Danger Zone

By Divamercury

Read and review! I hope you've enjoyed what you read of Danger Zone and I hope you'll keep reading it. By the way, I know I don't say this much, but everyone knows that I don't own any of this except my original characters like Mac, etc. Don't use them without my permission! Thanks!

Chapter 16

"Sara!"

Someone called my name and the sound reverberated through the hall of the building I was inside of. Upon further inspection, I found that I was in a warehouse.

Not another one,' I thought. Do criminals ever have original thoughts? Or are the costs of renting these places cheaper than anything else? Where am I now?'

"Sara!" the voice called again. I looked around, trying to find the person who was calling me. When I looked to the end of the hall, I saw that it was Raven Cole that was calling me. I ran to her, stopping about two feet away.

"Raven? What are you doing here?"

"I'm here to help you, Sara." Raven pointed into a room on her left. "He is in there."

"What? Who?"

"The one you seek, Sara. He needs your help. Hurry; he's waiting," Raven said, ushering me inside.

"What about you? Are you coming in?" I asked.

She shook her head, smiling slightly. "You need to do this on your own. But I will be here if you need me. I'll keep a look out for the goons," she said with a wink.

Cautiously I made my way into the room. It was an enormous room with a wire catwalk about seven feet off the ground stretching all around the perimeter. It was empty save one chair that seemed to be bolted to the floor, and in that chair

"Sara!"

"Ian! Oh, God, I've been looking everywhere for you!" I said, running up to him. "Are you all right?" I knelt by him.

"I can honestly say that I have been better, but under the circumstances I'm fine," he said.

"Good. Now hold still." The Witchblade activated and I used it to break the chains binding Ian. He stood a bit shakily, since he had been off his feet for a while, and the two of us made our way toward the exit and freedom.

We hadn't yet reached the door when Raven suddenly flew backwards into the room, having been pushed violently, and she landed with a sickening thud on the concrete. She didn't rise. Ian and I both snapped our attention to her, running over to her side to see if she was all right. Ian roused her and she looked around, glaring over my shoulder. I turned and stood up, Ian with me, as we looked at the person who had, contrary to all my thoughts, put Raven in that position. We found ourselves staring down the barrel of Jake McCartey's Glock.

"Jake, what the hell is going on here? Get that goddamned gun out my face; I'm your partner for God's sake."

"Could have fooled me, Pez. What do you think you're doing? We've got this guy with charges pending and you're helping him walk out of here?"

"What do you mean, charges pending? He hasn't done anything to justify this," I said, gesturing to the chair.

"Oh, but he has, Petzini."

I cringed. Dante had finally appeared on the scene.

"Good work, McCartey," he said, clapping the rookie on the shoulder. My eyes widened, then darted to Ian. He nodded slightly. I couldn't believe it. I looked back at Jake. "I can't believe you, McCartey. You're one of the people making my life a hell! You traitor; you don't deserve that badge."

"Well, thank you so much for your input, Petzinias usual you haven't been able to keep your thoughts to yourself. I can't tell you how much it pleases me to do this," Dante sneered.

About seven cops appeared out of the woodwork, four restraining me and three trying to handle Ian. I struggled but got nowhere. I knew this was the end for me. Dante leveled his gun at me and fired, and time nearly stopped. The bullet's casing slowly dropped to the floor with a light clink, spinning and showing its bull tattoo while the bullet itself crawled toward me, rotating at a pace so deliberate I knew that there was no chance for me. I watched it as it came creeping in my direction, trying to activate the Witchblade and failing, and then I blinked. Time resumed, the cops let go of me, and I hit the floor. I wasn't alone in my downward trip, so I, having my eyes closed, assumed I had taken one of the cops down with me.

This is it. I'm done. Is this what it's like to die? At least it doesn't hurtwait just one second. If I'd gotten shot, there would most assuredly be pain.'

Right before I opened my eyes, I felt the drops on my forehead. One, two, three. They startled me out of my stupor and I finally raised my eyelids. I then realized why I hadn't gotten shot. Ian, apparently, had broken free from those restraining him and had taken the bullet for me. His face hovered over me, and I realized that the drops on my forehead had been drops of Ian's blood

I screamed bloody murder, sitting up rapidly. I took in my surroundings, trying to calm myself down and realizing that I wasn't in the Bulls' building but in the upstairs bedroom of the Associates' warehouse.

There are way too many warehouses in this city,' I managed to think in the midst of my shock. Mac was sitting by my bed looking terrified.

"Pez? You okay? Damn, you scared me. You were thrashing around and screaming like a banshee and I had to wake you up," she said, gesturing to her hand. In it she held her necklace, which most likely had just been touched to the stone of the Witchblade.

I tried to calm myself down, breathing deeply. My dream couldn't have been a good omen. Suddenly I felt the drops again and flinched, looking for their source. Through the room's only window leading out to the darkening sky, I could just make out that it was raining rather heavily, and apparently there was a leak directly over my bed, which must have created the most frightening part of my dream.