The Blacklist (sequel to The Reluctant Spy)

A Breakthrough With The Trust Issues

Jack arrived at Nyssa’s warehouse apartment just after Nyssa did. She had changed out of her sun dress disguise and back into a new pair of jeans and sleeveless knit shirt. She was putting on her canvas shoes and grey cardigan just as Jack walked through the front door.

Jack had a worried, yet relieved look in his eyes when he came through the door and found that Nyssa was okay. He was not aware of what she and Lucy were planning that morning until Lucas called him looking for Nyssa. He could tell the MI-5 officer was not happy and knew that it involved Nyssa before Lucas said another word.

Why would she not tell him what was going on? They had been friends for a long time, worked on missions together, saved each other’s lives more than once. He knew she took risks to get the job done and skirted around authority when needed, but she would never blatantly disobey direct orders. Why was she so defiant when it came to Harry Pearce and MI-5?

“You look a little disheveled. What's wrong?” Nyssa asked.

“I just rang off with Lucas North. He's been looking for you all morning. Did you pull one of your usual tricks on MI-5 today?” Jack walked toward the refrigerator and helped himself to a beer to calm his nerves.

Nyssa finished tying her shoes in silence while Jack waited for an answer. When he received none, he asked the question again?

“Nothing is going on that isn’t the usual thing,” she answered.

“Why won’t you let them help you? For that matter, why can’t you come to me? We've been best mates for years. You used to talk to me.”

“We are friends, Jack. That’s why I can’t tell you anything. They turn to you for answers about me, and they have been threatening you with denying your pension, right?”

Jack could not deny that. She was right. They threatened him in the past if he did not work with them.

“I'm helping you by not including you in my situation. Keeping you in the dark gives you deniability. Besides, you know what my objectives are.”

“Why not let Lucas help you then? You seem to trust him better than the rest of them. The longer you play these games, the worse you make everything with him.”

“Lucas will try and stop me. It's like he's trying to protect me all the time, but he won’t tell me from what. Both he and Harry know something about this Blacklist, and they're hiding it from me. If I'm gonna catch these guys, I need to find them myself.”

“Alright, I hope you know what you’re doing. So, what about our case with the con artist club manager? What are we gonna do about that?” he asked changing the subject.

Nyssa explained her plan in detail about the role she wanted Jack to play. If Lucas was still on board with helping them, Jack would play Lucas' legal trustee with the McCormick estate. The objective is to get Zach to match his share of the investment in cash.

Nyssa was explaining her plan to Jack when Lucas arrived at the flat. He got out of his car and watched the flat for any signs of life inside before walking around the grounds. He could detect movement through the windows. He checked the warehouse area for her motorcycle, but it was nowhere in sight. If it really was her that the team was chasing all over London, than her motorcycle would have been parked nearby.

He climbed up the stairs toward her door feeling his anger build with every step. The more he thought about the events that happened that morning, the more he wanted to shake her until she told him everything.

He pounded on the door when he reached the top step and waited while he heard voices and footsteps on the other side. The door opened, and Nyssa stood there looking like she was expecting him. She had changed into a different top and shoes since she left the apartment that morning.

“Afternoon, Lucas. Come inside before you kick my door down,” she said with disdain and walked toward the kitchen leaving Lucas to close the door behind him.

Nyssa grabbed a bottle of water from the kitchen while Jack sat in a chair in the far corner of the room with a beer. Lucas took a few steps into the room and stood with his arms crossed at his chest. He looked like a father cross with his children while waiting for an explanation.

Jack glanced at Nyssa before turning his head to Lucas then back to Nyssa. The two of them stared each other down waiting for something to happen. Jack felt the awkward tension between them and excused himself before heading toward the fire escape to give them some privacy.

“You need to start talking. What were you doing this morning?” Lucas demanded in his dark baritone voice.

“I told you this morning. I went out for a while. I had an errand to run.” Nyssa was still defiant.

“Really? Where is your motorcycle? I don’t see it outside.”

“Oh that! It’s at my mother’s house. I'm letting Lucy borrow it today,” Nyssa lied as she took another drink from the water bottle.

“Why are you letting her do that?” Lucas asked slowly stepping toward Nyssa.

“The real question should be, why was there a GPS tracker on my Indian? I have to say, I didn’t suspect it at the time. I would’ve never found it had my front tire not kicked up a rock and got lodged in the wheelbase the other day.”

Nyssa watched as embarrassment washed over his face for a brief second. His eyes turned cold again as he looked straight at her. He walked closer to her until he was at arm's length.

“You got Jo to plant that thing the other day, didn't you? Why are you hell bent on knowing every single thing I do every day? What is it that you and Harry aren’t tell me?” she asked finally getting down to business.

“I'm trying to protect you, even if that means protecting you from yourself. I care about what happens to you, and I will do anything to keep you safe. And, if that means arresting you and locking you up in a cell to debrief you on what you've been up to, than so be it. I've been ordered to bring you to Thames House,” said Lucas as he closed the distance and placed his hand on her arm.

He was so close, the smell of wildflowers from her hair permeated his nose. The memory of last night left him with feelings of guilt for treating her so forcefully now.

“I didn’t ask for protection, Lucas. I didn’t ask to be dropped in the middle of London, abandoned by nearly everyone I know. I didn’t ask to be MI-5’s asset to be ordered to do whatever Harry Pearce wants. My family is being harassed, I am being watched, and whoever did this is leaving little clues to torment me. And, I don’t know who to really trust.”

Nyssa could feel her control breaking as the tears began forming in her eyes. Lucas lessened his grip on her arm. His eyes softened a bit as he watched her slowly breaking under the emotional strain.

Lucas gently pulled her closer to him until he could wrap his arms around her in comfort. He caught her chin and raised her face to look closely into his eyes.

“Trust me. For once in your life, trust someone who wants to help you. Let me in, please.” It sounded more like a plea than an order.

At that moment, she closed her eyes and cried. Lucas held her while she sobbed in his shirt. She made no move to push him away. Instead she wrapped her arms around his chest and squeezed as tight as she could while she cried.

What was only a few minutes felt like an hour when Nyssa finally stopped crying and just stood there in Lucas' embrace. He did feel safe to her, like he was the only person on Earth to fight off the demons for her. Even her father could not do that back when he was her whole universe. So, why could she not open up to him and tell him everything?

“Sorry, but I'm out of beer,” said Jack from the back door to the fire escape.

The sound of Jack's voice reminded Nyssa that they were not alone, and she quickly pushed away from Lucas' body. She turned on her heels to hide her face while she wiped the tears from her cheeks. Lucas also turned away to give her a minute to pull herself together. He turned to face Jack.

“Sorry, mate. Could you give us another minute?” He asked.

Jack held up his hands in surrender and retreated back outside. Lucas turned to Nyssa who was still facing away from him. He waited a minute before he spoke his next words.

“I know what it's like, the feeling of abandonment like your country’s forgotten you,” he spoke to her in a soft voice, like a whisper. “Hours of torture in interrogation and weeks alone. After a year of that, I would crave the beatings just to know that someone else was there.”

Nyssa turned to him with her mouth open in astonishment. Her eyes were red and swollen from the crying. She listened intently as he continued with his story.

“I still have nightmares, but it seems they come less ever since I met you,” he grinned. “I do care for you, and I want to help you.”

“That's just it, Lucas. I care about you too, but whoever did this to me, has got a lot of power. And, I don’t want the people I lo…..my friends and family get hurt.”

Lucas started to walk toward her, but she held up her hands to stop him. Again, her shield went up, and she was the old, distant Nyssa once more.

“Let's not talk about this right now. You said you have your orders to take me to Thames House, so let's not keep Harry and Ros waiting.”

She moved toward the front door and grabbed her jacket. Jack sensed that their conversation was over and re-emerged from the fire escape.

“So, I guess I'll phone you about our next caper later today?” asked Jack from the doorway.

“Yeah, I’m sure this won’t take long…..at least, not for Lucas,” Nyssa said as she glanced at Lucas before opening the front door to leave.

Lucas gave Jack a quick glance before following Nyssa out the door. There was an uncomfortable silence between them for the next 20 minutes until Nyssa could no longer stand it.

“So, how mad is Harry?” Nyssa asked while looking straight ahead.

“Pretty mad,” Lucas glanced sideways at her before turning his eyes back to the road. “Nyssa, if I'm going to protect you from Harry, you have to tell me. Who is Bakari Essam?”

Nyssa turned toward Lucas a little surprised that he knew about Bakari, but after Lucy's escapade through London, it would make sense that he would piece that much together. She waited a few seconds before she answered. Should she tell him everything and trust that he really would help her or take her chances with Harry?
In the end, she decided on the former. She needed help, and something told her that he jumped through enough hoops to prove he was worthy of her trust.

“I told you before. Bakari is an old friend. I saved his life once, and for that, he is grateful.”

“By that, you mean that he owes you a favor?”

“What do you know about my situation with this blacklist?”

Lucas took a deep breath and let it out. She was like a persistent bulldog with a bone. Why won’t she let this go and just trust him?

Lucas pulled into the underground parking garage of Thames House and turned off the engine. He turned to Nyssa and stared into her eyes for a moment before he spoke.

“Nyssa, I know that I am asking a lot from you when I say that you really have to trust me,” he said. It almost sounded like he was pleading. “Try to understand that I can’t tell you anything right now, but please, trust me.”

“Then, I will ask you this. If I let you in, will you try to stop me?”

Lucas sighed and looked down as he thought about how to answer that. She was offering him a chance to finally help her and be completely honest with him. But, he did not want to sit back and watch as she continued to put herself in harm's way.

“If you will let me help you, we can do this together. And, I don’t want you to say that you don’t want to see me get hurt because that is precisely how I feel about you. At least this way, we can watch each other’s back.” He grinned at his last statement which she returned.

“Ok. I agree,” said Nyssa. “When an agent is blacklisted, there is a procedure that goes through various chains of command. Only a person with top level clearance can authorize that agent’s blacklist. A memo with that person's name or numeric code would circulate throughout the different departments.”

“And, you are after the blacklist memo,” he said finishing the story.

“Bakari was an asset to the company. He still has connections high up the food chain. He can locate that memo and get me a copy.”

“How do you know this is not a trap?”

“Because I know Bakari, and he knows me. I know what he has done in the past, and he is well aware of what will happen if he crosses me.” Lucas remained unconvinced. “I know what I’m doing, Lucas.”

Nyssa opened the door and stepped out of the car. She turned around to look back at him before she closed the car door.

“Well, shall we go and see what interrogation torture techniques Harry has planned for me?” Nyssa said jokingly as Lucas got out of the car.

As Nyssa turned and headed toward the security office, Lucas smiled briefly to himself. Finally, she had opened up to him and was honest. After all this time, he punched through that barrier of hers. Now, he was faced with a new challenge. How to keep her safe!