A/N: Sorry for the delay! My laptop died and I'm only able to get this done now because my brother has given me his laptop for the time being. Also I didn't have time to proof read because today was kind of crazy and the whole week is probably going to be the same. Bear with me. As always thanks for your kind words & enjoy :)

Jane was too stunned to reply to her adoptive mother, the head of the terrorist organization that had destroyed her life. She stood there, the phone pressed to her ear and her heart thumping so loudly she was afraid that the woman on the other end of the line would hear it too. If she did, she didn't let it on.

Instead Shepherd sounded delighted and it was a wonder she didn't giggle like a school girl when she kept talking. "It's a great plan, isn't it? And I can't even take the credit for it" Jane could hear her chuckling into the phone "It was all Roman's idea" she declared proudly and Jane wanted to puke "How does that feel?"

Finally she had found her voice again. "What did you do to Kurt?" Her mind was reeling with all the possible scenarios of Shepherd threatening his life… maybe they had already killed him… But why bother calling then? No, he had to be still alive. He had to be okay. She had to concentrate on the monster who was currently in charge of his phone to find out.

"Frankly, I haven't hurt a hair on his pretty head… yet" there was a smile in her voice and Jane could picture her walking around the apartment with relish, invading their personal space like it meant nothing to her – which it probably didn't. Where they still in their apartment? Shepherd was still talking but Jane's thoughts were so loud she almost missed her last words.

"You, on the other hand, seem to have dragged him through hell. That poor boy…" she trailed off and suddenly there was a background noise she hadn't heard before – sounds of a struggle. Kurt. He was alive. "He seems to disagree."

And then her voice was growing fainter all of the sudden as if she was leaning away from the phone to talk to someone else – presumably Kurt – "Do you love her?"

Silence. Then: "You fool" and a shallow laugh.

"What do you want?" Jane choked out, clinging to the phone like a life line.

Shepherd's voice grew serious "I want my daughter back."

Shaking her head, anger rising in her chest, Jane spit back "I'm not-" But she didn't get very far.

"But I'm not one to be delusional. Since she's gone, her cheap copy will have to do."

She stayed quiet, trying to think of a way to negotiate but she came up blank, her mind circling back to Kurt every turn she took and it wasn't helping her figuring any of this out. "What do you want with me?" she asked then but really, it didn't matter. If it meant Kurt would be safe she would give herself to Shepherd. She didn't matter.

"I want to kill you, Jane" sounded Shepherd's voice sweetly over the telephone "You have to understand that we can't have someone running around who's ill-disposed towards our case with the possibility of remembering more of our plans."

How could this not be over? How could there still be more? Hadn't the world suffered enough? Hadn't they done their deal in proving that everything in their government had been corrupt? Hadn't it been enough to scare those people they pretended they were fighting for?

Jane didn't even realize that she had said all of that out loud until the woman on the other end started to chuckle "This is far from being over" she replied with ease, as if citing a shopping-list "And after you have done your part in our plans almost perfectly, you have now become a liability."

Was that what she was? To Shepherd as well as the FBI? A liability? She decided she didn't care, as long as she got Kurt out of her clutches first. Again she heard faint noises of a struggle and pressed the phone closer to her ear– if that was even possible – to hear what was being said.

"Don't hurt our prisoner!" Shepherd's domineering voice rang in her ear far louder than she had anticipated. "We need him as leverage for that sweet sister of yours."

She couldn't hear what was being said after that but it got quieter and she could all but imagine Roman stepping back, his head bowed as it always was when he followed Shepherd's order. The only time he hadn't done it, had been when he had followed hers, Jane's… It seemed like he would be doomed to follow orders for the rest of his life. Still, he had betrayed her, left her and tried to kill her, she couldn't let him get too close to her.

"Now, are you woman enough to sacrifice your life for this fool that you claim you love?"

Jane didn't have time to reply before Shepherd rattled off an address and cut the connection. Stunned she stared straight ahead, the phone still on her ear.

What was she supposed to do?

As she made her way back to the apartment she felt her whole world falling apart at the seams and the only thing keeping her going, the only thing she was clinging to, was the thought of Kurt being used as leverage to get to her. It was like her worst nightmare come true.

She basically ran back to the flat and got there in no time. When she pulled the door open she could see the signs of a struggle they had left. Clearing her mind she tried to look for anything out of the ordinary and anything that might give her a clue as to how good they were prepared – very good, probably – and what they had taken.

Jane looked into Kurt's bedroom first, looking for the gun he kept hidden in the closet but still in reach should he ever need it. It was gone.

Slowly she went on, roaming every inch of the apartment.

They had to have taken him in somewhere on his way to the guestroom, where he had undoubtedly had wanted to check on her. Some picture frames had been knocked down in the struggle and were now lying face down or splintered on the floor. Tentatively she picked them up, to see if there was any blood under them. To her relief there wasn't. Nowhere in this apartment was the hint of any blood which made her wonder how exactly they had obtained him.

She knew Roman to be strong, maybe stronger than Weller and definitely more ruthless than the FBI agent but still, gaining the upper hand on a Kurt Weller who wasn't only fighting for himself with no bloodshed whatsoever seemed unlikely. Looking around she found what she had suspected – an empty cannula that looked suspiciously like something that used to be filled with tranquillizer. Once again she felt her heart sink.

Having completed her search through the apartment she dropped down on one of the barstools, closing her eyes, trying to imagine how the attack would have to have taken place. She could picture Kurt jumping awake at the faintest noise, throwing on a T-Shirt – if even – over his pajama shorts to go check on her. Shepherd and Roman would had to had taken cover somewhere so he only saw them when it was already too late – when he had almost reached the door that lead to her.

Opening her eyes she let them travel through the apartment once more. His shoes were gone but his jeans from the day before had still been on the chair beside his wardrobe so she suspected he was only clad in his pajama.

She had to get moving.

Pulling out her phone she typed in the address that had been on her mind since Shepherd had uttered the words and looked for the surroundings and the hall she suspected with Google Street View.

Of course, Patterson would've had pictures of the scene that were a lot more accurate but Jane had decided against going her team for help. Shepherd wanted her and she wanted to get Kurt to safety. Should Shepherd have her… she didn't care. She wouldn't put Kurt's life on the line for her own and she knew that Reade, Zapata and Patterson would try to find another way. But there wasn't one and she didn't have any more time to lose.

Pulling up the image on the map she frowned. It was an old fabric hall like so many they had been in looking for suspects but something was different about this one. Turning the picture on the screen with her fingers she suddenly knew why. She remembered the place. Suddenly her mind was filled with bits and pieces of memories of that hall.

Flashbacks to former Sandstorm gatherings that had been deemed too unimportant to resurface but that came back to her now. Never in her life had she been happier to get some of Remi's memories back.

Shepherd and Roman might've chosen this site because they knew the surroundings and could use them to their advantage but now she did too – partly at least – and she would make the most out of everything she had. She knew exactly which way to take that they wouldn't suspect. Remi had always been to places where she shouldn't have been and the knowledge she had gathered was Jane's asset now.

One last time she wandered through the apartment that seemed too empty without its owner, gathering a few things she needed to make her plan work before grabbing the keys to Kurt's car from the sideboard and heading out.

Jane had already been dressed for battle, in all black with her gun and the knife and she could walk so quietly that no one would hear her coming, her clothing disguising her in the black of night.

Before starting the engine, she pulled out her phone once more, typing two quick messages and – with a deep breath – pressed send.

Two messages to two different numbers.

One containing a wrong address, the other delivering the correct one.

Nas's reply made her phone chime up before she had time to put it away again. She scanned the text and smiled grimly, taking out the battery and throwing her phone into the back of the SUV. She couldn't have anyone knowing where she was just then.

Slowly Kurt regained consciousness. Once his mind started waking up he realized that his arms and legs had been pulled apart, tightly fastened by what seemed to be rope at first gut instinct. Bit by bit he tried moving each extremity only to realize that the knots and the rope were both rather strong.

Another thing he noticed was that he was fixated to some sort of board but was standing – as far as you could call it standing when neither of his feet touched the ground. Trying to take all of this information in before his capturers realized that he was awake, he tried listening but could only hear quiet whispers that he couldn't understand.

Finally, when nothing more could be gained with his eyes closed, he opened them.

Looking to both sides he realized that his head was the only part of him that didn't seem to be restraint. He could now see the wooden panel he had been tied to and tried wiggling against the restraints that were a thick kind of rope, just as he had expected. He had no luck with that, he could barely loosen the fetter around his ankles and wrists.

"Ah, he's awake!"

Suddenly he heard Shepherd's voice and looked straight ahead to find her sauntering towards him without a care in the world and he had to blink against the dazzling white light that seemed to come from a light source behind the woman. Once his eyes got used to the brightness he could make out Roman as well who fell in line behind Shepherd like the good little soldier he was, a mean twinkle in his eyes, his mouth formed to a straight line.

"We didn't want to sedate you, Kurt" Shepherd explained with a smile and again he tried fighting against the rope, trying to attack her but all he did was cut his wrists with it. "That's exactly why" the woman continued with a sigh "You keep fighting us, even though, we helped you clean out the government you're serving. You're one of the good guys, we know and appreciate that. Why do you have to make it so hard for us?"

"Maybe because you killed a thousand innocent people without hesitating and obviously without any remorse" he spat, spitting out in front of her.

Before he could even blink, Roman had a knife pulled out, took two steps toward him and held said knife to his throat. The other man was staring him down, but Kurt wouldn't let him. Unblinking he stared back into the scarred face, wondering where it had all gone so wrong. It was his fault that Jane lied to him and he wanted to tell him that but something told him that nothing would get through to him.

"Roman, step back, he can't come at us."

Bowing his head Roman lowered the weapon and took a step back from their prisoner, still standing closer than he had been before, watching him.

Kurt watched as Shepherd motioned for him to follow her to some table 7 feet away and they started discussing something he couldn't understand. The only thing he did understand was a name and it made the blood in his veins boil.

"Leave her alone" he yelled at them, once more trying to make some progress with the restraints – with sinking hopes "Leave Jane alone, let me rot here – I don't care – But let her-"

Roman moved too quick for him to see but suddenly he felt a breath of air and a knife had been plunged into the wood he was cuffed to, only 6 inch from where his head had just been. Looking up he realized that Roman was holding five similar knives up, grinning at him.

Shepherd watched the two of them and shrugged at Kurt, who was beginning to fear for both his and Jane's life. "He does that sometimes when he's bored, to stay sharp" she explained with a wave of her hand "You should be glad that my son enjoyed such excellent training."

With that the next knife hit a space somewhere on his right side but he couldn't move his head enough to see where.

He really hoped Jane wouldn't do anything stupid.

Jane was crawling through the ventilation system of the building, trying to make as little noise as she possibly could. She had gotten inside through a secret emergency exit that she had remembered Remi and Oscar using every once in a while to get away from the crowd.

Those memories had felt improbably happy considering her reason for using it now. She wasn't sneaking away with her fiancée. No, she was trying to save the man she loved from the woman she had once, in another life, called mother that had gone crazy.

Still, for the first time in a while she didn't have enough time on her hands to feel the guilt overwhelm her. She knew that this was only happening because of her, that Kurt was in danger because of her but she couldn't just wallow in self- pity, not when she had the power to get him to safety. If it was the last thing she did in this life.

In grim determination she continued her path through the pipes, holding still occasionally to try to listen for sounds. She had an approximate idea on where they could be but she couldn't be careful enough with Shepherd, especially not if Kurt's life was at risk.

After a while – she was in the heart of the building already – she started hearing noises. They came rather frequent and sounded like a Klong.

Klong. Klong. Klong.

As if two hard surfaces would collide every time she heard the sound. She kept on inching her way towards the noises when the repetitive nature of it was disrupted by a scream. A very deep voice screaming in pain.

Kurt.

She couldn't really be sure, she knew that realistically, but she knew it was Kurt. Picking up her pace she tried to move through the ventilation systems as fast as humanly possible, not caring for the way her long-sleeved shirt got ripped open at the elbows, and how her skin scratched over the hard surface.

Turning another corner, the sounds were everywhere now – she must be close.

Jane managed to find a cover panel that should be outside of view and earshot from the scene and had just kicked it open to get out when it got quiet all of the sudden and after the short moment, more noises reached her ears, including hits and curses that sounded like a battle.

She came to a halt for a second, listening for more information, then tried to get out of the pipe as fast as she could – cursing when he shirt got stuck on a sharp edge but pulling it free with all her might, thankful for her regained strength. Her mind was somewhere else entirely, though.

Just please, don't let me be too late.

Kurt had managed to get his hand free after Roman had hit the wooden board he was restrained too a little too close to his wrist once. He felt blood run down his right arm where the knife had cut into his skin and the slash was burning but he wouldn't let it on. Because now he could move the hand and he knew that with a forceful pull he could pull away from the rope, he was just waiting his time.

Shepherd had barked at Roman to be more careful after Kurt had screamed in pain at the impact and so the scarred man was currently keeping the knives a little further away from him but he wasn't concentrating on it anyway. He knew they had to keep him alive at least until Jane got here and he was going to use this sort of safety to hopefully get free before she got here.

That she would get here, of that he had no doubt. This amazingly stubborn, selfless, broken woman would move heaven and earth to get him to safety. She loved him.

It was the only part of the voice note she had left two weeks prior he let himself remember. Her soft, broken voice, crying, telling him that she loved him. It made him hold onto her that much tighter and he was going to fight that much harder.

Slowly he had managed to loosen the rope around his right ankle as well, not looking down on it when he tried moving the leg back and forth, leaving a faint bloody line on his skin. But it was working. He could pull out his foot now when given the chance and he would make sure that he would get his chance.

He waited his time, playing the role he had chosen perfectly. He kept teasing Roman, trying to let him drop his guard because he knew the other men's strengths and weaknesses, they had studied him a lot – hell, he had trained with him. Roman was a deadly killing machine, efficient and cold as long as there were no emotions in there.

As soon as anger took over him, even Shepherd had difficulty to make him obey and he was counting on that. Yes, he would be even more dangerous but he would also be thinking a lot straighter, not ahead of time and he would use that for his own good.

It had to be now.

Roman had just finished throwing his knives again and stepped closer to Kurt to collect them, to throw them again, his face turned to Shepherd who was getting impatient because Jane still hadn't shown up. Smart girl.

When Roman was within his reach, Kurt leaped forward, pulling out his right leg from the restraint and kicked a very surprised looking Roman in the shin. Simultaneously he pulled at his right arm and grabbed one of the knives close to it, using it to slash the rope on his left wrist. He had the knife in his right hand and with his left he was still holding on to the rope, trying to keep himself upright as good as he could until he could free his left leg.

Roman, who had stumbled backwards, was now coming on to him again, his face a angry grimace, baring his teeth like an animal.

Kurt tried to use his right arm to elbow him in the face but the other men was smarter without the restraints and managed to dug from the blow, leaving Kurt hanging by the threat and kicking him in his unprotected left side instead.

He cried out a curse while he tried to hold on with his left hand but he could already feel his fingers losing the grip on the rope and with a loud thud he falls to the floor, leaving his left leg in an awkward position with the ankle still fixated. He could hear his joint make an unhealthy noise when he leaped forward to slash that rope as well and finally all limbs were free.

Suddenly Roman was towering over him, he hadn't kept track on him when the pain in his left leg had taken over all of his thoughts for a moment. The other man kicked him in the stomach and Kurt, still clutching the knife to his chest, couldn't raise his body enough to effectively fend off the attacks because he couldn't put pressure on his right ankle.

Cursing he pulled himself as close together as he could, providing as little target as he possibly could, protecting his stomach.

Looking up he saw Roman who was still standing over him, glowering at him from above, a playful twinkle in his eyes and in that exact moment Kurt knew, that the scarred man wanted to kill him. There was no friendship or loyalty or even human trait left in the man that could save him.

"Roman! Stop the kindergarten!" The sound of Shepherd's voice made him flinch but he knew with a sad certainty that she had just saved his life – for now, anyways. Roman didn't step down immediately but it only took him two seconds to bow his head in obedience, taking a step away from Kurt.

"You've had enough fun, Assistant Director" the woman said in his direction with a scowl "Secure the prisoner, Roman."

The other man was about to take a step towards him again, already squatting down to pull him, Kurt, up again when suddenly there was another noise directly in front of them. Kurt could see her first, all clad in black, the black curls flying in all directions and the gun pointed straight at her brother's chest.

"I don't think so" she said calmly "Step away from him."