Author's Note: Thank you all for the reviews, as you see they inspired me to write much quicker. I'd like to warn everybody - this definitely won't be a Sam-John story - I have other plans... and another thing: I'm sorry. Actually I don't really like cliffhangers, but I guess they just happen sometimes. So, sorry again...

And now up to the story.

Chapter II.

Everything went dark, the rumbling continued and Sam found herself lying on the ground and she felt debris falling on her back and head which she tried to protect with her arms. It's an earthquake...it has to be... She has never experienced one that's why she needed some time to recognize the cause of the chaos.

Sam didn't even notice when it was over only when she felt a hand on her shoulders.

"Are you O.K?"

She blinked. John was bending over her and his voice sounded distant. It must be because her ears got choked up.

"Yes...I guess. Only scared to death. You?

She started to struggle to the feet.

"Same here."

John had a bruise on his temple but except that he looked safe and sound.

"We should go back I assume, there might be further quakes. It isn't healthy being underground" he smiled.

"Yeah. Don't you want to ask Bailey first?"

"I tried. We don't have a signal."

There was a serial-killer in the tunnels, but there was no way for him to leave: all the exits were closed. They can come back later when there's no more danger. John was right, Bailey would tell the same, probably he and Nathan are on their way out, as well. Sam didn't want to think about it whether they had got away this unscathed.

"Right. Let's go!"

They made their way through the debris and torn down pipes. The lights all went out, they only had the light of their torch now.

It couldn't be more then five minutes when she heard something from the direction they were coming. Somebody was moving behind them. She turned, simultaneously with John. In the dim light of the torch she glimpsed a dark shadow further in the tunnel. She caught her gun immediately.

And then everything happened too fast. She cried out a warning and heard a bang... she even felt the wind of the bullet. She fired her gun but missed Delany by miles. She knew that John was at the wrong angle, he couldn't target the suspect properly. And in her traitorous mind the words of Grace came back: at the previous murders Delany used special prepared, home-made bullets that were much stronger than the common ones, they probably couldn't be stopped by the bullet-proof jacket...

She heard another shot and thought about Chloe ... then she was knocked down to the ground and John was kneeling in front of him firing towards Delany...

In the same moment, the second quake shook the building and the agents.

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The second earthquake was stronger, longer and more terrifying than the first one. Sam couldn't do anything else just lying on the ground, and hunch herself up into a small ball. She didn't know where John was, or where Delany was, by the way. She lost all her senses and didn't know how long the rumbling lasted.

When it finally ended, the silence was deafening for a moment. Then she heard John's order.

"Stay down!"

He might have shouted but it sounded for Sam as if he were miles away. She obeyed of course, but she still raised her head so that she at least could see what was happening. Even if she had wanted to stand up it would have taken some time because she was covered with debris.

John was moving in the direction from where the shots had come before. He was carefully sneaking in a crouched position next to the wall – even if it didn't provide much safety, his gun ready.

Sam held her breath, she was waiting for the sound of the gunshots... but there was nothing. It was totally dark now, because John turned out the torch as well – or it broke... but all the same. She still could see that after a while his partner bent down and studied something.

"It's all right" he said over his shoulder. "He's out."

Sam pushed a piece of metal off of her legs and stood up. Only then did she notice that her hands were trembling – or rather her whole body was slightly trembling and she realized that she was coming down from an adrenaline-high. She could have died... she was damn near to it...

She walked over to John, who was still crouching next to – as Sam now recognized – Delany's unconscious body.

"Is he dead?"

John shook his head. "He has a pulse. But he has a quite ugly head-injury. However I am not the doctor here..."

He had already put the man in handcuffs, and was straightening up.

"I've told you already, I'm not a physician" she said with a smile.

"How bad..."

"And why is that?" she looked up surprised, just in time to see him swaying and grabbing to the wall for support.

"Because I could need one."

And then he collapsed.

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