Rookie Blue 1. Chapter 1

**Hello & welcome to my new AU. **

**I hope you will all enjoy reading this as much as I have enjoyed writing it. **

**Thanks to all the regulars & kelly2727 for their awesomeness in 2013, it sure was a fun year & I can only expect 2014 to be even better!**

**Welcome to the newbies! Hope you enjoy the ride. **

**Chapter 1- Hide & Seek. **

This line of work required...a special set of skills as well as a strong stomach and a good handle on your temper. Without either of those attributes, you were doomed to fail or turn soft and then there would simply be no point to any of this.

Today however, the latter of those attributes was failing him as he stared down at a man in front of him on his knees, a weak whimper audible as the man tried to breathe through his fear.

"Why are you doing this?" The woman at the back of the room asked in a voice that shook as badly as her tied up hands did as she cowered in the corner. If only she knew that she was a pawn in this game, maybe then she would have had a different reaction; one other than the scared one she was lost in.

The questions were always the same, **Why, How, Who sent you**. And then inevitably came the **Whatever they're paying you, I'll pay you more.** Okay, most of the time, but not all the time, because sometimes they had it wrong. Sometimes his target was an innocent and they were able to escape with their lives although most of the time they didn't live long after that anyway.

If they did survive, then they were considered one of the luck few.

"Ask Billy-Bob here that question" he droned but kept his eyes fixed on the balding head in front of him, his eyes and mouth the only visible skin shown through the ski-mask he was wearing as he instilled fear from behind a mask of darkness.

Bending down, he rested his elbows on his knees and used the edge of his guns barrel to lift Billy-Bob's chin up so that he would look him in the eye. "Or should we ask the real you, Marty?" He asked with a pointed stare.

His targets face clouded in unbridled fear as his mouth drew in a ragged whimper. The woman in the corner began crying again, her already smudged eyeliner making her tears turn black as they rolled down her cheeks.

"Just don't hurt me, I'll pay you" Marty stammered out in a voice so weak that for a split second he felt sorry for his target. But that second was gone as soon as it arrived. These guys were all the same, their sentences revolving mostly around themselves. He said **I.** He didn't say her, or us, or ask for her to be given her freedom. Selfish SOB. And the offer of money, well that just confirmed their suspicions, and this was going to end badly because of that fact.

"Pay me? How could you pay me Marty? Do you even know what I cost?".

A shake of the head answered his question. Still holding the gun under Marty's chin, he spoke again.

"Marty you sell tires at the corner store down the street. What makes you think that your life can be paid for by selling tires?". He used a sharp tone, one that would tell Marty that he wasn't playing games.

"I have money..." Marty trailed off when the woman started crying heavily again. She pulled it together and then the screaming started.

That was always the same in these cases too, and it drove him insane. They always screamed, and they always cried and it was always the same thing; **What have you done,** and **Why **and **How could you? **The name calling was also always the same terms; **You son of a bitch,** and **Bastard **rated up there at the top with high usage. Occasionally there was a You Shit-head and once a woman called her husband a Fu...er, but those were virtually the only exceptions.

Swooping his gun over Marty's shoulder and pointing it at the woman made her mouth shut up, her eyes widening in fear now that she was the centre of his attention. She didn't want to be in the limelight right now, nor did she want to be the centre of his attention so she just closed her mouth and started sniveling instead.

"You have money" he echoed turning back to Marty.

"Yeah, a hundred grand. It's yours now, just let me walk out of here". Marty used his last bargaining chip. The one that he was here to get confirmation on.

"And where did a guy like you, get money like that Marty? Did you sell your story or did you agree to back out of testifying?". His questions made Marty's face drain of color and his eyes narrow. He knew what this was about now, the final key had turned the lock that would unleash a flurry of secrets.

"Oh God, it's you".

He smiled but didn't remove the ski-mask even though Marty had nailed his identity spot on.

"So, which is it Marty?"

"I uh..." Marty's face clouded over in shame and he had his answer.

"You agreed to throw your testimony?".

Marty nodded and he sighed. Why was it always the same reaction with these guys?

"And you think Cyrus will keep his end of the deal once you have done that? You think you'll live long enough to spend that money?".

"I...".

Tilting the gun to the left, then the right got Marty to keep quiet.

"They told me you'd come. They warned me that nothing would stop you" Marty closed his eyes as though he wanted to welcome death right here, right now knowing that a bullet to the head would be quicker than what Cyrus would do to him.

Standing up, slowly he waved at the woman but she shook her head. She didn't want to follow or go anywhere with him. That meant that even though Marty had betrayed her, she was staying with him.

"Last chance" he said and tried to convince her to get out while she still had the chance, but she wouldn't bite so he left her sitting there cowering in the corner as she tried to hide her face behind her knees.

He shrugged, if she wanted to stay then that was her problem. He couldn't help someone that didn't want to be helped.

Taking a slow step back, he began retreating from the room.

The motel that Marty and the woman were holed up in had scarcely furnished rooms, this one holding a two seater couch, a double bed and a raggedy looking table with one of those huge old big box like TV sets on it.

He stopped and looked at them both, the smell of fear clouding the room so densely that it made the air thick and hardly breathable.

He took one last step back and then stopped to kick over the trashcan that he had poured benzene into earlier. The liquid seeped out, but most of it evaporated before it even soaked into the carpet. That's why he used it, it was close enough to the real thing so that his targets would forever live with the reminder of this freshly burned into their mind. Benzene was flammable, but it was also a liquid that combusted and burned up really rapidly, the fireball it caused would be just enough to scare his targets into submission or back onto a straight and narrow path.

With a fluid motion he pulled out a brand new box of matches and then turned away from them as he watched the flame flicker and run up the wood as he struck it.

The woman screamed and raised her hands up to protect her face, but Marty just sat there on his knees as he watched the match drop down onto the carpet and set the benzene alight. A soft whoosh traveled through the room as the flames jumped to life.

Without looking over his shoulder he walked out the motel room and closed the door behind himself.

He took solid steps down the stairs until he reached the bottom floor where his hand tugged his phone out of his pocket and he hit speed dial two.

"Go".

"Targets compromised and terminated" he said before hanging up on the call and climbing into his truck.

Several blocks away ambulances and fire trucks whirled past, and he knew exactly where they were going.

Only thing was, they wouldn't find much once they doused the flames...

...

"Please, please,please" Andy sighed and dropped her head onto the top of the steering wheel.

This had gone from a blue Monday to a day straight out of hell.

She'd been late for work- again, because she'd had to change her shirt after getting chocolate milk dribbled down it. Then she in turn dumped coffee all over her boss' desk and ended up having him chew her head off due to her incompetence. But if he hadn't grabbed her ass, she wouldn't have messed his coffee, so it really was his own fault.

Now she was late leaving work because her car wouldn't start and she had to absolutely be home on time. Which by the way; did not look like it was going to happen.

A light rap against her window gave her a fright and she jumped. She was always on edge and always vigilant, but somehow she hadn't even seen him approach her car.

"Hi Chris" Andy waved and rolled her window down. She felt her cheeks flare with a light blush because she knew that he had seen her jump.

"Hey, you okay?".

"You startled me" she giggled out in a bid to hide how much he really had scared her. These days she scared too easily...

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to. Car trouble?"

She nodded and tried not to show how annoyed she was with her piece of crap car.

"Pop the hood". Chris said and then walked around to the front of the car where she saw him wait for her to do just that.

Chris was really sweet, he was one of the few people she ever actually even spoke to at work. He was a few desks down the hallway, but he would find some way of coming passed her desk every few hours. He'd even bring her donuts back to work if he went out to lunch sometimes, he'd give her the three or four in the box. He'd always tell her to save some for later, but she always ended up taking them all home. She often wondered if he knew...

He'd started at the company a week after she had, and really; he was sort of the only friend she really had at this point in her life.

"Andy, the hood?" Chris knocked on the hood and she jumped again but focused on finding the lever to release it rather than letting him stand there waiting night.

"Sorry" she yelled for letting herself get swept away into her own thoughts.

After Chris tinkered around under the hood for a while, he yelled out "Start her up" and Andy turned the key, the ignition catching on the first turn and the engine rolling over and jumping to life. She let out a little squeal of delight and couldn't help but smile.

Chris closed the hood with a loud slam and then pressed against it to make sure it was latched in properly.

"Thank you! I owe you" Andy said when he appeared next to her window again.

"Don't worry about it". Chris lifted his hand and waved before turning and walking away.

Rolling up the window Andy took one last look at Chris before he disappeared from sight. He was such a nice guy. He'd asked her out a few times, but she'd always said no. She didn't want to complicate things, and besides she would only end up scaring his beautiful soul.

Shifting the car into gear, Andy pulled out of the parking lot and turned in the direction of home.

...

Opening the door a brown envelope on the floor caught his attention.

He stepped inside and closed the door before bending down to retrieve it with a growl.

Really, two assignments in two days? What were the chances of that?

He'd been in this game for years, done the same job for years, and he'd never had two assignments in two days.

He dropped the envelope onto the coffee table, then he strode to the bathroom and washed his hands and rinsed his face off. His clothes smelled like smoke, so he tugged his shirt off but kept the jeans on.

Next he found his way to the kitchen and opened the fridge to find nothing more than cold pizza and beer inside it, but it would do.

He knew that the beer would make his adrenaline linger a little longer but the cold pizza would make his stomach churn when the adrenaline wore off and he started crashing. Because he would crash- eventually.

Skipping the pizza he grabbed two beers and headed for the lounge where the envelope was waiting.

Sitting down he started his laptop up and then unscrewed the cap off the first beer and took a lengthy sip.

Once his passwords were entered he checked mails and then accessed his personal folder. Hitting delete he removed all the data he had on his last target since his job was done. It took another ten minutes to do a security wipe on the hard drive and remove all traces of the target from his life.

When the first beer was done, he set the empty bottle down next to the envelope and stared at it for a moment before picking it up and ripping open the seal. That was the thing about this, once you opened the envelope, you couldn't say no. It was like opening Pandora's Box, once you broke the seal you were in this so deep that the only way out was getting the job done.

He'd had the same handler for long enough to know that his rules about being in this game were kept.

He wasn't one that played by the rules, the only rules he had were rules that applied to other people, but never to himself.

The rules were simple; No woman. No children. That was it, that was all that governed him when it came to doing this.

Dumping the contents onto his laptop keyboard, he stilled for one moment before uttering one word "Fu..".

Staring up at him from an upside down position on his keyboard was a photograph capturing the face of a woman who had so much sadness in her eyes that he was automatically pissed off at whoever put it there.

******Thanks for reading, so that's chapter 1. **

**Hope you'll leave a thought or a bit of speculation?**

**Have an awesome day!**

**Jelly Bean Jenna©**


	2. A Bleeding Conscience

**Welcome back, thank you all for the amazing response & speculations! **

**Here's more so hope you enjoy!**

**Chapter 2- A Bleeding Conscience. **

A mass of papers lay strewn across the laptop keyboard in his lap, key information that he would need for whatever it was that he had to do to clean up this... Situation.

That's what he called them, Targets that caused Situations. Their faces had names, but they meant nothing to him. Their faces were only a guideline to finding them, as was their name because when this was over he would wipe them from his life and their names and faces from his memory and nightmares.

Few between them were innocent, few of them were kept safe - if they could prove their innocence. If not, then they were dealt with.

That's where he came in. He made key decisions and decided if they were permitted to stay or if they were to be terminated.

He let out a frustrated sigh and swiped a hand across his keyboard, the photo flying from its resting place only to slide down to the floor.

Shuffling the papers around, he gathered them up and dumped them on the couch next to himself before slamming his laptop closed and reaching for the second beer.

His handler had broken the rules, and entrapped him and that wasn't something that he was easily going to forget. Or forgive.

As if he was reading the thoughts about himself, his handler called and was met with coldness when the call was connected.

"Have you forgotten the rules?".

"No, but this time it's different" his handler sounded calm and collected. He didn't even sound phased or worried.

"It's still a woman".

"I know, but she's not the target".

"What?". Okay, so maybe that spelled out his confusion. He only ever received intel and data on his targets.

"She's only a pawn to find the target".

"What the hell does that mean?" He hated playing games and after ten years with the same handler, he was finding it surprising that his handler was going down this road.

"Look, just find her okay. Nothing else. She's in Toronto, ID and a plane ticket, credit card and drivers licence are in the envelope. When you find her, call me. No email, no doing anything, just call me". His handler hung up on him without another word.

This was all wrong.

Nothing about this was right and every fiber of his being was warning him that he should walk away.

Re-tracing his steps across the lounge his eyes fell on the photo that still lay on the carpet, only this time it was face up and right side around so he had a better view.

Bending down he reached out and slowly picked it up and brought it closer to his face in the dim light of his crappy motel room.

"What are you running from" he said to the matt finished photo that wouldn't answer him back.

...

Six hours sleep had made up his mind.

He had however decided to drive the seven hours rather than fly to Toronto because it was just less risky. Less chance of getting caught on CCTV cameras and less chance of being asked why he was carrying weapons, including a gun without a serial number. That would result in a lot of explaining, and he hated talking. It also meant that his truck would have to stay up here until he could come back for it.

Okay, so maybe it had been more like two hours sleep, an hours consideration, two more hours sleep and then an hour to pack before he left, but still whoever she was, he already felt like he was ready to strangle her for complicating his life and pulling him into this.

Arriving in Toronto he found a motel that had low security and was out of the way. It also had a clear view of the parking lot from the window and a ledge running around the back of the building with easy access from the bathroom window.

He shook his head after paying for his accommodation and then lugged his bags upstairs. Who looks for escape routes and clear views when booking into a motel?

Right, he did.

He who wanted to stay anonymous and alive.

Anonymous and undetected too.

Checking the motel room he was satisfied so he slid his bags in under the bed and the unpacked his toiletries in the bathroom.

His laptop was set up on the un sturdy table in the middle of the lounge while coffee brewed in the makeshift kitchenette that the room had.

He had not scrutinized the intel in the envelope at the motel he left behind, because he figured that he'd back out; so now it was time to do that and find out exactly what he'd gotten himself into.

Emptying it's contents onto the table he let out a sigh before shoving the photo back into the envelope to keep her face from haunting him.

He went through the paperwork tediously but found nothing more that basic personal information that was of little to no relevance.

Name; Andrea McNally-Collins.

Age; 25. Turning 26 in a few weeks.

Divorced.

Parents; Tommy McNally- Deceased.

Claire McNally, Nee Jones, -Deceased.

No siblings, no employment records, no additional education in college or university after graduating third in her class- which was kind of out of place if she was that smart.

No property or vehicle ownership, no benefits, no anything other that what was considered flawed information.

Last known address wasn't even listed. No cell phone contract, no apartment lease, not even medical records for anything as an adult over the age of eighteen. Well on the plus side, she had a drivers licence, and no criminal record. There was no active ATM card or credit card or any kind of paper or money trail in her name. Everything stopped eighteen months ago, or at least the little bit that there had been stopped then.

She was like a ghost.

And he had to find her on that little teeny-weeny bit of information that had been provided with.

Why couldn't this ever be easy?

Huffing out a breath, he dropped the paperwork into the sink and lit a match before setting it on fire and then rinsing the ashes down the drain once he had watched them burn into nothing. The only thing he kept was the photo that he left nestled in the envelope.

...

"Hey Andy, coming to the Cherry with us?" Traci asked as she passed Andy's desk on her way out. Besides Chris, Traci was the only other person she liked working with. She was sweet and kind and always thoughtful. She was just one of those people that always smiled and sounded so happy and bubbly.

She started here a few weeks after Andy had and since then she had always made time to stop for a chat or wave when she passed.

"Um, I'd love to, but I can't" Andy replied trying to sound sincere. She really would love to join them at the bar a few blocks from work one night, but she meant it when she said that she really couldn't.

"It'll be fun. Chris is coming" Traci said it sweetly, but she'd been asking Andy why she kept avoiding Chris, so her not so subtle hint wasn't missed now. The guy was completely smitten with her and had been for the almost year that she'd been working here.

"He's not my type Trace" Andy shrugged. She really didn't have a type right now because she didn't date, at all. Besides, adding your baggage to someone else's load was kind of unfair.

Picking up her purse Andy fell into step alongside Traci as they headed out towards the parking lot to leave for the weekend.

After waving bye to Traci, Andy drove off and headed for the store. She needed a few things for dinner and being a little late was excusable, at least this time anyway.

Inside the store she selected the few items she needed and put them into the basket that she was carrying. Reaching the end of the line at the checkout she stopped dead in her tracks as a cold chill ran down her spine.

The guy that she has seen outside her motel room was coming in the door, his eyes looking directly at her as soon as he was inside.

Her hand faltered and she nearly dropped her basket, but she refused to show how badly shaken she was or how scared she was.

She had spent the last year and a half running, looking over her shoulder wondering when the promise of _'I will find you and then I will kill you'_ would come true.

She had seen the guy outside her motel just standing on the curb surveying the building one morning when she left for work. He was there again parked in a silver truck one night when she came home from work. And he had been there a few times after that too. She had even seen him at the laundromat.

She had learned to memorize faces and cars and numbers, because it could be what kept her safe and his face was becoming all too familiar to go unnoticed.

He was following her...

...

Six weeks and still nothing. No trace of her.

Looking for her in a city like Toronto was like looking for a water droplet in the ocean.

And then he got lucky.

He never stayed at the same motel for more than a month so when a month turned to six weeks he started looking for a new motel and while surveying a building across town she just drove out of the parking lot.

It was an unimaginable coincidence, but he didn't care, he had found her.

Needless to say he went looking for another motel after finding her because becoming her roommate in the same building could be looking for trouble. He now held residence at one down the street.

Once he found her he watched her for a week, then two and then three- without calling his handler to let him know that he had found her.

The whole situation just didn't feel right.

And the second week was when he noticed that he wasn't the only one watching her, someone else was too. It was why he allowed his presence to be seen. By her and the guy that she seemed oblivious to.

At first he had kept a safe distance, keeping himself concealed from sight but keeping a watchful eye on her at the same time.

She led a very concealed lifestyle. She went to work and came home and then repeated the motion again the next day. She went to the store on Wednesdays and Saturdays. She went to do laundry on a Friday after work and it took her two hours.

She never ordered takeout, and she always bought chocolate milk when she went to the store, every single time like clockwork.

She never went anywhere else and no-one besides the girl with the braids from downstairs went beyond her doorway.

He wouldn't term it visit because just before she left in the morning, the girl went up, and as soon as she went home the girl went back downstairs to her own room where she lived with her mother.

The reruns of the repetitive actions were like a broken record, but then the other guy had shown up.

She however did not notice his presence and carried on about her mundane and very boring life.

It was easy to see why there was no signs of her anywhere, because she didn't want there to be one. She always paid in cash, and only used an ATM card once a week out of her two trips to the store. The card probably wasn't even in her own name.

He knew that the other guy watching her had spotted him too, so today he was going to run a test to see exactly what the guy was doing here.

He hailed a cab and gave the address of her workplace where he waited for her to leave. When she did, he had the cab follow and was surprised when she headed in the direction of the store. It wasn't a normal store day.

He had the cab pull over and park a few cars down while he scanned the street for the only other familiar face he knew in this part of town. Seeking the guy out took a while, but eventually he saw him cross the street and walk towards Andrea's car where he dropped out of sight for a while.

It was less than a minute later when the guy stood up dusted himself off, returned to his own car and drove off. It wasn't hard to guess that he had slipped under the hood of her car and severed the brake line. She would have an accident and never even know why because she had a ten minute drive home from the store on the highway.

Making the rash decision he got out of the cab and paid enough to cover the fare as well as a decent tip. Crossing the street he wondered what he was doing because this was going to bite him in the ass later on, he just knew it.

Her face when he walked into the store was enough to tell him that she had seen him around and that his presence scared her. Okay, he sometimes scared most people, but her reaction screamed that she feared more than she was willing to let on.

She stayed in line and clutched the handle of the basket so tightly that her hands turned white. He grabbed some gum and sauntered into line behind her.

When the checkout girl was done with the person in front of Andrea she moved forwards and then practically threw her items onto the counter top.

Some of them she dropped, loudly.

Chocolate milk, peanut butter, bread and oatmeal. Not exactly a classy diet.

She paid for her items with a shaking hand and then grabbed the bag and made a run for the door. The entire time she had kept her head down, avoiding looking in his direction.

He paid for his gum and sped after her while waging a war on the next thing he was going to do.

Let her go and die in a pileup on the highway or say something and find her gone tomorrow morning?

This was why he never took assignments involving woman or children. His conscience always bled out into guilt and ultimately he would end up doing the right thing for them rather than the right thing under the circumstances.

A sinner with a conscience, what were the chances of that?

******thanks for reading! I'm looking forward to reading your comments!**

**Have an awesome day!**

**Jelly Bean Jenna©**


	3. Intrusion

**Nice to see you all back here!**

**Thank you all for your awesome reviews & the follows! Welcome to all the new names I see popping up!**

**Thanks to kelly2727 for her Awesomeness!**

**Chapter 3- Intrusion. **

Pushing the door open he looked directly towards where she parked her car, a light breeze carrying the smell of freshly baked bread towards him from the bakery next door.

When she reached her car, she stopped and bent down, her hand shooting out to pick up the keys she dropped. Once she had them in her hand, she tried to maneuver a specific one into the lock but only ended up scratching the car door more than it already was.

When he was close enough for her to notice his presence, her hand released the bag and it dropped to the pavement with a crinkle sounding thud. She sucked in a sharp breath and then she just spun around to face him, her own face riddled with fear.

"You okay?" He asked trying to find a solution to the problem they had, because inadvertently it was his problem now too.

"Huh?" Her brows furrowed and she showed signs of confusion at hearing him ask that.

"I asked if you were okay" he repeated for lack of anything better to say.

"You live near me, on Rowan" he stated trying to make it sound like a normal conversation.

"Oh yeah" she stammered out, but he knew that she was still suspicious and keeping her guard up.

"I'm Sam" he said holding his hand out to introduce himself but then averted his gaze to her dropped bag. He bent down to pick it up but stopped. "Your cars leaking" he said and her gaze followed.

"Crap" she mumbled and then bent down to inspect the liquid. He dipped his hand into it and then lifted it to his nose and took a sniff.

"Leaky breaks" he said and she looked a little suspicious.

She suddenly remembered something and cringed. Looking at her watch she seemed to become edgy. She needed to get home or she would be late for something obviously.

"I can fix that, take a cab I'll drop it off".

"I'm sorry?". Her attention was a little unfocused as if his words were unclear.

"I can fix your car and drop it off, take a cab?".

"I couldn't". She shook her head refusal blatant as she sort of gaped at him. He could see the un-trust in her eyes as they flashed clearly at him.

"You can't drive like that" he nodded towards the car and she let out a grumble like it tipped the scales at biting back a sarcastic comment.

"I can't leave it here with you, I don't even know you".

"Here" Sam fished into his pocket and pulled out his drivers licence (well fake one anyway) and his motel room key. Holding them out to her he shrugged.

She looked at her watch again and sighed before following a whim and reaching out for them.

"I don't normally, you know...?".

He really didn't.

"It's okay, I don't either".

He held her bag of shopping out to her after picking it up, and she took it and then he saw her visibly relax and she even managed to smile. She in turn held out her car key after snapping it from the key ring and held it out to him.

"Thank you".

She stepped away before deciding against leaving and held her hand up to stop a passing cab. Once she climbed in, she gave him one last worried look before allowing the cab to drive away.

"What are you protecting?" He asked the empty air after the cab carried her away.

Sam took a step back and mentally kicked his own ass in his mind.

He had really screwed up by making contact with her, but as his handler said she would lead him to his target so he had to make sure that she was there in order to achieve that.

Now, he just needed to find someone to come out and fix the break line on her car.

Two and a half hours later he pulled up to the motel that she lived in and wasn't surprised when he found her waiting outside.

It was a clear sign that she didn't want him going beyond the front door that she used as her own for now. Whatever she was keeping a secret from the outside world was to remain intact for now.

"Hi" he greeted when he had finished parking her car and climbed out.

She waved timidly, not really sure how to respond. "Thank you" she finally said and held out his licence and key.

"No problem" he in turn held out her key and she took it with a straight face.

"See you round"

Why the hell he said that before walking away he had no idea, it wasn't like he would be in contact with her again soon, because he shouldn't be.

After covering a few yards of the sidewalk on foot, he doubled back and took shelter across the street where he waited for any sign of the guy from earlier.

He somehow had a nagging feeling that it wasn't the last time he would be seen.

...

A soft ping rattled around between the walls, Sam's attention focusing on the task at hand.

He'd left Andrea's motel shortly before dawn and was now running through known faces trying to tie a name and reason to the face of the guy he had seen try and snuff her life short.

And each turn led him down a road to nowhere.

He had done some more digging on her and found nothing. There was just nothing more to her story than what met the eye. She had no Facebook account, no Twitter, no skype, no instagram, no electronic trail either.

Her parents had died in a car crash a few months after her eighteenth birthday and she then married a guy in the military. His record was squeaky clean, maybe even too clean.

The guy had served in Afghanistan for two tours and then returned home to his wifey and joined a local police division.

He had a house with way too many rooms in a suburban district and two cars. He had three dogs and the usual debt that the average man had, credit cards paid up to date, cell phone contracts, uncapped wi-fi, a mortgage and the two car payments. There were a few clothing accounts too, but that again was just average. What was interesting however was that the guy also had a new wifey; he'd remarried less than a year after his divorce to Andrea was finalized. Guess someone was having an affair came to mind.

Other than that, there wasn't much to go on.

The ex-husband had living parents that resided in Michigan of all places, a brother that was also married and had one child and that happy family lived in near Lake Ontario.

Tracing down those family lines also drew blanks with nothing more than the average lives on display for Sam to see.

Other than that, there was absolutely nothing out of the ordinary about any of these people.

There was no reason for Sam to understand why this woman was so sought after by the wrong kind of people.

She worked as a secretary at a local newspaper and her boss had several sexual harassment charges waged against him, but they were all eventually dropped and that was the end of that.

Now that guy peeked Sam's interest but it didn't stay attached long after delving into the mans life. He was just another ordinary, middle aged man that had some perviness running through his blood.

Running a hand over his face, Sam let out a growl at the fact that he was backed into a corner and there was nowhere else to go.

That left one last option, call his handler and find out why she was such a high commodity right now.

"Have you found her?" His handler asked as soon as it started ringing and he answered.

"About that..." Sam was going to have to work for answers and he knew it.

"Sam, this is a priority right now" his handler mumbled softly into his ear.

"Why? What is she or who is she that you want her so bad?". Sam just cut the crap and asked straight out.

"I told you, it's not her". His handler was losing patience, but so was Sam.

"I know where she is, but until you tell me what I want to know, I will be the only one that knows that". Sam called his bluff and hung up.

He started counting down from twenty and reached twelve when his phone rang and his screen showed a private number. There was only one person that had this number, and that was his handler.

He let it ring through to voice mail deciding to make his handler work for it instead.

Turning back to his laptop Sam focused on digging some more, there had to be something somewhere.

...

Over the next ten days he watched her from a distance.

He kept avoiding his handlers calls until this morning when he received one at 4-10am.

"What?" He had barked into the receiver at being woken up, he had enough problems trying to sleep and didn't need random phone calls waking him up at unearthly hours.

"All you want to know, is what she's hiding?"

"What?" Sam leaned up onto his elbow and growled the word into the phone.

"Is that all?".

"In exchange for where she is?" Sam replied a little quieter this time.

"Yes" his handler mumbled.

"Okay".

"She took something that doesn't belong to her and she's on the run. The people she stole from are hunting her down, and when they find her they will kill her" his handler said.

Sam scoffed in response. What the hell did his handler think he thought would happen to her? Marriage proposals and hot air balloon rides?

If she stole from the wrong kind of people, then obviously they weren't going to be all that happy about it.

"I lost her" Sam heard himself talk before he realized what he said. And saying words like that when the opposite was true, that was only begging for a shit-storm that had no end.

"Find her, and call me" his handler said before Sam heard the dial tone ring through to his ear.

Somehow this time, his handler sounded a little more desperate.

Sam got up and had a shower and then about a gallon of coffee before leaving his motel room just as the sun started to rise.

He had taken up a second hotel room, this time one in her building facing her front door and windows. It was the best way to watch her without being detected.

It was probably the only reason that he had not yet been spotted by her.

The motel was built in the shape of a square U she was on the second floor halfway through and he on the third because there was nothing open on the second floor. That left him directly across from her, one floor up with a great view.

He spent early mornings watching the girl from downstairs come up and Andrea would leave, then he would go back to his other motel room and dig into her life. During the day Andrea never left her office, so he knew that she would be fine there. Whoever was watching her avoided places like the gas station and ATM's so they steered clear of CCTV cameras and her workplace was covered in them.

Close to the time that she was due to leave work, he'd be somewhere close by and then follow her home where he'd spend most of the night watching her from this room.

He would leave around 3am and try get some sleep before coming back here at six to watch her leave for work.

He followed her to the store on shopping days and to do her laundry all the while trying to figure her and her secrets out.

Things stayed the same until today, first the call from his handler this morning, and now the guy he had seen cut her break line hovering in the stairwell as darkness engulfed the city.

Sam watched him for a while, not really sure what he wanted to do until he saw a light emanate from what he guessed was a phone. When the light turned off, the guy started moving, and so did Sam.

He was always prepared, always ready. This was no different. His gun was in the back of his jeans, his knife strapped to his ankle. He shut his motel room door quietly and then took a run to the staircase on this side of the building. He descended the flight taking two stairs at a time.

Rounding the corner Sam saw the feint edges of light traced around the edges of the door.

That meant that the door was already open and the guy was inside...

*****Thanks for reading!**

**So anyone want to guess what Sam's job is or what Andy's running from? **

**Have an awesome day!**

**Jelly Bean Jenna©**


	4. Runaway

**Welcome back to the corners of my imagination!**

**I have loved reading your speculations, but nope- Sam is not UC, nor is he a hitman...**

**Thanks for all your awesome reviews!**

**Let's stop my rambling & read on...**

**Chapter 4- Runaway. **

Sam pushed the door open two seconds after the light inside flickered off and then the room was only lit up by the really crappy yellow glow of the hallway light outside. But better couldn't be expected from a cheap, crappy motel.

He paused for a moment and listened, the smallest sound of a whimper filling his ears.

Taking care to look before treading, Sam saw several random items littering the floor so he carefully stepped over and around them as he slithered inside. This was way bigger than what he had up a floor. In the dark he could see that he was in a lounge, in front of him, a little to the right was an archway that probably led to a kitchen and in the far corner to the left were two doors that most likely held a bedroom and bathroom behind them.

A feint glow shed light around a wall and out under the archway, so Sam stopped and peered lightly around the corner to find the open microwave door as the source of light.

He saw Andrea on her knees, her hands held out to the side while the guy behind her pointed a gun to the back of her head. Sam could see her hands trembling, but her face told him of more fear than he'd ever seen on anyone's face before- ever. Her face was towards the microwave so he had a pretty good view of it in the light. The strangest thing however was that she had her eyes closed and she looked like she was praying.

"Please hide the gun". Sam was sure that when he heard her say that, he heard wrong. People on the receiving end of a bullet didn't ask you to hide the gun.

"What?" The guy barked out and she jumped. Sam noticed his Russian accent, it was thick and heavy and his pronunciation of a simple word like **what** came out distorted.

"Please hide the gun" she repeated.

Sam took a step forwards and something under his foot squeaked.

He heard Andrea draw in a ragged breath as her head shot to the side, her eyes darting across the room as she scanned it for something. The guy took a step back and peered around the side of the wall, looking straight into the barrel of Sam's gun when he stepped out from behind the wall.

"Lose it" Sam said sternly and the guy complied. He dropped his gun down with a clank after bending halfway to the floor.

In the seconds that followed, Sam's gun was knocked out of his hand and a fully fledged brawl broke out with both of them going at it in full force.

The guy was well trained, his movements fluid and powerful, and also spot on. Each punch met it's mark and soon Sam was tiring. So was the Russian.

Sam had been trained too, but he had an advantage most guys that he went up against didn't- he was fast, really fast. And he was fit. He could smell the traces of cigarette smoke on his opponent, and a smoker didn't have the lungs or stamina to last forever.

Even though the exertion was tiring him, his body welcomed the workout.

Sam knocked the guy off his feet and he went for a knife in his belt, a slice up Sam's arm making his hold on the guy lighten up. The guy too obviously packed more than just his visible gun.

Forgetting that there was another presence in the room with them, Sam reached out of his own fallen weapon, aimed it and pulled the trigger.

A whimper to his right made him look up into the terrified face of the forgotten soul cowering on the floor.

Sam stood up just about ready to say something when he heard a floor board creak and Andrea jumped to her feet like a bolt of lightning had recharged her. He turned towards the sound and lifted his gun waiting...

"Please, hide the gun" her voice was so close and so far away at the same time that it drew his attention just enough to focus on her.

He heard a door handle jostle and then his gun was out of his hands, Andrea had grabbed it and hid it behind her back, her face suddenly smiling at the door across the room as it opened.

"Hi Baby". Andrea said in a chipper voice while Sam tried to keep breathing as his knees threatened to give out under him.

"Did the noise scare you? I'm sorry" Andrea stepped towards the child as Sam's heart imploded and everything came full circle.

A child aged between four and six was his target.

"We were playing" Andrea flashed a smile and the child looked towards him as the tension eased out of his face.

"Want your milk? Go watch TV and I'll bring it, I just need to talk to my friend here".

The child nodded and then scampered off, the door closing in his wake.

Sam's gun hit the floor and reality kicked in. Lucky for her, his finger hadn't had a firm grip on it when she snatched it out of his hand. He could have damned well shot her in that moment.

Sam focused on her again, her back finding the wall behind her as she slid down it and sat on the floor when her legs couldn't keep her up any more.

"I want to throw up" she mumbled as she closed her eyes and leaned her head back so that it would rest against the wall.

"Then throw up". He added dryly as he picked his gun up, put the safety on and hid it in the back of his jeans under his shirt and jacket.

"I haven't thrown up since I was in high school" she bit back at him, her eyes opening to leer at him.

"You have been watching me" she stated a second later.

He ignored the statement and turned to focus on the dead body that was now laying on the kitchen floor.

Just as Sam was about to turn away, a pale light lit up the guys pocket. His partner was probably calling to find out what was taking him so long.

The Russians always traveled in packs of two, without a doubt his partner was probably parked right outside the building or at least down the street.

"You have two choices" Sam said turning back to her.

She raised an eyebrow and dared him to finish that thought verbally.

"Cops or his partner".

At the mention of cops she visibly cringed, at the mention of his partner her eyes flew back to the closed door, fear again gracing her face as it turned hard.

"No cops" she mumbled and got to her feet.

Sam watched her cross the room and open a cupboard that he hadn't noticed before. She yanked out two bags and set them down rather un-ladylike. Next she pulled two blankets and two pillows off the couch and shoved them into a garbage bag that was stuffed between the couches cushions.

She'd been prepared for this moment.

Sirens in the distance made her freeze up for just a moment. Next she went into hyper drive and raided the fridge where she shoved selected items into another duffle bag.

She dumped everything next to the front door and raced away across the room where she literally fell into the bedroom after dropping the door handle with force.

"Sweetie, feel like going to see the lights?" she said and Sam watched as the kids face lit up. He obviously didn't get out much. Well he knew that, because in all the time he'd been watching her, he'd never seen he kid. She didn't even do his laundry with hers at the laundromat, she probably washed it here in order to keep him a secret.

The kid nodded, sliding off the bed.

"Yeah? Race you to the car" she held out the keys to him and he jumped into his slippers and raced towards her to grab the keys.

Just as the kid reached the door she stopped next to Sam and said a really heartfelt "Thank You" before she started lifting the bags up.

"They will find you again" passed over his lips before he could stop it, a fiery look flashing through her eyes.

"It's a chance I need to take" She nodded and then stepped through the door just as red and blue lights came into view when they bounced off the tar in the parking lot.

The kid stopped too, just outside the door and took the sight in over the railing that ran around the building's edge. His face broke out into a giant smile at the sight of dancing lights.

Without even thinking about it, Sam took two steps toward them and then scooped the kid up despite his venomous protest.

Andrea dropped her bags ready to react in some way when Sam nodded towards them and then simply began walking towards the stairwell that would lead them back upstairs.

He had no idea what he was doing or why he was doing this, he was just overcome with the need to right some kind of wrong that was written in their lives before his time.

He opened the door to his room when he reached it, and went inside. He set the kid down on his feet and seconds later Andrea was inside too. He closed the door behind her but didn't turn any lights on. The cops were probably here after a neighbor called the scuffle and gunshot in, and he really didn't want a run in with them right now.

"Why have you been following me?" Andy asked when she set the bags down.

"I don't know" he answered while avoiding any kind of eye contact. He was avoiding looking in the kids direction too, but he didn't miss the movement that told him that Andrea was ushering the kid towards the couch.

"You're lying" she seethed back and he was a bit surprised. He couldn't really blame her, his answer was really unhinged.

She seemed calm and collected, even after he just killed a guy in front of her in her rental's kitchen.

"Listen, you were just a photograph I had to track down in person okay".

Crap, she really didn't need to know that much.

That did however set off a new round of fear in her. It sank into the room turning the air stale and hard.

"They sent you didn't they" she wasn't asking him, she was accusing him. She took a flurry of steps away from her bags after digging in one of them and stopped when she was standing between him and the kid, natural instinct making her jump between danger and the innocent child.

"I wasn't sent, I was assigned".

Sam felt the back of his pants to make sure that his gun was still there, then he simply spun on his heel and headed for the open plan kitchen that this motel room had.

He grabbed a bottle of water from the fridge because that's all there was in it. That was all he ever brought here with him. He removed a second one and set it down on the counter while she watched him like a hawk.

He retreated into the bathroom still holding his water and slammed the door behind himself.

Once he was lost in solitude, Sam drew a shaky breath and set his water down. Leaning over the sink he turned on the faucet and allowed the water to gush out. He washed his hands and rinsed off his face. He discarded his jacket and let it fall to the floor with a loud thump. The material was heavy, but it didn't matter, it didn't do anything other than keep him warm and hold on to whatever items he stuffed into the pockets.

Looking up into the mirror Sam saw someone he didn't even recognize staring back at him.

Deciding to face the truth, Sam dipped into his pocket and fished out his phone.

His handler answered on the third ring.

"Why do they want her so bad that the Russians are sending a hit-team after her?" Sam asked when the call was connected.

"What?". His handler sounded genuinely shocked when hearing that. "Is she alive?" He added, barely taking a breath between the two sentences.

"I don't know" Sam said without skipping a beat. He still had too many unanswered questions to know who he could trust right now. He really didn't want to throw her to the dogs, especially not with the child involved now too.

"Look, this is... Personal okay, it was never sanctioned. This is me asking you to do this as a favor" his handler said it so seriously that Sam knew he wasn't kidding.

"Why? Who is she to you?".

"No-one, it's a favor for a friend okay. I asked you because I trust you" the voice he had never met said.

Sam replied with a dry chuckle. "You don't even know me". He hung up and then turned back to the sink when he remembered his arm getting sliced open. He peeled the sleeve up, a mass of red dripping from the material into the sink where it turned to pink as it was watered down with the water still running from the open faucet.

Deciding to skip the formalities, Sam peeled his shirt off and then sliced a strip off the bottom of it with his knife. He washed the wound that was thankfully shallow and then wrapped the shred of material from his shirt around it to seal it off and stop the bleeding. He picked his jacket up off the floor and eyed the damage done up the arm where the knife had split the material before the sharp blade ripped through the material of his shirt and finally his skin.

Even though it now sported a split look like a snakes tongue, it would have to do until he got to the other motel because he had nothing else here to wear.

His handlers words rang through his mind 'I trust you'.

How could a man he'd never met, a man he'd only ever known as a voice on the phone trust him?

He wouldn't trust the voice if roles were reversed, but then again he'd just asked a stranger to trust him.

*****thanks for reading! Let me know if you're still here & what you thought in another review? **

**Have an awesome day!**

**Jelly Bean Jenna©**


	5. Reaching Out

**Welcome back, time to see what's going on, so hope you enjoy!**

**Chapter 5- Reaching Out. **

Leaving the bathroom Sam avoided seeking out the woman and child as he fled through the room and stopped to look out through the window.

A string of cruisers were parked randomly throughout the parking lot and the room that she had occupied was filled with moving feet and faces on the clock.

From his position at the window Sam scanned the area for the lead detective and spotted a blonde guy that seemed to ooze authority as he directed a few uniforms to cordon off the area and others to knock door to door. It would only be a matter of time before one of them reached his door. And it was so typical of Callaghan to take charge. The sight made Sam groan internally.

Sam scanned the parking lot more intensely, his face moving over the crowd of faces that had gathered to observe the spectacle as it unfolded.

He was looking for the other Russian, but there were too many obvious choices.

"They're going to think I did that" Andrea's voice sounded from somewhere behind him, her hair slinking around as she nodded to downstairs when he turned to face her.

"They won't" Sam said. He knew without a doubt that Callaghan would see the damage inside her motel room and know that there was no way that she was responsible. He would start looking for male suspects especially considering that the Russian was well, Russian. He would inevitably be linked to the Russian Mob and then the case would just run cold when the dead Russian was labeled a loose cannon that acted on his own because he was looking to make more money.

"Yeah? And how'd you figure that one out?" Andrea's voice was a little closer, but he avoided seeking her out. Instead he kept searching for the Russian's partner amongst the onlookers after turning back to face the window.

"Callaghan will see that a struggle took place, and you're a little light in the pants". This time Sam chanced a look directly at her and he was met with a scowl as she creased her brows together and wrinkled her nose.

"Callaghan? You know him?".

"You could say I'm from around here" Sam replied aloud and then mentally kicked himself for divulging that small piece of information.

The information that filled her face with horror as she began back peddling away from him.

"He sent you for Jared didn't he". She sounded scared all over again. Sam faced her as she positioned herself between him and the sleeping child. Again.

"No-one sent me okay" Sam tried to focus on sounding sincere so that she would lose some of her fear, but his words did little to calm down her paranoia.

"Who's he?" Sam added. Maybe if she gave him answers, he'd understand what the hell was going on, because things were more than a little confusing at the moment.

"Oh God. The gun, the fake licence. Following me... It's you isn't it". Her knees gave a wobble and her ass found the edge of the couches arm rest close to the child as he lay sleeping. She looked completely resigned in that moment, like she'd let her guard down and her past had caught up with her.

But still he wasn't all that surprised by her calling him out on his fake drivers licence. It was a good copy and not even a uniformed cop at a traffic stop would immediately see the difference between it and a real licence. She was smart, really smart. Having been on the run for eighteen months with a kid proved that.

"I'm not going to kill you" he surprised himself by reassuring her of that fact. But her gaze told him that she didn't really believe that statement.

"No, but you came for him". She looked away, her eyes dusting over the sleeping child before they fell to the rug and lingered there.

Sam felt what little resolve he had left on his temper slip as it flared when he linked the look she had on her face now to the one that he had seen staring at him from the photograph he had been given.

"I didn't even know he existed until I saw him".

Her head swung up and she tiled it to the side. She was looking for a sign that he was lying.

"I was only told to find **you.** There is no record of him anywhere. No birth registration, no school enrollment. He doesn't exist".

Sam guessed that she had friends in high places if she was able to conceal the birth of a child for so many years. There was absolutely no record of him anywhere. Whoever was helping her wasn't related or a family friend because her late parents didn't hold seats on senates. She had no family in politics and there wasn't even a doctor or dentist in her former life's close circle. Whatever help she had was kept well hidden too.

Even the car she had now wasn't registered to Andrea McNally-Collins, it was registered to Annie Mae, a Chinese woman in her sixties that lived just outside of Toronto. Sam had run the plates and if he was forced to admit it, she had covered her tracks pretty damned well. If he hadn't gotten lucky and seen her by chance, he'd still be looking for her.

"Who are you then?" She asked in a voice so small that it made him shiver.

"Someone that doesn't want to be found" was the only plausible answer he could say.

As the hours ran across midnight and into the following day Sam kept an eye on the action downstairs. He kept an eye on her too, while she kept one on him and one on the boy.

She looked tired, the circles under her eyes telling him that it had been a while since she had gotten a decent nights sleep. But still, she refused to even let her eyes droop now that she was in his company.

He offered her a bottle of water a second time, but she declined. An hour later she drank water from the kitchen faucet and he shook his head. She didn't trust him not to spike her with some kind of drug.

She gave him a glare, her face riddled with deep thoughts as she weighed him and her situation up.

The cops downstairs had eventually cleared out, police tape now spanning between the door posts and blocking entrance to the room she used to call home. The M.E's office had taken the dead Russian's body away and surprisingly the uniforms had only knocked on a doors either side of Andrea's apartment downstairs, next door and the floor above. They didn't widen their search as much as he thought they would.

"We need to go" Sam said warily even though he knew that the **'we' **was going to be something he regretted later on at some point.

"We?". She read his mind.

"If you stay, they will find you...". He ended it there because obviously she knew what would happen if she stayed behind.

"I don't even know you, I can't go anywhere with you" she ambled out and glanced in the direction of the kid.

"You can stay, but it will end badly". Sam had no idea why he was willing to drag her along, and obviously the kid too. He swept through the room and collected anything that came here with him. His bloody, torn shirt was in a bag and soon all the bottles of water that had been emptied joined it. Full bottles of water went into a separate bag and the two bags were set down close to the door.

Andrea stood in front of the couch looking down at a face smiling in sleep, her face weary and haggard, even in the dark.

"I can't do that to him again, I promised him that this time we'd stay here". She spoke to the darkness but Sam knew that her words were meant for him.

"What are you running from?" Sam pressed.

But she only looked up at him, her eyes filled with vivid images as whatever was chasing her flashed through her minds eye.

Her lips pursed together, and her hand swept a random strand of hair up and tucked it in behind her ear.

He wondered if she regretted the choices she'd made, if she hated the way life had dealt her hand because the look on her face was one of pure agony at having to put this child through any of this.

Sam didn't say anything, he just swept his bags up and made for the door.

It was time to move on and leave this behind because a woman and a kid would only slow him down and complicate his life.

He closed the door quietly behind himself so that he wouldn't wake the kid up and then he descended the stairs taking them one at a time.

Once his truck was unlocked and his bags deposited neatly in the back, Sam climbed in behind the steering wheel and sat watching the building.

At this time of the morning the street was quiet, and the parking lot deserted except for the few cars parked in it.

He was so engrossed in watching the building sleep that when a light rap on his window sounded he jumped caught unexpectedly.

His head turned to the side and he found big, dark eyes looking at him through the window.

She clung to a bundle tightly, a blanket draped over what he guessed was the child.

Sam's hand found the window control on his side and the window zipped down so that her face was no longer shielded behind the shatter proof glass.

He quirked an eyebrow at her presence and then waited.

"Is it safe to take my car, if I wanted to get out of here right now?". She shifted the bundle around, the weight becoming heavy.

Sam shook his head, if the Russians had given up her plates she'd be traceable.

The news spread a look of hopelessness across her face, the shadows incapable of keeping it concealed.

She pressed her lips together and took a step away from the window, Sam's fingers tapping the electric unlock button next to him to unlock the doors.

The loud click made her jump, the only sound in the darkness startling her.

Andrea looked up and down the street, her eyes briefly grazing over him as she did so.

She was weighing up her options.

"Who sent you to find me?".

Sam sighed and ran a hand over his eyes. He was tired but he was resigned more than anything else.

He considered his answers to that question, an honest _'The voice on the phone'_ making him groan. Like that so wouldn't sound like he was psycho.

"I don't know". He said. That was as close to the truth as he could get because he had no clue to who his handler was. His true identity was completely anonymous.

And she still looked really skeptical.

"Look Andrea, I won't hurt you or the kid okay. I have no idea who sent me, or why they wanted you found. There is no ..." He almost said termination order but managed to catch himself in time because that would instill more fear into her. "There is no reason for me to hurt you two right now".

Right now? How could he say right now?

Her eyes widened a little, but she didn't say anything.

"Are they paying you?". Came out shortly after the silence became too much for her to bare.

That kind of took him by surprise. It wasn't a question he usually got asked. He had only ever been offered money, never asked outright if he was being paid for this.

"It's my job". He felt is hands tighten around the steering wheel. He had in the past always been vague about his line of work, but somehow the thought of telling her that made him feel like she'd find peace in his answer.

"Will you keep him safe? No matter what happens will you protect him, even if it means that you have to leave me behind?".

"I can't...".

No way!

Never in this lifetime!

So not happening.

What the hell would he do with a kid?

"If something happens to me, you'll have a place to take him to. With good people that will take him in, I promise. I just... I need to know that you'll keep him safe". She sounded so desperate, even if he didn't know her, she was reaching out to him to keep her son safe. A stranger to look over him.

She was either insane, unstable, desperate or loved her son so much that she'd do just about anything to keep him safe.

Sam nodded, just once because there really wasn't a way for him to verbalize yes in this instance.

And boy did he wish he could say no.

*****thanks for reading! **

**So Sam thinks Andrea has a son, boy is he in for a few surprises. **

**Have an awesome day!**

**Jelly Bean Jenna©**


	6. Some Truths

**Thank you all for your awesome reviews & all the follows and favs! I really love hearing your thoughts!**

**Thanks to the regulars & kelly2727, welcome to the newbies!**

**Chapter 6- Some Truths. **

Sam sighed and got out.

He rounded the truck and opened the door for her to get in before running back upstairs and getting the two bags that she left next to the door and a jacket he found hanging over the back of a chair.

On a whim he crossed the lounge and grabbed another blanket from the couch. This one was a child's blanket in brown, white and beige with a giant teddy bear on it. Laying on top of the blanket was a bag of lego blocks, a coloring in book and crayons as well as a stuffed Smurf.

Sam groaned at himself as he picked the Smurf up and headed for the door.

He added the bags and stuff to his collection in the back before getting in and starting the truck up. Shifting it into drive he dropped the hand break and pulled out of the parking lot without looking back.

When he reached his other motel room, he gave Andrea the key and room number and she left carrying a still sleeping child. He grabbed their bags and followed after locking the truck.

He wasn't surprised when he found her hovering over the child after she lay him out on the couch.

There was only one bed so Sam walked over to the child and scooped him up. She followed frantically but stopped when she noticed him laying the child out on the bed.

"Bathroom is through there, kitchen" Sam said waving around when he left the bedroom.

This room was bigger than the one either of them had at the other motel. It had a separate bedroom and bathroom and a decent sized closet. It had a lounge with a three seater and one seater couches, and a flat screen TV with cable. It had a small kitchen table too as well as various electronics in the kitchen. He doubted that most of them even worked and was surprised that it had them at all. Most motels that were that furnished weren't so cheap.

He scooped up her belonging and carried them into the room before taking the duffle bag she had thrown food into to the kitchen. Chocolate milk went into the fridge along with the peanut butter and juice. Bread oatmeal and butter went on the counter. Searching through the contents of the bag he turned to her and raised an eyebrow. She seriously needed to learn how to feed a growing child.

"What?" she asked defensively.

"Why these items?" Sam waved his hands over the items he had dumped out onto the counter top.

"That's all I had" she said sounding really rather pained.

And now he felt like an ass. Of course she didn't have much, she probably wasn't even earning a decent salary and had to pay for everything on her own.

Sam looked at the time and turned back to her, she needed to sleep even if she didn't want to. Now that they were away from the old motel her adrenaline would wear off and she would crash hard.

"Lock the door, get some sleep" he nodded towards the bedroom door and surprise flurried over her face.

"You need to sleep" he said. Tough times weren't over yet, and he knew that this was just the beginning.

She nodded curtly and headed for the bedroom, the key turning in the lock but left in the door as soon as she closed it.

Sam stood looking over the items on the counter and wondered how the hell they had survived this long and still remained hidden. Maybe once she had a decent nights sleep he'd get some answers from her.

And he'd defensively need to go get something for breakfast because what she had did not consist of food, especially for the kid.

The kid.

The light bulb above his head flickered on and he remembered his handlers words _'She took something'_ from the people that were hunting her. She took the kid.

Wow, but he'd been slow on the uptake of that one.

They were going to have a serious talk when she woke up.

...

Sam slipped out and went to the store where he grabbed a few supplies that would be considered real food before returning to a silent motel room.

He made breakfast and had coffee and then searched for every missing child he could find a trace on.

But none of them matched.

Most were girls and the few boys that he found were the wrong race, age or had been found one way or another.

He broadened the search to just before Andrea dropped off the map and that turned out to be nothing more than a waste of time.

There were more missing children than he ever imagined and the result of that was him staring at the locked wooden door across the room wondering how this fitted together.

Sometime later Sam heard the door unlock and then creak open, a smaller than expected face staring at him.

"Hey Buddy" Sam slammed his laptop closed, he needed to keep his digging to himself. "You hungry?".

The kid nodded and Sam stood up. "She still sleeping?". He nodded again.

"Okay, let's get you fed".

Sam guessed that the chocolate milk was for him so he handed the kid one where he stood in the doorway to the kitchen while watching Sam intently.

Sam looked towards the table and the kid set his milk down before climbing up on to the chair and just staring off into space.

Sam heated up the eggs and bacon he made and popped some bread into the toaster all the while watching the kid.

He didn't seem... Normal?

"Want butter on your toast?" Sam asked and the kid jumped just as the toasted popped.

"It's okay, it was just the toaster". The kid visibly relaxed and so did Sam.

He set a plate down in front of the kid and sat down across from him after making himself coffee.

The kid ate like he was starving, Sam grateful that he knew his way around the kitchen.

"Want some more eggs?" He asked when the kid was done. He only received a nod in reply.

After the kid swept down the second helping Sam turned the TV to some cartoons and the kid was mesmerized as he sat on the carpet with his legs crossed.

Three hours later the kid was still on the carpet staring at the TV while Sam watched the closed door stay still. Andrea was still fast asleep and he was waiting patiently for her to wake up and tell him what he was getting himself into.

A while later, a blood curdling scream filled the room and the door flew open, her face cast in panic as she fell into the room. The kid jumped and so did Sam.

"He's right there" Sam said finding his feet when she literally flew across the room and grabbed the child while kneeling on the carpet next to him.

"Don't do that okay, wake me up next time" she scolded the child and he hung his head before she hugged him closer and glared at Sam like it was his fault.

Sam just shrugged. He had not anticipated her to freak out because she woke up and the kid was in the other room.

Standing up Sam moved to the kitchen to set the food out because Andrea was probably hungry.

She came into the kitchen and let out a groan, her hand finding her forehead.

"What am I going to do about work?" She asked Sam looking formidably miserable where she stood.

"You can't... Go back" Sam said feeling like he was taking a piece of her life away from her.

"But I need to, I need the money". She looked over to the kid who was still fascinated with the TV.

"Is he okay?" Sam eventually asked. The thing about the kid had been bugging him since he let thoughts roam his mind.

"Jared? He's fine, just doesn't talk anymore".

"Why? And who's kid is he? Is he the one they want?".

"It's a long story". Andrea said and then schooled her features and walked away. Sam's hand stopped her and she flinched so he leg her arm go.

"I need to know okay, I can't help you if I don't know how to".

Her eyes narrowed into slits and she crossed her arms while looking at him and trying to get a read on him.

"Why would you want to help us? They sent you to find us and only you and them know whatever else you are going to do now that you've found us".

"Andrea, I told you they sent me to find you, not to hurt you. He wasn't even mentioned okay. I just want to know why you took him so that if things go sideways I know what to do". Sam said it harshly but quietly, he was frustrated but didn't want to scare the kid or her for that matter.

"Jared's my brother, I didn't take him from anyone okay. I'm the only one he has left, so he stays with me until this is over. If something happens I will tell you where to take him and to whom, until then he is none of your concern". She hissed back at him before storming out the room leaving him even more confused than before.

Okay so he'd been wrong. The kid wasn't hers, he was her sibling. But there was still no record of him anywhere so it left more questions unanswered than before.

"Can I bath him?" Andrea called out from somewhere in the lounge, so he called out "Go ahead" while swiping his hand through the air even though she probably wouldn't see him.

He heard them move around and then a door closed so Sam reached for his phone and called that annoying voice that told him only on a need to know basis.

"Go" the voice said.

"Who's the kid?". Sam asked without caring if he'd get an answer or not.

"Jared". The voice sighed and Sam could swear he heard a curse in the background.

"Relationship to the girl?".

"Her kid brother". Okay, so finally he was getting somewhere without a struggle. And she had been telling him the truth. But the answers weren't more than what he already knew.

"He's a ghost" Sam said and earned another sigh in his ear.

"We know".

"Why?"

"That, we don't know. Look she has a date to meet okay, so as soon as you find her and the kid let me know so we can bring them in" the voice said.

"A date for what?".

"Sam, the less you know..."

"Give me a break okay" Sam seethed into the receiver. "You've got me chasing a girl and a kid that doesn't exist and you won't tell me why. This is in the red because it's personal and off the books. I don't help people like this, I take care of the problem...". A gasp behind him had Sam slam his hand down on the counter before turning around to face Andrea with one finger over his lips and his phone still cradled to his ear.

Her face had paled and her eyes widened as she stood frozen to the spot staring at him.

"Tell me what I want to know or I will leave Toronto and stop looking for her because I'm done with the games". He spoke calmly and level like he wasn't seeing her standing there scared.

The silence in his ear made him whisper "Times up" before he ended the call and threw the phone onto the counter. He wasn't surprised when it started ringing straight away.

"You lied" Andrea pointed out. "You know where we are".

"They don't know that, and I still don't know why they want you so bad".

"Who is they?".

"I don't know". Sam sighed as the ringing stopped. "This is what I do. I get a call or I get a photo or something and I find people that don't want to be found. If they've behaved they're free to go, if not I resolve the problem and make a decision if they're allowed to stay in the program or if they're on their own".

"Do you kill them?"

He didn't answer because telling her that he had killed would probably scare her even more, even if she had seen him shoot the Russian.

"What program?".

"I work a division of Guns and Gangs inside the Witness Protection Program".

She tore out the room like she was in trouble, the bathroom door slamming and locking behind her.

What the hell just happened?

*****Thanks for reading! **

**So, Sam is a good guy, who honestly saw that coming? **

**Let me know if you're still here, because I love reading those reviews!**

**Have an awesome day!**

**Jelly Bean Jenna©**


	7. Revelations

**Here's more, so hope you enjoy it!**

**Thank you all for your awesome reviews! **

**Chapter 7- Revelations. **

Sam knocked on the door but didn't get an answer. Instead he heard her whispering softly to the child locked in the room with her.

The door suddenly unlocked and swung open, she had the child wrapped in her arms in a towel and looked at him like she was about to burst into tears.

Sam held his hands up and backed away and she fled out of the bathroom and into the bedroom where the door was closed and locked too.

When the door opened several minutes later, the kid was dressed and Andrea had shoes on and held one bag. She had every intention of leaving with the kid right now.

"Run" she said to the kid after standing and staring at Sam for a while. Jared sprinted for the door, Sam honestly surprised by his speed. His tiny hands fumbled with the locks when he reached the door, but didn't get them open. The crummy hotel had a door that stuck so it had to be lifted up slightly before the handle would pull the lever in and the door would open.

Andrea stood facing Sam and then suddenly she dropped the bag and ran for the door but Sam had expected that so he caught her and latched on to her as gently as he could without hurting her. She screamed and started fighting him off, when another scream tore through the room causing them both to freeze.

Sam's eyes flew to the child as he stood in front of the door, his hands over his eyes as he let out the worst scream Sam had ever heard. It was long and high pitched and had tears behind it. It was riddled with fear and it was clouded in sadness.

"Let me go" Andrea yelled at him, his hands releasing their hold on her immediately.

"It's okay sweetie, I'm okay". She tried to approach the kid but he still kept screaming.

Sam watched Andrea bend down and clasp her hands over the child's while she pulled them away and repeated "Look at me" over and over again until the child complied and opened his eyes.

He flew at her knocking her over as he wrapped his arms around her and sobbed.

She stood up with him and carried him to the bedroom, walking straight passed Sam without even looking his way. He'd seen her tears too, her leaking eyes proof that he had scared her more than he even thought possible.

What had the kid seen? Because after that reaction Sam knew that the kid had seen something that haunted him.

She closed the bedroom door but didn't lock it, Sam hovering on the other side as he listened to Andrea tell the child to breathe slowly and that they were only playing. She went into great detail about how adults played and how she screamed because she was tickled and Sam was really shocked at the length of explaining she went through to get the kid to calm down. Whatever he'd seen must have been pretty bad. Especially if she was searching that deep to find a plausible explanation for their actions.

After immeasurable time had passed, she emerged from the room looking drained as her weary eyes followed him as he set out to make sandwiches like it was an ordinary thing to do under the circumstances.

"I'm sorry" she mumbled coming closer.

"I get it, don't apologize" he said in return.

"He gets freaked out by guns and violence..." She trailed off like the subject was too painful to discuss.

"What did he see?".

"My ah" she started and took a deep breath. "My ex-husband killed a guy".

"The Collins guy?" Sam asked.

"No! No, Nick's a friend. My ex-husband works Guns and Gangs too, that's why...".

Sam felt like he was ready to choke. Her ex-husband was more than one guy? And he was a cop? It explained why she ran when he offered her a choice between cops and the Russian guys partner.

"He turned corrupt and used my inheritance to buy his way into the Russians business. They started dropping off drugs at my house and then cash and one night this guy showed up while we were having dinner and he just shot him in front of Jared. He threatened Jared with a gun to his head and then mine. He promised that if Jared ever told anyone he would kill us both. I stayed for two days after that waiting for someone to bring something to my house and when some drugs and cash arrived I took it along with Jared and one bag and I ran".

She was hardly blinking as she spoke, like the fresh memories were flashing before her eyes.

"Why didn't you get help?".

"I did the next day but then he had Jared erased from existence to show me who I was dealing with. Nick married me...". She stopped talking like the information was supposed to stay locked away.

"But your records only show one marriage?" Sam scratched the back of his head, this was like a story off a TV screen.

"He had that taken care of too, there is no way that we'll ever be connected so if anything happened to me..."

"Why? Why has he gone to such extremes to do all of this?". Sam still needed some clarity because this wasn't making sense.

"I'm a threat to his career, to his life. He could go away for life because of what Jared and I know".

"Okay, so you're just planning on running forever?". Like that was even possible.

"Just until Jared turns six"

"Why then?".

"He turns six in 108 days, then they'll let him testify".

Three months? She planned on keeping this up for another three and a bit months? Huh, like that was going to happen.

"I know, it sounds like it's unbelievable, but it's all true. It's why Jared stopped talking all together. It's why I've been on the run until you found us". She still looked nervous, but dancing in her eyes was a little bit of relief. She seemed to find it easy to tell him this and appeared like she felt better for it.

"You don't believe me". She suddenly said looking dismayed.

"I didn't say that" Sam grumbled out, but her story was a little far fetched.

"I..." Her voice faded away to silence as she glanced around the room.

"This has been hard on both of us for a long time. Thank you for doing what you did, but don't feel like you need to keep it up" she rambled out. "We'll leave" she added and was just about to turn away when Sam found himself talking before he could stop the words from spiraling out.

"Can you handle a gun?".

The question was simple, one that he hoped would buy him enough time to teach her how to use one to protect herself with while he dug a little deeper.

"Yes".

Okay, so that was a surprise.

"Really?" He arched an eyebrow in question.

"I only got freaked out because I knew he was going to have the kind of reaction he did earlier if he saw your gun. Do you really think I would have grabbed a loaded gun, with the safety off if I was scared of it?".

Her sass made Sam tilt his head to the side as he looked at her. She was a case of dynamite rolled into a small package.

And she had a lot of fire too.

"My dad, he was um, a cop so guns don't scare me, but they terrify Jared".

That little bit of information set off alarm bells in Sam's head.

While digging into her past he'd found that her parents were deceased, but he'd never really looked into the fathers personal records because both her parents had perished in a car crash.

"Division?" Sam pressed. He had a feeling that there was a whole lot more going on to her story than what she was telling him.

But she didn't answer his question, she just turned around and walked away. She was done with the conversation and done sharing information.

Sam finished making sandwiches and grabbed two bottles of water. He knocked on the bedroom door and waited for an answer but none came.

Latching onto the handle Sam opened the door and hoped that he was going to find them still tucked in the room and that they hadn't slipped out the window and made a run for it.

...

Chris sighed as he peered down the hallway to find Andy's desk still deserted.

Two days in a row she'd been absent without even calling in sick and it wasn't like her.

He didn't have a number to call her on, although he did know where she lived. He considered going over there to check on her but he didn't have an excuse to explain how he knew where she lived when the address given by her in her file was of a house that burned down a few years ago.

"We have a problem" Traci whispered as she slid into his cubicle waving her phone at him.

"She ran?" Chris moaned out at seeing Traci's worried face.

"They don't know. They found a Russian mobster shot dead in her motel room and they're gone. Most of their stuff is still there, so Luke doesn't know if she ran or if they were taken".

"Signs of a struggle?"

Traci nodded.

"He knows she's still here then".

This was bad, really bad. The people that Andy was running from had evidently found her even though she'd been careful and meticulous at keeping a low cover and blending into the background.

"There haven't been any kids found or DB's matching her description, so they're still alive" Traci said and patted Chris' shoulder before stepping out of his cubicle and returning to pretending that she worked here.

Chris rocked himself back and forth in his chair, maybe if he told Andy that he was here to help her, that they were on her side and had her back, she wouldn't be missing with her five year old brother right now.

Maybe if she knew that she wasn't alone, then she would have reached out for help, but now he'd never know.

Right now, he wasn't even sure that they were still alive.

...

Sam breathed a sigh of relief when he found the two bodies curled up on the bed sleeping.

The exertion of the drama earlier had obviously tired Andrea out even though she was clearly exhausted already.

Shutting the door behind him when he left them to sleep, Sam put the water back into the fridge and the sandwiches into the microwave. He'd make fresh ones for them when they woke up.

Grabbing his laptop her began searching into the late Mr McNally's life to see if there was anything else to go on there.

A ping sounded through the room and several new emails surfaced in his inbox, one name in particular standing out.

If Luke Callaghan was sending him emails then there was trouble.

Big trouble.

_'I need contacts to find a girl in the city. Running out of time'._ Was all he said, but it made sense.

If the Russian mob wanted her, and his handler was looking for her, and a guy from Guns and Gangs wanted to kill her, then Callaghan was sure to pop up eventually with a hand in the game considering he worked most task forces out of Fifteen division.

Considering his possible answers Sam let out a tight breath before responding with questions only.

_Local?_

_Candidate?_

_Threat?_

He sent his reply before changing his mind.

Less than a minute later Callaghan returned with answers of his own.

_Local- yes._

Okay so Callaghan knew that she was in the city, but not that he was here.

_Candidate no._

So she wasn't in witness protection, and she wasn't going to be given the option of getting into the program anytime soon. Unless she had already turned it down.

_Threat- no. Yes._

She wasn't a threat, but by the yes that followed Sam knew that they were in big trouble. She had more heat coming down on her than she ever could imagine.

And right now, that meant that they had to leave.

Now.

******thanks for reading! Hope you have a few more answers now? **

**Let me know what you're thinking in another awesome review!**

**Have an awesome day!**

**Jelly Bean Jenna©**


	8. Escape to Safety

**As always thank you for your awesome reviews!**

**Let's see how this version of Sam and Andy are doing...**

**Chapter 8- Escape to Safety. **

Sam shut his laptop down and put it away. He would have to wait until later to delve deeper into Anrea McNally-Collins' life.

He grabbed a few items and shoved them into his duffle bag before heading for the bedroom.

He knocked much louder this time, so that he would be sure that she heard him.

He opened the door to find Andrea sitting up looking a little disorientated.

"We have to go. Now".

"Go?" She seemed taken back by the words **we **and **go **being strung together but somehow managed to grasp the concept of what he was saying.

She flew off the bed, her hand reaching for her shoes. "Jared". She picked them up and called the child who stirred at the sound of his name.

"Where are we going?" She had her back facing him while she scrounged around for a few of their things and shoved them into one of her bags.

"I'm taking your car to lead them away, and you're taking the kid somewhere safe" Sam said and reached into his back pocket. He pulled out the note that he had scribbled before coming in here and held it out to her.

He held out a single key to her too, one that would unlock the only place he could think of sending them to now. "Here's the key, alarm code and address are on there. My cel number is there too, and a number for a friend. If you need anything or suspect that you've been seen, call that number. The guys name is Jerry Barber, he'll help you".

"You know Jerry Barber?" She sort of gasped it out, her hand already clutching the paper and key.

"Yeah? Do you?" Sam was squinting at her.

"How do you know him?" She rushed out, sounding slightly skeptical.

"He's my best friend. Do you know him?" Sam answered her question and repeated his own.

"Yes. He's one of... He's one of the detectives that has been helping us". Her words were so quietly spoken that Sam guessed that she wasn't sure if she should tell him that or not.

"So you trust him?" Sam was trying to figure their connection out, and add a name to the guy chasing her. If Jerry was helping her, and he was at Fifteen Division, as was Guns and Gangs, then chances were it was her real ex-husbands base of operations too.

"Yes" she replied before scampering away and finishing the task at hand.

Sam watched her shuffle around, the conversation effectively having been brought to an end but still running through their minds. She just had a look on her face that told him that she was thinking about all of this.

Ten minutes later Sam ushered them out the door and over to his truck. He helped her load her bags and blankets in while she strapped Jared in the back.

Against his better judgment Sam knelt down and took hold of a gun strapped around his ankle and held it out to her. She shied away but he took hold of her hand and put the gun into it because right now there wasn't much more that he could do to help them if they ran into trouble and he wasn't around.

"Go straight to that address. I'll be there in a couple hours. If I'm not there by tomorrow morning, call Jerry and tell him to come get you".

Andrea's face clouded over in slight traces of worry while she tucked the gun into the back of her jeans. "If you're not there by tomorrow morning?".

"It's going to get pretty hot" Sam said after a moments thought. He had put two of his bags and his laptop into his truck too and knew that Jerry would find them if anything happened to him.

"Why Jerry?" Andrea asked as she leaned against the back of his truck and fished for answers while holding out her abandoned cars key.

"Why not?" Sam didn't really have an answer other than that. He'd know Jerry for most of his life and trusted him more than he trusted most people. "Just call him if you need something".

Sam started backing away while checking that he had Andrea's car key in his pocket.

"So, where am I going?" Andrea asked deflecting the subject.

"Somewhere safe" was his plausible answer. It only earned him a squint of her eyes in return.

"My um, my house" Sam said adding definition to his previous answer.

"Your house?". Andrea choked the two words out, her voice raising an octave as she spoke.

Sam nodded, but only marginally. He did not want to escalate this moment into a more heated one right now.

"You're kidding right?".

Sam gave her a look that told her that he wasn't kidding.

"I can't go to your house".

"Sure you can". Sam countered while reaching over and opening the trucks driver door so that she'd take it as a sign to get into the vehicle.

"But.."

"Look, that's the only place I have to hide you right now. I have no idea what's really going on, and I can't help you until you tell me everything. That leaves you one other choice- stay here until they come for you and Jared, and trust me, you will regret it".

Sam took a calming breath after surprising himself by actually saying what he was thinking and even saying so many words at once. He really wasn't a talker.

Andrea took a step back and stared at his bad side flashing, he had lost his cool for a moment and anyone would clearly have seen it.

"Look, just trust me okay. They will never look for you there, and for now you'll be safe".

Sam spoke and then backed away before doing a complete one-eighty turn and walking away. He couldn't force her to seek shelter in his home, but if she wanted to stay alive, and keep Jared safe he knew he'd find her there.

Andy watched Sam walk away until he reached the end of the curb and hailed a cab. He got in and drove away, Andy wondering what she was getting herself into here.

She'd always had trust issue, it was just something that had been drilled into her since she took her first breath in this world. Over the years her dad had explained why she couldn't trust people, or anyone for that matter and it hadn't ever really made much sense until recently.

Weeks before her fathers death she had come to learn why he had repeatedly told her to trust no-one, no matter what. Had had stressed the point that you yourself were the only person that could be depended on.

And now, here she was trusting a complete stranger who held her and Jared's lives in his hands because he knew what her next move was going to be, he knew where they were going and that was the one and only thing that had kept them alive this far.

The anonymity of her identity and keeping Jared secluded from the world had helped, but mostly her failure to trust people had been a key factor in keeping them safe.

Climbing into the truck Andy closed the door, peered over the headrest at Jared and started the truck before reversing out into the street.

Stopping at a red light a few blocks away, Andy scanned the street for signs of anything familiar, or known but found nothing so she reached for the paper that she had dropped into the centre console before unfolding it to scan the address Sam had scribbled down for her.

Taking a left at when the light turned green Andy drove towards the more suburban side of town, which in her mind did not fit with the man she had met at all.

With Jared sleeping in the back seat, Andy had time to draw a picture in her imagination of what Sam's house would look like, the kind of furniture he owned, the colors of the walls and curtains. She pictured a house that looked more like a prison or a dungeon and let out a stiff giggle at her imagination running wild.

Really- just because he was bad-ass and slightly trigger happy didn't mean that his place of solitude was something out of a mid evil time zone. Andy chastised herself as she turned into a neat street and slowed down looking for the correct number.

Slowing down to a cruise, Andy took stock of the street and noted the cars that were parked in driveways as she familiarized herself with the neighborhood.

Reaching the house that bore the right number, Andy stared blatantly at the front of it in surprise.

It was average, and didn't stand out in any way. It was well kept and had fresh paint on the outside walls, with numerous windows aligning the front.

The grass that was visible around the side of the house had recently been trimmed and the soil beds had blooming flowers.

Observing the area once more, Andy found nothing suspicious so on a whim she pulled to a stop and parked.

She climbed out of the truck and palmed the key that Sam had given her. Her hand ran over the back of her jeans where the gun he had parted with rested in the waistband, and then she scampered to the back door and opened it to retrieve Jared.

Deciding to come back for their bags she carried Jared to the front door, unlocked it and stepped inside.

Deactivating the alarm with the four digets that Sam had given her, Andy closed the front door before taking her new surroundings in.

She found an enterance hall that didn't divulge much, but once she stepped into the lounge she was breathless.

The house was immaculate and well decorated even though it was kept spacious. Clutter had been avoided and with the entire scheme going on, it worked really well. The room was warm and cozy in shades of browns and beiges, trimmings in black and white.

Who would have pegged a guy toting a gun to be so...homey?

Setting Jared down on the couch, Andy walked around the rest of the house and checked for escape routes like a paranoid criminal. She secured the doors and windows mentally as locked and then took a moment to herself while staring a photo of a woman with dimples and long dark curls.

It was a life-size portrait of her torso that hung on a wall around a corner out of view.

Strange place to keep a portrait, but then again Sam wasn't exactly the average kind of person that you came across every single day.

Venturing back outside to retrieve their bags, Andy did one last look at the street before shutting them inside and re-activating the alarm.

After finding a room that would definitely be considered the spare room, Andy put their stuff in it and then headed for the kitchen to see if there was anything that she could label food hidden in it. Jared would be hungry when he woke up.

After helping herself to coffee and sticking a TV dinner in the microwave Andy sat down next to Jared and watched him sleep.

He had lost so many of his childhood features in the last few months that it was heartbreaking. His face had become hard and withered and he hardly ever managed a smile these days.

It was more than enough punishment for a person to endure...

...

Sam stared up at the windows, darkness encasing his house.

It had been a while since he'd been here, but it still looked the same as he remembered.

Turning to the left he let his eyes take in the street, he did the same turning to the right.

He was in way over his head, and he knew it.

Letting out a sigh Sam crossed the tarmac and reached his front pavement.

He was tired and frustrated.

Letting his hand reach out for the fake rock key holder Sam wondered what he'd find when he stepped inside. His truck was here, so Andrea had obviously at least made a stop here, if they hadn't stayed.

He'd picked her car up from her old motel and driven it back to it's registered owner where he handed her the key and thanked her for letting Andrea use it. When the sweet old lady had told him that Andrea had paid for it he told her that Andrea now had a new car so she was returning the old one because she knew that it had been sold because the woman needed the money.

The old lady had been rather surprised by Andrea's generosity, but accepted possession of her car back without putting up too much of a protest.

Slipping the key into the door, Sam inched it forwards after turning the handle, a staggering beep filling the doorway as he stepped inside.

Switching the alarm off, the noise stopped and Sam closed the door.

He could smell coffee and something that resembled food, but he wasn't sure exactly what it was.

Clearing the enterance hall, Sam looked around the lounge to find no sign of Andrea or Jared when he was suddenly staggering off his own two feet and then hit the ground heavily.

His head hit the wooden floor with a jolt, and a familiar sound echoed really close by- the sound of a safety being slipped off...

Blinking a few times to clear his blurry vision, Sam looked up into the barrel of his own gun pointed in his face by a hand that didn't even waver as it held on to the metal.

"Are you crazy?" Andrea whispered as the gun disappeared. "I could have shot you". She backed away leaving him sprawled on his back on the floor.

Squinting in the dark to find Andrea's silhouette Sam leaned up onto his forearms and watched her clip the safety back on before setting the gun down and running a hand over her face.

"I told you I was coming back here" Sam said sitting up while still trying to fathom exactly how she managed to drop him to the floor.

"You can't just sneak in here Sam, not even if it's your own house". She sounded angry.

Her hand reached out and snapped the gun up before it disappeared down the hallway with her, a few illegible words muttered as she walked away.

The electrifying moment left Sam staring into thin air as his mind reran the last minute of his life.

The fragile, broken Andrea McNally had gotten the upper hand and managed to sneak up on him, drop him onto his back and shoved a gun into his face with a steady hand and without flinching.

Why was this image so wrong?

And who was she really?

Because she sure as hell wasn't weak, untrained, or the average daughter of a dead cop.

*******Thank for reading. I seem to think that Andy's keeping some pretty heavy secrets, what say you?**

**Okay, so who's still here & wants more?**

**Have an awesome day!**

**Jelly Bean Jenna©**


	9. Revenge is Sweet

**Welcome back!**

**Sorry for the lack of posting but we've been having severe storms that knock my signal out & we've had continuous blackouts because of the weather too... Pain in the *** but anyway!**

**Thanks to kelly2727 & the girls on twitter & facebook! **

**Hello to all the newbies I've seen popping up!**

**To my Mom- here's Mavis lol! We have a joke about Mavis, when we're doing housework we call our alter ego Mavis so I just couldn't resist!**

**Chapter 9- Revenge is Sweet. **

Swallowing the last of his whiskey, Sam surveyed his lounge with a weary eye.

It felt like it had been forever since he'd set foot in here, but it was close on to a year. Maybe a little longer.

Mavis, his housekeeper had obviously been by recently to do her weekly clean, the house was dust-less and tidy and there were no traces of a musty smell lingering in any of the rooms.

That's what he liked about keeping her on, she did what she needed to in order to ensure that his house was always ready for his unexpected return. There were even some New TV dinners in the freezer and coffee and creamer in the cupboards along with a few cans of food that he was sure hadn't been there when he left.

Glancing across the room, Sam spied something that snatched his attention- Andrea's bag.

It was the smaller of the duffle's and was a stained, dark purple color.

It was the one that she always moved for first. He had noticed that the weight seemed a little off for a bag that size, and it was really odd.

Setting his tumbler down, Sam approached the bag with caution as indecision clouded over him.

He hated snooping.

And... he was about to do exactly that.

Checking that he was alone before bending down Sam inhaled a deep breath before clutching the zipper and silently slipping it to the right.

Prying the material apart he let out a string of curses that echoed through the room under his breath.

Really? Really!

That's what she was toting around with her?

Imagine if they got pulled over at a search and seize roadblock... It would mean a life of jail time for one of them with a mile long rap sheet for both of them.

Sam shifted the contents of the bag around, more question coming to mind as he did so.

Once his urge to intrude had been fed, Sam zipped the bag closed and headed back to the kitchen where he decided on a beer rather than another shot of whiskey.

After taking a long sip, he set the bottle down on the counter just in time to hear the wooden floor creak behind him.

"Hi" Andrea managed weakly as she stepped into the faded kitchen light as it spread across the wooden floor and spilled into the lounge and hallway.

Facing her Sam let out a little groan as he felt his temper rise at the mere sight of the doe-eyed brunette. "We need to talk" came rushing out before he could muzzle it.

"Um, okay" she said stepping closer.

Sam avoided looking at her bag, it would give away the fact that he had snooped.

"Who is your ex-husband?" He started off with the first question that came to mind, the one that would no doubt hold the key to getting all the answers.

Judging by the look on Andrea's face it was easy to tell that she knew that it was time to reveal her secrets.

"Donovan Boyd" slipped out of her mouth in disgust.

"What?" Was Sam's really intelligent reply.

He'd pondered what name would be the answer to that question, but he never imagined it to be Boyd.

He'd even gone so far as to label Steve Peck as a potential candidate, but Boyd?

"Yes okay, not my smartest move. I get it" Andrea snapped before stepping passed him and into the kitchen.

"He's the one...?".

"Yes, he killed the guy in my house. He threatened Jared. He's the one tangling with the Russians and trying to hunt us down".

Sam's mind spun out of control for seconds, minutes- he wasn't even really sure how long.

But it still didn't make sense.

"And the bag?" Sam finally cut through the silence and nodded toward the duffle he had snooped in.

"My insurance" Andrea answered.

"You're carrying around a key of Cocaine as an insurance policy? And the three passports in your name?" That sounded like a stupid question, even to his own ears.

"They were used as decoys to throw him off when I first took Jared and ran. I had friends traveling on them...".

"Had?" Sam wasn't sure that he was ready to hear the answer to that question, her face fell at explaining so he was sure that her answer would be pretty painful to say never mind hear.

"He um, he found two of them and had their throats slit".

"The third?".

Andrea held her hand up in a timid wave. She'd been the third one, the real Andrea traveling on her own passport.

"The coke is uncut. It's pure. It just came in when I took it and I didn't know it at the time. When they cut it down and add the drain cleaner, pain meds and calcium it'll be worth more money than you and I will see in this lifetime. It will feed more addictions than you can imagine and it's what he's really after".

Wow, okay. She sounded like a drug dictionary with that explanation so Sam arched an eyebrow at her and waited.

"My dad?".

Oh right- the man that was a cop that no mention was made of. According to what Sam had found, he was just an ordinary man.

"So, Boyd wants his coke back and to keep you and Jared from talking? What else do I need to know?"

Andrea had made coffee for herself during their little talk and left an empty mug next to the kettle before moving out of the way so that Sam could tend to his own, but the beer was still doing just fine right now.

"He doesn't care who he goes over or what he has to do to achieve that. We shouldn't even be here, and I shouldn't have dragged you into this". Andrea mumbled looking like she regretted even meeting him.

"Like I said, someone else wants you found" Sam said absent mindedly.

"About that..." Andrea started but stopped there when Sam raised a hand.

"The people I work for are the good guys, generally. They won't hurt you".

"You don't know that, even you said you didn't know who your handler was. I don't care what they do to me, all I want is for Jared to be safe".

"I work cases helping people Andrea, I don't hurt them unless I have to. We need to figure this out". Sam took a small sip of his beer only to find the bottle empty.

"Figure what out? I need to take Jared and leave so they won't come for you too because if you get in the way Boyd will kill you even if you're a cop".

"Let's just say that I'm looking forward to running into him again" Sam let the words hang too late before realizing his mistake. Now she knew that he knew Boyd.

"You know him don't you". She was stating a fact.

"We go way back, and let's just say that I won't hesitate to shoot him given the golden opportunity".

The surprise of his words displayed on her face, alongside some inquisitiveness. For a change, he had all the answers, and Andrea the questions.

And somehow it didn't feel the same now that the tables were turned.

"Don't ask" Sam said avoiding her asking the question that was most evidently shimmering across her face- **Why.**

"He's looking for a woman and child right, so what's the one and only thing that would throw him off?". Sam changed the subject while searching for a solution to their problem.

"I have no idea, I've tried everything". Andrea shrugged.

Sam let thoughts rattle around in his mind until he found one that would stir things up, both here and on Boyd's home front.

"What?". Andrea asked sensing that Sam had come up with an idea. She eyed him with her own eyes narrowed until she saw through the smoke and mirrors and drew a perfect image of what he had in mind. "No!".

"No!" She repeated taking a small step back. She didn't look scared, instead anger made fire dance in her eyes and her cheeks flame up.

"It's the only thing he won't see coming".

"It's the one thing I swore I'd never do" Andrea challenged back somewhat defiant as she venomously shook her head.

"What if something happens and I'm not there? What if..."

Her rambling made Sam lift his hand up again, her words falling away into silence.

"Look, we don't really have a choice here. It will throw Boyd off for a while, and keep you both safe a little longer".

"You don't get a say in separating us okay. Yes, you've helped us but I don't even know you".

"Boyd had my sister killed six years ago, trust me when I say that he won't screw around with you when he finds you because he won't give up until he does". Sam yelled it a little louder than he intended too, but talking about Sarah always had that effect on him because he was still angry.

"I'm sorry" Andrea said looking down before meeting his intense stare with one so sad that he knew that she had felt the same way at some point.

"My dad" she shrugged like it was not such a significant thing to say.

Wait, Boyd had her dad killed?

Why would he do that?

And then that also meant that her parents weren't killed in an ordinary accident.

"My dad had something on Boyd and they went to a dinner party and had the accident. The break lines had been cut. Boyd was the one that came to give me the death notification". She sort of huffed the last few words out but hidden behind the irony was a tragic sense of sorrow.

"Andrea, I'm sorry but we need to do something different here"

"Andy".

"What?" Sam tried to shelve his confusion, but it was clearly more difficult than he thought.

"Boyd calls me Andrea, and I hate it". She visibly shivered saying that.

"Andy" Sam repeated feeling the roll of her name over his tongue. It definitely felt better than saying Andrea, it felt less tacky and stiff.

"But that's besides the point. I'm still not letting Jared out of my sight" her fire returned as she reverted back to their previous conversation.

"Andr... Andy, think about it. He's got everyone looking for a woman and a child. Keeping you two together will end badly if he finds you both" Sam tried reason, but he could tell that it wasn't getting through to her.

"And where do we send him? How will he communicate with people he doesn't know and how is he going to feel? He's going to think I abandoned him just like our parents did".

"Then explain it to him. We were okay the other day, I understood what he wanted and he answered me in his own way. Where I want to hide him is inside a family. They have kids and I trust them". Sam tried again to convince her, but her face revealed some strong determination to not give in.

"No, not happening okay. Then I'd rather leave him here and go away". Andrea whirled around and stomped off after uttering those words passionately.

Sam's strides followed hers and they both came to a halt in the dining room where feint traces of light reached the room.

"I get it okay, this is hard. You're all he has left and you're trying to keep him safe. I promise you that he will be safe and that he will be looked after" Sam's hushed tone spelled out his firm belief in what he was saying.

It seemed to effect her because suddenly Andy's face dipped in the dim light and he would swear that he saw her eyes sparkle.

"You can't promise that". But still, she refused to believe what he was saying.

"I can, because it's where I grew up. It's the last place that Boyd would ever look for Jared and even though I can't tell you where it is, or who he's with, I promise that he will be okay".

Andy shook her head at him, again in a negative way. "I'm sorry, but that will never be an option". She walked away leaving him to his own thoughts a second later.

Damnit, but this was a stubborn one.

...

The sound of a key in the lock made Sam's head snap up towards the front door.

Within a second the burly wooden object moved open and Sam released his grip on the gun he had shoved into the back of his pants.

"Mr Swarek" Mavis gasped at the sight of him. He was just standing there looking at her like she was suddenly unexpected, which she was of course.

"Mavis" Sam nodded her way and managed a weak smile.

"It's good to see you" Mavis added as she closed the door and entered the house looking like she had recovered from her shock.

Sam had know her for longer than he had known most people- they had sort of grown up together. She was a little older than he was but she fell on hard times and he was able to help her out by offering her the glamorous title of housekeeper. That had been fifteen years ago, and since then she had started her own housekeeping business with eight employees. But she always came to his house personally, probably because she knew the sensitive nature of his line of work.

"Home long?" She asked as she passed to which Sam shrugged. He had no idea how long he'd be here for this time.

"I have guests" Sam stammered out suddenly remembering that he wasn't here alone. He could just imagine Mavis' heart fluttering if she ran into Andy and hit the floor seconds later. Her fragile heart would never handle that.

"Will they be staying for dinner" Mavis' voice came through from somewhere unseen. It was only seven am, and already she was planning out her day.

"They'll be staying for a while" Sam cleared up.

"Good. I'll make dinner".

"Mavis". Sam warned. She was always too eager to please and he often felt like he was taking advantage of her master chef skills.

"Nonsense. Here" she reappeared and handed him a slip of paper that had a list of fresh items on it. Another thing about Mavis- she always had a grocery list prepared.

"They're... Kind of jumpy" Sam nodded towards the spare room door that was still closed and hoped that Mavis would understand what he meant.

"I've got this, now get going before all the good veg are gone" Mavis ushered Sam towards the door. Of course, only she would send him to the farmers market on a Saturday morning.

Nodding Sam grabbed his wallet and keys. He wouldn't be gone long so he doubted that Andy or Jared would even wake up before he was back.

...

Something was wrong...

Sam found his front door slightly ajar, just enough to give the illusion that it was properly closed from a glance as you passed.

Setting his bags down on the deck silently, Sam did a quick survey of the street while palming his gun and unlatched the safety as cold metal met the palm of his hand.

With one hand pressed on the wood of the door and the other holding his gun out at chest level Sam entered his house to find a little more than he was expecting.

Two feet in he found Mavis laying on her back with a gash across her forehead, but her chest rising and falling as she breathed.

Another four steps in he found an overturned table and a smashed lamp on the floor. The couch had been moved a few feet and the TV lay dangling face down off the glass stand it had been on.

It took Sam less than three minutes to clear the rest of his house before he knelt down beside Mavis and gently roused her.

As soon as her eyes fluttered open, she blinked before letting out a stinted scream as she scrambled for her knees.

"The boy" she managed to get out before Sam could respond to her rising panic.

Sam tried to help Mavis to her feet but she shoved him aside while racing frantically into the kitchen.

"Mavis" Sam called trying to get a response but it was futile as his housekeeper threw open the kitchen cupboards one at a time.

"Mavis!" Sam tried again but froze when Mavis yanked open the cupboard doors under the kitchen basin to reveal a cowering Jared.

"Come child" Mavis said but Jared started screaming as he had done before when Sam first saw him.

Sam brushed passed Mavis and bent down so that he was eye level with Jared who seemed to find comfort in his appearance.

"Hey Buddy" Sam said and tried to smile but it was so faked that he felt like a bad toothpaste commercial on late night TV.

"Want to come out?" Sam held his hand out and in less than three seconds flat Jared had crawled out of his hiding place in the confined space and into Sam's arms.

The hug felt strange, probably because Sam couldn't even remember the last time he'd had an actual hug.

Sam stood up still holding Jared and turned to find Mavis slouched against the fridge. "Are you okay?" He asked eyeing her forehead as her hand tenderly inspected the damage blindly.

"Head wound, always bleeds plenty, but it's superficial". Came her smart-ass reply. She would never admit to pain, or sickness, she was just so damned stubborn.

"Where's Andy?" Sam felt jared stiffen in his arms at the mention of his now missing sister.

"These guys came in and they took her Sam, I'm so sorry". Mavis murmured.

"It's okay, but who's ...?" Sam refrained from finishing his sentence with '_blood is that'_ as he glanced over at the splatter on the wall and droplets that marred his spotless white floor tiles.

"One of the Russians. She fired a shot and he went down. They wanted the boy" Mavis replied and grimaced.

"Are you sure they're Russian?".

"Yup, one had a tattoo on his head. They called him Nicoli".

"Are you sure?" Sam felt his breath leave his chest forcefully. Andy had shot Nicoli Valentina? He knew of so many people that had tried that over the years, but tried was the keyword in that sentence, no-one had ever gotten close enough to to Nicoli to pull the trigger and live to talk about it.

"They came in and she hid the boy and the bag before she yelled at them at this Nicoli guy came at her. She ran out the door and they followed- I think" Mavis sounded so apologetic running through the events. Sam could tell that after that she didn't recall anything because that was around the time that she'd been hit in the head and lost consciousness.

"Okay get that bag" Sam said squeezing Jared a little tighter as he pointed to Andy's purple duffle in the cupboard under the sink.

"And get some of his clothes" Sam added.

Mavis nodded and scampered away.

"You okay?" Sam pushed Jared away so that he could look at him. The child nodded.

"I need you to go with Mavis okay" Jared's eyes widened and he shook his head.

"I need to go find Andy okay and get her back" Sam spoke again, but Jared's hands seemed to clamp down on his shoulders a little tighter. He looked so scared.

"You'll be okay Buddy. Can I tell you a secret?" Sam gave pause to allow Jared to focus on him, a nod finally signaling that they were on the same page. "Mavis is secretly a ninja" Sam whispered leaning in really close so that Mavis wouldn't hear him.

It was probably a cory statement, but it was all he had to work with right now.

Jared's eyes widened and he glanced frantically between Sam and Mavis in awe.

"Ssshhh" Sam added before setting Jared down on his own two feet.

"Go to the place we first met. Stay there until you hear from me" Sam said to Mavis who looked momentarily confused by his statement. Obviously she would click on to the fact that he was speaking in riddles just in case Boyd or his Russian counterparts had left a bug in his house in the hopes of finding the boy.

"Hey" Sam said when he saw Jared's lip begin to tremble as he bit tears back. Bending down in front of the boy Sam managed a genuine smile before making a promise he hoped that he could keep "I will come back for you".

Jared nodded and Mavis moved closer holding a bag that probably contained some of Jared's stuff. Sam stood up and led the way to the door after grabbing Andy's purple duffle and handing it to Mavis too. At the door, he checked the street before letting Mavis bring Jared outside.

Sam hailed a cab and gave the driver an address across town where Mavis would change cabs and take one to their final destination.

Sam handed the driver some cash and the remaining notes he handed to Mavis through her open window before the cab pulled away and Sam stood watching it fade in the distance.

Returning to the inside of his house Sam took a moment to survey the damage done to his furniture. Andy had put up one hell of a fight for such a pint sized person. She had also made sure that there would be enough evidence left behind for him to hand over to Jerry if he wasn't able to find her.

Clever girl.

But somehow Sam got the idea that even she thought that she wasn't coming back, that this was how she was going to die.

A chilling thought that- knowing that someone else thought that this was the end of their life and you knew it, even if you didn't really know them...

******Thanks for reading! Looking forward to hearing your thoughts...**

**Jelly Bean Jenna©**


End file.
