Hi everyone...thanks again for the great reviews and a special thanks goes out to Tefla. Thanks for your help.

Now here's the long awaited chapter. Enjoy!

Nick looked at Erin incredulously, "How do you know me?" he asked hunched over as he favored his ribs

Erin noticed a spark of emotion come over Nick's face and jumped off the edge of the bed where she sat. She heard a slight gasp and cringed at the unintentional pain she had caused him. Apparently he was hurt more than he showed.

She walked across the room to give him space. His face had spoken volumes. This man had been through a lot. He had bruising and cuts on his face. She could see a hole in his right pant leg with dried blood covering it. Had he been shot? Though she was scared, and the situation wasn't good, she set herself to put Nick's mind at ease. She turned around to face the battered man.

"Relax Mr. Stokes … before tonight I never knew you existed."

Nick visibly relaxed, "It's Nick. How did you get dragged into all this?"

Erin looked at Nick thinking of the right words to say, "Let's just say I witnessed a crime tonight. At least that's why I think I'm here."

He waited for her to elaborate and when she didn't the investigator in him took over. "What crime did you witness Miss Matthews?" he asked trying to get comfortable.

"Since we are obviously in the same boat here … please call me Erin. To answer your question, I witnessed an abduction …yours."

Nick blanched at the last remark and looked away. He didn't know what to say, but he did know how he felt. He had unknowingly dragged yet another innocent person into his mess.

"I'm so sorry." He whispered.

Erin looked at him suddenly. Call it woman's intuition, but she could tell that her words had wounded him. That wasn't her intention.

"Nick this wasn't your fault. You didn't ask for this to happen."

He looked back up at her, "You got dragged into this whole mess because of me."

"No I got dragged into this mess because of those guys out there. Look your friends are working to find you. I've been with them for the last few hours. They knew you were missing shortly after you were taken." She hoped that that news would lift his spirits.

Pausing for a moment, it was Erin's turn to look at the floor. The silence hung between the two prisoners for a few minutes. The only audible noise being the gentle squeaking of the cot Nick was sitting on as he shifted his position. That noise brought Erin out of her silence and she turned her gaze back to Nick's.

"If anything, with regards to my being here now, it's my fault. I was naïve enough to place my trust in someone who works with you. A total stranger asked if I wanted to join him outside for some fresh air. I followed him outside without anyone knowing about it. I shouldn't have been so trustworthy. The next thing I knew we we're standing by his car. When someone grabbed me from behind, I started to get this feeling that something wasn't right. I was correct though as your co-worker made no attempt to aid me. He even told whomever grabbed me to …'Bring her to Harris,'" she said trying to mimic the voice.

Nick gave Erin a brief smile before he mulled over what she had just told him. So she'd been lured outside, from the safety the Lab had to offer by someone whom he assumed was a co-worker. His head snapped up as he glanced sharply at Erin. With what he had learned tonight about Carl, it was certainly plausible. How else would she be here now? He motioned to Erin to sit down and as she moved to sit back on the cot … he spoke.

"Erin, this stranger that you speak of … did he give you his name?"

"He did, strange as it seems. He called himself Carl."

Nick absorbed the news, "Carl Stenson … he works in the ballistics lab. Don't worry Erin. He played me too and for a lot longer." He said with spite as he shifted again with a grimace.

"Nick why don't you let me take a look at those ribs and your leg … were you shot?"

He nodded warily as he examined his leg.

"I grew up with three brothers. Unfortunately someone was always hurt in my house so needless to say I had the opportunity to learn some basic first aid. Though I'm not sure what I'll be able to do for you."

"I'm not sure if I should."

Erin appeared hurt from the comment.

"I'm sorry Erin. I didn't mean that I don't trust you, it's just that we are on closed circuit television." He pointed in the direction of the camera. "I'm not sure if I should show how hurt I am."

"Well Nick I'm going to go out on a limb here and say that they probably already know considering they're probably the ones that did it to you."

Nick thought about what she said. It was true Harris probably did know that his ribs were broken. He looked over to Erin who was waiting patiently for his answer. He sighed, "My leg is good for now, but my ribs … I think some might be broken. They really did a number on me."

He moaned as he moved to the edge of the cot. The last time he had broken his ribs it was courtesy of Nigel Crane and a two-storey fall. It took him a while to get over that. He woke up every night with the sensation of falling. The sound of a throat clearing brought Nick back to the present. He innocently looked over to Erin who was waiting for him.

"We are going to have to take this vest off first before I can get a look at those ribs."

"You have a good point there." He reached up and unzipped his vest he went to remove it, but grunted in pain from the movement.

She sat down next to him on the cot, "Here let me help you." Erin said as she slid the vest off one arm then another. Unfortunately the vest hung off of the handcuffs since Nick was still bound to the cot.

Erin stood up and came around to the front of him and knelt down, "OK Nick. Let's see those ribs."

He pulled out and lifted his shirt and watched as Erin visually examined his midsection.

"Just warning you … I'm going to be checking your ribs now."

She reached up and felt his ribs. She did see severe bruising and she felt three breaks on his right side. Erin felt him flinch from the contact.

"I'm sorry if I hurt you," She said as she checked the left side.

"It's not that … cold hands." He said with a smile.

She smiled back, "Well from what I can feel it looks like you have three broken ribs on your right side. The other side is fine. Unfortunately there's nothing in here we can use to wrap it … sorry."

"Not your fault." He said pulling his shirt back down. Erin helped him put his vest back on.

"Now let's take a look at that leg. How long ago were you shot?"

Nick thought about it, "It's been a couple of hours. I think the bleeding finally stopped, but the bullet is still in there."

Erin looked closely at the wound the bleeding in fact had stopped, but it would get infected if they didn't get that bullet out soon.

"You were right the bleeding has stopped. I'm just going to wrap it anyway to keep it covered." She ripped the bottom part of her blouse off and used that as a bandage. She wrapped it around his leg. He grunted when she pulled it taut.

"Thanks." He said as he slowly pushed himself back against the wall. He motioned for her to once again join him on the cot.

"You're welcome," she replied. As Erin moved to sit down on the cot she spoke again, "So what do they want with you?"

He looked at Erin, wary about telling her the whole story. He figured he might as well share every morbid detail. She was in this mess because of him, no matter how much she denied this fact.

"It's actually two things they want. Neither of them are good and the outcome is even worse."

"Go on."

Nick paused briefly before beginning his explanation of events that unfolded and led them both to their current situation. "It might just be easier if I start from the beginning. A little over a month ago I had gone to the Desert Palms Emergency room with pains in my side. After a few tests the doctors determined it was appendicitis. I was immediately admitted and sent upstairs to a room. When I was wheeled into the room I found one of the beds occupied by another man - Dustin Schultz."

Erin nodded her head as she listened and urged him to continue with his story.

"He seemed like a nice enough guy and we got on really well. We talked for a while he asked me what I did for a living and I told him." Nick stopped for a minute to ponder a thought. "Come to think of it he did seem a little excited that I worked for the police station."

"Why would you say that?"

"My guess is the disk."

"The disk … what disk?" she asked apparently confused.

"Well we are getting a little ahead of ourselves here. Let's back up."

"Sorry," she said sheepishly.

He smiled back at her, "Don't worry about it." He continued with the story. "Anyway a few hours had gone by and they took me down to surgery. The surgery went fine and I was brought back up to my room. During the middle of the night I heard struggling coming from Dustin's side of the room. I looked over to see that man that they call Harris standing next to Dustin with a pillow over his head."

"What did you do?" Erin asked.

"At first I tried to get out of bed to help, but I was still to weak from the surgery. Before I knew it I could no longer here Dustin's struggling. I looked over only to see Harris staring at me. He grabbed the pillow he had just killed Dustin with and came after me."

Erin swallowed she couldn't even fathom the fear that Nick felt at that time. He was in the hospital somewhere where he was supposed to be safe – a safe haven if you want to call it that.

"You must have been so frightened."

"I was … I forgot where I was and inadvertently reached for my gun. It wasn't there, but in doing that I accidentally had hit the call button. Within seconds the nurse came on over the speaker and asked if I needed anything."

"What did you do?"

"I screamed for help is what I did, but before I could get any other words out Harris had the pillow over my head. I was able to hold him off for a little while, but I soon found myself losing strength. Just as my strength had gone out I felt the grip loosen on the pillow. The nurse had come to the door and scared off Harris."

"So Harris tried to kill you … wow." She sat there taking in everything he said than asked, "So what's the deal with the disk?"

"To tell you the truth I'm not sure. I believe that Dustin hid this disk in my CD player when I went down to surgery. One of my friends, Greg Sanders, found the disk about a week later."

"Do you know what's on the disk?"

"I haven't the foggiest. The case had been closed so we never looked at the disk. We only catalogued it as evidence."

"Excuse my ignorance, but how could you have closed Dustin's case if Harris was still loose?"

Nick looked at Erin, he really didn't want to continue the story, but he owed it to her.

"Since I witnessed Dustin's murder and could identify the killer I was placed in protective custody. The day of my release my friends: Warrick, Greg and Jim Brass came to escort me home along with the two cops that were assigned to guard me." He stopped for a moment he could feel the emotion like it was yesterday.

Erin could see from Nick's face that talking about this was bringing up bad memories, "Nick you don't have to finish … it's OK."

"No … you deserve the whole story since you are now in this mess."

"Just take your time."

He smiled at her thoughtfulness, "Thanks." He made a poor attempt at taking deep breath since his ribs were broken and continued with the story.

"My friend Warrick went down to get the car and Greg took my car back to my place. Brass and the two cops stayed with me in my room. A few minutes went by and the nurse came in with a wheel chair. We left the room and got into the elevator. When we hit the lobby and the doors opened there was a man standing there with a gun. H-h-he shot the t-t-two cops, my f-f-friend Jim Brass and the nurse. Of the four that were shot, only one survived … Jim Brass."

"I'm so sorry."

Nick nodded gratefully then continued, "This killer had me dead to rights with a gun to my head. He could have pulled the trigger at any time, but he didn't get the chance as Warrick showed up. Warrick warned the guy not to shoot, but the guy just laughed at him and turned back around to finish me off. He didn't have the chance. Warrick shot him three times."

Erin glanced at Nick who was staring at the floor in front of him. She could tell that repeating this story had reopened wounds. She reached over and put his hand in hers. It was a small gesture and one she hoped that he would appreciate.

He looked over at her grateful for the contact and attempted a small smile. "I'm almost done. Just give me a minute." He looked back down to the floor.

"Take your time Nick." She said as she continued to hold his hand.

He gently squeezed her hand in appreciation to what she said and continued with the story, "Warrick shot the guy three times and he was declared dead at the scene. When the police had originally interviewed me they asked if I could remember any identifying marks on the killer … say a tattoo or scar. The thing I remember vividly was the 'pit bull' tattoo that is on Harris' right arm. So when this guy was killed everyone thought it was Harris, but obviously it wasn't. Up until tonight, I honestly thought the killer was dead."

"I'm sorry that you had to go through all that."

"Well Erin, it's the story of my life. I guess I'm just a trouble magnet." He said trying to lighten the mood.

Erin attempted a smile, but it was hard. She could still see the emotion in Nick's eyes. "So Mr. Trouble Magnet, where does this mysterious disk come into play?"

"Oh yeah the disk. Well after my second close call I finally went home. While I was sleeping my friend Greg found an extra CD in my CD player. It was placed just under my music CD. When I woke up he asked me about it. I obviously didn't know what it was, but the only other person that had access to my CD player was Dustin. I had a feeling it was part of the case and had Greg take it to the lab and place it with the rest of the evidence for Dustin's case. Since the case was officially closed no one ever looked at the disk. It just sat in the evidence locker."

"So now Harris wants it."

"Yep … and he's using me to get it."

"OK. Another stupid question: if Carl works at the lab why didn't he just take the disk?"

Nick smiled at her deductive reasoning, "Erin that's not a stupid question. I'm thinking about it. There could be a few reasons why Carl didn't do it. The most obvious one is that the evidence vault is video recorded and plus if anyone takes an evidence out they need to sign for it. The other reason would be he just didn't know where it was. That is the reason I'm going with. Considering the fact that after they grabbed me, they took me straight to my house and turned the whole place upside down looking for it. In fact that's where I got this." He pointed to his leg.

"Why on earth did they shoot you?"

"Do they really need a reason?"

Erin thought about if for a minute then answered, "I guess not. Nothing seems beneath these guys."

"Yea. I'm with you on that one."

"So why do you think I'm here?"

Nick avoided her eyes and looked to the floor. He knew that this question would come up eventually. Erin was putting on a good show bottling her emotions, but he knew deep down what was going to happen.

"You said that you witnessed my abduction … right?"

"Yes … I did. Why?"

"Did you get a good look at Harris? The man that was driving the other truck."

"Yes." She replied and then she came to realize that she could identify him. "Oh God … he's going to kill us. Isn't he?"

"I wish I could sugarcoat the answer for you, but unfortunately the answer is yes. Harris has told me in no uncertain terms that once he has the disk he will kill me and I imagine that he will do the same with you."

This time it was Nick who squeezed Erin's hand. Nick had faced death before and come out on top. He would not give up until he breathed his last breath. He looked over to Erin he could see the look of fear welling up in her eyes. He felt horrible. Here she was doing something good by reporting a crime and now she was going to die from it. Life just wasn't fair.

"I'm really sorry that you got involved in all this Erin." He said regrettably.

She nodded unable to answer. She was still trying to face the inevitable that she was going to die soon. It took her a few minutes to compose herself. She leaned her head back against the wall as she heard the jingling at the door.

Erin moved closer to Nick and asked, "Are you scared?"

The door opened to reveal four men who walked into the room.

"Yes I am."

So what did you think? I hoped you all liked it. I'm really happy with the way this chapter turned out. As usualall reviews are appreciated. Thanks!