As Mac neared the crime scene, someone said, "The victim isn't dead! Get an ambulance!"

Mac went through the tape and saw Sid lying on the sidewalk. "Sid!" he exclaimed. He knelt beside Sid. "Sid, what happened?"

"It was her, Mac," Sid said. "How could she do this?"

"Get an ambulance!" Mac yelled.

Sheldon came up to them then. He found the stab wounds on Sid's chest. "You hang in there, Sid," Sheldon said.

Mac noticed a white envelope sticking in Sid's pocket. He pulled it out and opened it:

I told you, one by one, Mac. Who will be next?

Mac stared at it a moment. Then he got his mind back on Sid. "What did it say?" Sheldon asked.

"I'll tell you later," Mac replied, as he was putting pressure on one of Sid's wounds. "Hang in there, Sid," he said. "You can't die! We won't let her win!"

Sid gripped Mac's arm. "Hold on!" Mac said.

They heard sirens coming. Soon, the paramedics were there and they got Sid into the ambulance. Sheldon went with him. Mac watched the ambulance pull away. Don looked at Mac. "He'll make it," Don said.

"He has to," Mac said. He looked at the blood stain on the sidewalk. "We have to find her before she tries to kill someone else."

Mac scanned the crime scene thoroughly. He got blood samples and everything. He found a long hair that could belong to Peyton. He also found something else on the sidewalk. Mac shined his light on it and stared at it. It looked like it came off the bottom of someone's shoe. He got a sample and put it in a glass vial. He hoped it would lead them somewhere.

Don squatted beside Mac. "What you got?" Don asked.

"Something that probably came off someone's shoe," Mac answered. "Hopefully, it will lead us somewhere. We can't let her learn about this. I want everything kept quiet, away from the press."

"You got it."

"If she thinks we are about to find her, she'll move again."

"Right."

When Mac was done, he went back to the lab. Stella was still there. She had heard what happened. "I can't believe this," she said.

"Believe it," Mac replied. He went into the lab and opened the forensics kit, then he closed it right back. "Get Adam in here and have him make sure there are no bugs in here."

Stella went to get Adam. Soon, he was there, and scanned the whole area. There was nothing. Mac opened the forensics kit. He took out the vial. "I want you to analyze that down to the bare elements," he said to Stella.

Stella took the vial and went over to the lab table. She put on her lab coat and got to work. Mac took the blood samples and analyzed them all along with the hair he had found. It matched Peyton's alright. He knew she was the one who did this anyway. Sid had said it was her. Mac got his phone and called Sheldon.

"Hello," Sheldon said.

"Sheldon, how is Sid?" Mac asked.

"He's still in surgery. That stab wound was so close to his heart, it went into the pericardium, Mac."

"Is he going to make it?"

"We have to wait and hope."

Mac pressed his eyes. "Stay there with him, Sheldon."

"I will."

Mac put his phone away. "How is he?" Stella asked, as she and Adam waited for Mac to say.

Mac told them what Sheldon said. "He's lucky it wasn't any closer to his heart," Mac said.

"That analysis is almost finished," Stella said.

Mac leaned on the lab table. "What will she do next?"

"I guess we should all be more cautious," Adam said.

"Very. I don't want you to take any chances."

"Should we call Danny and Lindsey and let them know?"

"Yes. You do that."

"Yes, sir." Adam left the lab.

The blood samples were soon finished. All the blood belonged to Sid. Mac didn't think Sid had much of a chance to put up a fight. Stella finished the analysis of the dirt. "It has sand, sphagnum moss and potting soil in it, along with syrup," Stella said. "Why would it have syrup in it?"

"What kind of syrup?" Mac asked.

"Maple, what else?"

Stella followed Mac to the conference room. He brought up the map of the city and typed in old Maple syrup factories. There were three, so he narrowed it down with the sand, sphagnum moss and potting soil. "It has to be close to a garden center to have all that," Mac said.

Soon, they were down to only one place. "That has to be it," Stella said. "What next?"

"We're going to get her."

Mac called Don and told him what was going on and told him the address. "I have to change my shirt," Mac said. He went to the locker room and got his fresh t-shirt out. Then he went back out and he and Stella headed for the elevator. Adam came after them. "I want to go too," he said.

Mac looked at him a moment. "Sure, come on."

They went down to the Avalanche. When they arrived, Don already had a swat team there waiting. Mac, Stella and Adam got into their bulletproof vests, and just then, Danny arrived. "I want in on this too," he said, and dunned his vest.

"We have to be careful in there," Mac said to them all. "She could have another bomb waiting. Don't hesitate to shoot. She is dangerous."

They all headed into the building. Mac sent everyone in different directions, and he and Stella went up the stairs. Mac got more nervous as they got further down the hall. He knew Peyton could be up here. It was dark, and they couldn't see much. Mac didn't want his light on because it would give her something to aim at.

They came to a room at the end of the hall. Mac and Stella did what they usually did, one on each side of the door. Mac gripped the knob and shoved the door open. Then, they aimed their weapons inside. They walked in slowly. There was barely enough light to see where they were going. Suddenly, Mac heard Stella gasp. Mac whirled around in time to see that someone had grabbed Stella from behind. Peyton was standing in front of her aiming her weapon at Mac. She shoved the door closed and locked it. "Give up, Mac," she said. "You'll never be able to shoot me."

"Don't kid yourself," Mac said. "Let her go. She has nothing to do with this."

"Oh, doesn't she? She has plenty to do with it."

"You're not walking out of here, Peyton. There's a whole swat team down there."

"But you won't let them shoot because you don't want to injure your beloved."

Stella gasped as the bodyguard gripped her throat. "Drop your weapon," Peyton said, "Or you can watch him snap her neck."

Mac glared at her. "Let her go," he said, through gritted teeth. "If you hurt her, I'll kill both of you."

"But it won't bring her back, will it?"

Mac was perfecting his aim on the bodyguard's forehead, while Peyton was talking to him. He had to take the chance. It was the only way to get Stella away from them. "Don't try it," Peyton warned.

Mac fired. Stella felt the bodyguard stiffen and then fall backward, and she fell with him. Before Mac could get his aim back to Peyton, she fired at his leg and then at a more personal area. He felt a bullet go into his leg and one into his pelvic area. He aimed at Peyton's chest and fired three times. He watched the shocked look on her face as she fell to her knees and then to the floor.

Mac's arms fell to his side. He felt sick. He felt his weapon slipped from his hand. "Mac!" Stella exclaimed.

Mac felt himself falling, but he didn't know when he hit the floor. "Mac!" Stella screamed. She could see blood spurting from the wound in his leg. She knew an artery had been hit. She heard Don and the others coming in the door. Don flipped the lights on and saw what had happened.

Danny ran over to Mac. "He's bleeding!" Stella exclaimed.

Don got his radio and called for the paramedics downstairs to get up there. He saw the blood pool on the floor spreading. Danny and Stella both were pressing on Mac's leg just above the wound. Stella was crying. She had seen too many people die like this. "Mac, you hang on!" Danny yelled.

Soon, the paramedics were there. They took over the situation and got Mac down to the ambulance as soon as possible. Stella got in to ride with him. The paramedic in the back got an IV started in Mac's arm and put the blood pressure monitor on him along with the heart monitor. A minute later, the heart monitor flatlined. "NO!" Stella screamed.

The medic began to pump Mac's heart, as Stella checked for his breath. She began giving him mouth to mouth resuscitation. She was crying the whole time, but she managed to keep going. Mac's heart finally began beating again, and he coughed after he took in a loud breath. "Mac, please don't leave me," Stella whispered in his ear.

When they arrived at the hospital, Mac was taken to surgery immediately. Stella hated being out there in the hall alone. She sat in a chair and cried. She looked at Mac's blood on her hands and clothes. They had barely gotten him here in time, if they had.

After about two hours, the doctor came out and told Stella that Mac was lucky. The bullet had torn his femoral artery. "What about the other bullet?" Stella asked.

"It didn't hit anything vital," the doctor said. "It just barely missed his External Iliac artery. If he had been hit in that one too, I don't think he would have made it. He's going to be very sore for a while. The bullet was very close to his groin."

Stella swallowed. She knew what Peyton had been trying to do. If Mac had not killed that woman, she would have killed her with her bare hands. "When can I see him?" she asked.

"Not yet. He's in recovery. He has to be monitored closely for a few hours. After that, you can see him." The doctor looked at Stella's hands. "Why don't you clean up and get some coffee? I'll let you know if anything happens."

"Thanks."

Stella went into the lounge and washed her hands. She cried as she watched Mac's blood go down the drain. She didn't know what she would do if he died. She loved him, and she felt like he had been taken away from her since they got married. She wanted the chance for them to get to know each other and be together again. She wanted to watch that fire come back into his eyes and that determination that was Mac Taylor. Stella was sure she would see it. It was still there. He had been through so much, it was just buried inside him. She would dig it out, because she knew it was there.