oOo

"Hope I'm not interrupting anything." Harry Ellis said with a cocky grin. When he noticed Charlie on the couch, he gave her a wink, as he strolled casually into the room like he owned it. "Hey, baby doll, you alright? Don't worry, I'm here for ya."

Oh no… Charlie groaned inwardly. Not you. She could already see a bit of fresh white powder on the rim of his nostril from where she sat. This did not bode well.

Hans ignored Ellis and addressed the henchmen behind him with an annoyed look. "What does he want?"

"It's not what I want," Ellis answered for them. "It's what I can give ya."

Everyone glanced at each other, confused. What on earth could this guy possibly give them? Charlie didn't know but knowing Ellis, this wouldn't end well. He was getting in way over his head.

While everyone was confused, Ellis strode forward to the desk. "Look, let's be straight, okay?" Charlie immediately recognized his 'business tone'. Holly was the closer, not him. He talked a big game but was usually so high he never noticed that nobody was really wowed by anything he had to say. "It's obvious you're not some dumb schmuck up here to snatch a few purses, am I right? Hans?" Just like now.

"You're very perceptive," Hans said in a deadpan, a touch of sarcasm laced his tone. Apparently it wasn't enough.

"I watch 60 Minutes," Ellis continued, missing the sarcasm, or choosing to ignore it. "I say to myself 'These guys are professional. They're motivated. They're happening. I.E. they want something.' Now personally, I couldn't care less about your politics. Maybe you're pissed off at the camel jockeys. Maybe it's the Hebe's, Northern Ireland- it's none of my business." Hans blinked a few times at him, his head tilted slightly as if he was simply astounded by the audacity of this man.

It really isn't, Harry. Charlie thought, a sense of dark trepidation was rising in her.

"I figure you're here to negotiate. Am I right?" He asked.

"You're amazing." Hans replied, laying the sarcasm on a bit thicker. "You figured this all out already?"

"Hey, business is business. You use a gun, I use a fountain pen- what's the difference?"

Behind Ellis, one of the armed men snickered somewhat quietly. It seemed Ellis was the only one in the room that didn't see himself as a joke.

"Let's put this in my terms," Ellis continued. This was getting painful to watch. "You're in hostile takeover, you grab us up for some green mail, but you're not expecting some poison pill to be running around the building, am I right? Hans… Bubbie, I'm your white knight!" He finished with a smug, self satisfied grin. Hans glanced over to a sulking Karl for a second and they shared an annoyed look. Unseen to Harry, Karl grabbed the hilt of his gun and raised an eyebrow at Hans. Hans replied with a nearly imperceptible shake of his head.

Charlie felt all the blood drain from her face as she realized where this was going. Her stomach knotted. Somehow, Ellis knew who Roy was- who he really was- and he was willing to sell him out. Harry Ellis was just one of those people who liked to flaunt what he knew, even if it got him into trouble. And now his ego was going to get him killed. And they'll probably do it right in front of me again. She thought as her stomach tightened as the brief memory of Mr. Takagi's final moments flashed behind her eyes.

"I must've missed 60 Minutes." Hans said, the perplexed look returning to his features. "What are you saying?"

Harry smirked. He leaned over to address Karl, giving him a playful swat on his arm. "You know the guy that's fucking things up upstairs?" Harry turned back to face Hans and helped himself to the chair in front of the desk. "I can give 'em to ya." He finished his pitch, and settled back back into the leather chair, cocky smile firmly in place.

"Ellis, you chicken shit!" Charlie snarled, startling everyone- she'd been so quiet up until now. "What's your problem?"

"Charlie, babe, c'mon." Ellis laughed casually as he calmly leaned toward her, his smarmy demeanor making her sick. "Calm down now, let the men talk." He spoke as if they were negotiating the sale of a car, not the lives of everyone in the building.

"You hardly qualify." She shot back.

"Now, Charlie," Hans said her name with a bit of a sneer. "He's only trying to help."

Her worried glance met his calm eyes. Calm, yet there was a playfulness dancing in them. This was exactly what he needed to get his plans back on track.

Oh, shit. She thought.

"Yeah, honey, I'm just trying to help." Ellis said, reaching over to place his hand on her thigh and gave it a squeeze in what he probably thought was a soothing touch. "This'll all be over soon, then how about we go back to my place, eh? Pop a bottle of wine, I got a roarin' fireplace and some aged brie with your name on it."

"I don't drink." She hissed.

She watched as Hans' eyes followed Ellis' hand, narrowing into a glare. His gaze flickered from Ellis' hand, to Ellis and then to her. "Karl, take her out for a moment would you? Go to the bathroom or something."

"I want to hear what this man has to say." Karl said firmly.

Hans rolled his eyes, but understood. "Franco?" He gestured to the man. Franco grabbed her by her arm, she winced but stood to follow.

"Hey, grab me a coke would ya?" Ellis called over his shoulder as they exited. As they walked out and before the door closed behind them she heard him say "Cute girl, right? She was like a child prodigy or something. Real whiz with computers. Takagi scooped her up right out of high school. Anyway, his name's John McClane. He's a cop from New York. Old buddy of mine from-"

McClane…? Charlie thought to herself. It sounded familiar. She was sure she'd heard of a cop from New York named John McClane. But he didn't work for Nakatomi.

Out in the atrium all the people were staring at her again. A few leaned over to whisper into the ear of a neighbor again, and she was dying to know what they were all saying about her. Most looked at her with pity. She caught Holly's worried gaze. Was she going to finally join them? Could she try to? No, Franco ushered her along. They were going to the bathrooms, she realized. It was a hall that ran parallel to the atrium, elevators on one side, bathrooms on the other, though farther down the hall. Once they were standing in front of the doors to the ladies room she realized they were out of sight from everyone else, and briefly wondered if Franco brought her down there to kill her.

"You'd better go." Franco said when she hesitated, tilting his head toward the bathrooms. "Might be your only chance tonight."

She nodded, and pushed the door open. As she entered it occurred to her that she was now alone. If ever there was an opportune moment to try and escape, it was right now.

However, that thought was pushed from her mind momentarily when she caught sight of someone else in the bathrooms. Another young woman, around her age. She looked like she'd fallen down a few flights of stairs. Only if the stairs had been made of chainsaws and blood. Her chestnut colored hair was falling wildly from its messy bun.

"Oh, my god." She breathed, staring at the person. She felt sick when she realized that it was her reflection she was seeing, in the mirrors. The left side of her face was splotched with bruises that spread out from her cheek which was practically blue and red. She wouldn't be surprised if they'd broken her face- lord knows it hurt bad enough. The split on her lip had stopped bleeding a few hours ago but the dark red line showed where it was likely to scar. Her arms had blue and purple marks in the exact shape and spacing of fingers from where everyone had been grabbing her so roughly. Her front was covered in dried blood too, and while most of it was her own, she was sure some of it wasn't.

After staring for a while, she grabbed a handful of paper towels, wet them in the sink and attempted to clean herself up a bit. Wiping the blood off of her neck and chest, she jumped when she heard the unmistakable sound of a gunshot. This time from the floor they were on. Down the hall she could hear her coworkers screaming and going crazy and she knew what had happened. Ellis was likely dead, and if she didn't find a way to escape, she'd wind up just like him.

Looking around, she wasn't surprised to not see any other doors leading out. But she did see a vent above the sinks. It was rather large for an air duct, maybe two and a half feet wide. If she could find a way into it…

Immediately she started searching for something she could use to unscrew the screws. She didn't have any coins on her but lacing her fingers through her hair she did find a bobby pin. Her hair had fallen to her shoulders when Hans had grabbed her scalp earlier. She hadn't been that worried about her hair at the time- and really, at all tonight- but now she was glad to find a few forgotten pins. After bending them to the shape she needed she got to work on the vent cover.

It wasn't easy at first, the pins almost bent out of shape as she worked with them, but once they were loosened enough she could twist the screws with her fingers. Once the cover was off, she carefully placed it on the counter, trying to be as quiet as possible. How long had she been in here? Franco surely would come looking if she took too long. The duct was dark and cramped, and a gentle, pleasant, cool breeze brushed past her. She stood on the counter and leaned into the hole. She was just small enough to crawl through it.

Just as she was wondering where it might wind up, Franco knocked loudly on the door, making her stomach flip. "Hurry up in there. Did you fall in?"

"No, I'm almost done." She called back, and climbed into the vent. There was no way to put the cover back on the vent from inside, so he'd know how she got away, but hopefully she'd have time to put distance between herself and the bathroom by then. "I hope this works." She mumbled as she crawled like a soldier in the mud.

It was cramped- she'd expected this- and hot- she hadn't expected that. Even with the air flowing through, her body heat had limited space to escape around her. Ahead, the vent came to a 'T' and she made her first directional decision. Left. It was kind of hard to maneuver in the tight space but she managed it and continued on, inching forward with her elbows and toes. Unfortunately, this tunnel ended with an almost ninety degree bend, going straight up.

"Fuck." She said quietly. She tried looking over her shoulder behind her, but couldn't really see that far back the way she came. Not wanting to backtrack so soon- she'd have to back into the shaft where she started unless she wanted to back up the rest of the way from there on out- she decided to climb it. She managed to inch herself up the shaft until she was standing, wiped her sweating palms on her dress, and then placed both hands on either side of the walls, pushing out at the same time and lifting herself up. She started climbing like that, pushing herself up with her hands, catching herself with her feet, and stopping occasionally to dry her hands on her clothes.

She wasn't sure how far up she was but when she looked down far below in the darkness, her stomach flip-flopped again. "Oooohh-kay, don't fall." She breathed nervously. Glancing back up she could faintly see another opening that was perpendicular to the shaft. Oh, thank god. She thought with relief as she inched closer to it, and crawled in, taking a moment to rest her sore muscles. It was so hot, if she didn't find a way out soon she was sure she'd pass out. She crawled along again, and found another vent cover close by. Through the strips of metal she could see a room, it was dark but there were large windows on one wall letting the lights from the city outside shine in.

She nearly jumped when she saw movement. There was someone out there, he was pacing back and forth with a gun slung over one shoulder and a duffel bag across his chest. When he crossed her line of sight she got a good view of him. She recognized him instantly despite the blood and grime covering him. She'd seen him plenty of times in the pictures on Holly's desk. I don't believe it!

"Hey." She called, just loud enough for him to hear in case they weren't alone. His reaction was to jump in fright and swing the gun up, looking around for the source of the sound. "Please don't shoot! I'm in here."

She watched his eyes look across the wall before landing on the vent, not really seeing her though. She tapped the cover lightly making a soft 'ping' and said, "You're Holly's husband, right? Can you help me out of here?"

oOo

"I beg your pardon?" Hans asked, an angry and incredulous look on his face. Franco was standing in front of Holly's desk looking sheepish.

"She escaped." Franco repeated. "Through a vent in the bathroom."

This was the last thing he expected and the last thing he needed. He grabbed the radio. "Theo, are we on schedule?"

"One more to go, then it's up to you." Theo responded. "And you better be right because the last one will take a miracle."

Hans smiled slightly and his voice took on a joyful quality. "It's Christmas, Theo. It's the time of miracles, so be of good cheer," But then his voice turned serious again and he added "and call me when you hit the last lock."

He dropped the radio from his face, turned to Karl, and said "Karl, hunt that little shit down and get me those detonators."

"Fritz is checking the explosives." Karl responded as he shouldered his rifle and got up.

"I'll check the explosives. You just get the detonators." Hans replied as he stood and made for the door.

"What about the girl?" Franco asked.

Hans hesitated in his stride for a moment. He glanced quickly between the two other men, and pursed his lips for a second as he considered something. "If you see her, shoot her. But don't waste time chasing her down. She isn't important." And she knew the consequences of misbehaving. He thought angrily.

As he boarded the elevator and pressed the button for the roof he couldn't stop the image of her from popping up in his mind. Her curious amygdaline eyes gazing up at him when they had first met in the lobby. If he had known then how much trouble she would be now, he might have killed her and stuffed her body away with the dead guard's. What a waste of a beautiful woman. He thought bitterly.