Hello everyone. I'm back after a month. It was a long time with a lot of stressful things I had to deal with at my job. I hope it'll be much calmer now and I will finally be able to enjoy my summer vacation. Anyway, I want you to know that this whole time I didn't stop writing - I have this chapter and started the next one. We're getting slowly to the end of this story although the number of the remaining chapters is unknown even to me:)

Chapter 35

Faster. He needed to go faster. His partner was somewhere out there and she really needed him. That was the only thought on his mind and it kept him going. He ran through that door, trying not to get hit by any bullet. Once outside, Magnum stopped for a moment, wondering where he should start looking. It was evident that the area was quite enormous and he was afraid that his search would be like trying to find a needle in a haystack.

"Come on, Higgy. Where are you?" Thomas whispered, desperately scanning the area.

Just as he thought that he would have to run around blindly, his eye caught a few drops of fresh blood on the patio and another ones a few steps away on the stairs leading to the garden. Knowing Higgins, she must have fought Burns. He wondered whose blood that was. It wasn't much but it proved that someone was hurt. His partner was good at fighting, he didn't know about Burns' skills though. He just hoped it wasn't Juliet who got injured.

Thomas ran through the garden, passing a meticulously trimmed hedge, delightful flower beds and perfect lawn, however he didn't admire any of that. He didn't even notice all this wonderful greenery as only one thought remained with him – no matter what, he couldn't let Burns leave the island and take Higgins with him.

Magnum followed the bloody tracks that appeared here and there. Soon, the greenery became denser and the garden turned into a tropical forest. He was marching quickly a very narrow path which seemed to disappear among all those trees and bushes. For a moment there, Magnum was afraid that he lost the track and he went the wrong way or that at the end of this path he would find an empty spot with neither Burns nor Juliet. That kind of dark thoughts swirled in his mind, surely not doing any good in this situation. He knew that he should ignore them and rather focus on his mission to find his partner.

Walking along the path, step by step, he finally noticed that there was a clearance ahead of him. He slowly came closer and spotted a tree which luckily had a trunk wide enough for him to hide behind it. It turned out that in the middle of the clearing there was the chopper Katsumoto talked about and right there Magnum saw Burns. Apparently, the machine had some problems, otherwise he would have already started the engine and flown away. He was frantically fumbling with something with one hand, the other one was holding Juliet whose hands were bound.

Normally, if she were in such situation, she would easily tackle the man and free herself. And since she hadn't done that, it must have meant that Burns did something to her. Magnum hoped that she wasn't hurt too much. However, there was a silver lining in this situation – the man was focusing his attention on the chopper's repair and not on what was happening around him. Still behind the tree, Thomas stretched his arm, trying to aim his gun at Burns. Unfortunately, the man was positioned in such a way that it would be extremely difficult for Magnum to take the shot. And besides, Higgins was standing very close to him which added too much risk to that.

Thomas knew he needed to move closer. He looked around and on his right he caught sight of a wide tree with quite dense bushes around it. That would be a perfect place to hide and he could have a better angle to shoot from there. He just had to get there somehow. He ducked and slowly started crawling. He carefully placed his feet not to make any unnecessary noise. Just as he almost reached his destination, he raised his head to check on Burns and at that moment he stepped on a dry branch and it broke with a crack.

Magnum froze. In his ears the sound was extremely loud and it carried quickly through the forest. He hoped that there was a slight chance that Burns was so preoccupied with the chopper that he didn't hear the noise. Unfortunately, that wasn't the case here. The man stopped his activity and raised his head sharply, looking in the direction the sound came from and trying to see any suspicious movement there.

Was it Magnum? Was it possible that he freed himself and came looking for her? So many thoughts were racing through Juliet's mind at this moment. Was he hurt? Did he have any weapon that would even the odds in the fight with Burns? The woman was aware that Thomas was badly hurt and that she wouldn't be of much help to her partner due to her injuries she got while fighting Peter when he grabbed her and was trying to take her outside with him. She was doing her best then to prevent him from escaping but because of her weak physical state she was prone to fail.

Juliet strained her eyes, observing the trees but didn't see anything there. Was it him or was it some animal who happened to walk nearby. Higgins glanced at Peter. She hoped he would ignore the sound but evidently he acted in a different way.

"Come out, Mr. Magnum! Stop hiding out there." Burns shouted.

Nothing happened. It was eerily quiet. It seemed that even birds stopped singing. It was as if the whole world held its breath and waited to see what was just about to happen.

"Come on, don't be shy. I'm sure your partner here is dying to see you." The man continued and suddenly grabbed Juliet even tighter. He also forced her stand right in front of him, making her his shield in case he was attacked.

Magnum cursed under his breath. That was so stupid of him. How could he make that happen? The longer he hid in the trees the more chances he had of breaking Juliet away and now his plan went down the drain. He was angry with himself for such carelessness which could endanger his partner's life. Thomas took a deep breath.

He knew that the situation here required calmness and cool head. Blaming himself wouldn't help here for sure. His thoughts were interrupted by Burns who, to Thomas' utter terror, put the gun to Higgins' head and unlocked it.

"Let's not waste time. I'll count to three and then blow her head. You have to act quickly or your only worry will be the organization of your partner's funeral." Burns announced in a loud voice and started counting. "One…two…and thr…"

He was interrupted by Thomas.

"Wait! I'm coming out!"

The PI walked from behind the tree with the gun in his hands, holding Burns at gunpoint, ready to take the shot.

"Well, well, well… I really underestimated you, Mr. Magnum. I was sure my guys took care of you and I would never have to see you again. I'm so disappointed." Burns said.

"Fortunately for me, they failed their mission." Thomas replied.

"Then I'll deal with them later. And now… Come closer and drop your gun."

When he noticed that the PI didn't comply with that, he added.

"I'm asking nicely – do what I say or your partner will feel much worse than she's feeling right now." Burns said and squeezed Higgins' arm tightly which made her hiss in pain.

Thomas gritted his teeth in helplessness. He could clearly see the state she was in – she was barely standing on her own, as one of her jeans' leg was torn and a bloody flesh could be seen there. Her face wasn't much better – her left cheek was red and her lower lip swollen and cut with dried blood in the corner of her mouth.

Magnum felt anger rising in him at the state the woman he loved was in but he knew that he had no choice and had to do what he was told.

Juliet was watching the scene with trembling heart. At first, when it turned out to be Thomas, she was overjoyed that her partner managed to escape those men and was okay. Then she realized that coming here after her was extremely dangerous for Thomas and he was risking his life trying to save her.

So when she heard Burns' words about dropping the gun, she started shaking her head frantically.

"Magnum, don't." She said but was silenced by Peter.

"Shut up. You had your chance at saving him." The man hissed and pressed the gun harder to her temple, making her moan.

Her head was already killing her and the way he was acting made her headache even more painful. She closed her eyes for a few seconds and tried to make the spinning in her head stop.

Thomas could see that Higgins was feeling bad and her state was getting worse. He had no choice but to give in to Burns' demands.

"Please, don't do this." Juliet wasn't quite sure if she said it out loud or just in her mind.

"Drop the gun." Burns said again, stressing each word, his voice filled with pure anger.

Magnum finally did as he was told. As soon as the gun hit the ground, he spoke.

"You won't hurt her."

"Oh, why not? Would you mind clarifying that?" Burns asked with curiosity.

The PI smiled to himself. Good, he got his attention. Now, all he had to do was to continue that and make the man focus on everything but his partner.

"You won't hurt her because you said you cared for her."

Burns laughed at such explanation. And to think he considered Magnum intelligent. Hearing something like that, proved that the man was incredibly naïve and sentimental. Peter's confidence was visibly rising with each second.

Magnum kept glancing at Juliet but unfortunately she wasn't looking at him.

Come on, Higgy. It's our only chance. He thought.

"The problem is, you care for her too." Peter replied, having impression that he became master of the situation and his opponent here stood no chance against him. He even loosened his grip on Higgins a bit, feeling no threat from her anymore.

When she noticed that, an idea crossed her mind, it was like someone was trying to tell her something. She finally lifted her head and met her partner's worried eyes and then she knew. Suddenly, she realized what he was trying to do here, she just wasn't sure if her weak and injured body would let her do what she was going to do.

Meanwhile, Thomas could breathe with relief now that Juliet looked at him, although he wasn't sure if she got his intentions right. However, her eyes, full of pain and what's more important – full of strong determination, told him that she knew what to do. The PI went on.

"That's right. I really care for her, I'm not afraid to admit that I love her and I don't see it as a problem here."

Higgins smiled at her partner's words. Although he had already said them to her, every time she heard that, her heart skipped a beat and she felt pleasant warmth spreading through her body. At that moment she knew that she could do everything to help Magnum implement his plan.

"On the contrary," Burns said, "the problem is that Juliet will have to choose if she wants to go with me and live a dream life or stay here with you… dead." He added with malice.

The next events seemed to happen in slow motion. Peter fully loosened his grip on Juliet and raised his hand, pointing his gun at the unarmed PI.

"No!" Juliet shouted and acting on instinct, somehow she gathered all the strength she had left and kicked Burns hard in the knee, putting all her anger and desperation into this action.

The man cursed in excruciating pain. He surely didn't expect that after what she had been through, she would be able to cause him so much pain. His knee gave way and he stumbled forward. This was what Magnum was waiting for. He quickly lurched to get the gun from the ground but before he did that, he heard a loud gunshot and felt a hot sensation in his arm. He didn't even bother to check that as he knew that each passing second reduced the chances of saving Higgy. He didn't feel the pain and didn't see the blood stain on the sleeve of his shirt getting bigger, he only thought about their last chance – the gun lying a few steps away from him.

When he finally got to it, it took him only a second to pick it up, point at Burns and take a shot. Being a soldier, he had all those movements etched in his subconscious. Luckily, after hitting the man, Juliet jumped away from him and didn't get in the bullet's way.

Peter's face expressed how much a surprise it was for him. He dropped to his knees, clutching his hand to his chest. The bullet must have hit an artery cause his shirt was becoming bloodier with every second and soon he hit the ground lifeless.

Thomas was breathing hard, adrenaline still pumping through his body and then he noticed Higgy, sitting on the ground near the chopper. Her eyes were closed and she was taking deep breaths. He jumped to his feet and ran to her as fast as he could.

"Hey, Higgy. Are you all right?" He asked extremely worried about his partner.

He kneeled by her side, stroking gently her soft cheeks which seemed so cold and pale. When she didn't respond, he tried again.

"Higgy, look at me."

Still nothing.

"Open your eyes, please." He said and finally her eyelids fluttered and very slowly he saw her beautiful eyes watch him with confusion.

"Magnum?" Her voice was so weak and hoarse. She seemed not to know where she was and what happened to her. Only after she looked around and noticed her whereabouts, did she remember the recent events.

"Oh my god, Magnum, you're okay?" She asked, frantically trying to stand up but failing due to her weak state.

"Easy there. I don't think you're up to this right now." He told her.

Juliet shot him a look. Even though she wasn't feeling well, she still remained herself – a strong woman with whom Thomas preferred not to mess then.

"I am fine." Said the woman who had evidently been in quite a fight. "I just want to know if you're okay." She added with serious worry.

"Yes. See? I'm in one piece." He replied jokingly and helped her raise from the ground.

"Are you sure? You don't look like it." She stated, pointing at his bloody arm.

"That's nothing. I used to have much worse injuries, you know." He said dismissively and invited her into his arms.

Higgins gave him a knowing smile and without any further hesitation, she gladly accepted his loving gesture and stepped into his arms. She let out a deep breath and let herself enjoy this feeling of warmth and safety. Of course, she didn't really believe his partner when it came to his well-being but the most important thing was that he wasn't killed by Burns.

"Burns." She whispered.

"What about him?"

"Is he…?"

Magnum glanced at the lifeless body lying on the ground near them.

"Yeah. It's over." He told her quietly, gently massaging her back.

Finally. Juliet thought and at that moment she felt that everything she had experienced in the last days, this great stress was lifted off her shoulders, bringing her great relief. Her eyes welled up and she was at the verge of tears so she closed her eyelids, trying to stay strong and not to worry her partner but she failed and started crying. She was so angry at herself that she let emotions get the best of her but she really couldn't help it – it was getting worse with each passing second. Soon, huge spasms were shaking her body.

"Shh, it's okay." Magnum tried to calm her down. "He's gone, he won't hurt any of us anymore."

It took her a while to stop crying. Thomas's shirt was quite wet but he didn't mind at all. When he noticed her cries subsided, he looked at her and asked.

"Are you better now?"

She didn't say anything but nodded her head. Her eyes were red and puffy from crying and her nose a bit red but a weak smile appeared on her face. That was definitely a good sign.

"Good." He smiled back. "Now we can finally go home."

"Not so fast, lovebirds."

They suddenly heard a familiar voice and the sound of an unlocked gun.

I hope you enjoyed what I prepared for you today and you don't want to kill me after ending it with another cliffhanger. See you hopefully soon!