Disclaimer: Not mine.

Rating: Take a shot. Um... pun not intended.

A/N: Okay, so I got ambitious and wrote another one. Don't expect that to happen very often. OH! And next week at work is pretty much like this week, very VERY few hours so I'll have plenty of time to write if I have the incentive.

This is NOT A POINT OF VIEW CHAPTER. It's just going to jump back and forth between a couple of the characters so much that I figured it would be less confusing if I pointed out who it was those parts of the story were focused on. Enjoy!


Ian

He had been waiting for this. Since before he even left prison, the chance to be able to grab the sarcastic, rambling little Poole had been on his mind. It was the perfect way to get Ben back, and at the same time get Riley. The techy had always gotten on Ian's nerves, but he was well aware of the kid's usefulness so he never complained too much. But now, now that he was only steps away from where Riley was staying and he planned to revel in every moment of it.

He was already getting used to walking up to counters and pretending to be someone he wasn't, so with another cavalier smile he nodded at the woman behind the counter, "I'm looking for a friend, and I was hoping you could help me."

"Sure! What's his name?" The girl had a very cheery disposition, eager to help and happy to please – a sickening but somewhat grateful thought to Ian.

"Riley Poole. He's probably asked not to be disturbed, but this is urgent. Family matters and all." Spreading his lips a little further apart, he used the situation to his best advantage and waited patiently for the woman to finish looking in her log book.

"Sorry, sir. We don't have a Riley Poole staying here." She looked sincere, but he had already learned not to trust those expressions. Riley was trying to cover his tracks and he simply wasn't doing a very good job.

Plan B was now in motion, and with a sigh Ian reached into his back pocket. He had no intentions of playing cop this time, though. He jumped straight to intimidation and pulled out his pistol, "Are yousure about that?"

And that's when all hell seemed to break loose.


Riley

There was a commotion downstairs. He could hear people making more noise than seemed to be normal, but he was too tired to make himself care. It felt like he had only just gotten to sleep, his head heavy even though it was resting on the pillows. There was a lot of noise outside, too. Maybe it was a celebration they had here? He didn't care, he just wanted to fall back into his dreams.

But then a knock came at his door, a beating it almost seemed, before he heard someone using a key to get in. The adrenaline suddenly rushed to his head and he was sitting up in bed with a start, eyes wide and fearful. Something wasn't right.

"Riley!" He heard a woman yell. Samantha? "Riley, get up, NOW." Why did she sound so worried?

He shot out of bed and ran to the door, opening for her since she seemed too frantic to get the extra key she had to work, "What's going on?" He realized then that the commotion he had heard were screams, everyone running in every direction. Some were running into their rooms and locking the doors, others were rushing out with suitcases, leaving in a rush that made absolutely no sense to him.

"Riley, he's here. That... person. Whoever you're trying to get away from, he's here."

He could have sworn his heart stopped. Ian, already? "In the building?"

"No." And then his heart started up again, at least a little relief to the suddenly tense situation, "He stopped in another inn first, but you weren't in it."

Riley smirked, he was suddenly very proud of himself. His preparation had paid off, "I parked way away from this one, just in case." he chuckled.

"Well it doesn't matter, he's making his way over here. Eventually, anyway. He's going from one in to the other, you have to leave." She was scared, for him and herself. If this person knew anything of her helping Riley she wasn't sure what was going to happen, "He has a gun, Riley."

"Tell me something I don't know." He turned to look at the digital clock on the nightstand. He had only just managed to fall asleep. And hour and a half before, "Oh, well. No rest for the weary." He ran over to the window to look outside, heart sinking at all the people running away from the direction Riley knew Ian must have been in. It was his fault these people were so terrified. He shouldn't have stopped driving.

A thought came to him then, something he hadn't taken into account previously, "How am I going to get out of here? I mean, even if I walk out the front door... there's no way in hell I can get back to my car."

Samantha's already heavy frowned seemed to get impossibly lower and she wrinkled her forehead in dismay, shaking her head as she tried desperately to figure something out for this young man. She had already become attached to him, after discussing why it was Riley was hiding they had gone on to more personal things. He was interesting, funny, he knew how to make her laugh. But he was still a stranger to her, yet she cared. A lot.

"Come on." She ran into the room and grabbed his hand, and he grabbed his laptop bag as he was pulled out, "I have an idea."


Ian

He had already made it through three different bed and breakfasts. There were so many people screaming, he was almost amused. He had instructed Shaw to stand by Riley's car, so if Poole suddenly appeared somewhere and tried to escape they would know. He had to work quickly, though. There were still too many places to look through, and the police had undoubtedly been called by that point.

"I think it would REALLY be in your best interest to show yourself, Mr. Poole." He was grinning. Was that right? It probably freaked everyone out that much more, something he probably got too much joy from, "You wouldn't want anyone else to get hurt, now would you?" He didn't care about damages he might've caused, no locked door was going to stop him. He'd done it in the other three buildings, so once again he started kicking in doors to see who happened to be behind them.

Door number one, no Riley. Just a couple holding each other in some terrified manner on the bed, "As you were." with his gun in his hand he did a bit of a salute, and the woman screamed, only to grab onto her partner harder.

Door number two was vacant, frustrating Ian that much more. He looked in the closet, just to be sure, but still there was nothing, "RI-LEY." He started calling out in a tone that seemed to become more maniacal by the moment.

Door number three was an elderly couple and Ian shook his head, "Sorry about that." Even in his times of causing chaos, he had something of a heart for scaring people who he didn't feel deserved it – this was quickly forgotten, however, when Ian's phone started vibrating. He looked down at it with curiosity.

LOOK OUTSIDE was the text Shaw had just sent him, and Ian ran to the window at the end of the upstairs hallway. Shaw was out there, pointing to the right, and Ian happily looked over to see Riley following closely behind a woman who was pulling him along.

"Jackpot."


Riley

"Where are we going?" He was trying his best to be quiet, almost wanting to whisper but there was no way he was going to be heard over how many people were still screaming. They were crouched down a bit, ducking behind a car in front of the inn they had just walked out of, "This has to be something near suicide." That was the second time in twenty-four hours, he remembered, that he had that thought.

Samantha peeked over the car they were behind, shaking her head as she watched numerous people run out of a B&B only four doors down. That must have been where this person Riley feared was at that moment. But there was one strange thing about the group in front of the building. One person, a man with a shaved head, was just standing there, yelling up at the window. Something about that felt very off to her, and after a few moments more she realized what it was. He must have been one of the people Riley was trying to get away from.

"Come on."

"Come on WHERE? Might help to clue in the person who's actually trying to hide here!" He felt exposed every time they weren't hiding behind something, like he could be seen at any moment. And he knew the chances were high that he could be. But he was beginning to feel even more like a follower now than when he was hanging around Ben, and that frustrated him, "Samantha!" he jerked his hand back finally, tired of being pulled around without answers.

"Riley, you really don't have time for this."

"Just tell me what you're thinking and maybe I'll play your little game, but I've gone through too much cat and mouse already to be completely clueless. How do I know you're not just going to toss me out there for Ian to get me?" He crossed his arms where he stood, noticing all too quickly that they were standing out in the open. He looked around for cover then and ducked behind another car, looking up to see if he could see Ian.

He didn't, at that moment anyway, but someone else did catch his eye, "...Shaw? How the hell is he alive?" his eyes were wide when he noticed Shaw was looking in his direction, "Crap." He ducked even further down, below the windows of the vehicle and turned back toward the direction Samantha was – except she wasn't. Where had she gone? Great, his only real getaway plan had run off because he was being stubborn.

He had to get to his car. It was all the way across the parking area, at least five hundred feet away... and three hundred of those feet were on the other side of where Shaw was standing. He was stuck and he knew it. "Should have called Ben." He hated saying the words, but he knew just how true it was. If only he could get to the freaking car!

There was only one real option he had. Maybe, with all the people scattering around like they were, he could go unseen. He looked around for a few seconds, long enough to realize... that plan wasn't going to work. No one on his side of Shaw was running to the other side of Shaw. Maybe it was better this way. Maybe he was meant to actually get caught.

With a deep breath, he stood. It was better to calm these people down anyway. And as he looked up, he knew his heart was at least skipping beats at that point. There was no way they couldn't be as he made eye contact with the man who had just walked out of the bed and breakfast Shaw was yelling into before. Ian had spotted him.


Ian

"There's our little friend." If he wasn't grinning before, the spread of his lips was sure leaving evidence toward that fact now, "It's about bloody time." He made no fast movements. No one was going to bother him, and Riley seemed to be frozen in his place with the way he was just staring at Ian, mouth hanging open.

Shaw, after watching Riley in wonder, leaned over to Ian, "Why's he not running?"

"What does it matter?" Ian rolled his eyes, "If he's not going anywhere, it means we can catch him." There was always a stupid one in every bunch. They were closing in on him now, though he seemed to be coming out of his daze. Riley was looking around almost desperately, and it amused Ian that much more. There was nowhere for him to go. No doubt they had him.


Riley

Crap, crap, crap. "This can't be happening." He was thinking and talking to himself almost at the same time, suddenly not wanting so much to fall into Ian's trap and get caught. He didn't really feel like being tortured or killed or... whatever might have come from Ian's thoughts. Undoubtedly it would have been hell, and Riley just wasn't in the mood for that now.

"RILEY!" A yell from the side caught his attention and he turned his head to see Samantha standing there, a sight he had never been more relieved to see. "CATCH."

He didn't have time to ask questions as he suddenly had keys tossed at him and he looked at her with heavy question in his eyes. She motioned for him to follow her through the bed and breakfast again, and even though it didn't seem like the best getaway plan to go backinside, she seemed to be a smart enough girl and he ran after her as she managed to maneuver her way around the ever frantic people inside.

Now what was he getting himself into, though?


Ian

"Where's the little twerp going!?" Shaw was the first to vocalize the fact that Riley was suddenly running again, causing Ian to emit a frustrated groan as he started picking up his own pace.

"Come on!" He held his gun up to ensure the fastest path through the crowd, since they'd be parting ways for him to get through. Halfway through the building he was running with the expectedness that everyone was going to move, so he was surprised when he suddenly ran into a group of large men who were standing still, "What the hell are you doing!?" he gestured at the men in the hallway and pointed his gun at them. It took them a moment but they ended up moving, and back to chasing he went.


Riley

He looked back fast enough to see Ian run into the group of guys in the hallway before he was suddenly outside again, having taken a back door into the grassy area behind Samantha's family's inn, "What are those guys doing? He has a gun!" There never would have been living down the guilt if someone else got hurt because of him.

"Family friends. Difficult guys to scare and we needed to give you a little more time." She stopped and reached back to grab his hand and pull him a long faster, "Sorry I'm not telling you what's going on, there's just really no time anymore."

"I think I'll survive." He gladly followed her to a small group of cars behind the house and it dawned on him why he had keys in his hand now, "I'm not going to have the cops after me for stealing a car, am I?" He looked down at the key chain and noticed her name on it, letting out a quick sigh. Even if he had just met her, this girl was amazing.

"No, I promise. Just bring it back in as close to one piece as you can. And promise me you'll drive as fast as possible." She squeezed his hand and opened the door to her car for him, motioning for him to hide. She looked behind her, glad to be hidden at least a little from view of the inn by a few tall bushes, "Now get in. You have to go."

"Going." he started toward the car, but stopped right beside Samantha with an apologetic look in his eyes, "I'm really sorry about all this." With just another moment passed he wrapped his arms around her in a hug – there was no time for the honest romanticisms he had in his mind, "Thank you. Now you, you..." he looked back in the direction of the house as he got into the car, "Have got to hide. Don't let them see you."

She nodded, "Speed, Riley." and without another word she was stepping into the nearby bushes, crouching down low to be sure she wasn't seen.

He was satisfied with this, knowing his driving away would be enough to distract them from her. If he made it out of this, he started telling himself, he was going to come back here. Not just to return the car, either. With that last thought he started the engine and backed out as quickly as possible.


Ian

By the time they made it outside, they had lost sight of Riley, "He couldn't have possibly gotten that far." He stopped to look around, immediately looking in the direction of the sound of a starting car. He heard screeching tires and suddenly it sped out from behind the bushes. It took no genius to figure out Riley was behind the wheel, "THERE, Shaw, get our car!" With a flash Shaw was gone.

In a last ditch effort to make some mark on the situation, Ian stepped out behind the vehicle that just then passed him and began shooting. The back window shattered – so much for bringing it back in something near one piece – and he thought he heard what might have been a scream coming from inside the car as it veered to the right and then back to the left to regain control.

"Bullseye." Even if it didn't stop the kid, it was going to hinder him, and with this Ian was satisfied.


ANOTHER A/N!: That's it for Samantha for now. She might return later on, but for now she was just his little savior. REVIEW.