They were being followed. Felix realised it ten minutes into their walk to find James and Wai. They had arrived in China, touching down in Hong Kong airport about two hours ago. After using what little influence the CIA had allowed Felix to, to get them through customs, they had taken a taxi into the heart of the metropolis and were now finishing their journey to James and Wai on foot. Felix and Kendall had a single, small luggage bag in hand, packed in haste with only the essentials. They both bore dark circles under their eyes but despite their fatigue from jet lag from a very long flight from the States to China they appeared very alert as they moved through the crowded streets.

Felix couldn't be certain when they following had started. Had they followed them in the car or only now picked up the trail? He glanced in the mirrored glass of a shop front behind him and spied two men faintly reflected in it. They were behind four others, walking and could perhaps be considered simple travellers. Felix directed Kendall to turn sharply to the right to cross a single lane road. It gave the Texan a chance to glance in the men's direction without being too obvious. They were both Hispanic, Mexican he'd wager, one small and lean with an ugly, cross face with a prominent white scar slicing down his left cheek and the second taller and muscular with the build of a fighter, oily black hair sleeked back against his scalp with gel and wiry moustache budding on his upper lip.

They crossed the road and Felix was forced to look ahead in an attempt to be discreet. It wasn't just about not alerting the men, he didn't want to panic Kendall either. She moved slow alongside him, laboured by her limp though she refused to admit the leg was giving her any trouble. Felix mentally cursed himself for bringing her here and hoped he was just being paranoid. He looked up at the dark blue glass of a modern cafe and glimpsed the two Mexicans almost behind him now as they stood up onto the kerb. He wasn't being paranoid then.

Felix directed them to the right when it should have been left. Kendall looked up at him quizzically. 'Well of course she bloody knows the route's wrong,' the blonde thought despairingly. For a good chunk of the flight she had sat studying maps of China, provided by a MI6 minion on behalf of M. Washington had been against the trip but MI6 had supported it, they wanted Trevino at any cost. A message from M had suggested coldly that they had gained nothing from giving Kendall sanctuary and that it was time she showed her worth. Washington had simply voiced angrily that Felix either came back to tell them Trevino was neutralised or didn't come back at all.

"Keep going," Felix murmured quietly to Kendall. They were discovered then, he couldn't lead them to James and Wai. They needed to the pair and fast but Kendall couldn't do fast. He glimpsed a sign for the train station and gave a tight grin. Kendall couldn't do fast on foot.

Everywhere they looked there were skyscrapers and tower blocks, it was a suffocating maze of glass and metal, breathtaking and intimidating all at once. The streets were full of people and yet try as they might, Felix and Kendall could not lose their pursuers amongst the crowds. Felix supposed dryly that as a tall, blonde Westerner, it wasn't exactly hard for them to spot him. Still, he tried the usual trick of ducking into the entrance of a shop and out its exit but twenty minutes later as he dared to slow their pace as they moved round a fountain he glimpsed their pursuers once more.

Felix couldn't understand how they kept finding them and neither could Kendall, who had followed the blonde's stare through the jets of water and paled at the sight of two men she knew were not tourists.

It was another tiresome half hour of darting about the metropolis before they finally made it to the train station. It was hiving with activity as natives and tourists alike bustled to and fro from platform to platform through numerous gates, moving in a busy but organised fashion.

Satisfied that they had finally lost their pursuers in the busy streets of Hong Kong, Felix directed them to the desk and bought multiple tickets, no easy feat with the language barrier.

They waited in a group of people three rows back from the edge of the platform for a train, trying to be inconspicuous. Given that Felix was a tall, blonde Texan this was no easy task. Felix wanted to call James but he was wary of drawing any more attention to himself and he didn't want to worry the English agent or contact him until he knew what the hell they were doing. He didn't even know where the train was going to take them, he just needed them to be away.

Kendall filled with relief when the train finally rolled up to the platform. Its doors opened and it unleashed a throng of people before granting entry to the waiting crowd. She and Felix crowded on with everyone else, avoiding seats as both were reluctant to be restrained that way.

As the train headed off Felix relaxed just a little before he began guiding Kendall towards the back of the train. His ease vanished in an instant when he glimpsed in the reflection of the window one of their pursuers. The man stood out as one of the few non-Chinese people on board the train, five feet seven, he was the one with oily black hair sleeked back against his scalp. He looked annoyed and a little out of breath, evidently he had only just made the train. Felix did not alert Kendall to the man and instead moved slowly as if they were simply looking for a seat not trying to evade someone. His grey gaze darted back and forth from looking to the doors ahead to the next carriage to the window that offered a faint reflection. The man was not alone, of course they never were, Felix made out the other man with the scar and wondered if it was just the two who had been following them all this time.

Kendall slipped through the double door passage to the next carriage and paused.

"Keep going," Felix murmured quietly in her ear, "it'll be better at the back."

Kendall obeyed, walking backwards as the train moved forwards, finding it slightly disorienting. It was a large train with a storage carriage at the back specifically for large luggage such as suitcases. It carried a mixture of people- office workers, teenagers, eager travellers, a few perplexed foreigners and other foreigners who looked like they fitted right in. It was easy to spot the tourists from the people who lived here. Kendall glanced at the teenagers curiously and wondered if it was a weekend or a holiday. She had stopped trying to keep track of days and dates a long time ago, now she wondered what all she had missed out on over those lost years.

Felix regarded the young folk with a hint of envy. He was in his mid-thirties now and starting to feel the pressures of age creep up on him. Things like this had been alright ten years ago when he was young enough to dumbly think himself immortal, full of energy and the wiles and cockiness of youth. Now he was slower to move and it took longer for his body to recover from fights. The couples in particular interested him- it was a life he had never considered or thought to desire, the young ones he and James had usually jested about and pitied, how foolish to settle for just one person so soon and deprive yourself of enjoying anyone else in the world! Now he wondered if he had been wrong about that, if maybe those couples in their naivety, hopeful of happiness before the bitterness of reality dragged them down, had the right idea after all.

Kendall paused at the doors to the luggage carriage and looked at Felix once more. He put his back to the doors and fiddled with the handle and lock behind him. Of course it was policy to hand your luggage off to a train worker to be loaded into the carriage safely and then to go and make sure you got it unloaded again. It just wouldn't do to have passengers freely wandering in and out of the carriage unobserved, too many thieves and all that. With a little help from a lockpick Felix triggered the lock and the doors slid free.

"Quick now," he muttered as he stepped back into the carriage.

Once Kendall was in Felix tugged the doors shut again. The carriage was dim, only emergency lighting was needed and even that wasn't helping much. Felix directed Kendall to the very back where another door stood. This door was padlocked, a single door to the outside world, the third and final exit from the carriage was at the side where the door lifted up with the press of a button to grant easy access to the bags. Felix ignored the side door and freed the padlock instead, just in case. 'In case what,' he thought in irritation, 'we need to climb up on the roof?'

The Texan moved down low to a seated position, pulling Kendall with him as he did. He silenced his phone, tugged out his Browning for good measure and fixed his gaze on the doors they had come through. The train was hurrying along at a fast pace, a good pace he supposed though he had no idea how long it was until their next stop.

Kendall didn't say a word, she knew from Felix's gestures that their pursuers had to be onboard. Her chest was tight with fear, her heart was beating hard and fast, and her entire body was tense beside the Texan. She stayed close against him wishing she had a weapon too. His Browning had barely passed customs, there was no chance that she could have gotten a knife through.

It took only five minutes before their uneasy anticipation was ended.

BANG!

Felix let off a shot with his gun as the doors were forced open but the bullet missed, hitting the edge of the sliding door causing a loud ringing noise to echo throughout the carriage.

Felix jumped to his feet, teeth gritted, gun raised and eyes narrowed as he took aim. There was a click. The blonde looked at his gun in horror. It had jammed!

The Mexicans wasted no time in taking advantage, closing the distance between them and the Texan. One reached for the gun whilst another delivered a painful kick to Felix's stomach.

A third man, short and slim, addressed the curious passengers first before shutting the double doors and smiling into the carriage with a sneer.

Kendall was on her feet now and she wasted no time in punching low and hard at the man with the scar. Just as he lowered his foot after dealing Felix a kick to the stomach Kendall rewarded him with a punch to his lower regions. The man doubled over with a gasp and a squeal of pain.

Felix let out a wild yell of surprised agony when the man with the moustache produced a dagger and drove it into his gun hand. The Browning fell to the ground with a clatter as Felix's eyes flashed red with pain and his hand immediately became soaked in blood. The dagger was pulled out by moustache man but Felix stepped back before another blow could be delivered with it.

In the chaos the Texan became aware of the train slowing. He wondered if they had reached a stop or were being forced into one thanks to the chaos. He dealt out a punch with his left hand to the moustache man's face and caught him hard in the nose.

Kendall kicked out at scar face with her good leg, swiping across his waist with her foot. He made to strike back but she ducked and avoided the blow.

The train started to screech as it finally came to a halt.

The double doors opened and a fourth man joined them before shutting the doors. "No one needs their luggage," he announced in a sinister voice, heavy with a Mexican accent.

Felix's pale grey gaze darted from one to the other as he suddenly realised they were just toying with him and Kendall. They had to have guns surely and there were four of them, they outnumbered him and the woman. Why hadn't they killed them? 'Does he want her alive?' the blonde wondered, mystified.

The Texan let out a grunt and a cry of pain when he was caught off-guard in his troubled thoughts and dealt a painful punch to the ribs. He kicked back again, this time once to the moustache man's left shin, then to his right knee in quick succession sending his opponent momentarily to the floor.

The train was screeching again, ready to begin movement.

Felix moved in a moment of madness and desperation. He opened the door behind them and pushed Kendall out onto the narrow platform. The air, thick with pollution, hit them immediately along with the sounds of surprised people on the platform. The train was moving but it was slow, she would be alright. He just needed it to be a little quicker, couldn't give them a chance to follow.

"Forgive me," Felix said to Kendall with a forced bright smile, "I wouldn't leave you if it wasn't necessary."

Kendall looked back at him in wide eyed surprise and confusion. A scream of horror suddenly exhaled from the woman as without warning she found herself violently flung backwards, over the short iron rail that guarded the small platform.

Felix turned instantly to deal with the foes who cursed at him and made to follow. There were four of them but it was a single doorway space, he could block it. With a sneering grin and a few choice punches he did. They would wear him down but he would make sure the train had sped off a sufficient distance before they did.

Kendall McKenna was in shock. There was a loud ringing in her ears, her chest was tight, her throat burned and her head was pounding. Her mind struggled to figure out what had happened but failed, all it could scream was 'pain' and 'danger'. She blinked and for an too brief second she saw him, hands outstretched in betrayal, a crooked grin tugging at his lips, pale grey eyes sparkling with some emotion she could not decipher, positive even when things were bad.

Kendall dug her elbows down to push herself upright, they scraped painfully through the dirt and stones underneath her before complying. She rose up and heaved in a deep, painful breath that rattled through her chest. Her left leg was in agony, old wounds re-disturbed with the fall. It had come without notice and she hadn't been able to prepare a safe landing or roll, instead she had tumbled back ungracefully to the stones, winded and shocked with the blow instantly.

The shock was fading slowly. She felt a scream of despair rise in her throat and swallowed it. Finally she became aware of the people, would be passengers gawking at her in surprise from the platforms whilst two security guards moved towards her tentatively, hands outstretched in aid. One, an older male with a grey moustache, babbled at her in alarmed Chinese whilst the second, a young, handsome gentleman, gave her a calming, brown eyed stare and quipped in English, "how badly are you hurt?"

Kendall looked back at the man, grateful to find help so fast, and felt her eyes burn with tears. How the hell had this happened? "You need to stop that train!" she snapped at him suddenly. "You need to stop it now!"

He nodded back at her slowly, his gaze still calm though a wariness had crept into it. "What happened? Did you fall? Were you pushed?"

She became aware of people pointing at her and babbling in Chinese, eyes flickered from her to the direction the train had gone. Had no one bore witness? She supposed it had all happened too fast, too quickly for her to react properly to it. She shook her head and it only throbbed all the harder. She needed to figure out what had happened and more importantly, she needed to work out what to do.

"Come on, we need to get off this platform," the train worker addressed her tranquilly.

She looked up at him, his extended hand was just inches from her face. She accepted it reluctantly, allowing him to pull her feet and guide her back to the other guard. Together, with aid from other staff, they got her up to the top of a platform. It was an outdoor station, a lot smaller than the one they had come from but still thriving with activity.

Kendall was ushered into an office and offered a glass of water whilst the English speaking worker took a seat opposite her. "My superiors will call the police and an ambulance for you," he informed her softly.

She wanted to protest, the police was the last thing needed but how could she argue over it? She had fallen off a moving train out of a carriage she should not be in. She contemplated her options dully. She wanted to think of Felix and hated that right now she couldn't. She had to consider herself and her own well-being.

Kendall forced out a loud groan of pain, reached up weakly with a free hand to touch her head and then let her eyes flicker before she dropped the glass to the wooden floor to let it shatter dramatically before she slumped to her right side. Just a faint she would insist but hopefully it would be enough of a performance to avoid a cell and get a hospital instead. A hospital she could get out of easier.

James knew something had happened. Already half an hour had passed with no sign of Felix or the girl. Wai obligingly checked the Hong Kong flights and found no delays, their plane had arrived on time. James allowed for delays in getting transport from the airport but he knew it couldn't have taken them this long. He knew they couldn't be lost either, with Kendall that was an impossibility.

"I knew this was a bad idea," he grumbled.

"Could Trevino have gotten to them already?" Wai queried coolly. She was willing to consider the possibility as she looked to James for confirmation. She knew so little of the drugs baron, he had not caused any interest in China until now. If he had business here there were no records of it but then China had better things to worry about than Mexican drugs barons. Wai would never admit it but she wondered if anyone really would have bothered to keep a close eye on such a figure coming and going from the country. He had done nothing drastic on Chinese soil that she knew of, otherwise maybe he might have caused a blip on someone's radar. She supposed he was a believer in not screwing around in the workplace, he would send his drugs and sex slaves across America and Europe but he didn't trade them in China, probably because he didn't want the native authorities causing trouble for him.

"I don't know," James admitted in frustration, "but if he did how the hell did he find them?" He had tried ringing Felix's mobile but to no avail, the first couple of times it had rung off, the third time it was dead. "Felix said he was in New Mexico when I got the letter but they were ambushed in Jamaica, it's like Trevino has eyes everywhere." He frowned over at Wai.

Wai narrowed her brown gaze and retorted frostily, "well if he does we must start blinding them."

James sighed and wondered what to do, go to the airport and see if they could find out where Felix and Kendall had gone from there? They should have gotten a car into the city, not far from where James and Wai stood waiting at the Clock Tower.

The Clock Tower had seemed a good point to meet, it stood out as a tourist attraction but it was not an obvious haunt for government personnel and James could think of no reason why Trevino's men would be anywhere near it. It sat in Tsim Sha Tsui, an urban area in souther Kowloon, Hong Kong. Tsim Sha Tsui catered to the tourists with numerous restaurants, shops and museums as well as the Clock Tower. Wai had suggested the tower for a meet and James had agreed readily, thinking how Felix would like it for its fine choice of dining and that Kendall might appreciate the tourist attractions.

It irritated James that he actually considered the girl's thoughts in all this and he realised that he still carried a lot of guilt over her. It wasn't just Paris' death but now he had everything Kendall had suffered to add to his plate, hell wasn't it a full three course meal of guilt now? He had falsely believed Kendall a traitor, he had been bitter and petty to her from the get go, suspicious of her, hating her for not being Paris and yes, damn him, being annoyed at her for liking Felix and yet being callous towards him. He supposed bitterly it was why Celestine's charms had worked so well on him because he had needed his ego to be stoked after all the damage Kendall had done to it. Women usually fell at his feet all too eager to help him, it wasn't often they opposed him or worse, hated him, at least not until after he had bedded them and abandoned them.

"James?"

James snapped out his bitter thoughts and looked to Wai with a calm expression. He felt helpless and clueless but he couldn't let her see it.

"I'll make a few calls," Wai informed him calmly, "get in touch with the airport, see if we can even get footage of them, if we know they left there safely it's a start. It'll take time mind and getting the right connections but we can manage that much."

James cast a critical stare outwards. Hong Kong had the most skyscrapers in the world and the world's fifth busiest cargo port, it was a labyrinth of activity, people and buildings, how could they find them in all this? He frowned momentarily, this wasn't him, he was usually much more confident and calm. This was guilt and grief wearing him down. He shrugged off thoughts of Kendall, Paris and Celestine, they could wait, it could all wait. He reached for the part of him that was stone, that cool, collected, unflappable side, calm even under torture, the side that MI6 had nourished and he released it. "I told Felix to get as close to the Clock Tower as he could," James said as he looked to the long, rectangular pool of water before them which had fountains dancing in it, "but this is a pedestrian area. They had to take part of the route on foot, if they made it out of the airport and got a car then the trouble started nearby."

"It's a big, big area," Wai pointed out, "but I'll see what security footage we can get." She gave him a sympathetic smile. "If you're right and something has happened we will make it right."

James nodded, appreciating her words even if there was a grim implication to them. She hadn't said 'we will save your friends', she had said 'we will make it right' as if they were already dead and gone.

Yeah it's definitely more of a Felix Leiter fanfic than a James Bond one but I don't care, that was the point. Felix gets so little love on here. I'm still doing my best for James though, I hope anyway. I hope for more Wai Lin, I respect their scenes are largely footnotes for these chapters but they're still important scenes and it's just the way I write, their time will come. As I get ideas I have to write them I guess plus their scenes don't make sense without Felix and Kendall's scenes.

Yes I'm rotten to Kendall and Felix but it keeps the plot going and yes, there will be an explanation as to how Trevino has eyes everywhere, I promise.

As always many thanks for the reviews and favs and alerts! Please keep them coming!