They knew that they couldn't make a full approach on the structure in the helicopter without alerting the bad guys to their presence so they set down in a clearing about a mile south of their destination. They would have to hike it the rest of the way.

Steve and the Five 0 team, along with the squadron of six SWAT members climbed out of the chopper in full tactical gear armed to the teeth. They were going in blind. They had no intel on the number of men or the type of weapons that would be guarding the structure. They prepared themselves for anything as best as they could. Steve took a look at his hand held gps unit and led the others north through the rough terrain and vegitation.

The room was silent as Clancey pondered the possible ramifications of his mistake. He should have had ber followed for longer but he was so damn confident that he didn't bother. He didn't even try to hide the distress on his face from her. He called out for the man guarding the door.

"Yes sir?" the man asked.

"Get Brenner and Cole in here now." Clancey ordered.

Mel kept her mouth shut, still just staring at the ceiling as the two men that had taken her entered the room slightly alarmed. Clancey grilled them about the details of her kidnapping and why he wasn't told about the boy. She flinched both times the gun that he had produced seemingly out of nowhere was fired and didn't feel remorse for either of their deaths. He had their bodies dragged away and they were left alone once again.

"Well I must say that that was an unfortunate developement." he admitted.

"But you're not worried about it." Mel assumed from his tone of voice.

"No, I'm not."

The silent group of ten approached the man made clearing that held the structure which turned out to be a simple cabin. They watched the building from a safe distance for nearly twenty minutes before they worked out a plan of attack.

There were six men guarding the cabin from all sides. Through thermal binoculars they could see another three people on the inside, one of them presumably Melinda. They had the tactical advantage of numbers on their side. Now they just had to decided whether to go in silent or if they wanted their presence known.

"It's your call Commander." the head of the SWAT team informed Steve.

"The first thing Clancey's going to do once he hears gun fire is kill Mel." Danny stated the obvious as always.

"We go in silent. It's dark enough that we should be able to pick them off one at a time." Steve ordered, glad that they had brought silencers. "But be ready for this to turn into a firefight because it will the moment that they realize that we're here."

They all nodded in understanding and screwed the silencers onto the barrels of their weapons before switching the safeties to the off postion. They split up and spread out surrounding the cabin after insuring that their communications units were working properly. They were careful not to be seen as they got into position, then Steve gave the order to move in.

"So how long do you plan on keeping me alive?" Mel asked trying to sound indifferent.

"Why? Are you anxious?"

"Not really. I would just like to know when I am going to die, I never was fond of surprises."

"Well now that all depends."

"On?"

He didn't answer her. It was obvious that he was disappointed that she wasn't showing her fear. That was the point of this whole elaborate plan and isolating her for two days. To scare her, make her beg for her life that he held in his hands with the cold single action revolver that presumably held four additional live rounds. She refused to give into him. If he was going to kill her then she was going to die with her dignity at least knowing that he wouldn't get the satisfaction of her terror.

Three men down. That's when it all went wrong. The leader of the SWAT team moved in on a roving guard who turned at the last second and they fired simultaneously. The unsuppressed round fired by the guard tore through the neck of his target killing him instantly and alerting the remaining guards to outsider presence.

Everyone took cover and one of the guards managed to ignite a series of flood lights bathing the area surrounding the cabin in a brilliant white glow. Bullets started flying in all directions and Detective Danny Williams looked over to see that his partner was no longer at his side.

After the firefight began Steve knew that he didn't have much time to get to Mel before Clancey would have a chance to kill her. He left his regrouped team and ran back into the jungle, circling around to the back of the cabin without being seen of heard.

He snuck up behind the nearest guard and shot him in the back of the head, disappearing from view before anyone could see him. He rolled underneath the porch of the structure and crawled closer to his next target. No one had yet to even notice that the first man was dead.

His second target went down just as easily though not unnoticed. The last man wasn't far from Steve and he had spotted him. The man turned and fired at Steve, hitting him in the shoulder but not without exposing himself. While he was distracted shooting at Steve the rest of the team closed in on him and took him out.

Steve climbed out from under the porch, brushing off his partner who was trying to get a look at the bullet wound in his shoulder. It was a through and through, the bullet didn't hit the bone or any arteries. He would be just fine after medical treatment. He pushed past the others, kicking down the door of the cabin and killing a guard standing in the hallway infront of the last door.

For the first time since Clancey had arrived Mel took her eyes from the ceiling. She thought that she had imagined it but she could have sworn that she heard gunfire. Clancey rose from his seat to look out the window as the area was flooded with light.

She sat up quickly and took the opprotunity to kick the gun from his hand. He tried to grab for it but she kicked him again before he could reach it. He gave up on getting to the gun and jumped on top of her instead. They struggled back and forth as he attacked her and she tried to fight back but the zip ties binding her wrists constricted her movements and ability to defend herself.

She kneed him in the groin and he groaned in pain before backhanding her. She fought to free her wrists but only succeeded in making them begin to bleed again. She cried out as he struck her again and they heard a single shot come from inside the cabin.

Clancey was panicking now. She continued to struggle against him and screamed as loud as she could as he placed his hands around her throat. He applied pressure and she felt her air supply deminishing rapidly and she frivolously tried to fight him off as he vision became blurry and clouded.