Imagine:

Both Niall and Liam are both field FBI agents. And they were paired up as partners for a while now and they were pretty tight together. Recently, they have been working on a case. A case that spread all over the newspapers and police stations. The serial killer in town strikes again. The killer has already gotten 3 victims and Niall and Liam are in charged working on this case. In fact, they were working on his fourth victim. It was late at night, everyone had gone home to rest. Niall and Liam are still trying to study the evidences which the killer nearly left them none. Seated in the office with dim lights, flipping files of information for 12 hours straight are not very entertaining for the two lads. Niall finally toss the file down and shook his head.

"This couldn't be done." Niall sounded exhausted and hopeless. Liam looked up from his file and cocked his eyebrows. The movement made Liam heard a few soft cracks from his neck. Niall's eyes looked red from the over-time working. They barely gotten any sleep since the day they went to the field and investigate—or at least they couldn't sleep well.

"Why?" Liam asked pointlessly. Liam couldn't think of anything to say at this point.

"The clues are not enough, and I know we are walking around in circles. This isn't helping." Niall rubbed his face with his hands and ran them through his hair.

"The clue is here somewhere Niall, we just gotta find it and put it together." Liam sighed and forced his eyes back on the file. They can't give up now, they worked for so long. Plus, Liam knows they are close to getting something.

Each time the killer left the police what seems like few code letters on each victim. Niall and Liam were guessing that they have to solve the code in the chance of saving the latest victim to know who the next person is before it's too late to save them. However, no one know what the code letters stood for. The whole city's police stations are working their butts off to sniff out some clue. The countdown could happen anytime. Questioning the victims' family members and friends for evidence are useless, especially tears always overwhelmed them. They know absolutely nothing about their death, couldn't do anything. They were just….gone, unexpected. All victims had intelligent careers, all work for the goverment. There are thousands of possibility of the code letter combinations. It coluld be a name, an address, PO box number—ANYTHING. The evidences made no sense.

"It could be anything Liam, the killer won't just give us complete random code words. I think this killer wanted us to play along with his sick games." As soon as the words came out of Niall's mouth, Liam frowned. "That is ridculous. This is not a movie." Liam stopped reading his file but still kept his eyes on it. Have Niall worked out of his mind?

"Then you tell me, why do you think the killer do this? Leaving us code words. I felt like we are over thinking it." Niall defended his comment. He brought himself closer to the table, watching Liam blankly.

Liam looked up to meet his blank stare. His usual light blue eyes were now dull and tired.

"That's what we are trying to find out bud, I know we are getting somewhere. Just keep digging." Liam dropped his gaze back down at his file when Niall stood up, took it out of his hands and slammed it on the table. The movement shocked Liam. He stared at him with disbelieve—Niall stared back.

"I am serious, Liam! We have been doing this for almost full on 24/7 and we didn't find shit. The next victim is somewhere out there. Being targeted. There are not a single file here we haven't read. There are something missing." Niall was getting annoyed, he stared straight into Liam's eyes. Liam sighed—getting a little impatient too.

"Oh come on Niall, now you are just gonna abondon all the work we have done? When we have gone half way?" Liam shot back.

"But our progress ain't getting us anywhere," Niall softened his voice a little bit. The office was small enough to hear a pin drop.

"Well then what do you want to do? Hm?" Liam squeezed his nose bridge and closed his eyes for a rest. There was a long pause.

"I am going to the crime scene."
"What?" Liam opened his eyes to look at Niall, who was already collecting his stuff.

"I am going back to the crime scene, the evidences are missing." Niall repeated. "If you don't agree with me, it's fine you can stay here." He added, grabbing his phone. Liam stood as Niall grabbed his coat.

"Are you kidding me? Now? Yeah good luck finding evidence in the fucking dark." Liam really didn't want to argue now, but his patience are running low. Niall was about to turn the doornob, but froze in place right after hearing what Liam said. Then Liam realized the comment was a little harsh.

Niall turned around, his expression looked slightly hurt.

"Would you rather me, going out there to dig some evidences and might find much more, or sit here walk around in circles with these clueless files and with someone out there could die anytime?" Niall said quietly, voice slightly shaking. Liam looked away, shaking his head. "Think about it." And with that Niall left the room, leaving Liam with the echo of a slammed door.

Liam angrily swiped the files off the table, sending them flying everywhere on the floor. He let out a yell of frustration. He was THIS close feel like finding something. He really hated arguing with Niall, especially times like this. They both never really argued on cases nor normally when they hung out. They understood eachother's theroy very well, one if the reasons why they were teamed up in the beginning. It felt like two billion things were on Liam's chest right now.

Liam glanced at his watch, 3:45 am. Man, they had been working forever. It was reasonable why Niall is getting impatient. Liam sighed. He got up and started to reorganized the files on the floor. But then something caught his eyes. The pictures from the files that were taken from the crime scene spread messily on the floor into a long code word. Liam studied the code word.

Then it hit him hard.

The code word was Niall's FBI badge number! Next to the letters there were numbers that looked like a date. Liam's eyes widened in terror and flung back to his table and grabbed his phone. He dialled Niall's number as quick as possible and pushed the phone to his ear.

"Come on! Pick it up!" Liam taped his hand voiently on the table. His heart started to race. He didn't care how does the file suddenly turned out to be Niall's FBI badge number and what in the world Niall is doing right now. He NEEDED him back in the station right now.

Niall stormed down to the underground parking lot. He felt very stressed. Why does Liam had to choose this time to argue when he needed him to understand him the most? The files weren't giving them anything! Niall was about to enter his car when he heard his phone vibrate. He pulled his phone out of his coat pocket. He sighed, seeing Liam's name on the screen with a picture of them together smiling joyfully standing on a balcony holding two drinks taken by one of their friends. Niall smiled softly at the thought of him and Liam used to spent all those lazy times together right after work at Liam's place, doing nothing but lying down, drink and talk all day until the evening covers the sky. However, they hadn't done that for a long time since the case brought them down. He sighed again at the still vibrating phone, maybe he had his own reasons? When he wanted to slide open the phone to answer it, he felt a huge shock of pain hit right on the back of his neck. Sending him collapsing on the ground. Waves and waves of pain bumped through his body as his phone abandoned his hand.

"What the hell…" Niall shifted himself trying to get up, but the attacker stomped on his back. Forcing him back on the ground. This time, he could hear bones cracked. Niall gasped from the extreme pain and fell flat on the ground. He swear he could feel the attacker broke something. Niall wanted to roll over to see the attacker, but his back won't let him. His phone was spotted over his head, still vibrating. He weakily reached for it—of course, the attacker stopped him by squishing his wrist in to the ground. A painful cry slipped out of Niall's mouth. He could now see the attacker. He got a white mask and a black hood on. Even with a mask, Niall could feel him smirking underneth it. The attacker crutched down, still having his heavy foot pressed on to Niall's wrist. He brought himself closer to Niall.

"Liam…" Niall's words were barely audible. Still eyeing the phone. The attacker took the phone. He looked at the screen, his eyes showing a cold smile. Wasted no time, Niall's other free hand snaked in to his holster inside his coat for his Defender .45 (a handgun). The masked man suddenly pressed harder on to his wrist. Niall cried again, his sneaky hand dropped back on the floor. He could felt his wrist buried in to the cold hard ground. He could almost feel his bone burn in to the ground. The phone stopped vibrating when he pressed the screen.

"Don't try anything smart," A deep husky voice came out of the mask. He grabbed his Defender from his holster. Niall tried to stop him but the man was quicker. Ignoring the man, he tried pushed his foot off his wrist with his free hand. But it didn't even tilt his strong and steady foot with his limited strength from the pain.

"Or else—" The attacker leaned in closer to Niall. He lifted his chin with the head his gun, forcing him to look at him. "Bow." He mocked the sound of a gun fire. Niall flinched away from the gun.

"If you are still naughty," He pointed at the entrance of the parking lot. "Lover boy can't even help you." He whispered the last sentence.

"No, don't you fucking dare hurt Liam. I don't know who the fuck are you, but I will kill you if you dare to touch him." Niall warned him. His voice didn't really do the threatening, but he was dead serious. He would not let go of anyone who hurt Liam.

No matter who it is.

"Then we better cooperate ourselves, if we don't want anyone to get hurt. Shall we?" The man got a good grip on to Niall's hair and yanked him off the floor. Niall yelped, and stumbled on to his feet. The man placed the gun behind his back right away and started leading him to the other side of the parking lot. Each step Niall took sent pain to his entire back. The parking lot was nearly empty. So it was easy to spot what car the man was trying to lead Niall to. They were a few feet from the car and Niall decide to take action with his last bit of strength. He swiftly turned around and whipped his arm away. Threw him a hard punch in the face with his good hand and pushed him backwards. Hopefully, sending him falling. He didn't have the time and energy to fight him.

He decided to run for it.

His own car was not too far, so Niall used all his energy he could ever get in to his legs and sprinted as fast as he can. His back was screaming for him to stop, his neck was twisting his muscles, but Niall pushed himself forward to the car. He almost arrived to his car when he heard gun fire behind him and before he knew what happened, his right knee dropped to the floor. Pain started to spread over his knee—soon blood.

Niall soon realized he was screaming helplessly in pain on the floor, clutching his wound. He was almost too tired to even scream. He felt light-headed.

"I see you have made your choice, —" The man approached calmly beside Niall.

"Pity Payne had to get involved into this…" Niall looked weakly up at the blank crunched mask. A tear streamed down his cheek, he saw the masked man started to rise his foot. Niall shut his eyes freeing the tears, he should have stayed in the station. He should never left Liam. He should have listened. Now what would happen to Liam is all his fault. The only image Niall could see is Liam smiling at him with his warm and loving smile, thinking he would miss that smile already—before the man brought his foot down his vision.

Then everything went black.

"Pity…"

"Shit, Shit, SHIT!" Liam sprinted down to the main enterance of the building and out. He tried to dial Niall's number again. But it won't pick up.

"FUCK!" Liam kept dialling. He was panicking right now. Niall must be mad at him, he won't pick up the goddamn phone and he could be in danger anytime. He was such an idiot! If he knew, he shouldn't argue with Niall!

"Come on Niall! Where are you?!" Liam cursed to himself when the dial went to voice message again. He looked around intensely. The streets were lifeless. Nothing caught his point of interest.

"The parking lot…" Liam reminded himself. He raced to the parking lot and scanned the area. There was only Niall's car.

"Niall!" Liam ran to the car, but there were no signs of Niall. The car hadn't moved an inch. If Niall went to the crime scene, he had to take his car. A faded trail of red liquid snatches Liam's attention. It leaded all the way across the other side of the parking lot. The trail lead to an empty parking spot. Something must have happened.

"Oh no…" Liam raced to his own car and climbed in. He had no idea where to find Niall. He droved out the drive way of the parking lot, maybe he could find something in the streets? Just then, he received a call.

It was from Niall. Liam quickly answered the call.

"Niall! Oh thank god. Are you ok right now?! Please I don't know where are you, but I need you to come back to me right no-" Liam began, but then cut off by a deep cold voice.

"Hello Agent Payne." The voice sounded like it was speaking through a piece of plastic. Liam's heart skipped a beat.

"Who is this?" Liam asked suspiciously.

"It's not important to know who I am. However, I am sure you are looking for something you lost right now, isn't that right?" The voice sounded slightly cocky. Liam knew where this is going.

"WHAT THE FUCK DID YOU DO TO NIALL!" Liam yelled into his phone. He gripped angrily at the steering wheel. His breathing speeded up.

"Straight forward and protective, just like your dearest Niall. I like it." The man let out a bitter chuckle. There were noises of a car speeded up on the other line.

"What do you want." Liam placed a hand over his eyes. He's beginning to have a headache, he rested his head on the steering wheel.

"Good, love your attitude. This is a good sign for chances if you could get him back." The man began. "Listen carefully,"

Liam looked out at the dark empty traffic, he swallowed hard.

"You have two options. First one, you have to use your whatever ways to track us down and chase us. You have just enough time before your FBI station opens which you have exactly 45 minutes." There were more background noises, but this time it sounded like a small car tire screeching. "Second, If you couldn't track us in 45 minutes or you got your cover blown, your Niall will disappear forever."

"Please…don't do this. Why are you doing this to Niall? To all the victims…?" Liam's voice trembled. He couldn't imagine what did this cold bastard did to Niall…even just picturing Niall with this man made Liam sick.

"It is your choice, it is your life at last." The man exhaled. "But remember, the choice you make, will effect the ending for another one—and depends on how strong your Niall is."

Liam clutched his jaw tightly, his voice gave him goose bumps.

"You've seen the way I treated my victims. I would be watching you, every movement you make will be marked."

"…how do I know if Niall is really with you? I want to know if he is ok. Let me speak to him." Liam wanted to make sure. There was a fainted sound of a boat horn.

"Come and find out." Then the line went dead.

"Hey-HEY! Shit!" Liam looked at the dark screen. What now? How on earth was HE supposed to find Niall all of a sudden? He couldn't call any of his friends or co-workers for help now, they are probably all asleep and even by the time they arrived it would be too late! Hacking into Niall's phone and trail them would take too long and he didn't have the equipment to do that. 45 minutes is not a lot of time. If he really was the killer, according to all the files the man was super intelligent, almost knowing his victim's every action. Hardly leaving any clues.

Calling the cops would be the worst idea right now, he had no single clue where Niall could be, no information for the police. Cover blown. Niall would be dead because of this stupid decision.

Liam took a glance around his car for any tracking devices or cameras. No signs of those.

But this is no risk. Niall's guess was right. This were the killer's sick games all along. He HAD to play along.

Then Liam remembered the sounds from the background when they were still on line.

There were noises of a car going high speed. The only road that could go fully high speed in this crowded city is the big bridge.

A small car tire screeching sound. A car turn.

There were background noises of a boat horn…the docks! The killer is heading to the docks near the big bridge.

That was a really slim clue, but this was all Liam got so far. Liam shook his head to clear up the thoughts and stepped on the gas. He got one shot at this, it's a crapshoot.

He droved out of the parking lot and started to make his way to the bridge.

Surroundings in the dark city was flying back around Liam. The car ripped through the cold night air.

Clumsily, he took out the city map out of the glove compartment and spread it out beside the steering wheel. Keeping an eye out of the quiet traffic, he took a quick look at the possible areas on the map.

"The docks…." Liam thought to himself. "The tire screeching sounded like it's coming from the right of the car, which mean it could turn left." Liam inspected the areas, a left turn is available. He put the map aside and drove faster. If he drives fast he should be able to catch the car before it makes a turn to anywhere.

Something bothered Liam though, why would the killer target Niall? Niall never did anything that upset other people enough for them to have revenge on him…Was it because they were working on this case? Or…

The code words! The whole thing was about Niall! The killer took step by step to get the cops' attention then the case delivers to Niall and Liam! The killer planned this all along just to get to Niall! This was his goal from the beginning, sitting right under their noses!

Liam punched the steering wheel, wanted to yell. But the frustration turned in to a drop of tear and strolled down his cheek. He quickly wiped it away. Why would the killer chose Niall and not him?

"Son of a bitch…I would make you pay for what you've done!" Liam said under his breath angrily. He almost passed the bridge now and prepared to make a sharp turn to the left. Thinking of the cruel way the killer killed his victims were making Liam panicking even more. He drove faster disappearing in to the roads. Beyond the speed limit, driving as fast as he could.

At the far end of the road, he could see a car with faded head lights.

"Hang in there Niall, I won't let him hurt you. I am coming to get you…" Liam gripped the wheel tightly and drove to the limit of the speed that the car could bring him towards the visible lights.

The man's eyes flickered at the rear view mirror, a black sport car approaching after him. A smirk appeared under his mask. He turned to the passenger seat, where Niall laid silently in the seat. His wrist were safely tied tightly in a rope and blindfolded with a piece of black cloth. "Let's see how long your boy can last, how far he can go to safe you." The man ran the back of his fingers along Niall's cheek, he tilted his head and looked at the motionless Niall. The masked man shook his head in slight disgust as he looked at the now closer car behind the car seat. Then, the man focused back on the road, "It's about time…" He pushed the gas pedal until it touches the carpet.

"You will come back to me very soon." Liam whispered the last sentence, pushed the gas pedal too and chased after the one in trouble.

*END*

A/N: I hope the actions and the stuff I wrote make sense because it took me quite a while to write and edit a lot. I tried my best and also my first Niam fic being published, I would also post this to my tumblr at walkin2directions

and that's it. If you see this fic somewhere else it is probably not published by me. (Don't copy please.) Since this is an imagine there will not be a legit ending. You—well…just gotta imagine the rest…I will see how the fandom react, I might write the ending…who knows? BUT however, I will write some more different Niam fanfics. Follow me for more Niam goodness in future! And don't forget to give this a favorite and follow! Thank you for reading.

Also thanks to my fellow best friend Pasta_or_Die edit this fanfiction for me. She writes fanfictions about Hetalia (a Japan animation.) So if you like Hetalia go check her out on Quotev!

P.S she also likes One Direction.