Mac was suddenly awakened when his phone rang with a text message. He sat up and looked at it. It was about a crime scene. Mac rubbed his face and yawned. He stood up and stretched as he looked around to see if anyone else was in the lab but everyone had gone home. He supposed they would get the text and be there by the time he was.

Mac got his forensics kit and headed for the elevator. He waited for the elevator and went down to the parking garage where the Avalanche was. He looked at his watch again. It was a little after 2 in the morning, as usual. He did not know why people always called in murders this time of the morning but he was on his way. He did not know how to call his "bodyguard", so he supposed he would just have to see if he was paying attention.

As Mac was leaving the parking garage, Don came from the elevator yawning. He saw the Avalanche pulling out and wondered where Mac was going. He thought he was staying in his office tonight. He still did not like some strangers telling Mac what to do, and he figured those guys operated above the law…or thought they did. He did not like people who took the law into their own hands.

Mac saw no sign of that black Cadillac when he got out onto the street. He wondered what this crime scene would be about. Just then his phone rang. He pressed the button so he could talk in the Avalanche. "Taylor," he answered.

"You're on your way to a fake crime scene," John said in his raspy voice.

Mac frowned. "What?"

"Just keep going. They're going to try and ambush you at this fake crime scene."

"And I assumed you're going to be there?"

"Yes."

"How did they get a fake message to my phone that looks like it came from the dispatch?"

"They can do anything."

"So what is the plan?"

"We'll have to wing it until we see what they're going to do."

Mac did not like the sound of that. "Are we going to have any backup?" he asked. "I want to call Don Flack and get him there."

"Go ahead but you might get more people killed. It's easier to get one out than several."

"Don knows how to handle himself. He's been in bad situations plenty of times."

"I'm sure he has. Just go one like you're doing and make sure you have your bulletproof vest on."

"I do."

"Good. We're about to catch a hit woman."

The call ended and Mac considered whether he wanted to let Don in on this. He knew John knew what he was doing but he knew Don knew what he was doing too. He thought John did not want Don there so that he would not get him while he was at it. Mac thought John must not be completely out of the criminal element if he was operating in a secret manner like he was. However, he knew the man had saved his life. He must deserve some credit for that.

As Mac got closer to the crime scene, he was nervous. He thought of Christine. He did not want to be killed like this before he even got to marry her. He thought maybe they should get married and move away from New York. He thought he wanted to retire. He did not want to be in danger all the time and gone from home all the time after he got married again. He had put Claire through that, but he did not want to do that again. He hoped Christine would want to have another kind of life than what they had.

Mac arrived at the crime scene and looked around the area. He was at an abandoned warehouse. His phone rang. "Taylor," he answered.

"Get out of the truck," John said.

"Why? So they can shoot me full of holes?"

"No. She wants to get you herself and she always aims for the heart."

Mac frowned. "What if she's using armor penetrating bullets?"

"Trust me."

Mac blew out a breath and then got out of the Avalanche. He moved around to the back of the truck and waited to see what would happen. He drew his weapon and looked to see if he could see John's black Cadillac but he did not see anything. He knew he must be around here somewhere though. He seemed to always know what was going on.

Suddenly, Mac saw some movement at the corner of the warehouse. He stared and saw the figure move to the next corner. He could tell it was a woman. She was dressed in what looked like a black body suit which definitely revealed that she was a woman. "Stop right there!" Mac yelled.

The woman fired at Mac twice but he got behind the Avalanche as the bullets hit the back corner of it. He moved around the Avalanche toward the front, and suddenly, John was behind him. Mac jumped as he saw him. "Are you trying to get yourself shot?" Mac asked.

"I would prefer not to," John replied. "But you have five guys coming up behind you to help her, so we have to move from here."

Mac moved closer to the front of the Avalanche and looked around the front. "She's over there somewhere," he said.

"We have to move," John whispered.

John started moving toward the area where the woman was, and Mac started to follow him although he thought it was crazy, but they could not stay where they were. As Mac got from behind the Avalanche, he was thankful he had the bulletproof vest on because the woman shot him twice right in the chest. Mac fell backward and John fired five rounds in the direction of the assailant. He grabbed Mac by the arm and helped him up and they ran, firing into the alley as they went that way.

John and Mac finally reached the other wall. Mac held his chest and groaned with the pain of the impact of those bullets. "She knows you're protected now," John said. "She won't aim for your chest next time."

Mac frowned. "Thanks for that warning," he said. He got his phone and called Don and told him what was going on.

"I'm on my way," Don said as he was leaving the bathroom. He had just taken a shower and was about to go to bed.

Mac put his phone away. "So what do we do now?" he asked.

"We move," John said. "We do the unexpected."

Mac was surprised when John went around the corner of the alley where the hit woman was supposedly hiding. He knew the guy wanted to catch her, but he did not want to get killed in the process. When they got into the alley, the woman was running the other way. She knew she was becoming the hunted. She was overconfident after all the things she had done to Mac and had underestimated him and his friends.

As they were going through the alley, Mac heard sirens. He knew Don was coming and he would see those others out there. Mac wanted to get this hit woman. He remembered another time that he had tracked down a hit woman. He had shot her. He hoped he could get this one without killing her because he wanted to know who hired her. If they were not found out, they could just hire someone else.

The woman left the alley and went to the left. Mac and John snuck up to the edge of the building to look. The alley she had gone down was darker than where they were now so they could not see her in that black outfit she was wearing. "Now what?" Mac asked. "She could be down there waiting for us."

John pressed his ear and whispered something. He looked at Mac. "Let's just see," he said.

Mac was getting his phone ready and bringing up his infrared software that could detect body heat. He had used it before to catch someone in the dark. He squatted and held the phone up at the corner of the building. He did not see anything for a moment but then he saw that the woman was moving down the alley and staying in the shadows. "She's still going toward the other end," Mac whispered.

Mac and John went into the alley and got on the opposite side from where the woman was. She fired at them, but did not hit them. Mac saw her go around the corner of that alley and they moved on down the alley to pursue her. When they got to the other end of the alley, she had gone to the right and was running down a long pier toward a boat dock where several boats were moored. "If she gets in one of those boats, we'll lose her," Mac said.

John fired at the woman, but did not hit her and she fired back at them. "Stop!" Mac yelled as they stopped beside the poles at the beginning of the pier. "N.Y.P.D.!"

"I don't think she's going to stop," John said.

Mac looked at him. "I have to identify myself anyway," he replied.

They headed down the pier as the woman was getting closer to the docks. She went around the corner of the pier that went on around toward the boat docks. Mac and John were in full pursuit now. They ran down the pier and around the corner of the dock. The woman turned to fire at them again. She fired four times and then she was out of ammunition. She started running again.

Mac and John went after her faster now because she was not taking the time to reload. Mac's phone rang, but he did not have time to be distracted with a call. The woman got down the pier and jumped into a boat. Mac was sure she had that waiting for her there. "Stop!" he yelled as they arrived at the place but she was pulling away. Mac aimed and fired. He saw her body jerk as the bullet hit her. However, she kept going.

John fired and hit her in the leg because he realized she was wearing a bulletproof vest under that outfit. She gasped out loud as the bullet hit her but she was getting further away. John moved over to another boat and jumped in. "You coming?" he asked.

Mac got into the boat, dreading that cold wind that would be hitting them going across that water. They were soon speeding across the water after the assailant. "I hit her pretty bad in the leg," John said. "She won't get far."

Mac knew that was true. She would most likely bleed to death before they could get to her. He just hoped they could get her before she died so maybe they could get her to tell who hired her.

Soon, the woman stopped at a beach and got out of the boat. Mac could see that she was having trouble walking. John got the boat up there and they got out. "Stop now!" Mac yelled.

The woman looked around at him with a look of rage. "Never!"

Mac went on after her and finally ran her down and tackled her. She scratched his face but he grabbed her hands as John was coming up. "Handcuff her!" Mac said.

John got the cuffs and cuffed the woman's hands as Mac got her turned over on her stomach. Then he turned her over to try and stop the bleeding in her leg. "Tell me who hired you!" Mac demanded.

"I'm not telling you anything!" the woman said.

"Tell me!" He pressed on the wound on her leg. "You may die anyway! Tell me who hired you!"

She looked at Mac and spit at him. Mac glared at her. He had the thought of letting her bleed to death but he could not do that. He looked around to tell John to call some help, but he was not there. Mac looked all around him but John was nowhere to be seen. He could not believe he just left without helping him with this, but he heard sirens coming. Mac sighed. He could not help but wonder who that guy had been.

Mac looked at the woman again. "Tell me who hired you," he said as he could see that she was about to go into shock. He could not stop all the bleeding because the bullet had hit an artery. "Please!"

She looked at him. "You wouldn't be able to prove it," she said.

"Just tell me!"

"John Pressman."

Mac's shock showed on his face. "What? You can't be serious!"

"I don't have any reason to lie about it. He wants your job."

Mac frowned but he was still shocked. "And he paid you?" he asked.

"He paid me half and I would have gotten the rest after it was done. You won't be able to prove it."

"We'll see about that."

The woman looked at Mac. "Tell Alfred that I really loved him," she said. "That wasn't an act. Will you tell him?"

Mac stared at her a moment. "I'll tell him." He watched as the woman took her last breath and died.

"Mac!" Don Flack yelled as he was coming down the hill on the beach.

Mac looked up at him. "She's dead," he said.

Don stopped and looked at her. Did she tell you anything?" he asked.

Mac nodded. "Yeah," he said. "She told me who hired her."

"Who?"

Mac sighed and looked at Don. "We'll talk about it at the precinct."