"Hold on!"

Brooks grabbed Shawn's arm again, pulling him to a stop and looking back. The two of them had rabbited down the hall and to the far stairs by the bathroom, then down three flights of stairs. They'd passed the level that held the Commandant's office and quarters, as well as some of the faculty. There weren't weapons in those places; the Cadets had breathlessly discussed it as they bolted. They needed a place where they could find someone with guns. That meant the guards at the gate.

"What-"

"Hush."

The only sound in the stairwell was the heavy breathing of the two cadets. Ian looked up the stairs they'd just come down.

"They're not following..." His voice was clouded with doubt. What if he'd been wrong? What if they'd just left River to face the two men alone? He started back towards the stairs, ignoring the door that led to the parade ground, which would take them to the main gate.

"Wait..."

Shawn thought he heard a noise on the stairs above them. The stairwell was fully enclosed, and it echoed weirdly, but it also sounded empty. Dreadfully empty.

"We've got to-"

"Shut up for a minute... I thought I heard-"

He heard it again. A faint noise above them, almost like the shuffle of booted feet.

"I heard that." Ian whispered.

Shawn nodded, looking over at the New Yorker.

"Yeah... but I don't see anything... do you?"

"No... maybe we're just imagining it."

"Both of us?"

"Maybe it's coming from somewhere else?"

"Maybe..."

Shawn took a tentative step up the staircase, craning his head and trying to see any movement above them; a shadow or something that would give him advanced warning of one of the attackers coming down the stairs.

"Be careful."

Shawn nodded, taking another step. With no shoes on, his own footsteps were silent. He went up to the first turn of the stairs, and hesitated again, listening as hard as he could. He couldn't see anything. He couldn't hear anything.

"I don't see anyone."

Shawn about wet himself when Ian spoke in his ear. He had been concentrating so hard on what was going on above him, he hadn't been paying attention to what Ian had been doing down below.

"Don't do that to me!" Shawn whispered, trying to get his heart to get out of his throat.

"Sorry." Ian actually did look sorry. He had to know how tense Shawn felt. It was a sure bet he was just as tense, after all. "We'd better get back up there and get Hayden..." God only knew what they'd done to him. If it was something serious, it was all Ian's fault, and he knew it. He'd been the one who'd told Shawn that the attackers weren't after the Californian, after all. Shawn hadn't wanted to leave.

Shawn nodded, and the two of them turned the corner and started up the next half-flight of stairs. They had just cleared the first level and were turning to start the second, when Shawn heard another noise and stopped. It was all that saved him. A blast of energy came out of nowhere and slammed into the wall beside him. Shattered concrete peppered Shawn's bare chest and belly, but he didn't even notice. He and Ian had dodged back down the way they came as another blast came from nowhere, just barely missing Brooks. The cadet tripped over Shawn and took a tumble down the half-flight of stairs they'd just climbed. Shawn dove after him, going down the stairs in an only slightly more controlled fashion.

He landed right beside Ian at the bottom of the flight and both of them scrambled to their feet, looking back the way they'd come.

"I didn't see anyone!" Brooks said, holding his side and looking back behind them, his eyes wide.

Shawn shook his head. He hadn't, either. But there was no mistaking that there was someone behind them.

"Are you all right?"

Ian nodded, although his face was tight with pain.

"I'm fine. Come on..."

They headed down the next half-flight, but they were going a lot slower this time – even with the added threat of the weapon-toting bad guys following them. Shawn held himself to Ian's pace, and the older cadet was limping and gasping with every step. Obviously, he wasn't as okay as he'd said he was.

Shawn reached out to support him, but Ian pushed him away.

"Get going, Shawn. I'm just holding you back!"

"No... lean on me... we'll get out together."

Ian didn't have the breath to argue. Something inside him had broken – probably a rib – and he had pain stabbing through him with every breath. Coupled with the sprained ankle – and God, he hoped it was only sprained – there just wasn't any way he was going to make it to the gate.

One hand clutched his side; the other came down on Shawn's shoulder, and the two of them kept going down. Now, though, they could hear the sound of their pursuers. And they weren't far away.

&&

Jaffer was held up by the door that led to the stairs. For all his abilities, there were some doors that the big black lab couldn't open, and a fire door was one of them. He scuffled against it with his nose and paw, but it wasn't going to open without help.

Jack wasn't all that far behind, though, and only a moment later the door was opened. Just in time for the two of them to hear sounds of firing weapons. Weapons that Jack had heard only once before, but which had such distinctive sounds that there was no doubt what it was. Jack knew what was being fired, and he was positive he knew who was being fired at.

"Jaffer!"

The black lab pelted down the stairs, with Jack following at a dead run. He was taking the stairs at a dangerously fast rate, but there was only one thought on his mind, and it wasn't a fall. With both guns drawn, he was watching Jaffer, looking for a target, knowing that the lab would find them even if they were invisible.