The chapter where it all starts to come together...Enjoy!

As Shawn ventured further North, towards the circles marked on the hunters map he was careful to avoid stepping on twigs, crunchy leaves, anything that could potentially give away his position. Just because the hunters had gone West to go hunting didn't mean they would stay there.

He paused as he passed a tree that had two large branches forking out of the trunk. His eyes fluttered shut, pulling the image of the hunters map into his mind. This was a marker on the map, this marked the start of the green circle, it was the closest of the three circles but still miles from the lodge. How long had he been walking?

Something snapped behind him and he froze. He wasn't alone. Shawn spun around, lashing out at his follower only to end up on his back on the forest floor, gasping, Juliet's foot on his sternum.

"Jules?" he wheezed. How had she gotten here?

"Shawn what the hell were you doing?" she hissed, removing her foot and helping him to his feet.

"I was…I…" he frowned, "What are you doing here?" he challenged, managing to find his voice.

"I followed you," she replied indignantly, angry he'd tried to sneak off, "And why are we whispering?"

Shawn blinked and tried to grin casually, "I'm not whispering, are you whispering?" She cocked an eyebrow at him, "Huh."

"Shawn."

"I'm glad you found me Jules, I guess I kind of wandered off. Trees tend to look the same to me, with all the green…and the …brown…," he shrugged apologetically. This was bad. She couldn't be here. He needed to investigate and then come to her with information. He didn't know what was out here, but he hadn't wanted her to be a part of the investigation for more than one reason.

"Gus told me you two are here to investigate," Juliet didn't feel like plowing through his nonsensical ramblings to get to the truth. She crossed her arms and leveled him with a no nonsense glare.

Shawn sighed dramatically, "Man," he stomped his foot in irritation. Gus had been so not helpful during this case. He turned his attention back to Juliet; he didn't have the energy to fake being psychic and he didn't really want to.

Reluctantly he brought his head to the side of his head, "I am sensing that there is something out here that is valuable to our investigation. The spirits led me here Jules," he sounded almost apologetic.

Juliet sighed, "Right. The 'spirits'," she muttered. "Okay," playing along would at least move the investigation along, "What are the spirits telling you?"

Shawn shook his head, "They aren't being particularly cooperative today," he pursed his lips, "All I know is that there is something important out here."

Juliet shook her head. That was a particularly unhelpful 'psychic' hint. There was no way he conducted all of his investigations on leads that…vague. Was there?

Shawn pointed in the direction he'd been walking, "Something drew me out here. I don't know what it is. Just that it is very important to the investigation," he was still whispering.

Juliet nodded slowly, folding her arms across her chest as Shawn continued trekking, "Right, the Connell case. Shawn, what exactly have you found out?"

"Connell's best friend and hunting buddy is Marcus Cruz, one of the assistant District Attorney's for Santa Barbara. Cruz dated Katherine Winslow until she cheated on him. And Cruz happens to be one of the attorney's who worked another of your missing person cases- Vicky Queen's hit and run trial," Shawn explained, still keeping his voice unusually low as he attempted to do some of his best nutshelling.

"So Cruz is our guy?"

Shawn was silent a long moment as they continued to fight their way through the underbrush. His stomach flipped and he grit his teeth as they passed an abnormal looking rock; it was another landmark. It meant they were at the edge of the yellow circle.

"That's what I thought too Jules," He said quietly. He turned to her, looking anxious, "But then I found out who all of Cruz's hunting buddies are," his tongue darted out nervously across his lips. "And each one of them worked a trial involving one of the missing people."

Juliet froze. "Shawn…what exactly are you saying?"

Shawn shrugged, "I really don't kn-"

He was cut off by the sound of a far off gunshot. He felt Juliet stiffen besides him and knew instantly that she had the same bad feeling in her gut that he did.

"That didn't come from the West," she said softly, looking further North, towards where the gunshot had sounded. And it was dangerously close. Her eyes darted around their surroundings. They were in a particularly sparse chunk of forest. If hunters were nearby then they needed cover and probably to get out of the line of fire; once there. "Shawn follow me," she motioned for him to crouch low to the ground as she guided them towards a denser patch of forest.

Shawn's eyes quickly surveyed their surroundings as the horrible gnawing in his gut reached a critical point, becoming almost physically painful. It wasn't just the gunshot. Another one sounded; Shawn knew it wasn't just his imagination that it sounded closer. Poachers? Probably not. More than likely it was Cruz and his buddies. But what did hunting in an illegal area have to do with anything? No, it wasn't just the gunshots that were making his stomach churn.

Something caught his eye that caused him to stop in his tracks. "Jules," he whispered quietly. Freshly disturbed dirt. Someone had been digging a few feet away. The dimensions looked like that of a grave.

"Ssshhh, come on Shawn," Jules grabbed his arm and tugged him, forcing him towards a large thick tree that looked climbable.

Shawn stumbled towards her and his foot kicked a large piece of underbrush, jolting it aside.

Juliet's face went pale. "Oh god," she whispered.

Shawn leaned down, inhaling deeply as he stared at the bloody dead hand that he'd inadvertently uncovered. He moved another piece of brush silently, revealing the once beautiful face of Katherine Winslow. Shawn scanned the body quickly, bullet right between the eyes was most likely the cause of death. Her right hand was covered in blood and clutched in her left was a chunk of camouflage covered fabric. Shawn felt his stomach flip again. He was pretty sure they'd just found Ricky Connell's killer. But who had killed Connell's killer? He glanced up sharply as a large crackling and snapping of branches started on the other side of the clearing they had just left.

Ivan Banks emerged from the trees, rifle slung casually over his shoulder. He removed his hunting cap and ran the back of his arm across his forehead, wiping sweat and dirt from his face.

Shawn pulled Juliet down next to him. They were out of sight, hidden behind bushes and shrubbery. At least for now. His eyes darted nervously to the patches of disturbed dirt. Unless Ivan came towards that they were fine.

"How you doing back there?" Ivan called over his shoulder.

Marcus Cruz emerged from the bushes with another hunter. They were carrying a large balding man between them, Cruz by the feet, the other, was carrying the man under the armpits. The man in their arms had been shot in the chest and was staring lifelessly at nothing.

The pieces fell into place quickly as Shawn resisted the urge to puke.

Shawn put his hand on Juliet's knee, able to feel her shake from a mix of fury and fear. They were out here, unarmed with a group of true sociopaths.

"That's David Burton," Shawn whispered quietly, pointing at the dead man the hunters were now setting down on the grass. Juliet nodded; she recognized him from the picture in his file.

"Geez, at least close his eyes man," Cruz muttered, moving around to Burton's face, shutting Burton's lifeless glassy eyes before turning away quickly, "He's been staring at me for the last ten minutes."

"I hope this isn't making you uncomfortable Marcus?" Ivan asked, polishing the barrel of his rifle with a practiced casualness.

Cruz shook his head, "No. No, it's just…do you really think we should be doing this this weekend?" Cruz bit his lip. He shifted anxiously, "Every detective in the city is out here."

Ivan shook his head calmly, "And we're regulars at this establishment. And besides Marcus, we're the good guys." He grinned and patted Marcus's arm reassuringly. "We've been careful. We're fine."

Shawn was positive that he and Jules were both not breathing. They were so engrossed in what they were hearing that even with Shawn's perfect memory, no matter how many times he played back the moment, he couldn't remember which one of them it was that had shifted, snapping a branch and giving away their position. But, he supposed, it didn't really matter.

Either way all of the hunters were suddenly looking right at their hiding place. Their guns were trained on them. There was no use pretending they weren't there. The hunters knew what they had heard, and unless a bunny wanted to choose that moment to pop out of the nearby underbrush, they'd been made.

"Jules, run," he whispered, pulling her to her feet as he shoved her in front of him. The bullets started to whiz past them as Ivan started screaming.

'Never run in a straight line if you are being chased kid' His dads voice reminded him.

"Jules, this way!" he grabbed her again, pushing her to their right, just as a bullet hit the tree they'd been running towards, causing the bark to explode like shrapnel. Bullets moved straight, thankfully they didn't have to. "Weeve!" he instructed her in between pants, keeping his hand in hers, forcing her to move and stutter step with him as they went deeper into the forest, using the fallen trees and rocks for cover. As they jumped over another rock Shawn saw another land mark. They had entered the red circle on the hunters map. The sound of rushing water suddenly drowned out the pounding of Shawn's heart in his ears. It also drowned out Ivan and the other hunters yelling.

Shawn grit his teeth as he willed his breathing to calm. The map fluttered briefly in his mind and he grinned. He knew where they were. "This way," he whispered to Juliet who nodded, breathing just as heavily as he was. The rushing sound of water got louder.

The screaming behind them resumed and he knew that Ivan and the others weren't far behind them. Both of them put their hands above their heads for cover as more trees exploded from the force of the hunting rifles bullets.

Shawn again grabbed Jules's hand, yanking her hard to the right, out of the line of sight. They kept running towards the sound of roaring water until they reached the edge of the cliff. Shawn gasped as he stared straight down at the raging waters below. "Wow," he gasped, "This waterfall is way higher than I thought it would be," glancing around for alternative ways down he saw another scrap of camouflage fabric hanging off of a branch.

"This is your plan?" Juliet wheezed, glancing fearfully over her shoulder. "Jumping?"

Shawn forced a grin, "Why not? It always works in the movies," he quipped, hoping he sounded more confident in the plan then he felt.

"There they are!" Cruz screamed, leveling his gun at them.

Shawn felt Juliet's grip on his hand tighten. They leapt just as a gunshot sounded.

Shawn was pretty sure he heard Juliet scream, but before he could be sure he hit the water with a smack and all he saw was black as he sunk into the white of the rapids.

My goal at this point is to start my version of the Yin/Yang thing before the episode airs. Which obviously means updating quickly! Which will totally happen if reviews happen :D.

And I'm hoping reviews happen lol. This chapter should have SOMETHING in it to get you guys talking.

Enjoy and reivew! And Happy Holidays!