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A/N: Thanks for all the reviews! :) I'm not sure if we're leaving tonight or early tomorrow morning, so I will try to get another chapter or two up before I go, but in case this is my last one before I leave, I just want to thank you all for sticking with this story despite the many frustrations I put you through. I can't wait to finish this story and see how you all feel about it! Your reviews have meant the world to be, whether they were angry, happy, humerous, murderous, or anything in between. :)

Enjoy!

Chapter Seventy Five:

Sara and I sat at the table, and I watched her run her hands through her hair in agitation. I took her hand. "…It's going to be okay. He heard her… she's alive."

She nodded, putting her face in her hands. "I know… I'm just so afraid."

I nodded. "I know… but we'll get this all worked out, I—"

My phone rang. I pulled it out—Ecklie again. I'd been ignoring his calls all night. I silenced the phone and replaced it. Once again, Sara raised an eyebrow at me and I shook my head to tell her it was nothing. It rang again, and another look told me it was him again. I repeated the process, and Sara frowned.

"My boss," I offered as explanation, and then she seemed to relax, nodding and leaning back in her seat. I took the moment to go over something I'd noticed in the message—the kidnapper had said he must come without the police, the wife, or the scientist. He made no stipulation about his mother… which made me question what that meant. His mother had shown up later… which meant that if he didn't know about her, he didn't have the house bugged and no one presently in the room was feeding him information. …Someone in the lab, maybe? Or someone who had been at the house earlier and had left before Susan arrived?

Sara sat up suddenly, alarm in her eyes. "…Where's Jace? He was just going to get the directions but…"

"Susan is out there. …I think they're having a… conversation…"

"…Why do you think that?" She frowned.

"Before the door closed, I heard her apologizing to him…"

"Oh. …They've been out there a long time," she muttered, slouching back in her chair. She frowned, glancing at the door, and then looked back at the table. "…What are we going to do, Gil? Maybe we should give him what he wants and…"

"And let Jace get killed in the process?" I suggested mildly, not surprised when she scowled at me. "No… we need to wait."

She nodded again, laying her head on her arms on the table, and I turned my attention to the TV that was still on to a national news station, mostly to distract myself while we waited for my ex-lover to have it out with the husband of my present love…who was her son. …God, Sara was right—this was far too much like a soap opera for my liking.

The anchor was talking about a big bill being voted on in the senate, but I couldn't for the life of me focus enough to determine what the bill was about or whether I might support it or not. It was more like numb half-awareness as my eyes focused on the moving colors rather than the pictures themselves. It was when the story changed that I found myself slowly giving my full attention.

"In other news, the cleanup efforts along the Western edge of Central America continue after the devastating oil spill last month threatened the diverse, protected plant and wildlife species found along the shores of those countries. Costa Rica seems to have been the hardest hit—we go to our correspondent, live in Costa Rica, for details emerging about who might have been responsible for this devastating accident."

I sat up straighter. "Sara… That oil spill last month," I said, knowing she would know what I was talking about without further explanation. "…It didn't have anything to do with Jace's company, did it? …His old company?" The fact that it was right off the Costa Rican border made me wary.

She glanced up at me, head still on her arms, frowning. "Yeah, actually, it did. I mean, not his company, but the oil company they were partnered with. …I remember when I first found out about it. I asked wasn't he so glad he wasn't involved with all of that anymore..."

"What did he say?"

She frowned. "…Acted a little weird, I guess. …Why?"

I pointed to the screen, but though Sara turned to it, I could tell she didn't understand the link… she thought I was merely interested in his ex-company's involvement. She turned back, resting her head back down, her eyes closing. I focused my attention instead.

"…sta Rican Government had discovered that the agency which regulates offshore drilling was not even checking this particular company's oil platforms. Javier Acosta, head of the agency in question, left the country prior to this revelation and is wanted for questioning concerning what officials are calling a blatant disregard for the laws he was supposed to be upholding. We managed to procure some video of the man in question from anonymous sources… take a look."

I watched—it looked more like a home video than anything professional, and the man was surrounded by other people whose faces were blurred out. He was laughing, clearly involved in a party of some kind… a celebration, a birthday maybe? And despite that obvious involvement, his right hand was constantly moving, playing with something… something unclear. It was small and square and metal and…

"Oh god, I need a fucking cigarette." Sara moaned, and it clicked into place. A cigarette lighter. It was a nervous habit… I put two and two together in an instant—Jace had made some dirty deal with this man, Acosta, on behalf of his old company, probably while Sara and I were bug-hunting and holed up in her cabin… and now that the deal had blown up in Acosta's face, he was tracking down the name and face he remembered from his betrayal.

"Hey…" One of the cops said, gaining our attention. "…Weren't the suitcases with the money right here…?" Sara and I both turned our heads to him in surprise, noting the space where they had been only a moment ago… or so we thought. How long had they been missing?

"…Where's Jace?" I said, standing up in alarm. Sara frowned at me.

"Outside with his mom, like you said." Sara said, not quite where I was with the revelations yet.

I ran to the door and found the woman on the step, alone. "Where is he?" I demanded again, and she shook her head.

"Gone."

"Gone?"

She nodded and I screamed back into the house. "Sara—he's gone. We have to go, now!"

She was there in a moment. "…What?"

"He left without us… with the money. We have to figure out where he went…"

"The directions are there." Susan said lazily, gesturing to the lawn.

"Why didn't you tell us?" I roared, rushing over to the slip of paper and finding one typed line—an address.

"He didn't want you to know." She replied, softly, puffing on a cigarette.

Sara snapped, "And if he ends up dead because of this, I'm sure that fact will be very comforting to you."

"Sara… Do you know where this is?"

She hurried over to me, glanced at the address, and nodded. "I'll start the car—you tell the black and whites."

I hurried inside, yelling at the officers who were already peering towards the front door, trying to ascertain what all the yelling was about, and a moment later I had run past Susan again and flung myself into Sara's vehicle. Tires squealed as she reversed out of the driveway and took off driving. "…You have a weapon?" I asked her, desperately wishing I had taken mine… or hell, just worn it last night… it would have been on my belt then, because I hadn't stopped at home between the lab and the airport.

She shook her head. "I'm not a CSI anymore, remember? No service weapon."

"Jace?" I asked, expecting the answer to be no. I was surprised, then, when she nodded.

"A handgun… he has a gun safe in his car. …I wouldn't let him keep it in the house, with Ayla getting into everything."

"…So he'll have it on him then."

Her eyes were wide, but she didn't seem to be decided on whether that knowledge was a good or a bad thing. …I could empathize—I didn't want Jace going in unarmed, but then I also didn't want him firing blindly at the people who had Ayla. Sara pressed on the gas and we sped up, the officers finally on our tails now, lights flashing and sirens blaring through the night.

"…Maybe we're freaking out over nothing." Sara said, attempting to be optimistic. "I mean… maybe following this guy's direction will work itself out. He'll take the money, give Jace Ayla… by the time we get there, it could all be over and she could be safe…"

I glanced over at her, noting the dangerous speed at which she was driving and wondering if I should break bad news to her at the moment. I inhaled slowly. "…I don't think it'll happen that way, Sara."

"…Why?"

"…I figured out the sound."

"What?" She glanced at me and I tensed.

"The road, Sara…"

"I'm fine!" She snapped, irritated, and despite myself, I felt a weak smile tug at my lips.

"It's a cigarette lighter… the guy from the news, who fled Costa Rica… the video they showed had him fiddling with one. …I think Jace must have made some sort of deal with him, for his company, and now that this guy's life has fallen apart…"

"Oh god." She said, her voice now a whimper, but I continued, finishing my thoughts, despite knowing she would suspect as much.

"…If they made a deal with him, you know it involved money… and if he's got the money to come here and live inconspicuously, you also know that he probably doesn't really need or want any more. …This is about revenge… which means that Jace following his directions doesn't matter. He just wanted a guarantee of a clear shot."

"Oh god!" She wailed, biting her bottom lip hard. I put a hand on her leg, rubbing gently, trying to calm her, but it didn't seem to help… she had white knuckles on the steering wheel and once again sped up.

Despite the absolutely breakneck speed at which we were moving, it seemed like it took forever to even get close… one of the officers called my cell when we turned off the exit, asking for the address so they'd know when to kill the lights and sirens. He also informed me there was a swat team on the way and that we were to wait until they arrived to do anything.

I gave him the address and agreed, but both Sara and I knew that it was a lie. We would both be flying out of the car the minute she put it in park. …I didn't like that idea, come to think of it. I cleared my throat. "…Sara, honey… when we get there… I'll jump out and… and get an idea of what's going on… you know, um… take in the… lay of the land. You wait in the car and—"

"No."

I glanced at her in surprise and she was leveling me with a glare that was as hard as steel. "…Sara—"

"That's my daughter and my husband that this mad man has… I'm not sitting in the car while you get the 'lay of the land'. Sorry, Gil."

I frowned, thinking that I would never, ever recover if I lost both Ayla and Sara in one night. I was trying to think of an argument that could stop her, but I didn't have the chance… we took another turn, and all of a sudden the lights and sirens were gone—we had to be close. "Sara—"

"Stop, Gil."

My phone rang again and I pulled it out, expecting it to be the police behind us—but no, it was Ecklie again. …He had to be mad if he was still up and calling this late. With irritation, I silenced the phone and pocketed it again, and then all of a sudden we were skidding to a stop, Sara was throwing the car into park, and then her door was open. I fumbled for my handle and we were out of the car in a moment, racing towards the warehouse.

When the clear, distinct sound of gunshots rang through the air, I didn't think—I threw myself over Sara's body, tackling her to the ground, covering her up… I could not lose both of them. It was the only thing I kept thinking… the loss of either… of any… would be unbearable. But both…

She was shaking beneath me, and the silence around us was deafening. She gasped, "Gil… Gil, they've stopped. …We have to…"

I rose off her, slowly, looking around myself warily. …This was stupid for so many reasons, but she was already on her feet, racing headlong towards the door of the offending warehouse, hair flung backwards with her speed. And unarmed though we both were, I wasn't going to let her go alone. I could only follow her.