Chapter 11

Sirens blared loudly and alarm lights were flashing. Rachel hastily ran down the hall, her heart was pounding as she rounded a corner and ran into the first room on her left. She quickly looked around for a place that she could hide for a while; at least until she could catch her breath and figure out what she should do. She was in luck. The entire room was dark and filled with boxes stacked several feet in the air. She quickly crouched down and crawled into a small cubby that had been made from several stacks of boxes being stacked in front of a large desk. She curled up in the space as tight as she could and waited. She sat for several minutes barely daring to breathe. She could still hear the sirens blaring outside the door, as well as the sound of several agents' feet running down the halls. What was she doing here, she wondered. Why had she ever agreed to do this? Now she sat there under the desk literally trapped like a rat in a corner.

Her thoughts were interrupted as the door to room opened. She carefully peeked out and was able to make out a man's silhouette carefully searching the room. She closed her eyes and silently said a quick prayer. She doubted that God helped thieves but if he helped her now she'd be sure not to be a thief anymore. She was smart. She learned what worked and what didn't work; and she never did something that didn't work twice. For a short time the prayer seemed to be working. The man searched behind several stacks of boxes but never seemed to think to check the ones in front of the desk. Finally he appeared to give up. He turned towards the door and began to exit. However, just when Rachel felt that she was safe, the man stopped and swirled around. He quickly marched right over to the desk she was hiding under and stuck his gun into the hole.

"Alright. I know you're in there. Come on out. I don't want to have to shoot you," called the man.
Rachel made no move at first. What should she do? Did she really even have a choice? This man might blow a hole straight through her.
"Come out, I said! Please don't make me shoot you. I JUST got this suit clean."
Rachel took a deep breath and whispered one last prayer before slowly emerging from her hiding place. She looked up at the man holding the gun and gasped. It was…

Rachel's eyes suddenly shot open; at first she felt very disoriented. It took several seconds to realize that she was in her room at her father's house and did NOT have a gun being pointed at her head. It took several more seconds for her to regulate her heart beat and her breathing. Finally she sat up and swung her legs onto the floor. She sighed and ran her fingers through her short blond hair. It had been a long time since she had dreamed about that night. In fact it had been years. She hated to think about it and tried her hardest to block it out. At first the memory had simply manifested itself in her dreams, but soon she found a way to block it from there as well. The only reason she could imagine that would bring it back up now was being here where it all had started; her father's home.

It was hard to imagine that just ten years ago she was on the other side of the law. She worked every day to put that part of her life behind her. It seemed however that no matter how many bad guys she busted she still couldn't remove the stain from her conscious. Her mind began to wander towards her partner. She wondered how Max would react if he knew about her past. She could imagine that it would be a major shock to him. He seemed to think she was...perfect or something. It was after all how she advertised herself; flawless. She didn't take careless chances or make mistakes. She was completely rational and didn't let her emotions dictate her actions.

The memory of her kissing Max on Shark suddenly flashed through her mind. She groaned and flopped back onto her pillow. Well she didn't USUALLY let her emotions dictate her actions. That had been an exception to the rule, and look how that had turned out. It had literally almost torn the team in half. Not only that but she had been so distracted, so out of her comfort zone, so...confused. Truth be told she still was confused. She didn't understand why she dreamed about him or why she felt angry every time Laura called his phone. She didn't understand why she loved every minute she was around him even when he was annoying her. She didn't understand why she had turned down Mairot's position when Smith had offered it to her in order to stay partners with Max. She didn't understand what he had done to make her lose herself the way she had.

She sighed. She missed him so much. A part of her really just wanted to go home so she could see him again. However, she knew there was nothing waiting her if she did. Maybe a quick hello followed by a debriefing on the latest Laura troubles. Besides, she had some things she needed to finish here first. So far she had been unsuccessful at getting a chance to talk to Jason alone. In fact, she suspected that her presence there was the only thing keeping Jason alive at the moment. Her dad had labeled him a traitor and would have surely executed him if she hadn't tagged along with them. She did hate Jason for all that he had put her through but she still couldn't just stand by while a man was murdered. This was especially so since while she hadn't gotten a chance to get the full truth out of him yet.

"Maybe I should call…" she pondered as her thoughts turned back to Max. "He must be worried sick.
And Berto, he must be worried as well."
She suddenly felt a pain of guilt as she considered how her actions must be affecting her partners. She sat up and peered over at her phone that was lying on the table on the opposite side next to her bed. To call or not to call? She contemplated this for a few minutes before slowly crawling across the bed and picking up the phone. She hesitated once again, but only for a second. Then she quickly entered Max's cell number and put the phone to her ear.

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