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Two things currently take up most of John's mental real estate, one far more agreeable than the other, but he can't simply ignore the less welcome thought, because to ignore it would potentially put someone's life in danger. And the two are more entwined than he would like, because while he surveys a young woman with her significantly older husband, a man whom John has heard numerous rumours about, he can't help but think that he and Karen will eventually be in a similar situation.

Not the same situation, not by far, but they're engaged now, and with a twenty year difference between them, he knows people might look at him the same way they look at one Patrick Brady. He's not the same. Not by far. Because Patrick Brady, from what John has been able to gather, has an addiction to gambling, is deeply in debt, and may have a tendency to take it out on his young wife when he gets particularly stressed about the amount of money he owes.

John doesn't like men who hit their partners. He doesn't like anyone who hits someone they claim to love, but he looks at a man like Patrick Brady and all he sees is Peter Arndt. He looks at a woman like Carolyn Brady and he sees only Jessica.

So he's thinking about Karen and the ring she's wearing now, the ring he'd bought her, and he's following Patrick Brady through Petros Park with the casual experience of a man who knows exactly what he's doing. And when he sees a familiar face, all he does is lift his hand in greeting and smile. He isn't doing anything out of the ordinary, after all, and anyone who knows him well enough will be able to simply fall in step beside him and help bolster the guise of being just a regular guy taking a walk in the park.

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"But what would Karen think?" Root responds with a hint of a smile.

Truthfully, Maggie Hamilton has grown a bit boring. There's only so much intel you can gather as a preschool teacher. Root has her own projects in the works, so she's not feeling left out from John's little endeavor.

Still, even though she doesn't take his offered hand, she keeps walking in the direction he was headed, after Patrick Brady. Right about now, Root is really missing the Machine's voice in her ear.

"Karen told the hospital she was married to me the first day I arrived," John answers mildly. "I think she would take it all in stride."

They walk in silence for a time before John asks, "Are you enjoying Finch's warehouse?"

They both know Root will have better luck with the computers left behind than he will and he hopes it can be of some use to her. He misses having someone like Finch backing him up, someone who has access to more information than he does. He'll never say as much to Root, but the fact that he'd given her the key at all is probably an indication.

It's a bit of a loaded question.

"It's been... useful," Root replies, but the truth is, it's not Root's style; a stationary base of operations. She spend over a decade constantly on the move; Finch's idea of a foxhole is just a little restricting.

She's working on that part.

"Though I have to say, Harry certainly kept himself busy while was here."

His fingerprints are everywhere, from the way he has everything set up physically, to the subroutines already programmed in to everything. It's not something she'll admit, but Root looked for traces of Her code before she did anything else, and was disappointed to have come up emptyhanded.

"We needed to find our own work," he answers, looking from Root to Patrick Brady, his gaze sliding over the man as if he doesn't really see him. It's a simple tactic, but it always works, pretending as if a person is simply part of the scenery. It's how nearly everyone looks at everyone else and John had perfected it long ago. He doesn't want Patrick Brady, but still sees as he receives a text message and looks down at his phone, then curses under his breath and shoves his phone back into his pocket.

With a calm, easy smile, John turns his own phone toward Root to show her the text Brady received.

Four more days.

"Looks like there's a deadline on what he owes this month," he says casually.

"And I'm guessing that means Mrs. Brady has even less time than that," Root says, because if he's the charmer that John says he is, he's probably not going to have the best outlet for all of that stress. Root supposes he's lucky she didn't meet Patrick Brady two years ago.

But Root has to admit, it does seem like the kind of mission the Machine might have sent them on. A number deserving of relevance.

He'll have to keep a closer eye on them both over the next four days. John has no issue letting the man become a victim of his circumstances, which is perhaps not what Finch or Carter would have wanted, but neither of them are here to be the angel on his shoulder. He doubts Root will try to convince him to save the man, given what he does.

But he'll need to make sure his wife doesn't become a victim of his circumstances, too.

"Interested in a stake-out?" he asks, glancing at Root.

"Why John," Root replies with a pleasant expression, "All you had to do was ask nicely."

Root has no interest in protecting Patrick Brady from the people he owes, but it's hard not to agree with John when it comes to making sure his wife doesn't get caught in the mess. She figures the Machine would have thought the same way.