Twenty-Eight

The fourteenth of March was a good day, Eppie decided. Usually she didn't like her birthday. But when she woke up and saw flowers on her nightstand, breakfast waiting for her, and a very sexy Aaron Rale to greet her, she couldn't help but feel differently.

"Happy Birthday," he told her, leaning forward and kissing her very chastely. That bothered her. She supposed it was because they had a tendency to let things get out of control very quickly, and the orange juice and chocolate chip pancakes were held precariously in the mix of their overactive emotions today. But she didn't care. They'd made love through worse.

She pouted at him. "Is that all?" she asked, crossing her arms over her chest. Aaron grinned.

"For now," he told her. "Hurry up and eat – we have to get to work."

"But it's my birthday," she complained.

"The world doesn't stop on your birthday," Aaron argued.

"It should," Eppie mumbled, but she took a bite of her chocolate chip pancakes anyway, just to be good. Of course they were delicious. Eppie had found that Aaron was actually a very good cook, something she'd never expected from him.

"How are you feeling this morning?" he asked, casually throwing a tie under his collar and making the ends even before beginning to tie it. He still had to look in a mirror, which Eppie found hilarious although she couldn't explain why.

"Fine," she answered. He asked her every morning, and she answered without thinking about it. After the answer left her lips, though, she would take stock of her body. Did she feel fine? The answer was usually yes.

Eppie was almost five months pregnant now. She was showing spectacularly, and she hated it. Aaron loved it, and Eppie was certain it was because he was a sadist. He insisted she was even more beautiful to him, but she just couldn't believe that. She was fat, for Christ's sake, and her feet were bloated. No one could possibly find that attractive.

Eppie finished her breakfast quickly and then got ready for work. While she got ready, she glanced at Aaron finishing his routine from time to time. He'd asked her a few weeks ago what she wanted for her birthday, and she'd very maturely responded that she wanted a pony. But she'd seen the lengths to which he was willing to go to make her happy. In a scary way, she wouldn't have been surprised if she got a pony for her twenty-fourth birthday.

He caught her glances a few times and smirked. Eppie loved that smirk. She felt like such a hypocrite – she'd become the very person she used to be unable to stand: lovesick, ridiculously cute, and doe-eyed for only him. It was absolutely enraging that he had that effect on her, but what could she do anymore? She'd already acknowledged the fact that she loved him more than was healthy, and there wasn't much more to it.

And she was pregnant with his child. That was pretty big.

They went to work together, Aaron taking her hand after they made it through the security. He brought their hands up to his lips and kissed her knuckles. He rarely did that – not just the knuckles, but anything even slightly romantic – in public. What he did in the privacy of their bedroom was quite a different story.

She raised an eyebrow at him and smirked. "Just because it's my birthday doesn't mean you have to be the perfect gentleman. I know the truth, so you're not fooling anybody."

"You wound my ego, Ep," he said, pretending to act hurt. He led her into the giant conference room, the one in which Allans usually called department meetings. The lights were out, and Eppie grew suspicious.

"Aaron, if this is a –"

"Surprise!" voices shouted at her from all directions. Someone flipped on the light – Mason – and Perry immediately took a picture and then looked at it.

"Eppie, you're not scared or surprised."

"I know. That's because you losers are so transparent it's not even funny," she said simply. There was a collective laugh. There was a small pile of presents on the table in the front of the room, a large pink cake, and streamers and balloons.

"Why pink?" she asked Aaron, who kissed her knuckles again before dropping their hands.

"Because I know it's your favorite color," he joked. She rolled her eyes and laughed.

"You know me so well," she joked back. "Where's my pony?"

"In your cubicle – in case you get confused, it's the one with the large red bow on it. His name is Poe."

"Poe the pony. Poetic."

The party was in full swing already, and Eppie and Aaron were drawn into the party. Eppie found herself discussing things she wasn't sure she wanted to discuss, like the baby, with her male colleagues. Many of them asked her when she was due, and she had to mentally figure out that she was due sometime in early August. They were usually confused. It bothered Eppie because then she had to explain that yes, she was pregnant before she started dating Aaron.

Eppie was just beginning to wonder if the surprise party was going to take up the entire day when the door was thrown open and one of the higher agents shouted, "Allans!"

Ray Allans, whom Eppie didn't even know was there, detached himself from the crowd. He didn't look like he was having fun, but that wasn't a surprise. Eppie had only seen him genuinely smile once, and that was when he'd congratulated her on being pregnant. She was pretty sure that it was more out of common courtesy than actual enjoyment.

Eppie watched with narrowed eyes as the agent muttered in Allans' ear. Allans had his head down and his brow furrowed. About ten seconds in, his eyebrows shot up and he squared off with the agent. With barely moving his lips, he asked a question and the agent just answered with a curt nod. He ordered him away to do something and then took off into the party.

Eppie followed him with her eyes, and when she saw him heading for Aaron, she went there too, completely disregarding the fact that someone had been talking to her.

"That's right, on Lafayette and Grand," Allans was repeating. Aaron had the same look on his face that Allans had had only seconds before. Eppie stood in front of them and waited for someone to clue her in. "Get the team together, Rale – this could be it."

Aaron nodded. Eppie knew that he took his job seriously – it was one of the few things he did take seriously – but she'd never seen him this determined. He pushed past Eppie and motioned to Mason and Perry who were watching them with careful eyes. They immediately came forward, dragging Lucas with them. Aaron got on his cell, dialed, and then began to talk very quietly and quickly. Eppie picked up that it was Bryan on the other end.

"What is going on?" she demanded to Mason when he got there.

"I have no idea. I was talking about the pink icing and how it had better be butter-cream and then..." he shrugged helplessly. She smiled weakly and waited.

"Guys, outside," Aaron said, flicking his fingers. The five of them left the party inconspicuously. Some party-goers hadn't even realized that the party had lost its recipient. Eppie hoped they continued – they could have her cake... she would take the presents, though.

Aaron took them into one of the rooms and quietly closed the door. Bryan was already sitting there, tapping a pencil on the desk. He stood up and joined the circle whenever they all entered.

"What's going on?" Perry asked seriously.

"The Friend," Aaron answered.

"Did he strike again?" Lucas demanded. Mason and Perry exchanged helpless looks. Eppie furrowed her brow. No, that made no sense. He wasn't supposed to strike until July 4th.

"Not yet," Aaron said, holding out his hand. Eppie had never put much stock in Aaron Rale as a leader, mostly because the only times she'd thought about it, she'd also considered him her number one enemy. But right then, when he was about to explain to them the situation and come up with a plan of action, she could see what she'd been missing before, and what Allans had been able to see all along. She would have smiled had the occasion permitted it.

"Near the corner of Lafayette and Grand, Onieal's Grand Street restaurant... one of our guys was eating there with his wife, off-duty. A man dropped a piece of paper, he picked it up for him – it's one of the letters. He got a good enough look at – said it matched The Friend almost exactly. He also said there were more letters on the table. Whoever it was gathered the papers quickly and hid them from view..."

Eppie's stomach churned. The Friend was doing his dirty work in a public restaurant? He had some nerve. She wanted to shut him down.

"Our guy's still down there, but he can't do much. He doesn't have anything but his badge with him, and that'll get him nowhere with someone like The Friend. We have to get down there and get him."

The team sprung into action. "How long will it take to get there from here?" Mason asked, shedding his jacket and throwing on a bullet-proof vest as they passed his cubicle on the way to the garage.

"Five minutes without traffic. So we're looking at twenty at least," Aaron answered, stowing a pistol in the holster at his hip. Eppie followed swiftly, casting a glance at the bullet-proof vest. There was no way it would fit her now. She went without it, carefully closing her jacket so no one would see.

"Can we run?" Bryan asked. They were all basically running through the office. Heads were turning, but the six of them were in their own world.

"You never run to an assignment, Bryan. If you need to follow, you can't do it on foot."

"If some of us run to get there first then the others follow..."

"We'll take the SUVs," Aaron said definitively. "Two of them. Mason you're driving one, I'll drive the other. I want Mason, Lucas, and Bryan in one. Perry, you're coming with me and Ep..." he stopped, and Mason rammed into his back.

"What the hell man? Your brake lights are out," he grumbled.

Aaron ignored him and turned to Eppie. "What?" she asked.

"You... you can't come."

The team was silent. They were now standing in the middle of the parking garage and the sounds of wheels above them permeated the otherwise still silence.

"Excuse me?" she asked in a deathly quiet voice whenever she managed to find it.

"Ep, please. I can't. Please."

"I'm coming, Aaron. And you'll have to deal with it," she replied stubbornly.

"Eppie," there was pain in his voice and in his eyes as he stared at her. He looked sick to his stomach. "I can't... if you're... Eppie, please just..."

"Aaron, I'm an FBI agent. I cannot sit in an office while you go off and do the dirty work. You put me on your team, and I can do this. Let me do this," she demanded.

"Aaron," Mason said. "We're wasting time," he told him gently.

Aaron swallowed heavily. His tortured eyes didn't leave her for more than a minute. She was determined, though. He took a shuddering breath and then swallowed, nodded once, and then turned to Perry and Mason.

"Change of plans. Mason you're coming with us, Perry you're with the others. Bryan you're driving. Let's go."

Aaron's face hadn't lost its haunted expression, but it was now partnered with determination. His jaw was set and his eyes were hard. Eppie and Mason jogged behind Aaron until they reached the unmarked FBI trucks. Eppie got in the front automatically and Mason in the back. Aaron took the wheel. Within less than a minute they were on the road heading toward Grand.

Eppie understood Aaron's choices in personnel. He would never leave her side, but even if that wasn't the case, there was logic to his choice. Aaron was the best marksman of the group of six. Mason was the best hand-to-hand combater they had. He was padding their group. If he could have done it with a clean conscience, he would have added Lucas who was basically a defensive specialist. He would never put the other team at a disadvantage, though, so he'd made his choices to keep her safe. Bryan was a psychologist, first and foremost. He was very good at interrogating suspects and understanding criminals – it was his job. And Perry, although a trained and highly capable agent, specialized in technical wiring and tapping, and in Aaron's eyes, that paled in comparison to the defense of a good hand-to-hand combater.

It bothered her that he was going to such lengths to protect her. She could protect herself, which was why she was an FBI agent to begin with. If she was so incompetent, why didn't he just lock her up in a closet and shove food under the crack in the door to keep her safe? She pouted in her seat as Aaron drove like a madman through the crowded streets of New York City.

They reached Grand in record time and pulled into the first spot available about a block away from Onieal's. Eppie's heart was pounding in her chest as she reached for the handle.

"Ep? I guess I couldn't convince you to stay in the car?" he asked helplessly. Eppie glared at him and then exited the car without answering.

"What's the course of action?" Mason asked, getting out and leaning casually against the car. It was standard to appear to be cool and collected. All three of them mulled around, waiting for the other SUV. Aaron kicked his feet against the pavement. Eppie dug for nothing in her bag.

"You're going to watch Eppie," Aaron said simply. Eppie growled deep in her throat. "Shut up, Ep. I don't care what you say, you're not going to be in any danger today. Mason, watch her. And you," he said, glaring at Eppie. "Don't do anything... stupid."

"I'll leave that to you," she hissed savagely. Eppie was saved from his retort by the chirp of a cell phone.

"Rale," he answered immediately. Eppie could just make out Perry's voice. "Got it." He flipped the phone shut. "They're coming in the back. The suspect is sitting in a booth toward the back of the building. He's wearing a green sweater, white collar, blue jeans. Our first goal is indiscretion. We don't want anyone getting hurt. We have to get him outside, where none of the other patrons can get hurt."

Eppie nodded and cracked her knuckles. Mason stepped closer to her and she ground her teeth. "Not a word, Ep," Aaron warned before heading in. He went into the restaurant, flashed his badge to the woman at the podium who immediately stopped asking if they wanted a table, and stepped casually into the rear of the restaurant.

There were very few customers. One was most definitely an agent from their office, Hawkins unless Eppie missed her bet. He was watching them carefully with his hand on his wife's shoulder. A man and two young girls were sitting at another table, and an elderly couple at another by the window. The man in the green sweater was sitting in the second to last booth against the wall, sipping coffee and reading the paper. Eppie could see he had an unzipped backpack, and inside was a stack of letters.

Her heart was beating out of her chest, but she was racing on adrenaline now. She followed behind Aaron as he approached the booth.

"Hello," he said simply to the man. He looked up and smiled. It was a stiff smile, and something was definitely wrong with it. Eppie studied his face, taking it in. It was too perfect a face. There were no beauty marks, no moles or freckles. It was then that she realized he was wearing another mask. She was immediately transported back to the day that this man sitting in front of her had set a bomb off in the mail room. The smell of burning flesh returned to her nostrils, and a dull ache began to pound behind her right eye. She felt sick to her stomach and swallowed a few times, forcing her breakfast back down.

"Can I help you?" the stranger asked. Eppie was certain it was The Friend. He slowly and carefully zipped up his bag.

"I hope so. We're looking for someone, actually. A friend of ours."

The man in the mask grinned. "A friend?" he asked, feigning innocence. Eppie noticed movement in her peripheral vision, and she looked to see Mason, Bryan, and Lucas enter from the kitchen and sit down at a table nearby. The man in the mask noticed too. "I'm afraid I don't know what you're talking about."

Aaron sighed and produced his badge, making sure to show his gun in the process. "If you'd be so kind, I'd like to make sure of that," he said.

The man shook his head. "Unfortunately I don't have time for that." He stood, taking his bag with him. Eppie tensed when he moved. "And Agent Rale? Tell Agent King I said hello." King. One of the men from the mailroom.

It all happened very quickly. Aaron snapped and jumped at the man in the green sweater, who somehow evaded him. Mason grabbed Eppie and put her behind his back. Perry, Lucas, and Bryan abandoned their table. Hawkins pushed his wife under the table and joined them. The Friend shouted something about not doing anything rash, and suddenly he was holding one of the little girls in a chokehold with a gun pointed at her temple. The father let out a shout, but Bryan held him down.

Aaron put his hands up immediately. "Drop the weapon," he said slowly. "And let go of the girl."

"The girl's safety depends on you, Rale," he said simply. The girl whimpered. "I want a negotiation."

"Fine – I'm here, talk to me."

"Not with you, Rale," he said in a patronizing tone. "With Agent Shaye."

Eppie glared at the man in the mask, hatred running through her veins. This was the man that made a mockery of the FBI; that put countless lives in danger and killed innocents without even a second thought.

"No," Aaron said savagely, stepping forward aggressively in his attempt to hide her from The Friend's view. The Friend pushed the gun harder against the girl's temple.

"Ah, ah... I said not to do anything rash. You wouldn't want my finger to slip," he said.

"Anyone else," he said. "Pick anyone else."

"Aaron, shut up," Eppie hissed. He was giving him too much information. The more The Friend knew about their feelings the more he could use psychological warfare against them. "I'll go – it'll be okay."

He turned and glared at her. "No."

"You have to trust me. I will be fine," she demanded. Then she stepped forward without waiting for his permission.

The Friend nodded. "We will talk in my booth. First, you will all put your cell phones on the table." He looked around the restaurant. "All of you. Or I shoot the girl."

The elderly couple put their phones down, as well as the one waitress and two cooks from the back. Aaron was the last to put his phone down, but he did it carefully. "That is to ensure that I won't have guests in a few moments," he explained to the little girl, whispering sadistically in her ear. She whimpered again as tears ran down her face.

"Let the girl go and then we can talk," Eppie said quickly.

The man in the mask chuckled. "Your weapons. All of you – even you, Agent Hawkins," he said, turning his eyes on the off-duty agent. Eppie's mind was reeling. How did he know all of them? They took their guns out of their holsters and laid them on the table near the phones.

"Now I'm going to have a conversation with Agent Shaye. The rest of you are going to wait on the other side of the restaurant. In those three booths. If any of you move, I will pick up one of these guns and shoot. You don't want that." He pointed to the booths and the patrons, restaurant workers, and the rest of the team slowly made their way to sit. Aaron watched Eppie very carefully, his eyes tortured again. She nodded minutely and sat across from where the man had been sitting before.

Only when everyone was seated did he let go of the girl, who ran to her father and sister and embraced them. Both of them were crying. Eppie nodded. So he'd made good on that promise.

She stared across the table at him and kept her face stable. She'd been trained for this, of course, but she couldn't help but wish he'd chosen to speak to Bryan. He could have had him on his knees begging for jail in seconds. Eppie wasn't that good.

"So when's the baby due?" he asked, folding his hands and placing them neatly on the table. Eppie took a deep breath to calm herself.

"I'd rather not talk about that," she said carefully. "You wanted to negotiate."

The man sighed melodramatically. "I was just trying to be friendly. Now you know what I want. I want to walk out of here and not be caught by your men just outside. I want to be able to leave without a trace, and put our relationship back to the way it was – cat and mouse."

"And you know that I really can't do that," Eppie said simply.

"I think you'll see things differently when I explain my next plan of attack... I was thinking something on the maternity wards of all the New York City hospitals." Eppie paled. "Sometime in the month of August." Eppie was practically shaking now. All of those mothers... and their children. The man leaned in and took her hands in his. She fought to keep her face clear. "Think about Agent Rale, and how heartbroken he would be if I took away not only the love of his life, but his unborn child as well," he said, smiling and running a finger under her chin.

"Leave him out of this," she growled.

"Agent Shaye, I'm a busy man. I don't have time to be making up another letter just for the maternity ward. All I'm asking for is the chance to walk. Give me ten minutes. Then you can chase me all you want."

Eppie considered her options. They had him. He was right here. But if she moved, he would shoot. He could hurt one of the innocent people, and she absolutely could not risk that. And, for selfish reasons, she didn't want to incite his anger. She was attached to her baby already. If anything happened to it, she wouldn't be able to get over it.

"I'll give you three," she said, disgusted with herself.

"Six," the man bargained.

"You're lucky I'm giving you three, you son of a –"

"Ah, ah. Let's watch what we say, Agent Shaye. I'm not that busy." He tapped the nose of his professionally made mask and smiled, the plastic moving with his muscles. "Now, I'm a reasonable man and I can see that you are set in your ways. I will accept three minutes. But know that I have more than one gun. If anyone gets up to follow me, I will know about it, and those girls over there... see them?" Eppie looked. They were still crying. One of them was looking over at her with scared, round eyes. "They will die," he threatened.

Eppie sighed and shut her eyes. They were innocents. She couldn't risk their safety. They would catch The Friend again, and when they did, he would pay for everything he'd done. But that day wasn't today. Eppie knew this. "Your three minutes starts now," she told him.

"Pleasure doing business with you." He stood, gathered his bag, and made for the exit.

He was almost to the door when the father of the two girls jumped up, ran to the table Eppie was still sitting at, and grabbed a gun. He pointed it at the man in the mask, who turned with an amused expression on his face.

"No!" Eppie shouted. She wrestled the gun from his hands, but The Friend was fast. Eppie raced across the small restaurant and knocked the smallest girl to the ground just as the gun went off. The window behind them shattered, raining glass onto the ground. Eppie fell onto the ground and a sharp pain exploded from her outer thigh.

"Eppie!" Aaron screamed, jumping up.

"Are you okay?" she asked the little girl through clenched teeth. She nodded and got up, racing to her father who was looking at the gun in his hands with loathing.

Eppie's vision was going hazy with pain. She looked down at saw three glass shards the size of her hand protruding from her right thigh. "Shit."

She glanced to the door. In the confusion, The Friend had disappeared, slipped out and ran.

"Eppie, you're hurt."

"No shit, Sherlock," she grumbled. She cast a fuming glance toward the father of the two girls and then looked to her thigh. She reached down to pull out one of the shards but Mason stopped her.

"You probably shouldn't do that," he said. There was darkness ebbing in from the outsides of her eyes.

"Eppie, hold on... I'm calling the ambulance." Aaron was frantic. Eppie furrowed her brow, confused all of a sudden.

She turned her head, feeling glass beneath her ear, and stopped. She narrowed her eyes in confusion.

Why was Michael here?

A/N: Hey! So here's the long-awaited chapter 28! I really like this. Finally some action for our heroes (and heroine) huh? :) Yeahhhh. I was pumped. Sorry for the long wait, but it should be expected by now so I don't know what else to say. I hope you like this. Send me a message!! Thanks guys!!