I'm sorry it took me this long to update, especially after the cliffhanger :)

10 - The encounter

John was leaning against the car door and breathed heavily.

He could almost feel the fearful stare of Joss to his direction even though he couldn't see her. But he wasn't going to let her get hurt in order to protect him. Joss got in this situation because of him, so all he could do now was to make sure she had a chance to get out of this unharmed. If all of them would made it out alive, she would surely kick his ass afterwards but he would endure it happily.

His focus shifted towards the army of agents in front of him, he counted 12 and there probably were some more in the cars. There was no way he would be able to deal with all of them. Maybe he could no longer delay the end he's been awaiting ever since his mission in Ordos.

The throbbing pain in his shoulder and the weakness of the blood loss didn't make him appear as strong as he would've liked it. But like this his opponents would maybe underestimate him and that would give him a little advantage.

"You seem to know a lot about me." John answered with the strongest voice he could produce.

Michael Sanders smiled in a way that put John's alarm system into overdrive. It was exactly the same smile he saw so often within his CIA days on his former partner's face, Kara Stanton. Just before she killed someone in cold blood and made jokes afterwards as if nothing would've happened.

He was about the same age as John with short brown hair and an angular face. His grey eyes were piercing and yet unreadable.

"Well, I've been searching for you for a while. Mark wasn't exactly chatty about you, but after he didn't returned to Langley I became curious." Sanders slowly approached John with the hands in his pockets. "I heard stories about a car explosion and someone described a woman and a man who seemed to be quiet familiar. So since Kara came back from the death I wanted to know if the rumors are true and someone else made it out alive in Ordos."

His men became nervous as Sanders stopped forward until he was only a few feet away from Shaw's car. They still considered Reese a threat, even in his current condition. This left John wondering about his reputation at the agency. He never thought he would become one of those agents the newbies were being told of.

"I still don't know who you are." A bluff, but he didn't want to let Sanders know he heard of him and let his ego become any bigger than it obviously already was.

"Oh, how rude of me. My name is Michael Sanders and I'm here to make sure you won't produce anymore problems for Langley." He shrugged his shoulders with the hands still in his pockets. All of this seemed too bizarre, he talked like they were on a business meeting while he just told him he was there to kill him.

"I'm ready to go with you willingly, but only if you let those two go, they have nothing to do with this. It's a thing between me and the agency." It was a poor try, but maybe they decided Joss and Shaw wouldn't be worth the effort.

"Oh John, you know I can't do that. Ever since you're prints were searched by our precious little Detective in there you are on our most wanted list. The agency is even providing a bonus for the one who proves your death." He seemed to be really happy about that fact. "Of course I wasn't believing you were really still alive after the explosion at Ordos, but it seems I've been proven wrong. Now I won't let her interrupt my victory and I think she won't be quiet about your disappearance. Langley doesn't want a snoopy Detective who saw and heard too much. So I think I will just have to make you come with us." Sanders signed his agents to go and get him.

John prepared himself to fight them with all strength left to make up enough time for Joss to flee. Shaw would get her out, her rational thinking would help him once again even though it most probably meant for him to be getting killed. He felt the rush of adrenaline which kept him going until now slowly fade.

With his free hand he reached for the gun he found during the drive in Shaw's car and was now tucked into his pants at his lower back. He wouldn't stop at kneecapping this time.

Before either party could react, hell broke lose from a different direction. A big, military jeep paced down the street right towards the blockade from behind. Just then John heard the sound of his grenade launcher and raised an eyebrow at it before he took cover behind the car door.

The agents were obviously surprised by the unexpected arrival and the sound of it. As soon as they realized what made the sound they started running around in order to take cover as well.

John's eyes followed Sanders as the man moved fast but calmly to cover himself and shot a few bullets into John's direction which barely missed. At that very moment the grenade landed between the second and third car from the right of the blockade. There were two seconds of complete silence before the explosion went off and shoved the nearest cars aside which resulted in hurting the men who took cover behind.

Before the agents could recover from it the jeep came crashing right through the other cars which took out some more agents and made all other get back to their covers again.

John didn't trust his eyes as he realized it was Fusco who drove the jeep and was now hurrying over to them during the chaos with a black bag in his hands. Shaw covered his way by shooting the tires of the CIA cars. Both men slid into the car at the same time, which Lionel did in a more elegant way than John, who just shoved himself onto the seat under groans of pain.

"Drive!" John shouted towards Shaw who didn't need another request to do so. She managed to drive through the gap, for which the grenade was responsible, and sped off towards the city.

Joss immediately turned towards the backseat and John saw the horror in her eyes. "What the hell were you thinking?" Her voice was shaking in shock. "Joss… I didn't see another chance and… I didn't want anything happen to you either." John answered with a weak voice which made her forget her anger and she realized he must've gotten worse during the encounter.

They had to get safe first before she could treat him and after that she would yell at him for doing stupid things as in surrender himself to save her. So she looked at Fusco who watched their argument with sheer interest. "Fusco, thank you for helping us out back there. How did get here so fast?"

"Glasses was worried sick about Wonderboy here, he gave me a bag labeled with 'Plan B' and sent me to you. He must've felt you would get into trouble soon." Lionel answered her and resettled the grenade launcher. "I saw the crashed cars on my way, the state troopers were already cleaning up the mess. I guess that's why Reese looks like hell?" John just shot him an annoyed glare which Fusco ignored. "Anyway, who were those guys? Finch didn't tell me too much, just that you were in danger."

"Yeah, it's the CIA, they're after John and…" Joss started to explain as Fusco's eyes grew big. "Wait, you're trying to tell me I just blew up an army of CIA agents? Oh boy, I'm gonna be in trouble." Lionel ran his hands over his face and shook his head. "What else did I miss? And why did you say Carter was in danger while they were really after you?"

Joss glanced at Fusco and told him "Speaking of it: What the hell were you thinking of not telling me someone's after me?" Fusco realized immediately he made a mistake and was happy she couldn't reach him from the front seat. "Uhm, well, you see, it was all John's idea! He kinda forced me not to tell you! I told him you would be mad."

"Thank you, Lionel…" John murmured and closed his eyes as he leaned his head back. He would be in some serious trouble as soon as he was fit again.

"Before Joss decides to shoot us all right away: How should we be able to hide back in the city? If the CIA is really after you - and Sanders won't give up, even more after the incident a few minutes ago - we won't be able to hide forever. So we will have to take out Sanders, otherwise none of us is safe anymore." Shaw stopped the upcoming argument before it fully erupted.

"Okay, but we'll need time to work on a plan how to do that. He's not just someone, but a highly trained CIA agent." Joss sighed. A phone ring interrupted their discussion. She looked at horror at Fusco, where the sound came from. "You brought your phone with you?" She asked. Fusco shook his head. "No, Glasses told me not to. Wait a second…" He listened and made out the origin of the sound, it was the weapon bag. He quickly searched through it and found a mobile phone which he answered and put it on speaker.

"Hello?"

"Detective Fusco, how is the situation? This phone is not traceable, so it's safe to talk."

"Hello Finch." Joss said. "We're okay, at least for now. We're currently heading back towards the city but there was an… incident."

"Is everyone okay?" Finch's voice sounded worried now.

"At least not worse than before. We had an encounter with Sanders, he's a psychopath." Shaw answered. "Finch, they're coming after us no matter where we hide."

"I understand. The FBI just received an anonymous hint, that CIA is operating within the United States and they won't be pleased about it. That should give us a good amount of time to plan the further course of action."

"Thanks, Harold, that should really slow them down." John said weakly with still closed eyes.

"I'm going to wait for you at the safe house." Finch disconnected the call.

"Okay guys, it's gonna take a while until we're there, the safe house is in East Village. Reese, you're still awake?" Shaw asked with a quick glance in the rear mirror.

"Yeah, just keep driving." John answered with a tired voice.

Joss wished she could sit besides him in the backseat. His voice made her worry, there was a lot of pain in it. She would make sure he would get some strong pain medication as soon as they arrived at their destination. At least this would make him sleep and he won't be able to do something stupid. She knew of his very protective instincts, especially for her, but what he did back at the blockade… She wouldn't be able to forgive herself if he would sacrifice himself for her.

They drove in silence for about an hour, it was early in the morning by now and the streets were empty yet. Nevertheless, Shaw drove some extra rounds within the city. Fusco kept an eye on John who was barely awake.

As they finally arrived at the safe house - a rather big row house with a closed restaurant at the ground floor - Fusco and Shaw had to drag John out of the car. Finch was already waiting for them at the front door and his eyes grew big as the trio passed him. Joss patted him on the shoulders. "Shaw is going to treat his injuries and give him some pain medication. She promised me he will recover fully." Finch nodded at her and both of them quickly got off the street and into the building.

Shaw and Fusco slowly brought John to the first floor and into the apartment Finch prepared. It was a large one, a living room with a huge couch in it. As Joss wandered around, she could make out three bedrooms, two bathrooms and a big kitchen with a dining table. This place would provide enough space for all of them.

John was being taken to the first bedroom which had a double bed in it. As he finally was able to lay down he let out a groan of relief. But he was still tense of pain and his forehead and clothes were already wet with sweat. As Shaw removed his shirt they knew why. His previously stitched wound at his abdomen oozed blood and gaped open. Shaw cursed at the sight. "Damn, he popped the stitches. We're gonna have to clean the wound and sew it up again."

"Okay, let's give him some painkillers first. And I mean some strong ones, otherwise he'll just wander around and try to play hero again." Shaw smirked at Joss' comment. "It wouldn't do him any bad to get a little bit of rest."

She went out of the room and came back shortly afterwards with a big first aid kit. As she took out a small bottle of liquid and filled the syringe with it, Joss read the label which said Morphine. She just raised her eyebrows at Shaw who answered her innocently. "What? I stocked up the first aid kit a little bit, just in case." Shaw injected the medication to John who calmed down fast.

Then they began to work on John's injuries, clean his upper body and bandaged his wounds properly. Joss tried to focus on helping Shaw but after they were done and he laid there on the bad, his battered body and the white bandages around his ribs and the wounds she finally allowed herself to give into her feelings. She laid down next to him on the bed and grabbed his hand tight.

Shaw quietly left the room and let them alone.

We're slowly getting towards the end of the story. Please leave a review if you liked or didn't like something.