he sat down once more in front of the computer screens that had so fascinated me earlier, I busied myself with returning to my position from earlier…standing further away from him to give him space while he dialed a call out to John.
We came into the middle of a conversation; and I heard a woman’s voice, likely Andrea’s, saying:
“Um….no, not at all. It’s just, I thought you were a clear cut civil case. The unicorn I’ve been looking for…like, the perfect man.”
I smirked to myself at that description of John; making a mental note to harass him about it later, as I heard a sound from the other line that sounded suspiciously like something being knocked over.
“I’m sorry, I’m…all thumbs today” was John’s remark, and I arched an eyebrow as I mulled over an image of Reese being clumsy. I heard Andrea moving away from the microphone; even as I registered Finch saying:
“Nicely done, Mr. Reese. I have a signal now.”
“How was your appointment?” was the reply directed to Harold from the other end of the line. Harold looked at me with a “keep your mouth shut” expression as he turned back to face the screen in front of him to respond.
“Quite productive, thank you.”
“Natalya? Anything to add?” John said; and I jumped from his unexpected question, trying my best to suppress the shudder I felt as Harold eyed me with a new-found intensity, awaiting my reply.
“Mmm?…nope. Went fine” was my response; and I could almost hear John’s eyes rolling as he picked up my poor attempt at masking my hesitation. Before he could question me any further, however, Ms. Gutierrez came back in the room; effectively redirecting the conversation back to the task at hand.
“Okay…here we go” she said as she returned; and there was a slight pause, at which I caught Harold giving me a nod of encouragement for my non-disclosure before the young lawyer’s voice cut through the room again; forcing us both to listen.
“So…tell me. Why do you wanna sue your boss?”
“Well, my uh…working conditions are…unsafe” John replied; and I had to hand it to him for sounding so sincere that he almost had me convinced that his intentions for visiting Andrea were legitimate. I smiled a little to myself at John’s skill as I realized, belatedly, that I had been so intent on listening to the conversation that I hadn’t realized I had been edging ever closer to Harold; and was now standing at his side. Since he didn’t seem to register this; or if he did, he didn’t mind, I maintained my place next to him as we heard Reese continue:
“I slipped and hurt my back.”
“Did that happen on the job?” Andrea asked him.
“Just last night, actually” he responded
Andrea remained silent for a moment; and Harold took that opportunity to speak.
“Mr. Reese I’ve got sound in both microphones now…connecting to her hard drive. I sent an email with a virus promising 40% off any purchase at Bloomingdale’s…she couldn’t resist downloading it.”
I couldn’t resist throwing Harold a look of surprise at that last admission. “That cruel, yet clever man” I thought to myself; knowing full well that, had I received a similar email; I too would have fallen prey to the virus. I shook my head in disbelief at Harold’s technological prowess as I continued listening to Andrea talk.
“So, what’s this boss of yours like?”
“Very manipulative. Secretive. We’ve had some personality conflicts” John replied; and I bit back a snort of laughter as I continued listening intently as Andrea asked:
“I take it…he has a lot of money?”
“He’s one of those rich…loner types. The kind you’d call strange if he didn’t have so much cash. So instead, he’s…eccentric.”
This time I was not as successful biting back my laughter, but I noticed from Harold’s expression that he too was amused. As we listened to John wrap up the meeting with Andrea; I couldn’t help but be amazed at how these two men handled the unique situations thrown their way. They both certainly had their own unique skillsets that leant themselves brilliantly to the goals they wished to achieve.
As Harold and I awaited John’s return in a silence that was not quite so awkward as before; I found myself thinking up all sorts of new questions to pepper the ex-agent with upon his return. One way or another, I would get to the bottom of whatever was going on here. My time spent with the CIA learning all the ins and outs of spying would allow nothing less.
And, if John were honest with himself, I had to believe he’d understand. I just hoped that, in time, Harold would grow to acknowledge that my constant searching for information came not out of a desire to use it against him; but out of a need to help in whatever way I could. Because that was exactly what I intended to do; provided the two men would allow me (and maybe even if they wouldn’t).
As I cemented my new plan in my mind; I found myself reluctantly beginning to hope that, maybe, through helping these two men do some good in the world, I could get a better chance at assuaging my guilt over what I had almost done to John. I knew, deep down, that I owed it to the man who had taken me in without a second thought to at least try.
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