A/N: Holy smokes, this chapter is extra long. Also, don't hate me for what's about to happen. LOL. I don't own SVU or the characters. ENJOY.

March 20th – 3:32 p.m.

"Olivia!"

Liv turned and immediately ran towards a blood covered Carisi. His hair was mused and his hands were stained, but he looked relatively fine, albeit a bit shaken. She reached him and grabbed his arms, knowing he could see the tears tracks down her face and not caring at all. Her best wasn't enough when it came to holding her emotions in check and she blamed it on the shit that happened earlier.

"Where is he? Is he ok?"

"He's in surgery…he took three bullets, but he was talking to me on the way. He lost blood…a lot of it."

Liv nodded, and kept one of her hands on his arm, dragging him over to Amanda who sat in a leather seat with her head in her hands. Carisi leaned in, "She's not taking it well."

Oh, she knew the feeling. They all did because Mike's death was still fresh and no officer ever wanted to be stuck in a hospital waiting room, not knowing what was happening beyond those double doors. It was a feeling she never wanted to ever feel again, as long as she lived.

"Wait…why the hell is Lexi here? Why was she with him? Where is she now?"

Carisi gestured towards one of the ER rooms where the curtain was closed, "She came in to the city because she wanted to see Barba. Fin told her she couldn't and he was giving her a ride back to Grand Central when this car pulled up and shot at them. Fin swerved the car and hit the side of a building. No one else was hurt."

"What about the car?"

"Tracing it as best we can. The license plate was blank, though, so all we could do was put an APB out on the image we got from the traffic cam. Believe me, every cop in Manhattan is searching high and low right now."

"I know," she sighed and slid into the seat next to Amanda, patting the woman's back. The blonde sat back and looked at her with red-rimmed eyes and sniffled, trying to keep her composure. Liv felt herself getting teary eyed, unsure of which emotion to land on. Anger, fear, sadness…it was all bundled up and her mind kept jumping back and forth.

"Sorry, Liv," Amanda said softly, "I don't know why I'm crying."

"I'm this close to breaking with you," Liv replied, earning a half-hearted chuckle. Amanda nodded towards one of the closed off ER rooms, the curtain closed but a pair of white-shoe feet stood next to a gurney.

"Lexi…she's in there getting checked out. She's banged up. Bloody. But, I think she's ok."

"Lexi…," Liv trailed, eyebrows knitting together, "Why is she back in the city? Has anyone talked to her yet?"

"Haven't had the chance to. After she's done being checked out, we can go in."

Liv nodded and continued to rub Amanda's back while she maneuvered her phone out of her pocket. There were police milling everywhere, first responders to the crash scene as well as officers who knew Fin and had worked with him in the past. It was a scene that was way too fresh and Liv stepped out and away from the crowd, turning down an empty corridor.

She decided to text instead of call, just to check up on Rafael. She'd been worried about leaving him, despite the hefty security detail on him and Noah. He was reverting back to old habits he'd just grown out of due to his PTSD and she wasn't liking it. Plus, she couldn't help but feel like someone was watching her.

That was going to follow her for a while. Someone knew where she lived and someone had pictures of her and Rafael. Perhaps, what scared her the most, was the fact that whoever did it, wasn't going to let up. Whoever wanted to hurt Rafael was someone who had a past with him. What did a few street thugs want with him so bad that they were willing to lie in the shadows for over three months just to hurt him again?

The answer was likely nothing.

Fin's in surgery, I'll text you when I know more. I love you.

Liv leaned back against the chair, slipping into her own thoughts easily while she stared off into space. Carisi took up a constant path of pacing, arms on his hips and his eyes moving wildly back and forth. Eventually, the motion did nothing but cause her more stress and she asked him, as politely as she could, if he could grab them some coffee.

Just as he turned down the hall to the elevators, an ER nurse approached, holding a file and gingerly tapping Amanda on the shoulder.

"You're hear for Miss Havisham?"

Liv shot up, and she wasted no time in introductions since her badge was hanging around her neck proudly, "I need to speak with her."

"Of course, she will have to be moved to a recovery room for her overnight stay. Also, we've been trying to get a hold of her grandmother but="

"We'll take care of it, thanks," Liv pushed past her, feet carrying her as fast as they could across the waiting room floor without running. She pulled back the same curtain Carisi pointed to earlier, revealing a very familiar, tear streaked and blood spattered face.

"Lexi."

She looked up and swallowed nervously when she saw Olivia Benson walk behind the curtain that had been shielding her from the rest of the ER. She probably looked like hell and there was still a fair amount of dried blood stained on her face, she would have to deal. She was just glad they weren't able to get a hold of her grandmother just yet, because she didn't even want to talk to her.

"I'm sorry," Lexi said, her voice sounding small. She gripped the blankets nervously. Liv noticed this and patted her hand, wanting her to know she wasn't in trouble.

"You're not in trouble, honey…," Liv trailed, sitting on the edge of the bed. Lexi visibly relaxed against the pillows but kept her eyes glued to the Lieutenant. Liv took in the extent of her injuries, happy to see that they were minimal.

"I'm glad you're ok. But, I have to know…why are you in the city? Why were you with Fin?"

Lexi looked away, staring at the pattern of the sheet with feigned interest. Flashes of what happened just a few hours before blinded her and the tears returned to her mind. She pressed the heels of her hands into them and rubbed, trying not to break out into sobs.

"I…I don't know where to start…"

"Just, start from the beginning."

Liv squeezed her shoulder and Lexi sighed, taking comfort in the gesture. For some reason, this woman made her feel more comfortable than she had felt in months, despite the situation that brought her to a hospital emergency room. She steeled herself and brought her hands down to the grip the sheets around her waist.

"So, how's school going?"

"Well, I'm homeschooled now, which is nice because I can work ahead and get my stuff done early in the week."

The city passed by quietly outside of the car. Lexi tried not to show how disappointed she was, going back to her grandmother's and live off Fin's promise that he would try and set something up when this thing was over. Although, she highly doubted that wouldn't be for a long time. Or ever, if they had their way. Lexi hated to admit it, but if things had gotten bad again…they weren't ever going to get better. Not until someone was dead.

"…thinking about college?"

Lexi caught the tail end of what he said and she nodded, thinking of all the college brochures sitting on the desk in her room, "Harvard. Stanford. Maybe somewhere out in California."

"Ah, Cali. That sounds nice. Wanna get away from the city?"

She shrugged, "Kind of. But I love it here…so I'm undecided."

"What do you want to study?"

"Um…law, actually…"

"Hey, that's not a bad field," Fin smiled, and Lexi, never having told anyone her future aspirations before, smiled back, feeling positive for the first time about her future. Funny, how this random cop who was driving her back to the train station for her own safety and well-being, made her feel like her future could mean something.

"Hold up," Fin said softly, looking into the rear-view mirror. Lexi's smile faded a bit and she looked her side mirror, seeing a car moving swiftly through traffic, a plethora of protesting horns following it. Lexi looked back over at Fin for a second and when she looked back, the car was next to them and inching closer.

This black car with black windows side swiped them, jostling the car so violently, Fin cursed, but kept his hard grip on the wheel while reaching for the radio. Lexi barely registered the words he was saying as she kept her eyes glued to the darkened window. She grabbed onto the door, white-knuckle grip so painful her knuckles cracked.

"Hold on," Fin yelled, hitting the breaks and swerving into a turn lane. He raced through the yellow light, speaking swiftly and firmly into the radio for backup. Lexi swallowed and looked through the back window, seeing the car swerving through traffic.

"Fin!"

"Shit," he cursed, seeing what she was, "I'm on 3rd, ten minutes from Grand Central. Send backup, immediately!"

Lexi couldn't help the terrified scream that erupted from her lips when the car slammed into them again, breaking her window and the side mirror. She watched in what felt like slow motion as the dark tinted window was rolled down, revealing a masked face and a gun pointed straight at her face.

The only thing she could think of to do was duck out of the way as the quick popping of a few bullets sped through the car. She felt Fin jerk their car violently, spinning out through an intersection and the last thing she could remember seeing was the front of the cruiser headed straight towards a brick wall.

"It's my fault he got shot," Lexi said through tears. The immeasurable amount of guilt that coursed through her at just the memory of what happened was consuming. She didn't dare look up at Olivia, too afraid of what the woman might say or do, but she was surprised when she felt herself being pulled into a loose embrace.

"It's not your fault. None of this is your fault," Olivia said firmly in her ear and Lexi nodded, unsure of what else to do. She rested her head against the woman's shoulder and let her tears fall, taking comfort in the arms of a woman who had every reason to hate her.

They sat there like that for a good, long while, until Lexi pulled away and wiped her nose. Olivia smiled and reached for a tissue box next to the gurney. The curtain was pulled back softly, Amanda joining them behind the enclosure with her cell phone in her hand.

"I managed to get a hold of your grandmother," she said, "She's going to catch a flight in the morning."

Lexi nodded, sniffling her nose. That wasn't going to be a pretty conversation. The woman had welcomed her into her home with open arms, but Lexi felt as though she'd become a burden on her, especially now, with this.

"Officers," the ER nurse from earlier pulled back the curtain completely, revealing a few other nurses who moved around them and started to disconnect some of the machines from the wall, "I'm sorry to interrupt but we need to move her…"

"No problem. Lexi, we'll be up a little later, ok? You're safe now."

Lexi nodded and watched as they go until the curtain was shut again and she was handed a hospital gown. She sighed and sat up, already wanting to leave and run away and never come back.

"Lieu!"

Carisi, who was holding a tray of three coffee cups, waved them over to where they'd first been sitting, where a doctor was holding a chart and dressed in surgical wear. Liv and Amanda rushed over, judging it was the surgeon who was operating on Fin based on his haggard appearance. Most surgeons looked like that out of surgery.

"Sergeant Tutuola?"

"Is doing fine," he finished, hoping the alleviate some of the panic shining through on their face, "He's going to pull through. He's lost a good amount of blood and one of the bullets nearly nicked his jugular but, he'll make a full recovery."

There was a collective sigh of relief amongst the officers that had gathered in the waiting room, waiting for good worn on one of their own. Liv held back the onslaught of happy tears, but Amanda didn't, hands on her knees while she caught her breath.

"Thank you," Carisi looked up to the ceiling, "Is he recovering?"

"Headed there now. It'll probably be another 45 minutes before we'll allow visitors. Normally, it would be family only but, I know the drill by now."

"Thank you, doctor," Liv sighed, hand over her racing heart. She smiled at her detective's and thanked whoever was listening that one of her oldest friends was spared. She slid her phone back out of her pocket and quickly sent a text to Rafael, vision clouded with the tears she was so desperately trying to avoid.

She ushered her team back to the waiting chairs, taking the coffee from Carisi and sipping it slowly. Fin was fine, Rafael and Noah were safe and now, all she had to do was wait.

March 20th – 5:00 p.m.

Rafael wiped away some of the stray pizza sauce on Noah's face as he was transfixed on the colorful cartoons dancing away on the television screen. Rafael's plate of pizza sat untouched on the nightstand, next to his phone that hadn't chimed since Liv sent that message a little over an hour ago. He had been so damn relieved to hear news on Fin, he momentarily forgot that this had happened because of him. He tried to not think like that, but it was almost impossible given the fact that it sounded about as planned as it could get. People didn't randomly pick a car to shoot up.

The thought was depressing and he stood in the shower for longer than he should have, trying to rid his mind of those thoughts. So much shit had gotten better over the months and now, it was all crashing down around him. Just by being there, he put Noah and Liv's and everyone else's lives in danger.

Whoever wanted him dead was going through great lengths. Rafael briefly wondered what would happen if he intentionally baited himself and let them take him. His curiosity, that came after the self-loathing shower session, had him thinking of all the possibilities. Someone with a grudge? Someone he threw in jail for a lifetime?

He was an ADA who put violent criminals away. He'd received death threats since he started in that line of work, but the difference was that these ones, that started up a little over a year ago, were being taken seriously by the sender. It made him wonder why and the question was enough to drive him mad.

He sat back on the bed and sighed, still not feeling the want or need to eat. His mind was racing too fast to even think about that. Eventually, after the show Noah was watching ended, the little boy climbed up the bed and cuddled into his side, resting his head on his chest. Rafael wrapped him and kissed his head, feeling sleep pulling at this mind.

He was so exhausted and for no reason at all, but he quickly drifted off to the sounds of Noah's little voice singing along to the theme song of another cartoon show starting up on the television and his tiny hand gripping one of his fingers.

March 20th – 5:15 p.m.

Lucia was about to lay into whoever bumped into her but stopped when she saw Yelina Muñoz staring back at her, wide eyed with her two daughters in tow. The shopping cart was half full but the woman looked like she was the first lady with the way she was dressed. A pretty diamond sat on her finger, which caught Lucia's interest right away.

"Lucia! What a surprise," the younger woman smiled, faking it obviously. Lucia did the same, reaching out her hand to shake. Lucia smiled down at the two adorable girls, who waved politely but didn't say anything.

"How have you been, dear?"

"Oh, fine. Alex was just released, so that's been good to have him home."

"I bet it has," Lucia nodded, trying not to stare at the designer purse sitting in the front of the cart. Yelina cleared her throat, grabbing her attention.

"I heard about what happened to Rafael…I was so upset…is he ok? I tried to call him a couple of times but I never heard anything back."

Lucia thanked God for that. She knew her son had always had a soft spot for this woman, but she was glad he'd grown out of that after she broke his heart all those years ago. It pleased her that he hadn't bothered to return any of her messages since she didn't think much of the woman.

"He's been great. His girlfriend and her son have really helped him recover."

Yelina opened her mouth but didn't say anything. She flipped her hair over her shoulder, "I'm so happy to hear that."

"I bet," Lucia said quickly and grabbed onto her cart again, "It was nice seeing you, dear. Tell Alex I said hello."

Lucia didn't wait for her to say anything else, and took off down an aisle, intent on finishing her shopping. But, she couldn't resist and glanced back, seeing the woman with her cell phone raised to her ear.

Lucia didn't know why, but that feeling from earlier, when she stood and talked with Alex in her son's office, returned as she watched the woman shake her head and stomp her heel, all but yelling into the phone.

Something, deep down told her that there was something going on there. Her gut instincts were screaming that something was wrong, something was off. She pulled out her own cell phone, feeling the sudden urge to call her son and check up on him, but he didn't pick up. She called two more times before she gave up and finished her shopping, making plans to head back up town again as fast as she could.

March 20th – 5:30 p.m.

Rafael woke with Noah shaking him, his little face shoved into his. The television was still playing those god-awful cartoons and his phone lay dormant next to his untouched food. Rafael grabbed for it and noted the time, with a few missed calls from his mother.

"Someone here," he said, pointing towards the door where there was a loud knocking. Rafael knit his brows together and sighed, groaning as he sat up. It took him a second to stand up and walk to the door, but he didn't bother checking the peep hole before he opened the door, which was his first mistake.

"Room service," the Hispanic man pushed the cart inside, nearly running over Rafael in the process. He stepped back and watched, confused and watched as he parked the cart near the television. The man smiled at Noah, who politely said hello to him.

"I didn't order room service," he said, angry that his feet were almost run over by the cart. Rafael looked out into the hall, not seeing the hulking security guards there like they should have been. He felt his stomach drop at that.

"You didn't. Someone else did," the man's shark like grin rounded on him as he produced a pistol out from underneath one of the silver domed lids on the white cart. Rafael froze, hand gripping the door knob so tightly he thought he might break it.

"Close the door," the man said firmly and Rafael let the heavy door shut on its own. He moved into the room and his first instinct was to reach for the boy, who sat on the bed staring at the gun. Noah knew what it was, because Liv had been huge on educating him about the dangers of one, but he'd never seen anyone but her hold one.

"Please- "

"Shut up. Listen to what I'm about to say."

Rafael nodded and walked around to the bed, happy when the man didn't shout at him for moving so quickly. He knew what to do in these situations, but having Noah here was completely different. His only thoughts were on how he was going to protect him and shielding him away from the gun was the only thing he could think to do.

"Raf," Noah protested, but Rafael kept him firmly behind him, hands holding maybe a little too tightly to his arms.

"You are going to leave with me. You're not going to run or panic or make it seem like you need help. We're going to walk out of this hotel like to old friends, got it?"

Rafael hesitated when he nodded and that was enough for this man to move his finger to the trigger. Rafael whispered, "I got it."

The sounds of the children's cartoon playing on the television was suddenly gone as the man reached for the power button and nodded towards Noah behind him, "They said I could bring the kid along with me, but I'm not that fucked up. Lock him in the bathroom. Give him your phone or whatever to keep him quiet."

Rafael didn't move, his feet not moving until the gun was pressed against his temple, "I said NOW! Move it!"

He was roughly pushed forward and he quickly snatched Noah up, who whined a little. Rafael turned on the bathroom light and set Noah down in the tub, even though it was still a little wet from his shower earlier.

"Raf," Noah said again, looking at him with wide eyes filled with fear. Rafael swallowed and pulled out his cell phone, typing in the passcode. He was grateful he downloaded a few game apps on his phone, having learned to keep them around for Noah. He searched for a game app and his finger hovered over the icon…that was directly next to the camera app.

Rafael swallowed and tapped on it.

"Noah, listen to me," knelt next to the tub, "I have to go."

"Why?"

Rafael placed his hand on Noah's head, "Listen. I have to go with this man, but mommy is going to be back any minute. I don't want you to leave this room at all, ok? Just play games and watch videos until you hear mommy call your name. Ok? Can you do that for me?"

Noah looked away from him and to the man, who now stood, with the gun still in his hand, in the doorway. The man cleared his throat, shaking the gun and Rafael knew his time was up. He turned the phone towards Noah and reached around, finger tapping rapidly. The sound was off but Rafael prayed to God he got a good shot.

"Remember what I said?"

Noah nodded, "Stay here till Mommy comes."

"Good," Rafael whispered and leaned forward, kissing his forehead, "I love you, Noah. Don't forget that."

"I love you, too, Raf!"

Rafael smiled and stood, glancing one more time at the little boy was transfixed on his cell phone. He was shoved out of the room so hard he fell into the wall opposite of the doorway. He groaned in pain as the door slammed shut.

"Get shoes on. And hurry before I change my mind and he comes with us."

Rafael didn't need any more prompting and shoved his loafers on, grabbing his coat from where it hung over the chair. He stayed silent, staring at the closed door of the bathroom and hearing the faint sounds of a familiar game being played on his phone as they passed by.

He was quiet all the way down the hall, through the elevators and out into the lobby. The moment he was shoved into the back of a car, he didn't care that tears flowed from his eyes freely as they locked with a familiar face.

"Nice to see you, again Rafael," Victor grinned, holding up a needle and a rubber band.

March 20th – 6:00 p.m.

"I like this shit they got me on."

Fin looked up longingly at the I.V. with the pain meds in it, filtering it to him in small doses. He was loopy still, like everyone was out of surgery, but he was able to keep his eyes open. He'd been hilarious to listen to, but he wasn't able to provide a ton of detail on what had happened just yet.

Liv had gotten a hold of his family and they promised to wait until they arrived, which had been just five minutes ago. Fin, however, wanted to launch into a full-blown explanation as to why he was the better cop than all of them combined.

They all shared a good life, but excused themselves as more and more family began to filter into the room. They said their goodbyes and left, walking out into the parking lot together. Amanda and Carisi had rode together in a cruiser and promised to give her a lift back, letting the security team assigned to her to head home. There was no need for them when she was going back even more security at the hotel.

Speaking of, she pulled her phone out and quickly dialed Rafael's number, not having spoken to him in a good couple of hours now. She was eager to tell him the good news and make sure he was alright. She didn't expect to hear Noah's cheery voice come through the other line, but she smiled nonetheless.

"Hi baby," she said softly, "What are you doing, honey?"

"I play games on Raf's phone."

"Oh, I see. Can I speak to Raf, sweetie?"

"He not here mommy."

Liv stopped, confused. She took a deep breath, "What do you mean?"

"Raf not here mommy. He left with a man."

Liv could feel her stomach slowly drop, a wave of nausea overwhelming her. No….no….

"What man? Noah, where are you?"

"In the bathroom. Raf told me to wait for you. And the man yelled at him and he had a bad guy gun."

Liv clutched the phone tight to her ear, her heart picking up speed. She grabbed Amanda's shoulder in the front seat in a vice grip. The blonde turned and looked at her, concerned.

"Are you by yourself? There's no one there with you?"

"I alone, mommy."

Liv ripped the phone away from her ear, "Four Seasons, now. Right fucking now. Hurry!"

Carisi wasted no time in flipping on the lights and breezing through the slow traffic. Luckily, they were hitting the street at the time they were. Just a half hour earlier, and the would be stuck with after work traffic.

"Noah, stay where you are. Do not move at all. I'm almost there."

"Ok."

Liv stayed on the phone until she was running down the hall towards the hotel room, Carisi and Amanda hot on her heels. They questioned her but she gave them no explanation, too focused on trying to pry information out of her toddler, who was in a hotel bathroom by himself.

Liv fumbled with the key card, noting the obvious lack of security detail outside of the door, and finally tossed the door open, along with the bathroom door that sat just a foot away from the entrance. She slid to her knees and pulled Noah into her arms.

"Are you ok? Are you hurt?"

Noah, who didn't appreciate being yanked up like that, pulled away and shook his head, still holding Rafael's cell phone in his hand, a game that Noah liked to play on the screen. She nodded and plucked him up and out of the tub, panic setting once again, now that she knew Noah was safe.

"Rafael," she said to herself, pressing a hand to her forehead to try and prevent herself from losing her shit. She walked out of the bathroom and placed Noah on the bed where she had been earlier, wrapped around her boyfriend as he broke down. Carisi and Amanda looked around, making sure not to touch anything.

She noticed the white cart almost immediately, knowing for a fact it hadn't been there when she left. Without much care, she pulled up the white curtain on the cart, checking underneath before she threw off the silver domed lid, not even flinching when it banged against the wall.

Sitting in a neatly folded card with her name on it, she picked it up and flipped it open. The black writing was so familiar, it was like a punch in the face that made her stagger back towards the bed.

TOO SLOW, LIEUTENANT.

"Not again," she whispered to herself, her knees getting weak as she sat on the edge of the bed, "Not again. Please, not again."

The card fell from her fingers and onto the floor between her feet, staring back at her. The words seeped into her skin like a tattoo and she shook from the sheer strength to keep herself from screaming.

"Liv," Amanda called but she didn't hear them. She didn't hear anything but the blood rushing through her veins at supersonic speed.

March 20th – 8:05 p.m.

"Got enough to eat over the weekend?"

Zeke nodded, picking at his fingernails as the officers assigned to check up on him looked through the cabinets and pantry of the kitchen. It was standard procedure, to make sure he wasn't hiding anything, but lucky for him, they seemed to trust him enough to know he wouldn't do that.

He had been worried, when he jacked that laptop and the cell phone from the neighbor's house (after a few handy tricks manipulating the boundary of his ankle bracelet), that they would find it in his crafty hiding spot tucked between the cushions of the couch, but they hadn't looked that deep.

These searches had been going on for months, and all they seemed to do now was check the cabinets in the kitchen and the bathroom and only gave his little mattress on the floor of the living room a once over before they dropped off his supplies and left.

"Good. We got some more toiletries and, as requested, your movies."

Zeke had only made the joke in passing after having run through the entire collection of movies the house came preloaded with. They were old, shitty movies he wasn't interested in, but they helped pass the time when he wasn't busy working out or reading books. He took the bag held out to him and peaked inside, seeing something from, at least, a decade ago and he smiled gratefully.

All he got in return was barely a smile, but he would take it. They still weren't the nicest guys, Officer Bolton and Officer Frey, but they were alright. Zeke put the bag on the counter and watched as they finished up their searching before they were getting ready to leave.

"Uh…do you guys know what's going on in the city at all? Like, with that lawyer guy?"

The decision to ask them the question was made earlier on, after running through every single video file Diego could transfer to the laptop. It took him nearly five hours of watching, rewinding and slowing down to come to the decision that he had valuable information that he needed to get back to the NYPD, somehow, without getting himself in trouble.

He had faces, he had names and, most importantly, he had the voice of Money Bags, the infamous leader of the street gang. He sounded arrogant, with no accent to define his race. It didn't sound like any Hispanic person he knew, but then again, not every member in this gang was Hispanic, like most thought.

All this information was too valuable not to turn in, he just needed to figure out how to do so.

"Last we heard, he got another threat. He's under security again. That's all we can say."

Zeke shifted on his feet, already knowing that tidbit. He saw the video footage of the meeting between Zeke and some guy who called himself Athos. Zeke thought that was bizarre and after a quick search for the name on the stolen phone, he got some businesses, some random social media pages and some shit about the Three Musketeers.

"Oh. That's…," he trailed, not knowing what else to say.

"Yeah. We have to go. We'll be back Monday morning to- "

"Hey," Frey, who stood closest to the door, "Who's this?"

Bolton knit his brows together and came to a stop next to his partner. They both stood, looking out of the same, small decorative window next to the front door in the foyer. Zeke heard car doors slamming and that prompted him to race to the other side of the door, so he could look for himself.

He choked on the breath in his throat and stepped back, recognizing BX-9 members when he saw them. They were dressed in dark clothing, but their hats glowed in the dark as the moved closer. Zeke knew they were strapped, even if they couldn't see anything as the moved towards the house. He knew they were all about to be fucked.

"Shit," he whispered, backing up. The officers noticed his reaction immediately, and drew their guns.

"Open the door on my count- "

"No! Don't!"

He startled both agents, capturing their attention. He moved back towards the couch, stopping only when his body hit the back of the sofa. He reached down blindly through the folds of the couch, sliding the laptop and cell phone out without care. There were only seconds between that and the door being loitered with rounds upon rounds of bullets busting through the wood. Zeke dove out of the way, stopping Coco, who'd been asleep in her bed in the laundry room, in her tracks. She barked, tail between her legs and Zeke grabbed her up in his arms.

He could hear shouting as the loud popping of their machine guns died down and the wood splintered and cracked when it was kicked open. Zeke grabbed Coco up in his arms, and ran through the kitchen, to the door that lead to the empty garage. His feet were bare and they stung as they hit the cold concrete of the garage floor.

He didn't bother with the opener attached to the wall, knowing it would take too long for the door to drag up. Their pounding feet drawing closer was all he needed to sprint across the gas spotted floor and swing open the glass door, almost shattering it with hard he swung it open.

Zeke didn't stop running, almost slipping over the wet grass of the backyard. He easily crouched and ran across the length, bypassing the porch in favor of staying on the ground and completely out of sight. He ran the length, all the way to the other side, hanging low enough until he reached the other side of the house. Coco squirmed in his arms and he cursed as her nails dug into his arm. He set her down on the ground, along with his equipment and carefully peaked over the door of the fence and into the front yard.

He could see some of the neighbor's stepping out on to their front porches, phones in their hands. He wanted to scream at them and tell them to go back inside, but that was a fleeting thought as soon as he noticed the exhaust of the sports car blowing puffs of cloud out into the cold night air. Zeke's eyes lit up and he swallowed, arms already working before his brain could catch up.

The door to the fence was open, Coco and his equipment was in his arms and he all but sprinted across the yard and into the waiting car. He didn't bother glancing around, but he could hear gunshots and shouts, his name mixed in with them. He quickly threw the car in drive and spun the car around, driving straight through the opposite house's bushes.

The car coughed as he stepped on the gas pedal, but all he could hear through his heart racing and Coco's barking were the loud gun shots following him down the street until he disappeared from sight.

His bracelet was dinging, those officers were probably dead, but he could already hear police sirens in the distance. He needed to move fast and find the quickest way back into the city, because even though that's where he would more than likely be spotted, it was the safest place for him to be.