As always huge thanks to anmodo for betaing this chapter. Also a big thanks, to everyone that has reviewed.

Chapter 7

Danny glanced up at the trees and then at the grass below as he tried to estimate the wind speed. Pausing, he tried to calculate the necessary adjustments. Lowering his head, he looked through the scope of the SV-98 sniper rifle and adjusted his aim on the target. Diego had set up a melon, two and half miles away from his present location. He knew he had to nail it for more than one reason. He took a deep breath and moved his finger onto the trigger, taking one final glance through the scope. He squeezed the trigger. The pop from the silenced weapon made no disturbance through the still morning. Danny breathed a sigh of relief as he watched his target explode. Hopefully he had bought his family… the team… himself… a couple more weeks. Lucia and Chris were safe and as soon as he was through with this op, he would get them out of here. But therein was the problem: by finishing this op and returning to his previous life, Lucia would know he had been lying and deceiving her. She wouldn't want anything to do with him. Emptying the gun chamber, he rolled onto his back laying the gun across his chest and closed his eyes. He didn't care if Lucia and Chris were part of his life after this op—ok that was a lie—but he did just want them to be safe and away from this lifestyle even if that meant being away from him as well.

"Nice shot!"

Danny jumped and looked up to see Carlos standing over him. He was annoyed with himself, over the months he had spend in Colombia he had prided himself with his increased senses and reactions… but not today. Carlos had gotten right up to him without his knowledge. What if it had been someone else? What if Carlos had wanted him dead? Danny shuddered at the very thought. He quickly stood up so that he could be at eye level with Carlos. "Thanks."

"If you carry on shooting like that, I may have a job for you," Carlos said as he looked at his latest recruit who had proved to be far more valuable than the usual lay-abouts that he employed. Even though Carlos couldn't quite read this guy, he knew that when he gave AJ his latest assignment he would find out how loyal AJ would be.

Danny eyed Carlos with suspicion. What would this job entail? Whatever it was he knew he wouldn't have a choice, not if he didn't want to put the people he loved in danger. He gave a fake smile as he tried to mask his fears. "Of course. I would be honoured to help if this job is of the utmost importance to the cartel," Danny said as he tried to keep up his cheerful, confident façade. He knew the job wouldn't be moral, but what choice did he have? Did he have any morals in his new life?

"Good," Carlos replied, "I will inform you nearer the time if you have qualified for this assignment. You will have to excuse me. I have pressing issues that need my attention." With that Carlos turned and left Danny to his own thoughts.

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Colombia – Carlos's Office

Carlos's daughter, Lucia, had been distracted lately. She didn't seem to fear him anymore, and as he governed his staff by fear, this was not a good thing. He intended to find out who or what was distracting her… and deal with them. Just like he had done with the father of her child.

Carlos paced back around his office as he waited for Lucia to turn meet with him. He, Carlos Vega, didn't wait for anyone. This was further evidence that Lucia had been distracted by some thing or someone, and he was going to put an end to that distraction. He couldn't have Lucia distracted, especially when the US government continued to clamp down on drugs and terrorism. He needed Lucia. He needed her to insure that the deals when through. He needed to intimidate her… to remind her what would happen if she started to lose business. A light knock on the door pulled him out of his thoughts.

"Enter," Carlos said a stood behind the solid oak imposing desk. He felt his blood boil as he watched Lucia waltz in with a spring in her step. "Sit," he ordered.

Lucia remained standing and glared at her father as he stood behind his imposing, solid oak desk – which had been a gift from her mother who Carlos had murdered. For most of her life, she'd feared her father, but she no longer feared him because she now had AJ. When she lay in AJ's arms at night, she felt safe, not only for herself, but also for her son – Chris – as well. She loved being with him. Not only was he funny and sweet, but also he was great with Chris. He was also intelligence and spoke fluent English. Only in her dreams did she believe that she would end up being with a man like AJ. Lucia blinked a couple of times as she pulled herself back into reality. She thought of her boys and gathered her strength.

"I'd rather stand," she said as she continued to glare at her father.

Carlos returned the glare to his daughter in disgust. Since when had she become this arrogant, he thought? He was determined he find out, and once he had… whoever had given his daughter this air of confidence would wish that they hadn't. "You will do what I tell you to do, you ungrateful little whore," Carlos yelled.

The words stung her and Lucia bit back tears. She thought of Chris and AJ, and the strength that they gave her everyday. The strength she needed to see herself through each of these hellhole days she called her life. "Papa, I'm not a child anymore. I'm not scared of you anymore," Lucia said as she tried to control her fear and anger. "I will continue to do your bloody work but quit treating me like dirt. Quit treating me like a child with the stuff you force me to do."

Carlos picked up the glass paperweight on this desk and threw it across the room, smiling as he saw fear enter his daughter's eyes. "If you're not careful, you will end up like your mother. And whoever is making you this confident and disrespectful of me, I will find out and I will kill them."

"Do want you want Papa! The reason behind this new confidence is that I am no longer scared of you. I am tired of being the scared little call girl for your cartel. Screw you dad and screw the cartel," Lucia said as she stormed out of the office slamming the door behind her. Before she could make a fast getaway, she felt someone come up behind her and span around. Her stomach felt queasy as she came face to face with Diego.

"Piss off Diego. I can't deal with you and your little sleazy games right now," she said as she tried to pull away from him, but Diego forced her against the wall.

"Oh but you'll have to my sweet," Diego said as he wrapped his hands around her hips. "I know about you and AJ. If you want your little AJ to stay alive, you will let me have some fun with you," he continued as he pressed his body against hers.

Lucia bit her lip as she tried to hide her fears. She gathered all her strength as she leaned forward and whispered into Diego's ear. "You don't want to do that." She closed her eyes as she remembered every time Diego had tried to force himself on her. "Because if you do, I will tell my father about every time you tried to rape me. My father may not love me, but he doesn't like his property being violated. Just think of what he would do to you." She leaned back and, despite her fears, she smiled as Diego backed off and a glint of fear flash through his eyes.

"Y-you wouldn't do that," Diego stammered.

"Oh I would," she smiled at him again. "So it's agreed. You won't tell my father about AJ and I won't tell him about you." Lucia watched Diego nod nervously; she turned and walked quickly out of the house before she collapsed against the wall.

She let the tears she had been holding back for so long fall. She had always been tough and strong, but finally she had someone to protect her. It felt great to let her guard down a little. But she couldn't risk AJ's life because of it. She loved AJ and she just didn't know how she would break it to him… how she would live without him.

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New York

Sam sat on a rock outcrop looking out on the Atlantic. She didn't feel the icy wind that whipped around her. She didn't feel the tears that stung her eyes. She didn't hear Jack calling her name softly. For today was November 1st… today would have been Danny's 33rd birthday. It had been nearly 6 months since Danny's death and none of them had gotten over it. She had accepted long ago that one of them might die in the line of duty. But she couldn't accept… she couldn't deal with the way in which Danny had died. She jumped slightly as she felt someone place a coat around her shoulders.

Jack approached Sam calling her name. He raised an eyebrow in concern when she didn't respond. He knew she would be here, especially today. Jack knew that, at some point today, he would have ended up here as well. It wouldn't surprise him if at some point today the whole team ended up here. As he reached Sam, he slowly bent down and wrapped his coat around her shoulders, vaguely noticing how the coat dwarfed her slender frame. He sat down next to her. "I knew you would be here," he said as he too looked out on the cold grey ocean.

"It was Danny's favourite place," Sam said as she felt the tears roll down her face. "If we'd had been a hard case, he used to come up here. He said how he liked that it was away from everything and he could just sit up here and think."

Jack moved his stare from the ocean and looked at Sam. They both knew what 'away from everything' meant. "I know Sam. I know." He clenched his jaw. "I am so sorry Sam, none of this should have happened."

"Of course it shouldn't have happened." She turned to face him. "But it's no ones fault. It's not my fault. It's not yours, it's not Martin's, and it's not Viv's. The only person to blame for this is Dornvald."

"And we have no idea where he is," Jack said finishing Sam's sentence. "I need to find him, Sam. I need to make him pay for what he's done. He killed Danny and he's killing Martin."

"No Jack… we need to find him. I think that will be the only way we will be able to move on. The only other way would be for Danny to come back to life," Sam said as she let the tears fall freely her eyes and collapsed into Jack's arms. "Why us Jack? Why our team?"

Jack wrapped his arms around her. "I don't know Sam, I don't know. But I am going to find out."

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New York

Martin stared blankly at the computer screen. He had considered calling in sick today, but he knew as soon as he did Sam, Viv and Jack would be kicking down his door. They didn't trust him anymore and who could blame them… he had killed Danny. If he had called in sick, they would have kicked down the door because they would have thought he was about to kill himself. Which just proved how weak they thought he was. His father refused to talk to him now, which he was thankful of. He didn't know how many more of those Washington, met the great and the good events, he could take. How many times he could walk around a room with a fake smile, holding polite conversations with people of importance. People that would benefit his career… sorry his father's career, Martin thought sardonically. He smelled the mug of steaming coffee before he saw it.

Viv glanced across the near empty office, until her eyes settled on the defeated figure of Martin Fitzgerald. She walked out, returning shortly after with a steaming mug of coffee and a sugary doughnut, which she knew Martin loved. She put her hand on his shoulder, flinching slightly when she felt how boney it was and placed the items in front of him. "I thought you may need this to get through that," she said pointing to the stack of paperwork that lay on Martin's desk. "Do you want a hand with it?"

Martin looked from the stack of paper on his desk to the coffee and doughnut that Viv had just brought him to Viv herself. He tried to give her a smile, but couldn't. He couldn't pretend to the team. He could fake it to his father… but his father wouldn't know the difference. He shook his head. "Thanks Viv, but I will do it." But as he glanced across at his stack of paperwork, he saw it had been halved.

"I'll do half," Viv said as she put some of the paper on her desk. "And then once we have finished. We will go and grab some breakfast or lunch or whatever meal it is once we have finished." She looked across to see Martin's head droop. She walked towards desk and knelt beside him.

Sensing Viv was beside him again, he tried to sound cheerful but before the words were out of his mouth he knew he had failed, just like he had failed Danny. "Viv, I'm fine."

"Martin you have to find a way to forgive yourself. Danny would have never blamed you."

"But Viv, you weren't there. You didn't see the look in his eyes when they killed him. He blamed me."

Martin's words stung her. She hadn't been there. She hadn't been there for Jack. She hadn't been there for Sam. She hadn't been there- she hadn't been there for the boys. But she was now, and she was not going to let them destroy Martin. Viv put her arm around Martin's shoulders. "I know I wasn't there. But I knew Danny and there is no way he would have blamed you," Viv said hoping that Martin would believe her.

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Colombia

Danny rolled over and stared at the glowing digits – which read 05:30. He slowly got up hoping not to wake Lucia. He hated doing it this way, but it was the only way that they could be together. It had taken a long time to persuade Lucia that, despite the risks, he still wanted to be with her. That he'd rather spend just one day with her, than a lifetime with someone else. He felt Lucia grab his arm.

"Don't go," Lucia said as she looked at Danny through sleep-hazed eyes.

Danny lay back down and pulled Lucia towards him, kissing her gently on the neck. "You know I don't want to. I can't wait until the day we can lie in bed together all day. But until that day, it has to be like this."

"I know," Lucia replied sadly. She stared at Danny a moment appreciating his brown eyes that seemed to soften after their blissful night together and unruly mass of hair. Suddenly, she felt compelled to ask, "Do you think we could ever go on holiday together? I love to go to the US… to New York."

Danny closed his eyes as he thought about it. America… New York… home. "Maybe. I'd love to go as well." You just don't know how much I would love to go. How much I want to go home. How much I want to take you and Chris back with me, Danny thought. "I've gotta go" Danny said reluctantly, as he rose and dressed quickly. "I will see you later." He bent down one last time and kissed her passionately before walking out, back into his immoral life.

Danny moved stealthy across the compound having previously worked out all of the CCTV 'dead-patches'. He entered his apartment and slid down against the wall. He rested his head in his hands and wondered how much longer he could do this. Maybe this job that Carlos had lined up… maybe this was the big one… the reason why he was here. He sighed as he got ready for his daily twelve mile run… maybe he would push fifteen miles today.

After his run and shower, Danny ran his hand through his untamed hair as he strode into the main house. Carlos had summoned him to his office and Danny was terrified. In his opinion, it could only be two things. He got the big job or… Carlos had found out about him and Lucia. Reaching the office, he looked down the corridor to see Diego creeping around, sneering. He took a deep breath and knocked on the door. He waited and hoped that these weren't his last moments on earth. He hoped that he hadn't sent his family and the team to their deaths, just because he wanted some happiness in his life. He hoped Lucia and Chris would be safe.

A harsh voice pulled him out his thoughts. "Enter." Danny tried to control his body language as he entered the office.

"You requested to see me," Danny said as he stood in front of Carlos's desk.

"Yes, AJ, please take a seat," Carlos replied.

Danny slowly sat down on the hard, uncomfortable chair. He watched as Carlos picked up a large brown envelope and crossed the room towards him. "Congratulations. You have the job," Carlos paused before continuing in a matter of fact way. "I want you to kill these two people," he said as he pushed the envelope into Danny's hand.

Danny opened the envelope with trembling fingers. He suddenly found it difficult to breathe as he looked at the two photos. He pulled out his lighter and set the two photos alight; watching as the flames slowly destroyed the smiling photos of the Director of the DEA and the Deputy Director of the FBI.

"I'll do it" Danny said as he looked coldly at Carlos, the man who would be sending him to his death. But he didn't have a choice.