Chapter 3

She hated walking into the office knowing that she'd failed to get her mark; she never failed, at least not until today. Whoever that idiot was, if he hadn't been killed or caught by the police then she was going to kill him herself. The office had of course already been notified of the completely botched mission and there were analysts there waiting to get their hands on the camera footage. She passed through the security measures quickly and handed the small disk over as soon as she stepped into the office.

The woman that took it from her had been there almost as long as Elizabeth had; she'd wanted to be an assassin but hadn't had the skill for it. Instead she'd wound up on the analysts team holding a grudge against anyone who made a good assassin, Elizabeth was one of those at the top of her hate list. She looked cheerfully smug as she took the disk and headed over to where the analysts were waiting with their very clever computers. Elizabeth walked along behind her at a much slower pace, Teyla moved to stand beside her looking sympathetic.

The footage came onto several screens but Elizabeth focused on the largest one, it showed the hotel window, the small gap in the curtains she'd been looking through. It showed the few officers that stepped into view, the shadows moving across the wall.

"Skip forward," Elizabeth instructed, she'd already watched all of this once and she didn't care to do it again.

The footage moved quicker until Elizabeth saw the scientist step into the gap between the curtains and she told the analysts to stop and play at normal speed. She didn't look at the scientist; her attention was solely on the door which in a moment was going to burst open. Exactly as she remembered a man kicked the door open, moving quickly as he started shooting. Unfortunately even the camera hadn't got a clear look at his face and though one of the analysts said they would enhance the image they didn't sound hopeful.

The miserably failed mission continued to play through as Elizabeth started shooting at the intruder and missed. The man dropped to the floor and a few seconds later his arm appeared at the bottom of the window, his hand holding a gun which immediately fired in her direction. That was the last thing she'd seen at the time, she'd dropped down below the window to avoid being shot and hadn't been able to get back up again.

"He figured out where you were pretty quick," Teyla commented.

"Makes sense, there was only one window with a decent view of the room and I was on the other side of it," Elizabeth replied as the footage was paused.

"I can see the top of a head, try zooming in and enhancing that part of the image," one of the analysts said. On the large screen the image zoomed in on a head of black hair, that was all that was visible though, just the very top of the guys head and his arm.

"Zoom in on the arm," Elizabeth ordered knowing she had to be wrong. The analysts did as they were told and Elizabeth saw it. The watch, it was the same as John's, it could be passed off as a coincidence except that the strap had been custom made for him, the name of his favourite football team was written across it. The jacket looked like his too, the same one he was wearing when he'd left that morning. That hair was the same as his, the same unruly mess.

It didn't mean anything, there had to be a hundred people in this city who had that jacket and probably more that supported the same team. There was no way it was John, he worked for a construction company, she'd been to his office before and it had definitely not been one that belonged to an assassin. That said, from the outside no one would know that this place belonged to a firm of assassins either.

"Are you alright?" Teyla asked and after a moment of trying to sort out the chaos that her thoughts had just turned into she turned to the slightly younger assassin.

"I'm fine," she said suddenly feeling the exact opposite, she had to be wrong.

As always John parked the car in the garage only this time he did it warily. He was tempted to park his car out in the driveway, a quick method of escape if it was needed. This was ridiculous, his wife was not an assassin; he was just getting paranoid. For a start the woman he'd seen was a blonde and there had to be plenty of other women who owned those earrings, he wasn't even sure she'd been wearing them today; she had a lot of earrings. He got out of his car and went into the house, outside the window the street was dark, perfect for disappearing into if he had to.

"Honey, I'm home," he called into the house noticing the edginess to his own voice and pushing it aside. He walked through to the dining room where Elizabeth was setting the table, same as always.

"Hi," she greeted with a smile and was it him or was she staring at him, studying him? "Dinner's almost ready."

"Smells good," he stated giving himself a mental shake. He watched as she walked back into the kitchen started putting food onto various plates. She picked up a large knife and John felt his heart skip a beat, he moved quickly to take the knife from her hand under the guise of helping out. "Allow me."

She gave him a grateful smile but it seemed to lack the sincerity it would usually have. It was a rare thing that he helped out in the kitchen but when he did she was usually grateful for the help. Normally she would make some comment about him not making a mess of her kitchen or ruining her food. There was nothing this time though just the half smile as she turned to carry some plates to the table and he noticed then that she was wearing the earrings he'd bought her. It was like they were walking on eggshells as they finished setting the table but eventually they both sat down to eat. John had kept the knife near him subtly putting it next to him at the table.

"So how was work?" he asked her and she gave him another one of those half smiles.

"I ran into a little trouble today actually. There was an interruption while I was carrying out a transaction, the whole deal went bad," she told him her tone was laced with hidden meaning but then he couldn't be sure his own mind hadn't put it there.

"I'm sorry to hear that," he replied.

"It's fine, I'm sure the deal will be taken care of, I just missed the better opportunity to carry it out," she stated and he nodded his head.

"Was it an important deal?" he questioned.

"Very, would have brought in a lot of money, still will if I have anything to say about it," she said. "What about you, did you have a good day?"

"I had some trouble too, a bit of a mix up but I'm not entirely sure what happened yet, I have a feeling someone hired two companies to do the same job," he informed her and she raised an eyebrow. "It's a good job though, worth a lot of money."

"That's a shame," Elizabeth stated they both stared at each other for several long moments. Understanding passed between them but not the good kind, it was a confirmation of what they were both obviously thinking.

They jumped up from the table at the same time going in opposite directions. John went to the living room opening a drawer in the dark wood cabinet and pulling out the gun he had taped to the bottom. He debated his options, shoot her, talk to her or get the hell out of here, he had to admit the last option sounded the most appealing. Pointing the gun in front of him he walked down the corridor toward the dining room watching warily. He heard the sound of a car engine outside and figured Elizabeth had already chosen the latter option.

He ran out the front door in time to see Elizabeth reversing down onto the street, both hands were on the steering wheel a gun held in one of them. The car stopped when it reached the road and Elizabeth's eyes locked with his, there was no doubt anymore as to who they both were. She accelerated down the street and he tried to go after her but even he couldn't outrun a car.

Now what the hell was he supposed to do?

Elizabeth knocked on the door in front of her. She looked up and down the street warily even thought she knew she'd lost John back at the house. It felt like forever before a light came on behind the door and it opened. Teyla looked tired and Elizabeth realised it had to be getting late, she'd been driving around for hours trying to figure out what to do.

"Elizabeth, what are you doing here, what's wrong?" Teyla questioned her concern immediately apparent.

"I'm sorry Teyla, I didn't know where else to go," she told her friend, Teyla was probably the closest thing she had to that. Teyla stepped back and gestured for Elizabeth to come in closing the door behind her.

"This way," she said and led her through to the living room. She sat down on the couch and Elizabeth sat next to her still trying to make sense of her muddled thoughts, of everything. "Tell me what happened."

"It was John," she blurted out, it was the first time she'd actually said it, allowed herself to truly acknowledge it. From the look on Teyla's face she needed more explanation. "The competing agent that messed up my mission, it was John."

"You can't be serious," Teyla said after a stunned silence.

"I am," Elizabeth replied and then sighed in frustration dropping her head into her hands. "How could I have been so stupid?"

"You couldn't have known," Teyla tried to reassure her placing a hand on her back soothingly. "I've met John several times and I would never have guessed he was actually an assassin. We have covers for a reason."

"I'm married to him Teyla, I should have known," Elizabeth responded angrily and then sighed again. "Sorry."

"It's okay, I think you're entitled to a good yell," Teyla told her "Do you think he knew?"

"What are the odds that he didn't?" she questioned. It was pretty unlikely that he just happened to marry a rival agent.

"So you think you were a mark," Teyla said, it was a statement now not a question and Elizabeth just wanted to scream at the entire situation, unfortunately that wouldn't help anything, it would probably just make her headache a lot worse and give Teyla one. "I guess it makes sense. You're one of the best assassins we have and you work for one of the best firms in the business."

Elizabeth nodded, that was exactly what she'd been thinking while she'd been driving around trying to figure this out. The more she thought about it the more she decided this couldn't be a coincidence, the odds of that were too small to be worth thinking about. She just couldn't understand how she hadn't seen through his act.

"What are you going to do?" Teyla asked and Elizabeth shrugged.

"Get him before he gets me," she said. She wasn't going to be taken down by a rival assassin, especially not one who had already made a mockery of her.

"Alright," Teyla replied. "Then that's what you do. You find him and you kill him, you're good at that."

"Yes, I am."

The door opened and John walked straight passed Ronon into his house. It had taken him some time but he'd come to the conclusion that he couldn't stay a home; it had taken him even longer to decide to come here. As soon as he told someone then this whole thing became very real.

"Come in John," Ronon said sarcastically as he followed him though to the living room.

"It was Elizabeth, the competing Agent that shot at me... Elizabeth shot at me," John began to ramble the last part only just dawning on him. "I can't believe my wife shot me."

"What the hell are you talking about?" Ronon questioned in confusion.

"The competing agent that screwed up my kill today was Elizabeth," John managed to say finding some composure.

"I never did like her," Ronon stated after a moment and John glared at him as much out of habit as anything else. "Are you sure?"

John thought back to the blonde that had run out of the hotel, to Elizabeth speeding away from the house; gun in hand. "Pretty darn."

"You do realise you just turned my house into a target right, they found you out not me," Ronon told him and John kept his glare in check. Ronon was probably the only friend he had right now, the only person he could trust. For all he knew the neighbours were undercover assassins, come to think of it they were pretty nosey.

"I wasn't followed, Elizabeth sped off in her car as soon as she realised I knew who she was," John assured him.

"What are you so worried about, I don't see the problem, she's a competing agent, kill her," Ronon instructed as though it would really be that simple.

"She's also my wife," John pointed out. "You ought to know that you were best man at our wedding."

"Didn't like her then either," Ronon told him and this time John didn't bother to hold back his glare. Ronon sighed "Look, she and whatever company she works for have probably been having a good laugh at you for years."

"You think she knew?" John questioned, he'd been hoping that wasn't the case.

"Come on, you're one of the best assassins in the business, do you really thin it's just a coincidence that she married you?" Ronon questioned back. "They've probably been having a good laugh at you for years," he repeated which did nothing to make John feel any better. "Now what are you gonna do about it?"

"What I have to," John told him and Ronon nodded.

"In the mean time, my couch is your couch, just try not to get me killed," Ronon said and then left the room returning a moment later with a blanket and pillow dropping them onto the couch. "Now I'm going to bed, I gotta go kill that bigamist tomorrow."

"Good luck with that," John called after him as he left the room.

"Yeah, have fun killing your wife," he shouted back.

John dropped onto the couch with a sigh, how could he not have known? He had fallen for her act completely. He was supposed to be good at this job but he'd been made, marked and married an assassin without ever even getting suspicious of her. She was good, he had to give her that but damn it he was going to be better. He hoped they'd had a real good laugh because they weren't going to be laughing anymore; he was done looking like a clown for them.

He'd only been to Elizabeth's office building a couple of times before but nothing had ever looked wrong to him. He knew that Elizabeth's firm occupied the top floor and there were probably a fair few security precautions between him and there. He'd never actually been passed the lobby so he was just gonna have to make it up as he went along for the most part. He'd been to the city hall that morning and got the blue prints for this building which was gonna go a long way to helping him.

He needed to get passed the lobby first though; everyone here had to get passed either the metal detectors or the guards post. For that he'd come up with a genius idea, he'd hired a slightly drunk teenager who probably should have been in school. Standing to the side of the doors he kept mostly out of sight as the teen walked in pretending to be more drunk than he actually was. He stumbled toward a woman who had been about to pass the guards desk waiting behind the two men that were in front of her. He knocked into her and they both almost fell to the ground as the guards came over and grabbed him. He was shouting his protest every step of the way as they dragged him from the building. With a smirk John followed him out and found him in an alley around the corner.

"Nicely done," John said taking the ID card the kid had swiped from the woman and handing him a twenty.

"No problem," the kid slurred and then ran off probably to buy more booze.

John substituted the picture in the ID card with his own grimacing as he realised his name was Mildred; the kid couldn't have got a card from a guy? It didn't matter, he'd been watching the guards for a while and they weren't looking all that closely at the IDs, just making sure that everyone who passed through the guard's station instead of the metal detectors had one. Going back into the building he made is passed the guards desk easily, they barely glanced at the ID before they waved him on.

He stopped by the elevator as he saw one of Elizabeth's friends, a woman he'd only met once before, and Laura had seemed so nice. He watched her step into the elevator and rather than just hitting the button for the top floor she hit a sequence of them. The top floor must have a pass code for it which meant there were probably cameras linked up in there too. There probably wasn't anyone watching them full time but it would be a stupid risk to take. The stairwell was next to the elevators and though he knew it wouldn't be that much easier it might at least get him closer to his target. His mind made up he moved to the stairs going up one flight after another quickly. Even before he reached the top he could see the number pad on the door and the camera in the corner pointing at it.

The floor below was owned by a different company, one that didn't have a reason to pass code protect their offices so he went through the door there. The sign in the corridor read 'Ocean Insurance' and John was reminded that he needed to take Elizabeth's name off his life insurance policy; he didn't want her getting a pay day if she managed to kill him. He moved along trying to remember the blue prints he'd seen a few hours ago, he'd looked closely at this floor knowing he might need to come through here at some point. The bathroom was on his right so he headed in there spotting the ventilation shaft easily. He wasn't a big fan of homework but sometimes it really did help.

He pulled the front off and grabbed his torch from his pocket using the sink to lift himself into the shaft. It was pretty cramped inside but there was enough room for him to shimmy through, he just had to remember the blue prints. He half crawled, half slid through the shaft making a few turns until he reached the part that turned upward to the next floor. Using his hands, knees and feet he was able to move up albeit very slowly and it was a relief when the vent became horizontal again. At least now he was on the right floor. He'd barely moved a few meters when his cell phone started to ring.

"John Sheppard," he answered rather cheerfully, he already knew who it was.

"Comfortable in there?" Elizabeth's voice questioned.

"Oh very," John replied. "Could do with a bit more colour though, the silver gets kinda boring after the first few meters."

"I'll let management know," she told him and John continued to shimmy through the vent. "I'd turn around and go back if I were you."

"Why, I'm already half way?" John replied, it would take just as long to go back now as it would to keep going forward.

"Stop and go back or we'll be forced to activate the security measures," Elizabeth told him and John stopped to look around him.

"You're gonna kill me anyway, try to at least, why warn me off now just do it," he said still trying to spot these security measures or the sensors that had found him. He really should have thought about that before he jumped in here.

"I'd prefer to shoot you in person," Elizabeth told him.

"Well then get in here and do it," he said and there was a moment of silence before she responded.

"You think I won't kill you?" she questioned.

"I think you won't kill me."

- - -

She couldn't believe he was playing 'chicken' with her, did he really think that after everything he'd done that she wasn't going to kill him? He was either really arrogant or really stupid and after being married to him for so long she reckoned it was probably both. What had he really hoped to achieve by coming here? He'd tried to come right into the middle of the firm's regional headquarters where he'd be surrounded by a few dozen assassins, it just screamed arrogant and stupid.

"John you have ten seconds to start moving backwards or we're going to activate our security measures," she told him. It wouldn't be a pleasant death, there weren't many people, even in this business, that would kill people like that but he was forcing their hand.

"Do you know how hard it was to get this far?" he asked her. "And that was going forward."

"Then turn around," she instructed.

"Elizabeth, I don't know if you've ever been in here but there's no way in hell I can turn around," he replied and she held back her sigh of frustration.

"Then shimmy backwards before we activate the security measures," she said.

"Like I said, it was hard enough getting this far going forward, going backwards doesn't sound like much fun," he told her, the red circle on the building's schematics in front of her still wasn't moving.

What the hell was wrong with him? "And getting burned alive does?"

There was silence on the line. "Burned?"

"Ten seconds John," she stated, she had to remain strong here, stop letting herself get distracted. "Nine, eight, seven, six."

"Would you get on with it already," John said and before Elizabeth could say anything the sensor went dead and the phone line went to static. A rumbling sound tore through the building and behind her the vent cover came flying off the wall followed by a small fire and smoke.

"What the hell did you do?" Elizabeth asked the tech girl whose fingers were still resting on the computer keyboard.

"Oh come on, he was going to die eventually anyway," she said and Elizabeth walked away. She kneeled down next to the vent cover and looked up at the still smoking ventilation shaft. Steal doors would have come down throughout it to seal of the rest of the building, protecting it from the fire but John had still been inside, he would be gone. As she stood up Teyla came to stand next to her placing a hand on her shoulder. Elizabeth pushed back her feelings, this had been the inevitable endgame, he'd made a mockery of her, it had been her or him.

"I'll be back tomorrow," she told Teyla and then left, she didn't really want to be here when they recovered the body.

TBC