I'd Come For You

Her eyes were trained to spot even the slightest movement. Her ears were trained to zone in on the tiniest sound. And her feet were trained to literally walk on air. But despite all of her CIA recon training, Shaw felt a bit of fear deep down inside. It was unusual to have such an emotion that she couldn't explain, so she looked at her watch. The two hours had come and passed.

"Where are they?" she asked rhetorically. A soft beep sounded in her ear.

"Where are you?" Reese asked his partner.

"Four hundred yards from the main house. You?"

"Making my rounds. Figured I might try to catch the bad guys before they get to us."

"How's Joss?"

"Angry."

"You think?" Shaw sidestepped a pile of leaves. Her foot accidentally landed on a stick. The sharp SNAP echoed thru the quiet forest.

"What was that?" Reese inquired.

"Something that is going to give our locations away." An unusual noise made her spin around. Her finger hovered on the trigger, ready to fire in a moment's notice. Making out the source of the disturbance, she relaxed – slightly - and went back to her reconnaissance.

"Bad guys?"

"Two squirrels fighting," she muttered in disgust. "I should have put the acorn out of its misery."

From his hidden position, Reese chuckled lightly.

Shaw leaned against a tree trunk. "Why couldn't Moretti get a penthouse in the city?" she wondered in exasperation.

Reese didn't disguise the humour in his tone. "What's wrong, Shaw? Don't you appreciate nature?"

"I don't mind nature. As long as it stays where it belongs, and I stay where I belong."

"If I didn't know any better, I would assume you hate being out of your element."

"You seem to fit right in." Shaw turned in a circle to do a 360 visual check. Nothing. "Maybe I should ask Elias to give this place to you and Joss as a wedding present."

"Thanks, but no thanks," Reese declined. He wasn't going to take the bait and imagine things were more than they already were. Life had taught him to take it one minute at a time. And right now wasn't the time nor the place to fantasize about what ifs.

Shaw crept ever so lightly to the tree located ten yards from where she stood. "Never hurts to ask. Have you heard from Finch?" she asked. At that moment a familiar beep interrupted and Finch spoke.

"Mr. Reese. Ms. Shaw," he greeted. "I have managed to locate Agent Bogle and the other bad guys."

"Where are they, Harold?" Reese inquired. His eyes scanned the area for anything amiss. Nothing but the quiet sounds of nature.

"They pulled up outside the perimeter of the forest and are making their way toward the main house," Finch relayed.

"I take it that Fusco and Quinn are with them?" Reese asked rhetorically.

"Not for long. The plan is to capture Quinn's daughter, and once they extract the information for the safe deposit box's location, they are going to kill all of you and bury you in Oyster Bay."

"How imaginative on their part," Reese quipped dryly.

"I don't hear any vehicles," Shaw remarked. Her ears were attuned to single out the sound of a car's engine, but the air was quiet. Still. Carefully she stepped forward from behind the tree. One foot in front of the other. She raised her weapon and lined her target.

"They're walking."

Reese paused sharply. "Walking? Where?" Suddenly on full alert, he looked around. Was that branch moving? Before he could process a response, an arm came out of no where. At the last second he saw it out of the corner of his eye and blocked it.

"Mr. Reese," Finch called out with concern in his voice. Grunts and the sound of punches being thrown were the only sound on the other end of the earpiece. "Mr. Reese?" Finch called again. Worry was in his voice.

"I think he might be a little busy with the bad guys, Finch," Shaw replied. Thru the ear piece she could hear a body hitting the leaves and fought the urge to run and help. "Wish I could be there."

"There is more than one in the group," Finch reminded her. "It's best if you stay where you are." The familiar sound of a silencer and then quiet filled the air waves. "Mr. Reese?" He had to remember to breathe.

Winded and wincing in pain from being kicked in the abdomen, Reese tried to catch his breath. "Yes, Harold?" he panted. He closed his eyes momentarily and tried to focus on something else.

"Are you okay?"

"Never been better," he answered. Pulling open the coat of his assailant, Reese rummaged thru the dead man's pockets for identification.

"I heard shots."

"I was careful this time." Reese flipped open the wallet and glanced at the name. It meant nothing to him. Tossing it to the ground, he rummaged a little more. Two clips and another gun. They had just increased their odds of survival. Standing up, he pocketed his winnings.

"Can't say the same for the bad guy, though," he finished. One down, many more to go. "Watch your back, Shaw," he warned.

"Sounded as though you needed the help," Shaw observed with mirth.

"I took care of it."

"Well, there is nothing happening here. Wait!" The tiniest sound made her turn around. A movement caught her attention. She dropped her voice to the lowest of a whisper as she relayed, "I see a bogey at three o'clock."

"Ms. Shaw, be careful," Finch cautioned.

"I got my target lined," she continued and leveled her weapon. The silence was deafening as the trio waited. The seconds passed painfully. Ten seconds later a deer emerged from the brush. Shaw lowered her weapon. "False alarm, boys. It's just a deer." She attempted to relax. "First squirrels, then Bambi; I can't wait to get back to the city were the vermin have two legs," she groused. "And not so much hair."

"And here I thought you were bonding with nature," Reese teased.

"I wouldn't call it bonding. But the deer is..." she searched for the correct word to describe the creature, "...cute. If you like furry, antlered, four legged pests carrying around lyme disease," she added for effect. But her lips tugged into a small smile.

Shaw made another visual check of the area. "There is nothing here. I think I should head back to..." Without warning, the deer froze, then turned and ran. The action was not lost on her.

"Something just spooked the deer. I don't think I'm a...ugh." She felt the cuff on the back of her head, then the world went black. Unconscious, she crumpled to the ground.

"Ms. Shaw," Finch called out. He quickly typed in the last coordinates into the database. The Machine beeped back with a location beacon once. Then it disappeared. "Ms. Shaw!"

"What's wrong, Finch?" Reese asked. Relaxation over, weapon drawn, his body and senses went on high alert. His eyes searched the area for anything amiss. Cautiously he stepped out from his hiding place. Every step was measured and controlled.

"I lost her, John," he admitted. "I think Bogle's men got her."

"Where was she?"

"About a quarter of a mile due east of your location," Finch supplied the information. "I think they disabled her phone."

"That would be the first thing I would do to keep the element of surprise on my side," Reese admitted. But something was nagging in the back of his brain. What was it?

"Do you think they killed her?" Finch wondered. He didn't want to think "worse case scenario" with one of his team, but they had had too many close calls in recent months. Eventually the odds were going to be against them.

"They will use her with Fusco and Quinn to draw me and Joss out." Joss! No longer concerned about the bad guys finding him, Reese turned around and hurried back along the path where he had come from.

Finch watch on the computer screen as his best friend's beacon began to retreat. "John! What are you doing? Ms. Shaw needs your help," he reprimanded.

"Shaw can take care of herself," Reese retorted breathlessly. "I need to get back to Joss." His feet hurried across the moss and leaf covered tundra. With each second that passed, he worried that he wouldn't get there in time. He had to make it!

"I think..." Finch began. If John could get to Shaw and help her, they could stop the bad guys before they made it to the house, he reasoned to himself. But he never got the chance to explain.

"Shaw was closer to the house than I am," Reese cut him off. "If they got her and put her out of commission, that means there are more than we figured and they know where to go next."

"But..."

"Joss is alone with Quinn's daughter." His heart nearly jumped into his throat as he picked up the pace. The memory of holding Joss under the street light on the cold sidewalk as she bled out in his arms, flashed before his eyes. His blood ran cold.

"John, don't do anything stupid," Finch cautioned using the same words Joss had spoken a couple of hours earlier.

"Too late for that, Harold.

"John..."

"You want to do something? This is about the right time to call in the cavalry. I have to go." Reese switched off the ear piece. Suddenly the sound of a gun shot shattered the quiet stillness of the forest.

With everything he had, Reese broke into a run. In his entire life, he had never run so fast. Until now.