𝐫𝐮𝐧𝐧𝐞𝐫, 𝗲𝗺𝗶𝗹𝘆 𝗽𝗿𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗶𝘀𝘀

𝟏𝟑𝟏

"𝚃𝚑𝚎 𝙵𝚊𝚖𝚒𝚕𝚢 𝚃𝚑𝚊𝚝 𝚆𝚊𝚜 𝚂𝚞𝚙𝚙𝚘𝚜𝚎𝚍 𝚝𝚘 𝙱𝚎"
ᴀᴜᴛʜᴏʀ
𝘰𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘫𝘦𝘵

AS THE TEAM sits around a booth in the jet, Penelope pulls up a video of a van outside of an Irish pub in Boston. "Emily walked into a trap," she says as she points to the van. "It looks like Doyle got into the SUV, but from this angle, you can see that he didn't, which I wish Boston P.D. would have told me before I started watching it," she adds as they watch Emily get shot twice in the chest, hitting her bulletproof vest. "Sorry again for the screaming."

"She threw a flash-bang grenade into a car," Derek says as he looks around at the team. "She's lucky the 3 people inside didn't die. Is anybody else bothered by that?"

"Well, 3 bad guys," Dave notes.

"Illegal as it is, I think Prentiss knows she has to be as ruthless as Doyle," Aaron mentions.

"He's come to the U.S. to wage a public vendetta and hired a group of mercenaries to remain loyal to him," Spencer says. "He has nothing to lose, so she has to act the same way."

"So how did Doyle know she was waiting for him?" Dave asks.

"Well, the mole must have told him, right?" JJ guesses. "The same guy who's been feeding Doyle the contractors and agents?"

"And our best suspect was just arrested with a suitcase full of cash," Seaver mentions. "How do we get Easter to talk? He won't cooperate willingly."

"I'll handle that," Aaron says. "The rest of you focus on Doyle's location."

"I hate to be the one to ask this, but how long does Emily have?" Penelope asks Aaron.

"Her best chance is also the most troubling," Aaron says with a slight frown. "Doyle saved her for last because he views her as his stressor. Which means he'll take his time."

"Do we know for sure that she's his last?" Derek asks, referring to Noah.

"I assume he knows that Emily's biggest fear is leaving Noah behind," Aaron replies and pauses as he finds the strength to speak his next words. "I assume his goal would be to make that come true for her."

Everyone avoids eye contact with one another. It's always hard when they're hunting down someone who's hurting their friends. It's harder to understand why and how something like this could happen to a person that you've only ever seen as good.

𝘣𝘰𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘯, 𝘮𝘢𝘴𝘴𝘢𝘤𝘩𝘶𝘴𝘦𝘵𝘵𝘴

Emily wakes up in an abandoned warehouse. She knew they would come somewhere like this, she just didn't expect it to be the place where she once was herself. Many years ago, she took away the one thing from Doyle that meant everything to him in this very warehouse.

Emily hears footsteps behind her before feeling hands on her shoulders.

"Where's my ring?" Ian asks her.

"I flushed it," Emily replies, hearing Doyle chuckling behind her, making her nervously laugh as well.

"I spent years in hell because of that ring," Ian says as he reaches down to Emily's blouse, undoing her buttons. "So now, I'm going to give you another gift. One you won't get rid of so easily."

Ian goes to the wall, where he takes a cloth off of a rolling cart. Emily tries to look behind her, but can't because her arms are expertly tied behind her back.

"A four-leaf clover should be a nice addition to your other tattoos," Ian says as he rolls the cart over to her. "You still have two, right?"

"Yep," Emily nods. "That's enough ink, thanks."