Author's Note: Thank you all for your patience and your 'WTF, cliffhanger, noooo!' reviews! Here is...another cliffhanger, but I swear I'm nearly done with the chapter after this, so it really shouldn't be long until I have all the danger wrapped up now. :)

"Clear."

"Clear here. Meet you at the front stairwell entrance." Nas' voice through the comms earpiece was terse.

Kurt retreated back along his path through the open-plan office on the ground floor, trying not to think of the similar layout in SIOC, just a couple of blocks away. The attack has to have started by now. God, I hope my people are okay.

He was far more worried about Jane right now, however. He and Nas had stealthily taken out two of Sandstorm's lookouts in the foyer, mercifully before they'd managed to alert Shepherd. If luck was on their side, the rest of the route would be clear all the way to Jane.

Nas approached the stairwell door from the opposite side of the foyer. "I'll check the next floor; you head straight for the top?" she suggested.

Kurt gave her a grateful nod. They both knew it was far more likely Shepherd had holed up on the highest of the three floors, which would give them a better vantage point and less chance of interruption. It would be foolhardy to head straight up there without making sure there wasn't anyone who'd pose a threat on the floor below, but Nas knew how desperately he needed to get to Jane. She'd cover his back, despite her own need to take down Shepherd.

If Nas had insisted he clear the middle floor, while she went straight to confront Shepherd, Kurt didn't know that he would have been able to show the same restraint. Despite her obsession, Nas Kamal was cautious to the bone—probably because she'd been burnt by Sandstorm before.

As he put his hand out to the stairwell door, she caught his wrist, her expression urgent. "We take Shepherd alive. I need to look her in the eyes and hold her to account for the deaths of my old team."

He nodded again, keeping his thoughts to himself. If Jane's in danger, I'll shoot Shepherd in the head without a second thought.

Nas sighed, as though she could read his mind. "Just try, all right? Let's go."

Kurt didn't need any further encouragement. Together, they ascended to the next floor, scoping out the landings above for signs of the enemy.

"Good luck."

"Be careful," he murmured back, and continued up to the final landing alone, his pulse racing.

Jane's cover was sure to be compromised by now, but everything seemed quiet. Kurt's imagination served him images of Jane sprawled in front of him, her lifeless eyes staring at nothing as her blood drenched the floor.

No. Focus.

He eased open the door a crack, and heard a familiar voice—sad, but strong.

"It's okay, Roman. We tried to do the right thing. That means something, even if the FBI can't stop the nuclear attack. We tried."

Not taking the time to register relief, Kurt headed in the direction Jane's voice had come from, keeping as silent as possible. The door to the open-plan area had been taken off its hinges and propped against the opposite wall, probably by the work crew that was supposed to be renovating this place. That meant Kurt didn't have to worry about a door obstructing his line of sight—or his line of fire.

"How could I trust you now, Roman?" Shepherd asked, disgust in her voice. "You chose your side. Now you can suffer for it."

Since no one else had spoken, Kurt assumed Roman was still in position in the sub-basement below SIOC, speaking through comms. Carefully, he edged up to the doorway and took stock of the situation.

His thoughts stalled at the sight before him. Jane was kneeling on the floor, her weapons cast out of reach. Shepherd stood just out of her attack range, her sidearm aimed straight at Jane's head. It was obvious Jane had no moves left to make, and though her posture was still defiant, her closed eyes were a sign that she knew it.

"I love you, Roman," she said, only the barest tremble in her voice.

"On my way to you now," Nas said in Kurt's ear, her voice more of a distraction than a reassurance.

"And please, tell Kurt…" Jane swallowed hard and faltered, shaking her head slightly.

Hell, no, Jane. You're not dying today.

"Ellen Briggs, drop your weapon!" Kurt demanded forcefully.

He was too focused on Shepherd to see Jane's reaction, but he heard her exhale with relief. Shepherd froze, but didn't lower her gun. They were at a stalemate—Jane was still at risk. And Kurt couldn't see her other hand. Was she holding something?

"Kurt. I should have guessed you'd come to join us. My Remi was never a damsel in distress, but Jane Doe seems to need rescuing much more often. The ZIP clearly erased her emotional resilience and self-reliance, amongst other things."

If he'd been any mood to engage Shepherd in debate, Kurt could have pointed out that Jane had been more than capable of maintaining her undercover ruse for months on end, despite her PTSD and amnesia. But he just wanted this case over. He was done. "Drop the weapon. Now, Major General."

"How about you drop your weapon, and I won't shoot your precious Jane in the head?" Shepherd's voice was almost dreamy. "Oh, I know you love her. I could tell you and my Remi would get along, right from the first moment I saw you in that academy hallway. You had the same anger, the same need to put the world to rights. It's a shame the reason I chose you for this operation makes us unable to come to some kind of understanding. In another life, we could have been family, Kurt."

Legally speaking, we will be in this life, too. Not that you'll get a wedding invitation.

"Shepherd, it's over, whether you shoot me or not," Jane said. "Parker's down, and he was the head of his team. Roman's switched sides. The FBI know everything we know."

"Nigel Thornton flipped, too," Kurt added. "We know where your nuclear material is, and your beacon, and a team is securing everything as we speak."

A muscle in Shepherd's jaw twitched.

"Major General," Nas added, moving up beside Kurt, "you're outnumbered. Please, come quietly."

Shepherd sighed, her voice weary. "And if I refuse?"

"If it were me leading this takedown alone, I'd try to incapacitate you, but Weller will shoot to kill if Jane's still in your sights, so I might as well, too. We're both excellent shots." Nas' voice was resigned, but determined. "Whether or not you manage to take Jane with you, you'll be just as dead."

"I suppose this is the only option I have left, then."

Something dropped to the ground at Shepherd's feet, and both he and Nas reacted instinctively, diving for cover before they consciously registered what it was.

"Grenade!" Nas called, just as Kurt yelled for everyone to take cover.

Jane's voice was a split-second behind theirs. "No! It's fake!"

Before he and Nas could recover, two gunshots fired rapidly, and Kurt's stomach flipped. Jane—

As he struggled to his feet, Jane furiously yelled Shepherd's name, and he almost stumbled in his relief. "Jane, you hurt?"

"No. I'm going after her!" She was already most of the way across the open-plan office area, heading for the maze of meeting rooms and smaller offices at the back of the building.

"Got your back," he called, as he sprinted after her.

"She'll be going for the fire exit. I'll cut her off from below," Nas said, her voice barely audible behind him, but clear through his comms.

"Got it."

The sound of breaking glass reached his ears as he entered the warren of small rooms. Jane and Shepherd were already out of sight. The blueprints he and Nas had studied on the way over here had put the fire exit at the back of the building, the fire escape overlooking a narrow alley. He used his knowledge of the building's layout to work his way there, climbing through the broken window to find Jane in a shooter's stance halfway down the fire escape, her rifle aimed at Shepherd, one landing below.

"Drop it, Shepherd. It's over," Jane said, her voice harsh.

Defeated, Shepherd tossed her weapon aside, and both Kurt and Jane relaxed a fraction.

Kurt took the cuffs from his belt. "You want to do the honours?" he asked, unsure if he was doing the right thing by asking. Jane had done the hardest work on this case, and deserved the arrest, but Shepherd was also family, meaning Jane might not want to be the one to restrain her.

"No, I'd rather keep her in my sights. You go ahead." She didn't even glance Kurt's way, clearly not trusting her mother in the slightest.

Nas called from below, "I've got her from down here!"

Kurt descended the metal staircase. "Put your hands behind your head," he ordered Shepherd.

Shepherd silently complied, her jaw clenched. As Kurt tightened the cuffs, none too gently, the disgraced Major General never took her eyes off Jane.

"She called her people while she was running. I think she asked them to initiate the missile launch," Jane said urgently. "Were you serious about the nuclear threat being neutralised?"

Oh, shit.

"One way to find out," he said, as Nas came up the stairs and took hold of Shepherd's bound arms. Quickly, he dialled Reade. "We got Shepherd. You guys good?"

"We took out Sandstorm's people, so the nuclear material's secure, but we can't find the beacon," Reade said wearily. "We could still be at risk of a strike if one of the other—"

"Shepherd called the strike already. I don't know how long it'll take for the missile to reach its target, but—"

"Thirty minutes," Shepherd said calmly.

He just about resisted the urge to punch her in the face—but only just. "Probably around twenty-seven minutes. We're all counting on you guys now. Find that beacon."

"Twenty-seven minutes. Keep you updated." Reade's voice was filled with trepidation. The connection went dead, but not before Kurt heard Zapata swearing emphatically in Spanish in the background of the call.

"We need to get back to the NYO, check on our people, see if Patterson can do anything remotely," Kurt said. Assuming she's still alive.

Jane came down the stairs to join him as Nas marched Shepherd ahead of them. He wanted to pull her into his arms, but there wasn't enough time for an emotional reunion. Instead, he slipped his hand into hers as they descended the stairs.

Jane curled her fingers around his. "Thanks for the backup. I had her, but she used the fake grenade to get the drop on me. I couldn't see she still had it. I'm sorry."

"Just glad I got there in time." The alternative didn't bear thinking about —not that they were out of the woods yet. He dialled Patterson and got no response, not even voicemail—the signal jammer at the NYO must still be active.

"Roman, you okay?" Jane spoke into her comms mic, her voice stressed. "Roman?"

"No answer?" Kurt asked.

"No. He was injured taking out his sub-basement team. We have to get to him, Kurt. He could be bleeding out."

They caught up to Nas as they reached the bottom of the stairs, and headed to the car. When Shepherd wouldn't move fast enough, Jane grabbed her mother's upper arms and viciously propelled her forward.

"Get a move on, or Roman might die. I know at least some part of you still cares about him."

"In about twenty-five minutes, we'll all be dead. Maybe some good will still come of this terrible day," Shepherd told her.

"We are going to stop this, and then you're going to supermax."

"Really? Supermax? Is that where Keaton took you?" Shepherd said.

Jane pressed her lips together and didn't reply.

"You don't really think you're going to be able to hold him off me if you stop this, do you?" Shepherd continued, a note of sorrow in her voice that was just a touch too exaggerated to be genuine. "You can't even be in the same room as him without panicking. I know all those things you said about black sites being an abomination weren't just for my benefit. How does it feel to side with the abominations, Remi? I hope it's worth it."

"If you're not gonna tell us where the beacon is hidden, shut up," Kurt snapped at her.

They made it to the car without further conversation. Jane elected to sit in the backseat with her rifle trained on Shepherd, clearly taking no chances that she might somehow pick her way out of the cuffs. Kurt's heart ached at the hardness in the woman he loved, the unwillingness to let her guard down even a little. He'd imagined that when he finally found her, the threat would be over and he'd be able to hold her, kiss her, tell her how much he'd missed her. She'd barely looked his way since he'd allowed himself to take his eyes off Shepherd, and he couldn't afford to relax, either.

He noticed his hand was bloody as he fitted the key into the ignition, and glanced sharply back at Jane. "Hey, is this blood yours?"

"Oh," she said, looking down at her own bloodied hand. "Yeah. I cut my hand on the way out of the window. It's not serious."

Relieved, he concentrated on the drive, glad the NYO was only two or three minutes away. As they navigated the streets, Nas was on the phone to someone she seemed to know well, trying to get an EMP sent to Sandstorm's DC hideout within a fast enough timeframe. An EMP blast would fry anything electronic within a set radius, and would save Zapata and Reade having to physically find the beacon, assuming it was still in the house.

"If that beacon's not destroyed within twenty minutes or so, we will all die," Nas snapped. "Get it done!"

"Any luck?" Kurt asked, as they neared the building.

"It's a long shot. Don't mention it to your people, in case they can't come through."

Kurt's phone rang as they drew up to the NYO. When he saw the caller ID, he exhaled hard in relief. "Patterson! We're just outside. We got Shepherd, but she initiated the missile strike, and the DC team can't find the beacon."

"Oh, this is very, very not good! How long do we have?" Patterson asked.

"Twenty minutes. If there's something you can do, do it now. And send people down to the sub-basement to check on Roman. We're coming in."

Jane and Nas already had Shepherd out of the car. Joined by the first paramedics to arrive on the scene, they rushed inside. Nas took her in the elevator to the holding cells on the third floor, while Jane and Kurt took the paramedics straight to the stairwell, heading down.

Carnage met their eyes as they entered SIOC. Bodies were collapsed everywhere, bullet holes smattered the walls, and several glass partitions had been shattered, including the one that served as a wall to his office. Shell-shocked administration staff and grim-looking agents milled around one end of the room, though crime scene tape had been used to block off most of the area.

Brianna was the first to approach him, wearing a tactical vest and looking shaken. "Thank god you're okay! Patterson's in her lab. She told us about the threat."

"I'm going to find Roman, and I'm taking the paramedics," Jane said tightly, already taking steps towards the maintenance elevator hallway.

"Jane, wait!" She stopped, desperate impatience in her expression, and he spoke quickly, knowing time was of the essence. "You'll need an access code to take the maintenance elevator. Brianna, do you remember my code today?"

"Yeah, I…" Brianna grabbed a piece of paper and a pen from the nearest desk, scribbled down the code, and handed it to Jane. She took it without thanks, spinning and almost running in her brother's direction. The paramedics followed.

God, I hope Roman's alive.

He beckoned for Brianna to walk with him, making for the lab. "Did we lose any people?"

"Only one fatality—Christian, from the foyer desk—but there are a couple of agents who really don't look good, including Director Pellington," Brianna said, her voice breaking at the words. "The medics from upstairs are doing what they can, but they really need a hospital."

"More paramedics were pulling up as we came inside. They'll do everything they can. Can you meet them as they come down, guide them to where they're needed?"

"Got it." As though sensing his distraction, Brianna left him to it without further small talk. At least that was one thing taken care of.

Kurt's mind was half overwhelmed. The nuclear threat would be enough to occupy him on its own, but making sure their wounded were seen to, worrying about Jane's predicament with Roman, and wondering if Nas had managed to get Shepherd to holding without incident—there were so many things that needed his attention, all at once.

Priorities. Stopping that missile has to come first.

Entering the lab, he found Patterson standing at her computer, wearing a tactical vest, an assault rifle on the desk beside her. "Status report?"

She didn't look up, still typing at an insane speed as she spoke. Her ability to do both at once never failed to impress him. "I'm writing code for a spoof beacon. If the DC team can find and destroy the original beacon, this will draw the missile into the Atlantic where it can't do any harm—at least, not to humans. But if the original beacon doesn't stop broadcasting, my spoof won't do anything, and they have less than fifteen minutes to find it before it won't make any difference. Is Jane okay?"

"Physically speaking, yeah. Mentally…I guess we'll see." His phone rang, and he stepped away from Patterson to answer. "Zapata, any luck?"

Her voice was harried. "No, and we're running out of time! Can you take another run at Borden, or Roman, if you have access to him? Ask them if they can think where Shepherd would tell her people to hide it?"

"Roman's unconscious or worse, but I'll head down to Borden now. Keep looking," he said, leaving the lab at a fast walk.

"I'm sorry," she said. "If we all die today, it'll be our fault—"

"We're not gonna die today. You're gonna find that beacon, okay? So keep searching. I'll be in touch about Borden."

"Got it." She hung up.

If these are the last fifteen minutes of my life, am I going to spend them apart from Jane?

He pushed the thought away. Averting this crisis had to come first, no matter how much he wanted to wrap his arms around Jane and tell her that she was the love of his life.