First real chapter, I hope readers like it. Not sure how long this one's going to be yet. Still working on it.

Two years later….

Matt looked up at the wall that stood in front of him, the same one that surrounded the impressive estate which housed an even more regal mansion inside its gates. He heard sounds of dogs barking in the distance which meant that the Dobermans were probably someplace else on the multi-acres spread but where?

He knew that the wall itself, built of stone and mortar was deceptive to the eye. Infrared beams probably crossed it, lining the top of it in some fashion which would set off alarms if they were broken by say, a human intruder. He heard the sound of a car on the road behind him and he looked over at his companion standing near a tree, signaling him with a slight of his gloved hand before shrinking against the wall, as two beams of light passed by just yards away.

Dressed in black from his cap to his socks and shoes, he blended in well with the darkness of the moonless night. Even the stars which filled the sky seemed muted in their light. By his feet, he had a rappelling hook attached to enough rope to get over the wall if he could navigate through any infrared. He looked over at Zeke who he'd teamed up with to do the job, recruiting the mercenary who still remained headquartered with Too-Mean's old crew on the island. Matt had flown his Lear Jet to the Mediterranean island just two days earlier and he and Zeke had spent two days planning while conferencing back to Matt's partner Dan back in Houston. The two of them had been working on a new security system for a client but in order to tailor it to his needs; they had to evaluate what he had in place first, not to mention the dimensions of the place that needed protection.

The estate looming behind the huge wall.

"How much longer are we going to wait?"

Matt saw that Zeke had moved closer towards him, leaning against the wall, waiting to make their move over the wall. He looked at his watch.

"About 10 minutes…we have to time this perfectly."

"Where are the dogs?"

Matt didn't hear them now which of course meant they could be anywhere but probably not close enough to pick up their scent or they'd be at least growling by now. He definitely didn't want to climb the fence only to find the guard dogs waiting on the other side for them.

After all, he'd promised his girlfriend C.J. that he'd return back home to Texas in one piece and he always kept his promises. He'd talked to her just before he headed to the estate and she had been reminding him not to force her to fly off half way around the world to rescue him from some predicament.

She had enough work on her plate to deal with after having gone through the process to finally get Alisha in her safe house and helping the U.S. Attorney's office prepare its case against the traffickers. But she said she'd keep the home light burning when he returned from this latest job assignment. He smiled at that thought because even two days away, he found himself missing her.

"Hey we going to stand here all night or are we going to pull this job?"

Matt heard the trace of irritation in Zeke's voice.

"Come on; let's get started then while it's still quiet."

The two of them moved alongside the wall, walking parallel to it to find just the perfect spot to hook the rappel so they could mosey on over it…hopefully taking off towards the house before the dogs caught their scent. Not that they didn't have the means to deal with any vicious guard dogs but he wanted to keep this plan as simple as possible, while maintaining its flexibility. Often a tricky balance, he had found, particularly here.

"How's this spot look?"

Matt looked up where Zeke had pointed, his eyes carefully casing the wall for any signs of weakness that could be exploited. He knew there had to be such a spot because no designer not even those in the security industry neared perfection; in fact many weren't even close. The darkness surrounding them made it difficult so Matt slipped on a pair of night goggles and he saw what he'd been looking for, some breaks in the wall paired with an apparent blind spot in the infrared beams.

He looked over at Zeke with a careful smile.

"This will do just fine…get me the rope with the hook."

Zeke retrieved it and handed it to him and Matt looked up at the top of the wall as he wrapped the rope in one hand and then using the same arm that had won him a Cotton Bowl Championship ring, he lobbed the rappel and it arched high enough to sail over the wall and clank just audibly on the other side. Matt listened for a moment so sure the dogs might have heard it and come running over but if they had, they'd be barking at this point.

Silence met the two men instead.

"Okay I'll go over first," Matt said, "You follow…I'll be waiting on the other side. If you hear me yell, that means the dogs got me."

Zeke just looked at him.

"Not funny… I promised the missus that I wouldn't be scarred in any place I wasn't already. "

Matt had promised C.J. more than that but he had evaluated the risks and the window of opportunity would be open long enough for them to get over the wall and rush to the throng of trees near the near side of the mansion. So he grabbed the rope and wrapped it around his hands as he took some running steps and climbed up the wall, step by step as he pulled the rope with one hand at a time. The climb didn't faze him much because he kept himself in top physical condition.

For reasons other than the day job.

He tugged on the rope while almost in a crouch, his core muscles working overtime to help him climb the wall until he reached the top and deftly stepped inside the breach in the infrared beams. He half expected to be an inch or so off in his precise measurement of the safe zone and for alarms to go blaring around them.

But the night remained quiet and when Matt navigated the top portion, he leapt down and landed on the damp grass with a soft thud. He looked around him across the huge lawn for the dogs but still nothing. Some light cursing broke the night air and he knew that Zeke had started his climb. He had chosen Zeke for the job because of his experience rappelling off the sides of buildings on some of his jobs. The mercenary hadn't been much of a hiker when they had both been training together on the island more than 18 months ago but when it came to actually climbing, he had been king.

Sure enough, Zeke soon landed right beside him and then looked around just as Matt had just done. But the grounds looked completely quiet, not even the branches on the looming trees moved.

"Come on, we'd better get moving."

They walked across the grass keeping their eyes peeled for any sign of trouble. There were several buildings, their outlines visible besides the mansion in front of them. Matt knew that the man who lived her housed his own private animal preserve and boasted a collection of exotic felines including some rare varieties. He also had a stable filled with prized show horses that were trained by his wife and her staff of trainers. Matt guessed it had started as a hobby to keep her busy and happy while her husband spent much of his time traveling the world on business for his pharmaceutical firm.

They neared the house and suddenly Zeke tapped his shoulder. Matt turned around and then he saw them. Two sentry guards armed with shotguns walking by not 100 yards away. Matt tucked himself into an alcove created by a strand of several trees, and Zeke slid in beside him. They watched as one of the men whistled a couple of times and then two Dobermans came racing across the grass towards the men. They were lucky that the men hadn't passed by the wall a few minutes early but then split-second timing had always been an integral part of his work.

"Do you think they'll find us?"

Matt watched the men walk further away with the dogs dancing around them until one of the men barked an order in what sounded like Russian.

"They might if we stay here," he said, "There's a window on the second floor on the other side."

"Is that how we're getting inside?"

"Maybe…and it's going to be secured in several different ways…bolted, infrared, ultra-violet, radio signals…who knows?"

Zeke shook his head.

"What about the side entrance below it…we can see if we can crack the code."

Matt considered that and wondered if that might work quickly enough…which it would need to so they would avoid a run in with any perimeter security forces…hopefully the two man team would be it but he didn't know for sure.

Still they kept close to the building as they step by careful step walked around it, looking for a way in they might have missed in their planning. Soon enough, they saw the side door and they approached it carefully. Standing on either side, Matt and Zeke looked at each other before Matt reached into his pack and pulled out a device that when attached to the security lock would test out thousands of different possible codes over a matter of seconds or sometimes minutes until finding the one needed to unlock it.

The perspiration itched his face as he carefully and slowly attached his gizmo as he called it to the door. At any moment, an alarm might blare if the door was rigged that way. But Matt knew what he was doing and he had gentle hands that never trembled even under the severest pressure. Zeke watched him as he deftly hooked up the device and pressed the button, which started it to work trying out codes.

"How long will it take?"

Matt sighed, rubbing the sweat off his face with his arm.

"Hard to say…hopefully sooner rather than later….I'd hate to get caught red handed out here when we're so close."

Zeke frowned.

"No that wouldn't work would it…?"

Matt didn't even want to think about that happening on this job. They had prepped for it over a period of weeks and had considered every scenario that might arise and had planned out every possible course of action they might need to take including aborting the job if necessary.

But he wasn't about to let it come to that.

Suddenly, Zeke's eyes widened.

"They're heading back this way…"

Matt looked over outside the shadow which protected the two of them and saw the two sentries and the dogs…

"If they catch a whiff of us…"

Matt watched the device willing it to work even faster though he knew that wouldn't help. But the men were approaching and he didn't think receding further into the building's shadow would keep them hidden either. The men didn't seem to be looking in their direction but Matt saw one of the dog's stop. His head shoot up, poised and Matt knew they'd been detected.

Zeke just looked at him as the men drew closer and their voices carried through the night air.

"What is it Zeus?"

The other man spoke up.

"I think he's keyed on something…what is it boy?"

Matt looked over at the device still spitting out code combinations quickly and still…nothing. Zeke kept looking nervously towards the approaching men. The dogs took off running and the sentries ran to keep up.

"We'd better…"

But before Zeke could get the word out that they needed to abort, they heard a click from the door's lock opening. Matt looked at Zeke smiling at him.

"And you were saying…"

Zeke cracked a grin back.

"We'd better get on inside there before we turn into dog chow."

They slipped in quickly and quietly, Matt pulling the door behind him just before they heard the chains around the dogs' neck clinking as they moved around, no doubt sniffing the door and picking up their scent.

Matt knew that the sentries wouldn't read too much into the dogs keying on the door because they'd probably guess that the security system was too sophisticated to be penetrable. After all, they weren't he ones that had designed it or had the expertise…to know of any barely perceivable flaws. But Matt knew because that's what he had been paid to find out.

They knew enough to put on the night goggles that would illuminate the beams of light that suddenly became visible in order to navigate carefully through them. In some cases that meant stepping over them and in others, getting on their stomachs and slithering beneath them, ducking their heads as if to brush what the normal eye couldn't see. The floors were hardwood so at least none of their clothes got caught or stuck while they crawled. They were inside what looked like a meeting room, with a large table made out of ancient oak and chairs around it. On the wall was what looked like a blind that no doubt covered a flat screen. This room didn't look much different than the one at Matt and Dan's security firm.

They made it the hallway which was layered with beams including those that crisscrossed each other and they had to stop to figure out a path to travel through…when suddenly they heard a loud chime and Matt looked over and saw a Grandfather clock of intricate design on its casing. Paintings including what looked like a Rembrandt lined the walls, their sophisticated security systems nearly hidden.

Matt saw the staircase in front of them which was free of infrared beams but that didn't mean it was unsecured. He knew that the springboards below each individual step were set to go off if the security system underlying them had been activated but he also knew the designer of that system and that if they walked on the outer edges of the steps about an inch inside, they'd be able to get up undetected.

"Follow my footsteps exactly…"

Zeke nodded and they proceeded slowly up the stairs which creaked enough to break the stillness but that was much better than the shrill sound of an activated alarm.

They made it upstairs and proceeded down another hallway with a tapestry of beams distributed throughout until the end. They had to contort their bodies in all kinds of positions and step all over each other to make it through. Matt rubbed his back where Zeke had just stood on it and thought there had to be easier ways to make a living.

But ahead of him he saw what looked like an interesting room, clearly not a bedroom and though he thought it might be locked, the knob moved easily in his hand. He looke at Zeke, his brows raised.

"What's inside?"

Matt stepped inside the room and saw rows of locked filing cabinets and figured it was a room for storing records, possibly business files. Now Matt knew that they couldn't hold anything highly confidential because anything falling in that category would be stored in a much more secured facility but they might hold something important. Some of them had looked like they were labeled like one would with letters of the alphabet. But ahead of them was what had been really interesting and that was the safe….

Zeke had some expertise in cracking safes from his time doing similar jobs like stealing secrets to sell them to the competition in a number of different industries where unfortunately espionage went part and parcel with them.

That was certainly true of the pharmaceutical industry, they both knew. But without much further thought, Zeke moved forward with Matt covering him and started the arduous work of cracking the safe's combination. He had brought his own toolkit of equipment to make it easier.

Matt kept glancing behind him because he couldn't believe that it had been as uncomplicated as it had been…nothing ever went this smoothly, a cardinal rule in their line of work.

Zeke grew more animated as he closed in on the combination and Matt wondered what had been locked up inside of there. He would need to run an inventory if Zeke got the safe opened.

"I'm getting really close…man this job is one of the easiest…"

Then they heard a pair of footsteps behind them and when Matt turned around quickly, he saw a man standing in front of him.

And in one of his hands, he held a gun.

"Move away from the safe…both of you."

Matt and Zeke looked at each other, having no choice at this point but to obey.

C.J woke up with a start in her bed, the one she shared with Matt. But it had only taken her an instant to know that she was alone. He had taken off a couple of days ago to head to some Mediterrean island to handle a job for the company he ran with Dan. She had kissed him goodbye as she usually did and then had kept herself buried in her own work.

But damn she missed him, even when her mind had been mostly on work and more keenly now having woken up without him.

They shared a house together in a nice tree-lined neighborhood in Houston but she had been restless to buy up some acreage outside of the city and build a house there. She and Matt had just put bought some land, which happened to have a house already standing on it that just needed some heavy work.

They had spent their weekends doing most of the renovating themselves occasionally hiring a crew to help them with the tougher jobs. Still, they loved getting their hands dirty and dong a lot of the work themselves. Sometimes they stayed overnight having brought some air mattresses and sleeping bags, and with the electricity on and the plumbing in good shape and the plumbing in good shape, they could prepare meals and even catch a movie on a computer.

Now he was gone and she had planned to go shopping with Chris for some things for the baby that would be arriving in a few months. Chris and Dan had struggled for over a year to have a baby and C.J. had been so happy for them when it finally happened. Butterfly, now a teenager, helped out whenever she lived with them which was most of the time now.

She thought about trying to sleep, not sure what had awakened her suddenly. It had been a while since the nightmares had jolted her from her slumber. Since she and Matt had returned from the ranch as a couple at last, they had settled into a comfortable life in Houston. He still traveled but not as often as he had and she still struggled to figure out her new consulting work having just secured a safe house for a pregnant teenage girl named Alisha whose baby had been fathered by a notorious drug dealer.

Maybe some freshly steeped chamomile tea would help her sleep so she got out of bed and reached for her robe. The house seemed empty and quiet without Matt at home. Elena dropped by to visit for spells in between her own busy life living with a cousin in Denver. She had passed her GED and would be attending college back in Houston for a while before transferring maybe to another school. Not sure what she wanted to pursue, but she had plenty of time to figure out because ICE had signed off on an extended Visa as she was an important witness in the trafficking case that had remained on the front burner of many lives including her own.

Then she heard her cell phone ring from somewhere on the dresser of the bedroom near a photo of her and Matt together from the ranch where they had spent the past summer solving a case involving a devious scheme to defraud a bunch of ranch owners. She hoped it would be Matt on the phone and not about him…as in bad news but she saw quickly enough, a familiar name.

"Rhonda…"

"Hi there, did I wake you up?"

C.J. sat down on her bed.

"Oh no, I woke up anyway…listen how's the new place?"

Rhonda paused.

"Not bad…but I miss Houston and all of you even though Jonathan's frigging awesome."

C.J. smiled to herself at the reference Rhonda had made to her new husband and C.J.'s ex-boyfriend from years ago who had reentered her life when she really needed him. She owed him a lot and it thrilled her that he found happiness with one of her closest friends.

"You knew the private sector would never keep him happy," she said, "Like it or not, Jonathan's a die in the wool bureaucrat."

Rhonda laughed at their shared joke.

"A damn sexy one at that…but listen he's up for an assignment and the FBI might, just maybe keep your fingers crossed assign him to Dallas."

"Oh that would be wonderful. Dallas isn't that far from Houston."

"I know and it's no DC for sure…I mean this place has its own charms I'm sure but I'll be glad to put it in our rear view mirror."

C.J. heard the enthusiasm in her voice and hoped that she'd see Rhonda soon.

"Hey, what's with you and Houston," Rhonda asked, "You ever getting married?"

C.J. paused…not that it was a sore topic but because they had only just gotten together and she wanted to enjoy that with him. She knew in her heart he was the only guy she'd ever want to wed and that he loved her but they needed to enjoy those little steps they still needed to take to get to that place.

"Should I just shut my big mouth now?"

C.J. sighed.

"No…we're just got so much to deal with right now…two expanding careers and then the trial coming up…hopefully sooner rather than later."

"Jonathan says there's no date yet."

C.J. ran her hand through her hair, knowing that he kept abreast of a case he had worked so hard on even though he wasn't really assigned to it.

"No…I have a meeting with the prosecutor again last week so maybe that means something."

"I hope so C.J. I just want you to be able to put it behind you and enjoy your life without worrying…"

"I do enjoy my life…I've learned to put this case in its proper place. After all, most of what happens is outside of my control anyway."

Rhonda paused.

"I hope they fry for what they did to you…starting with Scott…god, what a piece of work he turned out to be."

C.J. sighed, definitely agreeing but that had been the part of the case that had shaken Matt in a different way, to discover such a serious act of betrayal by a man he had long considered a close friend. And when he had discovered the depths of it…it had caused him pain but he had put it aside because he had so much wanted to be there for what she had gone through. But she still wondered if he'd fully dealt with it and any feelings of misplaced guilt he might have about Scott's involvement in the trafficking ring and her own ordeal.

"Well, Jonathan's back from his training…god he's putting in such late nights…talk to you later."

"Bye…," C.J. said, before clicking off the phone.

She walked into the kitchen to make herself that tea to help her sleep trying to keep her mind off of Matt and this nagging feeling that something just didn't feel quite right. He had taken a client who had been this wealthy CEO of a major pharmaceutical company. Some guy named Stefan Kostas who she hadn't ever met but Matt had told her he had met him in Europe during his time away from L.A. and that the man had contacted him interested in some security work. And this latest trip to some faraway country had been part of that job.

She fixed her tea and as she waited for it to steep, she found herself wondering about Matt's latest client.