A/N: once again, many appologizes for the long-up date and many thanks for the nice reviews. I'm hoping once the Christmas rush is over, I'll have more time to do my stories, especially since I'm on the look-out for a laptop that is 95 notebook so I can type while I'm at work when it gets quiet in the evenings.

Chapter 20

Madigan reacted instantly by putting her hands on top of Elliot's hands and leaning forward and then moving behind him, causing him to bend his wrist in a very uncomfortable way and subsequently let go of her. She then planted a vicious kick in the side of his thigh, square on the nerve points. His reaction was to cry out and let go and she bolted for it, fear and adrenaline rushing though her.

"Madigan!" Elliot roared.

She involuntarily shrieked when he fired off a shot that ricocheted off one of the lockers as she ducked around them in a desperate bid to lose him. She recognized the gun he had as a snub nose revolver with probably five or six rounds and since he had just fired two rounds, he had maybe three or four rounds left. If she could just either reach the exit or, failing that, get him to use all of his bullets, she stood a chance of getting out of this alive. She just had to be very, very careful. Who the heck knew what was going through Elliot's head right now?

Suddenly her cell phone went off. It was Bryan Adam's Heat of the Night, which was her brother's call signal, due to the chorus of the song. Cussing, she quickly answered the call while moving as she heard Elliot move towards her.

"Bad timing, brother," she hissed.

"I know what's going on, Maddy, the SWAT guys let me know," Flack replied.

"That's nice. Now figure out how the hell to get me out of here! Fuck-head's already put Jerry in hospital and I know he's got a revolver but I don't know what kind or if he's got three or four rounds left in that thing!" she shot back.

"Can you get him on camera?"

"What? What camera?" she demanded.

"There are three cameras hidden in the locker room. You've been watched since the moment Elliot pulled the gun on you."

"Cute. Where are they?"

"Know where the dome corner mirrors are?"

She looked around and spotted them. "Yeah, so?"

"One way glass is hiding them."

"You're kidding."

"No I'm not. That was a nice nose-smash, by the way. It broke his nose."

"And it did me a fat lot of good when I tried to get Jerry out of there," she groused.

"Doesn't matter. You got Jerry out of there alive; that's what counts. Listen, kiddo, SWAT is here and they've got the door barricaded. The problem we have is that we need a full shot of Elliot. We need to see what kind of weapon he has and we need to get a visual lock on him so SWAT can move in. That means getting him away from the door if you can, long enough for SWAT to get in."

"You're asking for a fraggin' miracle, brother," she shot back. "If I can get him away from the door I'm getting the hell out of here."

"Good idea but the problem we have is we're in a stand-off position," he replied calmly. "We don't know what his intentions are, if he's going to hurt you or what, never mind why he's doing this."

"He kept saying something about want to talk to me without the distraction of Dale and the others. He hasn't said what about, though."

"Find out. Stall him, get him away from the door, just give SWAT a chance to get in the room and give us a chance to get him on camera."

"Come on, Madigan, I simply want to talk to you," Elliot called from somewhere. "There's no need to play these kind of childish games."

"Childish games my Aunt Fanny," she groused, risking a peek around one corner and spotted Elliot stalking her. He was limping badly, one hand near his crotch and blood on his face. She felt a surge of satisfaction at that sight.

An idea came to her. Tucking the cell between her neck and ear, she reached in to the inside pocket of her jacket and pulled out a white wire with a single soft ear-bud, clip, and cord mounted microphone. Working fast, she yanked off her jacket, stuck the ear-bud in her ear, threw the cord over her shoulder so it went up her back, adjusted the clip so that it was on the back of her collar, and then said to her brother, "Going hands-free."

With that, she stuck the connector in to her cell and stuck her cell back in its holder on her pants. Then she threw her jacket back on, effectively hiding her cell.

"And you've gone speaker," Flack said, understanding what she'd done, and telling her that he'd switched her to a speakerphone.

"We loud and clear?"

"Perfectly. Good thinking."

"You're not the only one with the brains in the family," she quipped, moving again. She heard someone chuckle in the background. "Okay, I do know he's got a snub nose revolver, a tiny little thing with a bit of a barrel on it. Kinda shiny. Can't you guys get the bullet out of Jerry's shoulder and find out what type?"

"We're working on that."

"Those things usually have five to six shots, right?" she asked.

"That's the standard but not always a guarantee," he said.

"Well, I'm placing bets Elliot got the gun off the streets so I'm placing equal bets on that thing having five to six shots. Since he's already lost two, that leaves three to four shots left."

"Fair assumption, since we're not finding any record of Elliot having a weapon's license."

"Madigan, come out! Enough of this!" Elliot shouted, sounding increasingly angry.

"Gonna try for a camera shot here," she said, plotting her move.

"Waiting and watching."

"Hey, Elliot! You want to talk? Fine! But I'll tell ya right now, I'm not going to make things easy, not after you shot Jerry!" she shouted. This whole thing was beginning to feel like a real stupid but desperate game of cat and mouse, with her as the mouse and the cat being Elliot, but instead of him having claws, he had a nasty little gun. No matter what happened, though, it was a game she intended to win.

"That was his fault!" Elliot shouted back angrily, moving towards the sound of her voice. "He shouldn't have tried attacking me! I warned him! You warned him! And yet he still chose to attack me!"

"Jerry was trying to protect me, you dumb ass!" She moved farther down, drawing him down the little corridor.

"Little more, little more," she heard her brother coaxing, apparently watching the camera.

"He should have left well enough alone!"

"Then you're dumber than you think! I was willing to listen to you before but after this, buddy, I'll listen when you're in a nice little six by eight room of your very own for the next couple of years!" she shot back. "There was no need for this!"

"Got him," Flack said. "And I'm being told it's a possible Model 60 Smith and Wesson, which means it has five rounds."

"So he's got three rounds left," Madigan concluded, just as Elliot shouted again.

"All I wanted was for you to listen, Madigan, for you to understand!"

"Understand what?" she shot back, taking a chance and dashing across a mini-corridor in a strategic move to try and get close to the door.

"How much I love you!"

Madigan froze. "That's a new one," she told her brother.