My apologies; this is relatively short but I wanted to post something tonight and I might be a bit slow to get the next bit up as I'm still not entirely happy with it and keep changing it. I hope you enjoy this all the same...and that you all have a lovely weekend.

A huge thank you to those who have given me feedback. It's been a long time between fics for me so I appreciate every word.

3 hours later

"Josh." Anna mumbled half asleep, her left arm reaching over to shake him awake. "Josh?"
Snapping herself out of it Anna sat up quickly as she realised what it was that had disturbed her slumber. Reaching over with her second hand she shook Josh harder. "Josh wake up!" she told him firmly, coughing as she got a stronger whiff of the smoke in the room. "WAKE UP!" she yelled, pushing him hard enough to disturb his slumber.
Josh snapped his eyes open at her panic. "What? What's wrong?" he asked quickly reaching out for her protectively still not fully awake.
"There's a fire. I can smell the smoke. We need to get people out of here" she instructed, pushing him off her and jumping out of bed quickly, pulling Josh's jacket back on top of the singlet she was wearing at the same time as assessing her surroundings.

As if on autopilot Anna instructed Josh to evacuate the rooms to the left as she took off down the right of the corridor knocking on the other patrons doors to alert them to the threat that was in the building, feeling all her years of training and experience in tactical response flood back to her as she worked quickly and methodically alongside her former colleague.

As she evacuated her end of the building she noticed the smoke was billowing out from under the door of the room 3 doors down from Josh's; the room which had been assigned to her originally. Having alerted all other patrons she mentally noted but left it and rushed back down the old pubs corridor down to Josh. "Did you get everyone?" she asked frantically, coughing again as the smoke got thicker.
He nodded and slipped an arm around her shoulder "Are you ok?"
She nodded jumping slightly as there was a small explosion as part of the foundations in the room down the hall collapsed. "Come on. We have to get out now," she told him, grabbing him by the hand and quickly running down the stairs.
The fire brigade had already arrived and passed them on the stairs as they got to the bottom, Anna pulling Josh clear of the building so that they were standing far enough away from the evacuees to talk.
"You sure you're ok?" he double-checked, resting both hands on her shoulders, facing her square on.
"Yep" she nodded, her gaze turning back to the building ablaze in front of her as she realised he too had escaped unharmed, silently assessing the situation now that they were away from its immediate danger.
"Was that your room?" Josh asked, wanting to confirm his suspicions. She nodded her response, still watching closely, looking around at the other patrons. "C'mon" he instructed, taking her hand and tugging on it gently, leading her over to where Lawson and Michael stood.
"This wasn't an accident," Josh informed them both, keeping one arm around Annas' waist. "That's Anna's room and something blew while we were in there, I'm guessing an accelerant."
"I smelt petrol" Anna confirmed quickly.
"You're both alright?" Lawson checked with Josh, not bothering to address the question to Anna who was still looking around studying the scene in front of her.
Josh nodded "Yeah, she was in with me. Thank God."
Anna shook Josh's arm off her, her brain ticking over as she tried to read the situation. "Something's not right…this is too easy" she observed out loud to the three of them. "This…it's not how they operate" she added, starting to pace back and forward. "We need to move people back…a couple of blocks" She instructed, her mind racing, keeping it together as the incident played out, a contrast to the emotional wreck she had been when they first came across her.
"Anna we're a fair way back already" Lawson protested, him and Michael already having ensured that the crowd were far enough away from any falling debris.
Anna shook her head dismissing his argument starting to yell at people to get back, telling them to go to a park a few hundred metres further down the road.
Michael looked at Lawson unsure of whether or not to follow. "She's lost it, right?" he asked Josh who just snarled. "Just do it Muppet. She knows these people." He ordered, breaking away to start yelling at people to clear an area around the pub.

The patrons had got barely 200m from the pub car park in which they'd been gathered in when a loud explosion rocked the area as 4 of the cars in the car park exploded simultaneously, the area that all the patrons had been in just 5 minutes previous rapidly being engulfed by a rapid fireball which died off as quickly as it had gone up.

At the blast Anna stopped dead where she was, fixated on the flames unable to hide the fear from her expression. Taking a second to snap out of it, Anna looked over to check that Josh was alright and still on his feet before she continued herding the now somewhat hysterical patrons away.
Once they reached the park Lawson pulled Josh aside as Anna began to triage, assessing the patrons of the pub for any signs of injuries as they waited for the paramedics to arrive. "Is she alright?"
Josh shrugged. "Honestly...I dunno. She's been through more than she's letting on and I don't think this helps her situation. Her covers definitely been blown; she was supposed to be relocated tonight but she's a bit freaked out and postponed it. I think she just wanted to be around people she could trust even if it was just for one night.." He kept an eye on her closely, watching her move around the park checking to make sure that everyone else was alright and not injured.
"She's OK," he decided. "I know she wasn't expecting anything so soon. There's no way she would have asked to stay with us if she thought something was going to happen tonight. But she's alright, somewhere deep inside her there's still a copper. She went straight into action tonight Lawson. She got everyone out of there. I don't think she ever moved that quickly even on the job."
Lawson nodded. "She's gonna need somewhere to stay until she can be relocated."
"I'll organise that" Josh replied firmly.
"We can help" Lawson offered.
Josh shook his head. "No I'll organise something. The less people that know the better!" he insisted.
Anna walked back over. "He's right Lawson" coming in on the trail end of their conversation. "And you two need to keep your voices down!" she added lowering her voice to a whisper. "You got a sec?" she checked with Josh, stepping aside with him.
"I know somewhere for tonight. You boys can come too if you want too; it looks like you're targets until I disappear again. I'm so sorry Josh. They'd have known you staying at the pub as well, they would have sussed this all out by now."
"You just called them, didn't you?" he checked, having seen her make a call and assuming that it was to her case manager in the Witness Protection program.
Anna nodded. "I had too. This is getting out of control."
"When?"
"I honestly don't know. Probably tomorrow sometime at a guess."
Josh didn't look at all comfortable with the idea. "I wanna come with ya!" he argued.
Anna shook her head again firmly. "No Josh. You can't!"
He didn't look happy about it but he nodded not willing to argue with her, especially given the situation around them. "Promise me you'll say goodbye this time?" he asked, struggling to deal with the thought of her just disappearing again.
She nodded, reaching out to touch his cheek. "I promise."
Josh reached out for her properly, pulling her into his arms. "You should get looked at by the ambos. You got a lot of smoke."
She shook her head "I'm ok. I don't want to make a fuss" she whispered allowing herself a few precious seconds in his embrace before stepping back, her fingertips brushing against his upper arm as they separated. "Are you ready to leave?"
He nodded going back to Lawson filling him in quietly. "Anna and I will go first. We'll meet you and Michael opposite at the church about 500m down the road in 15 minutes. Silver falcon."