A/N: Thanks to Amy from AKC/Twitter for the beta work. Title is all credited to Christian Kane's song Rattle Snake Smile.

I guess I oughta tell you what`s been going on
Well I`ve been chasing dreams for everyone but me.
When your heart is filled with misery
It`s hard to find the energy
To remember just how much she means to me.

In the Darkness ~ Christian Kane

"Tie the little bitches' hands," Paul Whitehall said to one of the men in the room who promptly jerked her up. "Apparently she's a no-class roughneck like her father."

"You son of a bitch!" Katie yelled, struggling against the man trying to tie her hands together. "You're fucking killers and con artists and I've got no class? At least I'm not stupid enough to get into bed with the mob and count on your dumb-fuck son to get away with ripping them off too."

His eyes shot daggers through her as he slowly approached her. He backhanded her hard enough to make her see stars and she tasted blood.

"Oh, that's really brave. Hitting a woman who is tied up," Hardison yelled from the other side of the room.

"Who the hell is this man?" Paul asked Mikel, furious that an outsider had been brought into this without his permission. "Kill him."

"I wouldn't. He's the only one who knows where the twenty million dollars your son stole from me is." Katie grinned despite the fact she was beyond royally screwed and in pain at this point. "You didn't think Thomas was smart enough to keep up with it, did you?"

"You're bluffing." Paul grabbed her chin viciously and jerked her face up to look at his.

Katie just grinned further. "You seriously underestimated us."

"No, I always knew you're just a little tramp like your mother," the man said and she watched him coldly. "Oh that's right. You probably never knew you mother and I dated, did you?"

"My mother would never date someone like you…"

"Before the town lowlife, your dad, knocked her up, she did indeed." Paul ran his hand over her cheek and she tried to pull away, but was unable to. "You can't imagine the complete joy I felt when I found out your parents died and left their estate in the hands of such a beautiful woman, the perfect age of my son. You have her beautiful eyes, her red hair, and this skin…"

"Get your fucking hands off her!" Hardison attempted to break free from Mikel.

"I did not agree to stand by and let you rape the girl," Mikel said, apparently disgusted.

Paul turned toward the assassin with a smirk. "You'll kill for money but rape bothers you? Good to know even a hired killer has standards. Don't worry sweetie, I would touch this girl if she were the only piece of ass left since I know the Winchester boy has taken his turn with her." Facing Katie again, he glared. "And I knew you'd crawl into his bed and that little piece of opportunistic white trash wouldn't be able to resist finally boning the heiress. But you're sleeping with this other as well? I thought since you ran straight to the former town hoodlum that would be enough for you but I guess I did underestimate you. You're even worse than your mother, further proof that money cannot buy class."

"He's going to kill you when he gets a hold of you," Katie seethed, her skin crawling where he'd touched her. "All your plans of revenge and attempts to steal my money have failed. You're not going to get one red cent of my money. I hope you paid your little assassin over there with cash up-front."

"I'm sure your little boyfriend is dead by now. It seems that every man close to you ends up dead. You're acting like the innocent victim Katie, but if you had just married my son, your brother would still be alive."

"How did you kill him? Why?" Katie asked, her lip trembling. She didn't want to seem weak but she had to know.

"Why? Your brother was attempting to stop Thomas' plans to reunite with you. Can you believe he offered to pay my son a million dollars to stay far away from you?" Paul laughed. "He undervalued you so much. But after he found those pictures of you in Thomas' condo, he started snooping around in places he didn't need to and investigating the missing money from his accounts. A little Rohypnol in his drink at the party that night was all it took. But all this could have been avoided. His death is your fault, not mine."

Katie screamed in rage and tried to kick him. Once again he backhanded her. She bit back a moan of pain, not wanting him to see that he'd hurt her but she could really taste the blood on her mouth now and felt it running down her chin.

"Pretty soon I'll destroy everything your father ever loved. Burning down his house was easy after killing off his golden child. Now I'll take his ranch. But you're the icing on the cake, his precious little girl. I only wish he were here to see it but I'm sure you'll say hello to him in Hell." He turned away towards one of his men. "Gag her. Last thing I need is for her screaming to bring unwanted attention here," Mr. Whitehall ordered the man.

Thomas finally rose to his feet, stumbling towards them. "You stupid bitch! I'm going to kill you with my bare hands."

His father stopped him in his tracks. "Shut up, you fool. Call and check the accounts to see if we can dispose of this guy here," he yelled at him. Reluctantly, Thomas pulled out his phone and began pressing buttons.

xoxox

"She's at the old slaughterhouse," Eliot pointed out the pathway that lead to it. They had been parked at the ranch for awhile trying to hear anything over the coms while Parker attempted to use Hardison's program to track him on her phone when they finally heard Hardison ask about the slaughterhouse.

He noticed the difference in how loud the hacker was compared to her earlier. "Can you hear me Hardison?"

"Yes," Alec whispered back.

"We're close, maybe five minutes. How many men? Are either one of you hurt?" he felt like he was going to explode if they didn't get to them soon. He knew they were running out of time. Mikel made it clear that she'd kill them both if he didn't trade some money for Hardison. She wanted to kill Katie unless he could offer her more money. He'd tried to reason with her but finally agreed to pay her a million dollars. But typical of her, she was going after the big haul, thinking she could get money from both him and Thomas.

Sophie sat up and said softly, "Eliot, if we don't get Thomas to confess to what he did, the mob is going to expect you to…"

"I'll deal with that later. Right now I need to stop them from killing Hardison and Katie. If I have to, I'll beat the truth out of Thomas before I kill him," Eliot cut her off. "Pull in there Nate. I'll go the rest of the way on foot so they don't see us coming."

"You're not going alone!" Nate argued. "You're going in blind"

"At least ten men in here," Hardison whispered. "And more outside."

"Eliot, you can't…" Nate grabbed his arm. "You're already banged up quite a bit. And I'm sure they have guns. It won't do them any good if you get killed in the process."

"Give me some time to get in there and then you tell our mob friends to come help me out," Eliot jumped out of the car before it came to a full stop, ignoring Nate cursing at him.

He ran the most of the way to the slaughterhouse, listening to the conversation as he went. Hearing the details about why Paul Whitehall had chosen Katie made him even further enraged. To think that this had all started because her mother rejected him over thirty years ago was a total mind fuck. He knew now that they would kill her out for revenge especially when they found out about the money being gone.

"Stop where you're going, Spencer." Eliot heard the familiar voice and barely halted before he turned on Sterling, who was holding a gun on him. His glare shot daggers at his nemesis. "Of course Eliot Spencer, or should I call you Andrew Winchester, would come to claim his share of the estate. When Mr. Smithfield called to let me know you were in town and would be calling me, I suspected I'd find you here."

"You better make damn sure you shoot to kill Sterling because you're not going to stop me any other way," Eliot moved towards the man, then stopped as he saw Nate launch himself onto his arch-enemy, knocking the gun from his hand.

"Go!" Nate yelled and Eliot took off again, knowing that Nate could handle himself since he disarmed Sterling.

"Eliot, there are two men at the door to the building but I think that's it. There's a side door that appears to be unguarded," Parker told him when she caught up to him.

"Go back to the car! It's too dangerous," he ordered her.

"I'll go in the side, you come in the front," the blonde ran away from him towards the side of the building. He'd have to kill her later if they both survived this.

The two men by the door were huge, both looking like they outweighed him by at least 50 pounds.

"Hardison, I need you to get Mikel to realize that they can't pay her anything. Maybe she'll actually help us out," he muttered quietly.

"A bit busy," Hardison whispered and Eliot heard a lot of screaming going on. Luckily for him it distracted the men at the door and they didn't see him coming around the side of the building. He was able to drop one with one punch before the other one even knew he was there. Fists were swinging but he managed to take the second guy down pretty quickly as well. The bigger they are, the harder they fall.

"There's a window to the second story. I'm going in through there," Parker told him. Eliot listened to the conversation going on inside to see if they had heard him yet.

"The account is empty! How the hell did you get the money?" Eliot heard a man yelling which he assumed was Thomas.

"Man, it was so easy," Hardison laughed. "We also got proof you were scamming the mob. We know you set the house on fire and killed John. You're going to fry for that." There was a pause. "You get it? 'Fry.' That was a pun. Nice little play on words. Yo...I got it like that. It's an oldie but goodie, but you wouldn't know anything about that. Good, that is. Hello. Stop me because I can go all night."

There was a loud thud that sounded like a fist hit the hacker. "Put it all back or I'll gut Katie like a pig." Thomas demanded.

"Mikel, you sure you're working on the right team? I mean the team that actually has the money." Alec continued to chuckle as the woman looked him over.

"Is what he's saying true?" Mikel asked, and Eliot heard the anger in her voice. A shuffle followed then a gunshot rung out. The other hitter yelled. "You bastard, you shot me!"

Eliot knew if she was capable of fighting, she'd help him out of spite now, so he burst through the door just as Mikel was rising to her feet, favoring one leg. Two men were headed in her direction as well.

"Only three guns!" Hardison yelled at Eliot then ran toward Katie.

Eliot didn't mess around and unloaded on the first man who came toward him. Thomas and his father were easy to spot in the crowd, the ones that looked like they'd never sweat a day in their life.

"Hardison, untie her hands," he heard Parker saying and saw her jump away from some man who tried to grab her. Eliot couldn't watch them further because two men attacked him at once.

"I think the mob has heard enough. We got the proof we need, so everyone get out of there quickly!" Nate announced.

Katie's eyes were wide with terror when they shot Mikel in the leg trying to get the gun out of her hands. Before Katie knew what was happening Eliot was there and Parker too. The blonde cut through the tape on Alec's wrists and then threw a punch at the guy closest to her. While the hacker tried to free her, Katie watched Eliot closely. There were too many men! Mikel had started fighting as well but she was already hurt and the men were doing some serious damage to her. Eliot was outnumbered and at an extreme disadvantage.

When she was freed, Katie jumped up only to have hands wrapped around her neck. Thomas slammed her against the wall, trying to choke her. She kicked and punched at him and made contact a few times but couldn't get free from him and pretty soon he had cut off her air. She could hear him screaming at her but was incapable of understanding anything but the need for air. Parker jumped on his back, knocking him away and Hardison punched him in the face. Katie sank to her knees gasping for breath.

Multiple gun shots rang out and she looked up in shock, trying to find Eliot in the mess. Two men in suits were firing on Whitehall's men but they could easily have killed Eliot already. She ignored the fighting around her, pushing through the crowd trying to find him.

Paul grabbed her by her arms and before she could fight him off, she heard a blast and blood and gore from what had previously been his head, splattered all over her. She watched in shock as he crumpled at her feet. The man that shot him watched her closely before raising the gun above his head and shooting three shots into the air.

The fighting stopped and Katie heard Nate announcing loudly, "Mr. Whitehall is dead. I'm sure the police will be here any minute so I suggest anyone who doesn't want to spend some time behind bars..." bringing his hands together in a single clap, Nate raises a brow pointedly looking at all involved. "Well, I think you get the idea."

After a brief pause, Whitehall's men began running out the door leaving the wounded behind. The gunman before her turned and Katie watched two other men in suits grab Thomas. Parker was there talking to her but she was still so in shock, she just stared at her blankly.

"Eliot?" she finally whispered and Parker pointed out where he was. Nate and Hardison were standing over him so she stumbled a few feet before collapsing beside him on her knees. Blood was covering almost every inch of him but he was breathing and attempting to sit up. Tears fell down her face as she kissed him gently, careful not to hurt him further.

"I thought I'd never see you again," she whispered, not caring who was there. "I love you so much."

"I promised you I wouldn't get myself killed, didn't I?" he attempted to smile but his pain was apparent. Katie checked him for gunshot wounds.

"You're a mess," she said. "You're going to the hospital this time. No arguing."

"Only if you promise to wear the naughty nurse costume. Are you okay?" Seeing blood, he examined her face and neck.

"Ah it's nothing but a scratch," she replied with a grin. When he looked doubtful, she reassured him further. "I was just standing too close when they shot Paul Whitehall. Most of this blood and…gross stuff, is his."

Eliot pulled her close to him, resting his head on her chest. "I still want a doctor to look you over."

"Honey, it's over now," she grinned. "You did it; I mean you guys did it. Everything worked out…"

"You stupid cunt! You ruined everything," Katie heard Thomas yell, startling her because she thought he had gone. As she turned around, she heard loud cracking sounds and pain coursed through her body.

"Oh my God, Nate!" Katie could hear Sophie's scream but everything seemed so far away. Hands grabbed at her shoulders as she slumped forward.

"Katie? Katie?" Eliot cradled her in his arms until Nate pulled her away from him, trying to see the extent of her injuries. The pain spread through her body and she couldn't breathe. The last thing she heard was Eliot screaming her name, then she surrendered to the blackness.

When Katie collapsed in his arms, Eliot was in shock. She'd been fine. The fight was over, the mob killed Thomas' father and the team was all still alive, even if he felt like he'd been through a meat grinder. It should have been over.

He let Nate and Sophie pull her away from him, too stunned to react.

"Call an ambulance quickly!" Eliot was surprised when he saw Sterling running into the building with the lawyer and a few guys he didn't know. They seem to be interested in helping so he rose to his feet unsteadily. When he saw Thomas' face, something inside him snapped. All the pain seemed to leave his body and the rage overwhelmed him.

He heard the voices calling out to him, felt hands trying to stop him but he was too far gone to make sense of it. He tackled Thomas to the ground, knocking him away from the mob guys who had already taken the gun away from Thomas. And Eliot did what he did best; he made him pay in a pound of his flesh. He smashed Thomas' face repeatedly. Even when the man stopped struggling, Eliot was too out of control to stop himself. He beat him within an inch of his life before three, four, maybe five men finally pulled him off.

'Mr. Black' stood between him and Thomas. "Mr. Spencer, I'll handle it from here. Take care of your woman. I'll handle the rest of this. Our business is concluded."

As the two men picked up Thomas from the ground, carrying him out to their car, 'Mr. Black' helped Mikel to her feet. "Come Ms. Dayan. I think we'll take you to a different hospital. I can already hear the sirens."

Turning around, he saw Nate and Sophie working on Katie, trying to stop the bleeding. Eliot sank to his knees, crawling toward her. He was fighting losing consciousness himself, but he had to get to her, no matter what it took.

"Eliot," Parker said from his side and she and Hardison rushed to help him. He could see Parker's tears falling, leaving wet trails in the dirt on her face and Alec's face was a mask of grief and concern. When they couldn't get him to his feet, Parker muttered, "You need to lie down." He just shook his head and they helped him stumble the remaining final distance to Katie. Taking her into his arms, he tried to stand up and carry her to the van but his head swam with dizziness.

"Eliot…you need to wait for the ambulance," Nate tried to stop him from rising but he shrugged his hand off, attempting to stand. Katie's eyes flickered open for a brief moment.

"Promise…me…something," she whispered before closing her eyes again. "No matter what happens…you won't let this destroy you."

"Don't do that shit. Don't you dare say goodbye," he argued. Clutching her tighter to him, he heard her uneven breathing.

"I love you," she replied before she was silent again. Eliot was hit with a wave of dizziness before he allowed Nate to quickly take Katie from his arms, then blackness crashed down on him completely.

In the Darkness ~ Christian Kane