"The Virtuoso"

A horrific sight

In the van, Eleanor was tied up. She was frozen in place, silent tears rolling down her cheeks. She stared at her sister Pearl, who kept her head turned, not acknowledging her presence. "How could you?" Eleanor said out loud. " I wanted nothing more than to save you." Pearl said nothing. "Save you?" Andreas said suddenly, his tone angry. " I was the one that saved you." He got up and gripped her by her chin. " You were nothing before I found you. Nothing." Eleanor spit in his face and smiled in a patronizing manner. "You don't scare me." Andreas slapped her hard across the face, leaving a red mark on her cheek. " You think you're so tough, little girl." he said. Eleanor was gasping, trying to recover from the slap. The van screeched to a halt. Andreas grabbed Eleanor forcefully by her arm, studying her up and down. " Oh Raymond really did a number on you, didn't he?" He grabbed a white rag soaked in chloroform and pressed it to her face. She tried to fight it, but the drug overtook her. As she felt her body go limp and the world went dark, she heard him say, "When I'm through with you, no one will want you."

Meanwhile, Raymond and Dembe were together in the car. As they drove, Raymond broke the silence by saying " I am almost grateful for the circumstances that led up to us meeting Eleanor. Yes they weren't ideal, but now that we know this evil man's identity, we can finally put a stop to this. I just pray to whatever powers that be, that Eleanor can forgive me for not upholding my promise."

As Eleanor started to regain consciousness, the first thing she noticed was the excruciating pain. She cried out and started to double over, but she couldn't move her arms. As the vision returned to her eyes, she saw that her once beautiful dress was covered in blood. She looked at the source of the pain and found that her arms were tied above her head and her hands were twisted together at a sickening angle. She became nauseous after seeing the state of herself. She started to cry, but at the moment she let out a sound she heard the turn of a lock. Andreas entered the room, laughing. "Ah, the princess has finally risen from her slumber" he said in a mocking tone. Eleanor was weak but managed to say " You can't break my spirit." Her eyes started to close as the pain overtook her, but Andreas pulled her up roughly by her arm and said "You're not allowed to rest or recover. We have to send a little message to your friends at the FBI."

Meanwhile back at the post office, the team was gathered on the main floor. Reesler was in the middle, surrounded by agents. "Alright team listen up. We are going on a rescue mission of sorts. There is a young woman named Eleanor and there may be many others like her who have been held by Andreas Garvey for years. He has trafficked them and trained them to be killers. These young women are not to be harmed. We are going to bring Andreas to justice."

Raymond's phone rang suddenly and he picked it up quickly. It was Aram. His voice seemed to shake as he said "Mr. Reddington, I have an incoming transmission from Andreas. He's trying to get through to my system. Trying to send some sort of video message." "Dembe, pull over." Raymond said. As the car screeched to a halt, Raymond pulled out his laptop and started it up. "Aram, send it to me quickly." "I'm trying my best sir, it's encrypted. Hold on, let me locate your signal." Raymond put Aram on speaker as he tried his best to stay calm. All at once, Andreas could be seen on the screen. "This message is for the people who think they are one step ahead of me. I got your attention, these are my terms. Adhere to them closely, or this woman dies. I demand that Raymond Reddington comes alone. No entourage, no backup. This woman is of little importance to me, but to a certain criminal, she is more precious than a valuable piece of art." At this point he pointed the camera around. What appeared on the screen made Raymond feel physically sick. There was Eleanor, covered in blood, beaten badly, still wearing the once beautiful dress. Her hands, which once played the piano so gracefully, were mangled and twisted. "This is what I'm capable of, agents." he said and he turned the camera to his face. "Don't underestimate me." As the video ended Raymond closed the laptop and held a hand to his forehead, staring out the window and he tried to catch his breath. "Mr. Reddington, I... I don't know what to say. I am so sorry." Aram said, his normal quick witted voice down to a hoarse whisper. "I am trying my best to secure her location. I'm trying." Raymond hung up the phone and caught Dembe staring at him from the mirror. " Dembe, she's badly wounded. I don't know how much time she has."