Podie1 - Wow! My head quite literally grew as I read your comments. ::blushes:: Thank you so much. :)

Tight Bonds and Loose Shackles

It was ironic.

It seemed everybody within the room had some kind of power in their hands; well, everybody except for Bobby, but his power was in his mind instead. As Alex held her weapon high with no need to aim as she pressed the barrel against Corin's temple; applying enough pressure to show she was deadly serious with her implied threat.

However, Corin's weapon was still in the grasp of his fingers and aimed towards Bobby's chest; he had no doubt he would miss. Still, he didn't dare to move his head and he couldn't ignore the way Bobby had that slight smug look on his face that told him that Bobby knew his partner would carry out her threat if she felt the need to. Keeping his voice steady, Corin said, "I could kill your partner right now."

Alex, however, didn't miss a beat, "Your finger so much as twitches, you're dead." Her voice was stentorian and calm, almost spoken with a growl.

Corin didn't dare move his head, but he looked at her out the corner of his eye.

"Drop the gun!" She ordered, each word punctuated correctly, leaving no room for mistake. She glared at him with one raised eyebrow and pursed lips. "Drop it, now!" There was a moment of hesitation in Corin's eyes; a moment where he wasn't really sure what to do, a moment that Alex could see and it was a moment he knew could be exploited. He hoped that she didn't pick up on that; his hope was unfortunately misplaced and before he had time to react or cover his own mistake, he was laying flat on his back as Alex used her own leg to trip him up from behind.

He effectively landed with a crunch, a snap and a boom; the dust on the ground disturbed by the mass weight landing on it. Without hesitation Alex stood on Corin's hand, the one that held the weapon, forcing him to let the gun go. Alex kicked it away from his reach and then continued to aim her weapon down at him as Bobby moved forward to stand beside her and look down at Corin.

As they both trained their sights on Corin as he lay on the floor, defenseless, neither were aware of the figure buried in the shadows, masked by the dark and well aware of the fact he is was unnoticed...

"Now," Alex started, still using her strong, no-nonsense voice and continuing to aim her piece directly at his head. "Where are they?"

Corin just stared.

Alex rolled her eyes, "Answer the question!"

Corin lifted his chin up slightly and then tilted his head to the right, "They're dead." He spat the words out viciously.

With raised eyebrows Alex looked at Bobby and they both shook their heads back at him. "I don't think so." Bobby told him, with a slightly less harsh tone of voice than the one Alex had been using. "I-it wouldn't make sense for you to kill them... They weren't Alana."

Corin physically paled at the mention of Alana Moani; his strength diminished by the fact he was laying on the floor and underneath the scrutinising gaze of Alex Eames and the intense look of Bobby Goren. However, Corin pushed that down, deep inside himself where he hoped that neither Detective could see it. "I don't know anything about that."

Alex snorted disbelievingly.

Bobby looked down at him, "I think you do."

The ruffling sound penetrated their ears and both of them suddenly looked around the room; their eyes scanning everything, looking for anything moving or breathing. They didn't find him until it was too late. They both knew it was too late when not one, but two men stood aggressively with weapons aimed at them. Corin's back-up approached both Alex and Bobby with snarls on their faces and hate in their eyes. "Step away." One of them ordered, sharply.

"And drop the gun!" The other shouted.

Seeing this as one of those no-win situations, Alex had no choice but to drop her gun to the ground and raise her hands, as did Bobby, above her shoulders and take several steps away from Corin Ford.

"Good." One of them said, patronisingly; he turned his head to his colleague and nodded, "Check on the prisoners."

Without any further hesitation, Corin regained his mental and physical strength and dragged his body back up off the floor. Shaking it off, he looked at them with mock disappointment.

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"Are you sure you can do this?" Megan spoke, with an air of uncertainty, doubt and concern. She stood with her legs slightly apart; broached for action and fully prepared as she stood by the locked door that stood between them and freedom.

Mike shot her an annoyed yet confused look. The frown reached his voice, "What? You got me up, Wheeler!" He coughed uncontrollably, covering his face as he did so and not just out of politeness but also because he was embarrassed by his weakness.

"No." Megan said, feeling the need to assure him and explain herself. "I meant, are you sure you should tackle them first?" His frown did not disappear, as a matter of fact it just deepened. "We don't know how many of them could come to the door... and you're injured."

Mike looked at the door, studying it, and then he looked back at Megan with a small smirk on his face, "At least 2." He then looked down at his own body, it looked battered, bruises and alot of his lost blood was dried to his clothes, "It's just a scrape." He tried to shrug it off.

Megan spluttered, "A minute ago you wanted me to leave you here to die!"

He shrugged, "I've changed my mind."

She couldn't keep the smile from her face. He looked back at the door and then nodded at her, "We'll take 'em together."

They looked at each other and both nodded agreement, then they waited.

Waited.

Mike peered at the door through the corner of his eye.

Still waiting.

Megan shot Mike a look; a raised eyebrow and a quizzical look in her eyes.

"Oh for God's sake. How long does it take?" Mike cursed, frustrated. He knew there was no way his body would allow him to stand up for as long as he was; he was exhausted and he could feel it that fatigue dragging his body down with him and it was a hard battle to fight.

Megan placed her hands on her hips in an annoyed manner.

"You know," Mike said, trying to be conversational and trying to colour over the pain in his mind with words, hoping to forget it, "I spend alot of my time waiting."

Megan opened her mouth to speak but was brought to a vocal halt as they heard a set keys jangling from the other side of the door. Mike motioned with one hand for her to get ready, stay relaxed and she nodded. As the door squeaked into motion, both detectives physically felt themselves stiffen. The door was opening so that they would see Mike first but without any warning, or consultation with Mike, Megan grabbed the doorhandle and pulled the door towards her with full force.

Knocking the wind out of the unexpected one man at the door, whose hand had been holding onto the other side of the door. He took several jolted, jerked steps forward; shocked by the strong pull of the door.

Mike grabbed one of his shoulders and, with as much force as his ill body could manage, he dragged him towards the wall and smashed his face against the sharp wall. With a human body that couldn't bend to the shape of solid objects, the attacker had no way of protecting himself from the wall as it forced an opening into the skin of his head and knocked him out cold. Megan looked at Mike with an impressed look.

The impressed look fell into sudden concern as Mike fell backwards clutching his arm and coughing. "Logan!" She rushed towards him and held him as he continued to the floor.

He tried to sound positive but he heard his voice tremble and croak, "I'm alright."

Megan wasn't so sure but she knew that they'd created a chance to escape and that they couldn't waste it. She looked over the man on the floor and she quickly disarmed him, taking his weapon for their own use and then, without allowing Mike to argue, she grabbed the arm that wasn't injured and pulled it over her head; dragging him up off the floor and supporting his weight.

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There was something eerily familiar about the way they were being held at gunpoint. She tried not to hear how loud her heartbeat was thudding in her ears, and she tried not to show that she was afraid but she knew she was. This was one of those pesky issues of hers ever since she'd been kidnapped and she didn't like it, she hated the fact she wasn't in control of her own safety.

Bobby had already been trying to talk to Corin about letting them go, just letting her go, and about Alana and how they were connected but it seemed Corin had built strong walls; his defenses couldn't be broken now he had the control. His weapon that Alex had kicked away had been retrived and he was now holding it towards both of them.

"I didn't kill her!" Corin reiterated, annoyed at the insistence and persistence Bobby was showing him regarding Alana.

"Alright." Bobby agreed, not wanting to push Corin too far. "B-but you knew her? Didn't you?" Corin's moved his jaw, locking it to the side as he became angry. "She loved you."

He shook his head, "You don't know anything."

"I know." Bobby nodded, "I know that you don't want to kill us."

Alex felt herself become confused because in her mind it looked very much like Corin wanted to kill them; she had no idea where Bobby was pulling these conclusions from. She had to assume he had something to do with all that staring he'd been doing at Mike and Megan's case notes but that didn't make complete sense to her either.

Corin looked at Bobby and then at Alex; he aimed his weapon squarely on Alex. He then looked back at Bobby, "Are you sure? You wanna test that?"

"C'mon, don't." Bobby tried.

Alex could hear that heartbeat of hers getting louder in her ears.

And she had to cringe when she heard Bobby say, "Let my partner go." She hated that he felt like he had to protect her, again.

Behind the drum of her heart she heard a scuffle. She managed to shift her gaze from Corin towards the corner of the room where it seemed that something had forced the back-up guy to abandon his post. With a frown on her face she glanced at Bobby, who was just as confused by her.

Bobby looked at Corin again, not forgetting he was there. Corin wasn't concerned about his colleague, his safety didn't matter to him. Bobby tried to keep Corin's attention on him and no one else. "Let my partner go, you don't want to do this... I-I think you cared for Alana."

With wide eyes Alex watched as Mike emerged from the shadows holding a piece and aiming directly at Corin's head. She studied him carefully, taking complete note of his pale skin, bloody clothes and obvious injuries. "Hey," Mike shouted, calling attention to himself.

Corin spun his head around, but his gun was still aimed at Alex.

"I'm giving you one chance to drop the weapon." Mike said, unable to keep his voice level for the full sentence and thankful when Megan turned up at his side with a weapon of her own.

The sound of sirens could be heard in the distance. Corin turned back to Alex and Bobby, ignoring Mike's threat, feeling it empty based on Mike's obvious serious injuries. "You called before you came in." He theorised, shooting Alex a look of accusation.

She wasn't sure how to answer, she figured offering a snarky quip would just lend herself to get shot.

"Hey." Mike shouted, his eyes darting from Corin to Alex. "Drop it, now!" He didn't drop his gun. Corin spun on his heels and aimed it at Mike, but before Mike had the chance to react there were two shots that thundered around the room, leaving two holes in Corin's chest. Mike watched in shock as Corin's body slumped to the floor on immediate impact. Mike slowly turned his head towards his partner and took in her pale face and wide eyes as she held her weapon out in front of her, freshly fired.

Bobby rushed over towards Megan and leaned forward slightly to see if she was okay, he was satisified that she was when she handed him the gun she'd been holding.

Mike looked at Bobby and Megan, and then he finally rested his gaze on Alex, who seemed to be as much shock as he and Megan. The last thing he saw was Alex's concerned face above him as he lost his battle with consciousness and his own body fell to the floor.

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TBC

I apologise for the shortness of this chapter... it seemed I had a certain point to write and this is how it wanted to do it. :)