She was running.

Fast.

The cement thundered under her shoes as she tried to get away as quickly as possible. Sophie has had a lot of life-threatening moment, to the point where this just seemed repetitive, but she could tell this was going to be a harder escape. The gun strapped to her leg bounced as she vaulted the staircase in front of her. She zigzagged through the different hallways until she found the door she was looking for.

Quickly rushing in, she put her back against the wall next to the door and waited as the footsteps ran past until they were far enough away it was safe for her to go back the way she came.

"You must be fun at parties," a voice from the other side whispered.

Startled, Sophie turned to the voice and pointed her gun to a blond young man sitting on a chair on the other part of the room. The building was supposed to be empty. "Who are y- scratch that. You need to be quiet."

"Hey, you're the one who came barging in with a gun," he pointed out. "Names Keefe by the way. Need any help?" He stood up and peeked out of the room to see who she was looking for.

"No, what I need is for you to get out of harms way so I can handle this without you getting hurt and causing me even more trouble." Sophie glanced over to him and saw he wasn't buying it. People were always skeptical of her talents.

Keefe smirked, "Please I'm the best shot there is on the western coast, you're going to need my help." He pulled out a gun of his own from his jacket. Sophie eyed him suspiciously, arrogant prick.

She creeped out of the room and turned the corner as a gunshot whizzed past her ear and ducked behind the nearest wall. She turned to find the man she had previously been chasing facing her with his gun out, already one shot taken. Quickly, she ducked behind the nearest wall and started figuring out her plan when she heard a door burst open. Keefe jumped out to shoot the man but ended up shooting the pole behind him. Sophie rolled her eyes, so much for the best shot on the western coast.

She waited for the man to turn back towards Keefe and shot him in the leg just before he let one graze Keefe's ribs. Keefe stood there for a moment, dazed, and looked at Sophie with confusion. She grabbed his arm and pulled him to run in the opposite direction as the man was clutching his bleeding leg.

"What?" Keefe started as he looked at the blood starting to seep through his shirt.

"Run," Sophie offered instead.

Keefe pressed his hand against the wound and they ran out of the complex and out to the parking lot where Sophie rushed them into a black sports car and pushed the gas as fast as the car allowed. The man had stopped following them as soon as they had gotten to the first flight of stair, his injured leg proving problematic.

"Woah there, where are we going? You can't run away, he's still out there!" Keefe looked behind them frantically, looking for the man to pop out from behind them and kill them.

"I got what I needed," Sophie responded as they merged onto the freeway and zipped past the slower cars going the speed limit. "No need to kill when there is no use."

"There was a use," Keefe looked back to her. "He was trying to kill you. How do you know he won't come after you."

"That would imply that he could find me again, trust me, he can't."

They rode in silence for a while until Sophie's curiosity got the better of her. "What were you doing there anyway?"

"I was investigating, just like you I suppose, but the real question is why you let me help you instead of shooting me as well," he gave her a look of disapproval.

She rolled her eyes. "Some investigator you are," she muttered. "Your badge is clearly outlined in your front left pocket, you're a police officer."

Keefe glanced down at his pocket and noticed the obvious bulge of his badge. His face turned a light shade of pink. It was this moment he remembered the bullet he had taken earlier and glanced at the side of his abdomen. The bullet had made a clean shot and only grazed his side, he was lucky. Still, he was going to need stitches. The pressure from his hand was the only thing keeping him from bleeding out.

"Don't worry," Sophie said as he looked at his wound. "I'm dropping you off at the hospital."

He glanced around and noticed the familiar freeway before him, what she was saying was true. "I need to bring you in for questioning. You just infringed on a police investigation."

He saw her roll her eyes again, "Hey! don't give me that eye roll!" She looked like she was about to laugh.

"I was trying to find a very crucial person for my investigation and you ruined it by shooting someone and running!"

Now she really was laughing.

"Alright, what! What is it! What am I missing!"

She turned towards him for a moment and put her eyes back on the road. "Three things. First, I work for the government. I'm a spy, and therefore your superior on this case."

He looked at her in surprise, why would a spy need to-

"Second, that wasn't the man you were looking for. He was a cover for the real guy, making sure your really bad impersonation of an investor wasn't a cop. The real guy wouldn't go in there without loads of backup, and you definitely wouldn't have gotten out alive."

"Wait-"

She cut him off again, "which brings me to my third point, by shooting that man and running I believe I saved your life."

Keefe thought back to her shot. She was right, if she hadn't shot him in the leg the bullet aiming for his heart wouldn't have grazed his rib.

She looked over at him. "Look, don't feel too bad about it. You're a cop. You did the best you could do. In fact, you got much farther than any other cop put on the case so far. That's why I was so surprised by your being there, you must be pretty good at investigating whatever you have been lead to believe this is."

He looked at her with partial disbelief and admiration.

"You think so?"

"I also think you're half crazy, you went in totally unprepared Mr. Best Shot in the West." Her eyes went dark.

"Oh! Is Ms. Professional Spy concerned about me," he smirked at the blush that rose from her cheeks.

"Of course not, but you should know better. You could have gotten yourself killed. You had no backup and no idea what you were really getting yourself into!"

Keefe smiled, "I guess I'll just have to call you up the next time I want to run into life-threatening danger so you can save me."

She huffed, "You won't be seeing me again. This was a one-time thing. LIke you said, I'm not supposed to infringe on police investigations."

There was silence for a while. The good mood from their earlier jokes had settled into reality.

"Is this the part where you erase my memory?" He tried.

A smile reappeared on her face, "No, I think I'll let you off this one time."

"Wait! You really can do that?" His face went pale.

"Assuming you don't tell anyone about this, then you're fine." She found herself questioning her own words. Why wasn't she following protocol! She shouldn't have told him as much as he already knows. It couldn't be-

She glanced over at his face. No. She couldn't be attracted to him, he was a cop! Spys couldn't date cops, it was against the rules. Even if the cop was fun to mess with, and tall, and...

"Hey, it's getting awfully quiet over there. Distracted by my dashing good looks?" He struck a pose only to retract in pain.

She smiled, "You should probably get yourself in there." She glanced outside the window behind him.

He turned to see they were parked in front of the local hospital. He opened the door and winced at the pain that shot through his side. Pausing to let it pass, he shuffled out of the expensive car and turned to thank her only to find she has already driven away.

She was gone. He would never see her again.

He walked toward the hospital entrance, disappointment outlined in his face. After a few very surprised nurses and a quick scare with one of the security guards, he checked himself in and waited to get stitches.

As he changed into the hospital gown, he removed his badge from pocket to place in the bag given to him for his clothes. He noticed a small slip of paper sticking out from the metal. He grabbed it and let it unfold to read the contents. All that was written was a few numbers and a date.

Coordinates.

He smirked, he was going to see her again.