Saturday 1215 am

The two-way crackled to life with Command's voice: "We've got unexpected traffic in the drop zone. Two cars and a truck. Either the timetable got moved up or we've got a situation. Time to escalate. Everyone in position in ten."

Mary experienced a shot of adrenaline with the words and suddenly she couldn't help the scenes playing through her head.

"….hey chica…I'm thirsty…" …the smell of alcohol and marijuana…

…the whirling blue and red lights from the patrol car…

"…I don't want to fight you…" …the glint of metal under the street lamp…

…searing pain…then blackness…

"… o.k. Mare? Hey…Mary?" Marshall's hand on her shoulder jolted her out of her reverie and she looked at him, startled. He was staring at her with a look of concern and repeated, "Hey, are you o.k.? You totally checked out there."

She shook her head to clear the images. "Yeah…just some memories. Wow, I didn't really expect that." She said softly. She took a deep breath and sat up straight, looked at Marshall and declared "I'm good. Let's go."

Marshall didn't let go of her shoulder as she attempted to exit the SUV. She turned back in her seat and looked at him. "What?" she snapped.

"We all have roles to play in this, Mare. You have to be absolutely sure you're ready to play the game." He was very serious. He had seen that slightly haunted look on her face and knew exactly what she was thinking. He had experienced the same flashbacks and fear after his shooting. If she faltered during the bust because of a flashback or because she hesitated, he didn't want to think about what would happen. He couldn't go through that again.

Mary read between the lines quickly. "Marshall" she matched his seriousness, "if I thought, for even a moment, I would endanger the lives of the people involved in this operation by entering the game, I would sit it out. And Marshall?" she narrowed her eyes a bit "Don't you ever think I would willingly put your life in danger. That would never happen." She reached up to squeeze his hand then slid out of the truck.

"I'm not worried about my life." He whispered too low for her to hear. "Keep her safe" her mentally tossed up to whatever deity might be listening. He grabbed his hat off the console and went out the drivers side.

Saturday 12:40 am – 1:35 am

The ten man team spread out around the block containing Paulie's house. They were all aware of the unexpected, extra suspects that had recently arrived. LVPD were able to silently neutralize four of the men who remained in the cars out front and remove them from the scenario. That left eight to twelve targets inside the house.

Mary vacillated between feeling giddy and nauseous while moving with Marshall around the back of the house. The funny thing was, she wasn't afraid like she thought she might've been. It'd had been too long since she had her adrenaline jacked this high and she had missed it. She glanced at Marshall to record his profile in her mind. She mused about the weird connection between them. If he were to get into trouble, she knew she would know about it right away…just feel it somehow. It gave her a lot of comfort in situations like this. She was smiling without knowing it.

Marshall was also settling into the super alert state he always achieved as they moved into position. It was so good to have Mary at his side again, it had been too long. The last two operations he assisted on were without her and twice he had panicked because he thought he had lost sight of her before realizing she wasn't there. It was odd, he thought, that even if he couldn't see her, he always seemed to know where she was at the scene. He didn't question the feeling, just accepted it as being part of a close partnership…maybe a little more. He looked over at her and saw that she was smiling as they moved into position, her eyes alight. "That's my girl" he chuckled silently.

Marshall, Mary and two DEA agents stood with their backs against the back wall of the house as the rest of the team went in through the front of the house with weapons drawn and announcing themselves loudly. As expected, suspects bolted out the back door.

"Rabbits!" yelled Marshall as he and one of the DEA men took off across the back yard in pursuit. Mary and the other DEA agent launched themselves into the back of the house to begin to pin down targets to keep anyone from ferreting out weapons or hiding evidence. There were three shots fired outside in the back yard and Mary's gut tightened reflexively before she recognized they were from Marshall's gun. "I hope he didn't kill 'em", she thought, "he'll stew about that for weeks". She was able to wrestle two suspects into submission, keeping one from dragging a shotgun out from under the sink. There were a lot of hidey holes throughout the house, including a secreted meth lab in the far corner of the basement. The situation could've been a lot worse had the lab been up and running. Unfortunately, the main bulk of the drugs and guns that were the target of the operation were missing. No one inside the house was talking. The team was not amused. They began herding prisoners outside the house and into the vans for transport.

Mary was aggravated and sweating. This idiot she was trying to cuff was stoned out of his mind and as wiggly as they come. Every time she'd get the cuffs nearly fastened, he'd be crawling away again. She was also keeping an eye on the second man face down and restrained on the floor in the corner. At least he had the common sense to lie still. "I swear to god, I'm going to rip your friggin' balls off and feed them to you if you don't lay still!" she growled.

Marshall was grinning as he came around the corner, marching his captive towards the front door. He could hear her cursing and threatening violence as he was coming down the hall. "Here" he offered, shoving his more cooperative thug into the wall "you want this one instead? I'll take care of that one for you."

"Oh, please" panted Mary as Marshall came over to take her place, "otherwise I'm pretty sure I'll just shoot him to make it easier." Marshall knew she must be getting pretty tired if she gave up her punching bag that easily. He gave her credit for recognizing it. Even though she thought she was ready for this, he knew she was going to be surprised by how quickly she wore out after suffering as severe of injury as she had. "I'll be back to get the other dirtbag in a few." She grabbed the man Marshall left facing the wall and headed out to the front. "Dammit" she thought as she tried to catch her breath "I feel like a rookie on my first bust. It's a good thing this went down as quick as it did. I wouldn't have been much use for much longer". As soon as she handed the perp over to LVPD outside, she felt the overwhelming urge to get back into the house. She trotted up the steps with a sense of urgency, not sure what the source was.

*** please keep reviewing! I'm really having fun writing this one. The deviance is about to begin! ***