A/N I do not own John McBain or any of the other OLTL characters. All others are my own creation. Please don't sue cause I am broke and have nothing to be sued for anyway.

Chapter 25

Rex stood there as if he had not a care in the world, standing on either side of him were two guards from the estate. One man was dressed in full camouflage and the other was wearing black pants and a black jacket over a black shirt. Both were armed with automatic weapons and had them aimed at John and Shelly.

Shelly was shocked and confused but not for a minute did she believe that Rex had really turned on them. John on the other hand looked like he was convinced that Rex had played them. If Rex and his companions hadn't been holding a gun on him John would have surely killed the other man. "Herbie?" She asked, purposely not using his real name.

John heard Shelly call him Herbie and looked at her sharply. What kind of game were these two playing? Shelly was just as stunned to see him as he was, he would stake his life on it, so what was going on here? Deciding to go with Shelly's cue he said, "I knew you weren't to be trusted Herbie, I knew you would turn on us the minute you got the chance."

Rex felt terrible for this ruse but when he saw the two guards coming around the corner ready to spot John and Shelly he had intercepted them. Telling them that he had followed John and Shelly here he had convinced the guard they he was still on their side and the only way to prove it was to capture John and Shelly and bring them to the boss. Mr. Carpelli was actually here, at this minute, and was waiting for them.

"Hands up," camo guy said to John. Neither man was paying too much to Shelly, probably figuring she wasn't dangerous cause she was young and a girl. John continued to curse Rex but used the name Herbie. He was now pretty sure that Rex was up to something. He didn't know exactly which side Rex was on but on the off chance Rex was still on their side he wasn't about to break his cover.

"Herbie, you son of a bitch!" John threw at him, "I should have killed you when I had the chance! How could you do this? I trusted you, you bastard!"

"Walk," said the man in black prodding Shelly with the muzzle of his gun. She and John began to walk and soon they were lead to a side door of Lions heart. Shelly looked around memorizing everything. She wasn't sure what the plan was but she knew they would need to make a run for it once they rescued Natalie and knowing the lay of the land would make fleeing that much easier.

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Natalie crawled through the air ducts not knowing where she was going the dust and musty air playing havoc with her sinuses. "Aww-Cheeew!" She muffled the sneeze and stopped in her tracks and listened, praying that no one had heard that noise. Hearing nothing she continued to crawl through the ducts acutely aware of her surroundings. Any time now they would discover that she was not in her room and the alarm would be sounded.

"You'd think escaping a bunch of crazed mobsters would be a bit more fun," Natalie muttered to herself not enjoying her crawl through the ducts. In the back of her head and in her gut she couldn't help but feel she was forgetting something. She had some blanks in here memory since she had been kidnapped and that bothered her more then she would like to admit. She felt like she was missing something, and it felt like something big. She couldn't think of anything that she had lost or forgotten here so she kept crawling.

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John watched as Shelly walked beside of him into Lion's Heart. He kept trying to catch her eye so he could relay his intent to attack and disarm Camo guy. If he and Shelly attacked at the same time they stood a chance of getting away, that is unless Rex really was working for the other side, but that was a chance they would have to take.

Finally catching her eye he looked at her intently trying to relay his intentions. She gave a slight nod and he knew that she had understood his silent message. Walking further into the house he waited for the perfect moment to launch is attack.

Rex also saw the exchanged looks and breathed a sigh of relief. They had a plan. Lowering his gun slightly and stepping a little bit away from the 2 guards he waited. Preparing himself for John and Shelly's move, certain that Shelly knew that he hadn't betrayed them, he took a deep calming breath and reminded himself that with their help he would rescue his sister.

Coming to the second floor stairs John saw his opportunity and flashed Shelly a look. When she tensed up and nodded slightly John knew she understood and he spun around so fast he momentarily knocked camo man off balance. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Rex step back and Shelly attack her guard. Gripping the rifle he yanked it away from camo man and gave him an upper cut in the jaw with it. Camo man went down with a startled yelp and John smashed the butt of the gun into his temple rendering him unconscious.

Shelly saw John take his man down while she knocked the gun from her guy's hand and traded blows. Using a karate moves she managed to get the upper hand but this guy also knew some karate and countered her kicks and punches. Fighting fast and furious she remembered a move from her pressure points book and decided to try that. Snaking her hand to the other mans neck she hit the point in the neck that controlled blood flow to the brain. Pressing hard in a quick move she blocked the flow of blood to the mans brain and he began to gasp and clutch at his neck. His nose began to bleed and his eyes rolled up into his head then he slumped to the flood, dead.

"Wow!" Shelly said in awe, "I can't believe that worked!" Looking at Rex she said, "Now what the hell is going on?"

John looked from the dead man to Shelly to Rex then back to Shelly, "Are you ok?" he asked, unable to believe she, his little sister, had just killed someone and didn't seem that upset by it. When she nodded and continued to look at Rex, clearly expecting an answer, John also looked at Rex and added his own voice to that demand, "Exactly what is your plan Rex!"

Before he had a chance to answer there was a loud crash and a muffled shout of pain. The three exchanged looks and raced toward the noise praying that it wasn't Natalie being mistreated. Running down the hall and bursting in the room on the left all three were shocked to see Natalie lying there on the floor covered in dust and unconscious. John raced in picked her up and turned around. "Come on! Lets go." He said firmly, unable to believe that they had found her this easily.

Adjusting Natalie in his arms he held onto her tightly and marveled at how right she felt in them. Shaking the whimsical thoughts out of his head he raced back down the hall and down the stairs, Rex and Shelly at his heels, praying that Michael and Cris were still keeping the other guards occupied and they didn't run into anyone.

Running out of the house and into the woods John kept going till he reached the car. Carefully lying Natalie on the seat he was worried that she hadn't regained consciousness. He looked around and noticed that while Rex was there and Shelly wasn't. "Rex!" he whispered loudly, "Where's Shelly?"

Rex was startled; in all the excitement and disbelief he hadn't noticed when Shelly had disappeared. "I don't know!" He began to look around frantically, he had his sister but where was Shelly? Just as he was about to go searching for her she ran up and jumped in the car next to the unconscious Natalie.

"Where the hell were you?" John asked as both he and Rex also got in.

"I was giving Michael and Chris their cue to leave." Shelly explained out of breath, both from running and from fright. This was the scariest thing she had ever done. "We need to get Natalie to the hospital John. She might be seriously hurt. But we have to use fake names." She told him though she knew he already knew that. She just couldn't seem to comprehend that they had done it, they had rescues Natalie and it hadn't been as hard as they had thought it would be.

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Still shell-shocked and stunned John, Rex and Shelly raced to the hospital. When they got there John threw the car in park jumped out and had the back door open and Natalie in his arms before Rex or Shelly could get out of the car. A second later Michael and Chris also zoomed into the parking lot and skidded to a stop right next to them as John practically ran into the hospital.

John followed by Rex, Shelly, Michael and Chris raced into the ER and placed Natalie on a stretcher. "Help, this woman needs help." John called out.

Bo Buchanan was walking out of Nora's room when he heard a commotion. Striding quickly to the ER he burst in to see if it was anything he needed to worry about. Seeing a group of young people and Michael McBain clustered around a stretcher calling for help hr decided to investigate. As he neared the stretcher he noticed a young woman lying unconscious on it. Taking a closer look he gasped in shock, it was Natalie! Vicki's daughter Natalie! "What's going on here?" he demanded wanting answers. The group looked up at him just as Natalie was wheeled into the closest examination room.

Each person wanted to know the exact same thing, each had questions that they needed answers for. Looking around to each other silently as they waited for news on Natalie's condition they marveled at all they had accomplished and pondered the questions they had that needed answers. Holding in their hearts the knowledge that before they could move on and be whole they needed to find those answers.

The End

Authors note: there will be a sequel. I just needed to end here so i could take the story in a different direction. The next one will be Jolie all the way. Well it will have some Michael/Chris and Rex/Shelly too.