Nancy had two guns tucked into the waistband of her jeans as she walked easily into the club.

Ned could only see them because he was looking for them. Her shirt flowed easily over the unmistakable silhouette, and only then did he wonder if maybe she had known the night was going to end this way.

When they had pulled up at the place, she had taken out the flask-sized vodka bottle and offered it to him before she took her own slug, carefully letting a single drop slide down her chin. Ned was more than slightly aroused when she gazed over at him, after, her lips parted, hair mussed. She carefully slipped an earring out of her ear and put it in her pocket.

"I need you as backup," she explained. "And if it looks like we've both been drinking..."

He had wanted to grab her and kiss her right then, but they were probably about to die.

All the more reason, he thought, following the reddish gold of her hair as she maneuvered easily through the crowd.

She caught his hand with hers and Ned thought of that haze in her blue eyes as she had blinked up at him from the couch. His heart was racing, and when she shoved past the guy at the door with barely a second glance, Ned gave him an apologetic smirk.

He was going to get fucking shot tonight.

Joey and another guy were muttering to each other, and all that Ned could make out was the profanity, as Nancy walked in and strode over to the desk, her gaze on the floor. "I know it's in here," she murmured.

"Hey!" Joey looked up, and Ned's gaze was immediately locked on the gun Joey had pointed at him. "The fuck?"

"The—the lady left her earring," Ned said, and he sounded more nervous than drunk, but who the hell wouldn't be nervous in this situation, that's what Ned wanted to know. Even without looking he knew Joey's two henchmen had their guns pointed at him too.

Nancy tucked a strand of hair behind her ear, moving to covertly pull out the papers George had returned to her in the parking lot.

Ned cleared his throat, wishing with every fiber of his being he could reach down and take one of her guns. Just for a second.

"Get the fuck out of here," Joey snarled, gesturing with his gun.

Ned shrugged, his eyes wide. "You would not believe what she was doing to me, and then she said she had to come back and get that fucking earring. I'm dying here," he groaned. "Trust me—"

Joey took a step toward Ned. "I don't know if you're drunk or stupid or both—"

"Found it!" Nancy rose to her feet with her hand up in the air, her earring dangling from her fingers. She clutched the edge of Joey's desk to steady herself, giggling a little. "God, it's hot in here," she murmured. "Come on, baby."

"I don't think so," Joey said, coming around the desk.

Nancy had taken Ned's hand in hers, and she pouted at the man. "Tell him," Nancy stood up on her toes to stage-whisper into Ned's ear, "what we interrupted to come back here." Even though he had more adrenaline flooding through him than he'd felt since his last season on the baseball field at Emerson, Ned's eyes still fluttered closed when her lips brushed his earlobe.

She was sexy as fuck when she wasn't even trying, and Ned's reaction to her caress was anything but feigned.

"You trying to sneak out of here with something that isn't yours, honey?" Joey asked, a wicked little grin on his face as his gaze went up and down Nancy's slender frame. "T.J.? Why don't you check little miss thing here."

Ned raised his hands, palms up, into the air as Nancy made a face. "I swear, I will give you whatever money's in my wallet if you will just let me take her home right now," Ned murmured, and he was only partially joking.

T.J. put his gun down so he could use both hands to frisk Ned's girlfriend. Ned held his breath. If he was thorough at all, he'd find the guns stuck into her waistband.

But right now, it was two guns to two guns, if Ned could disable T.J.

"Hey," Ned said, glancing behind him at the guy, who was clearly enjoying the search. "Watch it there, buddy."

Nancy turned to Ned, directing a slow, exaggerating blink of her eyes at him, but when her eyes were open they were hard and clear. "You know, baby, I thought you said you'd deck anybody you caught hitting on me..." She raised her eyebrows as T.J. ran his palms down her sides. "And I think this definitely counts."

When T.J.'s hands began to slide around toward her back, Nancy twisted in his grip, shaking her head at him. "Mmm," she warned him.

"You keep your hands to yourself," Ned said, flexing his fingers.

"Keep going," Joey insisted.

The uppercut was good, nice and clean, and when Ned glanced up from T.J.'s prone body a few seconds later, Nancy had both guns out, and they were pointed at Joey and the other guy. Her eyes were cold, deadly steady.

"Where's Bess."

Joey sneered. "Who?"

"The blonde who was working the bar."

Ned's gaze was locked on the gun in Joey's hand. For some reason it hadn't been so bad when it was pointed at him. Now, though, both Joey and the other guy had their guns pointed at Nancy.

Ned's hands were trembling a little.

"Who the fuck are you?"

"I'd show you my badge, but..." Nancy shrugged. "Give up now, it'll be easier. And tell me where Bess is."

The commotion outside was quiet at first, so quiet that Ned only registered it as a vague unease. He couldn't imagine how Nancy did this, when she went on her missions—and while he had been irritated beyond belief the last time she had vanished for a week, he had imagined her as the woman he had met in New York, playing dress-up and trading snarky comments with whoever was on the other end of her earpiece. This was lightyears away from that.

The door jerked open and Nancy angled so she could keep both in view, but she could only look in so many directions at once.

That was when the shot rang out.