Guess who's back after about a billion years?! Hey guys, here's the next chapter, I swear I'm going to try and conclude this story so it's just not on here, on a cliff hanger for eternity. And I've kind of got an ending in mind, so I just need to write it!

Ch.17

Derrick uneasily sat down. The blonde picked a small piece of lint from her pantsuit as though everything in the world were mundane.

"So what do we do?" Derrick said, biting his lip. "Jenna thinks that..."

"I'm perfectly aware what Jenna thinks. Do you think I don't come into a job and not do my homework Mr. Ellsworth?" Derrick gulped. The woman's stare was ice.

"So what do we do?" Derrick asked again. His palms were sweating. He really didn't want to bring Withers in on this.

"We? We do nothing. I do something. Because you are clearly inept. And Jenna is too. Both of you are sloppy. I am the one that finishes things. No loose ends. No witnesses. I make sure everything is tied up in a nice little bow." Derrick nodded quickly.

"Ok. Good. Good."

"Now you are going to tell me everything. And yes, we do need to call your boss, Jenna has informed me that this links to him. I am ending this, but I need him here. I need to make sure any and all evidence you two idiots may have saved is destroyed." Ellsworth shook his head.

"Withers doesn't need to know." he said quickly. "We can fix this. He wouldn't have kept any evidence."

"Just like you didn't? Tell me, is that hood ornament on your shelf significant in any way?" Sarah crossed her arms. Derrick nearly passed out. It had sat on his shelves for years, reminding him... "Let me guess. It's a trophy. From the car you used to hit the Parker boy. It serves as what? A reminder that politics isn't always pretty? That sometimes you have to get your hands dirty to do what has to be done? That if you're good enough, you can get away with murder?" It was like Sarah was reading his mind. He shook his head and stood, pacing to his desk.

"No!" he lied. "It's just a hood ornament. My first car."

"Your first car was a 1978 Ford Fairmont. That hood ornament is from an 89 Lincoln Towncar." Sarah's eyes blinked lazily. Derrick was having trouble breathing. He went around to his desk.

"How...how...how did you?"

"I told you Mr. Ellsworth. I did my homework. Can I just say, that accident isn't hard to find. I'm surprised someone hasn't pointed the hood ornament out before. Sloppy."

Derrick was sufficiently freaked. He hadn't even told Jenna about Katie Parker's connection to his past. He'd just told her this woman he'd seen, Parker, needed to be taken care of. Jenna didn't even know! How could this woman possibly know! He fumbled under his desk and pulled a gun on Sarah. She blinked again.

"STOP. Just stop. Now you're going to tell me who you are!" his hands were shaking. Sarah sighed.

"I told you. My name is Sarah Smith, and if you really want to shoot me, go ahead, because if you're really that incompetent, honestly you deserve to be taken down in a grisly public murder investigation. Mr. Ellsworth, I used to be a top analyst and field agent for several clandestine agencies. You really think I wouldn't be able to find these things out?" Derrick wiped his chin. His face was glowing with sweat.

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Hardison sat at a computer screen, miles away. Elliot was sitting on the couch, watching. Nate, who was a few feet behind Hardison, took a step forward.

"How's she doing?" He leaned forward, looking at the monitor. It showed a panicky looking Ellsworth with a gun pointed at whoever was wearing the button cam.

"She about to get him to set it up." Hardison answered. Eliot shook his head.

"I think Ellsworth nearly pissed himself." he growled, a trace of laughter in his voice.

"Ey, but who helped with the hood ornament thing? Me. That was all me right there." Hardison chipped in as he typed something.

The door opened and Sophie entered, followed by Parker.

"I thought you were gonna rest today babe?" Hardison said as he glanced over his shoulder.

"Well she was, but then I caught her trying to go through the window, and thought it best to just bring her to headquarters." Sophie said, slightly weary. Trying to watch an on the mend Parker was more of a team sport. Eliot kindly pulled a chair up next to Hardison and let Parker sit.

"How's she doing?" she asked, eagerly scanning the screen.

"Oh you know Tara babe, she's doing her ice queen spy thing. She's got this."

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Ellsworth had set down the gun, and then sunk into his chair.

"I just...I need this to all go away."

Tara Cole, aka Sarah Smith, gave him another calculated frigid stare.

"And I can make that happen. All you need to do is call your former boss. Get him here, and I will make everything disappear." Derrick nodded, dabbed his forehead with his tie, and then picked up the phone. The corner of Tara's mouth twitched upwards for a second in a hint of a smile. Nobody shot her friends and got away with it.