Logan ran forward toward Wallace while Barek rushed to the fallen cops. She dropped down into the mud as Eames groaned, taking a difficult breath. "Get the hell off me, Goren!" she gasped.

Barek grabbed Goren's shirt and pulled him over as Eames shoved. Holding her side, Eames pushed herself off the muddy ground to kneel beside her partner as she realized he wasn't conscious and Barek was trying to find out why.

"Is he ok?" Eames shouted over an explosion of thunder.

The other detective shook her head. "I don't know. It's too dark and too wet to tell anything for certain."

Eames laid a hand on his chest, feeling it rise and fall with each breath, concentrating on the beat of his heart beneath her hand. Her mind flashed back to the darkened motel on the beach and she felt panic rise inside her. The throbbing in her head worsened. "We have to get him inside." She knew there were other things she needed to be worried about, but at the moment, nothing mattered to her more than her partner did.

Logan came running up, looking down at the three cops in the mud as the storm continued to light up the sky. He looked at Eames. "You ok?"

"I think so. My chest is on fireand my head hurts, but it's not horrible." At least she was awake to feel her pain.

Barek tried to see him through the driving rain. "Wallace is dead, right?"

"Wrong."

Barek and Eames replied in unison. "What?"

"She's gone. Vanished like a puff of smoke. I went around the cabin, but she's just not anywhere."

Barek stared at him. "You went around the cabin? Alone? After an armed psychopath? What the hell is wrong with you?"

Eames was also frowning at him. "You've been spending too much time with Goren."

Logan came closer. "I had to make sure she wasn't lurking around," he protested. "Tell me any one of the three of you wouldn't have done the same damn thing."

"But going alone isn't the smartest thing to do," Eames countered.

"I never claimed it was smart, just necessary. Speaking of smart, how's Goren?"

Barek shook her head. "I can't tell. We've got to get him inside."

Logan lifted his eyebrows. "Get him inside? As in carry him? Have you lost your ever-lovin' mind?"

"How else to you suggest we move him?" Barek frowned at him. "I can't tell how badly hurt he is, Mike."

"Aw, hell…"

Eames paid no attention to the argument. She just leaned her head down, pressing her forehead to his and letting her tears mix with the rain on their faces.

The storm drowned out his soft groan. His eyes slowly fluttered open. The first thing he was aware of was pain, followed by the presence of his partner, kneeling beside him with her forehead resting on his. He was relieved to see that she was ok, reassured by the pressure of her head against his and her hand on his chest. Raising a hand to her face, he touched her cheek with the back of his fingers. She caught her breath, lifting her head and looking at his face in the flashes of lightning. He gave her a tight grin. "Ouch," he muttered to her.

She looked over at Logan and Barek. "Guys!" They stopped their discussion and looked at her. "He's awake."

Barek turned to him, and Logan turned away, eyes scanning the area around them. He was pissed. Wallace had slipped away from him again, and she was still out there, lurking around, armed. They were being stalked while Barek and Eames fussed over Goren in the fucking rain…

"We need to get the hell inside," he snapped, shouting to be heard over the rain and thunder. "You girls can finish playing with him there. Let's go."

Barek glared at him for a minute, then turned back to Goren and Eames. "My insensitive ass of a partner is right. Can you get up, Bobby?"

He nodded. With a little help from Barek and Eames, he was on his feet. Barek shoved her partner toward the front porch. "'Playing with him?' Should I kick your ass now or aren't you through being an idiot yet?"

Goren took a step to follow and faltered. Eames grabbed his arm. "Are you ok?"

"Just a little dizzy. I'll be fine."

They headed for the porch, but he stumbled again at the foot of the steps. "Mike!" Eames shouted at Logan.

Halfway up the steps, he stopped and turned. He came back down and said, "Go on inside with Barek. I'll get him in."

"But…"

"Go!"

Barek waited for her at the top of the steps. "He's in a mood," she said as Eames joined her. "Come on, Alex. I want to look at your side."

"I'm fine."

But she ignored the protest and led her by the arm to the cabin door. Slipping the key Logan had given her into the lock, she unlocked the door and pushed it open. "Aw, shit…I forgot about the lights. Let's go check out the fuse box."

They crossed the dark great room to the back door and went out into the storm.

Goren made it up the steps on his own and collapsed into a chair. Logan dropped onto the chair beside him. "Well, at least we're out of the rain, sort of. You still with me?"

Goren nodded. "I'm really tired, Mike."

"Well, don't go to sleep, ok? You really whacked that thick skull of yours when you tackled Eames."

"What happened to Wallace?"

"How the hell should I know?"

Goren lifted his head, alarmed. "What? What do mean you don't know?"

"Oh, that's right…you slept through that. I went to make sure she was down, and her pretty little ass was gone."

"Gone where?"

"Did you miss the part where I said I don't know?"

Goren shook his head, trying to clear the fog from his mind. "You fired at her, didn't you?"

"Yes."

"And you missed?"

Logan leaned closer, his face dark and angry. "I don't know if we hit her or not. She wasn't fucking there!"

"Where are Eames and Barek?"

"Inside."

"Let's go…" He started to get up, but the world tilted on him.

"Just sit there," Logan snapped, still angry.

"Go make sure they're ok."

"Yeah, sure…"

He got up and went into the cabin. The wind continued to whip across the porch, driving the rain with it. Goren struggled to stay awake, focusing on the throbbing pain in his head. Every time he would start to fade, he would make the effort to move, and pain would cut across his consciousness, driving back the darkness. Twice, he tried to get to his feet, but his head swam both times, forcing him to stay put. He heard voices, coming from the ground below, moving along the front of the porch toward the steps. His hand went for his gun, but it wasn't there. Shit…

The screen door banged open and Eames stormed onto the porch. He looked at her, confused. "I thought you were inside," he said. The effort it took to holler so she could hear him made the pounding in his head worse.

"Never mind," she yelled back. He frowned. She didn't look so well. She was pale and her face was drawn in pain. Reaching out, he gently grabbed her hand and guided her into the chair Logan had vacated. She winced, bracing her arm tight against her side as fire flared through her chest. He hadn't released her and she squeezed his hand in response to the pain.

The screen door banged open again. Barek walked over and handed their guns to them. Logan was right behind her. "Barek…"

She turned on him, holding her hands up in front of her, palms out. "Just shut up, Logan. Don't talk to me."

She went into the cabin, where the lights had come back on. Logan turned to Eames. "Are you ok, Alex?"

She nodded, but neither of the men believed her. Logan walked over to her, gently helping her to her feet, slipping a supportive arm around her waist. He looked at Goren. "I'll be right back. Try not to do anything stupid while I'm gone."

He helped Eames into the cabin, where Barek was snapping branches into smaller pieces and throwing them angrily into the fireplace. He eased her onto one of the couches and looked toward his partner. "Look, she doesn't even need an ax."

He ducked the stick she threw at him on his way back to the door. Barek looked at Eames. "You don't look so hot." She left the fireplace to sit by her on the couch. "You've got blood all over the back of your shirt. Let me have a look."

Eames unbuttoned her shirt and eased it open so Barek could examine her. She certainly didn't want Logan checking her over and she'd be damned right now if she'd let Bobby do it either. She had been going over the day's events in her mind and she was furious with him. He'd done it again. He'd underestimated Nicole Wallace and nearly gotten himself killed. Quietly, Barek said, "This is where Bobby landed on you, isn't it?" She nodded. "You've got a lot of bruising here. Probably a couple of broken ribs. We'll get some ice on that and they'll feel a little better, but they're gonna hurt for awhile. Let me check your back to see where this blood came from."

But there wasn't a mark on her back. Barek frowned. The blood had to have come from someplace.