Gabriel looked up as the door opened, away from the computer screen in front of him. Russo barged in with a grim look on his face, gripping the upper arm of that growingly infuriating McClane's daughter.

The girl hissed as she yanked her arm unsuccessfully, "Let go of me, you bastard."

Girl had spirit.

Russo snarled, "This bitch is a handful."

The bitch, Lucy, twisted and, managing to free herself, slugged Russo in the jaw.

Gabriel strode to the pair in a few short steps. He grabbed Lucy and pushed her down into a chair, holding her bare arms tightly.

Spirit was a pain in the ass.

As he held on to the girl, he looked up at Russo, who was rubbing his jaw. "Are you gonna be all right?" His voice dripped with sarcasm. Russo sneered, but did not talk back.

Gabriel turned back to Lucy and stared hard into her eyes. Sternly, he commanded, "Behave or I will hurt you."

Lucy jutted out her chin and snapped back, "Yeah? Let's step outside, just you and me. We'll see who hurts who."

With a slight smirk, Gabriel pulled back. Girl had guts too. "You really are his daughter," he commented casually.

Abruptly, Gabriel's ire rose. The little chit was staring him down with the same cocky glare her father had. Gabriel grabbed her upper arm and jerked her up. "Can you manage for just a minute?" he scathingly asked his underlings. They nodded as Gabriel dragged Lucy out of the room, slamming the door behind them.

Lucy looked around in her new surroundings, obviously searching for a means to escape. "Where are we?" she snapped.

It made no difference if she knew. "Woodlawn."

"Where's that?" Her eyes met his.

Gabriel didn't answer her. He had to regain the upper ground.

Firmly but not roughly, Gabriel pushed Lucy back against the wall in the hallway, until there was no room for her to escape. Bending slightly, he moved his head next to hers and spoke softly into her ear, "Do you know what Daddy-Dearest did?"

He couldn't see her face, but he could hear the pride in her voice as she answered, "Threw a wrench in your diabolical plans of doom?"

Gabriel waited a moment, then admitted, "Yes, he's become... quite annoying. But that's not all."

"Did he make fun of your hair?"

Biting back his anger, Gabriel said calmly, "He killed Mai."

"I bet he's killed a lot of people. Who the hell is Mai?"

Gabriel pulled his head back until he was directly looking at her, inches away from her face, and responded softly. "Mai was my girlfriend."

Her chin jutted out. "Bitch probably deserved it."

Gabriel snapped. With a thudding-clang his fist punched the metal wall a half a foot from her head. Lucy smirk disappeared.

Gabriel took a deep breath. "Don't piss me off, Lucy. I wasn't foolish enough to love her, but your daddy killed someone who was valuable to me."

"Valuable?" Lucy spoke carefully, "You gonna kill me and everyone else off when weren't not worth anything to you?"

"Most likely. So try to be useful." Gabriel pulled back another two inches and looked her over. His left arm was pinning her shoulder to the wall, and her body was pressing Lucy as far from him as she could. Gently, Gabriel released her shoulder and ran his hand down her arm, then her side, to her waist. "I can think of another way to be useful... now that Mai's gone."

Lucy barely surpressed a shudder and looked down and away.

With his sore right hand, Gabriel softly took her face and tilted it up to his. His dark eyes pierced hers. "Wouldn't that make your daddy angry?"

Lucy couldn't find her voice; she couldn't push or kick or butt her head right through his; she trembled the slightest bit under his gaze.

Determination swept over him. Here was something that made her shut up. Slowly, he drew closer; tenderly, he held her. But when his lips touched hers, he grew forcefully, taking what he wanted. Gabriel kissed her hard, sqeezing her body tightly or running his hands over her roughly. He took back a tiny fraction of what had been taken from him.

When he finally ended the kiss by jerking himself away, he heard Lucy's sharp intake of breath. He looked down at her, expecting to see tears. There were none in those sharp eyes that glared back at him.

"Feel better now?" she spit wiping her mouth with the back of her hand.

Gabriel didn't say anything as he dragged her back inside, threw her down into the chair, and commanded, "Tie her wrists."

Later.

Back on the damned walkie-talkie with that damned John McClane, whose daughter was sitting right there looking like she'd love to snap his neck.

He needed that flat-foot dead.

Gabriel took a deep breath and tried to start over. Maybe there was a chance he'd see reason. He spoke conversationally into the walkie-talkie, "You know, John, I feel like we've gotten off on the wrong foot, and because of that, you think I'm the bad guy. Nothing could be further from the truth." His voice grew firmer and stronger. "I'm the goody guy. I told them this could happen if they didn't prepare. Did I get a thank-you?" Bitterness crept in. "No, I got crucified. But they wouldn't listen."

John McClane answered, "You got their attention now, don't you?"

"That's right." Reasonable. "I am doing this country a favor."

Cold. "By tearing it apart."

He didn't understand. "Better me than some outsider. Some religious nutjob bent of Armageddon. Nobody wants to see that happen." Gabriel tried to explain so even this stuck-in-the-past detective could understand. "Everything I've broken can be fixed if the country is willing to pay for it."

John snapped, "Bullshit. It's always been about the money."

Gabriel felt like laughing. "What? I shouldn't get paid for my work? I'm working my ass off here, John."

Always the cowbody, John crowed, "Well, just sit tight, asshole. I've got a check for you."

Pulling the walkietalkie away, Gabriel held it toward Lucy. Surely his daughter could see reason, could see that he wasn't the bad guy. They had a connection in the hallway, hadn't they?

"I can't talk to this guy. You talk to him, see if you can get him to focus." Gabriel held down the "talk" button for Lucy.

"Dad?"

"Hi, baby." Tender words for such a hardheaded man.

Lucy gave him a half-second glance, then said clearly, "Now there are only five of them."

"Hang on, Lucy. I'm comin.'"

Gabriel's head spun. He pulled the walkie-talkie from him. Before he realized it, his hand shot out and slapped her hard across the face.

"Would somebody please kill this son of a bitch!" Gabriel shouted, standing up. Several people ran from the room, leaving the two of them alone.

Face red, Lucy glared at him.