A/N: Well, I have to admit that I've been teasing you about Warrick's Watcher. I won't be revealing who it is for a couple more installments. Sorry, but hang in there!

As for those of you who are Highlander fans, I'm sure you noticed I've mentioned an appearance of a character who no longer exists in the Highlander world. I live in my own world where they did NOT kill Richie. And they certainly did NOT kill him on my BIRTHDAY! I don't accept it, so in my story, Richie is alive and well!

And yes, the bad guy returns in this installment!

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"What is this place?" Nick asked as Warrick hustled him inside the building. Warrick had insisted that they get him out of the hospital, so he had signed himself out to the dismay of his doctors. He had followed Warrick meekly, without question, assuming that they were going to Warrick's apartment. This was not his apartment. This looked like an old abandoned warehouse.

"This is……my lair." Warrick chuckled. "I have had lots of secrets. This is one of them."

"Lair?" Greg grimaced. "As in dungeon? Are we to become prisoners here?"

"No, you're to become warriors here." Warrick said it so calmly that you would think he was speaking of the weather. This was a big thing, Nick understood that. This was life and death. They were fixing to enter a stage in their lives that would shape the rest of their lives. If they did it correctly, the rest of their lives would last a very long time. Somehow it didn't seem as appealing as it should.

The inside of the building didn't look much more promising than the outside. It was dirty and abandoned. What looked like the remains of office furniture lay scattered about the large open space. The dust and the stale air wouldn't do any good on his recovery rate, Nick thought. Warrick guided them around the inside edge of the building, ignoring all the debris.

"This is where I come to train. I may have been out of the Game for all these years, but you can't let yourself become rusty. You never know when something like this may come up. You have to be ready, or you lose your head." Warrick rationalized quietly. He led them to an old service elevator towards the back of the building. Once inside, he stuck a key in and the elevator came to life. According to the buttons on the machine, the building had three floors. Warrick punched the top floor and the old machine groaned as it surged to life.

"And no one has came looking for you here?" Nick questioned. "No one has become suspicious that you own this building. You do own it, right?"

"It's not in my current name. As lives pass, you must change your identity. I have had several identities but wherever I go, I use a secret, unused identity to purchase a place such as this to keep myself trained."

"And has anyone ever come looking for you? I've known you for six years and I've never seen you react to anyone like you do when Mac comes near." Nick was beginning to feel dizzy and he wanted nothing more than to sit down, or better yet, lie down. As much as he tried to hide his weakness, he didn't get anything past Warrick. Warrick took hold of him just under his arm of his good side, silently helping him stay upright as the elevator ground to a halt.

Greg helped to open the doors, seeing that Warrick was half holding Nick up. As the room was revealed, Nick was surprised at what he saw. Nothing was abandoned or dirty here. To the right, in the dircetion that Warrick was manhandling him, was a large inviting bed. Beyond the bed, was an area that looked like a tv room. A large comfortable looking couch, side chairs that looked just a comfortable. "Can't I just sit in one of those?" Nick questioned, motioning towards the chairs as Warrick guided him to the bed.

"Nick, you look like death warmed over. You need to sleep. You need some rest. After you sleep, then you can worry about looking tough to us." Warrick didn't pause as he tucked him into the bed. Nick sank into the soft bedding, not really dismayed after feeling the comforting warmth. He fought his eyes from slamming shut in order to look around the rest of the room. It looked like a gym. Ever possible piece of exercise equipment lined the walls. The center of the room was empty except for being carpeted with a mat.

"You sleep here?" Nick yawned.

"Not very often. It gets sort of lonely here. This is not for enjoyment. This is business. This is where you will learn everything that you need to know to stay alive." Warrick motioned to the room. "You rest. Greg, have a look around. I'll show you all routes of escape. That's the first step to staying alive….Never leave yourself without a way out."

If Warrick had anything else to say, it was lost to Nick as he drifted off to sleep.

He had lost them. Somehow they had managed to escape him. He had searched each of their apartments. They were not there. He had followed their co-workers to no avail. They had gone into the wind. Warrick Brown had taken his little ducklings and secreted them away. Most likely, he was preparing them. He needed to do something. He had to find them. He returned to his hideout near the CSI building. He had a feeling that they would return there. If all else failed, you go back to the beginning.

He had to get to the kid. He had to get him away from the others. He knew better now, he wouldn't get a chance to play with him as he had wanted to play with the other. He had screwed up there. He had failed to kill him and now he wasn't vulnerable anymore. They were protecting him and the kid. He was no longer the hunter. He was the hunted. They would be searching for him. They would come after him now. He had to attack in a way they wouldn't be prepared for.

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Warrick was gone. In ten years of following the man, he had never completely lost him before. The tracking device in the vehicle was useless if the man left it behind. The bug in the phone was inadequate if the man did not have it turned on.

He'd heard that Warrick and Greg had stayed by Nick's side. He'd gone to the hospital after shift only to find that Nick had checked himself out, AMA. According to the nurse, Warrick had been the one to convince Nick to leave. After leaving the hospital, they had seemingly dropped off the radar.

He hadn't thought to put tracking devices on Nick or Greg's cars. He made a mental note to consider doing that to all the CSI's Putting some sort of beacon on their badges, perhaps? That way, if one of them went missing, he'd have an idea of where to look. That certainly would have come in handy last year, when Nick had gone missing.

He wasn't much of a Watcher, if he lost his subject the first time something happens. Ten years of nothing and he waits until now to lose the guy. What a crappy Watcher he turned out to be!

At least he had contact with the other guy's Watcher. Joe Dawson had emailed him that he was in town and would be contacting him ASAP. Perhaps he could find out from Dawson where MacLeod was and Warrick would be nearby. Once he found the errant Immortal, he would make sure not to lose him again.

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"If something should happen. If anyone show's up unannounced, you use one of these routes to get out of here." Warrick was reminding Greg for the tenth time. He had shown the different ways out of the building to Greg and had made him practice escaping.

"And where do I go? I thought I was supposed to be safe with you?" Greg frowned. He was tired, stressed and cranky. He just wanted to sit down and veg for a while or do like Nick and sleep.

"You are, but we can't protect you if we are in the middle of battle. Say you were with me when I was challenged? If I failed, would you be able to protect yourself? No. If someone comes, you get yourself away, as far as possible. You get to the lab and you stay there until I contact you. Or if I'm not around…..Duncan contacts you."

"I think I felt safer when I knew I was going to die like everyone else." Greg snorted. Warrick opened his mouth to reply, but his attention was diverted. He wore the, now familiar, look of tension and curiosity. "Mac's here?"

"Let's hope it's him." Warrick went over towards the elevator, sword in hand. Greg blinked, he hadn't even seen Warrick pick up the weapon, but suddenly it was in his hands. Somehow Warrick's cat-like grace made sense more than it ever had before. Warrick stalked forward like a panther, motioning for Greg to get closer to Nick. Greg pulled his gun. He knew that a gunshot wouldn't kill an Immortal, but it sure as heck would slow one down.

Although Warrick had told him repeatedly to run should things go down, he knew he couldn't leave Nick behind. Nick was hurt, he was vulnerable. You don't leave a man behind to save your own skin. No, he would stay and protect Nick if it came down to it. He would never be able to live throughout eternity if it was at the cost of his friend.

"I know what you're thinking, Greg." Warrick hissed at him. "If this is it, you get out of here! I can't worry about both of you. I can't protect you both!"

Greg suddenly realized that he was a liability to Warrick. If he was in a battle to the death, worry about protecting him and Nick would be a weakness. Greg decided then and there, if he survived this confrontation, he would strive to learn everything he could about defending himself. He stared at the elevator as it began to moan and creak into life. He'd never been as frightened as he suddenly felt as he saw Warrick tense and prepare to strike.