As she seated herself in the passenger side, Luke peered at her in confusion. “Where is Bash?” he pressed.

“He’s not coming. The ordeal earlier was too much for him,” she lied, and Luke seemed genuinely shocked at the thought. “I know I’m not much help, but I want you to know that I am doing this with full understanding that I might be going into danger. I’ll stay out of your way, stay in the car to drive you, but if I see an opportunity to help, I’m going to help. I can’t leave the Prados to danger if I can help it. Are you sure you want to do this now that Bash is gone? Weren’t you just trying to get him interested in your work?”

“Piper,” Luke took her hand, and though she could appreciate Luke’s concern, the fact that it wasn’t Bash caused her physical pain. “You should go with Bash. I can do this. Maybe even easier without you.”

“Give me a gun, then.”

Amused, Luke smirked at Piper, despite his earnestness a moment before. “Have you even fired a gun before?”

“In high school,” she assured him. “I dated a gun fanatic. He took me to a gun range for dates. I’m not amazing, but I could hit the target well enough.”

Luke registered her tone, the empty misery, and he realized that the Prados were not the cause. From what he had seen in the sideview mirror, Piper and Bash had endured a very intense exchange, and Piper had returned alone. If Luke read the situation right, Bash had cut Piper off, pushed her away.

Reaching to brush her hair from her face, Luke found himself truly sad for her. “Piper, this is not your fight. You should be back there with my cousin, not rushing off into potential danger.”

“Don’t do this to me right now,” she sighed.

“Do what?” Luke couldn’t figure Piper out at all.

“Don’t touch my face, don’t hold my hand. Definitely don’t kiss me again. You and I both know that you don’t mean it.”

Luke actually laughed. “You may know, but I had some pretty heavy doubts after the restaurant.”

Rather than answer, Piper let her mouth quirk into a wry smile.

“It would have been a whole lot easier if my first assignment had been with someone who was less…endearing.”

Wrinkling her nose, Piper grinned uncomfortably. “Endearing? What a ridiculous word.”

“Well, I don’t know the word. You’re beautiful and kind and fun, and even though I was told to keep you close, my instinct told me to do it anyway – but to protect you, not to use you.”

“Bash told you to keep me close?” Piper was incensed.

“No, no. My boss.”

“What would your boss want with me?” she puzzled, incredulous.

“You were the only link to the Prados, and they want the Prados.”

“Oh, absolutely not! No one ‘gets’ the Prados. The Prados ‘get’ away, is what they get. This is why I have to go. I can’t even trust you!”

“I’m so sorry, Piper!” Luke pleaded. “My boss told me that if I didn’t keep you close, if I didn’t win you over, he would send someone else. I couldn’t let anyone else get near you or my cousin, or even the Prados. No one would protect you all but me.”

“So, you seduced me?” Piper wasn’t letting him off the hook so easily.

“Was it so awful? I mean, that kiss...”

“Luke,” Piper crossed her arms and stared out the window. “I was terrified, desperate, and under the influence of alcohol, and you took advantage of me. You need to drive right now, and if you want to stay my friend, you need not to bring that up ever again.”

Luke shifted the car into drive, and Piper found herself calming. Actually, she wasn’t angry at Luke. Instead, she was relieved that he had an explanation that made him less awful. Not completely noble; just less awful.

“I hope this drama hasn’t made us too late to get the Prados,” Piper complained, and Luke laughed awkwardly.

“It is a little bit like a telenovela.” He smiled at the road in front of him. Somehow, she still hadn’t written him off.

++++++++++

When Isaac glanced up at the computer screen on his dashboard, an icon blinked at him, indicating an alert. He clicked on it, and the screen opened onto an FBI investigation complete with transcript. They had the kid, but they had something even more interesting.

They had arrested another person: Tarin Trevino, lieutenant in the Perucanas with ties to Panic Rex.

From what Isaac could figure out, Trevino had given the order for a hit, first in the Amazon and then in the U.S, against the Prados. Well, that explained who had sent Piper on the run.

Well, thanks to Luke’s phone, Isaac knew exactly where Piper was. He knew where Isaac and Bash were, and he knew that there was a gang-based hit out on the Prados. If Isaac played his cards right, he could manage his promise to the veterano without actually pulling the trigger. All he had to do was facilitate the hit by the gang hitmen. Even more than managing a kill, Isaac enjoyed manipulating others to do his work.

And if Piper needs comforting afterwards, bonus points for me.

+++++++++++

“Just stay here, Piper, and keep the engine running.”

Obedient for once, Piper slid to the driver’s seat and locked the doors behind Luke. Hopefully she could get them unlocked in time to avoid trouble for the Prados. She reached down and touched the cold metal of the gun Luke had set for her in the center console. Not that she had the guts to use it, but it calmed her nerves just a little to have it within her reach.

Time dragged as she watched the house and its maze of shadows. A couple of times she thought she recognize intentional movement within the dark patches, but she couldn’t know for sure. When a figure crept directly by the car, though, Piper could not mistake it for a shadow.

Carefully, she lifted the gun from the console, flipping off the safety before she reached for the door. As soon as she opened the door, light would flood a patch on her side of the car, and all stealth would be lost. Better make this count, she reasoned. Fortunately, adrenaline was pumping strength into her limbs, because she had no doubt that when it fled, so would all power to stand.

“Don’t move!” she commanded as she opened the door and stepped into the light in one motion.

As if to prove how stupid and arrogant she was, the figure reacted instantly, dropping to the ground and kicking the door against her. The weight of the door knocked her backwards, and the gun smashed against the car frame. Fortunately for everyone, she had never really intended to use the gun and didn’t even have her hand on the trigger, so it did not go off. Instead, it just slid across the top of the car to the other side.

Piper, reacting faster than she would have expected from herself, spun in the air so that she landed on her hands in pushup position. The motion allowed her to scamper toward the back of the car, intent on making it to the other side to get the gun.

“No you don’t,” came a familiar voice, and Piper felt her body crushed into the ground as a form came to rest on top of her. “You’re not qualified to use that thing, Piper Hayes.”

Despite her adrenaline, Piper’s breath sped in fear as a completely inexplicable thought came to her mind. “Rory?” she gasped, her chest fighting for breath.

Leaning up to his hands and knees, Isaac gripped her right hand with his and carefully rolled her over so she could see him. She feels as good as I thought she would, he grinned.

The look on the man’s face where he leaned over her sent chills through Piper’s blood. “Why are you here?” she demanded, her voice barely more than a whisper.

“One thing I recognized about you from the first time I met you, Piper, is that you are a really smart girl. I imagine you can figure it out.”

“Apparently not smart enough, since I believed you were who you said you were.”

“But since I’m not…”

“Cartel?” Piper croaked, her voice restrained equally by his weight on her and her own terror.

Rory donned a wry smile before leaning mouth down to her ear. “You would have fared better with a cartel…” he claimed.

Contrarily, his attempt to overwhelm her reared a rebellion inside her, a recognition of the injustice of what this man was doing. “You’re CIA,” she corrected. “You work with Luke.”

To her pleasure, Rory glared at her when he registered her more steady tone. “I work with Luke. I scoped you out in case Luke didn’t manage his job, which he obviously didn’t.”

When the truth dawned on her, Piper began to struggle. “The Prados! You’re here for the Prados!”

“Sssh. I’m here to protect the Prados.” He leaned his weight back on her, pinning her immobile. His face rested an inch from hers, and even in the dim light, she knew he could see her fury. “And you’re slowing me down, Piper. If I have to, I will zip tie you and lock you in the trunk so I can do what I need to.”

Everything in Piper seethed, but she reined in her sassier impulses, softening her gaze. For once, she fully understood Molly and the games she played – Piper just apparently reserved them for more pressing circumstances.

“That won’t be necessary.” She actually managed to duck her head and bat her eyes at him. “I understand what you’re doing, and I won’t interfere. I’m sure you’re just doing your job. I’ll sit in the car and wait until you bring the Prados. Or, if you’re taking them, I’ll just wait for Luke.”

Isaac narrowed his eyes at her. “You’ll wait for me. I’ll bring the Prados.”

“Okay,” her voice come out low, her adrenaline finally waning. “I’ll wait for you.”

Instead of letting her go, her captor lowered his head down so that his lips brushed against her cheek. “After I’ve dropped off the Prados, I’m going to need to debrief you. Make sure you don’t run away.”

His breath on her neck bristled against her skin, but it bristled like the slithering of a snake. As soon as she had recognized Rory, she had realized what had been off about him. Rory was an unrepentant liar. Usually, Piper picked up on vibes of emotion, guilt or sadness or secret joy. Rory exuded none of those. He was cold and emotionless, and Piper realized that all of his prior expressions of feeling had stemmed from an act. Only his enjoyment of her body under his brought him any real pleasure, and the fact made Piper want to vomit. For a moment, he seemed to expect an answer, but when she didn’t provide one, he pinned her with his eyes.

“Now get in the car and wait,” he commanded, raising to his feet and pulling her to hers. “I’ll come for you when I’m ready.” He shoved her to the driver side door, and he rushed to the other side to retrieve the gun from the top of the car. “In the car,” he motioned with the gun, and Piper shot him a look of full understanding. He was playing the good guy, but there were more things going on than he had let on.

Dang it! complained Piper as he tucked her gun in his pants. He hadn’t taken the keys to the car, though, so she would at least hold that weapon. His last words promised some latent hostility brewing in his mind, and the thought brought a shiver to her skin. If she had not stood even more determined to save the Prados – from both the cartels and Rory – Piper would have sped away as quickly as the car would drive. Instead, suppressing her instinct for self-preservation, she let her senses heighten to increased awareness so that if any possibility arose for her to accomplish her security in addition to the Prados, she would capitalize on it.

“Of course,” she nodded mildly, and she seated herself behind the wheel with an expression of full submission. For whatever reason, he wanted Piper to think him on her side, and Piper would go along with the ploy – until the proper opportunity presented itself.

A minute later, Piper observed a crack of light against the night, and Vivian emerged from the door bearing the car seat for Lily. Every hint of self-preservation evaporated at the sight of the child. Watching for Rory, Piper’s heart beat in her throat. She had no idea what the man intended for the Prados, but it would involve some form of coercion. She quickly unlocked the car, and a moment later Vivian was in the back, maneuvering the seatbelt into its proper position.

“Bernardo is just grabbing Lily’s bag,” Vivian explained. “And Luke is checking around the house for signs of danger.”

“I need you to listen to me, Vivian. Keep working on the belt.” Piper stared in the mirror at the woman behind her, who paused for a moment but quickly adjusted to the words and kept fastening and adjusting belts. “There is a man here. A man who wants to take custody of you and Bernardo. I think he’s CIA, but he’s not like Luke. I do not trust him. After Lily is ready, we’re going to wait three minutes. If Bernardo doesn’t come out, we need to leave.”

At Piper’s final words, Vivian paused, unable to continue. “I cannot leave him.”

“It may come down to him or Lily, and you know what he would choose.”

Vivian’s breath hitched as she slid into the seat next to Lily. “Of course. Do you think he will kill Bernardo?”

“I’m sorry, Vivian. I don’t know. I only know that he wants the two of you. Someone, somewhere in the CIA wants you. That’s not a place you want to be.”

With a slow huff, Vivian nodded. “I believe we will need to go to the FBI for protection.”

“That’s probably a good idea, but you have to get out of here first.”

“I will do it,” Vivian agreed, and Piper could hear the catch in Vivian’s voice. She loved her husband dearly.

Piper thought she could make out Luke’s shadow against the house. If he and Bernardo made it to the car, all the worry would turn moot. Hope bloomed in her chest as she readied herself to drive away. When the shape of the man by the house passed through a patch of moonlight, though, Piper’s heart skipped a beat. “Someone else is here,” she hissed, and she turned back to take in Vivian’s expression of terror.

Without meaning to, Piper reached for the door handle and readied herself to get out of the car. What did she think she was going to do? Other than keep a pursuer away from Lily, she did not know. Had Rory brought other agents to retrieve the Prados? Certainly, the man in the shadow did not resemble Rory.

“Here comes Bernardo with Lily,” Piper informed Vivian, and they both watched with bated breath as the man scurried through the dark toward Vivian’s husband and child. Behind Bernardo, the shape of the man detached from the wall and sped toward the pair as they approached the car. Piper knew she had to act now, or it would be too late. “I know you’re scared,” she instructed, “but I need you to do what I say.”

Vivian nodded.

“Open your door and stand up. Yell for Bernardo to come to you on your side. As long as Bernardo makes it to us, I think I can stop the pursuer. Once I’m out, you drive Bernardo and Lily out of here.” She didn’t know what she was doing, and she started to question her sanity – maybe Bash was right. She couldn’t let herself stay safe in a car, though, at the expense of a mother and her young child. Of Lily. Never.

As the form neared Bernardo, Piper yelled to Vivian. “Now!”

Immediately, Vivian threw the door open, flooding the interior and a patch outside the car in bright light. “Over here, Bernardo! Hurry!” she commanded, and Bernardo swerved toward the open door, picking up his speed. Unable to wait, Vivian jolted out to Bernardo and grabbed the sleeping Lily. Terrified for the little girl, Piper threw herself out of the car and started yelling at the pursuer. So much for my plan.

Like Piper, Bernardo reacted instinctively to protect his wife and child, and Piper heard him command his wife to drive away. He then turned back toward the man who had just reached the front end of the vehicle. Vivian possessed enough presence of mind to lock the car doors once she and Lily were seated inside, and though the man slipped past both Piper and Bernardo, he could not get into the now darkened car. When Vivian shifted the car in reverse, the man cursed but backed away, and Piper registered the weapon that he lifted to aim at the windshield.

Piper reacted instinctively, screaming with every ounce of desperation she could manage, “Bernardo! It’s me Vivian! Come this way!”

As she had hoped, both men’s heads whipped back toward her, and the car quickly backed out of reach of the firearm. The apparent indecision of the gunman gave Piper a few seconds of advantage to add some distance, but she actually had little knowledge of exactly how far a bullet from a handgun would travel.

After a confused pause, Bernardo sprinted toward her. “To the trees!” he commanded.

Glancing to the copse of trees that ran along the eastern edge of the property, she redirected quickly, and in little time, she had pressed her back to a tree. A moment later, she heard a crash into the brush near where Bernardo and the gunman had stood, though she didn’t know which of them had made the sound. At least she hadn’t heard a gunshot.

“Piper!” came an unexpected cry, and Piper registered Luke’s voice. Even if Rory had a whole team out for her and Bernardo, surely Luke would help her if he could.

From a few feet away, she could hear the occasional shuffle of a step, and she stayed completely frozen until the soft sounds faded almost to silence. Then, aiming as best she could away from the sound, she began a slow progression from one tree trunk to another, pausing and taking in her surroundings for several seconds each time. Finally she could make out the other side of the patch of trees, and she noted a dark and winding road. What she saw beside the road halted her in her tracks, and she couldn’t think clearly enough to determine her next step.

++++++++++++

Everything in Luke wanted to stop his fight and go help Piper, but he had seen the two men who had come to ambush the Prados. One was a gang recruit, inexperienced and nervous as hell. He was the one currently in pursuit of Bernardo Prado and Piper. The man raining blows onto Luke’s raised hands had fought in a lot of battles. For some reason, the man had decided to attack Luke with fists rather than just take aim and shoot from ten paces – which also meant that Luke hadn’t found an opportunity to pull his own gun. If Luke hadn’t knocked the man’s gun into a huge patch of thorned bushes, the man could have killed Luke several times over. In fact, Luke would not have been at all surprised to find that the man sported five or six kill tattoos on his wrist or under his sleeve. For the first time in a long time, Luke was fighting for his life and the lives of people he cared about. It brought back memories, but it also sent him into a zone.

After several minutes of exchanged blows, Luke began to sense an advantage over his opponent. Luke stood taller, and though the man was no doubt strong, he had significant trouble landing a damaging blow. Luke, on the other hand, had spent the majority of his time battering the man’s head, and when the man lost his footing, Luke leveled him with a massive kick across the jaw. The man law insensible for several seconds, and Luke took advantage of the time to zip tie the man’s hands behind his back.

Now to Piper, Luke decided.

+++++++++++

“Get your shit together,” came the harsh whisper, and Piper almost thought someone had spoken to her. When her voice registered Rory’s tone, though, she realized that he spoke to someone else. She could still occasionally hear Bernardo’s footsteps where he moved through the trees to her south. Everything in her wanted to peek around the tree trunk and see who Rory spoke with, but she held no doubt that he would notice her.

“You said your truck is in the clearing. I saw the man and the girl headed that way. I’ll manage the girl after you take care of the man and drive away.”

“Take care of the man?” the kid questioned as if in a dream.

“Shoot him. Do your job. Believe me, the man I can connect you with will raise you higher than whoever put you up to this.”

“But my family,” came the surprisingly young voice. It broke Piper’s heart to think her pursuer was just a desperate kid.

Piper thought she heard a slap – no, two slaps. “If you do your job, no one will dare touch your family. Don’t be a coward! This will make you, man!”

The “kid” breathed a stuttering breath, and Piper wanted to rush at Rory with her claws out. Unfortunately, Rory was a trained CIA agent, and he had already schooled Piper in hubris for the time being. She would need to stay away from him if she were to get away. I’ll manage the girl, she fumed. Not if he couldn’t catch her! Still, she couldn’t play at rebellion – not when Bernardo’s life lay on the line.

After a couple of mumbled expletives, the two men seemed to diverge from one another, and Piper held her breath as she debated which way to go. Rory had said the kid’s truck was “in the clearing.” Well, she could see the clearing in front of the house to her right, and she saw no truck. A moment later, she also thought she saw Rory’s shape emerge through a patch of moonlight toward the house. She said a quick prayer for Luke then followed the course she thought the kid had taken. Luke would have to manage himself, agent versus agent – assuming Luke hadn’t been working with Rory from the beginning. Piper would try to distract the kid enough that maybe she and Bernardo could disable him somehow. If neither Bernardo nor Piper survived, Vivian would find herself in the sights of either the CIA or the unknown gang. Piper would not let that happened if she could help it.

++++++++++

Luke tore the sleeve off the Jack he had bound and shoved it in the guy’s mouth, then dragged the captive to the side of the house. From what Luke could see, there were only two gangsters, but he could not be sure, and he needed at least one of them to be fully out of the way. He picked up his phone and scrolled to his cousin, tapping the button to call. Before the first ring finished, Bash had picked up. “Tell me you aren’t far away,” Luke begged.

“I wish,” Bash huffed. “I made the mistake of having the taxi stop by Jennie’s house, and Jennie practically shoved me into her car and pushed me to go get her sister. I wanted to protest, but I had hated myself for leaving you –”

“How far away are you, Bash?” Luke interrupted, his tone urgent.

“I’m halfway through the back roads to the bed and breakfast.”

“Thank God…They have Piper.”

Bash’s mind went blank, and he forced himself to keep driving. “Who has Piper?” he demanded.

“Whoever had the hit out. I got one of the guys, and I think the other is New G, or he would have opened fire at the site. He hasn’t, though. I’m thinking this was an initiation for the guy who has them now, so he’s less likely to follow through without the pressure from his friend.”

Bash had thought his terror couldn’t grow, but when Luke had said that a guy had “them,” and Bash pictured Piper and Lily both in danger, his fear swelled even more. With the fear came fury. “Who is ‘them, Luke? And where do I go?”

“Them?” Luke wondered. “Oh, Piper and Bernardo. I was fighting the experienced gang member, and I think Piper and Bernardo were trying to draw the other one away from Mrs. Prado and the little girl. The lady drove off with her daughter.”

“Thank God,” Bash sighed, though he couldn’t relax in his relief. Of course Piper was drawing away the danger. Bash gritted his teeth in frustration, his admiration warring with his anger. “So you didn’t answer my second question. Where do I go?”

“I think you will probably see them in just a minute. They headed toward the country club, and from what you said, you could soon turn off that way.”

“I can turn off now,” Bash corrected, and he swung his wheel to the right, dousing his lights on the dark road. There was nowhere for the man to go with Piper except directly across Bash’s path. Bash could move around the loop in about three minutes, and if Piper was on that road, he would see her.

++++++++++

Just before Bernardo would have pushed into the clearing, Piper hissed a warning. She could see the kid standing on the other side of the truck, and there was no reason Mr. Prado needed to engage the enemy.

She leaned as close as she could to Bernardo, hoping he would hear her quietest whisper. “There is someone else out here,” she informed him. “A CIA agent I know who is helping this kid – you’re the target. You need to get down and stay hidden.”

Obediently, Mr. Prado crouched down by the tree, staring out into the clearing. Piper kept her eyes roaming, nervous that Rory would find his way to them. As if she had called his name, Rory stepped into the clearing about ten feet away from where she stood.

“Kid,” Rory spoke as if to an adversary, and Piper wondered at the meaning of the game. “You need to give me that gun. No one needs to get shot here.”

He knows he has an audience, Piper realized.

For several minutes, the kid stared at Rory with as much confusion as Piper felt, and the two men circled until Rory stood on the other side of both the truck and the kid. Piper tapped Bernardo on the shoulder, motioning that they should move back into the woods. Something about the way Rory had triangulated the situation seemed as if he were aiming the kid directly at Piper’s location.

She and Bernardo had moved only a few feet into the woods when the kid burst past the truck, lunging at the closest thing he could manage – Piper.

When he pointed the gun at her head, she couldn’t help herself – she screamed.

+++++++++++

The sound pulsed strength into Luke, and he crashed into the woods with no concern for stealth. As he broke through into the clearing, he recognized a sight he had not imagined: Piper stood clasped in the arm of a young man, no more than sixteen. The kid had a massive handgun pressed against Piper’s temple, and Isaac Wilson stood a dozen feet away watching events unfold. How had Isaac found them?

Luke cursed himself. He had worried so much about Bash’s and Piper’s phone, concerned that the gangs would track them, but Isaac could easily track Luke. What did Luke think would happen when he failed to respond to his supervisor for several hours? He would track me.

“Stay away!” the kid shrieked at both Mr. Prado and Luke, and both men arrested their motion. Piper had gone stiff, and Luke couldn’t bear to look at her terror. He had no idea where Vivian Prado was, but he prayed the woman and the baby were safe. “Get in the truck,” the pursuer commanded Bernardo, and though the scientist hesitated, he obeyed after only a short pause. With the gun still on Piper, the man shuffled to the passenger side and pressed her into the car.

“Leave the girl,” Isaac commanded, but the kid didn’t listen. He held her in front of him while he leaned in and started the ignition, then he dragged her in with him, already shifting into motion. “You don’t need the girl!” Isaac pressed again, and though Luke and Bernardo couldn’t know it, Piper knew that the CIA agent had his own plans for her. With the gun lowered from her temple, Piper had more time for thought, and she reveled in the reality that this stupid, immature kid had thwarted a CIA agent’s psychopathic plan.

When a shot rang out, the kid cursed. “Get down, Bernardo!” Piper commanded. “You’re the target!” Despite her own fear, she knew that at least Rory did not intend to kill her. Terrified, the kid swerved the car when another shot rang out.

The bullet pierced the glass right over Bernardo’s head, and Piper heard Luke screaming, “The tires, Isaac. Are you kidding me?”

Isaac? Piper wondered. Had someone else arrived to help?

Before she could work it out in her head, another gunshot sounded, and the truck swing wildly to the left, barely missing a tree and sending Piper smashing onto the huddling Bernardo.

“Damn!” the kid complained, and he reached toward Piper, gripping her hair and wrenching her painfully toward him. Fortunately, he did not aim his gun at her again, instead pointing it toward Luke and Rory. And Isaac?

“Let the girl go, kid. You take the man and go.”

“No, way!” the kid replied. “I can’t hold onto him and get away – he’s bigger than I am.”

Piper, her mind splitting as she registered the pain of her hair and the truth of her situation at the same time, tacitly wondered how pissed Rory was that the kid was screwing up his plan.

“Send the man out to me, then,” Isaac commanded. It would annoy him not to get the girl, too, but that had always been a bonus, not the main agenda. At least if he had the scientist, half of his job would be done. Plus, he could keep the guy alive long enough to lure the wife.

“Get out,” the kid commanded Bernardo.

“No, Bernardo insisted. “Send her, and I will stay with you. Here is duct tape. Let her tape my hands, and you can set her free.”

“Bernardo, no…” Piper gasped, her heart crushed at the realization that he was offering his life for hers.

“The kid just needs to get away. He won’t hurt me, right?”

The kid slowly looked back and forth from Piper to Bernardo, then nodded his head. “Give her the tape.”

“Do it, Piper,” Bernardo commanded, handing her the silver roll as their capture loosened his grip on her hair. Tears ran down her face as she began to unwind the tape. “If I don’t make it –”

“That’s not an option, Bernardo. You’re wife and baby need you.”

“But you will tell my queridas that I love them?”

Biting her lip, Piper held in her sob as she wound the tape around Bernardo’s wrists. Once she had wound several layers, she heard the driver’s door open, and the grip on her hair tightened as the assailant shoved her toward the door. Despite the gun pointed at her, she struggled, but he had her in an awkward position and managed to shove her out the door, comparable strength or no.

“No!” she screamed as the truck slammed into drive, its flat tire slapping against the ground as it pulled onto the black asphalt drive. She ran after the vehicle, but even with a flat tire, it outpaced her.

“Piper, come back here,” came Rory’s voice, and the recognition tore her from her pointless pursuit.

“You bastard!” she leveled, turning and sprinting toward him. Maybe she should have learned from her earlier lesson, but her rage at Bernardo’s capture tore all reason from her mind.

Luke stared at her, confused, as she smashed into Isaac, pummeling her fists against his chest. Unfazed, Isaac gripped her arms and left her fists free to hit him.

“Piper, what are you doing?” Luke demanded.

“He’s a liar, Luke! He handed Bernardo over to this kid, told him to kill him. He wants to debrief me, not save me! You - ” She tried to think of a proper slur, but her mind just screeched at him and so she did, too. “Aaaaack!” she yelled, her hand flying against his face before he could react. When his head turned back toward her, rebounding from the blow, the look in his eyes stole her fury. He looked as if he would kill her. When she had threatened his good guy illusion, she had unwittingly started a war, one she was no way equipped to fight. “Luke…” she begged.

“What is she talking about, Isaac?”

“She doesn’t know what she’s talking about, Luke. She’s traumatized.” He narrowed his eyes at her, and understanding passed between him and her. Rory – no, Isaac – would find a way to deal with her once he had her away from witnesses. Even with all her internal rebellion, Piper gulped.

“Piper?” Luke pressed, and she tried with all her energy to pour pleading into her look. “Piper, you need to calm down.” Though his words spoke dismissal, his eyes spoke understanding, and Piper found herself nodding. Maybe he would help her. “Isaac is my supervisor, and he has been a consummate professional every step of the way.”

Even as she prayed that Isaac would release her, Piper listened with apprehension for a shot that would indicate the end of her friend’s life – Lily’s father. Somehow, the shot didn’t come. Somehow, Isaac held her and Luke did not interfere. She had thought Luke was on her side, but she had seen his utilitarian tendencies. If he needed Isaac’s approval, would he let Isaac have her? Would Luke look the other way?

From a quarter mile away, Luke heard sirens, and he wondered if they were heading to help. If he didn’t do something, they would be too late for Piper. Isaac would spirit her away before the regular police could light a flashlight. Still, he could only look at Piper, his mind on a loop. She was staring back at him, dumbstruck with shock as the sirens got louder.

“You go talk to the police, Luke,” Isaac instructed. “I’ll get Piper somewhere safe.”

To her horror, Luke turned away from her and began to walk.

“Alright, Piper Hayes.” Isaac/Rory spun her so that her back rested against his chest. “Time for you to help me out,” he murmured against her neck, and Piper began to shake all over. As he directed her toward a Stygian doorway that yawned against the shadowed house, her legs were barely able to carry her.