Chapter Eighteen

Still Kicking-

As Sark's truck pulled away into the desert one guard's grin turned into a feral leer. "He just said to kill them, he didn't say we couldn't have some fun with the lady first."

"Don't you dare touch her." Weiss took a protective step towards Natalie.

The guard looked at him with contempt, "Well lookie here, we've got ourselves a regular knight in shining armor." He narrowed his gaze, never breaking eye contact with Weiss, and approached him with slow and deliberate steps. "You know what happens to fellas who go chivalrous on us, don't you boys? They get put in their place real quick." Abruptly, the guard yanked his rifle off of his shoulder and drove the butt into Weiss' stomach. As he doubled over gasping for air, the guard spun the weapon, bringing the barrel sharply down across his head.

Weiss staggered as the ground seemed to tilt. He struggled to get one foot in front of the other, swayed even more and then collapsed to his knees, still holding his stomach and moaning softly.

"You bastard," Natalie pushed past the nearest guard, intent on reaching Weiss. One goon stepped in front of her, grabbing her arm to stop her. As his hand came in contact with her wrist, Natalie swiftly reached across her body and grabbed the small of his palm with her left hand. Yanking up and back across to the left, she pressed outward, forcing her assailant to twist his entire body to alleviate the pressure. A split second later she slammed the heel of her right hand into the back of his left shoulder, forcing him to the ground before landing a solid kick to the small of his back. He hit the ground with a thump and laid there a moment groaning.

Natalie kept moving as another guard decided to try his luck. He threw himself at her, attempting to use his weight advantage to tackle her. She pivoted just as he reached for her, bending her knees, dipping her shoulder, and then straightening again just as he made contact, using his own momentum to launch him over her body. He crashed directly into the guard who was only then attempting to struggle to his feet, their heads meeting in a sickening crunch.

The next man grabbed her from behind and pinned her arms to her sides. Twisting just enough to gain leverage, Natalie hammered an elbow into his solar plexus. With a startled grunt, the guard's grip loosened slightly. Taking advantage, Natalie picked up a foot and came down hard on his instep, just before swinging sharply behind her, unerringly finding the goon's nose with the back of her fist. He howled reached toward his injured face. Spinning, Natalie popped out of his grasp and landed a powerful uppercut on his chin, throwing the full weight of her body into the punch. He hit the ground and stayed there.

The sound of pounding feet told her she had run out of time. Gunfire erupted as the two remaining guards opted to forgo trying to subdue Natalie by hand. She heard the whip of a bullet pass by her head, and then white hot pain lanced through her shoulder even as she dove for cover behind the burned out shell of their Humvee. She clenched her jaw tightly to hold back a scream as she crawled further behind the shelter of the vehicle.

She focused her attention on her injury for a brief moment. Through and though, she thought in an oddly detached way. Another swim suit season shot to hell. At least there isn't a bullet to dig out. Gripping her shoulder tightly to try to slow the blood loss, she kept low and waited.

Suddenly everything was quiet.

"If you don't want us to gut your boyfriend you should really consider playing nice."

Cursing, Natalie spared a quick glance over the side of the Humvee and her heart jumped straight to her throat. The two remaining guards stood over Weiss, one with the barrel of his pistol pressed firmly against Eric's temple.

Leaning her back against the charred metal, she took a deep breath and attempted to asses her situation. Her gaze flitted briefly over her surroundings, looking for anything she might be able to use to get her out of this mess. To her left she saw the butt of her pistol, the one that Sark had forced her to kick away, now partly buried under the sand. It was a good five feet from her, but if she could get it free quickly she might stand half a chance.

"All right," she struggled to keep her voice neutral, "I'm coming out." Taking a deep breath she steeled her nerves; then it was time.

Natalie scrambled to her feet and took two long strides away from the shelter of the Humvee. Once she was half a step from the gun she bent down and in one fluid movement yanked the pistol out of the sand and threw her body forward toward the guards. She had just a second to catch the guard's startled look before raising the pistol and opening fire.

With only time for one target, Nat squeezed off two rounds and watched the goon to Weiss' left stagger backward. She was surprised she'd hit anything, diving through the air certainly wasn't a proven method to support steady aim.

As she hit the ground Natalie ducked her right shoulder and rolled to the side; she had to keep moving to draw the fire away from Weiss. Scrambling to one knee she spun toward the last threat. She looked up just in time to see the barrel of the guard's sidearm swinging toward her head. Nat hesitated for a split second as she centered him in her sights and then pulled the trigger. Her shot caught him just above the right eye. The guard was dead before he hit the ground.

Natalie struggled to her feet and stood there numbly for a moment, surveying the carnage.

Then she remembered Weiss.

Letting the pistol drop slowly from her hand she crossed over to him, her eyes traveling over every inch of him searching for injuries. She let her fingers brush lightly across a jagged slash along the back of his skull. He was still hugging one arm tightly to his abdomen, but other than that he didn't appear any worse for wear. "Are you hurt?" she asked gently, reaching out for his hand and pulling him up to a standing position.

SEQ CHAPTER \h \r 1
Weiss just shook his head silently, his own concern for her evident in his eyes. She looked exhausted and somewhat unsteady. When he finally spoke, his voice was hoarse and dry, "I'll tie up what's left of the bad guys. Why don't you have a seat and catch your breath."

Nodding, SEQ CHAPTER \h \r 1Natalie slowly stumbled over to a nearby outcropping of rock and lowered herself to the ground. She suddenly felt a little light-headed. Pulling up her knees, she SEQ CHAPTER \h \r 1rested her forehead and closed her eyes, letting out a long breath.

SEQ CHAPTER \h \r 1The soft scuff of a boot alerted her and reflexes took over. Throwing herself in the opposite direction of the sound, she rolled to her feet, reaching for a gun that was no longer there. Frustrated, she tried not to wince. She blinked in surprise to see Weiss standing in front of her.

Slowly she straightened up and let a small smile pass over her lips, "Sorry, I didn't see that it was you."

"I'll certainly be more careful to not startle you from now on," Weiss smiled to set her more at ease while he cautiously approached her and lowered himself gingerly on his knees. He reached for her then, pulling her down next to him as gently as possible. "Are you okay? That was some show you put on." Carefully, he moved aside her torn jacked to get a closer look at her shoulder. Blood was oozing from beneath the hand she had clamped firmly to her body. Weiss tugged at her wrist and pried unsuccessfully on her hand. She had a grip like iron. "Dammit, Nat! Let go so I can see!"

Nat stared at him in exasperation, "Excuse me! I just single handedly saved your ass! Now you treat me like some fragile doll? I don't think so mister!" She jabbed an indignant finger into his chest, "I can take care of myself thank you very much!"

Weiss ignored her completely. He continued to unbutton her coat and then began to tear away the sleeve of her shirt while Natalie swatted ineffectually at his hands.

"I know you did honey. I just want to make sure that you don't bleed out on me. I'm going to require you watching my back for a long time to come and I want to know you'll be around to take up the challenge."

Somewhat mollified, Natalie let out a soft chuckle. "Is that so?"

"Well, I couldn't let you dance with all of those men without some sort of comeback could I?" Weiss smiled back. "This is going to hurt." He squeezed her hand briefly and then poured a splash of water over the wound. Natalie sucked in a breath with a hiss. He dabbed at the wound and took a closer look. Her shoulder would need medical attention, but she would recover.

Her eyes came up to meet his and he caught his breath at the beauty he found there. Her face was smudged with dirt, her hair was matted to her head with perspiration, and a small trail of blood tricked down from a long gash in her cheek. She was a goddess.

Natalie stared at him, "What?"

Weiss didn't answer right away, sitting back on his heels. When he found his voice, it was only a whisper, "You are so amazing."

Her eyes shone with gratitude and something more that he couldn't quite name. "Does that mean that after we get our friends out of this mess you're taking me to dinner?"

"Repeatedly" he agreed, and then he was kissing her.

""

The truck rumbled loudly as it traveled along the desert road. "How much further?" Sark's irritation was obvious.

Lauren examined the small black box in her hands intently. "According to the CIA's standard issue pre-programmed GPS, about 100 yards due east from our current location. We are going to have to continue on foot."

Sark pulled the truck to a halt. Quickly rounding to the tailgate he harshly drug a dazed Sydney and Vaughn from the back of the vehicle.

Throwing his automatic rifle over his shoulder he addressed Lauren. "I'll take Agent Bristow to retrieve the artifact. Wait here with our insurance. Remember, if I'm not back in 30 minutes kill him."

He paused for a moment and then suddenly grinned, "Oh, and try not to have too much fun without me."

""

Standing against the side of Sark's truck, Vaughn took slow breaths in a vain attempt to get the throbbing in his head down enough to hear something besides the loud beat of his own pulse. The hot late afternoon sun pounding down on him wasn't helping. He was going to need all of his wits about him to get out of this.

Despite her protestations of superiority, Lauren apparently wasn't taking any chances. She had chosen to restrain him, cinching his wrists tightly behind his back, the plastic ties from the bindings cutting deep fissures into his already bruised writs. Carefully he tried twisting his hands and felt an immediate twinge as sticky wet blood mixed with the sweat of his struggles and began to drip down his wrists and pool into his palms. His effort made no progress toward slackening the restraint.

Stopping her incessant pacing Lauren leaned over so her face was inches from Vaughn's. "I will enjoy killing you Michael," she said softly. "And that will destroy your precious Sydney. I will make sure that she has nothing left to live for. And then she will come to me."

"I wouldn't look forward to that if I were you."

Lauren's eyes grew cold and lost their expression, but the smile remained. Vaughn suddenly felt a chill creep over him. This woman was no longer sane.

"Why don't you beg for the lady's life at least," Lauren sneered. "Why don't you get down on your knees and do that."

He waited another moment, collecting himself for what would likely be his only opportunity. "You'd really like that wouldn't you," Vaughn whispered.

Lauren smiled an ugly leer, bubbling with satisfaction. "Yes," she hissed. "I would thoroughly enjoy that."

"Forget it," Vaughn snapped, and in one swift movement he slammed his forehead into her own.

Lauren staggered back, stunned by his sudden ferocity. Vaughn took immediate advantage. He came in fast, ramming his shoulder into her torso, sending her careening towards the desert floor and knocking her to knees. She whirled toward the sound of boots on gravel just as Vaughn slammed his foot into her body, sending her sprawling.

Vaughn shoved backwards and ran towards the back of the vehicle, arms still secured behind his back. Lauren's eyes widened. She swept her gun up and fired once. Sensing more than seeing her movement, Vaughn dodged to the side and the bullet sighed passed by his ear, ricocheting off a nearby rock just as he ducked past the open tailgate.

Falling purposefully to his knees Vaughn groped frantically for his ankle, trying to release his hidden boot knife. Grasping the handle he yanked the knife out of its sheath and began to saw blindly at the bindings on his writs, wincing as the blade slipped accidentally across his skin.

The ties slit just as he heard Lauren rounding the truck. Vaughn spun around to face her and Lauren skidded to a halt. Incensed, she gave an inarticulate growl and brought the pistol up, pointing it at Vaughn and squeezing the trigger.

Vaughn was even faster. He and lashed out with his right fist, smashing it into Lauren's side. Her shot sailed harmlessly into the dirt as she doubled over in pain.

Taking advantage of her distraction, Vaughn stood and took a step forward, closing the distance between them and loosing a well-aimed kick at her gun. Lauren's eyes widened at the shock of Vaughn's boot colliding with her hand. She watched helplessly as the gun flew from her grasp.

Searching wildly for some way to defend herself against the brutal onslaught, Lauren drew herself back up to a standing position and turned towards Vaughn just in time to catch a glimpse of a fist before it slammed into her jaw. Her head snapped back and she let loose a guttural scream, then staggered a few steps before collapsing.

Vaughn moved over to Lauren who was curled tight, eyes shut, her breath coming in short, painful gasps. He put his boot on her shoulder and shoved her over. Her gun lay less than 12 inches from her and she eyed it warily, before looking toward the knife that he still clasped tightly in his left hand.

Vaughn squatted near her head, making no move to reach for the gun. "I know what you are thinking," he said, as if reading Lauren's mind. "Forget it. You don't have the guts or the talent for it. Oh, and just so you know … I am going to enjoy seeing you living the rest of your days in a federal penitentiary."