November 2nd, 2023. 02:20am - Los Angeles

The helicopter is closing on Gwen's location, as Adam tells the pilot to slow down. He knows better than to underestimate Gwen after seeing just how capable she is.

"Don't go further, just drop me and Kev off right here. She'll hear the chopper and be gone in a second."

"Roger."

Adam and Kevin prepare to drop off to the ground as the chopper descends. Adam then makes sure Kevin understands what needs to happen.

"Kev, remember: we need her alive. I promise you we'll get the memory card, but I need to know what she knows about everything that's going on. Especially if it has something to do with my father You got that?"

"Yeah, I gotcha. What about the government? They'll want you to return what's on that memory card, they're gonna let us anywhere near it once we retrieve it."

"We'll cross that bridge once we get there."

The chopper gets closer to the ground and Adam and Kevin jump off.

The area is a secluded neighborhood, especially quiet at 2am. Adam and Kevin slowly making their way through is the only apparent sign of life in the area. Adam contacts Alex through his earpiece.

"Alex, it's me. Do you have the feed set up?"

"Yeah, keep heading north from your location. There's a two-story building with a small gate surrounding it. She went inside."

"Copy that, I see it."

Inside, Gwen is inserting the memory card in her phone in an attempt to get a look at what's inside, but once she boots up her phone, the data is a scrambled mess, encrypted beyond reading.

"Drat."

She goes through the stuff in the house and gets her laptop out, boots it and connects the phone to the computer. The encryption is still tough to break, but she starts working on it.

Adam and Kevin climb over the gate and crouch their way towards the door. They separate with Adam going in from the front and Kevin going to the back.

Adam knows Gwen isn't stupid and she must be expecting company due to having the memory card, so he takes a deep breath before kicking the door open and gets ready to fire his gun.

"Gwen! Hand over the memory card!"

There's no answer, no movement. The house is dark and it's hard to see. Adam barely moves as he carefully examines the house. Adam notices a booted laptop on the table, knowing that Gwen at least was here recently. And she must still be.

"Gwen. Alexa. Whatever your name is. All I want is the memory card. Tell me what's on it. We can talk. I know things aren't what they seem."

No answer or sign of Gwen.

"Damn it, Gwen, just talk to me. Let me know what's going on, I'm not the enemy here."

Adam moves towards the laptop, noticing the phone sitting next to it. He goes to grab the phone, as Gwen steps out of a corner, pointing her gun.

"Not another step, Adam. Just stay away from this."

Adam is quick on the draw, as well, and has his gun pointed at Gwen and they're at a standstill.

"What's going on? I know you weren't working for Schneider, I know you knew my father. Talk to me. What's on that data and why do you want it?"

Gwen is surprised to hear Adam knows more than she thought he would, but she insists on following the orders that were given to her, which include keeping Adam away from everything.

"You're a bit too smart for your own good. I don't want to hurt you, go home."

"I don't want to hurt you, either, I just want to know what's going on. Who are you working for and where's the memory card?"

"I can't tell you what you need to know."

For the first time in a long time, Gwen is outsmarted, as she now has Kevin's gun pointed straight at her.

"I'd start talking if I were you."

Gwen doesn't get nervous, though, as she looks at Adam and gains a confidence boost.

"Adam won't let you shoot me, Kevin."

Kevin and Adam exchange looks and Adam's body language reveals that Gwen is right: she's too valuable.

Adam then turns his eyes back to Gwen.

"You won't shoot me, either."

Adam is also correct. Gwen realizes this, as well.

"Huh. Quite the conundrum, isn't it?"

Adam starts to lower his weapon.

"I'm putting my gun down, okay? You can trust me. Work with me on this."

All three are carefully putting down their guns, as Gwen hears something from the outside.

"They're here."

"Who?"

Before Gwen can give an answer, a shower of rifle shots pierces through the windows of the house.

Adam, Gwen, and Kevin barely manage to react in time, getting down to take cover.

Armed men dressed in black storm into the house, firing rifles at every direction imaginable. Adam and Kevin fire back, while Gwen tries to grab the phone from the table, but the rifle fire is too much and she gets back down.

One of the men grab Gwen from behind and just as she's about to take a bullet, Adam manages to aim a bullet through his throat, saving Gwen's life.

One of the men manages to grab the phone containing the memory card and make a break for it without being stopped, as Adam, Kevin, and Gwen are too busy to notice.

Kevin grabs a rifle from one of the dead gunmen and the added firepower enables him to clean house.

"Adam, you alright?"

"Yeah, I'm okay! Gwen?"

Gwen's fine, too, but turns her eyes to the table, noticing the phone gone.

"They got it!"

Gwen gets up and runs outside, while Adam and Kevin follow. Adam tries to ask about what just happened, but Gwen's too busy to give an answer.

The ATC helicopter is gone and the three notice the pilot lying on the ground, dead.

"Who were they?"

"There's no time. We need that card back. Fuck!"

---

The chopper is flying away from the location, and the man piloting it makes a phone call.

"The memory card is in my possession."

The voice on the other end belongs to Palmer Collins.

"Now I need you to dispose of it. As promised, I will make it worth your time."

However, things don't go quite as smoothly as Collins seemingly had things planned.

"I want to know what this thing is worth."

"What are you talking about?"

"Considering the money you're paying me, this must be quite the valuable asset. I'm sure you're paying me less than what you're getting paid. Who's the buyer?"

The man Palmer hired to his biddings is completely off track and Palmer nervously scrambles.

"No, this has nothing to do with money, it's nothing like that. Just name your sum, I'll pay whatever you want."

"Everything has to do with money, Collins. You've been in the White House long enough to know that. So, what's this thing worth?"

"I'm not paying you anything unless you destroy that memory card. Dispose of it, now!"

"Oh, I think I'm in the driver's seat now, Collins. I have the card, and if you don't want to tell me what it's worth, I'll just find out for myself."

"I'll pay you whatever-"

The man hangs up and Palmer is left nervously contemplating the mess he may have gotten himself into.

---

Back at the house, Adam called Alex about what happened and requested another helicopter to be sent to their location.

"You should be able to trace the ATC helicopter he took. Keep tabs on it."

After hanging up, Adam finally confronts Gwen.

"Now you and I are going to have a talk. Who are you? I know your name's not Gwen. Alexa."

Adam's not getting any more answers, though.

"Just stay out of this."

Calmly, Gwen walks towards her bike. Adam again points her with his gun.

"Don't you move!"

"Gonna shoot a girl in the back?"

Adam moves his gun slightly in the other direction and pulls the trigger, hitting the bike's tire.

"No."

This causes Gwen to get irate, but she knows better than to reach for her gun. It's obvious no one is shooting anybody here.

"Adam, you know what's gonna happen as that ATC chopper gets here. I've committed treason. I handed the virus over to Schneider."

"Let's talk about that. I know you were after the SG6 data. I want to know why. Help us get it back, I'll help you cut a deal."

"They won't cut a deal with me."

"You saved Maria's life. And you warned me about the attack at the hospital. I know it was you. 'Cordelia'. I can make a case for you, but you're gonna have to start working with me."

Adam has pieced a lot together and Gwen is quick to realize this.

"I can't tell you, Adam. I made a promise not drag you into this. All I needed was the SG6."

"A promise to whom? Who are you working for?"

Gwen comes up with a compromise.

"I'll tell you what. You help me get the card back and I'll tell you, but we'll do it my way. That's the deal."

Kevin is not trusting of Gwen and doesn't let his guard down.

"Adam? Come on, you can't trust her."

And Adam doesn't exactly trust her, but there's something about her that does give out an air of something that's not exactly sincerity, but close enough.

"What exactly is your way, then?"

"ATC can't know about me."

"We need the ATC chopper to get a move on."

"You tell them I got away. Trust me, I'll find you."

Adam receives a call on his phone. It's the pilot of the second chopper.

"I'm closing in on your location, are you still in position?"

Adam thinks for a second about what Gwen said.

"Yeah. We're still here. Agent DuClare got away, but she's not a priority right now."

Upon hearing this, Gwen starts to move away, while mouthing "Trust me" to Adam.

Kevin can't believe Adam is letting Gwen go, but he's more interested in the SG6 data, so he decides to focus on that.

---

The White House

The President ends a call with Richard who briefed him on the situation with the SG6.

The day started with the threat of the virus first thing in the morning, and after it was over, the President only had a minute to give out a sigh of relief before a new threat arose.

The data must be valuable, considering Schneider, Gwen and the people who now took the data were all after it.

There has to be something Reynolds isn't quite understanding.

A nervous-looking Palmer enters the Oval Office.

"Where were you?"

"Just talking to the press."

"That's Michelle's job, not yours, Palmer."

Palmer almost gets caught in a lie, but luckily for him, he's an expert.

"Due to the strain of the day's events, I figured she'd need some help."

"Right. I just got a call from Mr. Williams. It turns out a group of armed men ambushed the apartment in which agent DuClare was hiding with the data, and they were able to steal the memory card."

Palmer does his best Academy award-winning performance at acting surprised.

"How did that happen?"

"Beats me. But is there something you want to tell me?"

"What do you mean?"

"You've been acting strangely regarding what's on that card. Surely we both know there's more to it than a list of names of beneficiaries of the Israeli government?"

"You know as much as I do. But if I may, Mr. President, had Adam Black not held on to the memory card after Schneider's assassination, this would not have happened."

"You may be right, and we'll handle Adam Black after this is over."

"I sure hope so, Mr. President. And I hope you handle it the right way."

The conversation takes a turn the President is not exactly comfortable with.

"Why do you mean by right way?"

"Let's say if something happened to Mr. Black, preventing it from getting out that you put one America's greatest allies at risk due to placing your trust on him. You could avoid a lot of red tape."

Reynolds stands up and gets right in Palmer's face.

"That is obscene! Absolutely obscene, Palmer. I will pretend I never heard that, and it will never be brought up again. Am I making myself clear?"

"Yes, Mr. President. I understand. I apologize."

Palmer, however, does not let go of the thought.

---

Los Angeles

The ATC chopper picked up Adam and Kevin and they are now pursuing the stolen chopper, carrying the man with the memory card.

Kevin is questioning Adam's decision to let Gwen go.

"Honestly, I'm not sure it was a good idea to let Gwen go like that."

"I'm not sure, either, but I doubt we would have made her talk. I think this was the only play we had."

"Yeah, well, I hope you're right."

"You think those men after the memory card worked for Silverman? They didn't seem professional; just guys with guns."

Kevin realizes that Adam is now starting to listen to him regarding Silverman, the Order, and the conspiracy.

"Maybe, but probably not. Like you said, they weren't professional enough. One of them hardly knew how to hold his rifle. Maybe they were thugs by someone else in the government, I don't know. There are a lot of people who don't want certain things come to light. So, you're working with me on this?"

"I guess so. But Kev, if it's true, then we need to get a look what's on that card before ATC or anyone in the government does. If the government's been compromised, we can't trust anybody."

"I agree."

---

Gwen notices a seemingly drunken man, who looks to be a professional drinker, making his way home from a bar, and decides to stop him, doing a dumb blonde routine.

"Hey there, mister."

A huge smile is formed on the face of the man who hasn't received positive attention from a female in a number of years probably.

"Why hello there, beautiful!"

"Would you mind helping a dumb girl out? You see, I lost my phone. Silly me, right? I'd really need to make a phone call, could I borrow yours?"

The man hands Gwen his phone.

"Sure, but you know. I could offer you a lot more than a phone, missy."

"Oh, I'm sure, I bet! But the phone's enough, thanks."

Gwen grabs the phone and the man places his hand on Gwen's backside.

"Don't be such a tea-"

Gwen breaks the man's fingers without even thinking and slams him to the ground by hooking his arm.

"Thanks for the phone."

"Women these days, Jesus Christ!"

Gwen moves away and dials a number on the phone.

"It's me, I lost the card, but I'm on it. And so is Adam."

Editor's Notes:

I'm in a total rut with this story, it's been tough. I know where the story is going, I know what's going to happen, but I've been struggling getting there. I'm not giving up, but I'm just saying it's hard. This story still means a lot to me, so no worries that I'm ending it, or anything. I have lots of stuff planned. It's just a rocky place right now. Stayed up all night putting this together, geeze.

I'm also thinking whether I rushed it by making Adam be on board with the conspiracy, but then again I usually dislike oblivious protagonists; I kinda like Adam being smart enough to realize shit isn't what it seems like. So that's what we're going with.

We'll make it through it, though.

Thanks for reading.