A/N: Thank you so much for taking the time to read. You guys are the best!

Disclaimed. Nothing owned, nothing gained.

Chapter 2

Liz couldn't believe what she just witnessed. What she just did. She killed a man.

Not just killed. Murdered. Her rage was so great at seeing Red threatened that she couldn't help but make sure that his attacker was more than dead. She could rationalize it as protecting her asset, but in the eyes of the law, she murdered him.

She couldn't think of that now. Red's monitors were beeping and Dembe was dragging her out of the room.

She refused to move and tried to fight her way back to Red.

"No. Dembe, no, I have to go to him,"

"Agent Keen, you need not worry about Raymond. I promise he is fine. I will explain later, when it is safe. You need to keep that gun out if we are going to get out of here alive. I need you to follow me. I can't carry you and get you out of here at the same time."

Dembe was always serious. His intensity now was a little frightening. She absolutely believed him.

She had no reason not to.

She nodded her agreement and he quickly took the lead.

A left hand turn at the nurse's station where he stopped to catch a nurse's eye, and then down the corridor to the stairwell.

They quietly opened the stairwell, Dembe led.

He fired three shots in quick succession.

By the time she followed, there were three bodies hitting the floor.

Neither of them had silencers. The sounds of Dembe's firing was deafening.

It couldn't be helped, there were more men coming up the stairs.

Dembe looked down to try and get a count. "Ten. We might make it."

"Wow. That's reassuring." She hates that she gets sarcastic when she's scared.

Dembe didn't reply, just descended the stairs with a swiftness and stealth that would be unbelievable if she weren't witnessing it firsthand.

She didn't even need to fire her gun once.

Dembe took care of every single one of the men. He ran out of bullets before the last one fell. Liz raised her gun to take care of it, but she needn't have worried. Dembe threw his gun at the man's face, tackled the man to the ground and broke his neck.

Dembe stood, breathing heavily, muscles heaving. "Um, wow again Dembe. You are a beast. That was crazy."

He rolled his eyes at her, and motioned her through the last door to the parking garage and took her gun on the way.

She followed closely behind, but it seemed that Dembe annihilated their enemies inside. No one was present here.

When they reached the Mercedes, Dembe handed her gun back to her and rolled to the ground.

"So, what's with the stop, drop, and roll?"

"Explosives."

"Aahhhh. Why didn't I think of that?" Still sarcastic. She was scared out of her mind. Never had she been the hunted. The thought of some faction of people having it out for her was terrifying.

He finished and before she knew it, they were on their way through the countryside.

Dembe was on the phone immediately after exiting the hospital garage.

All she could hear was one side of the conversations.

Mr. Kaplan was the first call. "You need to go to him. Smooth things over. He'll want to be moved immediately. He's not well enough to fly, but he won't be able to stand being away from her. I know. You be careful. Good luck with the patient. Haha, I do have an easier job, be jealous."

Next was the pilot, or whomever was in charge of the Jet. "Have them both gassed and ready. File a flight plan for one of them to Rome. The other? I'll let you know when we arrive."

"Dembe, I need to call Cooper. I need to let them know what happened. I killed a man. Leaving makes me look incredibly guilty."

"You are guilty. You can't call Cooper. In fact, I need your phone."

She knew where this was going. With a sigh, she handed it over and could do nothing but watch as he broke it in half and rolled down his window to throw it away.

"Agent Keen. Do you know who you killed tonight?"

"Someone that was trying to poison Red?"

"That too, but he is in charge of the group that had Red shot. He's decided that Red was no longer a liability and sought to put him down. You killed one of the most influential men in the world."

"Oh, fuck."

"Oh fuck, indeed."

"You need to drop me off at the airport and get back to Red. There's probably other men there and they will try to kill him! You need to go to him."

"Raymond has back-up protection in place until Mr. Kaplan and her team arrive. It will only take them 20 minutes or so. He will be fine. Our priority is you and the target you just had placed on your head."

They drove the rest of the way to the jet in silence. Liz's head was full of worry for Red and 'what the fucks?!' for her.

There were two jets gassed and taxied, awaiting further instruction.

"Follow me, we need supplies." was all Dembe said, so follow him she did. Right to a locked closet. Inside was a set of lockers. He opened three of them and pulled out 3 duffel bags, handing her one.

They entered the smaller of the two jets. Dembe spoke with the Pilot, but it was too low for her to hear.

Dembe sat down across the aisle from her. He looked absolutely unaffected by the evening's events.

She wished she had that problem.

She couldn't stop thinking about Red now that the danger had passed, at least in part.

They were getting so close. He was so honest and upfront about everything.

He explained that he hired Tom to function as Ezra had. That Berlin had offered him more money to infiltrate every part of her life.

She trusted him to tell her the truth.

She was so emotionally attached to him and so attracted to him that she was afraid to label it for what it really was. She was falling in love with Raymond Reddington.

Tbc…

A/N: Let me know what you think. Thanks for being such amazing shipmates! It will be tough, but we can make it through the hiatus!