A.N. My continued thanks for your continued support! I love hearing from you all-hearing your thoughts, your likes, etc-and I apologize for always leaving things on a cliffhanger! Well... not really. But I appreciate your tolerance! As an apology for the last update taking so long, here's another chapter! I hope to be able to post the next chapter within the week, too!
Special thanks to 3 Guests-I wish I could thank you personally-Buckeye am I, missblueeyes63, venetiaj, bobbinewburn, garb50, Everlost101, and cynthia.
I'll stop rambling now and let you get to the story!
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The moment the man screamed as his arm broke, Sam knew they were in serious trouble. Up until that point their danger had seemed relatively manageable so long as they continued to escape detection, but that ship had just sailed. He reached to cover the man's mouth quickly, stifling the raucous noise in hopes that the man's companions would not be able to locate where the scream came from immediately. He silenced the man altogether when he slammed his head into the wall.
He looked around for the gun that he knew had clattered to the floor at the beginning of the fight, and paled when he couldn't locate it. Had he miscalculated?
"Sam!" Libby called from by the desk, drawing his attention to the shiny black object she held reluctantly in her hands.
He smiled at her, once again impressed at her quick thinking and bravery, and quickly relieved her of the object he knew she detested. He then confiscated the rest of the useful items he could find on the man, which wasn't much… He puzzled at the men's lack of equipment. He had heard a couple of automatic guns in their initial assault, but so far, one-on-one, he had only encountered hand guns and the men were not carrying much else. Unless they had just unloaded everything up front—which he supposed was possible—this was a very unusual group. He checked the man's last pocket and hit the jackpot. Another burner phone. He didn't have time to use it to call the team now, but he snapped a photo of the man.
He turned, straightening to his full height, and was immediately attacked. Totally unprepared for this assault, he was taken by surprise as a small six year old boy latched onto his leg, silently sobbing. Looking down at the head of curly brown locks of hair, then up to meet Libby's gaze, he saw that she was smiling. "He's scared, Sam," she explained, "and you're safe."
He gave her a dubious look, glancing back at the unconscious man sprawled on the floor, then back at her, clearly communicating his confusion as to how anyone could think he was 'safe' when he'd just nearly killed a man.
Her smile widened. "Exactly. You're a man who can kick serious butt who just saved his," she gestured at her brother, "and my," she added, "life. We don't see you as some coldblooded mercenary who hurts someone just because they can, you just showed us you stop those coldblooded mercenaries before they can hurt anyone. Before they can hurt us. You just became Tulio's hero," she finished simply.
Sam did not think he deserved to be anyone's "hero," but he let the matter drop for now. They had more important things to worry about. He carefully extricated himself from the boy's grasp, crouching down to be on eye level with him. His somber eyes stared back at Sam. They were filled with tears but had a spark of hope in them as he stared at the blond haired officer. Sam did his best to look reassuring. "Hey Tulio, buddy, you've been amazing. Truly amazing. But I need to ask you to be even more amazing for a little while, okay?"
At the boy's serious nod, Sam continued. "I need you to go back where you were hiding okay? And don't come out for anyone but your sister or me. You're going to have to be really quiet okay? There are going to be some men that come looking for us, but you can't let them know you're here."
Tulio's eyes moved to look over Sam's shoulder at the man he knew was lying there. "Yes," Sam nodded, "more men like him are going to come in here. Can you stay quiet and hide for me? It's really, really important that you do that so that I know you're safe." He didn't like the idea of leaving the kid to fend for himself on his own, but if they hadn't found him yet, Sam figured it would be safer leaving him here than taking him out into the store.
"I can do that," Tulio assured Sam in a small voice. He wrapped his arms around Sam's neck in a quick, fierce embrace, which Sam returned, then followed his sister back towards the vent. As Libby got Tulio situated, Sam went to the door of the office and held it open just a crack, watching. He surreptitiously looked down at his shirt, running his hand along his chest. It came away red. He sighed. The man had been fast and, while the knife slice was not very deep, it was yet another annoyance he had to push out of his mind.
His thoughts turned to the moment the gunman first entered the office and his mind encountered something that didn't sit right with him. These men seemed fairly well trained, so their first instinct when they entered a room should be to scan for threats, identify the biggest one, and take him or her out. But this man had entered the room, obviously seen Sam, had been about to target him, and then by all appearances had seen Libby and changed his mind, thus giving Sam a few precious extra seconds that allowed him to disarm the man before any shots were fired. Sam puzzled over this. Why would the man deem Libby as more of a threat? He glanced at the girl who was just finished hiding her brother.
A noise from outside drew his attention away from that line of thought before he could reach a conclusion. Two men were making their way through the clothing racks, not headed for the office—yet—but instead they were searching the racks themselves. Sam felt Libby's hand tuck into his own, and he squeezed it. He glanced down at her for a brief moment, before returning his gaze to the gunmen. What he saw in her eyes lifted his spirits and, at the same time, placed a huge, almost physical burden on his shoulders. He'd seen trust. Absolute trust in her eyes. She trusted him to get her out of this hellish situation, and Sam was terrified he would not be able to live up to her expectations.
The moment the men entered an aisle that hid the office door from their view, Sam moved out into the main store, crouching low so as not to be seen over the racks, pulling Libby along with him. They moved up the north side of the store until they were about halfway to the front. Sam recalled from Libby's map that there was an alcove here. He did not intend on using said alcove as a hiding place—that would be too obvious—but he was banking on the gunmen thinking that he would. It was time to go on the offensive… Just as soon as he tucked Libby away somewhere relatively safe.
He looked upwards. In his experience not many people thought to look that direction, and what he saw boosted his spirits. The shelves here were tall, over twenty feet tall. It was unlikely that anyone would be able to see Libby if she hid on the top shelf due to the angles, but as a bonus, the very top shelf was filled with large boxes that Sam was hoping she would be able to fit behind. He turned to her and crouched down, motioning upwards. "I'll give you a boost."
Her incredulous gaze met his. "You want me to climb up there?"
He nodded.
"You're crazy!" she accused in a fierce whisper.
He frowned, not understanding. It was high up, sure, but it wasn't that hard of a climb and he'd thought she would be happy to get someplace safe.
She crossed her arms. "No. I'm not going up there."
"Why?" he breathed.
She stubbornly shook her head. "It's too high… I'm afraid of heights," she added reluctantly. "It's stupid, I know, but I always have been and I always will be." She was also terrified of leaving Sam, she admitted to herself.
Sam shrugged. "Fair enough. Everyone's afraid of something."
"Even you?" She challenged.
He snorted. "Especially me. The things I've seen on this job, the things I've done…" his voice trailed off and his gaze became distant for a moment before snapping back to her. He put both hands on her shoulders. "Let's just say nightmares aren't a thing of the past for me. Sounds like the only difference between us is that you let your fear stop you from doing things and I don't."
She looked at him for a long moment and he let his mask drop just for a second, letting her see how terrified he was that they weren't going to get out of this… that he was going to fail. He let her see how haunted he was by his past mistakes and failures, and the horrors he'd witnessed. She saw the burden he carried, and instead of backing away in fright, she leaned forward and embraced him. "Okay, but there's something you need to know."
She disengaged herself from the hug. "I know why these men are here. They're here for me."
She expected him to call her a liar, not to believe her, even to tell her she was wrong and she was just a dumb kid who thought the world revolved around her… But he didn't. He remained silent and nodded for her to go on. And that was why she'd decided to trust him. It wasn't because he'd saved her life three times now, and her brother's once. It wasn't because he was able to be so calm. It wasn't because he was an SRU officer. It wasn't because he'd been in the military and had serious, serious skills. All of those facts were important, but they weren't the reason she trusted him. She trusted him because he was Sam. She'd known him less than a day, but in all of that time he'd never once talked down to her. Never once treated her like a child. He'd protected her, no questions asked, and he'd listened to her like he would any other peer. She knew she could trust him, and she knew he'd believe her.
Knowing that time was precious and not on their side, she gave him the barest facts. "Two years ago I lived in Calgary where I saw a gang shooting. I was the only witness. The rival drug gang is here in Toronto, so the RCMP placed my family and me in witness protection here. They figured it would be the last place the Calgary gang would be able to look."
Sam seemed to take all of this in stride. "That's actually really good news."
She frowned in confusion. "Um, how?"
"If they're only here for you, that means they're less likely to hurt the hostages. That's not their goal. We just need to keep you out of their hands, which means you are definitely going to have to climb up there." He pointed to the top of the shelves again.
Every fiber of her being was telling her not to leave Sam. Sam was solid. Sam was trustworthy. Even amidst all of this chaos, with men trying to hunt her down and kill her in this very store, Sam made her feel safe. She hadn't felt safe since that day two years ago when she heard the first gunshots. Not when the police found her, not when they relocated her, not even after two years of no one finding them. She almost laughed. Now that they had finally found her, she felt safe. She fought back her tears. "I don't want to go, Sam. I feel like if you're not here, something's going to happen to me." She didn't mention her fear of something happening to him while she wasn't there.
"Hey," he cupped his hand behind her neck, "nothing's going to happen to you. I promise. I won't let anyone hurt you."
A few tears escaped her efforts. "That's a funny thing to promise," she heaved, trying to stay quiet.
He narrowed his eyes. "Hunh?"
"If—if you don't let anything happen to me, then nothing will ever happen to me. Not much fun for little me," she finished, smiling through her tears, hoping he'd catch the reference.
His face cleared in understanding. "I won't let anything bad happen to you," he amended. "I promise."
How could she doubt him? "Okay," she whispered, barely audible.
"Now up you go." He lifted her as high onto the shelves as he could. The moment he was no longer supporting her, she felt panic rising. She forced it down viciously. Her hero was counting on her. He couldn't be watching out for her while stopping these men. She reached the very highest shelf more than twenty feet in the air and, to her dismay, found that the boxes took up too much room; she couldn't fit behind them. Refusing to give up she continued until she was on the very top of the shelves instead, and lay down flat. She trembled, feeling very exposed and wishing he was there to give her a comforting embrace. Steeling herself, she rolled over onto her stomach to look down at the man who had saved her life today more times than she could ever repay him for, and who was about to risk his life to save countless more. She gave him a thumbs up, which he returned along with a brilliant, warm smile of encouragement, then she watched him silently move down the aisle and out of her sight. She prayed that would not be the last time she saw him. As she rolled over onto her back again, away from the edge, something caught her eye. Where she had been lying on her stomach moments ago the white shelves were stained red. With blood. She glanced down at her red shirt and sure enough, there were blotches that were darker. Closing her eyes and remembering hugging Sam in her moment of fear, she dropped her head back onto the shelves and, for the first time in her twelve year old life, she used a swear word. "Dammit, Sam!"
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A.N.2. Hope you all caught what Libby's reference was to! Don't know why that Pixar movie wanted to be mentioned in my story, but it did...
The fact that there are drug gangs in Calgary and Toronto is completely dreamed up from my imagination. There very well may be, but there very well may not be.
