Participants:
| Scene Title | Who's Scruffy Looking? |
|---|---|
| Synopsis | A couple of brief phone calls home. |
| Date | Nov 22, 2009 |
Spektor Residence, Moscow, Russia
Although she borrowed the satellite phone right after she got here, Elisabeth didn't want to merely leave a message at 3am anywhere in New York. So she crashed first, then woke in the middle of the night local time to make this call. Mental calculations by a tired blonde put NYC time at…. somewhere around 9pm, she thinks. Assuming she's got the time difference right — It's like 2am or something here in Moscow.
Elisabeth isn't quite sure of anything as she crouches down in the upstairs hallway of the Spektors' home against the wall where she can see the entire length of the hallway and enclose herself in a silence bubble safely and not wake anyone else. The first number she dials is her father's. After listening to his relief and his fears, Elisabeth finally is able to get a word in edgewise and tell him that she cannot tell him what's going on — she has to be out of town for a while, and she has no idea what story is going around the precinct. She does want him to know that she is okay. And please, please, contact her partner and let Nash know that she's okay too. If something happens….. he already knows the things she told him in confidence about what she's been doing. She loves him and she'll call when she can, she doesn't know when it'll be… or when she'll be home. She hangs up with the man who raised her and rests her forehead on her knees before making the second call.
Cardinal's phone rings with Felix Ivanov's satellite phone's number.
It doesn't ring so much as three times before it clicks over. There's the brief delay that satellite communications always brings, before it's answered by Cardinal in a tired voice, "…what is it, Ivanov? Tell me you've got some good news?"
The soft, tired chuckle on the other end of the phone is distinctly feminine and clearly not Ivanov. "If you consider finding certain people's wayward kidnapped lovers intact and able to call home, I guess he's had a little luck," Elisabeth replies with a smile that can be heard in her voice. In the hallway, she leans her head back against the wall as she talks. "I'm sorry, babe."
"Liz?" A startled note to his voice, concern furrowed through it, "Christ, woman, you worried the fuck out of me. What happened? Everyone else went on that trip willingly, or so I gathered…" Richard grunts, "Until Pey found you, we were fuckin' going out of our minds here."
"I'm sorry, Richard," Elisabeth says sincerely. "I spent some crazy number of hours pretty much expecting to be hurtled into a dark hole somewhere myself. That IA fucker who is clearly not just an IA fucker jabbed me with a needle outside the apartment door. I didn't even know if he'd disabled the alarm." She sounds regretful and weary herself. "Spent … what seems like forever in cuffs, flying around the damn world with Ethan fucking Holden, to land here and find Cat, Abby, Teo, and Francois at the airport…. and Ivanov sitting in a safehouse. What the fuck I'm doing here? No one bothered to inform me. Seeing them, I gather I'm supposed to help, but no one's really said shit to me about anything." She sounds… bitter and a good bit on edge. "I haven't slept much since they grabbed me, but I wanted… to make sure you knew I was okay."
"Lazzaro? I owe the sonuvabitch a punch in the face, then…" A sigh spills against the phone's speaker, silence following for a moment before Cardinal says quietly, "Just tell Holden you work with me, if he doesn't already know, and that I'd appreciate it if you watched each others' backs. I don't know if he'll listen, but he might." A beat, "We're all going to end up where we belong, though, it seems like. I recieved instructions from the boss tonight."
There's a silence from Elisabeth's end. The boss? It takes her a few to put that together, and then she asks, "Edward Ray? What?" She sounds…. puzzled. And disturbed. "What's going down on your end?"
"There's several locations that we're being sent to investigate; I'm presuming Russia's one of them. I don't think Munin's at any of these sites, although don't tell your friends over there. I think there's information crucial to finding it at each one, though," Cardinal says in quiet tones, "I'm hitting somewhere in South America, Red's being sent to Africa."
Again there is a silence. And Elisabeth says quietly, "Cat's still got her encrypted phone, so far as I know. At least you three will be able to talk to one another. They took mine, so I'll be pretty much incommunicado while I'm here, babe." She sighs quietly. "I, uhm…." There's a hesitation. "Never mind. Just…. be careful out there, okay?"
"You too, babe," Cardinal replies more softly, "You too. Watch your back; I don't know who you can trust out there, really. Felix and Abigail, probably, but even she might say something to the wrong person at the wrong time. Play your cards close. We may need to find Munin before anyone else does."
Elisabeth doesn't say anything for a long time. When she finally does speak, her voice is hesitant. "Good luck, Richard. I'll talk to you again when I can." There's something in her tone; most likely it's just that she's scared and tired and uncertain of anything. "You should use Cat's number if you call," she tells him softly. She's not sure Felix's line is in any way secure.
"Alright." Cardinal's quiet a moment, "Good luck, Liz. I know you can handle this. If anyone can, you can." A pause, "Love you. See you soon."
Click.
Sitting on a floor in a hallway in Russia, thousands of miles from the man who just hung up that phone, Elisabeth stares at the device with a somewhat stunned expression. And then she chuckles softly, her free hand reaching up to wipe tears that make a sudden appearance as she drops her head back against the wall once more. "I know," she murmurs at the ceiling. "Nerfherder."