Spreading the News

Feeling someone's hand on him, Carson only turned slightly, just a little surprised it was Katie. His face was wrought with anguish - a sea of uncontrollable emotions. Being pulled into a hug was the last thing he expected. But that's all it took to break down his barrier. His arms slowly wrapped around Katie, accepting her embrace as he buried his face in her shoulder. The tears wanted to come, but they were held back just enough to not spill over. Carson wanted to believe that what they'd just seen wasn't real. He wanted to have the hope that Alec was still alive. But he knew if the Agency wanted him alive, they wouldn't have fired a second shot. No...no, there was absolutely no reason for them to have kept Alec - a traitor - alive.

Slowly pulling back, Carson's eyes found Katie's. "It's because of me," he whispered hoarsely. "It's all because of me. First my marriage..." His voice began to waver. "Then my child...now my brother. They're punishing me for leaving. I never should have changed sides." If he hadn't, Misty would be fine, there would be no loss of love or unborn life, and Alec would still be alive.

Carson's gaze darted down the hall towards the staircase. Downstairs was where the weapons were kept. "They're gonna pay, Katie..." He started in that direction. "And their blood will be on my hands."


Scott wasn't sure when Reese and Jason had left the office, but he suddenly became aware of his surroundings again, realizing it was just him and Dalton. His eyes were still glued to his computer screen, even though there was nothing new to see. The cold, hard truth was that there was no point in the Elite trying to find Alec - they all knew the Agency wouldn't tolerate Alec's intrusion. If there had been only one shot fired, there might be hope. But it was the second one that proved he was gone. And there would be no body to find. All they had was the video footage and a blood-smeared image.

Without a word to Dalton, Scott slowly rose and left. It was only a few steps to Hope's office where he knocked before timidly entering. Seeing her behind her desk, he wrapped his arms around himself, trying to stop his shaking, though it wasn't helping much. His mind was swimming with the horrors he'd experienced at the hands of the Agency, brought on by seeing Alec murdered.

He blinked, unsure if Hope had just said anything to him or not. "He's gone," he told her quietly. "Alec. He's dead. He went to the Agency to try to find intel and...and they shot him. We saw it on camera." His eyes dropped. "I...I wasn't sad when he got hurt and...and I almost...I was..." Having struggled with caring whether or not Alec was okay now created a mass of guilt on top of everything else. He hadn't cared. And now Alec was gone, leaving a very strange, dark place in Scott's heart.

His good eye focused on Hope once more. It felt strange...he hadn't spoken to her like this in a very long time. Not since Justin. But Justin wasn't here. And Scott knew well enough that if he didn't talk this out, he'd go home tonight and have a meltdown.


Jason stared at Reese as they stood in Reese's office. Neither knew what to say. Both were in shock. Both wanted to head out immediately in search of Alec to bring him back alive. And both knew that even if there was the most remote chance Alec hadn't died that instant, by the time they located where he'd gone, he would have been executed or left to bleed out. It was a harsh way to end their options, but it was reality. There was no closure. No one-hundred-percent surety of what really happened after the camera went blank. But they all knew it was over.

"Misty." It was the only word Jason could think of.

Reese nodded. "Yeah. Who should it be?"

Jason swallowed hard. "I'll talk to her."

"Do you think we should wait? She's already so fragile."

"We can't lie to her. She'll know something is wrong, and all we'll be doing is betraying her trust. No..." Jason shook his head. "As hard as it is, she needs to know." Perhaps his calmness was due to the fact that the whole thing was going to take a while to sink in. It was strange, but he'd found a friend in Alec. They hadn't been all that close, but they'd definitely been friends. And it was over. Just like that.

Reese let out a long sigh before nodding again. "Okay. I'll put Dalton on trying to hack into the Agency again in a few days to see if they'll log the incident and we'll know for sure exactly what they did. But I think we'd all agree that it will just confirm what we saw. I suppose it could have been part of an elaborate scheme but it didn't look like it to me."

"No, I agree. They weren't acting. And that bullet..." Jason bit his tongue from continuing. There was no point in discussing how the first bullet had gone right through Alec, and the second one had sent more blood flying. They'd all seen it. It had been murder...


...Jason slowly entered Misty's room. It felt like he had a lead weight in his gut, and the stress was causing his chest to hurt. He only hoped he'd made the right choice by volunteering for this. He'd waited around the office several hours before coming to the hospital - using that time to ease some of his shock, and to muster up enough courage.

Approaching her bed, he tried to smile, but he knew she'd be able to tell something was wrong. She was too smart to try and fool her. He sank down to sit on the edge of the bed and gently took her hand. "Hey there," he greeted warmly. She had a little more color in her face now after a few days, but she still looked so tired. He couldn't imagine her pain.

"Um...I just stopped by to talk to you." His eyes searched hers, hoping she had the strength to endure another blow. "I know that you've been through so much already. And we were tempted to not tell you, but we knew you needed to know." All the words he'd planned to say seemed to vanish from his mind. "Alec, he..." Jason swallowed hard. "He didn't tell anyone where he was going. He found an Agency outpost somewhere - we're not sure where - and hacked their system to transfer a bunch of intel to the Elite. We're all hoping that within that intel is information on who is responsible for hurting you." 

His grip on her hand tightened just a little. "Misty...he's gone." Emotions flooded his eyes. "He was killed by the Agency."


Eli fiddled with the empty beer bottle in his hand, seated in his chair in the living room. Supper was long over and he and Ryan were halfway through a movie. It was later than he'd planned, but he'd kept putting it off for the last few hours. He owed Ryan an explanation of why he'd made her stay home tonight - other than his lame excuse that he was craving her potato salad. 

Unable to stand it any longer, he stopped the movie. He looked over at his sister on the couch, trying to predict how she'd react, and he really had no idea. But something was making this very difficult for him. Perhaps part of it was that it really hadn't sunk into his own mind yet. Things between him and Alec had gone downhill fast, but...at one time, they'd been pretty close. 

"Sorry," he apologized. "I just..." He sighed. "There's more to me wanting you home tonight. I just wasn't sure how to say it." He leaned back in his chair and stared up at the ceiling. "I got a call earlier today from Mike Reese, down at the Elite. It seems they were investigating a case and, in an effort to help, Alec went off alone to retrieve intel. Reese was a bit foggy on the details, but..." This was harder to say out loud than he'd thought. "Alec was killed today."

His eyes drifted back down to Ryan. "He's not coming back."