Six weeks

Garret would rather just make the guy talk right here - he had no problem with it. He hated surrendering, and he didn't trust the Elite to get to the bottom of this with their soft methods. He glanced at Nate, searching his eyes for just a moment. There was warning there...warning not to cross the line. And despite his own nature, there was too much at risk for him to ignore. It wasn't just him at stake now. Now there was Nate, Laura, Maggie and Brian. And doing things his way could cost him dearly. 

Finally, he let Ron straighten up, but held him tightly until Nate got the cuffs on him. "For the record," he hissed, "I didn't ask what your occupation was. I asked who you are." He released him to Nate, followed by a short nod. "Give me a minute to get my shoes on. I'll go with you." He didn't want to. He didn't want to step foot back into that place. But he wasn't about to leave this one in their hands either. 

It took him less than that minute to get his boots on and come back out, passing Laura, still at the door, as he went. Down in the yard again, he pointed a finger at Wyatt. "Stay here." He didn't trust that there were no more Agency thugs around. "And if anybody gets a hold of Laura or Brian, I will hold you personally responsible." 

Wyatt's eyebrows rose and he gave Nate a quick glance. He agreed it made good sense to stick around, but he hadn't expected Garret to act like this. "I'll guard them with my life." 

"Good." Garret took over their new, bleeding prisoner again, shoving him towards Nate's car. "Let's go." 

He didn't ask any more questions of the man on their way to the Elite, and gave the order to shut up until they'd reached their destination. It was pointless to try and carry on a conversation here. This wasn't good, though. Someone suspected he was still alive, and with that, there were multiple consequences...


Kirk had just come into Reese's office, and Reese was in no mood to deal with him. "What is it now, Agent Young?" 

Kirk paused just inside the doorway and pursed his lips. "Well, I just wanted to offer a helping hand."

"Are you serious?" Reese stood at his desk and crossed his arms. "Help do what? Kick us while we're down? By all means, go right ahead. But just tell me one thing."

"What's that?"

"Tell me when you plan to shut us down. I have yet to inform my agents because there's been no clarity in any of this, and all I want is to be able to tell them exactly when they need to pack up and go home." Reese was done playing games. "I know sometimes things get held up at the Bureau but this is getting ridiculous. Tell me when they want us done, or I forcibly kick you out right now." 

Kirk wasn't fazed, and gave Reese a slight smirk. "You're not going to be shut down." 

"What?"

"You're not going to be shut down. The Elite is going to continue."

Reese was so shocked, he just stared.

Kirk dared a couple steps closer. "There are going to be changes. A lot of them. Some you'll like, and some you'll hate. But I did my best to keep this branch in tact..."

...It took a little while, but after sitting down with Reese, Kirk was able to give him all the decisions in a nutshell, so at least he had a good idea of what was going to happen. 

Leaning back in his chair, Reese thought for a long moment. "So...you and I will be working side-by-side."

"You'll remain chief of the Elite. There's no one more qualified than you." 

Reese quirked an eyebrow. "Coming from the man who verbally chewed me up and spit me back out again." 

Kirk sighed. "I apologize for that. I had to ask the hard questions and get right down to all the dirt because somebody was going to. And they did - I was challenged on everything from your relationship with the staff, to your niece marrying ex-Agency, to you being married to a lawyer, and even hiring an illiterate janitor whose also part of the very family who the Agency's been after for more than a generation." 

Reese shook his head in disbelief. "Where do they get all this, and what's it to them if-"

"Just accept the fact that they know everything - almost everything - and they wanted to get rid of the Elite badly enough that they were willing to use anything."

"So what changed their mind?" 

Kirk strummed his fingers on his leg. "I know I've been a bad guy in all this. I've spent a lot of time in the interrogation room learning just how to push the right buttons, and I used my methods here. I wanted to see just how far all of you were willing to go to save this place. But instead of just finding people dedicated to their work, I found a family. A very close-knit family that wasn't going to go down with a fight...even when it came to whether or not to give up on a criminal."

Reese's eyes dropped to his desk. He knew Kirk was referring to his attitude towards Garret. But that hadn't changed. He would still give up the Elite before giving up on Garret. "So...I'm still chief, but if you don't agree with something, you can pull the plug at any time... is that right?"

"Um..." Kirk took a deep breath. "I will be the go-between for the Elite and the FBI. The board will still exist, but will only meet on occasion - they are entrusting this endeavor to the FBI. I will be writing up weekly reports to the FBI, at least until the Elite proves itself to run in a manner they can accept." 

"You didn't answer my question." 

Kirk gave a little laugh. "I was hoping you wouldn't catch that." He nodded. "You're basically right. You call the shots, but I'm going to be advising you according to the FBI's rule book. If you choose to divert from my advice, you run the risk of me writing a bad report and starting this whole process all over again. But... I know you don't trust me right now, but my intent is not to shut the Elite down. I want to see it succeed. I believe in its mission and I believe in the people here. If you feel strongly about something, I don't want you to change it just because you're scared I'll report it. We're not always going to agree and I know that. But my intention is to work together as a team. It'll take time but I believe it's possible." 

Reese didn't want to trust Kirk after the messes he'd created here. But he couldn't help but believe Kirk was being genuine now. "Well...if I want the Elite to stay running, then I'd say I don't have much of a choice." 

"I hope we can get beyond that point to where we're both excited to work together." 

"I...think we will." Reese wasn't positive, but he could see some hope. And at the very least, he was so utterly relieved that the Elite would remain standing, that at this point, he'd do whatever it took. They'd be moving, they'd have more FBI agents joining them...but they could all survive and work together if they really believed in what they were doing. "What's the timeline?" 

"That depends on finding a location, really. I've got a couple leads on some buildings, but I'd like your input. I don't know for sure, but I'd say maybe within six weeks, we may not be entirely set up but we'll at least be moved and halfway through our restructure." 

Reese nodded. "Okay. Well...I can at least start informing my agents about what's going on now. I'm pretty sure no one will be thrilled, but I don't think we'll lose anyone over it." 

Kirk shifted a little in his seat. He'd left out one important detail about Gunner. "There's... one more..." His voice trailed off as Reese's attention was suddenly diverted. 

Reese's office door had been left open, and he now caught sight of... Nate? With...Garret? And a prisoner? What was going on? He stood. "Sorry. I need to go see what this is." 

Kirk stood with him, and inwardly sighed. That had gone...better than expected, really. That one little detail though would be the killer. Reese would have let the Elite fall for the sake of Garret. What would he do when he found out Gunner had to go? 

Giving Reese time to get out onto the main floor without hindering him, Kirk slowly followed, just out of curiosity more than anything. Maybe there had been a breakthrough in Jason's case. He saw the small group heading towards the hallway, so he went that way as well. 


Arriving at the interrogation room, Garret let Nate and the man go first, hesitating just a moment. Logic said there was nothing wrong with this room...but after being in here with Justin that day, all he wanted to do was turn around and run. Bypassing his emotions though, he finally stepped inside as well. He leaned on the table, opposite of where Nate had planted Ron in a chair. The gash on his forehead was looking rather ugly, but Garret really didn't care. "Now. You're going to tell us exactly who you are, who sent you, and how many others there are on this case." 

Just then, Reese appeared in the doorway, looking between all three men. What on earth was going on? He didn't want to interfere, but he needed some answers, too.

And right behind him was Kirk. 

Before anyone could say anything else, Kirk was in the room, his eyes huge. "Ron! What on earth..." He looked between Nate and Garret. "What is going on here? Why did you bring him in?" 

Garret straightened, his face hard and cold. "You know him?" 

"Yeah, I do." Kirk neared and cringed when he saw Ron's forehead. "What the heck happened?"