Isa in Paradise: thanks for your review! I agree that Kris has some explaining to do! (haha), and indeed Richard will do anything to protect Camille I think. Poor Nick... Should he get over Kris? Who knows...? You'll find out soon, haha.

Alice714, Guest S, Guest, Thanks so much for your reviews, and ofcourse Sweepeaspatch for being my beta! THanks!

I hope you like this chapter and are still looking forward for the next chapter. I still have some ideas and already written chapter. This chapter took me a while because I had three different versions and was doubting which one to pick. Melding them together isn't my hobby hahahaha.

Chapter 30

Richard fired.

A soft and empty click filled the room.

Richard stared astonished at the gun in his hands. The gun was empty?! It had been empty all along? Had Kris known this when she'd threatened them with it? This made no sense. Richard stared at Nick and Camille with wide, surprised eyes then back at the gun. He opened the chamber to find it empty. How was this possible? It was as if time moved in slow motion all of a sudden. He looked up at Camille but she wasn't next to him anymore. When he looked down the hall, he was just in time to see her running around the corner.

Richard caught up with Nick who was limping and doing his best to follow Camille as fast as possible. He saw Camille immediately when he slammed the back door open and reached the big garden. There was no sign of Kris anymore... "Camille!" he shouted as she ran towards a motorbike just pulling into the big parking lot behind the garden.

Camille took the helmet from the man who had just stepped off and jumped on the fast machine herself.

"Camille!" Richard called out again as he ran towards her. But he was too late. The motorbike sped off at high speed, leaving him in a dust cloud. He coughed. Ow, how he hated sand!

"The car!" Nick shouted when he had reached Richard and passed him heading towards their rented car.

"That woman just stole my bike!" The motor rider shouted in shock as he watched the scene with open mouth.

Nick and Richard's car

Richard sat in the car nervously. Camille had sped off like a dare devil on that wretched motor bike. Ow... he was so, so angry! How dare she?! How dare she go after Kris alone?! Without back-up?! What was she thinking?! He clenched both his fist as his eyes scanned the road in front of him.

Nick drove like crazy, hoping to find a trace of both women somewhere.

Richard was breathing with difficulty. He was so nervous that he could eat his tie out of frustration. Why did she never listen?! Ever?!

"Camille will be fine," Nick assured Richard as his eyes took in every part of road and scenery.

"You can't be sure of that," Richard muttered. Camille had looked so angry when she jumped on that bike. Not to mention the speed she made that monstrous thing get away with... She might be wrapped around a tree by now! Or worse; shot by Kris! Or stabbed! Lying somewhere in the gutter. What had she been thinking? Going in on it alone! Again! Did she not have ears on her French head!? He'd seen something that looked like ears on the side of her head, but did they work? He doubted it.

"There!" Richard pointed as he saw a form of someone lying on the deserted, dark street. His heart sunk in his chest. O... No! "Stop!" He instructed as he almost jumped out of the car while it was still driving.

Nick stopped immediately while Richard had already swung the car door open and ran towards the form on the hard concrete in front of them.

'Camille!" Richard called out in horror as he recognized her dark curls and moved towards her as fast as his feet would allow. He dove towards the ground as he felt for her pulse. She was still alive. Thank God. He couldn't lose her. Not ever. "Camille!" Richard uttered as he turned her. He had never felt this awful. So much fear and dread spread through him, all at once. Mixed with anger. His eyes began to water. Emotions flooded through him.

Nick caught up with the two and bent. "Is she all right?" He asked worried as his eyes scanned her body.

"I don't see any bullet wounds." Richard concluded as he inspected her quickly. "You stupid fool." He muttered to her unconscious form as he checked further for other injuries. Her face was bruised and bloody and her arm was bleeding but there were no other new wounds since he had seen her last. "What were you thinking? Going in alone! She could have killed you!" he muttered in a trembling voice.

Nick was looking around. Kris was probably long gone by now.

Richard embraced Camille. He needed to feel her living, warm body against his.

Nick walked a few meters further where he saw blood on the ground and squatted next to it. O Kris, what have you done? She had left herr own friend, out on the street, unconscious in the dark. Just like that... He shook his head as he looked up and scanned the tree line in front of him. He had switched off his feelings and was in full tracking mode.

Richard held on to Camille for dear life. Cradling her to his chest like she was his life line. "Good Lord..." he said softly as a tear trickled down his cheek slowly. "You just have to be stubborn and French," he uttered in shock as he almost crushed her to his body. He kissed her cheek as another tear fell on her nose. He tenderly wiped it away. Could he ever get used to her stupid impulsive behavior? To her not listening to him? To putting herself in danger whenever she wanted to? Did she not see the danger? Did she not care about his feelings? Is that why she didn't listen?

Richard watched as Nick walked towards the dark tree line, where he saw an elderly lady and her dog. He bit his lip as he focused on Camille again. Her body felt warm against his and he could feel her even breathing. That soothed him. At least she was breathing. He looked at her wrists and the raw skin. His fingers caressed the red marks where the cuffs and tie wraps from earlier had hurt her.

Camille stirred and opened her eyes slowly.

Richard almost dropped her. He was holding her too close! Would she realize? Would she be angry?

Camille didn't seem to notice. She grabbed her head in pain and moaned as her dark eyes focused on Richard.

"Have you lost your mind?!" Richard suddenly barked at her, trying to cover up his feelings.

Camille tried to focus and saw that Richard was kneeling in front of her. And she was sitting on the ground. She held her hand to the side of her face as she tried to get up. Richard helped her while he ranted on. His words didn't quite reach her fogged up brain yet. She breathed in as deeply as she could and tried to straighten herself. She turned around to face him. His words began to make sense now and were no longer a blur of intruding sounds that annoyed her hurt head and tired brain.

"Who do you think you are?! James Bond?! Going in alone after her?!" Richard yelped.

He looked pale. Very pale. Paler then usual. She looked away from him, around her. She recognized the dark street, saw Nick talking to someone near the tree line. Kris's car was gone. How long had she been lying here? She saw the rented car behind her and walked slowly towards it. Ignoring Richard. She leaned against the cold metal as Richard followed her, still ranting.

"Going after her ALONE, AGAIN! I specifically told you last time not to go alone into these situations but you went against my orders again!"

Camille was so annoyed that he just kept on shouting and ranting! What an irritatingly, stubborn English man! Couldn't he see that she neededquiet now, that her head hurt?! And Kris had just left her here? Out in the street? Someone could have driven right into her. Without even noticing her, it was very dark here. A hot flush of raw anger coursed through her. She looked up with new energy and directed it at the ranting man in front of her. "If you hadn't been so slow or stared at her BREASTS all evening long you might have been able to stop her!" Camille blamed him sharply.

"I wasn't looking at her breasts! And so what if I was?! It's not like I could avoid it! She undressed right in front of me." He studied her as he crossed his arms in front of his chest angrily. This stupid, stubborn French person! "I'm allowed to be human! I find her an attractive woman and she's very sexy, so if I want to look at her breasts and her very flat stomach and beautiful curves then I WILL!" he ranted as he pointed a finger at her threateningly. "And if I decide to take a bullet for you then you will let me instead of pushing me away and PUTTING YOURSELF IN THE LINE OF FIRE OF ALL THINGS! And if that isn't bad enough already... YOU GO AFTER HER ALONE?! She had A GUN!" he shouted heatedly.

"I thought I could catch up with her and I was angry-" Camille defended herself softly.

"Ooo! Camille Bordey was angry!" he repeated with sarcasm seeping through. "How about me? I am angry, for crying out loud! You stupid woman! You could have died!" He grabbed her elbows. "Use your brain for once instead of acting so impulsively..." His voice died down when he realized how close he was standing to her. For a moment they looked at each other. Dark tired eyes clashing with green fierce ones. His breathing hitched. He let go of her immediately and took a small step back.

"She wouldn't have shot me," Camille explained softly.

"Why would you say that?" he asked bitterly.

"Because I know her. She wouldn't have done that." She shook her head.

"You don't know her. You don't know her at all," Richard told her angrily. "She stole, she's a thief and she threatened us. She left you out here, in the street." He gestured around himself. "All alone and wounded. Unconscious. What more proof do you need? She threatened us!"

"With an empty gun," she reminded him.

"She probably didn't know that."

Camille looked away at that as she clenched her teeth and tears leaked freely from her eyes now. "The gun wasn't empty when it was in my desk, Richard. It wasn't. She must have-" Her voice broke. She must have taken the bullets out. Maybe she didn't mean all of this. She wouldn't have shot anyone. Would she?

"You're still bleeding," Richard uttered in horror as he saw even more blood on her arm then before.

Camille looked at it and rejected that as she shrugged,"I'm fine."

"I'm getting the first aid kit." Richard snapped.

"I said that I was fine!" she growled. "Can't you listen?!" Could he get more annoying?! Probably, oui!

Nick walked back right into a shouting match as he put a small paper with the information from the witness back into the pocket of his neat trousers. It was nice to see that Camille still had the energy to shout at least... That meant something...Kris had left no further trace here, but he was glad that he'd found that witness who had been walking her dog. They could interrogate her in the Police Station tomorrow. Nick hated that they had lost Kris. He felt powerless and emotionally drained. His face hurt where she'd hit him. That woman could hit, that was for sure. He wondered if she felt guilty right now. The Kris that he'd known would.

He looked up at his two Saint Marie colleagues again and their shouting felt oddly familiar to him. He swallowed when he remembered that it reminded him of Kris and himself. Something that would never happen again. Well, yes, there would be shouting when he found her. And he would find her. But the shouting wouldn't be out of friendship. It would be out of hate. He looked up at the two fired up people in front of him. There was no hate there. Just mixed up emotions; tiredness, frustration, hurt, grief, and yes they were lashing out. But there was no hate, no coldness. There was some sort of mutual understanding. In a strange way. A way that Nick understood. He understood how it worked.

"-You English man!" Camille accused.

"What's that supposed to mean?!" Richard barked.

"Well, what does it mean? Are you not English?!" Camille snapped as she leaned against the car again.

"You said it like it's a swear word." Richard growled. He hated that he didn't have a first aid kit with him. This rented car didn't have any. Which was against regulations! Every car should have one! If they were in England he could have counted on that! He could be sure of that.

"It IS a swear word! Annoying English people with their annoying English ways!" Camille shouted.

"Okay, I'll try to not take that personally," Nick mumbled.

"How about those annoying French persons who are too lazy to put a decent first aid kit in a car, WHERE IT'S SUPPOSED TO BE!" Richard shot back.

"Richard... we're all heated up here," Nick tried to reason with Richard who had become red in the face now. Then he noticed with worry the fresh blood on Camille's arm, "And you're wounded." He'd seen the wounds in her face, but this wound seemed deeper.

"As I was saying, I'm fine," Camille told Nick. "But some people just don't listen," she snapped at Richard.

"Kris is English," Richard mentioned in a know-it- all way. He knew it was a low blow, he knew the shouting they were doing was superficial and stupid, but he just had to get it out.

Camille's nostrils flared. "Kris is DUTCH, and she went to live on that stupid cold Island with NO sun and only RAIN with stupid STIFF PEOPLE!"

"Do you really want to talk about listening?!" Richard barked when her words reached him, a bit late but he was too busy with everything that was running through his head. Richard opened his mouth but saw tears burning in Camille's eyes and it stopped him. This wasn't about him, he realized, for the first time.

"Let's get you in the car," Nick proposed as he put a hand on Camille's shoulder softly and guided her towards the back seat.

Richard swallowed when he saw the wound on Camille's upper arm again. Kris's knife had cut through her skin easily. He remembered the blood in Camille's eye and on her hand. And the horror he had felt at that. Why was it so much easier to shout at her then to...? Never mind. It didn't matter.

"She got away. I can't believe it." Camille shook her head as she sat down in the back seat. She could almost cry. Out of frustration and because she felt so extremely tired. "And to top all this craziness, she succeeded. How is that even possible?" She looked totally haggard and beaten.

Nick shook his head. "I know," he sighed as Richard sat in the driver's seat. "This is not the woman I worked with these past few years. Could she have changed so much? Could she really?" he asked as he looked back at Camille from the front passenger's seat.

"Into the evil woman she just portrayed? Who goes for the money? The Kris I know would never do that. Her heart is pure, I would put my hand for that in the fire," Camille answered sadly.

"She just pointed a gun at you, and had fun with dozens of knives," Richard reminded her as he turned the car. "She's a psychopath from hell if you ask me," he spat.

"What are you doing?!" Camille asked alarmed.

"What? Turning the car." Richard answered surprised.

"Non! We have to go on and find her."

"We won't find her now Camille," He stated with big eyes as he looked at her. Was she serious?! She wasn't a machine that could push through and through, she needed rest and help.

"Then we'll find clues," Camille urged.

"It's dark and late. You need rest."

"I don't have time for this," she growled.

"I think you need stitches," Richard told her.

"What I need is to find her," Camille countered as her nostrils flared.

Richard sighed inwardly. He remembered how she'd acted when Aimee had died. She hadn't even wanted to sit. She was all in action mode. Or maybe this was just shock. Richard turned around and gave Nick a look as he tried once more to be reasonable with her, "You're too exhausted now."

"Don't tell me what I am!" she suddenly barked at Richard.

"You need a doctor. And we need day light. Kris is long gone," Richard stated factually as he drove towards the doctor.

"How are you holding up?" Richard asked as he noticed the bruised skin around Nick's eye.

Nick shrugged and smiled softly. "Thanks. A doctor would be good." He mumbled.

"She enjoyed mocking me," Camille said softly as she leaned her forehead against the cool window.

"I know that she was good at going undercover, she could be a chameleon... But this... Have I been wrong about us all these years?" Nick mumbled confused.

"It's very easy for her to play the lovely, teasing, caring woman. She tried to fool all of us. And she succeeded," Richard said. He felt ashamed. Ashamed that someone had been able to play him like that. That he hadn't noticed anything. Hadn't there been any clue? He would go over every second of these past weeks soon enough. First he had to get Camille taken care of and safe. He wouldn't rest before that would happen. And that could prove to be a big fight yet. She was in her stubborn angry mode. And it frightened him a bit. But his need to have her safe and sound was bigger. He'd rather take the risk of getting hurt by her and his head being bitten off then her not being safe.

"I'm not crazy am I? She couldn't have played me all this time?" Nick asked as he stared at his hands.

"It is possible. Some Russians have been undercover for years before they got activated," Richard answered.

"She isn't some Russian," Camille spat from the back seat.

"Who knows? I'll believe anything as of right now," Nick said sadly as he stared out of the window into the dark landscape around them.

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You'll find out soon! (if you keep on reading that is, haha)

Please let me know what you think, reviews are much appreciated! Thanks. Take care, stay safe!