Author's note: You know the drill about who's owned by what. Nace is provided by Soul Reaver. Lopresti, Lascari and Storm are mine.

Chapter 4: On the Road Again

With his military experience, Nace understood the value of a good ambush. However… crouching in the back of a pick-up truck with a convicted felon, hoping your cowboy of a partner can sneak up on three, possibly heavily armed, men before they all got killed did NOT seem like a good ambush to him. 'I hope Deric knows what he's doing, because I bloody well don't,' Nace thought as he loaded his rifle. Looking over at Lopresti, Nace considered giving him the spare pistol in the bag. 'Too risky…' he thought. Although he had been a model prisoner so far, Nace still didn't trust Lopresti. If it meant not going to jail, you never knew what someone would do. There was just something that bothered Nace about the convict, but he couldn't quite put his finger on it.

"They're coming…" Lopresti said, snapping Nace out of his reverie. The sedan pulled to a stop about fifty feet directly in front of the truck, cutting off any potential escape. From that distance, Nace could see there were only two thugs and the driver. However, the two thugs exited the car with high caliber automatic rifles. "Where's your friend?" Lopresti asked, frantic.

"He'll show," Nace answered, "trust me."

"Detectives…" the driver shouted, "we'll give you one shot… Hand over your passenger and we'll let you walk away." Nace could see Deric slowly emerge from the stairwell, guns in hand. He just needed a distraction to move up closer.

"Sorry mate," Nace answered, keeping his rifle trained on the driver the entire time, "I don't think we're going to be able to do that."

"Well then, I'm sorry it has to be this way." The driver said, before nodding to his subordinates, who raised their guns and…

"Oh shit…" Nace swore. Lunging for Lopresti, he yelled, "GET DOWN!" as the two thugs unleashed a swarm of gunfire. Thankfully, the trunk absorbed most of the gunfire. Unfortunately, the truck was damaged to the point of being useless as a means of transportation. Deric used the commotion to sneak up on the unsuspecting trio.

"Okay," the driver said once the truck resembled Swiss cheese, "go see what's left." They took two steps before they were stopped by the sound of guns cocking.

"Uh… I don't think so," Deric said, aiming his handguns at the three. "Guns on the ground, now."

"Detective," the driver said, still with a smirk on his face, "you're outmanned and outgunned." As the goon to Deric's right raised his gun to fire, a shot rang out. The goon no longer aimed his gun at Deric; he was too busy cradling his right hand, which now included a bullet hole.

Now it was Deric's turn to smirk. "Wanna try that again?" Deric said as Nace approached, rifle at the ready, "Guns down. Hands behind your head." The other goon looked at Nace, then at his cohort on the ground, and did as he was told. Within five minutes, local police and federal agents arrived on the scene. Before the police led the three thugs away, Deric took the keys to the sedan from the driver.

Once back on the road, the three made great time, stopping only for gas and food. It was past midnight when they pulled into a motel just outside the border of West Virginia. They awoke at eight in the morning and were on the road again by nine.

It was around half past noon by the time they pulled to the J. Edgar Hoover Building in Washington, D.C. Agent Lascari was waiting for them outside the building with about half a dozen agents. He shook both Deric and Nace's hands when they stepped out of the car. The other agents helped Lopresti out of the car, and then proceeded to remove his shackles.

"Thanks Stan," Lopresti said, rubbing his wrists, "you have no idea how much of a pain in the ass it is to wear those damn things for nearly a week straight." The two detectives each had a bewildered look on their faces. Then, as if a light bulb went off for each of them, Nace and Deric glared at Lascari. They had been duped.

"Sorry to keep you in dark like that, boys." Lascari apologized.

"Where's the real Lopresti?" Nace asked, still perturbed.

"He arrived two days ago via plane," Lascari answered. "He already testified before the Attorney General. We have enough to deal a major blow to Satori crime family, maybe even completely obliterate them. What I told you back in California was part of the cover story. We knew we had a mole in the bureau, and this was the only way to flush them out."

"Why us?" Deric asked for both of them.

"We needed an outside factor, so we contacted ACME," Tom answered. "The assignment needed someone who would do whatever it took to get the witness here, and you two fit the bill perfectly." Nace and Deric seemed to grudgingly accept that, but Nace still had a confused look on his face.

"Then who's…" he motioned towards 'Lopresti.'

"Special Agent Josh Diaz," the man himself answered. "And, I must say, you two were outstanding." Looking at Nace he said, "That was amazing how you disarmed that guy back in Kansas." Diaz regaled his fellow agents with the story of the shoot out as they entered the building, leaving just Lascari, Nace and Deric outside.

"I guess this is gonna be the talk around the water cooler for the next two weeks?" Lascari wondered with a smirk.

"Well," Deric responded, "it was a hell of a shot."

"I can deal with that," Lascari snickered. "Once again, you boys went above and beyond what I expected. After you're debriefed, there'll be a car waiting to take you to a hotel for tonight and then to take you to the airport in the morning. You're on the 11:05 flight to San Francisco." That appealed to the two, mainly because they didn't feel like driving all the way back to San Francisco.

Once the debriefing was over, Lascari escorted our heroes outside to the awaiting car. He gave both of them his business card. "If you two ever decide that ACME's not your thing, give me a buzz. We'd love to have you two come work for us." Deric and Nace both thanked him for the offer. "I mean it, you two. Just give me a call." Lascari closed the car door and sent the two to their hotel and then back to San Francisco the next day.