A/N – Do you know what? You guys are awesome. I have a feeling that this story may be coming to an end soon, but I am so happy so many of you joined me for the journey. Thank you all so much for your reviews, both public and through PM's, it is so encouraging to see people enjoying my writing. I keep having ideas of where to take this, and there are so many directions, but I feel as though maybe that would take me down a road of creating plots just for the sake of continuing. I don't know, I will think through a few ideas and see what happens. I have a few ideas for new stories too. As always, please review, criticisms or suggestions are also welcome :)

Thank you,

S

Chapter 16 – Dodging the bullet.

When Alex climbed out of the back of the truck, the sun had finished its journey into the sky. It was bright, and warm on her skin. The air felt drier here than it did in LA. This was the desert. She looked around, and noted how close they were to the city. As she had predicted, they were indeed in Vegas. The building they had parked beside looked like an abandoned stadium. She had no idea why here when there were so many unopened casino's or hotels which offered just as much privacy from unwelcome visitors. She supposed this place was as good as any.

A formation took place where Carlos lead the way and the two other men stayed at her rear, presumably to catch her in the unlikely chance that she made a run for it. As they entered the building through the main doors, Alex wasn't sure how they had access, but none of the men seemed worried about getting caught. They were in a corridor which circled around the entire building, they walked until they were at "Block E", passing repetitions of dusty bars, merchandise stands, and posters advertising shows of bands which had long since split up.

Carlos pushed open the doors and Alex walked into the concrete passage. It was pitch black. There were no light, save for the emergency exit signs which let out small amounts of greenish light near the steps. With her heart hammering inside her chest, she continued to follow Carlos up and up, until he stopped and turned left between the plastic seats. Suddenly, with a sharp buzz, flood lights lit the arena. Carlos stopped in his tracks, running a hand through his hair, he checked the time on his phone and pulled one of the plastic seats down. "He will be here any minute now," he informed her. Alex took a seat next to him and tried to think of something to do with her fidgeting hands, she pushed them between her legs but the edges of the cuffs pressed into her uncomfortably, so she let them rest in her lap.

Alex looked around the empty arena hoping for a sign that she was not alone. If Kim's men were here though, they would be well hidden, making an appearance only when the time was right. She decided that so long as they had a good aim, a shot at Kubra wouldn't be too difficult, they were in a relatively open space, and there were plenty of entry and exit points for them to come from. But she knew that she couldn't rely on the rival cartel, just as they couldn't rely on her word. Kim had either made the decision to trust her and take the risk, or the decision that she wasn't to be trusted, and this was a set up. There was every chance that nobody was coming to get her out of this mess. She would have to give Kubra whatever he wanted, whatever the cost.

A few minutes passed, and then Carlos, whose eyes had never left the screen of his phone, stood up and climbed the stairs, taking a seat somewhere up above. From below, Alex could see a muscular man with a trimmed greying black beard and small dark eyes. He watched her carefully as he climbed the stairs and then passed by, taking his place just a few steps up.

And then Kubra appeared, walking the stairs slowly, an insincere smile tugging at his lips.

"Alex!" He spoke her name as a greeting, and made his across to her. She rose to meet him.

"Kubra," she spoke, her voice stern. She was here for business.

"Please, sit down," the man spoke cheerily as he took a seat beside her.

"How are you?" he asked, there was a challenging look in his eyes, as though daring Alex not to take part in pleasantries.

"I've been better," Alex replied honestly, her tone austere.

Kubra let out a small laugh, though it seemed forced rather than actually amused, "I imagine you have, yes."

He looked at the handcuffs restraining her wrists, and shouted up to Carlos for the key.

"I see no reason to use these," he spoke as he handed the to Carlos.

Alex rubbed at the indentations the cuffs had made on her wrists, and looked up at Kubra, who now seemed to be ignoring her. She watched impatiently, waiting for Kubra to speak as he looked out over the empty seats ahead of them. Finally he let out a sigh and turned to face her, his facial features pulled into mock disappointment.

"Alex, Alex, Alex.." He shook his head slowly.

"Kubra, I-

Kubra held up a hand to silence her.

"You took something from me, so I took something from you," he said matter-of-factly. He watched her for a reaction, but she had long since perfected her poker face.

"And now you want me repayment"

"You always were a smart girl," he spoke with a condescending tone.

Alex would usually tell patronising pricks like him where to go, but Kubra had the advantage here. Kubra always had the advantage, and so she had always allowed him to speak to her like she was a child.

"So what are your terms?" she asked him, trying to remain business-like.

"I'm a fair man, don't you think, Alex?"

She nodded. Kubra had always been fair to her, he had always listened to reason and taken her suggestions on board. He never asked for the impossible, though he pushed as far as he could.

"Yes," she agreed.

"You owe me some money," he began, "I believe you took $70,000 from me before your departure."

Alex nodded, "I don't quite have all of it anymore-" she began to explain. Much of the money had been spent as she travelled from country to country following her escape.

"I never expected for a second that you did, Alex," he gave her a tight lipped smile. A silent warning for her not to interrupt him again.

"And then there are the collateral damages.."

Alex narrowed her eyes. Collateral Damages?

"First of all the direct costs involved in that particular operation, the hotels, the flights, the pay offs.." he explained casually, "and then of course the more indirect costs, the loss of one of our greatest importers, and the time and money spent on training her..." his eyes dug into Alex at this point, he held an expression Alex imagined a disappointed father might have for his daughter when she did something disrespectful.

"And the impact of your sudden departure. How difficult do you think that was to explain to our clients, to the manufacturers. Thankfully I was able to smooth most of it over, but you made us look unreliable, made me look like I wasn't in control, made the business look like a risk. We lost a hand-full of contacts, I'd say you probably cost us a few hundred thousand per year.."

Alex continued to keep her expression blank she could feel anger bubbling in her stomach. He was going to calculate that Alex owed him a hell of a lot more money than she could ever pay back, at least not with her job at Book Ends. She would have no choice but to come back to work for him, or Piper and Nikki would pay with their lives.

"As we have both just agreed, I am a fair man. I'm not going to ask you to do the impossible. I want you to come back, Alex."

Alex nodded, she had half expected this anyway.

"Of course, you're a flight risk, so there will be big changes to my management style, trackers, security, that sort of thing.." Kubra knew that Alex had no option but to say yes, he knew that the raven haired woman would do everything she could to protect the people she loved.

What Alex didn't know was that Kubra knew her better than she ever could have imagined. While he hadn't predicted her escape, he had seen a change in her the weekend that her mother died, an emptiness. Kubra had watched as Alex grow from the lost rebellious teenager, as she had been when she first joined the Cartel, into a confident young woman. He had watched her, hungry for more than life outside the cartel had to offer, eager to prove herself, eager to prove that she was good at something. He had seen through her 'I don't give a shit about anything or anyone other than myself' attitude. He had seen the love she held for her mother, how it outweighed the rejection she felt from the rest of the world.

Kubra had also seen the changes in Alex when the younger blonde woman entered her life. He had seen a shift in her, she was still confident, still a little arrogant, but she had softened somehow. Kubra had expected her to become too distracted to deliver her promises, but instead her appetite for success seemed to have grown. Piper, as Kubra soon learned, gave Alex reason in the world. Alex was better with Piper than she was without her. Piper was her weakness.

"And Piper?" Alex asked, "she will be safe? And Nikki?"

Kubra gave her a knowing smile, "You do your first operation successfully, and I will let them both go."

Alex's eyebrows knitted together as she thought about this. It was too easy, too simple. "There has to be more to it than that."

Kubra shook his head, "not really, as I said to you before, there is only one way out of this business Alex. You won't get the chance to do your disappearing act again, because I will be watching you. Closely."

His friendly tone had hardened, and his dark eyes narrowed. "If you make any mistakes, any at all, the next time you see her face, it will be her head in a box."

"How do I know they're even alive?" Alex asked. The words passing through her lips didn't feel real, she could barely believe she had spoken them.

"Ah, I had expected this question."

Kubra reached into his pocket and pulled out his phone. He held it up, and on the screen was an image of Piper and Nikki. Nikki in her work clothes and Piper in a pair of jogging bottoms and a t-shirt which both looked too big for her. They were handcuffed, sat on a mattress in a room which looked familiar, it looked very similar to the room Alex had been held in. Had they been there? Is that where Piper and Nikki were being held? She looked at the newspaper that Piper held up for the camera, it had today's date on it. They were still alive. Alex could save them. She would never see them again, but she could save them.

"Alright, I'm in." Alex spoke as she handed back the phone, "but I will want proof that they're still alive."

"Of course," Kubra nodded, he outstretched his hand for her to take.

Alex took it,and allowed the firm handshake, she felt both defeated and relieved. Defeated because she knew that she had never had any other choice but to do exactly as he said, and relieved because Piper and Nikki would go free. Nothing else mattered.

A deafening crack sounded in the air. Alex let go of his hand and ducked instinctively. There was another loud crack, and then another.

Alex dropped to the floor.

She heard a clatter near to her head as Kubra fell to the floor. She didn't dare to move, frightened that she would be shot at.

Kim had kept his word. The rival's had been watching, they had taken their chance to bring down Kubra and the Cartel. But there was every chance that they would shoot at Alex.

After a minute of silence passed, she willed herself to turn her head and look at Kubra. His head was next to hers, his body motionless on the ground.

"What the fuck?!" A male voice hissed somewhere behind her, "Kubra?!"

There was another crack. And then another. And then a clatter as the man was shot and fell down the stairs.

And then there was silence again.

Alex remained still against the cold concrete floor. She could smell the copper of blood as a puddle began to grow beneath Kubra's unmoving body. She whispered his name, but there came no answer.

She reached out and quickly shoved his shoulder. Nothing. She shoved him again, harder. Nothing. She reached up to move a hand over his mouth and nose, and waited to feel his breath. Nothing.

Kubra was dead.

She shuffled away from him, crawling backwards slowly.

Alex lifted her head to the direction she knew Carlos had been sat. He was now a lifeless body slumped over in a plastic seat. She looked at Kubra, dead on the floor and then looked to where she'd heard the clatter down the stairs and saw an oddly contorted body, lifeless in a heap on the floor. Suddenly a hand shoved her head towards the floor, she quickly shifted her arm to cushion the blow and kicked her legs out.

With a twist, Alex managed to turn herself onto her back, looking up at her attacker. It was the driver who worked with Carlos. She kicked him hard in the chest as he leant forward to punch her. She watched as he stumbled backwards, and she moved into a crouching position, ready for him to attack her again.

Three more cracks sounded and the man fell to the floor.

Remaining low, Alex began to move, out between the chairs and onto the steps. She pushed the dead body aside to clear her path as she carefully crawled feet first, down the stairs. She expected to hear another gun shot, expected to feel a sharp pain as a bullet entered through her back, she expected the lights to go out at any time, but nothing happened. With the exception of her slow and careful movements, everything felt eerily still. Finally she was at the bottom of the stairs, she edged sideways until she saw the exit for her block of seats, and she moved into the shadows, pushing herself up on her feet, and pressing her back into the wall, trying to minimise her visibility.

Finally she felt the cold metal bar of the door, and she made the decision to make a run for it. She pushed it down, and ran out into the empty foyer. She looked left, and the path was clear, and then she looked right, and there stood a man whom she didn't recognise. She pushed with her feet and darted left, still there was no gun shots, but she could hear a pair of feet running just behind her. And then she felt herself shoved into the wall, and a hand press over her mouth.

"Shhh," the man whispered, he waited for Alex to stop struggling against him before he released his grip.

"We followed you here," he explained, "I've just had a call to say your friends are being held in the same apartment building they held you at this morning, here's the address."

Alex felt a piece of paper and the keys to the white van shoved into her the palm of her hand. She tightly wrapped her fingers around the objects and watched as the stranger stepped away from her. She walked away in disbelief, and quickened her pace as she headed out of the building, wincing at the brightness of the sun. Her walk turned into a run as she headed for the white van. She didn't know where the two other men were who had accompanied her journey to the arena, but they weren't anywhere nearby so she didn't care.

She hoisted herself into the cab of the van and pushed the keys into the ignition. She read the address on the paper and slammed her fists down onto the dashboard as she realised she didn't know where the address was, and there wasn't a GPS system in the van. She didn't know Vegas, she had only been there once, she had no idea which direction to take. She felt relieved, Kubra was dead. She wouldn't have to re-join the Cartel, all she had to do now was find Piper and Nikki. Alex had dodged a bullet, both literally and figuratively.

Piper finished her bowl of soggy cereal and sighed. It was only the second morning she had woken on the limp mattress in this depressing cell of a room. She wasn't sure how long she would be hear, but she felt claustrophobic. She decided that today, if she was given another opportunity to shower, she would do so, even if it meant showering in her wet clothes and waiting for them to dry.

Nikki grimaced as she took the last spoon full of cereal and groaned, "How much more of this shit do you think we're going to have to eat?"

Piper shrugged, part of her felt like making the point that they wouldn't have to keep eating it if they tried to escape, but after realising yesterday that they guards were reluctant to let them out of their handcuffs, added to the size of the two men, she had began to accept that an escape attempt was probably not wise. But she refused to accept that this was it. She refused to believe that she would spend her last days imprisoned in the woebegone building.

Nikki stood up and stretched before starting to circle the room. Piper watched for a few moments before she began to tap her feet in a rhythm.

"We have to get out of here," Nikki said, "we have to try."

Piper raised her eyebrows in surprise, "what?"

"I can't stand it!" the wild haired woman stomped her foot, "we need to do something!"

"I don't think-

"I've been thinking," Nikki began, sitting herself back down beside Piper, "if we're being used as leverage, then they're not going to shoot at us are they? I mean, Alex is going to ask for some kind of evidence that we're still alive.."

Piper wasn't sure how to respond. Last night she had fallen asleep trying to think of a way that they might escape, but no plan had formed, and she had been plagued by Nikki's conviction that they would never get out, that they would die in this hovel. But now, it was as though Nikki had woken from her depressive state and was finally ready to fight for her life, and yet Piper felt resigned to the fact that there would be no escape, that they would have to wait it out for Alex to come and rescue them.

"And if we're dead, they aren't going to have any evidence are they? And she won't do whatever it is that they want her to do."

Piper considered this point. It was a good point. It was logical.

"Right, but if we escape, they aren't going to have that evidence either."

"Maybe, but the worse they're likely to do is to rough us up a little. I can take a beating."

Piper studied Nikki's serious expression.

"They might kill one of us," Piper spoke, "because Alex would still come back for the other."

Nikki shrugged, "if we sit here waiting, we're just waiting to die anyway."

Piper gave her a sad smile. She had said all of this yesterday. "How?" she asked simply. If she had spent all night trying to think of a way out of this, how would Nikki come up with a plan now?

Just as the wild haired woman opened her mouth to answer, the door flew open and a newspaper was thrown at Piper.

"Say cheese," the man spoke as he held up his phone to take their picture.

Piper picked up the paper and noticed it was today's. She noticed also that it was the "Vegas Sun" newspaper, and that it was dated with today's date. She held the paper up to the camera and the man took the picture and walked out of the room.

"You know what this means?" Piper whispered, suddenly filled with hope.

Nikki looked at her blankly.

"Alex has asked for evidence that we are still alive," Piper smiled, "she's ok."

A small smile tugged at Nikki's lips, "you think she's gonna come get us?"

Piper shook her head, "not yet, she wont have the chance until she does whatever it is they want her to do.. we could be here for days, weeks even.."

She turned the paper over in her hands, "but we now know where we are," she held the front sheet up for Nikki to see, "and it's just occurred to me that either somebody else is bringing in things, like the food and this paper, or, and I suspect this is more likely, one of them leaves every so often to run errands.."

Nikki nodded her head, picking up on Piper's train of thought. "Two of us, one of them..."

"Exactly."

They both smiled, at last feeling some hope that they could escape.

Suddenly there came a series of loud bangs, and then finally a slam which sounded much like a door being roughly pushed into a wall.

There was a series of gun shots.

Piper and Nikki both looked at each other and then the door as it suddenly opened, and the man with the scarred face dived inside before closing the door. Gun shots sounded and holes came through the door but none of them hit the man as he continued to hold the door shut.

All they could do was watch. It became silent, except for the panting of the large man who it seemed had been shot in his arm. Blood soaked into the sleeve of his shirt and trickled down his muscled arm, he pressed a hand against the open wound, but continued to hold his weight against the door.

Piper wanted to ask what was happening but the words failed to escape her lips. Instead she grabbed Nikki, and the pair of them huddled in the corner, trying to make themselves smaller as they waited for whatever would come next.

"Shit," the man cursed, he seemed to relax a little, and just as he did so the door was forced open. He leapt across the mattress and beside Nikki and Piper. Hoping that whoever was shooting at him would not want to shoot the hostages and hold their fire.

Apparently the shooter wasn't too bothered.

He shot anyway, three times, and the weight of the now dead guard fell into Piper and Nikki. They remained still, hoping the gunman would leave, and listened for his footsteps to die away before Nikki pushed the body to the floor.

Piper gasped.

She could feel a burning sensation to the side of her upper leg, and a warmth as the material of her joggers soaked up the blood. She had been hit.

Nikki moved out from the corner and held out her hands to steady the blonde, looking down to the darkening material around the wound. "Shit, shit, shit.."

Instinctively, Piper pressed her hand down onto the wound, and swore at the pressure. It felt as though a hot poker was poking her above the knee, searing through her skin and muscle. She gritted her teeth together as she applied more pressure trying to stop the bleeding. Beads of sweat ran from her forehead to her temple. The sharp pain subsided, making way for an ache unlike anything she had ever felt before.

Nikki ripped off her t-shirt and brought it up around Pipers leg, allowing Piper to remove her bloodied hand from the open wound five inches up from her knee and to the side of her leg. She pulled the material into a tight knot, and stood up.

"Come on," she held out a hand for Piper to take, "lets get the fuck out of here."

One hand on the wall and one hand gripping Nikki tightly, Piper pushed with her uninjured leg until she was standing. By now her left leg was a dead weight, she attempted to move it, willing with all her might but it was a dead weight, she put a little weight on the leg but the lack of control felt strange.

"I can't move my leg," Piper spoke.

"Lean against me," Nikki wrapped a hand around Pipers waist, allowing the woman to put her weight against her. She carefully moved forward, waiting for Piper to take her first limp, and they stood down from the unsteady mattress and slowly made their way towards the door before stopping for a rest.

"How am I supposed to climb down three flights of stairs?" Piper asked as she thought about her journey out of this building.

"How about we think about that when we get there?" Nikki suggested, "one step at a time, alright?"

"Right," Piper spoke, trying to remain calm.

"Who the fuck was that?" Piper asked, thinking about the gunman.

"Fuck knows," Nikki responded as she lifted Piper's weight into another step.

As they walked further into the room, they could see the body of the other guard face down in the kitchen.

"All of this for fucking drugs?" Nikki could barely believe that the drug she had once depended upon, the drug she had shot into her veins so that she could numb herself to her own pain, was the cause of all of this violence.

"For money," Piper corrected her, "for money and control."

The door into the hallway was open, she continued their slow journey to the fire escape and then, with Nikki always two steps, below they began their slow descent.

Once they had completed the eighteen stairs between the third and second floor, they took a breid rest. "We need to get you to a hospital, Chapman."

"How?"

Nikki looked back up the stairs, "I'm gonna go look for the keys to the van," she spoke, "we have to be near a town, the burger last night was still warm when they gave us it, we can't be far from someone who can give us directions to a hospital."

Piper nodded and watched as Nikki ran back up the stairs. Her leg no longer felt like part of her body, it was strange how heavy it felt, and how she felt no pain at all. She outstretched her hand and watched her fingers shake with adrenalin. She felt a little weak and light headed from the blood loss. She knew she needed to get to a hospital soon. She didn't know much about gunshot wounds but she knew that the blood-loss could soon cause her to black out.

She heard two sets of footsteps, one set from above as Nikki quickly moved down the stairs, and a set of footsteps below, ascending the stairs towards her.

Pipers first thought was that it was the gunman returning to finish them off. Then that it could be one of the Cartel. She pushed herself up, grabbing the cold metal railing as she tried to steady herself.

Nikki's breathy voice spoke first, "You don't think that Alex-"

"That Alex, what?" a familiar raspy voice interrupted.