A/N: Alright, I've got to apologize for this taking SO LONG to get out. This chapter has actually been on my computer for 6 months waiting to be added on to, but I figured I should get this out to let you know I haven't abandoned it! Work, an unexpected gigantic move, and life in general got in the way. I'm heading off to college tomorrow, and I tend to write a lot more there, so I should get out the last chapter a lot sooner.

**

There was no music this time. Not even close. No, instead it felt his body was going to collapse in on itself like a balloon under too much pressure, starting with his head. The only sound he could hear over his heart pounding in his ears was a pitiful moan.

"Finally," a familiar yet extremely unfriendly voice called.

A new sound began, similar to the throbbing in his head, but much more disconcerting and painful. Uneven steps echoed off the bare walls and concrete floor. Quiet as they probably were, every slap of a foot on the ground was like an ax swing to his temple, sending piercing splinters through the rest of his body. He heard the faint groan again and vaguely realized it was coming from himself.

The steps stopped just as they were getting to be too loud to bear. "You awake, Psychic?"

Shawn tried to weigh his options. Playing dead was the first one that came to mind. It sounded more appealing and easier than anything else he could possibly come up with, so he stopped the thinking process there.

A hand grabbed his shoulder and roughly shook him once. A breath escaped to give a weak protest, but it quickly turned into a cry of pain that got stuck in his throat.

"There you are." There was a touch of mirth to his unsympathetic tone.

So much for that plan…Shawn tried to open his eyes. He hadn't realized how much effort it took before now. It didn't help that blood had started congealing over his right eye from the new gash on his forehead.

"Unfortunately for you, Psychic, I did have a deal set up. And they're going to be here in the next thirty minutes. So you get to play mule now. How does that sound?"

Shawn was about to explain how he was more familiar with how to play jack ass but all he could manage was to keep breathing. His left eye finally cracked open. As blurry as everything appeared, he could tell he was back in the main part of the warehouse again. The boxes from the office were stacked next to him, but the dog was nowhere to be found. Shawn found himself wishing Lassie was real, that way he could have some hope of getting out of this. With his luck, show dogs would turn out to be as clueless as human models and Bunny would come back with her favorite chew toy.

Even lying down, the room started to tilt along with his stomach, but as soon as he shut his eye, something landed with a harsh smack! on the ground just in front him, blowing dust into his face. Shawn jerked backwards, coughing and managed to wrench his eye open again. A bag of white powder was sitting no less than a foot away. Fear gripped his stomach and he clamped his mouth shut against the sudden knot in his throat. He tried to move again, but could only manage an inch before the world went into a violent spin cycle.

"Oh calm down." The man laughed. "I'm not wasting my drugs on you. These guys know I had a mule. By the time they figure out it wasn't actually you, I'll be long gone with my money. You won't be so lucky. They'll probably have to, you know, cut you open to make sure you don't actually have the drugs."

The brief sensation of relief was instantly smothered in a new wave of dread. That was one pointy thing too many entering the equation.

"I can't believe I'm doing this." Detective Lassiter grumbled. His knuckles were white against the steering wheel of his Crown Vic which now seated O'Hara, Guster and Henry Spencer.

"Watch the traffic, Detective!" Henry barked from the back seat.

"Hurry up, you're losing her," Juliet urged.

Lassiter ground his teeth together to keep from screaming at everyone in the car. Obviously it wasn't bad enough that he had to cart around three back seat drivers, he had to do it while tailing a collie- no pun intended.

"Why is she slowing down?" Gus suddenly asked, leaning between the seats to get a better look.

Lassiter elbowed him back, his patience wearing thinner and thinner by the second. "Well great, she took us to the park," he said in a falsely bright tone.

"Well this can't be it. Why is she stopping?" Juliet asked, watching as the dog dragged itself to a clump of bushes just off the sidewalk.

"Of course this isn't it!" Lassiter groaned. "This whole idea was ridiculous!"

Juliet ignored him as she climbed out of the car, followed by Gus and finally Henry. Lassiter opted to stay in the car and pretend he hadn't just tried to follow a dog. Sure a trained K9 could track a person and do it very well, but this was a frilly show dog. It was exact parallel to what Lassiter thought when they followed Spencer instead of traditional police work.

"Detective!"

"Carlton!"

With a roll of his eyes, Lassiter got out of his car and snapped the door shut. He approached Juliet and Henry, noticing that Gus had chosen to back up a few feet, face the opposite direction and begin Lamaze breathing.

Lassiter didn't blame him. The dog had obviously vomited, but that wasn't what grabbed his attention. A few small, tightly sealed packages had come up as well. Lassiter sighed heavily, knowing what he was about to say would cause great effort and pain.

"So Spencer was right about the dog."

Juliet gave him an exasperated look and stared back down at the collie that was lying on her side, breathing heavily and didn't look likely to move any time soon. "Well what now?"

"We've been following her for 20 minutes. This place has to be close." Henry looked around, his trained eyes scouting out possible locations where his son could have been taken. The hill they were on gave him a good vantage point, but also revealed how hopeless it was to try and pick any one spot to start looking. Houses lined the hill to his left and his right. A large empty field sprawled out in front of him. Beyond that was a warehouse district, a business park and then the beach.

Lassiter was calling in an update to the precinct over the radio in his car, asking for someone to come and collect the drugs and the dog. He glanced over as the collie suddenly barked out a painful cry, but continued his report until something white and fluffy nearly bowled into him and bolted across the street, taking off across the field. He and Juliet shared a brief confused look before they all piled back into the car and jumped the curb to take off after the collie.


A/N: Remember to review!!