Redemption (boyxboy) (18+)

Chapter Nineteen

A two-way radio clipped to Andy's belt crackles to life, Gary telling them that the team is in place.

It's time to go.

There are only three other marshals who know how Nate will really be leaving the building, hand-chosen by Ben and Andy because they trust them implicitly - Gary, Jill, and Cara. Reid had balked a bit at the last choice, but Ben had faith in her.

"She's one of the best at the job, Reid. And she's loyal - in her own, slightly perverted, way."

So, grim-faced and watchful, they leave the lobby and begin their careful rush down the service stairwell. Andy takes the lead with Ben at their backs, Reid keeping so close to Nate that he's sure that even if someone did take a shot at him, they'd only succeed in hitting his own dumb ass.

Their footsteps echo around the bare cement walls as they switchback down all eighteen floors, straining to hear anything abnormal, anything that could mean their plan was about to blow up in their faces.

But there's just their breathing, fast and desperate, and the constant hum of the fluorescent lights. They don't see another soul until they're supposed to, when Cara comes into view as they round the corner of the last flight.

She's waiting at her post at the ground floor exit door with her dark hair pulled back tightly, matching the black spandex shirt and painted-on leather pants she's wearing. And she's leering at Nate as they reach the foot of the stairs, sauntering toward him on high-heeled boots.

"Well, hello there, gorgeous," she drawls. "Did you have fun confessing the details of all your dirty little deeds?" One long, black fingernail runs down the length of Nathaniel's jacket lapel, then wraps it into her fist and tugs him in close.

Cara licks at her lips, painted blood red, as she looks up hungrily into Nathaniel's face from only inches away.

Reid isn't sure what she's about to do, and he doesn't wait to find out. He practically growls and reaches for Nate's arm, pulling him a half-step from Cara. He expects Nate to be grateful, to crowd in close to Reid's side with a relieved smile.

Instead, Nate whips his head to glare at him, shrugging his hand off completely.

Reid blinks, confused, and backs away. He's hurt and more than a little jealous at the thought that Nate may have actually been enjoying Cara's weird flirtation, but he doesn't ask Nate what's going on.

Because it doesn't matter. Not right now. Whatever that was about, they don't have time for any of it.

He jerks his chin toward the door Cara has been watching.

"Do you think we can do our jobs now and get the fuck out of here? Are we good to use this exit?"

She ogles Nate for another long second, twirling her fingers into the bit of Nate's overgrown hair that curls behind his ears before turning him loose. But the smile slides off her face when she finally looks up at Reid, popping one hip into the release bar of the exit door and pulling her gun from its holster.

"Yeah, sunshine, we're good. You guys are the first people I've seen in hours."

Ben and Andy step forward, the four marshals forming a human wall that surrounds Nathaniel. Cara, of course, chooses to stand close enough that he can casually grope his ass, and then they cautiously step out into the very last rays of the setting sun. Everyone's gun is drawn, their eyes alert, their fingers twitching.

Everything looks fine. Ben's rental car is right where Gary was supposed to leave it, empty and idling at the curb. They'll only be completely exposed while they cross the eight feet of sidewalk - and Jill has been tasked with systematically clearing the surrounding buildings - but Reid's still terrified. His adrenaline is spiked so high it feels like his heart is going to explode, and his gaze is darting around the block like his life depends on it.

Because it does.

They make it across the empty sidewalk quickly and everything is fine. They're almost safe; the worst part is over. Reid leans down to open the back door while Cara wraps her arm around Nate's waist and hooks her chin over his shoulder, whispering some obscene proposition in his ear-

And it all goes to hell.

Reid's jacket is suddenly splattered with blood and other, thicker things, the damage done before they even hear the shot. Cara crumples to the cement. The back half of her head is just gone, blown into a thousand tiny pieces that scatter across the sidewalk and the building behind them.

But no one moves, shocked into inaction for a half-second that feels like eternity. The gunshot is still reverberating between the skyscrapers while the circle of blood surrounding what's left of Cara's head quickly expands. They all stare at it, uncomprehending; Reid wildly thinks that it looks like some kind of grotesque, demonic halo.

And then everything snaps back together, the world exploding into a chaos of shouting and shoving. Reid pushes Nate into the car so roughly he nearly dislocates his shoulder as Ben sprints around to the driver's side, Andy already swinging into the passenger's seat.

And it seems wrong, somehow, to just abandon poor dead Cara like that, her face still oozing across the sidewalk as the car careens away. But there's nothing they can do for her now; there's nothing anyone can do.

Andy bellows into his radio, "Officer down and shots fired. Secure the rooftop NOW." He lets go of the radio but he's swearing at Jill under his breath, wondering what the fuck happened to her, how she missed a sniper on the damn roof.

It's so unlike her, he thinks. What could she have been thinking-

And then he worries for a split second that Cara isn't the only marshal they lost that day. Andy tries to remember how long it's been since Jill last checked in, if something could have happened to her...but then amidst the confused shouting he hears Jill's crackling voice on the radio, swearing that she checked the building out, that everything should have been fine.

Andy goes back to cursing at her.

Through it all, Reid has just been sitting in the backseat beside Nate, frozen, their eyes locked on one another. But he doesn't see Nate, not really. He doesn't see anything; his head has turned to blank, buzzing static.

Until the side window shatters.

And he hears the tinkle of glass and the pop of the shot, but it's all too distant, too quiet. Reid can't decide if he's just in shock or if the shooter is using a silencer until another shot punches a hole through the back window and all sound comes roaring back.

The glass crackling, spider-webbing into a hundred jagged pieces.

And Nate, shot, his blood splashing onto the seat beside him.