The chase

Vanessa came back out of the cabin, running.

"We've got an address," she said.

"OK," Jordan was already running, "let's move people."

Jim and Vanessa jumped into their car almost simultaneously and Jordan and Leo were not far behind.

"I hope the Chief can keep up," Jim said, before spinning the car out of its hiding place and throwing it down the narrow mountain roads. As Vanessa checked the map, she saw that the house was quite far away.

"It will take about an hour," she said, looking worried, "we don't have that long!!"

"We better not take that long then, had we?" Jim said as the car accelerated out of another mountain hairpin. Soon, the car was flying through the streets, the engine screaming. Looking in the rear-view mirror, he saw Jordan and Leo right on their tail.

"I guess he'll keep up," was all Jim said.

After driving for about 35 mins, they pulled up short of the house where they hoped Zenya was being held. They just hoped they were not too late.

Jordan jumped out of the car, Leo following.

"Right, Vanessa you're with me. Leo, Jim, you take the front. Give us one minute to get into position around the back and then go in. It's time to show you are as good as you say you are."

Jim and Leo did a smooth and practised weapons check. They looked at each other.

"Let's get her out of there," Leo said coldly.

<>

Jim and Leo were positioned in a stand of trees located in the front of the house, guns drawn. Vanessa and Jordan were covering the back, covering all of the exits of the house. As they watched Zenya step in front of the bay window, Leo gave off a small sigh of relief, knowing that they weren't too late. With Jim's and Jordan's driving, they managed to get to the house in little over 40 minutes instead of the hour that was supposed to have been their time.

"You have a shot?" Jim asked, trying to get a fix on the guy holding the gun on Zenya.

"Nope. you?" Leo answered back, also maneuvering for a shot.

"No. I got nothing." Jim replied, a little frustrated.

"Nevermind. We might not need a kill shot. Just shoot the window around Zenya." Leo said, remembering how she launched herself through another window that night of the fire. "If we collapse the window, she may be able to jump through."

"I was just thinking the same thing." Jim said with a smile. "Great minds think alike."

Leo smiled at that. "Ok, on my mark, you shoot high, I'll shoot low."

Jim nodded, waiting for Leo's mark. His gun raised to shoot above Zenya's head.

Leo looked over to Jim and said, "Now!"

They both let loose a flurry of bullets as they saw the window blow itself inwards. A moment later, they saw Zenya jump backwards through the window, landing hard on the ground. Jim and Leo ran across the lawn to see how their partner was.

The smile that was on Ted's face disappeared quickly as he also saw the muzzle flashes of Jim and Leo's guns going off. Hitting the floor a fraction of a second before his wife, he heard the window shatter to the ground. Hearing his wife's cry of despair, he turned to see Zenya jump out.

"Damn it!" He said to himself. "Becca, come on. To the garage."

"She was our last chance. It's over now." Rebecca cried out as she was half- stumbling, half-dragged to the garage.

"No! There's still a chance." Ted replied as they went through the kitchen, into the garage.

"What chance is there? And how did they get this address, Ted? How?"

Ted got into the driver's seat and strapped himself in. "It was probably Jasmine, I told her to meet us here. They must've gotten to her, but she may be our chance to move on with the ritual. Call her up, tell her to meet us at the landing field."

As soon as the truck started, Ted shifted it into gear and crashed through their newly installed garage door. Debris scattered in front of them as they took off down the road in their truck. Ted looked in the rear-view mirror to see a male and female come running from behind the house, firing at the wheels of the truck. He rounded the turn and the agents were gone, just like they soon would be.

Leo got to Zenya's fallen body first, taking off his jacket along the way to prop up her head. He checked for her vital signs, brushing bits of glass from her hair and face. Jim got there and assisted as they heard the great boom of the garage door being rammed open.

"Go after them, Jim. I'll call 911 and stay with her." Leo said, seeing the truck round the bend.

"you're sure?" Jim asked, then seeing the cold deadliness in Leo's eyes, nodded then ran for the car. He saw Jordan and Vanessa get into the other car and take off after the Crosses.

Leo looked back at the calm serenity on Zenya's face and took out his cellular phone to call 911. Then he waited....

<>

Jim ran over to his car and screamed after the red convertible. Jordan and Vanessa had a slight start on him, but soon they were almost level, with the taillights of the sports car a little in front. On normal roads, the two rentals would have been easily outstripped by the lead car. Luckily, they were going into rougher terrain. With the map still open on the car seat, Jim glanced down to take in the position. They were heading roughly North and seemed to be going off to nothing. It was then he noticed the landing field. Was it possible they had an aircraft waiting for them?

He dialled Vanessa's cellphone.

"I think they're heading for a small airstrip almost due North of here."

"Yes, we thought that also. What do you think they have there?"

"Either an outbuilding or an aircraft. It has to be..."

Closing in on the Cross's car, Jim hung up the 'phone. There were a couple of shots fired, presumably by Rebecca, but she wasn't very good. They stopped when Vanessa squeezed off a couple of rounds, narrowly missing the passenger side, skimming the roof. Jim was rather impressed by his partner's shooting. They could not take out the tyres, though.

The red car made a sudden turn, too quick for the chase cars. As it turned, Ted took a shot at Jim's car, blowing the front left tyre.

"Damn it!!"

They continued up the road, the red sportster soon turning out of sight. Jim jumped in to Jordan's car.

"We've got to try the airstrip. It's the only thing they could be heading for." Jim looked at Jordan as he delayed. Jordan thought about the order, taking them off the case. He had his agent back...

No! He would be damned if they were going to get away now!!

"Right, the airstrip it is then. Let's go!"

Jordan asked Vanessa to 'phone Leo. He hoped Zenya was alright.

NRPG:

We couldn't have it all too easy now, could we? Anyway, we've got a lead. One thing occurs to me, though. Rebecca's father must be rich if he can fly them out from a private strip. The team are officially off the case. Who exactly is her father, and what influence does he have in the government?

Respectfully submitted,

FCO Lt.(jg) Olivier Patru, USS ORION NCC-1997, Starfleet.
Private Eoin McDonald, Ranger, TEAM LEO, Ragnarok.
Special Agent-1 Jim Reaper, X-Files Division, FBI.
Ar'Aman Bowright and Darar, Daere Warren, DragonLands.

aka Peter Shillan.