She took a breath, and then slipped her phone out of her bag. Pressing the number on speed dial, she waited. As expected, the phone was picked up before the first ring was over. What wasn't expected was the high pitched nasally voice that answered asked, "Who is this?"

Resisting the urge to tell the girl that her name should have showed up on caller id, the red head instead answered, "Hi, my name is Aurelie Kanos, and I need to talk to Zane. Is he there?"

"Yeah, but he's in the shower. What do you want with my boyfriend, loser? Are you an ex who can't let go? 'Cause if so, sweetie, you're just going to have to face up to the fact that he isn't interested in you anymore."

Anger spiked, but she beat it down with a stick. She's just an idiot who has no idea what she's talking about. Besides, it's not like you have to put up with her for long. Z goes through girls like I go through pancakes. Be nice to the future ex, there are only two years left until you are eighteen and can openly go after him. she told herself. She had confessed to Zane, three years ago, but he had rejected her. However the way he had rejected her sounded exactly like a confession. After a few tests, she finally confirmed it. He loved her, he just didn't know it. She even confirmed it with Uncle Chase and he'd agreed with her, showing her that it wasn't just a figment of her imagination. She decided to wait until she was eighteen for him to realize it on his own. If he still had no clue, then she was going to go after him, and he wouldn't be able treat her as a child. But until then, she was still his childhood friend who he saw as a sister.

"You're misunderstanding. I'm his childhood friend and roommate. I'm on a trip to Seattle right now, and something's come up, so I might be coming back earlier than I planned. I just wanted to tell him that."

"Well, you've told me, so I'll tell him."

NO! Aurelie almost yelled. She had to tell him what had happened.

But before she was forced to make some excuse to have the idiotic girl give the phone to its owner, she heard a voice in the background growl "What are you doing on my phone?" Relief shot through her.

Nasally voice tried to offer an explanation, but Zane obviously wasn't listening to her. Aurelie could practically see him stalk across the room and snatch the phone from his new girlfriend. For, though the new girl was unaware, Zane didn't like it when people poked his nose into his business. He had an iron wall around his heart, one that even she couldn't get through at times, despite having have had known him for thirteen years.

"Yes?" he said into the phone. Zane was always saying as little as he could while getting the point across.

"Hey, Z, we have a problem." Aurelie answered, in a soft voice.

"Job?"

"Where's the girlfriend?" Aurelie asked, reluctant to have a conversation this sensitive in front of a normal person.

"Gone." was the only answer she got, but it was good enough for her, so she answered his question.

"No, the job went fine, but I was kidnapped afterwards."

There was a silence that she knew meant shock, as well as a bit of rage. Zane was more overprotective than a mama bear. Well, she didn't exactly mind that. It was nice to know you were cared for. But she would have to slightly defuse the angry bomb on the other end of the phone.

"Don't worry, they were the world's worst kidnappers. Devout non-believers of brain over brawn. Pool all their intelligence together, and a T. Rex could still outsmart them. Seriously, they didn't even search me for weapons. Anyways, I decided to get info on who they worked for, but the two I questioned didn't know anything. But the elusive head is coming in around forty minutes, forty-five minutes. Should I stay and get a look, or get out of dodge?"

"Leave."

"Think, Z. Kidnapping me means wanting me alive, and not many people want that. Also, they had a picture. They might have a name too. This means that both you and Uncle Chase could get involved."

"Are you seriously expecting me to buy that? Everything you can do, I can too. I may not be an active assassin like you right now, but I'm not rusty. I remember my training. And Uncle Chase will be fine if both of us protect him. We can search for your secret admirer from here, Relle. Don't do something stupid and get back now."

"Okay, okay. You know things are serious when you actually speak in complete sentences. I'll catch the first plane back to New York. See you later, Z." She had actually expected his answer, his need to keep her safe would undoubtedly have made him tell her to get out of a dangerous situation. The actual reason for the call had been to touch base and just hear his voice and make sure he was safe as well, as there was a possibility that he had been targeted, too.

She ended the call and crept to the edge of the roof. She sat there for a few minutes, then nodded to herself. She'd memorized their patrol schedules and determined a way to get through it. Many ways, actually. Their 'patrol' was completely disjointed, with every man just doing their own thing. Like she'd told Zane, they were total idiots. She quickly determined the best path through and started to move. She moved, climbing down one of the many vines covering the warehouse to the ground and quickly went through the path that she'd made in her mind.

Unfortunately, the best path was the best path because there was no interaction with the guards. As such, she had no idea that the second she moved, a car pulled into the abandoned warehouse district, directly in the middle of her best path. Noticing the car, the goons' boss called his goons to go and gather at the car. So, when Aurelie was at the area where the abandoned warehouses and abandoned apartments merged, she received a rather large shock at seeing her four live kidnappers and a thin faced man with a body that was skinnier than a stick (who'd brought two more muscle bound men to the scene) standing there. They were just as shocked to see her as she was to see them. The first to get over their shock were the new arrivals' bodyguards. They obviously knew what Aurelie was capable of, and deemed her a deadly threat. They opened fire immediately.