All characters in the story are © Janet Evanovich

except the duo Jaclyn "Jack" Harris and Samantha "Sam" Simon, they are © me..:) This is my first fanfic, so please tell me how I'm doing. Please?

Chapter 1: Prologue

Jack

I had removed the coating and was counting the wires silently to myself, trying to figure out which wire to cut first when I heard a small noise behind me. The faint rustle of clothes made me drop the flashlight and swirl around knife in front of me, ready to defence, but it was not necessary. I heard a small gasp then Samantha whispering.

- Whoa! Jack! She held up both hands in front of her. Calm down! I could hear the half smile in her voice, but also the tension. The flashlight lit up both of us so I hit it with my shoe so it rolled away and the light was turned downwards.

- You're supposed to be up front, keeping an eye on the street! I snapped rather unfriendly at her. I could see her flinch at my hard tone, but I ignored it, our success was depending on our sharpness and coordinated movements. Had I cut the wire when she was here I would have set off the alarm and she knew it. She pulled a face at me in the dark.

- I was just wondering Jack, What do we do if we set off the alarm?

I could see that she was extremely nervous so I smiled reassuringly at her.

- Then we run like hell! I whispered. At this she nodded and gave me a weak smile.

- I'll be in place in 15 sec's. She waved with a finger and disappeared into the darkness.

I took the flashlight and turned the beam towards the wires again. I hesitated and listened into the dark night. Not a soul or sound was heard but I still had the nagging feeling something wasn't right. I looked at my watch, 4.38:23; she should be in place soon. I turned my attention towards the wires again and began counting them, suppressing the little voice in my head that at first just had been whispering but, in the last hour, had turned into screaming "This Is MADNESS Get Out Of There!!" I gave myself a mental slap. What was I doing? Come on Jack, get a grip! I continued counting the wires with my knife. I decided which wire to cut first and pulled it out and cut it. The first thought that ran through my head, barely microseconds before the wire snapped was simply "WRONG!" And as the wire snapped the alarm set off.

Shit!

I heard someone screaming and a car door slammed. I heard footsteps running my direction so I got up on my feet and ran away from the house. Two blocks later I cast a glance over my shoulder and saw Samantha running behind me, she was panting hard. We ran together in the dark through several backyards, jumping and climbing fences, stumbling over dark objects. Sam's jacket got stuck in one of the wire fences and she screamed. I stopped immediately and ran back to her and began to rip the jacket from the fence.

- Hey, this's my favourite jacket! She protested, but then we both heard footsteps echoing between the houses and we realized we were being followed. We looked at each other for a second then we rushed off. Soon Sam was behind again. I slowed down a little and hissed to her.

- Faster! Damn it, Sammy, we're gonna get caught if you keep dragging your feet behind!

- Shut up! She replied and ran away from me. I smiled to myself; she really was the best partner in crime. I cast a glance backwards and discovered we were still being followed. I ran up to Sam and suggested we split up.

- Good Idea… she hissed out through clenched teeth and took off to the right. I saw her blonde hair glisten in the distant lamplight before she disappeared into a dark alleyway. I took off to the left towards a park. Before I entered through the gate I suddenly got a glimpse of our follower as he passed under a street light. He was wearing dark jeans and a light blue shirt and on his right hip I could see the unmistakeable shape of a gun.

Shit!

He spotted me at the same time I spotted him and he shouted.

- Stop!

I ignored his command and rushed into the darkness of the park. My steps made the gravel on the path crunch with each step and echoed through the empty park and soon I heard the echo of another pair of footsteps. I abandoned the path and ran across the damp grass. Dark shapes revealed trees lurching and I almost ran straight into one huge tree. I swerved to the left and stumbled away from the tree. Some footsteps behind me I heard the cop almost miss the tree. He staggered and I heard him hit the ground. I tried to suppress a giggle when something hard hit my left knee and I fell over, hitting the ground with a loud thump. I groaned.

- Now you're not laughing! An ironic voice came from under the tree.

- Neither are you! I replied as I turned around to get up, waving my hand to get support from what had tripped me. Shit! No speaking! I told myself. No speaking to the cops! Get up and away from there, now!

My hand hit the thing that had made me fall over and I felt at the shape of it. It was a horse! A bloody horse! I looked around and saw the shapes of a sandbox right in front of me and another horse like figure to my right. Somewhere beyond the sandbox lurched the shape of a slide.

I heard the police moving behind me and jumped quickly up, but sank immediately back down. My knee sent explosions of pain up my leg. I could see twinkling stars in front of me that had nothing to do with the cloud free sky above. I had to bite my lips not to scream out loud. I decided to ignore the pain and tried to stand up. If I didn't put any weight at the knee I was fine. I took some stumbling steps away from the horse and heard the policeman move quickly. I threw myself to the side, but I was too slow. He hit me in the small of my back and we went both down. My knee hit again something hard. The sandbox! Then the twinkling stars disappeared and everything went black.

When I got my consciousness back I held my eyes closed for a while, at least I think they were closed, and listened to the surroundings. There was someone breathing nearby and I had the sinking sensation in my stomach I wouldn't be able to get out of this. I opened my eyes and all I saw was black. I decided to open them again. Nope, no effect, still the same darkness. Then slowly came something floating into my field of sight. A head, and shoulders, then a hand. But it was moving too fast for me to see it. I groaned. Headache. The hand was doing something on my forehead and I felt something trickling down into my hair and I groaned again and mumbled to myself.

- What did you say? The voice from the head said. It sounded as if it was amused.

- Blood… I mumbled again a little louder.

- Yeah, you hit one corner of the sandbox with your head… the head explained. I have called an ambulance; they should be here any minute. As he said that we heard sirens in the distance closing in.

- Great! I muttered under my breath and waved away his hand on my forehead. I took the cloth he had wiped the blood away with and pressed it against my forehead.

- Just great! I sighed and put force behind the words. I could hear the cop suppress a laugh. And you're laughing at me! I barked and sat up ignoring the pain that threatened to crack my skull.

I could see more clearly now, as the sun obviously was coming up. The cop was sitting on the damp sandbox and I had been lying on the cold grass. I looked up at him and was surprised he looked so young. And handsome from what I could see in the dusk. He also looked like someone you wouldn't want to meet alone on a street in the middle of the night. I guessed women were drawn to him like a moth to the flame, he looked slightly dangerous.

Bar fights. I thought, then the ambulance tuned off its sirens as it had arrived to the gates of the park. A police came over with the ER guys and nodded to the police sitting next to me.

- Morning Morelli, I heard you were on the big chase tonight…

- Morning Gazarra. The police next to me said and then yawned. But I still got some more hours before my shift is over. He then looked at me, locking my eyes with his dark eyes, I looked away. The ER guys were examining my head and then asked me if I could stand up.

I shook my head, but quickly stopped since it hurt.

- No. My knee's hurt.

I looked over to the bloody horse. It was a wooden thing that could be wagged back and forth, painted in bright red and blue. The cop named Morelli sniggered.

- The horse threw her off. He explained nodding towards the horse.

- It didn't! It hit my knee! I snapped back.

- You ran right into it! He smiled towards me and I rolled my eyes.

- And that comes from one who ran right into a tree!

He stopped smiling immediately and the other cop named Gazarra sniggered.

- This will be an interesting story to tell the guys at the station. He said and took some steps backwards at the glance Morelli shot at him. The ER guys were ready to lift me up and Morelli stood up too and followed us slightly limping.

- Want a ride to pick up your car? Gazarra asked Morelli who shook his head.

- No, thanks. I'll go with the ambulance and visit Stephanie at the same time.

- Send her greetings from me; we miss her bringing in FTA:s. Gazarra said and disappeared outside the doors of the ambulance. Morelli got in, closed the door and the ambulance drove off. During the ride the ER guys did some random checks on me, asking some questions, if I felt dizzy and so on. When they got to the part where they ask you your name I closed my mouth with a snap and glanced quickly at the cop. He was leaning back hands behind his neck, but when I closed my mouth he bent forward looking at me.

- Ms, we need to know your name.

I ignored him and stared right in front of me.

No talking, that was rule number one. I knew how easy it was to accidentally say too much, so no talking.

When the ambulance jerked to a stop outside the hospital Morelli stood up and with a last glance at me he told the ER guys to tell him when they were done with me, he would be in room 235. And he was gone. I was lifted and put in a wheelchair and pushed in through the doors of the hospital. I didn't like hospitals, they were scary. They really scare me, and with all the disinfection stuff it made me feel quite queasy. Also I had many not so bright memories from earlier hospital visits. All I can say is I don't like hospitals.

I was driven through x-ray and diagnosed with a minor concussion and a knee that needed to rest for three weeks.

I would be walking on crutches.

Great. Really great.

When they were finished with me I was driven off to a room, because they still wanted to keep me over the night, as they always want to. When the nurse pushing my wheelchair pushed me into the room I discovered it was the same room as the policeman Morelli was in.was talking to a woman who laid in one of the beds in the room. He turned around as we entered and the woman in the bed looked up. She looked quite sleepy.

- I hope we are not disturbing. We will keep her over the night just to be sure there's no bleeding in her brain… The nurse nodded to Morelli then pushed me over to the bed next to the occupied bed and helped lay down. Suddenly I discovered how tired I was and when the nurse left I cast a glance towards the couple then closed my eyes and drifted slowly off to sleep hoping Sam would be better off than I was.