A/N – thank you so much to speedfanatic05, Beaglicious, and randomwriting for sticking with me through this long process and continuing to read and review. And thanks to everyone who has read this story – I greatly appreciate it.

Betrayal

"Chris," Speed said cautiously, desperately hoping his fiancée wouldn't pull the trigger. "You don't want to do this." His heart was pounding and he was suddenly light-headed. Surely, the woman he loved, the woman who had borne his child, wouldn't kill him.

"I don't?" she laughed bitterly. "And why is that?"

"Think about Bella," he answered gently.

He turned his head slightly to face her. Christina's eyes were maniacal with rage. "That's all I've thought about. What you have done to my baby."

It hurt his heart to see the pain and suffering he'd caused, displayed so prominently in Christina's beautiful, dark eyes. He wanted desperately to believe that she wouldn't hurt him, but he knew he couldn't really blame her if she did.

Where the revolver had come from, Tim couldn't imagine. "Start walking," Christina commanded, grabbing his elbow and steering him down the block.

A car sped down the road and jolted to a stop in front of them. She kept the gun firmly against Speed's temple as she opened the back door and shoved him inside. Tim glanced at the driver as Christina piled in beside him and slammed the door. "Fitzgerald," he said under his breath.

Martin shrugged and glared at Tim in the rear-view mirror. "He's my best friend," he said by way of explanation.

"You're an FBI agent," Speed countered.

"Not tonight, man," Martin answered sadly as he pulled away from the curb.

Tim settled in for what he knew would be a long ride. After several blocks, he turned to Christina. "I can't believe you'd betray me like this," he said with a dismayed shake of his head.

Christina snickered. "Yeah, well, I didn't believe you'd betray me either, but you did. You betrayed me the minute you didn't tell me about being in Witness Protection and then again when you 'died'. A heads-up would have been the polite thing to do."

"I wanted you to come with me," he offered.

"We weren't married, Tim. They wouldn't have let you bring me. Perhaps you should have read the Witness Protection Manual before asking me to marry you and getting me pregnant. I hear it's engrossing."

They rode in torturous silence for another half hour before Christina instructed Martin, "Take a left here."

Martin drove another five blocks before he cut the engine and coasted to a stop. About 300 yards ahead was a building completely unlike the one Christina had described to Jack.

"No comments about me lying to the FBI?" Christina asked sarcastically.

Tim rolled his eyes in disgust. "That's the least of your worries at the moment."

"How so?" she asked with a frown.

Speed turned to her. "You're about to kill the father of your child, your fiancé. I'm pretty sure the murder charge will trump perjury."

Christina shook her head and wrenched Tim's arms behind his back. He grunted in pain as she secured a pair of handcuffs to his wrists. "Kind of hard to kill a dead man," she said angrily as she opened the door.

Martin took hold of Speed's other arm as he and Christina lifted their hostage from the car. They led him in the direction of the small, two story, gray brick building. The only truths in Christina's story to the FBI were the blacked-out windows and barbed wire – just one of hundreds of buildings in New York City with blacked-out windows and barbed wire enclosures.

She banged on the door with her fist. "Miguel," she shouted into the night, "It's Christina."

A hail of gunfire answered her. "Back away from McGarrity," Miguel instructed from his perch in an open second story window.

Martin immediately trained his gun on the mob boss. "Where's Danny?"

"Where's Danny? Where's Danny?" Moreno taunted in a sing-song voice. "Hey, Miguel, how are you on this beautiful night?" he asked sarcastically.

"Hey, you sadistic son of a bitch, how are you on this beautiful night?" Martin spat out. "Where's Danny?"

"I don't know," Moreno answered with a shrug, "I may have killed him already."

Martin fired his weapon – the bullet whizzed past Miguel's left ear.

"I wouldn't try that again, Agent Fitzgerald," Moreno threatened. "You might not like the results."

"I want to see Danny now," Martin said slowly.

Miguel muttered something under his breath and the heavy door creaked open with a moan. "Shove McGarrity inside and I'll throw Danny out the window," he jeered.

"Oh sure," Christina answered with a cynical laugh. "Get your ass out here and bring Danny with you. This goes down as we agreed or I take Shaun back and you never see him again."

Moreno cackled. "You wouldn't make it out of the parking lot, bitch."

Martin fired his weapon again – this time the bullet whizzed past Miguel's right ear. "I'm getting tired of missing, Moreno," Martin said.

Speed caught a fleeting glimpse of red out of the corner of his eye as Miguel disappeared from the window. He could sense movement behind him, but he was unsure if it was a rescue or an ambush.

"Christina," he whispered, "whatever happens, I still love you."

She closed her eyes and swallowed hard before answering, "Don't fuck this up and try to be a hero."

She took Speed's elbow again and began leading him into the dark warehouse. A single bulb lit their path. Speed heard what sounded like silenced bullets behind him, but didn't turn to look.

TBC………..