Happy New Year's everyone!

New York, USA

'We saw two suspicious figures exiting the airport. The taxi driver took great lengths to evade us-'

'Which he managed, by the looked of it,' Pamela snapped with anger that was half-real, but not for the reasons her supervisors thought. If there was anything she had to keep up now, it was the front that she felt no sympathy for Bourne or Parsons.

The man in front of her bowed his head slightly, annoyed. Pamela didn't know how long he'd been working there; she didn't even know his name. But none of this was important to her in any case.

He looked back up. 'New York is as good a place as any for them to go,' he continued, sounding convincing. Pamela interrupted him again. 'Why's that?'

'Bourne has obvious connections to the place.' The agent shifted in discomfort and looked around the office warily. 'He may also think that you'd help him.'

Pam shook her head, not bothering to protest.

'We're going to cross-check the list of people on the flight from Brussels with the people who've recently checked into hotels in this area.'

'You don't have to-'

'Yes, we do,' he said simply. A pause. 'He's been making a fool out of us for too long.'

'What about Parsons? She's on our side, godamnit. They both are. Just let them live their lives.'

'I have orders from high up to make sure they don't do exactly that.'

Algonquin Hotel

New York, USA

They're coming.

Nikki stared down at her phone in disbelief. She didn't recognize the number, so it couldn't have been Jason's. But maybe he was using someone else's cell.

She glanced around the room, at the beige walls and cream carpet, the white sheets thrown aside in a rush and the single black duffle bag lying on the floor.

She checked to make sure her laptop and passport were still inside, and then she left.

The clicking sound her shoes made against the marble tiles rang too loudly in her head, and when a clerk asked her some meaningless question about housekeeping, her heart jumped in her chest. Once she was finally outside she was looking everywhere, ignoring the busy New Yorkers who bumped into her and searching for something, anything, to inspire fear.

They're coming.

Nikki shoved her phone into her pocket and fought back the overwhelming urge to crush it underfoot like she had in Tangiers. She wondered idly about where Jason was, and then she felt sick. Jason. Had they caught him and forced her location out of him? She hadn't heard from him since yesterday.

The blaring ring of her cell cut into her thoughts and she looked down in similar disbelief, leaning back against the wall of the hotel.

'Jason?' She sounded almost frantic.

'What's wrong?'

She frowned and continued scanning the street. 'You didn't just text me?'

'No, I-'

Suddenly she spotted the same SUV as she'd seen at the airport, creeping along the road slowly, the driver looking up at the hotel's canopy.

She recognized him.

'Stay wherever you are,' she spoke sharply into the phone, slamming it shut before Jason had a chance to protest.

Nikki felt a rush of gratitude for the crowds, the ones she blended into now, gathering speed every moment a space appeared in front of her. Running.

She considered bitterly that there was no chance to stop doing that now.

Short, cautious looks were vital, and her impatience grew with every one she threw behind her. The SUV was waiting at a light.

Nikki swore and ducked into a bookstore, grabbing a leather-bound volume from the nearest display and covering her face with it before sitting down in a chair enough from the window to still be able to look outside. She watched the car park on the side of the road outside the bookstore, and she saw the woman in the passenger seat get out.

She flipped the book shut and stood up, discarding it on the chair and making her way past the row of bookshelves in front of her. She continued onwards as fast as she could, racing up the stairs, pausing only to look behind her once she was at the top.

She spotted the woman at the front of the bookstore, standing by the displays and scanning the area with precision.

Nikki knew that she was looking for her.

Fighting to stay calm, she turned away ran a little further before ducking behind a new row of bookshelves, crouching down as low as she could. She shifted slightly so that her frame was more or less covered by the shadows. She was at the back of the almost deserted store now, with nothing but an employee's only door to separate her from potential freedom.

She turned around slowly and reached up to grip the handle, feeling the smooth metal underneath her fingers and the rigidness when she tried to turn it. She swore again and began to dig in her pocket for a hair pin, a pen-feeling nothing but the slightly scratched surface of her phone.

Footsteps.

Her breath caught in her chest and she sunk backwards slightly, pressing her back against the wall. The footsteps continued. Then nothing. Her own racing heartbeat seemed to be the loudest sound in the whole room.

She heard a slight crinkle of fabric and then suddenly the phone still beneath her fingers began to vibrate, silent at first, and then loud. Impossible to ignore.

Nikki froze and prayed to whomever was listening for the vibrations to stop, for the woman to stop emerging from behind the bookcase-

Her thoughts were cut short when the woman lunged forward and grabbed her. Nikki let out a yelp of pain, falling hard against the carpeted floor. The corners of a book dug into her spine and she winced, still fighting to keep the woman off her.

Nikki's removed the hand that had been in her pocket, now holding a bobby pin. She managed to lift one of her legs and manoeuvred it underneath her assailant's chest before trying her hardest to kick her. She gasped and fell back. Nikki took the opportunity to turn around and jam the pin furiously into the lock.

The agent tried to grasp onto her arm just as the door came flying open. Nikki lurched forward, dragging them both onto the white linoleum of the corridor. Once she was all the way inside she managed to shut the door, breaking the heel of her attacker's shoe. She grunted and slammed Nikki against one of the walls. Nikki reached up and slipped her earring out of her ear before attempting to dig the metal hook into the woman's neck. She succeeded.

She cried out in pain and moved away from Nikki, hand rubbing desperately at the mark in her neck. The small window of time was enough for Nikki to get to her feet and start running.

She didn't look behind her, not even when she heard the unmistakable sound of the agent getting up. She did look, however, when she felt her leg connect with her own.

Nikki bit her tongue too hard, and she tasted her own metallic blood as a result. Without thinking she lifted her right leg, throwing her assailant off her and causing her to crash against the wall.

Nikki turned around and stared at her. She was breathing slowly, a long gash trailing from one end of her blouse to the other. Blood was etched into her fingernails. Her eyelids were alternating between being closed and half-open, and her mouth was shut tightly.

In spite of her instincts, Nikki bent down, waiting until her attacker's eyes were fully open.

'I don't want to run from you.' She said it slowly in an effort to keep her voice from shaking. She didn't respond, and Nikki continued. 'Stop looking.'

For a moment the woman looked like she was going to say something, but the moment passed and Nikki remembered she was still a threat. She stood up and made her way through the corridor, pushing open the large metal door with a label claiming it was the fire escape.

The sun almost blinded her as the door swung shut behind her. She stayed as long as she could, leaning against the building's wall and trying to regain some sense of sanity.

She wasn't sure if she ever would.

- - -

Once she'd finally made it too the street, the first thing Nikki did was search for the car. She saw it where it had been minutes ago; parked by the bookstore. She shuddered slightly as she examined the driver, recognizing the cold calculation in his eyes and the impatience in his frame. He was staring at the bookstore's entrance, frowning heavily. For a second Nikki felt a little guilty. And suddenly his eyes were on hers, and the fact that they were so far away from each other didn't matter: he knew. In one single moment of their eyes locking, he knew that she'd won.

Nikki didn't move, not even when she felt that she could, not when the fear creeping up her subsided slightly. She kept staring at him. Her hands shook slightly, but she tried to appear calm.

She noticed a flash of anger flood his face and the fear in her chest rose up, choking her, freezing her to the spot.

'Nikki!'

She turned her head abruptly and saw a taxi pulling over by the curb, saw Jason's frantic face as he looked at her through the open window. 'What the hell are you doing?'

'I didn't…'

'Get in.'

She pulled open the passenger door and slid inside, only now noticing the woman sitting in the back. She was looking at Nikki with an anxiety more calmer than Jason's, reaching out for her shoulder. 'You're hurt. What happened?'

Nikki opened her mouth to explain but then froze, a single memory flitting through her mind. Those wanted posters she made so long ago, the grainy picture of Jason and-

'Marie Kreutz?'

She nodded in an offhand kind of fashion and continued to look at Nikki closely. 'Jason said there was someone with the driver at the airport. A woman. Did she do this?' She gestured to one of the cuts on Nikki's still-red hands.

'Yes. She's more hurt than me, though. I left her in the corridor…but then her partner saw me.'

Jason said something to the driver and looked back at them. 'He probably saw you getting into this taxi too.'

'He won't follow me. He'll make sure she's okay first.'

Jason looked relieved for a moment, but it faded. 'What did you say about someone texting you?'

'I got a text this morning saying "they're coming". I didn't recognize the number.'

'It was probably Pam, then.'

'Look, both of you go back to my hotel-I'll give you my room card-Nikki, make sure you treat all your wounds, there's a first-aid kit underneath the sink. I'll go and see Pamela-'

'How are you going to manage that?' Nikki asked, still in disbelief that she was even there, much less in a position to waltz into Pamela Landy's office. Marie smiled.

'Because I'm the only one who can walk into that building without being shot at in seconds.'

Nikki paused, returning her smile. 'True.'

New York, USA

Pamela hadn't heard of Nikki's fate. She'd texted her with the only warning she could bring and hoped for the best. Now the hope seemed a little stronger once faced with reports that the two agents sent to apprehend her had disappeared.

The sight of Marie entering her office and telling her what had happened, however, was far more comforting than any hope. Pamela allowed herself to sigh in relief and ease the tension in her muscles, sinking back into her chair.

'Where are they now?'

'My hotel. But they can't stay there for long-the agents are bound to show up again, coupled with even more evidence that the two of them are a threat.'

Pam nodded, sliding the sheet on her desk across the table. Marie took it. 'That's the order they were given,' Pamela explained.

'Go into the area given in the obtained whereabouts of Nikki Parsons' hotel. Go into the hotel if necessary, if not, wait in a secluded area in your car. Use violence only if needed-' Marie looked up, anger clouding her face. 'It wasn't necessary. Nikki didn't give her any reason to think she'd hurt her, not until she'd been hurt first.'

'It is too them.'

'She said something, too-Nikki told her to stop looking. For good. And she presumably passed out or wasn't strong enough to go back to her car, which was right outside the shop. The driver saw Nikki and realized what had happened, but he didn't try to follow us.'

'I sincerely doubt they'll head to her words. Maybe they'll be called off the case, but someone else will be sent to guard the area. There is no way either Nikki or Jason can go anywhere near there, or they'll be apprehended within seconds.'

Marie smiled, startling Pamela. She sat up straighter, surprised further still at Marie's next words: 'Good.'

'Good?'

'I thought you said we were going to help them die.'

'Not like that.' Pamela shook her head quickly, hands flat against the wood of her desk. 'There's no way they'll be able to survive that.'

'They've survived worse.'

'But-'

'Think about it. The slightest appearance in the area, and they have any number of people after them. People that will testify as witnesses when their car goes out of control, swerves onto a deserted field. Bodies or not, the logical conclusion will be that they're dead.'

Pamela paused, considering.

'It might work.'

Sorry, Nikki's reaction to Marie was a bit more 'ah...okay' than planned. I debated how to do this, and amusing as a jealous/etc reaction would have been, it wouldn't fit in well. In my defence, she was a little too shaken by her previous encouter than too be shaken by anything else.

-Tigeress-10