Thanks to the encouragement of Heartie91 I am posting one more chapter today! It hurt to leave y'all hanging when I have at least one more ready. (LOL AT MY SELF-RESTRAINT.)

Do you have your guesses?

Disclaimer: I don't own WCTH, that belongs to Janette Oke and Hallmark, but I do own lots and lots of comforters. All being in use as I suffer.

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The Negotiator: Chapter 21 - Of Traps and Apps

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Jack raced into the living room, holding out his hand for Derek's phone. "Derek, if you please."

"What?" Derek looked at him baffled.

"Your phone."

Derek handed Jack his phone, confused. "What do you need it for?"

"No time to waste bud, I'll explain as I go."

Jack quickly downloaded an app onto Derek's phone, grateful that it hadn't been completely full of space.

He stood still for a moment and then suddenly held it up. "This is where she is."

On a map on his phone there was a giant blue dot blinking at them.

"How…" Derek replied slowly.

"No time to waste. Meet me at the car now. I have to head to my apartment to grab a few things. We'll call for backup on the way."

Derek nodded and raced out the door, Jack following close behind, darting to his apartment.

He shoved the one bulletproof vest he had as a spare, first aid kit into a bag, hoping against hope Elizabeth was okay, and made sure his gun was still in its holster.

Jack raced down the hall, blood pounding through his veins.

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The next time Elizabeth stirred, it was still dark in the room, though there was a faint glow of light.

She felt the dank taste of a rag in her mouth and tried not to panic as she inhaled through her nose. What had happened?

Elizabeth thought back to earlier in the day. She had been surprised when she had received a text from Jack stating that someone would be arriving in his car to take her to dinner.

She had dressed casually, with the exception of his necklace and earrings, her exciting news at the forefront of her mind. When a man had appeared at her door, nervous and endearing, mopping at his face with a handkerchief, he had waved Jack's keys and mentioned that he was an old friend, and that he was repaying a debt by driving her to meet Jack for dinner.

Elizabeth had written a little note on the sidetable, tucking it under the lamp, and had followed the man out the door, locking the apartment up behind her.

She had no reason not to trust this man - he had been holding Jack's keys, after all. Besides, Jack had already texted her.

As the gentleman had held open the door for her to get into the backseat, something had made her hesitate, but even looking back she couldn't remember what it was.

The next thing she had known was blackness, and she had woken up under the cover of darkness, on a cold cement floor.

Now, her head was aching, there was something sticky on her forehead and her arms were stiffly wrapped around a pole of some kind, her hands bound together around the pole with rope. She tried sliding slowly, but it wa no use - she was stuck.

"Miss Elizabeth Thatcher," the voice whispered like a slippery eel in her ear. Elizabeth's scream was muffled by the rag in her mouth. "Oh, my dear, my dear… don't hold it back. You can't imagine how I've longed to hear that sound…"

Elizabeth made an attempt to growl, eyes trying to seek out the voice, when all she found was darkness.

The voice snarled, "Your boyfriend has been an awful annoyance." A finger gently dragged across her cheek, making Elizabeth grit her teeth around her rag. "I wanted to kill him that day, you know, but my accomplice had lost his nerve."

Elizabeth had no idea what the voice was talking about, but she couldn't stop herself from shuddering when Jack's death was mentioned.

"A thum utherhandn."

With a deep sigh, the rag was ripped from her mouth and she spent a moment gasping, sucking in oxygen.

"Now, try again dear."

Elizabeth summoned up all of the saliva she had in her mouth and spit in front of her, hoping she hit whoever it was in front of her.

By a disgusted growl, she was satisfied she hit her mark. Her head hit the pole with a sharp slap to her cheek, and she stayed silent, gathering her wits, heart pounding.

"Do you have something to say now, dear?" The voice was sickly sweet.

"I don't understand."

Her voice was raspy to her own ears, which, she supposed, had to do with hours of misuse. How long had she been held here?

"He never told you?" The voice chuckled, obviously finding something amusing. A lightbulb flickered, swaying overhead for just a moment - not enough for Elizabeth to focus on much except for a figure who was walking towards her.

"I suppose now is not the moment for revelations. We must be on the move."

Elizabeth was about to open her mouth again - to protest, to scream, to do something, anything - but it was too late.

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Derek was driving faster than the speeding limit permitted, but then - he did have a cop in his car, so he figured he would be exempt if they got stopped.

His cousin was in trouble.

Jack was staring down at the phone as if his life depended on it, or at least Elizabeth's, and Derek sincerely hoped that wasn't the case.

"Explain to me how you're tracking her right now?"

"I gave her a necklace and earrings last week," Jack stated, having the decency to sound sheepish. "I had them designed around a tracking system."

"You bugged her necklace?!"

"And her earrings," Jack muttered.

"Oh, she is going to be pissed."

"Derek, I'm just counting on her being alive."

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"She's inside."

"Are you sure?"

"Derek, don't test me right now. This is all I have."

Jack was completely anxious, worried and stressed - all things that he could turn off when he was working - what he needed to turn off right now, but it was Elizabeth and he couldn't. The love of his life was in a decrepit looking warehouse that looked like it was on the verge of falling apart, and his instincts were screaming that something was wrong.

Derek gazed at Jack for a moment, all teasing gone from his face - as if he had never been happy a day in his life. "I'm going in."

"No, you are not!" They did not have time to argue about this. Jack scrambled for his bag, removing the bulletproof vest from it and Derek snatched it from his hands.

"It's my car, my phone, my rules. I'm going in. Besides, I'm better at keeping Elizabeth calm," Derek argued, wrestling the vest on.

Jack scowled. "You don't even have a gun. I'm going in alone."

Derek laughed, but this time devoid of all humour. "I have a vest, and the douchebag who has her obviously won't be expecting two people. They'll only be expecting you."

Jack struggled between logic and safety. "Derek, you can come in, but you have to promise you'll remain behind me at all times."

"You got it, Boss." With a slap on Jack's shoulder, Derek moved out of the car while Jack hastened to join him, upholstering his gun.

"I called for backup. They should be here in the next ten minutes."

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Elizabeth woke again, groaning softly at the pounding headache that echoed through her body.

Where was she?

Oh yes, that's right, she had been kidnapped because of someone's obsession with Jack.

"Oh, she's awake?"

There was a slight noise and she moved her head, straining to see what it was. The voice was back, though this time she could see clearly that it was a man, and right now he was adjusting something a slight distance from the only entrance to the room.

At least he hadn't put the rag back in her mouth.

Elizabeth tried to see what he was doing, but he was going in and out of focus constantly so she gave up. She rested her head against the pole, the cool metal soothing against her skin.

"Why?" she whispered.

"Why what? Why take you and turn you into a trap? Because I like to play with my food," the man giggled.

Elizabeth began to struggle against her bonds again, pulling and it only made them tighter. "Be careful dear," he drawled, "I don't want to, but I will kill you if I have to." He said it with such a cavalier attitude that Elizabeth froze immediately, stopping what she was doing and realizing that he was completely serious.

Oh Jack, don't come for me, it's a trap...

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The stage was set. His homework, the theft of the keys and the phone - that had been a stroke of genius.

Now, he tightened the fishing line just right, and knew that all he had to do was wait. Of course, he had set up the cameras before he had brought her here. Now all he had to do was vanish and see the carnage unfold before his very eyes.

Soon, that pesky Jack Thornton would be out of his life forever - never to meddle in his affairs again as he had done those years ago…

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It was eerily quiet. Jack didn't know what to make of it. Despite having ushered Derek back behind him, Derek had utterly ignored him, pushing past as he entered the anteroom.

Jack took over, gun out, always on the look out for traps. This is what it felt like.

He heard sobbing, and his heart broke. Elizabeth.

"Elizabeth!" Derek pushed past him again before Jack could stop him, yelling at him to wait -

It was too late.

The shot reverberated through the cement and as Jack rounded the fateful corner, he heard a thud and a screaming wail.

"Derek!"

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Oh, the pain is so real.

I hope you're still with me!