Her heart went into overdrive. Cold fear gripped her, pushed her legs until she was breathing hard outside the mall. The shadows fell over her once more, the light left behind and Anna came to a halt. Her head whipped around as she tried to spot Jessi – or anyone – with her slowly adjusting eyes. In the abandoned parking lot, she saw a couple cars to occupy the silence of the area until her eyes landed on Saenar just up ahead.

He was being pushed by two other guys in full black. There were five of them, two pushing Jessi and the other three looking around, guns ready to shoot. Jessi was struggling in their hold, but his frantic tugs and his french profanities did nothing to slow the men at all. They pushed him towards a black car idling in the lot.

The fear Anna possessed tripled in its size. She scurried over to the nearest car, keeping low to the ground so she wouldn't be spotted. Jessi's voice was louder now, shouting at them in French in anger. One of the men shoving him punched him in the side of his head and Anna gritted her teeth, seething.

That one died first.

Her mind didn't stop to think. She fell back into practice, moving with the same efficiency she normally possessed. Despite the rage sprouting in her, she was calm, digging into her bag. She took out her gun first, checking to see how many bullets she had left. Jessi continued trying to get away from the men, the men continued to force him towards the car, and Anna just sat there, moving as if she had all the time in the world.

She took out her silencer, composed. Still hidden behind the hood of the car, she cocked her weapon and took aim. The first bullet went clean through the man's head, a soft ping echoing in the air.

Jessi froze in shock. The men around him huddled closer, eyes darting back and forth, trying to find the sniper. They hurried along with him, moving faster this time since Jessi's shock at the dead man had brought his resistance to zero.

The next bullet went through the remaining man holding Jessi captive. As soon as he was free, he stepped back, but his eyes were wide, rooted to the spot as yet another body dropped at his feet. Anna's eyes moved on to the next, then to the next until there was only one man left. Before she could pull the trigger, the last man grabbed a shell shocked Jessi, pulled something from his pocket and slammed it onto the front of Jessi's throat.

"Don't shoot or he dies!" the man shouted. He held something high in the air. Anna's eyes narrowed, zooming in on the object, then widened when she saw what it was. A detonator.

The bastard planted a tiny bomb on Jessi.

Jessi was smart enough not to move either. She couldn't see him well, but she knew he knew how bad this situation was. If he made one ill move, all the man had to do was release his thumb and Jessi's head will be blown off. She couldn't risk anything either.

"I know you can here me," the man continued to shout. When silence was his only answer, he gritted his teeth, pulled out a knife and put it to Jessi's side. "It's either you let me leave with him or I blow his freaking head off!"

Anna slowly withdrew her hand. She sat down, tampering the rage that built inside her to think clearly. She was a quick thinker, very light on her feet and she knew the man was not bluffing. After fighting with these guys for a month, Anna knew they were very serious about what they wanted. They wanted Jessi, but they weren't over threatening his life.

She unscrewed the silencer, then tucked both it and the gun back into her bag.

"Come out, now!" the man screeched. Even as he spoke, he was inching his way to the car.

Anna took a deep breath, then fluffed her hair. She crawled over to the trunk of the car, got up and walked out into the open. "Jessi?" she called, her tone light and probing. "Jessi, where are you? Are you out here?"

Anna came under the very dim streetlight, her eyes widening as she feigned surprise. She stared back and forth between Jessi and the man holding him captive. "Jessi, what's going on?"

"Anna, get out of here! Leave, now!"

"You better listen to him, girl," the man said. His eyes were still looking around, trying to spot the person responsible for killing his men. "This is no place for you."

Anna took a step forward. "What are you doing with him? What do you want?"

"This is none of your concern, girl."

"Anna, get out of here! Go call the cops."

As soon as Jessi said that, the man's head snapped up and he shot Anna a scathing glare. "If you value your boyfriend's life, I don't think you should do that."

"You don't scare me," Anna said, although she was really successful at making her voice sound scared. She pretended to dig around in her bag for her phone, slowly creeping forward.

"Little girl, you really don't want to do that."

Anna didn't answer. She stared into Jessi's eyes, eyes that pleaded with her to get away from there. She tried to convey her own message, to tell him that everything was going to work out just fine but she didn't think he could decipher it well.

Suddenly, Annabelle lunged. She made a grab for the hand holding the detonator, instantly pressing her hand on top of his. The man made a shout of surprise and, thankfully, Jessi took that chance to wrestle the knife from his hand. They struggled until they were on the ground, but all those years training for soccer didn't go to waste. The knife ended up in the man's neck, his body twisted at an odd angle.

Anna fell back onto her butt, not releasing the hold on the detonator.

"Jessi," she panted, eyes wide. "What the hell is happening?"

Jessi didn't answer her. He was panting too, staring down at the body before him. He swallowed. "Mon Dieu, I think I killed him."

"You did," she confirmed. "Why were you even out here? Who are these people?"

"I ... I don't know." He ran a shaky hand over his face. "They just came up to me while I was getting you your drink and said I had to come with them or else they'd kill you. When I turned around and saw that you weren't there, I got scared. I thought they had you."

"So you followed a bunch of strangers out into the middle of nowhere by yourself?"

"It was either that or risk having you killed, what did you think I would do?"

Anna sighed. She was pissed, mostly because it felt as if she was the reason he was even in any danger and she was the one supposed to be protecting him. Jessi swallowed again, his hand trembling. "Oh God, look at all these bodies."

"Jessi, please don't tell me that thing on your neck is connected to this detonator."

"Detonator?" Jessi's hand flew up to his neck, fiddled with the bomb. "This ... this is a bomb?"

"Yes, you dumb idiot! Remove it! Slowly."

Jessi gave it a slow tug. Pieces of the bomb tore from his skin, spraying blood. He tossed it aside and Anna finally mitigated her hold on the detonator. The last bit of her fear faded and all she could feel was relief. She sagged.

"We have to get out of here," she said.

Jessi's eyes shot to her. "Leave them here?"

"What else can we do with them? If someone happens upon us, they'll start asking questions. We have to get out of here, Jessi. Now."

"When did you get so bossy?" Nonetheless, he got to his feet. As soon as he rose, he stumbled and Anna rushed in to help him before he fell.

"What's wrong?" she asked worriedly.

"I think the guy got me while we were struggling."

"He stabbed you?" Sure enough, blood was seeping out onto his shirt. "Shit. Shit. Shit."

Anna reached for the dead man before them and quickly shed his shirt. She balled it up and pressed it against the wound. "Keep pressure on it," she said, and Jessi's hand closed over the shirt.

Instantly, Anna wrapped his arm over her shoulder. She held him up while he leaned heavily on her, making sure not to go too close to his wound. Jessi winced, but she heard nothing else but a hiss from him as she quickly made her way around the parking lot. The more blood he shed on the scene, the less tracks she covered. That and she was pretty sure if she didn't get him help soon, he would surely bleed out.

"That was pretty brave of you rushing in like that," Jessi whispered at her ear. She was helping him around the building, making their way to his car.

"Yeah, well."

"You look so cute running in." He chuckled. Anna rolled her eyes. He just got stabbed, he shouldn't be laughing.

"Shut up, Jessi."

"Damn, Anna. Never heard of a compliment?"

"You know I don't like you calling me cute."

"Yeah, well, then stop being so gosh darn cute then."

"Shouldn't you be in too much pain to be speaking right now?"

"I guess the adrenaline hasn't completely worn off yet."

Anna didn't answer him. They made it to the car, eyes watching them closely. She ignored them all and leaned him against the side of the car. She began searching his pockets for the keys.

"Whoa, Anna. If you wanted a good time you could have just asked."

"Don't be a douche," she replied, fishing the keys out his front pockets.

"Sorry, amour. Losing blood can do that to you."

Anna paused and looked at him. "Was that supposed to be a joke?"

"What? Didn't think it was funny?" Jessi pouted and she resisted the urge to slap him upside the head. He was being a funny guy to lighten the mood. She hated it.

Anna unlocked the door without a reply. She gently helped him into the passenger seat, then jogged around to the driver's side. She slid in, had the car on before the door even closed properly.

"I'm going to get blood all over my seats," Jessi whined.

"I think that's the least of your problems right now, Jessi," Anna replied calmly as she pulled into the street.

"But they're going to be impossible to replace."

"Get a new car then." She whipped the car to the right, had Jessi's body slamming into the car door. "Hold on to something," she told him.

"Jesus, Anna, slow down. The hospital isn't going to run away."

"We're not going to hospital," she said.

"Where are we going then?"

"My place."

"Really, Anna I like you too but we can do that after I made sure I'm won't bleed to death."

"Ha-ha." The gas pedal hit the floor as she zoomed between cars, weaving in and out. No doubt, the cops will show up to tow Jessi's car but at least she got him to her apartment in time.

"You're surprisingly calm considering the fact that your boyfriend is dying over here."

Boyfriend? "You're not dying, dumbass."

"Dumbass? That's a new pet name."

"Get used to it."

Anna swung the Corvette into the underground parking lot of her apartment building. She parked the car right beside her bike, hopped out and jogged back over to Jessi's side. She helped him out of the car, shutting it behind him.

All throughout the elevator ride, Jessi never stopped talking. Anna stood there in silence, listening to the sound of his voice, enjoying his lightheartedness considering the fact that he had blood dripping down his leg. When they made it to her apartment, she leaned him up against the wall.

"Annabelle," she said. Her lock beeped in confirmation of her voice. A tiny panel opened up underneath the doorbell, revealing a keypad. Jessi made a low whistle. Anna swiftly put in the code. Another beep of confirmation sounded and the last security measure popped up. Anna pressed her thumb against the fingerprint identification system.

When the door opened, and she moved to help Jessi, he was giving her an odd look.

Anna didn't bother to think about what he could be thinking. She needed to get him fixed up and fast. She helped him over to the couch, laid him down gently.

"Sit still," she commanded.

"Yes, mon amour."

Anna ran over to the kitchen to retrieve a pair of scissors. Coming back, she sat beside Jessi. Blood was already staining her couch.

"Don't move," she said. She reached over and cut his shirt away. She stripped pieces of the shirt out of the wound, her eyes darting a bit fearfully to Jessi when he hissed in pain.

The wound was bad. Real bad. It was long, running down his side, but it was a bit shallow. She could patch it up. "Keep putting pressure on it," she told him. "I'm going to get the first aid kit."

"What's a first aid kit going to do, Anna? I thought you were going to call someone or something."

"Don't worry about it. Just keep applying pressure. I'll be right back. Don't move."

She ignored his questioning look and made her way to her room. She quickly got to the bathroom, grabbed the first aid kit atop the medicine chest and made her way back.

"Prepare yourself," she started. "This is going to hurt like a –"

"Anna?" Jessi turned to her, a glock in his hand. "Why do you have a gun?"