Chapter 1

"Guys, a security alarm just went off at a building in the warehouse district—third time this week. You wanna go check it out?" Leon directed the information to Josh and Grace, who were making conversation by the desks behind Leon's workstation.

Stella looked up from the paperwork she was sorting through. She'd been to that warehouse the last two calls and there had been nothing there, the place was abandoned.

"Yeah, sure," Grace got up from her chair, followed by Josh.

"Hey, mind if I come?" Stella didn't miss the annoyed, quiet sigh and slumped shoulders from Grace.

Josh briefly looked at Grace before nudging his head towards the doorway, "Come on."

Stella smiled and followed them.

The car ride was uncharacteristically silent, and from the back seat Stella watched as Josh and Grace exchanged multiple glances. Stella scoffed and looked out the window; clearly, they were not hiding anything.

"What?" Grace asked, looking at Stella in the rear-view mirror.

"Nothing."

"What?" Grace asked more forcefully. "If you have something to say, say it."

Stella just shook her head and continued looking out the window.

When they arrived at the warehouse, everything was quiet. There were no signs of a break in, nor any kind of suspicious activity.

"It's probably just some teen dickheads messing around. There's nothing here," Josh commented.

Stella looked around, "We should still check it out. Something's gotta be setting this alarm off."

Josh let out a stubborn sigh, "Okay, fine, we'll split up then. You and Grace head inside and I'll take a look outside. Radio if you find anything."

Stella and Grace made their way towards the front entrance, neither saying a word. Stella was tempted to say a few things—unwanted opinions and comments—but purposefully chose not to start anything up, knowing there was a time and place but this was not it.

"You go left, I'll go right," Grace said.

"Yep," Stella agreed, turning into the corridor before she said something inappropriate. She cleared several offices before entering the large, open warehouse at the back. She walked towards the middle and swivelled around, getting a good view of the empty area. The only thing in the room were several low stacks of boxes. It was all clear, same as last time. Maybe Josh was right about it just being some kids messing around.

It was when she had almost reached the exit that a noise echoed around the high ceiling room behind her and made her stop. She turned around with her hand on her holstered gun, expecting to see something, but nothing was there. She walked in the direction it came from, some of the boxes, and reached for her radio.

"Stop right there."

Stella froze at the voice behind her, resisting the urge to spin around and look at the person. Instead, she discreetly unclipped her holster while slowly turning her head.

"Don't move!" It was a guy, tall and muscular, his face obscured by the shadow of a navy hoodie. He was pointing a gun at her, but his hand shook with sporadic tremors. Forgetting her own firearm, Stella took the opportunity and spun around fully, lurching at the guy that was no more than a couple of meters away, swiftly twisting his wrist away from her, grabbing the top of the gun, and pulling, disarming him within a few seconds. The guy stood there looking stunned, his hands in the air.

"Turn around. Get on your knees," Stella instructed.

"I'd advise you to do the same," a cocky male voice said from behind her.

Stella inwardly let out a groan. Of course it couldn't be that easy. Before she got the chance to look over her shoulder at the perpetrator, she felt the barrel of a gun press into the base of her neck.

"Drop the gun," the man said.

Stella hesitated, quickly assessing her options. Being held at gunpoint didn't leave her with many choices, and she figured Grace and Josh would come looking for her when she didn't meet up with them outside, and she hoped that would be at any moment. She put her hands up in defence and lowered the gun to the ground.

"And your gun," the man said.

She made a move to turn around in protest, but the man let out a noise of disapproval and the gun was pushed harder into her back. Reluctantly, Stella pulled her gun from its holster and put it on the ground next to the other, and the tall and muscular guy picked them both up.

"What do you want?"

"You'll find out soon," his voice was chilling, and he sounded confident, much unlike the other guy.

"My team is right outside, they'll be here any moment."

"I'm counting on it."

"If you leave now, you might stand a chance."

"I'm not interested in leaving just yet."

"What?" Stella was confused, she didn't understand his motives. He was all but asking to be caught by the police.

Suddenly, there was a voice in her ear, and not from the man behind her. It was Grace, asking where she was and to hurry up. She stopped herself before she reached to respond by habit. Within a few moments she could hear movement from behind the main door.

"Shh, shh," the man said.

Then the door opened, and an unbeknownst Grace walked in. She saw Stella and halted immediately, reaching for her gun.

The man pulled Stella roughly into him, putting his arm around her neck, and the gun was pressed to the side of her head. "Don't move or I'll shoot."


A/N: Hi hello there! Thanks for reading! Most importantly, I'd like to start by thanking insanedairyfarmer to the absolute max, this fic would be a terrible mess without her amazing help!

Now I've actually completed this fic before I decided to publish, so you'll be happy to know that I'll be able to post chapters faster and without delay! Yay! Over the next week or two I'll sporadically upload them. I'm also uploading it onto AO3 if that's your preferred site. As usual, pretty please review (but only if you want to), it makes me feel loved :)