Thirty Nine days later

In the hours and days that followed my suspension I had taken a road trip, gotten out of Toronto and went sightseeing; I had lived in Canada for over two years now and never really left Ontario due to work commitments. I had left Spike a note telling him my plans and that I would be in contact on a daily basis, I was forwarded an email from Halloran telling me the team was not allowed to speak to me due to a Sequester Order; and all contact must be terminated. I emailed back and reminded him I lived with Spike – I found my clothes in bags with a patrol car outside the house. I had travelled to Alaska, Vancouver, went to the US and at the end of the month I decided to come back to Toronto and see Spike and the team somehow. My plan was to get a hotel room up high and get the SRU called in for a suicide alert – I was probably going to get hospitalized for the attempt but it was a risk I needed to take.

I checked in at the Hilton and requested a high room, playing up the nervous guest, paid by cash, scruffy looking – I didn't need to play the depressed that hard as I was lonely and miserable without my family around me. I headed up into the room and followed the layout to the roof entry system and grabbed my gear; it was after 1am and the weather was unreal for November – it was a cold night, but dry and clear. I strapped on my harness and pulled over a long jumper and jacket and headed up the stairs to the roof. The door alarm went off which means I was automatically on camera down stairs, I ran across the roof from the stairwell and climbed the bannister as I latched onto the washer unit with the suspension cables attached to the harness. I took a deep breath and sat down right at the edge and dangled my feet over the edge.

"TEAM ONE HOT CALL! SUBJECT IS THREATNING SUICIDE AT THE HILTON!"

They all ran to get their gear and hit the garage and headed off down the road towards their goal, Keira loaded information on the fly for them and patched them through to hotel security for information; all they had was a female aged late twenty, early thirties had checked in and then ran to the roof – they couldn't get a visual due to the camera coming down with a fault. Parker notified the team of the deal and then took charge as they arrived at the hotel.

I was sitting up in the roof freezing my ass off, I looked over the edge and saw the lights of the three SUVs and CT – I just hoped it was Team one as it was bloody freezing up here!

Parker came out the CT with Spike and Ed, they were ordered to follow Parker up the roof and provide cover if needed while he did his thing; they both nodded and headed up in the elevator that had been locked down for their use.

I heard the elevator ping and the sound of boots crunching over the gravel that covered the top of the roof, I saw the shadow behind me and knew they had found me and trained their lights on me so Parker could see me.

"Hello, my name is Sergeant Greg Parker and I am with the Strategic Response Unit – Can you tell me your name?" he asked gently.

I stood up and turned around to face him.

"Holy shit!" he whispered loudly

"Hey guys, miss me?" I said shrugging my shoulders.

All three of them were staring at me in shock, I moved slightly and they all ordered me to stay still – they didn't see the black rope I was connected too. I pulled my jacket to the side and showed them the harness and safety gear I was wearing – all three of them ran to me and helped me over the barrier again before unlocking me from the harness.

"WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING UP HERE?" Spike yelled at me.

"It's the only way I could see you guys – sorry about the prank call but it's the only way I could think of getting your attention!" I replied.

I was rushed at by three men and hugged like crazy, it was so good to see them again and I missed Spike badly; I got them into the cover of the elevator door and got my harness off and shoved it back into my bag. Spike was just hugging me close and Parker had my other hand and Ed on my shoulder, felt damn good to see and talk to them again.

"How is everyone, everyone alright?" I asked as I was hugged again.

"Yeah everyone's fine, no injuries, accidents or anything else going on – we didn't know what the hell was going on after the Commander kicked us out of the room – next thing we know is your being escorted and orders from SIU and Halloran order us to have no contact with you. We tried everything to get you back – we know this isn't your fault!" Parker replied.

"Thirty nine days sequestered is a record and I'm apparently still under investigation by the Feds – that's why I needed to see you guys, I can't keep doing this! I'm SRU, I have your backs but because of some assholes power play within the SRU – I'm alone." I shot back.

I was pacing and fried, I just wanted home.

"We need to get you somewhere safe and warm for tonight and we can meet up and think things through; there has to be something we can do to get you out of this?" Ed whispered as the Comms unit kicked in.

The message was from the SRU asking for an update – it wasn't a voice I recognised.

"New guy?" I asked listening in.

They all nodded.

"Yeah, straight from the academy and has no love of our team; caught him going through personnel records a couple of days ago and when I challenged him he flung me a warrant for the search ." Spike replied.

"Well that sounds like he's been planted to keep an eye on you! What's Halloran been up to recently?" I inquired.

They looked at each other – crap I wasn't going to like this one!

"Is he dead? Missing? Man sushi somewhere?" I asked.

"He's under investigation himself by the Agency. They want to know why you were allowed to continue on in the SRU with all this going on; we tried to intervene considering what he did to protect you that night but were ordered back on pain of dismissal." Parker replied.

I turned around at that bit of news and frowned, things weren't adding up!

"What do you mean what he did to save me? He handed me over to the wolves and left me out to dry! I haven't seen anyone in over a month, I haven't been allowed inside my home for a month! I had to get the patrol car to drop me off at the bank so I could get money for clothes and supplies and then I had to find a hotel to live in! I was separated from everyone on a night that I needed you all!" I yelled back.

Parker took me by the shoulders as Spike and Ed took my hands, they knew that I was getting emotional again and all I wanted was to crawl into their safety and figure out what to do next.

"We will figure this out, we know this is hard but you have managed this far! We need to get going in case there is another call, but when the shift is finished; Spike can come over and try and figure things out with you!"

I shook my head at the suggestion – if anyone found out I was in contact with the team then I was a wanted fugitive and it risked everything everyone else had worked for in their lives.

"I need to know you alright Mac – come to the house then!" he whispered.

"Everyone's houses are under surveillance, they hooked up micro cams to the lights in the street a few weeks ago; for me to even get into this hotel and call you out like this I had to sew LEDs into my shirt – only way to scramble my face on the cameras!" I replied showing them the small lights along my collar.

Spike was chuckling to himself – I had seen it on a TV show and we tried it out with a lot of success; I shrugged my shoulders and grinned.

"How about tomorrow at the park when we are on patrol – its remote enough and I can set up some scramblers in case we are followed?" Spike chipped in.

I nodded and we agreed the time and meeting point. I hugged everyone hard and told them to tell everyone else that it's all good and I would see them soon! They headed back down the elevator and I slid down the wall with the exhaustion I was feeling from earlier on.

Hours later

It was just past 10pm the next night and I was walking down the old pathway along from the waterfall bridge where we were going to meet, the snow had started and thankfully was pretty light for the time being so none of us where going to get soaked; I slipped down the embankment and headed to the bottom of the bridge walkway and spotted a couple of people; I checked with the view finder that it was them and headed over.

"Guys!" I called gently as I turned the corner.

I stopped dead, it was Sam and Jules but they were being held by a face I hoped never to see again, I raised my weapon and walked slowly towards them, checking both sides in case there were any other surprises.

"Sorry Mac, we got here early and got surprised!"

I looked to the man holding them at gunpoint, how the hell was this going to work out without one of us getting shot? I caught a flick of white from further up the trail and saw a signal from Spike – they had seen what had happened and were coming down stealth approach.

I stared at the man and clenched my jaw, keeping my anger at bay.

"Nathan, let them go, it's me you want!"

He chuckled; the son of a bitch actually chuckled at me!

"Oh I've wanted you for a while Mackenzie, but sloppy seconds to an Italian – you disappoint me! Thought you had better taste in men – or is he the only one who would take you so broken?"

Oh this bastard was so getting a bullet through his knee caps!

"I do have better taste in men, that's why I didn't want you, sure as hell didn't need your abusive lifestyle and friends in my life – as for my life now – you hurt one hair on my friends head and you will wish you were never born!" I shouted back.

He gripped Jules neck and squeezed, I stopped and stood still; the others were getting a flash bang ready and had started a five second count down until they released it behind Nathan. They counted it down and on the last second I shouted for them to close their eyes and duck.

All hell broke loose as the team came running down the hill and Sam and Jules got out of the way; the flash bang had hit Nathan on the back and had injured him – he shot at us as he ran – I dodged behind a bin and then chased after him down the walkway towards the south side of the park. I could hear the others running after us and telling me to wait up, if I did that though then I would lose him and this was going to end tonight either way!

"Nathan STOP!" I shouted over the noise of the waterfall.

He let off another couple of rounds in my direction and both missed me, I checked behind me as saw everyone still running and catching up. I turned around the corner and saw him climbing over a fence on top of a small hill; I sprinted up the hill and jumped over the fence, I went down hard over the other side and saw the razor wire sticking out of my thigh. I couldn't pull it out without causing some major damage and he was getting away from me. I picked myself back up and started to run as fast as I could along the industrial street in the direction he headed; I slipped beside the wall and listened for any noises, I could hear ragged breathing and something clicked into place.

'High respiration rate, uneven breath sounds and tight gasping on every breath after exertion – these are the symptoms of lung damage caused by infection after a gunshot wound to the cardio-vascular system – prognosis is long term respiratory problems and medication treatment including GTN for Angina and Inhalers for bronchial dilation.'

I snapped back to the moment and thought out how to best get him into the open, I checked the corner for any signs of him and headed into the alleyway where I heard the sounds come from; I had just got around the corner and a set of truck lights lit up the whole place and the truck sped down towards me – I ran back up the alleyway and slammed into a stationary car and over the other side of the way as the truck slammed past the car and pinned me behind it and the garbage bin. I lay there gasping for breath as the adrenaline kicked in and I closed my eyes to calm my breathing and centre my focus.

"Mac – where are you?" a group of voices called.

I sat up and pulled myself up using the now smashed car door, I waved to them and limped over before I sat on the kerb and holstered my gun; I picked out one of the razor blades from the wire and gasped as I shoved some fresh snow on it and used my scarf as a pressure dressing. Ed and Sam came running over and Sam passed me the first aid kit as he rolled me onto my side so he could see the other bits of metal in my thigh; there was only two other bits but they were deep and would require stitches at the hospital.

"You need to get to hospital, not bleeding too badly but they are rusty as hell!" Sam said checking the wounds.

I shook my head and scooped some more fresh snow onto my leg to numb it out, it was helping and I growled as he prodded the wound.

"Guys, you can't take me in and you can't call the EMTs, get me to the bus stop and I'll get myself to St. Mike's Hospital on my own. You all okay, no injuries?" I replied to Ed who was contacting Parker on his phone.

They all nodded and waited as Ed finished the call.

"We'll take you by car then and drop you off with a blank phone we picked up for you – least then we can keep in contact!" Sam replied.

"No it's good, you can't be seen with me and you need to get in to the barn! I got a picture of one of the guys who Nathan was with – look familiar?" I asked handing him the old phone I had used for its camera.

They both looked up at each other and nodded to me, Sam dressed the wound up and helped me stand as everyone else came to join us after going around the fence and not over it! I was automatically hugged again and laughed as I joked about the evening exercises!

"By any chance is this guy your new desk jockey?" I inquired.

I showed them the picture on my phone and they all looked.

"Yeah, so we were right about him being planted there!" Ed replied.

"Get Spike to open my files at home, inside the yellow folder will be pictures of the units families, including Toth's – get him to age the young boy – my guess is that is him and he is working with his Uncle."

"Is that's true then we have the connection – I can contact the squad and they can take Toth down and get everyone cleared by tomorrow night!" Sam replied.

"No, the squad are on duty, I thought of the same idea last week but they are abroad on business; but I have another person in mind for this. Sam, contact your old CO and ask him for Darren to be recalled if he is not on active and that he needs to be here for 0600. He should be in Alaska right now on training, he knows what is going on and can handle himself." I replied.

"Your buddy is a Navy Seal right?" Parker asked.

"Yeah, he's been my contact for the last few weeks giving me Intel when he can, we've worked out a good few of the leads and I covered the tracks by going on a tour of Canada. We have everything we need to take these guys down and get cleared – all we needed was Toth to come out and try and get me – I just didn't expect it would happen tonight. Guys I'm sorry, he must have been tracking me even thought I was careful – I never caught on!"

"You did remarkably well Mackenzie considering you are not a SF tactician," Sam replied as Jules gave me a hug.

"Street smart with a clear head – should have seen her in Scotland when we got caught in a pub fight in Glasgow – that was a good night!" Spike replied.

"Yeah it was – you had one hell of a hangover after that bottle of Glenmorangie we won and started with Morag after the beer – you haven't touched spirits since!" I replied laughing.

Wordy and Ed had gone to get the SUVs and they came around the corner at speed since we could hear the sirens of the patrol cars coming to investigate the sound of gunfire in the area. Wordy came running over and gave me a massive hug, I had missed everyone and was worried about him after the trick they had played on him. He had assured me that everyone was fine and no lasting issues – also that Shelley was going to make a huge meal for us once this was all dealt with!

"Alright guys, get out of here because if they find you then you're screwed! I'll head along the main road through the park and then back to the hospital; give Darren the call and tell him to contact me only once it's over. It may be a couple of days, but either way it'll be over – now go!" I shouted as the police lights became visible down the street.

I spun on my heels and headed down the pathway towards the park again as the rain started and thankfully washed away the small pool of blood from my leg wound – least the police would have one less job to do tonight! I got to the top of the hill where the team had run down from and saw the SUVs switch on their lights and sirens.

"Keep the peace guys!" I whispered as I got to the bus stop.