Give it up for Dragonmaster65 - Thank you for putting up with my insanity and pushing me to constantly improve.

A/N: Thank you to everyone who read, reviewed, favourited and followed this story – Much appreciated!

Chapter 11

The solitary moon on the cloudless night seemed to be mocking her. It was reminding her she too was alone in this solemn situation. Vanessa rubbed her sweaty palms against her sides. The plan had been simple: call Frank and subtly let him know that she and Joe were in trouble. He would come with the cops and all would be over. She had tried Frank's phone numerous times but he never answered.

They sat in Emerson's car while she fiddled with her fingers trying to figure out what her next steps would be. As if in answer to the question her mind has been fighting hard to find, her phone rang. It was Callie.

"Hi, yes. We are at the naval yard next to Ophelia," Vanessa quickly spoke into the phone before Emerson grabbed it from her and disconnected it.

"Jail rules. No more phones," he said.

They sat in silence for a long time. Finally an impatient Emerson turned to Vanessa. "What the hell are we doing here?" he spat.

"You want your report, right? He's coming." Vanessa gestured ambiguously.

A dark shadow passed over Emerson's face. "No, I don't think so. You know what I think? I don't think you emailed that report to anybody at all. In fact it's been right here in the flash drive all along. Jake will have destroyed it by now," Emerson said.

Vanessa could not breathe and was beginning to shiver slightly as she looked at Emerson and his men in the car. Just then Emerson's phone rang and she turned deathly pale as she saw him smile widely at whatever the caller said to him.

"Nobody is coming because we have a certain Frank Hardy in our custody and my man recognized him from the other night. Unfortunately for you my dear, you are going to have to take this to your grave. Let's get out of here before whoever she spoke on the phone to arrives." Emerson ordered.

No sooner had they backed up the car when the window on Emerson's side shattered into pieces. An arm stretched through the shattered pane, and the mystery man slammed a taser to Emerson's chest. When Emerson's men from the front of the car jumped out, Vanessa waited for gunfire to begin.

That's when she realized the face coming through the window now was Joe's and that the air around them now was filled with red and blue lights.

"That's gonna leave a migraine, huh? Heard they got a pill for that now," Joe seethed at the barely conscious Emerson.

ooOOOoo

"You know you really shouldn't be surprised by what Vanessa did. Pretty girls always look out for themselves. You can never trust them to have your back," Jake said once Vanessa left with Emerson to go get the file.

Joe kept quiet and watched him draw something into a syringe.

"Potassium chloride?" Joe asked.

Jake smiled callously. He was enjoying this, the sick bastard. "Government uses it for lethal injections. Stops a heart in minutes. Quite humanely, really."

He tapped the syringe to remove the air - unnecessary when the whole point was to kill Joe anyways - then walked over to where Joe sat. Jake shoved Joe's head aside to expose his neck."Don't worry; it will be a matter of seconds," he sneered.

"Lucky you," Joe replied

"Lucky me?" Jake looked amused as he brought the syringe's tip to Joe's neck.

Joe swiftly grabbed his hand and pushed Jake against the racks of medicines behind them. Momentarily stunned, Jake was easy to overpower. . Joe was able to slam his opponent's head against the wall repeatedly.

Once Jake was dazed and confused, Joe smartly handcuffed him to the same chair he was held hostage merely minutes ago.

"Never underestimate a woman, never," he said waving the paperclip in front of him. Joe dug into Jake's pockets and pulled out his phone and the flash drive before running out to find Vanessa.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Frank's adversary from last night came forward and cracked his knuckles. "You got lucky last night, but tonight I'm going to have the satisfaction of choking the life off of you. Enjoy the last ten minutes of your life, Frank Hardy."

Ten minutes

"We weren't expecting to see anyone last night so imagine our surprise to find you there. I would have loved to finish you off then, but my partner got scared and ruined the fun." The big guy that had attacked Frank the previous night was cracking his knuckles with glee, "Tonight, however, I will reunite you with your brother."

Frank didn't say anything. He was busy thinking about Joe.

"What do you have to say about this?" Adam taunted him.

Looking up with cold and expressionless eyes, Frank replied, "Oh, I'm-I'm sorry, I was waiting for a question. It was all monologue there for a while, so I kind of tuned out."

Adam's lip curled into a snarl. He lunged towards Frank but when his phone rang he stepped aside to take the call.

Quickly, Frank kicked his shoes off and slid his right shoe toward his arms. He reached into the sole of his shoes with his fingers and pulled out a pin. Then he started working on unlocking his handcuffs with it.

The minute hand on his wrist watch moved like oil, passing the big numbers, swallowing time along with it. Frank worked feverishly to free his hands. The heat from the radiator was causing him to perspire profusely.

Eight Minutes

Tick. Tick. Tick. He could hear the watch and this ticking which he was oblivious of before, made his mind numb. Sooner or later his head was going to explode, but there was no time for such worthless thoughts. He had to get free. He twisted to get a look at the handcuffs, the metal glinting against the warehouse light. Almost. Adam's call couldn't last forever.

Seven Minutes

Moving as fast as he could, Frank did his best to keep focussed as his eyes started to burn from the sweat trickling down his forehead. He closed his eyes as he kept moving the lock in his hands on the handcuffs. He thought of Joe, praying that he was alive and somehow escaped.

Six Minutes

Adam had finished his call and turned to see Frank working on getting free. "Hey, what do you think you're doing?" He took three strides towards Frank just as the latter stood up and threw down the handcuffs.

Frank balled his fistswhile looking around to see if there were any sharp objects that could help him. He didn't see any and his focus remained solely on the large man towering four inches over him.

Five Minutes

As Adam charged at him, Frank smoothly stepped out of the way. His fist connected with the bridge of Adam's nose and blood splattered all over the ground of the warehouse.

Howling in pain, Adam raged once more towards Frank and hit him squarely in the chest. Frank didn't have time to dodge further, and he was tasting blood as Adam landed a painful blow of his own on his mouth. Adam's fingers curled into Frank's hair and lifted him painfully till he was dangling on the tips of his toes.

"I was hoping you would do something stupid like this," bellowed Adam. Now the blows he rained on Frank's ribs hurt like hell.

Four Minutes

Pain rippled across Frank's chest, and he doubled over and spit out blood. His injuries from last night were only getting worse.

Adam started kicking Frank in the guts while he lay curled on the floor. Having Frank exactly where he wanted, he took a step back to wipe his bloody nose.

Three Minutes

Frank slowly stood straight, eyes bulging with rage, and stared at his opponent right in his shifty little eyes.

"You...filthy…" Frank took a lurching step with each word. On the third, he swung: "Rat!"

The blow felt too sluggish. Frank knew the second he launched it. The spry, smirking goon ducked under it. Before Frank could even register the dodge, however, another body shot, this one to his ribs, sent fresh ripples of pain through his torso. He didn't fall—he made absolutely sure he did not fall—but it was a lot closer than he'd have liked.

Two Minutes

Adam went in for another attack. Frank shoved him off. Seeing Adam scoot back so far against the weight of it gave him a second wind. He covered the distance between them. Threw three more punches that did land. Adam fell down.

Then, he stood up again.

It was unreal. Between the pain in his guts and ribs and the general confusion, the sight of Adam on his feet after the patented Frank left-right-left was not something he wanted to see.

One Minute

Frank blocked Adam's blow and responded with an uppercut. Then he brought his fist back and punched again. The first punch grazed Adam's chin. The second doubled him over and expelled the last bit of choked air from his beer-weighted belly.

Breathing heavily, Frank picked up the discarded handcuffs and secured Adam's wrist. He then reached into Adam's pocket and pulled out his phone to call Con.

Two Seconds

Barely taking two steps outside the warehouse, Frank fell into a heap, gasping for breath. As he lay there in the dark night, a wash of emotion came over him and he started to laugh.