Brant had known Porter was driving the SUV like a madman. The sniper, however, was a surprise, but the sun glinting off the scope was what gave it away at the last second.

"NASH!" he bellowed as he yanked Kate out of the way once again as another bullet whizzed at them. He was hurting from the shot to the left shoulder and the graze to his right side, but he had to keep fighting. Porter pulled the SUV around to shield them, and Brant opened the back door, shoving Kate inside. He hauled himself in next and barely got the door shut before Porter hauled ass out of there. Brant put his hand on Kate's head and shoved it down just as the rear window was shot out.

"You okay?!" Brant hollered at Nash.

"Yea!" Porter yelled back.

"Norman got away!"

"F***!" Porter banged the heel of his hand on the steering wheel. Then he was calling in the sniper, and Brant took his hand back and slid off the seat and onto the floor on his back. He groaned in pain.

"Brant," Kate said, finally seeing him properly. "You're bleeding!"

"No shit," he retorted.

"There's a sniper rifle missing from the armory, so that shooter is one of ours," Porter told Brant.

"Great," he muttered. "Just great."

Porter pulled off and parked once there were houses again, turning to look back at them. "Brant, I'm gonna go get 'em. You stay here. Call for an ambulance."

"No, mate," Brant said, struggling to get up. "Someone has to have your back."

"I've got it," Kate advised, putting a hand on his good shoulder to ease him back down. "You rest, Brant."

"Your leg," he pointed out. She shook her head.

"It's fine. I barely feel it from adrenaline right now."

Brant knew she was probably lying, but he could see she was broken from losing Delia and having Norman escape. He could see she needed this, so he let her have it.

"Alright," he conceded heavily. "Here, take my lucky gun." He handed her his spare pistol, and she took it.

"I wouldn't call it lucky, mate," Porter said with a slight chuckle. "You got shot twice today."

"So it's having a bit of an off day," Brant retorted. "It happens."

Porter gave him a look and then got out of the SUV. Kate rested a hand on Brant's cheek gently.

"You'll be okay?" she asked.

"Oh yea," he answered. "Minor stuff, really. Don't worry about it."

"I will, though," she insisted. He took in the concern in her eyes, and he reached to rest his hand over hers on his cheek, smoothing a thumb over her knuckles.

"I'm gonna be fine," he promised. "Now go before Porter gets his ass handed to him."

Kate nodded and pressed her lips together to keep her emotions at bay before moving to help him sit up. He could tell she wanted to fall apart but was making herself keep it together because they weren't out of danger yet.

"Hey," he said, catching her wrist before she left. "We'll get him, okay?"

"How?" she asked. "He'll disappear and it'll never be over."

"Just have faith," he answered. She stopped herself from rolling her eyes and cleared her throat. Brant squeezed her wrist lightly before letting her go. She hurried as best as she could to catch up to Porter then, and he was left alone to lick his wounds.

He searched his pockets and came up empty, which made him groan. He really wanted a damn cigarette.

...

Kate caught up with Porter as he was peering around a corner. She slowed and stopped, watching him survey the landscape. Her leg was aching a bit, but she hadn't been entirely lying to Brant. Her adrenaline was so amped right now that she felt amazing. He motioned for her to move a moment later, and they hurried side by side. The sound of footsteps on the roof tiles hit their ears, and Porter threw out an arm to stop her. They both moved back slightly but not quick enough. Bullets flew, and Kate ducked out of the way. Porter knelt down out of sight and waited. Kate mentally calculated the distance between here and the private air strip, and she realized this person was a very good shot to make it from this far.

When the shooter was reloading, Porter ran for the alleyway and climbed the fire escape. Kate went after him, and when she was on the roof, she tried not to feel nauseous from the height. Porter was running after their shooter, who was very agile and leaping and running like an athlete. Kate did her best to keep up. At one point, she slipped and fell, and she shrieked as she went flying down to the edge of the roof. She managed to get a hold of the edge before falling off entirely, and she worked to control her breathing as her feet dangled and tried to find something to help push herself back up. She grunted and groaned from the effort of hanging on, and she finally connected her foot to something. She pushed and hauled herself up at the same time, and she got back onto the roof. She carefully crawled back to the top and pushed herself up onto her feet again. Porter was farther in the distance, as was the shooter. She felt alarm at the fact if he needed her, she wouldn't be there. She ran again, praying she didn't fall a second time or else Porter would really be screwed.

...

Stokes opened his eyes groggily, and he saw her sitting there next to his bed. He smiled slowly.

"Hey," he said hoarsely.

"Hey yourself," she replied. She reached to hold his hand. Elizabeth Falls was a sweetheart, and he always regretted the day he'd been an arsehole to her, which had led to her almost getting killed by a psychotic cop killer, which led her to relapsing. Ever since, he'd been making it up to her as he stood by her side while she got clean and got her life back, and she let him call himself her boyfriend after a while.

"I'm alright," he said.

"I know, but you were there for me, so now I'm here for you."

"The girl...Hughes..." he started, and then his throat grew tight. Elizabeth moved to rest her head against his chest, and he began to cry a little from grief. Delia was such a sweet young woman. She did not deserve to die like that.

"It's alright, Craig," she told him. "Let it all out. I'm here."

He moved a hand to hold her head tighter against him, and he did just that.

...

Kate felt like she was too slow. She saw Porter catch the shooter and start fighting with them. She got there in time for the shooter to shove Porter off the roof.

"NASH!" she shouted, and the shooter turned to face her. She aimed her gun and fired, clipping the shooter in the side. A male voice cried out but, but the shooter kept moving. Kate went to find and help Porter when he suddenly jumped up from where he'd disappeared.

"Come on!" he yelled, running after the shooter, who Kate noticed was running a bit slower now, and she felt good for being the one to do that. Porter caught up to the man again and launched himself onto his back. They both fell and rolled, and Kate carefully went after them, feeling her heart lurch as they both fell into a dumpster with Porter on the bottom. She was almost down when the shooter jumped out of the bin with Porter right after him. They were squared off, the shooter aiming a pistol at Porter, and that's when Kate realized Porter had lost his gun along the way. She scrambled to pull hers out while holding herself on the ladder with her other hand. Before she could get it out, a gunshot went off.

...

He lowered the gun, feeling so much pain just from the effort of standing there. He felt relief, though, that they were both alright.

"Brant," Porter said, sounding relieved. "Thanks, mate."

"Someone had to do it," Brant replied, feeling his legs want to give out on him. He'd been unable to just sit this one out and had followed on foot on the ground, watching the chase above and waiting for the moment to help out. Seeing Kate and Porter almost fall on two occasions had given him a lurch of fear, but they were all right in the end. Kate dropped to the ground and hurried towards them.

"Brant," she said, putting a hand on his good shoulder. "What are you doing? You were supposed to call an ambulance!"

"You can call one now," he advised, falling against the wall and sliding down to sit on the ground now. She knelt down next to him, her hand still on his shoulder.

"Son of a bitch!" Porter exclaimed, and they both looked at him. Brant felt anger swell in his chest as he recognized Turner.

"Who is it?" Kate asked.

"The guy who helped you get into Norman's memory stick."

"So that's why Norman had us blown up," Kate said, getting it. Of course. Turner would have told him, and Norman would have wanted to get rid of them and the copy of the information. It all made sense.

Turner was groaning and moaning now, and Porter handcuffed him and cuffed his head with his fingers right after.

"Bastard," he muttered, hauling Turner to his feet.

"Who's your partner?" Brant asked, knowing there were two moles.

"Just me," Turner answered.

"How did you do two jobs at the same time then?"

"I'm a tech," Turner scoffed. "There's nothing I can't do."

Brant met Porter's eyes, and he had a feeling that his friend was thinking the same thing. Turner could pull off two things at once if he really wanted to.

"I guess we'll find out," Porter reasoned, taking Turner away with him. "I'll call you a ride, Brant." Brant just grunted and closed his eyes, breathing slowly. Kate stayed kneeling in front of him.

"What now?" she asked, and he opened his eyes again to look into her blue ones. "Norman got away, Brant. He's still out there."

"Sometimes we can't get 'em all."

"That's not acceptable," Kate said. "He threatened my family, Brant. He can't be left out there."

"Call your superiors and get them into safety."

"Fine," she said, taking his phone now.

"Oye, that long distance charge is gonna kill me," he groaned as she dialed. She ignored him and pressed the phone to her ear.

...

"Yea?" a voice answered, sounding unsure.

"Evan, it's me," Kate said.

"Kate?"

"Yes. Look, I need to know right now who you told our sex life to."

"Whoa!" Brant exclaimed.

"What?!" Evan yelped at the same time. "Kate, what are you talking about? I never told anyone about that!"

"Think, Evan," Kate said fiercely. "I have a very evil man telling me his contact knows intimate details about me, and this contact is going to help this man hurt my family. I need to know who it is, and I don't have time for bullshit!"

"Alright, alright," Evan said, sounding jittery. "It was Colin Bush."

"Colin?"

"Yes."

"Where is he now?"

"Um, he's at home I think. Why? You seriously think he's dirty?! Colin's my best friend!"

"Watch your back," Kate said, not responding to the rest of it. She hung up and dialed her boss next. He answered a bit more nicely than Evan had, but then he grew a bit agitated after hearing her voice and starting in on lecturing her for going AWOL until she interrupted. Once Kate explained what was going on, her boss agreed to jump right into action. She knew the end of that lecture was coming on her approach to getting over here, but she felt that as long as she kept up the story of it being unintentional, they'd let it go. Plus, Delia was dead, so who wanted to berate someone who was grieving hardcore right now? She tossed Brant his phone back. He caught it and tucked it back into his pocket.

"Nice guy, your ex," he commented.

"World's biggest idiot," she corrected. "Can you stand?" Sirens could be heard in the background now, getting closer.

"Sure," Brant answered. She held out a hand, and he took it. He labored to get up, and she put his arm around her shoulders to keep him from going back down. They walked towards the sirens, and the ambulance eventually came into view. It stopped at the sight of both of them.

"Mind if I tag along?" Kate asked the medic who was examining Brant a moment later. "I got stabbed in the leg."

It was full out screaming at her now that the adrenaline had worn off. She could barely walk from the pain. She had no idea how she'd managed running along a rooftop but gathered that might have been why she fell instead of slipping. It felt like a blur to her now if she was honest.

"Come along," the medic said, and she got into the back with Brant, who had protested at the stretcher but then gave in because he had no energy to fight them off. Kate rested her head in her hands as they drove to the hospital, and she wondered how she was ever going to be okay after all of this.

Two Days Later

How could you let this happen?! I trusted you!

Leon's screams were stuck in Kate's head as she stood on the balcony at Brant's place, his real place. She was smoking and trying to tell herself that she had done everything she could to bring Delia home, that what happened had been out of her hands, but it wasn't working. All the shoulds kept popping up.

Should have sent her home right away. Should have stayed with her. Should have upped her security. Should have spent more time with her back home. Should have taught her better about the wrong crowds. Should have noticed she was slipping into one. Should have found her before she was shipped over here. Should have done things differently in handling finding her.

"Kate?"

She jerked out of her thoughts and turned to see Brant standing in the doorway looking at her. "Yea?"

"Your cab is here."

She nodded in acknowledgement and took one last drag before putting out her cigarette. She felt numb as she went inside and put her shoes on. She really didn't have anything of hers here, so there was nothing to take back with her. Her boss had sent an agent to come on a redeye with her passport to bring her home, which was nice, and the agent was waiting at the airport for her. She pulled her hood up and went down the stairs with Brant following behind her. His left arm was in a sling, and he was walking carefully, but he was okay. She felt some relief at that.

It started to rain lightly as she stepped outside. Her cab was there at the curb, waiting. She turned to face Brant, who looked like he was feeling mixed emotions right now.

"Thank you for everything," she said now.

"I'm sorry it didn't end the way we wanted," he replied.

"Sometimes it doesn't," she stated, echoing his previous words. He pressed his lips together in response, holding her gaze. Kate felt nothing in this moment, and she felt a bit bad about that because they had been building to something, but now, now she just wanted to go home and forget about all of this. Brant seemed to sense this, which was why he had kept his distance the last two days.

"Take care of yourself, Kate," he said now.

"You too, Brant," she replied. She held out a hand, knowing that if she hugged him, the dam would break and she would feel confused on top of everything else. He shook it lightly, his grip warm and gentle. She swallowed, forcing a smile as she let go of his hand.

"One for the road?" she asked, and he chuckled.

"Sure." He pulled out a cigarette for her, and she took it. Then she backed away and went to get into the cab. Brant opened the door for her one last time, and she slid into the backseat. He shut the door, and she looked out the window at him as he stood there with his free hand in his hoodie pocket and a small, sad smile on his face.

Kate lifted a hand in a small wave as the cab began to move, and he waved back. Then he was out of sight, and Kate tucked away his cigarette, knowing she was never going to smoke it.

...

Brant tuned out the laughter and chatter of people around him as he sat at the bar and sipped his drink. He was feeling extra cranky, and he knew why.

Kate was gone.

"Did you tell her?" Porter asked, coming to sit next to him now. Brant gave him a sideways glance before shaking his head.

"Nah."

"Why not?"

"She's got enough shit on her plate without worrying about me."

"You really liked her, though," Porter pointed out.

"Well, sometimes things don't work out the way we hope," Brant stated, setting his glass down a bit harder than usual. He felt really bad for Kate losing her niece and having her family in danger. He wished there was more he could do to help her, but it was out of his hands now.

"Or maybe we just have to fight a bit more for the things we want the most," Porter countered. Brant didn't even look at him. He didn't have to. He knew what expression Porter was wearing. He knew that if he really wanted a relationship with Kate, he could fight for it, but now was not the time. He was right in that she had a lot going on right now, and who was he to think he'd be a priority for her? In his mind, it was better to let it go and think on it as a nice dream that could have happened but didn't. He'd get over it and move on eventually.

But her smile, laugh, and those blue eyes...they would forever be in his memory.