"You're here to stop me...and turn me in to the police," Marcia Stevens said to Shade as she pointed the gun at her. "That's fine. But if I'm going to jail, I'm not going until I do what I came here for.."

The woman looked at the locked door. The back room of a pharmacy closed for the night. , where her husband Brendan Stevens had barricaded himself. There were two pharmacy employees sitting on the floor in the corner where Marcia had instructed them to sit, or else she would shoot them.

"I'm going to kill my husband first," Marcia said. She was wearing a long floral dress under a long brown coat, her hair was curled neatly and she had perfect makeup. Red lipstick, winged black eyeliner, she was a gorgeous woman.

"Ms. Stevens," Shade said to her. "I can't let you do that."

"How do you know my name?" she asked Shade.

"I know a lot about you," Shade told her. "Like..." she looked over to the two employees. "I know that you don't mind being in the news for holding up this pharmacy at gunpoint...or for killing your husband...but most likely you wouldn't want to be in the news for holding children hostage."

"Children?" Marcia said and looked at the two people sitting. "How old are you?" she asked the boy.

"Seventeen," the boy said, not looking up.

"And you?" Marcia turned to the girl.

"Seventeen tomorrow," she replied.

Marcia looked back at Shade. She was right. "Go," she said to the employees. "Now."

The two stood carefully before making a move towards the front of the store. After she heard the front door shut, Shade spoke again.

"Thanks for letting them go," she told Marcia. "But I can't let you kill you husband. Just put the gun down."

"No," Marcia said. "I'm sorry, I really am. But I can't do that. He's locked himself in there and I know he's already called the police and they're on their way. I don't have much time-" Marcia said and kicked the door.

"This isn't the way...please-"

"Do you know what this son a bitch did?" she asked Shade.

"What?" she asked, even though she already knew the woman's thoughts. "Surely nothing bad enough for you to kill him-"

"He's been cheating on me," Marcia said. "For six years. With some slut. Some...25 year old whore. He gives her money. Over the years...over $250,000. He paid for her to get her boobs done. He told me he was going to a conference..but they went to Mexico. He's a fucking liar!"

"Marcia...you have to leave him...not kill him. This will ruin your life."

"My life is ruined! You don't understand! You've never been cheated on by someone you love!"

"I have," Shade told her. "I've been cheated on many times. I've never had anyone be faithful or dedicated to me."

"Really?" Marcia said and looked Shade up and down.

"Yes," she told Marcia.

"I mean it's just...you seem like you have it all together. Your life is perfect."

"Because I do this?" Shade said with a laugh. "I do this because I have to. It's what gives me purpose."

"I wish I was like you...but I can't. I need him to pay."

"You don't. It's not about him. It's about you. You'll be in prison and he will be with his sugar baby if he survives..which he might because I can hear the police and likely an ambulance...and he won't even have to pay you alimony. Because you'll be in prison for attempted murder."

Marcia burst into tears. "I'll be in prison anyway for this.." she said, waving the gun around. "I feel so stupid...What the hell am I doing.."

"Give me the gun," Shade said. "Trust me."

Marcia handed it over tearfully.

"Mr. Stevens! Open the door!" Shade shouted.

He opened the door, watching the security cameras in the back room the whole time. He knew the gun was out of his wife's hands. He stepped out slowly.

"Erase the footage from tonight, right now. Do it immediately. And you'll call those kids and explain to them that this was a misunderstanding. There was no gun here tonight. And when your wife files for divorce, you will give her everything she wants," Shade said. "Including the house in Aspen. Understand?"

"Yes.." he said carefully. "I understand."

"And if you don't I will know about it," she said to him. "Yes, this is a threat. Footage. Call the two kids. Multitask and do it now."

He turned back into the room behind him to erase the video footage and pulled out his cell phone.

"I have to go," Shade said. "The police will arrest you and ask you some questions. Don't tell them I was here. Don't tell them about the gun."

Marcia nodded, shamefully. "Do you think there's hope? Or are we destined to be single or cheated on forever?"

"Well...I don't know about me," Shade said before leaving through the back door. "But for you. There's definitely hope."

.

.

The blue potion still hadn't worn off when Adriana arrived at the warehouse. The Joker had mentioned another buy. He told her the date and time. This was before the night at the hotel. Had things changed? He never texted to confirm or to tell her to be there, but she didn't want to take any chances.

"Damn girl, late again," Brake said as he and Santos loaded crates into the back of a truck.

"I know..." Adriana said. "I got here as fast as I could."

The Joker came out of the warehouse and looked at them. Adriana could see his thoughts without trying. He was wondering why she was even there. He expected her disappear after what had happened the previous night. He said nothing to her, barely looked at her, and climbed into the driver's seat of the truck. Santos got into the passenger's side.

"I guess we ride in the back," Brake said and stepped up to go in before extending a hand down to Adriana to pull her up.

"Where will we sit?" she asked once she was inside and Brake reached out to shut the doors.

"We stand," he said. The crates were packed in wall to wall and there was a small amount of space for standing. "Don't worry," Brake said. "Won't let you fall."

Adriana smiled and wedged herself in between the small space in between a few of the crates. They faced each other, knee to knee, as the truck pulled off. There was barely any light in the back of the truck and Adriana could feel his breath on her face in the dark.

"So.."he said after a few minutes, holding onto the crates behind her for balance. "Not worried?"

"What about?" she asked.

"You know, you being late over and over," Brake looked at the back wall of the truck and then back at her. "The shootout.."

"Yeah.." she answered honestly. "What do you think he'll do?"

"Don't know," Brake answered her. "Never seen him let anyone get away with this much shit before."

"Right..." Adriana said. "If I'm lucky...he'll fire me."

"Fire?" Brake laughed. "He fires by firing a gun."

"I meant, he won't give me any more jobs. He doesn't even want me here for this one."

"What?" Brake frowned. "If he didn't want you here, you wouldn't be here."

"Yeah, I guess," she said.

"What's up, ma?" he asked.

"Nothing, what do you mean?" she asked him. "I'm fine."

"Somethin's up," he said. "Tell me."

"It's nothing," she said. "Just...can't wait for all this to be over."

"Mmm.." he hummed. "If you say so, sweetheart."

They were quiet as the vehicle drove along, until it hit a pothole before stopping. The impact made him fall against her and grab the crates again for support. He looked down at her and tucked a stray lock of hair behind her ear. They were standing closely and looking into each other's eyes.

"You're beautiful, ma," he said.

"Thanks," she whispered and saw his lips moving closer to kiss her.

Before their lips could touch, light shone in from the back door being flung open. It was the Joker.

The Joker looked at them and it was obvious that they were close to kissing. He looked at them for less than a millisecond before moving to fling open the second door and then disappeared.

There was no way for her to avoid going to his thoughts. What did he think? Nothing. He thought nothing of it, he was focusing on the task at hand.

"What are we doing here?" she asked Brake the question she already knew the answer to.

"Take the lids off the cases," he said and started pulling lids off. The crates appeared to be full of straw and old appliances.

"Okay," she said and did what he said.

Santos came to the back and sat down a box. It was full of gold bars. The Joker brought another one and walked away quickly. They were ridiculously heavy.

"Grab two and hide them under the straw and this junk, all the way at the bottom," Brake instructed her.

She was glad that she had been lifting heavier with training at the gym. They finished in a couple of minutes, before Brake kicked the empty boxes out onto the ground and shut the doors again.

They were back on the road again.

"How much further?" Adriana asked Brake.

"Fifteen minutes," he guessed.

"Okay," she said and closed her eyes, wondering if she would fall asleep standing up. It had been a long day.

"Tired?" he asked.

"Yeah," she answered.

They approached their destination. As they did, she continued to wonder what the Joker felt. What he thought. Again..nothing. But then she felt thoughts from a group of people. All thinking something similar. They had a similar goal and the same thing in mind which helped their thoughts reach her even though they were still quite a distance away. She grabbed Brake's arm.

"We have to stop," she told him.

"Stop?" he asked. "The truck?"

"Yes," she said, trying not to panic. The blue potion was finally wearing off but there was just enough still going in her system to give her an advantage. "Now!"

He reached to bang against the back wall of the truck, since his arms were long enough. He hit the wall several times.

"Why?" he asked as the truck slowed to a stop. "He's not about to be happy about you stopping the truck, we are late-"

"Que tienes?" Santos asked as he opened the back door.

"Tenemos que parar," she told him. We have to stop. "It's a set up," she continued in Spanish. "We can't go."

"Estas segura?" he asked her, looking confused about how she would know this. You sure?

"I'm positive," she went on in Spanish as the Joker came around.

"What is this?" the Joker asked.

"She says we're being set up," Santos told the Joker.

"What?" Brake asked, not understanding anything she or Santos had said in Spanish.

"There are feds everywhere," she said. "Snipers-"

"How do you know?" Brake asked before the Joker could.

"I..." she struggled for a lie. "I just...heard something..I mean..."

She had no good explanation.

"Close it," the Joker said to Santos and left. Santos shut the doors.

The truck pulled off again and Adriana felt herself shaking. The Joker was instructing Santos to change direction. He wanted to task a satellite to look over the area before they went. Not much would be visible at night. If his time was being wasted he would be furious.

They stopped at the back entrance of a restaurant, closed at this hour. The four of them went through the back into the kitchens, the Joker not looking in Adriana's direction or saying anything to her. Chris, another one of the Joker's men was there already.

"Hello red haired stunner," Chris stood up, from sitting at a large stainless steel table and said to her. When the Joker came in right behind her he got more serious.

"What do you have?" the Joker asked him.

"Oh..uh, the images are being pulled up now-" Chris said to the Joker. "Hacked into a Russian satellite's system."

The Joker went into an office with a wall full of computer screens before slamming the door behind him.

"Damn sweetie, I hope you're right," Brake said, sounding like he was praying in his mind. "Otherwise...you just cost our boss a lot."

"How can you know this, mami?" Santos asked.

"Know what?" Chris asked and as Brake and Santos explained.

"She said there's a setup," Brake said.

Ahe went for the Joker's thoughts behind the shut door as they talked.

Images were loading..pixelated images. Photos from ten minutes ago, taken from a satellite over the building where they were meant to trade to the gold bars for several weapons. A trade that the Joker was excited to make. The images were so dark he could barely see anything. He zoomed in, and in, frustration growing. But then he saw it. He could spot the reflection of the most faint amount of light off a sniper's rifle. There was a man in all black, laying flat on his stomach, on a grey roof right across from the building they were going to. The whole thing was a setup. There were likely more feds in the building, even though he couldn't spot their vehicles.

The Joker came out of the office, leaving the door slightly ajar. The black paint around his eyes had the attention of all in the room as they waiting for him to say something.

He walked over to Adriana with a slight frown, dramatically exaggerated by the creased white paint on his face.

"Who are you working for?" he asked plainly and with enough abrasiveness to make the question a threat.

"You," she stated the obvious.

"Last chance," he said firmly. "Who. Are you. Working. For."

"I'm not working for anyone else," she said.

The Joker had no patience for asking more questions about how she knew about the setup. No patience at all. He pulled out a knife with a smile. He was quiet.

He looked straight at her and Adriana could hear a scraping sound from the chair Chris was sitting on as he backed away from the situation. Brake and Santiago weren't breathing at all as they waited for what would happen next.

"You know...I've never liked liars much," he said and stepped forward. "My mother was a liar."

Adriana knew all of his memories. He didn't actually remember either of his parents.

"I work for no one-" she repeated and in the middle of speaking he grabbed her arm and pulled her away.

Brake, Chris and Santos watched as he pulled her into the office and slammed the door.

"Man..." Chris said with both hands on his head. "She was sexy as fuck. Fucking waste man."

"You think he's about to kill her here?" Santos asked.

"Obviously, man," Chris said. "Where else?"

"I mean, when he killed Dante, he killed him in the park," Santos said. "I agree...damn waste."

"We should help her," Brake said.

Chris and Santos looked at each other. They were to afraid to participate in the rescue mission. Afraid of the Joker..he was ruthless.

.

..

.

"You're intelligence," the Joker said. "Where is it?"

"What? Where is what?" she asked as he started patting her down. He then grabbed her face, still holding the knife. He turned her face left to right and she realized he was looking into her ears.

"Your communication device," he said.

"You think I'm wearing a wire?" she asked.

"Yes" he said, his voice uneven with burning frustration, while he held the knife against her neck. She was not afraid at all. "Tell me who you're working for. I'll need to know who to deliver the pictures of your cadaver to."

She rolled her eyes.

"I'm not afraid," she said. "I've never been afraid of you."

"You have ten seconds to tell me," he said to her.

"Or what?" she asked, somewhat boldly.

"You scream," he said, not moving the blade away from the side of her neck. He tilsted his head towards the door, indicating the rest of the team. "And they hear it. You have five seconds."

"One...two...three...four...I am not," she said. "Working for anyone."

She couldn't understand why she wasn't afraid as she saw his anger building. His hand was shaking with fury as he held the edge of the blade against her. One small move and she would bleed out.

She heard herself gasp as all of a sudden his hand moved quickly. She thought it was the end..but when she opened her shut eyes she saw the blade. He threw it so hard that it landed in the door like a dart in a board. She stared it as he turned away from her.

She watched his back for a few seconds and felt the impulse taking over her.

"I could be lying," she blurted out. "I could be working for the CIA. But you don't know that."

He turned quickly. She was smiling. She looked at the knife in the door.

"You want to be slashed?" he asked with a strange frown. "You want to die today?"

"That's not what you said," she said and stepped up to him and put a finger under his chin.

"Isn't it?" he said, willing himself not to react to her touch.

"Nope..." she said, obviously staring at his lips, which were smeared with red paint. "You said...I would scream...and they would hear it."

He grabbed her wrist and pulled her hand down away from his face. Then he turned to the door and placed his hand on the knob to leave.

"Wow," she said. "You said that's what would happen...I would scream if I didn't give you a name. I thought you said you were a man of your word. Will you make me scream?"

He turned back, her words taunting him. She walked over to him and touched his tie. He tilted his head down a bit , his eyes straight ahead. Her smile widened even more and he finally looked at her again.

"I don't think you can be sure I'm not wearing a wire.." she said quietly as he stood right in front of her, and she pulled gently on his tie. "Until you give me a full...extensive...intensive..thorough...deep...long...rigorous...cavity search-"

Her words were cut short by his kiss.

.

.

.

"We gotta do something man," Brake said to Chris who was listening intently to the sounds coming from the office. "This is wrong."

"Man...I'm not getting involved," Chris said.

"Three against one," Brake went on. "Come on..we can't let this happen. We can take him..us three. Santos-"

"Listen," Chris interrupted. "I'm not messing with him. He could kill us all."

"She needs our help-" Brake said.

And looked at Santos since Chris was of no assistance.

"No," Santos said, finally answering. "She doesn't."

"What?" Brake said. "You hearing what I am? Are you deaf?"

"Ohh I hear it," Chris jumped in and nodded with a smile. "But I'm not helping her. She got herself into this. She should have just gave the answers to the question he was asking. Simple."

"She doesn't need our help," Santos said again.

"How you-" Brake stared again.

"Let me give you a little lesson in Spanish," Santos said.

"The fuck?" Brake asked. "What does that have to do with-"

"No means no-" Santos said. "In Spanish."

"Exactly man, that's why we gotta do something-" Brake said.

"Si, means yes," Santos went on. "And Dios," Santos said and touched the cross on his gold chain before looking up at the ceiling and pointing upwards, "Means God."

"So the fuck what, man," Brake said. "What does that gotta do with-"

"If she really needed our help in there," Santos sighed. "Do you really think she would be saying yes and calling out to God for half an hour?"

"Oh shit..." Chris said.

"I heard her say no," Brake said. "Just then! You heard it-"

"No pares," Santos sighed. "Means don't stop."