Whoo! I'm so sorry guys-I am one of the world's laziest people! But here is the next chapter... more cliff hangers! Heh heh. :)

Oh, Liz! you're such a legend! Please get an adress so I can email you!

Oh, and to NCISfan-

Look mate, I'm sorry if you don't think my writing's good enough, but I'm not a professional author, just a fan doing it for fun. And I'm writing coz I like this story, even if you don't. It's moving fast, I suppose, because so far the story's only happened in about one day, but I will admit I'm not the best and most organised person! But you did have some good advice, so thankyou. But it would be nice if I had some way to reply to you other than in an author's note.

Onwards christian soldiers!

The wheels screeched as the car swerved out onto the road, and sped away. After a prolonged pause a man's voice gave a heartfelt and tortured groan. A man's body heaved itself off the ground, and scrabbled around in some bushes. Triumphant, he clasped the small thing he had found to his chest, and, dragging himself up, staggered off into the early dawn.

BEFORE

"David, I didn't expect you here."

He motioned to his men behind his back, but the man called David tutted.

"Really, Ethan. Don't you trust me? I'm here on a pure matter of business."

"Business?" Ethan said scornfully. "A partnership of the kind where I and my men do the dirty work, and you take my gains and use them for yourself? I thank you, but no."

"Oh, come on," David said, looking just a little nervous as Ethan's men started to move in. "You really do have the wrong end of the stick."

"You stole my case!" He snarled. "You sent your worthless FBI brother in and he gave the case to you!"

"I don't have it!" cried Dave desperately as a goon placed a hand on his shoulder.

"Of course you do. Your arse of a brother didn't have it."

"Jake? Have you seen him?"

Ethan grinned.

"Ethan, really, he had nothing to do with this! He just did what I asked him! Let him go…"

"What makes you think I have him?"

"I…"

"Look, you give me the case, and we go together to Gregson and you explain what you did, and we'll forget all about this."

"Explain to Gregson… Christ, Ethan, have a heart!"

"Have.A. Heart? Do you know how hard it was to do this? And you go and take it, not even with your own hands, and were prepared to go and leave me with nothing!"

Kate, who had been listening, twisted around to see the scene. Every one was staring at the two men, and while Kate was very interested in finding what this was all about, she couldn't pass up an opportunity like this. No one was looking, and every one was in the one spot. She levered herself painfully up, and crept, as silently as she could, over the cement and through a metal garage door which was open about a foot off the ground. As she lay on her stomach to climb under, her handcuffs clanked on the cement. She froze, eyes glued on the men in the middle of the warehouse floor, but none of them gave any appearance of hearing it. She let her breath out in a sigh, and rolled out onto the grass. Around the corner, she could just see a four wheel drive, with some men standing around having a smoke. These were David's men, she guessed. She made off in the other direction, towards a small forest, and as she started to jog, some one cried out in the shed. She couldn't hear the words, but she felt sure they had discovered her gone. She dived behind a large pine as some one wrenched the door open, and glared out.

"Whoa!" She whirled around as someone bumped into her. The boy was haggard, bleeding, torn, and didn't seem to even notice her. The sounds from the warehouse were stronger now, and they seemed to be coming outside. Kate grabbed wildly at the boy's jacket as he moved, in a daze, to go outside the little thicket of trees. There were people shouting now, and the large doors opened slowly, creaking upwards.

"What are you doing?" she hissed, her handcuffs clanking as she held him back in the cover of the trees. He said something Kate didn't catch, and she saw him clutching something in his hand. A shot rang out suddenly, and Kate whirled the guy around, and physically shoved him further into the trees. The line of warehouses was practically on the edge of the suburbs, and on the other side of the road was scrubby forest on a steep slope, and Kate headed up into it. She knew it was the first place that they'd look for her when they knew she'd gone. They probably knew by now. But time was short, and she was too tired to think of anything brilliant. And now she had this obviously lost, half-conscious boy to look after. She groaned as she heaved herself and the boy up the hill.

Sorry bout the writing, I have been reading WAY too many Agatha Christie books- and it's affected me, it really has.

And I meant before as in before Kate called Tony. It didn't make much sense.

R&R :)