XX

"Alive?" Riley asked, as she looked up from the screen that Chris was holding and over at Gabriel, who had found the last victim. The last victim of this woman was exactly what they needed, this woman who they knew nothing about, whether she was working alone, or with others, whether she had a traceable motive, or none at all. They didn't know what she looked like or where she lived, but if Gabriel had found her last victim, then they could have some of their questions answered. She may not know that they were looking for her, but at this stage it didn't really matter.

"He's in Vancouver." Gabriel answered. Arthur Douglas was alive. He was hiding out, where no one could find him, or at least no normal person, but with the chip he wasn't hard to find. Arthur had done well, using cash and not leaving a trail for anyone to follow but he had slipped up once, and through that Gabriel had tracked him right back to his cold little apartment where he spent most of his time.

"So we're going to Vancouver?" Riley asked looking over at Chris who nodded. Gabriel's eyes unfocussed, as he looked over at the wall, booking Riley and him on the next flight to Vancouver, it was leaving in just over an hour, if they moved fast they could make it. "Keep us... me updated." Riley said correcting herself as Gabriel threw her a look, Chris nodded again as Gabriel walked out of the room, Riley two steps behind him. It wouldn't be long now, not long before they had chosen a new Director of National Intelligence, and a new Director of Central Intelligence, there was only one thing that Riley knew for sure, Lillian wouldn't be the new Director of either, not for lack of ability, but for lack of desire. She knew there were at least 7 strong candidates for each position, but she could see no clear winner, and she was eagerly anticipating their choice.

Walking in silence to the lift, Riley couldn't help but make note of her surrounding, they were in a secure building she knew that, but they had been breached before and it was habit. She couldn't stop herself, and after everything she was glad that she was always aware, checking the corners of each room, evaluating threats, looking for escape routes if required. She knew Gabriel, and she knew that as he stood still in the lift, as they travelled down to the bottom floor that he was glad to have a lead, glad to have a distraction, glad that they were no longer fussing over his stitches, that they were treating him as usual. Well as usual as they could for Gabriel. After all that had happened in the last week and a half, Riley was glad for a distraction, a normal mission that would take her mind off everything else. After Weatherly's betrayal, the death of Tetazoo, after everything, she needed some normal, and rushing out to follow a lead in Vancouver was normal.

"Booked us tickets to Vancouver, you have a few minutes to pack your pjs." Gabriel said, leaning against the side of the lift, as he scanned the internet, checking the weather in Vancouver and the route with the least amount of traffic to stop off to their apartments and then to get to the airport.

"Not driving?" Riley asked, before biting back the rest of the question. This was a lead they didn't have to time to waste, let alone hours upon hours spent on the road, but part of her wished that they could spend the rest of the day in the car, exchanging quips as he blared his music that she used to detest, but was beginning to grow on her.

"It's a hell of a long way, and I ain't going to let you drive." Gabriel replied, even with her entire computerised background in his head courtesy of the chip, he could still never tell what she was thinking, and her expression never gave much away.

"I was the best in my class." Riley answered, giving him a small glare that was betrayed by the smile itching at the corner of her lips as they made their way to the car park, Riley keeping pace with Gabriel as he increased his pace, noticing someone out of the corner of his eye. Smiling back at Riley he opened his mouth to reply...

"I thought you were coming to see us before you left." Shenendoah said, cutting Gabriel off before he could even start. He was standing in front of Gabriel, who was towering over him, as he looked up at Gabriel with his best attempt at a stern expression, knowing full well that Gabriel had no intention to stop by and see them.

"I saw you yesterday." Gabriel answered. He had no desire to be tested, he didn't mind it truthfully, but he had a lead to follow and he didn't want to miss their flight, or be side tracked by the Cassidy's fussing. Thankfully they weren't still fretting over his almost dying last week, and it was back to their normal annoyance to do with the chip, making sure that it functions properly and isn't affecting him in ways it shouldn't.

"I haven't cleared you yet." Shenendoah replied, standing his ground as Riley resisted the urge to roll her eyes at the two of them, the expression growing on Gabriel's face made a smile twitch at the corner of her mouth, as she watched the two of them. It was her that had instigate this, she knew that, she wanted them to check his chip after what happened with the movie, but they had a lead, and she couldn't help feeling that his chip could wait.

"Cleared me?" Gabriel echoed, his eyes on Shenendoah. Out of the corner of his eye he could see Riley's smile light up her face, as she watched him, the scowl still lingering at the side of his mouth, covered by his indignation at the mere suggestion he needed the Cassidy's to clear him fit for duty.

"We just need to check..." Nelson started, taking a step towards Gabriel, as he pushed his glasses back against his face as he looked up at Gabriel, his eyes insistent, insisting that they needed to check him before he left.

"I'm fine, the chips fine." Gabriel cut him off, taking a step towards him, as Nelson stepped out of his way and Riley concealed a laugh as Nelson almost tripped over his own feet in doing so.

"It'll only take a few minutes." Shenendoah insisted, looking over at Riley, who continued smiling. They had a plane to catch, and despite almost dying last week, Gabriel was back to his old self, he didn't want to be checked on, especially since Shenendoah added about not clearing him yet, there was no way the Cassidy's were going to check his chip today.

"That's swell, but we have to go now." Gabriel answered, giving them a small smile before continuing out of the building, with Riley following beside him, the grin still on her face. "Shut up." Gabriel said, looking over at Riley who continued to smile as the two of them made their way to the car park.

...

Less than 20 minutes later Riley found herself outside the door to her apartment, she had listened to Gabriel more or less whining the entire way there, but she preferred it to him being stuck in his head as he usually was. She had instigated it after all, and she was more than happy to sit there and use her wit when necessary, and earn a few momentary scowls from Gabriel. They wouldn't be in Vancouver for long, if the lead was a dead end that was, but if it did amount to something, amount to a wild goose chase or actually finding the woman responsible. Or perhaps the organisation that backed her, if there was one, they could be there for a few days, She already had her gun, Chris had given her everything that he thought they would need, and had it delivered to them in the car park just before they left. Throwing her first aid kit into her duffle, quickly followed by her toothbrush and toothpaste, along with the rest of her toiletries and cosmetics, she turned to her cupboard.

Riley never hated packing, she hated waiting for others to pack and she hated the uncertainty she felt as she packed wondering what she would need and what she would ultimately end up packing that she wouldn't use or even need when she was wherever she was going. With a shake of her head, she spent the next two minutes folding and packing clothes, making sure she had enough weather dependent clothing that matched Gabriel's weather forecast, and after throwing two pairs of shoes in, Riley had her duffle bag over her shoulder and was heading towards her front door when it swung open in front of her.

"You ready yet?" Gabriel asked, leaning against the door as his sun glasses rested on the top of his head and he smirked over at Riley who resisted the urge to sigh.

"I've been waiting for you." Riley replied, smiling over at Gabriel as she walked past him, pulling the door shut behind her, and locking the door before following Gabriel down the staircase in silence. She knew he was checking the traffic, he could look for Arthur Douglas on the plane, right now they needed to make sure that they would catch that plane.

"I think this calls for your sort of driving." Gabriel said as Riley threw her duffle bag into the boot. A flash of silver flew through the air, and Riley's arm shot up to catch the keys Gabriel had thrown to her. Flashing him a smile and biting back a sarcastic comment, Riley pulled open the door and dropped down into the drivers seat. Gabriel had never let her drive his car. This was a first. Perhaps the first of many times she would drive his car. Or perhaps the first of many other firsts with Gabriel to come.

...

"So what do we now about him?" Riley asked, half way through their flight. She had spent the first half of their flight reading through the files that Gabriel had sent to her phone so that she could see even a fraction of what she could. So far, neither of them had found much that connected the victims, except for their bosses, which was connection enough. The thing their bosses all had in common was that they were powerful and wealthy, they had proper power or as Tate enjoyed, knowledge as power. Some of the kidnapped or possibly murdered drivers bosses had certain things in common, but nothing anywhere on the cyber grid that Gabriel could find could link them all together with each other.

"Arthur Douglas?" Gabriel asked a few moments later, after pulling out of his cyber render of the scene where Damion Shaw was last seen. He had got a few partials on cameras all over the world in the last few hours, that could possibly be him, but none were confirmed. He may not like what this woman was doing, but he couldn't help but admire her style, she was good. Riley nodded, her eyes still on her phone as she scanned the information again, looking for something that stuck out, that didn't make sense, a small inconsistency, or a common thread, something that Gabriel hadn't yet found. Anything would do, however small or big, but then again, she didn't really have to find one, Gabriel had found Arthur Douglas, he would hopefully answer some of their more pressing questions.

"He was only the body guard, well driver of Felicity Nolan for about five years, it is doubtful he was privy to as much private information as the others." Riley said, after waiting a few seconds for Gabriel to reply to her question, she could tell by the look on his face that he was riffling through files, using his chip. Part of her thought that there was a possibility that Arthur was let go because he didn't know enough, the others that were taken had been working for their bosses for a minimum of about 10 years across the board, except for him. It made sense that the one with the least time with their boss was the only one to escape, as far as they knew at least. But then again it could have everything to do with what he did know, not about Felicity Nolan, more to do with his training, his past, his experience.

"He's good, if any of them were going to escape it would be him." Gabriel replied, his eyes shut as he rested his head against the chair, his head tilted up to the air conditioning unit that sat above him. He didn't mind commercial flights, he actually liked them, the normality of them, although sitting beside Riley made him a little nervous, he could tell that she was constantly accessing, her body feigning relaxation when they both knew that in three seconds she could have her gun out and a body dropping to the ground in front of her. She was secret service, of course she was continually accessing, but it didn't help him too relax when he noticed her discreetly eyeing any and all potential threats. "He is former black ops." Gabriel added in a low voice, making sure that the person who was sitting in the seat behind him couldn't hear.

"It's hard to tell why he chose to work for Felicity Nolan, I mean..." Riley started, her eyes sweeping over his file again. Arthur Douglas was a good solider, he followed the rules, and as far as she could tell never did anything out of line, he retired when he turned 47 and only a few months later he started working with the Nolan Corporation.

"Slower pace, more money, dental, all the perks." Gabriel cut her off, a smile twitching at the corner of his lips for a second before he let it appear on his face momentarily. "The real question is, was he let go or did he escape?" Gabriel added, turning his face towards Riley as he opened his eyes and watched her, she wasn't looking at him, she was looking at a person sitting in a seat two rows ahead of them and three seats over. Without looking over at Gabriel, her thumbs quickly tapped onto her phone, and he knew that he was meant to look.

I'm not sure... She started typing.

But... Gabriel replied, appreciating the chip as he did so, smiling as the message popped up on Riley's phone. Only a few years ago he could barely text, not at a fast pace at least, and now he could instant message with his brain.

The man sitting in the... Riley started typing, her thumbs moving quickly across the screen as she tried to get her suspicions onto her phone for Gabriel to see, she wasn't sure. She knew he would know, it would take him seconds for him to find out, and she needed to be sure if she was going to pull her gun out on a plane.

Aisle seat, two rows forward? Gabriel interrupted. Riley smiled as the text popped up on her screen, she knew she hadn't been too discreet this time, but she didn't know that he could follow her eye line with such ease, well almost follow it.

No aisle seat, five rows forward, I think he may be...Riley started. She had seen all the files, she had scanned them quickly, looking at the photos, looking at everything, but she didn't have a chip in her head, she couldn't know for sure. Even though she wasn't certain, she felt almost certain, she felt it in her, the hunch that she usually had, and this time, she was only seconds away from pulling out her gun. She could see his reflection on the tray as one of the air hostesses had walked past him a two minutes ago and she couldn't quite work out why he looked so familiar.

Timothy Klein? Riley felt her hand stray to her gun as she read those two words, he wasn't just thinking it too, with the chip he would know for sure.

Confirmation? Riley typed, holding her breath as she glanced down at her phone. Checking beside her, she pulled her gun out and tucked into the back of her jeans as she slowly stood up, her eyes still on her screen, waiting for Gabriel's response. Glancing over at him, she knew that he was checking, double checking, triple checking. On a plane in mid-air they needed to be sure. They had to be sure.

Confirmation.

...

Gabriel slid his gun into the back of his pants as he followed Riley, he knew it would better for her to go alone, far less suspicious, and she was insistent that he remained in his seat. But he didn't need to be cleared for duty, he didn't need to be protected, he needed to know as much as Riley did if the man sitting on the plane a few seats in front of him was a coincidence, or something else entirely.

Riley didn't feel nervous as she approached Timothy, she kept her pace normal as she walked past the rows of seats, out of the corner of her eye she saw a man smirk, and the woman beside him roll her eyes. She knew what it looked like, her walking towards the bathroom with Gabriel a step behind her, but she didn't care, it was better they thought that than they knew the truth.

Keeping her gun concealed, Riley stopped in front of the man's seat and leant down to talk to him when she noticed immediately that something was wrong. His eyes were open and unblinking, his head lolling back as he stared forward.

"Shit." Riley muttered, her fingers immediately going to the man's throat.

"What are you doing?" The man sitting beside him asked, staring up at Riley from his magazine, shouting as he wore a pair of headphones. He was looking up at her suspiciously as Riley felt for Timothy's pulse. She remained silent before she turned back to Gabriel who was standing behind and leant towards him.

"He's dead." Riley said in an undertone, her lips close to Gabriel's ear. She didn't want to cause a panic, if the man sitting beside him knew he was dead, he would no doubt start yelling, and then it would wash over the plane and that was the last thing they needed.

Turning back to Timothy her eyes scanned his body, before her eyes lingered on his fist, she could just make out a piece of paper scrunched in there. Feeling the man's eyes on her, the alive man who had no interest in his magazine anymore as she watched him, prying eyes scanning her face looking for a clue, not yet realising that the man sitting beside him, with his tray down, a faint ring of a glass on the tray in front of him, was dead. Poison, of course, Riley thought to herself as she focussed on pulling the piece of paper out of his hand.

Tick-Tock.

Was all the note said, it was written in black ink, the letters curved and sloped. Gabriel looked over Riley's shoulder, his eyes on the paper for a second before he was lost in his head. Knowing that there wasn't any evidence on Timothy's face, Riley lightly touched his eyelids with her fingers, shutting them. Beside Timothy, the man's body became rigid, he finally realised, had finally come to the conclusion that the man sitting beside him was dead.

Not needing a cyber-render, Gabriel scanned the plane, something that he never did, mainly because they were never on commercial flights, he would have thought of it, if he wasn't preoccupied with the case, he would have checked the plane. If he wasn't trying to find even a fragment of Damion Shaw to be seen, keeping an eye on Arthur Douglas, or scanning the sound recording that Damion Shaw had left behind for them or attempting to find a connection between these cases. A connection that enabled them to be one step forward instead of what he knew now, they were several steps behind her. She knew they were onto her so she had left them a little present, perhaps to warn them, distract them or slow them down.

Oh fuck, Gabriel thought to himself. Checking the footage, the plane, everything again, he fought to keep his expression neutral. He knew that Riley had her phone on, and he sent her a message before heading down towards the cockpit of the plane, while quickly pulling out his phone and calling Chris, Chris needed to know, and he needed to talk to him.

Her eyes on Timothy, Riley wondered where Gabriel was going to as she tried to keep a calm face for the man who was staring mortified at the dead body beside him. Pressing the call button above Timothy's seat, she kept eye contact with the man, before her phone went off, making a mental note to check it in a second, the man sat still, almost not knowing what to do, what to say, how to react.

"Hello how ca..."

"I need you to stay calm." Riley cut off the air hostess. The woman's eyes widened before her expression set and she nodded, Riley waited another second before the woman gave her a more definite nod. "This man is dead." Riley added, her voice low. Her low voice didn't help, there were a few pairs of eyes on her now, and even though the air hostess, Sarah as her badge read, took the news well, the noisy man sitting behind Timothy, who was listening intently, did not.

"Dead?" He echoed, his voice loud as he rose from his seat looking over his seat at Timothy and then at the man who was sitting frozen beside him, his magazine forgotten as it rested on his lap. Riley opened her mouth to reply when her phone went off again, she knew that Gabriel was out of view, and as her phone beeped again she ignored the stares been shot her way, followed by frightened voices questioning her, and pulled out her phone. She felt the wind knock out of her when she read the three messages Gabriel had sent.

Bomb.

There is a bomb on the plane.

Goddammit Riley?

XX

AN: Sorry for such a huge delay, hopefully the chapter was worth the wait, don't worry the next chapter will follow shortly. Love to know what you think, so please leave me a review.