A/N: Spoiler change!!!! This follows canon up to and including "Rendezvous", after that it's purely AU.
I'm not here,This isn't happening…
"How To Disappear Completely", Radiohead
~*~*~*~*~*~
Jimmy MacKenzie was near the end of his shift when it happened. He had been sitting in the guard booth near the visitor entrance, his feet up on the counter, reading the sports pages when the heavyset man in a suit appeared and asked to see Kate Jones.
"A visitor," Elaine said, shaking her blonde head, "Who is it?"
"I don't know," Jimmy confessed, his brown eyes barely meeting Elaine's blue ones, "but he said it's important. He's in the public visiting room – I need to escort her there."
Elaine was annoyed. She was just getting somewhere with Rainbow Brite – even if it was just Lala Land – and now this. She sighed. "Fine take her. But bring her right back, we're not done yet."
Jimmy nodded and circled around to Kate's side of the table. She stood, with an almost stoic expression on her face, and allowed him to cuff her hands behind her back. He hooked an arm through hers and led her towards the door. As they passed Elaine, Kate stopped, pulling on his arm. "I told you," she said to the public defender, "they're here for me." Then she allowed Jimmy to lead her away.
The police station's holding and interrogation area was much like an actual jail. A series of gates and fire doors that could be easily locked down to stop and trap an escapee before they made it to the bullpen, where lots of cops would be more then happy to tackle or shoot somebody trying to make a break for it.
Finally, they arrived at the last gate. As they waited for the gates to be opened, she raised her eyes to his. Jimmy couldn't believe the pain he saw there. "Hey," he said, tentatively, "it's….." He didn't know how to finish. It wasn't 'all going to be okay' or 'not that bad'; he couldn't lie to her. But he wanted to.
As the gate slid open, three men dressed in black with ski masks charged the opening. Two of them fought with the guards who had rushed in to give assistance, while the third grappled with Jimmy. Sydney stood paralyzed and watched as the man in the ski mask overpowered Jimmy. The man drew his gun and shot the young guard before yanking the key ring from his belt. He used them to unlock her handcuffs, then he grabbed her arm. Vaughn? Weiss? Dad? Sydney's mind raced. She was being rescued. The masked man's fingers dug into her arm. That wasn't right. Vaughn had been gentle. She started to panic. These guys were sent to kill her.
Before Sydney could react, the man was pulling her out the door, with the other two flanking them, shooting anyone who tried to stop them. In the parking lot, a van screeched to a halt, the side door swinging open. One of the men jumped in and reached out for Sydney, who was using all of her might to resist the shoves of the other two men that would have sent her sprawling on the van floor.
She had to get away. Now.
Sydney's leg flew out in a front kick, pushing the guy in the van back, and he cracked his head hard against the van's window. She spun on the other two, trying to sweep them both in a roundhouse kick. One tried to grab her leg, but she pushed it higher and smacked her foot against his shoulder, sending him sprawling. She felt someone grab for her arm and she turned on the other. He thrust his fist at her face, but she blocked and rammed her own fist into his stomach. He doubled over and she planted another punch hard on his nose. Blood poured from his nostrils.
The other man had recovered by this time and as Sydney whirled to face him, he kicked her in the chest. She reeled, fighting gravity as she struggled not to fall. Anger surged through her. They were not going to kill her. She reached forward and grabbed the man's arm, using it to steady herself while she broke it. He yelled curses at her, but they went unheard as she dealt him a hard karate chop to a pressure point in his neck. He crumpled.
Suddenly the van exploded into a ball of flame, spraying shards all over. The force of the blast blew the other man off his feet. Sydney fell back on the pavement, the wind knocked out of her. Car alarms were shrieking as debris from the explosion rained down on them. She felt hot metal land on her arm. She brushed it off impatiently, but not before it burned the tender skin.
As soon as she caught her breath, she was on her feet, running, gone before anyone could gather their wits.
When had everything gone wrong?~*~*~*~*~*~
By the time Weiss got from the visiting room to the parking lot, the van was a smoldering hunk of twisted, melted metal. Two masked men lay on the pavement, their limbs twisted in impossible angles. Weiss shook his head. He knew what Sydney was capable of, and right now she was ten times more dangerous because she was scared, frightened, hurt; a wounded animal.
"Shit," he cursed, wiping the sweat from his brow. He wasn't used to this – running after Sydney was Vaughn's specialty, not his. He put a finger to the audio unit in his ear. "Freelancer has slipped the mooring, repeat, Freelancer has slipped her moorings."
//end part three
A/N 2: Sorry this one took so long – I was on vacation in California, without a computer, so writing was done very slowly by hand ;)