Arrow to the Heart {1}

Chapter 21

Lydia's in the bunker when Oliver walks up to her handing her a laptop and Lydia says, "Let me guess. Some guy missing his fancy new laptop." Oliver says, "Harold Backman, he's who Starling City worst call when they want to launder money in the Caymans." Lydia says, "Shouldn't we just turn this over to I don't know, the IRS?" Oliver says, "We will, just as soon as you return the money to the rightful owners." Lydia says, "Well, it sounds like a very nice idea. Backman's files are all protected with an asymmetric encryption algorithm." Oliver says, "Really? So, it's going to take a while to break in." Lydia says, "Days, at least." Oliver says, "Better get started, then." Lydia sighs and says, "Can I ask when are you planning on making peace with Diggle?" Oliver says, "He's the one who left, Lydia. I did everything I could to stop him." Lydia says, "Except apologize... You promised you'd help him track down Floyd Lawton and you--" Oliver cuts Lydia off and says, "Made a choice that I can live with. If he can't, then I don't need him." Lydia says, "Oliver--" Oliver cuts Lydia off and says, "I need to get back to the club. Let me know when you break in." Lydia sighs and says, "Whatever." Oliver then walks back over to Lydia and sits down, and he sighs and softly says, "Are you okay?" Lydia sighs and softly says, "No." Oliver softly says, "What's wrong?" Lydia says, "Don't you need to head up to the club?" Oliver says, "No. You're more important." Lydia sighs and turns to face Oliver and says, "Tommy broke up with me." Oliver says, "What happened?" Lydia says, "He broke up with me because he can't be with someone who's working with a murderer. I tried to defend you, but he wasn't listening to it." Oliver sighs and says, "I'm sorry, Lydia." Lydia says, "Don't be, it's not your fault." Oliver says, "Yes, it is. If I never told Tommy who I was, you two would still be together." Lydia shakes her head and says, "No. I'm glad you told him, because if you didn't, I would still be lying to him. I just couldn't do it anymore. Maybe it's for the best that me and Tommy aren't together anymore." Then the computer beeps and Oliver says, "What's that?" Lydia says, "I was multitasking with talking to you and hacking into Cayman Fidelity and put together a list of all the deposits Backman made last year." Oliver says, "Lydia, what good does that do us if we don't know whose money it was?" Lydia says, "Look at the biggest deposit Backman made last year." Oliver looks over Lydia's shoulder and says, "Two million dollars on Decem... December 12th. That's--" Lydia cuts Oliver off and says, "The day Walter disappeared. What if one of Backman's clients was paid 2 million to kidnap Walter?" Oliver says, "Then we find out which client it was. And we use them to find Walter. Okay, backtrace the account, follow the money. Hopefully it will lead us to whoever kidnapped Walter." Lydia says, "After all this time, do you think Walter might still really be alive?" Oliver softly says, "I don't know." Lydia says, "Got it. Dominic Alonzo." Oliver groans and Lydia says, "Name ring any bells?" Oliver says, "Yeah, Alonzo runs the biggest underground casino in Starling City when he's not busy kidnapping." Lydia says, "He looks like the kind of low life someone would hire to kidnap Walter. How many arrows do you think you'll have to put in him before he gives up Walter's location?" Oliver says, "It's not that simple. That casino has its own private army. We need to access Alonzo's computer but without setting off any alarms." Lydia says, "Looks, like we're gonna need all the help we can get. It's too bad there's not someone else we could call." Oliver says, "That's enough. We can do this on our own." Lydia says, "Well, then... looks like someone is going gambling tonight." Oliver says, "Those guys would make me the minute that I walked in there. Oliver Queen would never be caught dead in a place like that." Lydia looks at Oliver and says, "I wasn't talking about you." Oliver says, "Absolutely not." Lydia says, "I can count cards. It's all probability theory and mathematics. Bottom line, I know my way around a casino." Oliver says, "Lydia, I'm not letting you walk--" Lydia cuts Oliver off and stands up and says, "The reason I joined you in the first place was to find Walter, and for the first time we have a real chance of finding him. You have to let me do this, Ollie." Oliver sighs and says, "Alright. But we do it my way." Lydia nods and Oliver says, "Come on." Oliver and Lydia walk out of the bunker. Later, Oliver told Lydia to wear something fancy, but before she goes to do that, she goes to see a friend and knocks on the door. The door opens and Diggle says, "What do you want?" Lydia says, "Really, that's how you greet a woman?" Diggle says, "No, it's not. Where are my manners? Come in." Lydia walks into the apartment and Lydia says, "Thank you." Diggle says, "Welcome." Lydia looks at the artwork around Diggle's home and she says, "Did you do these?" Diggle hands Lydia a beer and he says, "You know, Lydia, Oliver and I don't need a relationship counselor." Lydia says, "That hasn't been my experience. We have a lead on Walter. I need you to come back and help us find him." Lydia sits down on the couch next to Diggle and Diggle says, "Oliver put you up to this?" Lydia says, "No. He doesn't even know I'm here. Look, I know Oliver didn't help you find your brother's killer and that hurts, it sucks. But, you have to know if it was your life on the line and not just your... very understandable vendetta he would be there for you. No hesitation." Diggle says, "And I don't want a partnership with those kind of qualifications, Lydia." Lydia says, "I know Oliver's religiously against admitting he's wrong. Truth is, he needs you." Diggle then gets up and says, "Yeah. And when Oliver is ready to say that... he knows where I live." Lydia gets up, puts down the beer, and says, "Sorry for bothering you." Diggle says, "It's no bother. I hope you find him." Lydia walks out of the apartment with a sigh.