Chapter 12

Jamie had taken off because she was hoping she could lose Alex in the tangle of corridors and doors in the building. She had had a chance to see most of the rooms when she had been there the first time with Dylan, but she still did not have a very good idea of where he may have placed the other detonator. She just knew she had to find it before he had a chance to correct her treasonous act. She heard footsteps behind her and put on more speed. She didn't care if it was Alex or someone else; she just needed to get away.

Alex was surprised by how fast Jamie could be, even when she was hurt. He had to chalk it up to pure adrenaline. Alex had just seen Jamie dash around another corner when a group of soldiers cut off his route.

"Cub?" Alex looked up as the man removed a mask he had been wearing over his face.

"Ben!" Alex was relieved. Of all the people he had met through MI6 Ben was one of the soldiers he trusted most of all.

"We saw you in the computer room, but then you disappeared after the girl. Where are you going?" Ben asked as the other soldiers made sure that the corridor was safe.

"I was just following Jamie because she is off on some sort of suicide mission," said Alex in a frustrated tone. "She's trying to give me the slip."

"Is she the girl that they sent you to follow and get out of this safely?" asked Ben quickly. "One and the same," Alex replied. "She is following Dylan to find out where his backup detonator is."

"You cover her and we will cover you," said Ben with a wave of his hand and Alex set off quickly down the hall. He felt much better now that he might face Dylan with some backup. Alex had no idea how he finally tracked down Jamie in all of those hallways. He tried to judge whether there was a lot of fighting in any direction and go away from the noise. Alex figured that Dylan would inform his fighters to draw attention away from where his detonator was. Finally, Alex and the soldiers rounded a corner to find Jamie crouched by a door. As he approached Jamie stiffened and then whipped around. When she saw Alex she relaxed a little and then stiffened with anger again.

"What are you doing here?" she hissed angrily as she moved him back down the hall. It seemed to Alex that she had not realized that the soldiers were behind him. "I thought I made it crystal clear that I do not want or need your help, or the help of these soldiers. This is a family problem."

"And I thought I told you that I am here to help you whether you want the help or not," Alex replied calmly, but also in a very quiet voice. "You aren't on your own anymore, Jamie. Let us help." Jamie took a deep breath and exhaled. Alex took this to mean that she would let him help. "Is Dylan in that room?" he asked carefully.

Jamie nodded. "It's the room with all of the pipes that feed out to the city. The detonator is built right into one of the main pipes. The room is built like a garage and I can hear fighting on the other side. He may not think he has that long. I have to act fast."

Alex nodded. "We are your backup."

Jamie made a face. "I really can't talk you out of this?" Alex shook his head. "Fine, but I go in first. Like I said, this is a family problem."

"Alright," Alex consented. "We'll follow right behind you." Jamie took a deep breath and faced the door again. She had been dreading the day that she would betray Dylan and then have to face him. The only reason she was facing him at all was that she knew what he had planned and she was the one who could and should stop it. She had helped him and now she would bring him down. She pressed her ear against the cool door and she could hear Dylan fighting with some of the wiring on the detonator. It was now or never. Jamie tried the door knob, it was unlocked. She straightened up and, with Alex and the soldiers behind her, she opened the door.

The room was fairly empty, but there was a collection of pipes and canisters in the corner right near the door. These canisters had been important to transferring fresh air to some buildings in London, but it had been out of use for quite some time and Dylan had basically needed to re-wire them from the beginning. It had taken months, maybe even years, of preparation, which was what Jamie now realized. The part she had played was relatively small.

There was also a garage type door that rolled up to the ceiling at the other side of the room. The view from there was blocked by some of the pipes and canisters, but Jamie could tell that there was fighting on that side because the door was open. As she scanned the canisters, looking for the detonator, Dylan's voice came out of the pipes.

"I was hoping I would get to see you again." His voice dripped with hatred; Jamie could actually feel it rolling off of him. Dylan stepped out from behind the pipes and faced her. Jamie felt the SAS men behind her bristle as Dylan stepped closer, but she held up her palm behind her back. She didn't want them to interfere. Dylan's eyes roamed over the soldiers, but then drifted back to Jamie. "You have some unfinished business, young lady."

"I think I did everything that I was told to do," Jamie responded, trying to keep her voice as calm as possible. She had no idea how Dylan would choose to take his revenge. Dylan laughed dryly at her response.

"You are not going to get off the hook that quickly. I have one last job for you, now," Dylan sounded so calm, like he didn't realize that he was surrounded by soldiers who would shoot him if he made any other moves. Suddenly, they all realized why he was so confident. Another door in the room crashed open and more of Dylan's men ran into the room. They were all heavily armed and they effectively cut Jamie and Dylan off from the SAS and Alex. Dylan raised his voice to speak to the soldiers, "If any of you feel you need to come help Miss Jamie, think again. My men will shoot immediately if someone so much as shifts their foot too quickly." To Jamie he said, "This way, my pet."

Jamie stood her ground. "I am not going anywhere with you." Dylan smiled slowly. He reached into the waistband of his jeans and brought out a gun, which he aimed at her head.

"You will do as you are told or else I shoot you and my men shoot all of your friends back there." Dylan thought for a moment. "Actually, I would like the pleasure of taking care of Mr. Rider in the end though." Jamie shivered. "Come along, Jamie." Dylan waved the gun in the direction he wanted her to go and Jamie walked ahead slowly.

"You're outnumbered, Dylan, what do you really expect to achieve?" Jamie couldn't help asking, her curiosity was too strong.

"I still plan on achieving what I set out to achieve, whether you try to stop me or not." Dylan pushed her to keep her moving forward. He finally grabbed her shirt to stop her from moving past the detonator. From her new vantage point, Jamie could see the men she had come in with and the other fighters at the other door. She guessed that Alex and the other soldiers would also be able to see what happened where she was. Dylan still had his gun trained on her. She turned and faced him head on. They were each on one side of the detonator with Jamie looking back toward Alex. Jamie clenched her hands by her side to stop herself from shaking.

"I don't understand why you are so dead set on doing this," Jamie admitted. She was proud that her voice didn't shake too much.

"Because this is my job; this is what I do," was Dylan's manic reply. "I like to make people feel like they have no idea what will hit them next. Someone has to keep everyone else on their toes." Dylan leaned in close to her face, and Jamie forced herself not to back away. "Now you have a job to do. Put the rest of these wires together or I blow this whole place, with all of your new friends inside."

"I told you I don't want to be a part of any more of your mad ideas," said Jamie although she eyed the gun warily. Dylan's smile widened. He was entirely insane at this point. He didn't care about anything but causing as much damage to anyone as possible.

Alex was watching Jamie and Dylan as they had their conversation, but he was frustrated that he couldn't tell exactly what was going on. Jamie seemed to be holding out against whatever Dylan wanted, but Alex hated watching from the sidelines. Unfortunately, the guards in front of him and the soldiers were deciding to taunt them so that they would have a fight on their hands.

"You worried about Jamie?" asked one of the men in a light voice. "She has a knack for making Dylan mad; she will not be a bother much longer!" The man and some of his fellows laughed.

"I'm surprised he hasn't killed her already," commented another man, a little farther down the line. Alex hid his anger as best he could and strained to hear what was going on with Dylan and Jamie.

"You will do as I tell you, just like you always have," remarked Dylan as he took a piece of her hair and twirled it around his fingers. Then he smelled her hair. "You used to be such a good girl, why did you have to become so disobedient?"

"I didn't just become disobedient, I realized what you were really up to and decided that I don't want to be a terrorist."

"Come now Jamie, put the wires together because you know otherwise you and a lot of other people will not get out of this building alive." Jamie looked up at Dylan's face. She knew he wasn't joking, but she was also looking for the reason why he wouldn't just do it himself. Then she found it.

"You can't put the detonator together," she said somewhat quietly.

"What was that?" Dylan demanded.

Jamie actually smiled in his face. "You can't put the detonator together. You need someone like me to do it! Guess what? You either figure it out yourself or get arrested because I am not helping some dumb idiot." Jamie should have known she had gone way too far, but she was just finally realizing how incredibly stupid Dylan was about some things. As she finished her sentence, Dylan socked her in the gut causing her to double over in pain. Then she heard a gunshot and some yells. She frantically looked toward the soldiers and Alex to find that a man next to Alex had been shot in the shoulder.

"You're a bastard," she commented as she straightened up.

"Next time a shot goes through Mr. Rider's head," Dylan snapped. "And immediately after that I put another bullet in your head." Dylan grabbed her arm so that she now stood directly in front of the detonator. "Put it together," he growled, his gun trained on Alex. Alex had watched all of this, even though he had been distracted by the man next to him being shot. Luckily, the wound did not seem to be fatal. He turned his attention back to Jamie and Dylan to see that Dylan's gun was now trained on him. Dylan was using him almost like a hostage.

Jamie took hold of the wires. There were multiple connectors, but she recognized this pattern from one of her lessons from one of Dylan's friends. It would be complicated for someone who hadn't seen it before, but not for her. The only problem was that she didn't remember how to short the system out. Well, there was only one other way to accomplish her goal. Jamie looked up and over at Alex. She caught his eye and Alex saw some of the desperation and sadness in her eyes. She mouthed a word to him; "duck".

Jamie grabbed the wires in a stronger grip and ripped them out of the detonator causing sparks to fly. Jamie stumbled back a little with the force of ripping the wires, but she looked up to see the complete hatred in his eyes. Dylan turned his gun on her and pulled the trigger.