Still don't own them - happy reading!

Chapter 25

Outside

Chase, Lachie and Jordan thought that what they were witnessing was a scene from a really horrible movie. Unfortunately for them, it was all too real. All three stepped away from the window, their hands to their mouths.

Chase thought his eyes were going to bug out of his head. Picking up his mobile, he dialled Vince's number. "Vince! They've got them in there." He whispered. "We've found them." Chase gave Vince a sit rep and told them to double back here as soon as possible and to call the police for them. "Vince, the scene really doesn't look good right now. Dean is down; we don't know if he is alive, but I thought I saw blood. Heidi is staring down the barrel of a gun. We're going in there."

They could all hear Vince's loud reply, "don't go in there until we get there! It's too dangerous. We are 5 minutes away."

"We don't have time!" Chase implored. "We're going in."

"No!" Vince shouted. "I am telling you as your boss not to."

"What's that Vince? You're breaking up? Can't hear you…" Chase shut his mobile.

Lachie stared at his brother. "You are going to get in a lot of trouble."

"I don't care. We need to save them, and we might not have 5 minutes." Chase shoved his mobile into his pocket and walked back up to the window to stare in.

Jordan worst fear was coming true. Heidi was on the wrong end of a gun. "Heidi." He whispered. "Heidi." His voice was more insistent. He had to get in there.

Lachie held him back. "Jordan, if we rush in there now, she might snap."

Chase looked to be contemplating what they should do. "We need to distract her. Get her to point the gun elsewhere."

Jordan nodded. "Let's do it."

Lachie sighed. "I don't think this is a good idea. Shouldn't we wait for the cops? What if this backfires on us?"

"That is our brother in there, Lach. Not to mention our friend and Jordan's bride to be." Chase pointed out. "We can't wait. We have to do something!" Chase's fear was ratcheting up by the moment.

Lachie shook his head, but he knew that his brother was right. There were good chances that they needed to head in there before the situation got worse.

Inside

Heidi saw Elizabeth coming towards her and she felt torn. She reached for Dean's throat to check for his pulse. Blood was blooming under him, his shoulder wound the cause. He was breathing evenly, and easily. Heidi breathed a sigh of relief, until she looked up and saw Elizabeth pointing the gun at her.

"Get up." Elizabeth growled. When Heidi didn't move, she shouted at her again. "Get up!"

Heidi stood slowly, unaware that Lachie, Chase and Jordan were outside. "What, you going to shoot me too?"

"Of course. You deserve to die, like Mac did." Elizabeth's hand wavered.

"You are beginning to sound like a broken record, you know that?" Heidi said. Unlike Elizabeth, Heidi was unwavering.

"What?"

"You are so repetitive. Why do you have to repeat everything over and over again?" Heidi sighed.

Elizabeth sighed. "Why are we talking when you should be suffering?" She took another step towards Heidi.

Heidi looked at Elizabeth in the eyes and sighed. This was really a fruitless endeavour. Arguing with her was like arguing with a brick wall.

"Say goodbye, Heidi."

Heidi stood stock still, waiting for Elizabeth's next move.

Elizabeth's fingers were pulling the trigger when a noise coming from outside distracted her. Heidi took that moment of distraction to fly at Elizabeth. She tackled her around the knees, knocking her to the ground. The shot went wild, the bullet ricocheting of the metal beams in the warehouse. Heidi was on top of Elizabeth and gripped the wrist that held the gun.

Elizabeth spat in Heidi's face, trying anything to get Heidi off of her. Elizabeth's fist came up and hit her, striking her in the jaw. Seeing that she had a few seconds, Elizabeth rolled with all her might, landing with Heidi beneath her. "You thought you were so smart!"

"You won't get away with this Elizabeth." Heidi said through gritted teeth. She pushed up on Elizabeth's arms, keeping the gun trained towards the ceiling. Heidi growled and pushed Elizabeth off her with a force that she never imagined to have.

Elizabeth flew backwards and Heidi launched to her feet as Elizabeth landed flat on her back, the gun sliding from her fingers. Heidi ran for the gun. As she bent for it, her fingers just grazing the cold metal, Elizabeth attacked again. Pulling on Heidi's ankles, she pulled her to the ground.

Heidi's head hit the concrete floor, the wind being knocked out of her lungs. Heidi gasped for breath, stars showing up in front of her eyes. She reached again for the gun, reaching almost blindly for it. Elizabeth crawled over top of her to get to it, but Heidi was faster than Elizabeth bargained for. Rolling over, Heidi held the gun in Elizabeth's face. "Just try it." Heidi snarled, an aggressive side in her that she never knew she had coming out.

Elizabeth slowly backed up, her hands in the air. "Don't shoot me." An evil smile lit up her face. "You wouldn't shoot an unarmed woman, would you? Just to have to save me? That is your job, isn't it?"

The side door swung open, and Chase, Lachie and Jordan ran in. "Dean! Heidi!"

Heidi turned to look at them, a single moment of distraction costing her dearly. Elizabeth reached for the gun and wrapped her arm around Heidi's neck. Heidi felt the hot tip of the gun touch her temple. As it had recently been fired, it was still piping hot, the round tip of the barrel burning her skin.

"Let her go!" Jordan shouted. "Your little plan didn't work. We all made it out of the cottage alive."

Elizabeth laughed. "That's too bad, but the whole gang is here now." With that, her husband and son charged into the warehouse, brandishing their own guns. "Well well… the tables have turned here, haven't they?"

Chase held out his hands to stop Elizabeth. "Listen, Elizabeth. You don't want to do anything rash. As much as you didn't want to lose Mac, I don't want to lose my brother, Dean, or my mate Heidi. We're a family."

Elizabeth laughed. "Do you think I care what you want? Get out of here, and let me finish this."

"I can't do that," Chase said softly. He was keeping her talking, hoping that Jordan and Lachie could get Dean out of there and then come back to help.

Peter yelled at Lachie and Jordan, who had managed to get Dean near the door. "Don't move! Any of you!"

Lachie felt for the gun tucked in behind his back. He knew that he needed to act quickly, and that his extensive military training was going to come into play. He watched Patrick, Peter and Elizabeth. None of them were watching him, particularly. Drawing his weapon quickly, he fired at Patrick, his shot hitting Patick's hand, the gun flying in the other direction. He turned his sight on Peter and aimed for his hand. His shot was right on the mark, leaving both Patrick and Peter writhing on the ground in pain.

"You shot my family!" Elizabeth bellowed, jamming her gun deeper into Heidi's head.

Heidi let out a whimper despite herself. She hadn't wanted to, but it was an involuntary reaction. Her eyes searched for and held Jordan's. I love you, she mouthed to him. Tears leaked from her eyes, frustrating her. She had told herself that she was stronger than that. "I love you Jordan." She said aloud.

"I love you more, Heidi." Jordan said, his expression softening.

"Well, isn't this sweet," Elizabeth spat sarcastically.

"Heidi, do you trust us?" Jordan asked.

"Of course, more than I do myself." Heidi knew that they were planning on doing something. What she wasn't sure, but she definitely trusted them to get her out of this situation.

"Good." Jordan smiled at her. He motioned to her a sign, so that no one but Heidi and Jordan knew what was being said. It was something they had worked on when training together.

Heidi stepped on Elizabeth's foot and jammed her elbow backwards into her stomach. Elizabeth dropped the gun from her head in reaction and released her neck. Heidi pushed against her and ran for Jordan. But Elizabeth was faster. "Oh no you don't!" She raised the gun and fired.

Heidi felt the bullet enter and exit her upper left arm. White-hot pain shot through her but she kept on moving until she slammed into Jordan. Jordan caught her as stumbled, and lowered her to the ground. "Heidi!"

At the same moment, Lachie had raised his own gun and fired on Elizabeth, his shot hitting her directly in the chest. She looked shocked for a moment before falling to her knees and then forward onto her stomach. Lachie moved forward and checked her pulse. By law, he knew that he was obligated to help save her. He rolled her over onto her back and using part of his jacket, he attempted to stem the bleeding.

"You killed her! You killed my wife!" Peter stood.

"She was trying to kill my friends and I am now trying to save her life, so back off!" Lachie shouted. He looked at Chase. "Take care of them!"

Chase bound Peter and Patrick's ankles and then treated their hand wounds as best as he could. By the time he was finished, both men were unconscious.

Chase ran over to Heidi and Jordan. Heidi's eyes were half-closed, her face drawn with pain "Heidi, are you okay?"

Heidi sighed, "Chasie – Dean is okay. His pulse was strong, it was a clean shot."

Chase smiled. Of course Heidi would be more concerned about Dean than herself. "I know Heidi, thanks. Listen, help is on the way, okay?" Chase trotted over to Dean to make sure that Heidi was right. He had already checked him once, but wanted to be sure.

Heidi nodded and closed her eyes completely.

"Heidi?" Jordan asked, shaking her slightly. "Heidi!" He shouted, his pain-filled voice echoing through the warehouse. "Heidi, I love you. I can't wait to marry you. Don't leave me okay?"

Heidi's lips curved into a smile. "I'm not leaving you, you donut. I'm just a little tired, okay?"

Jordan laughed and brushed his lips against hers.

"What the hell?" Vince stepped through the doorway. He could see Chase sitting next to Dean, applying pressure to his wound; Jordan holding Heidi and trying to stop the bleeding from her arm wound; Lachie trying to save Elizabeth and Peter and Patrick tied up and unconscious.

Michelle and Lara pushed their way through. "Dean!" Lara shouted and ran over to him.

"He's okay," Chase said. "He's just out. But he will live."

Lara smiled a watery smile and kissed Dean's forehead.

The police arrived and immediately began to try and take control of the situation. The ambos arrived immediately after them, and the wounded were all taken away by ambulance. Jordan went with Heidi and Lara with Dean by ambulance. The police spent nearly an hour speaking with Chase and Lachie about had transpired.

Chase and Lachie were watching Vince closely. "Chase, I thought I told you to wait."

"Bad reception," Chase said, his lips twitching. He knew that Vince wasn't buying it.

"Yeah, right." Vince said, crossing his arms over his chest.

"Look, Vince," Lachie stated. "We saw Dean on the floor and Heidi staring down the barrel of a gun. We had to act. She was going to kill them."

Vince nodded. He reached out and patted him on his arm. "I know that, Lachie. I know. You guys didn't do anything wrong." His eyes seemed to almost mist over. "I couldn't be more proud of you two. Yeah, you guys disobeyed an order, but you saved Dean and Heidi."

Chase smiled. "Thanks, Vince." That admission was more than Chase had ever wanted. He looked up to Vince, and couldn't be prouder. "Listen, we want to get to the hospital. Do you think the police can meet us there?"

Michelle waved them on. "Go ahead, I'll tell them where to find you."

Lachie and Chase ran for their vehicle and made their way to the hospital to visit their family.