In keeping with my stroke of recent bad luck, I got the worst haircut of my life and my boss added me on facebook. Buzzkill.

Anyway, vacation ends tomorrow so enjoy

Chapter 18

"Bri, watch the bumps. You're hurting her." Jill said tersely. She was sitting in the backseat, Kelly's head resting in her lap, holding a towel over the still bleeding wound on her friend's head.

Kelly shut her eyes tight and gritted her teeth. "Just drive, Bri." she muttered.

"First you take a beating and then you get in a wreck. God, Kell you're so lucky." Jill mused.

Kelly opened her eyes and shot her an incredulous look. "Lucky?" she echoed.

Jill shook her head. "Not lucky that it happened. Lucky that-" She gave up, flustered by both Kelly and Sabrina's questioning looks and leaned back in her seat. "Yeah, you're right. Shut up, Jill." she sighed.

"Bri?" Kelly called out, turning her head away from Jill.

"Yeah, Kell." Sabrina answered without turning her head.

"I've had a bad day. Hit her for me."

"As soon as we stop."

Jill smiled and patted Kelly's cheek affectionately. "Are you in alot of pain, Kell?" she asked gently.

Kelly made a face. "Just enough."

"I'm sorry, Kelly. Hang in there, it'll all be over soon." Jill reassured her, smoothing back the hair matted to her forehead.

"I hope so." Sabrina called from the front seat. "I'd like to break that bastard's neck for what he did to you."

Kelly sighed and closed her eyes. "I'll be alright. At least he didn't use a belt."

Sabrina glanced at her through the rearview mirror, not understanding her logic.

Kelly gave her a soft smile. "Hey, just looking for a silver lining."

"Hopefully putting him in jail will be the silver lining here." Sabrina responded bitterly.

They drove several more miles until they arrived at the shipyards. The time was 10:04

The girls parked in the shadows, out of sight of anybody who might be inside the new warehouse. The police would be here soon and this would all be over. Sabrina and Jill jumped out of the car, sticking their guns inside the waist of their pants.

Jill opened the back door and crouched to look Kelly in the face.

"Here." she said, pressing the car keys into Kelly's uninjured hand. "If something goes wrong, I want you to get out of here."

Kelly looked troubled at what her friend was implying. "Jill-" she started, but Jill was gone, Sabrina taking her place.

"Look at me, Kelly." she said firmly. "You do not leave this car. No matter what happens. Do you understand me?"

Kelly looked at Sabrina's serious expression and nodded her head.

"Say it, Kelly."

"Bri! Just go!"

"Kelly, if you don't promise me right now, I'm going to lock you in the trunk. Promise me!"

Kelly sighed. She knew better than to think her friend was exaggerating.

"I promise."

Sabrina reached over to squeeze her hand and then climbed back out, slamming the door behind her.

Kelly watched as her two best friends disappeared in the dark shadows that surrounded Warehouse 78. She eased herself into a sitting position and stared at the building feeling utterly useless. Even without losing odds and evens, she was still left in the car and powerless to help her friends when they needed it most.

It hurt more than anything else had that day.

Sabrina and Jill silently made their way towards the warehouse, guns drawn. They found an open window and peeked inside. Peralta was waiting alone. The girls studied the window and were pleased to notice that the view of it was completely blocked by several stacks of crates. The girls quickly and silently crawled through it. Obviously this location had been hastily picked and not yet looked through completely.

Now inside the warehouse, the girls crouched behind the stacks of crates and waited. It was twelve minutes past ten and the police backup should be waiting outside for their signal. Sabrina and Jill watched with disdain as Peralta paced the room and finally sat down on a nearby crate. In the car, Kelly had reluctantly given them a watered down version of what had happened after Jill dropped her off earlier that day. From the looks of her, it was worse than she was willing to let on and the two girls were furious. Sabrina took a deep breath as she watched Peralta and for a moment feared that she wouldn't be able to stop herself from acting on a violent impulse. She looked over at Jill and noticed that she had set her gun down on a crate beside her, with her hands in her pockets and an uncharacteristically dark and unsettling look on her face.

The urge to shoot Peralta on the spot was strong.

After a few minutes, two men walked inside. They looked intimidating and angry as they gathered around Peralta. The men started whispering quietly amongst themselves. Sabrina and Jill were too far away to make out anything that was being said. But that no longer mattered. Jill snapped several pictures of Peralta along with the men and an open crate of cocaine.

They had him now, she decided. And confession or not, if he weaseled his way out of a conviction, she would shoot him herself.

Sabrina quietly stuck her arm out of the window and aimed her flashlight in the air. She turned it on and off in quick succession. The police would be waiting for her signal and moving in now. The two girls waited patiently for police to swarm in.

Nothing happened.

Several minutes later, Sabrina and Jill looked at each other anxiously. Where was their backup?

Peralta looked at his watch. He suddenly stepped forward and cleared his throat.

"It appears we have company. Come on out, ladies." he announced loudly.

Sabrina and Jill both felt their stomachs flip at his unexpected acknowledgement of them. The two girls froze behind the crates, not daring to move. When they hadn't revealed themselves, Peralta began to laugh.

"Don't keep me waiting, girls." he shouted again. "Your friend Michaels let me know you were coming."

Sabrina and Jill gawked at each other in disbelief. Michaels was in on this, they realized in horror. There were no police waiting outside. It had all been a deliberate trap. Jill gestured wildly to the closest exit and the girls quickly turned and headed for the window. Anticipating their flight, Peralta rushed toward their hiding place and squeezed off two shots. The bullets lodged themselves into the wall directly over Jill's shoulder and the girls froze in place, trapped.

"Now, now. Don't run off, you just got here." Peralta taunted. He waved his gun at them. "Hands in the air, where I can see them."

Sabrina and Jill shared a look and then did what he asked.

"Now come here." Peralta ordered. "Without your weapons if you please."

Sabrina and Jill set down their guns and walked over to him, standing nervously side by side. Peralta smiled and looked them over, nodding his head in appreciation.

"Ah, Ms. Duncan." he said admiringly. His pleasant expression quickly contorted into one of pure rage and he swung his gun angrily at Sabrina, catching her in the face. She cried out and fell to the floor. Jill instinctively dropped to her side, but Peralta grabbed her by her hair and roughly yanked her away. Appearing to be mildly annoyed, he looked at one of the men standing idly and gestured wearily to the thrashing Jill. The man nodded his head and yanked her off the floor, twisting her arms behind her back to render her helpless.

Sabrina shook her head, trying to recover from the sudden blow. She stared up at Peralta.

"Thought you were smart, didn't you?" he sneered at her. He aimed a kick at her ribs, sending her sprawling back to the ground.

"Get up!" he yelled at her.

Wincing in pain and clutching her side, Sabrina slowly rose to her knees. Deciding that she wasn't getting up fast enough, Peralta slapped her viciously across her face, sending her right back to the floor. Once she was down, Peralta sent several angry kicks in her direction. Sabrina cried out in pain and curled into a ball to protect herself from the onslaught as Jill watched in horror.

"Leave her alone, you bastard!" she screamed desperately, struggling against the man holding her.

Peralta stopped his assault and stared back at Jill, a cruel smile spreading across his face. He stopped kicking Sabrina and slowly approached her .

"You don't like this?" he asked sweetly. "Maybe if you behave yourself, you'll get much-" He cupped her cheek in his hand. "-nicer treatment." he finished suggestively.

Jill went wild, bucking and thrashing against her captor in an attempt to get her hands on Peralta.

He laughed at her effort and suddenly drove his fist into her stomach. Jill gasped in pain and slumped forward, coughing and gagging. Peralta turned his gaze back to Sabrina, who was slowly pulling herself in a sitting position, a grimace of pain on her face.

"Sore, Ms. Duncan?" he called out to her. She glared at him and said nothing.

"I had a similar conversation with your friend, Kelly."

Sabrina and Jill shared a look.

"Haven't heard from her have you?" Peralta said with a grin. "Well, you won't. She's dead."

Sabrina and Jill looked at each other again. He didn't know about Kelly. If they could only signal her, she could call for help. That wasn't looking possible at the moment however. The situation was not in their favor.

"I guess you expected that much, then." Peralta remarked, not seeing the shock and grief that he had been looking for.

"I know what to expect from a murderer." Sabrina spat at him.

Peralta backhanded her angrily, sending her back to the ground. Before she could get up, he slammed his heel into her stomach, earning a cry of pain from Sabrina. He then pressed his foot against her throat. She clawed desperately at him, but was unable to free herself. Finally, she lay still, conserving her energy and waiting for a chance to strike back.

Peralta was unwilling to give one to her.

"What's your name, princess?" he called sweetly to Jill.

Jill swore angrily at him.

Peralta chuckled. "Well, that's a terrible name for a young lady." he teased her. He put pressure on Sabrina's throat. She coughed and choked as she struggled to breathe.

"Jill. My name is Jill Munroe." Jill answered quickly, seeing her lack of cooperation was causing Sabrina pain.

"Ah, that's better." Peralta cooed. "Come here, Jill. And behave yourself." he added, pointing his gun at Sabrina.

The man holding Jill released her and, with no other choice, she walked warily over to Peralta and stood before him.

"Get on your knees, Jill." Peralta ordered calmly.

Jill hesitated for a moment and Peralta sighed wearily and again put weight on Sabrina's windpipe. Sabrina gurgled and gasped painfully for air, her breaths raspy and shallow.

Jill quickly dropped to her knees. "Ok, I'm sorry. Stop it. Stop hurting her." she blurted out frantically.

Peralta relaxed his foot and Sabrina coughed and gagged as she sucked air into her lungs.

"Turn around, princess." Peralta ordered Jill. Learning her lesson, Jill did as she was told. Peralta leveled his gun at the back of her head. Jill shut her eyes tight and braced herself.

"No!" Sabrina wailed loudly, kicking desperately as she tried to free herself.

Her struggle amused Peralta and he laughed derisively at her.

"No? Are you jealous, Ms. Duncan?"

Sabrina continued to fight him, ignoring his question.

"I have something much better planned for you, trust me. But first I want to make sure your friend isn't in the way." he said casually. He removed his foot and Sabrina leaped to her feet and lunged at him. She stopped in her tracks when Peralta pressed his gun to the back of Jill's head again.

"Temper, temper, Ms. Duncan. On your knees as well, please."

Sabrina sank to her knees in defeat.

Peralta laughed again. "I'm not such a bad guy. I'll even let you say goodbye. Here, you can come kneel next to your friend so you can watch." he offered, gesturing to a spot at Jill's left.

Sabrina crawled towards Jill and knelt beside her.

"I'm sorry." she whispered softly to Jill, her voice cracking.

Jill shook her head, dismissing her friend's apology. She tried to smile. "At least we're together." she whispered sadly.

"What? Talk louder, we can't hear you!" Peralta crowed. He shoved Jill's head to the side.

"C'mon, blondie, what did you say?" he taunted her.

"She said go to hell." Sabrina shot at him.

Peralta smiled. "Eventually. Maybe I'll see you there."

He aimed his gun at Jill.

"Watch carefully, Ms. Duncan."

Kelly fidgeted impatiently inside the car. Shouldn't backup have arrived already? She looked at the clock.

10:22

They had been in there nearly twenty minutes. Where was everyone? She looked out the window hopefully, waiting for something to happen.

She jumped in surprise when the car phone suddenly rang, smacking her head against the roof of the car. She yelped and tumbled back into her seat, cursing loudly as her shoulder protested her sudden movements. Wincing in pain, she snatched the phone up.

"Kelly Garrett." she said quickly. The sound of her voice surprised her. It was weak and nearly unrecognizable.

"Where have you girls been?" the irritated voice shouted back at her. She recognized it as Officer Summers. "I've been trying to get a hold of you and Michaels for hours. Is this some kind of joke?"

Though she was usually very polite, the stress of the day had shortened her fuse considerably and she exploded at the officer.

"Where the hell are you?! We said 10 and it's nearly 10:30 and you idiots aren't here!"

She lay back for moment, struck by a wave of dizziness from the effort of yelling.

The voice on the other line was silent for a moment.

"You said midnight, Ms. Garrett."

Kelly felt the urge to punch him.

"We called and said it was ten just a few minutes ago!"

"No one called us." he insisted.

Kelly was about to tear into him again when she suddenly paused, sickening realization washing over her. Had this been a trap?

"Just get over here!" she yelled at the officer.

"Look, ma'am, we can't afford to just be driving aimlessly around town, we have things to do and chasing false tips doesn't get them done." he shot back at her.

She hadn't heard it, though. Against Sabrina's wishes, she had crawled out of the car and was limping as quickly as she could towards the window she had seen Sabrina and Jill enter the warehouse through. She leaned against the wall and peered inside.

Her breath caught in her throat. Her friends were in trouble.

Peralta had Sabrina on the ground, his foot on her throat. Kelly watched as Jill lowered herself onto her knees in front of him. When she saw Peralta raise a gun to her head, she tore herself away and rushed back to the car.

With adrenaline pumping through her, her pain was momentarily forgotten and she nearly ran back to the car. He was going to kill them, she thought frantically. The cops weren't here and she didn't have any kind of weapon. She slammed both her fists into the steering wheel, trying to think of a way to help them. A wild idea suddenly popped into her head and she impulsively decided to act on it.

There was no time for anything else.

The back wall was aluminum and could probably be easily destroyed. There were two men were standing several feet away from it. She herself was in no condition to help, but maybe she could provide Sabrina and Jill with a distraction.

Kelly started the car and lined herself up with the back wall. This was insane, but it was all she had. If she didn't act now, she would lose the only two people she loved. But, she was sure they wouldn't mind her help.

And she was technically not going to break Sabrina's rule. Kelly slammed her foot on the accelerator and braced herself for impact as she flew nearer and nearer to the back wall of the warehouse.

Two car accidents in one day.

If they got out of this alive, she would definitely need to remember to ask for a raise.