ALEC

By the time Alec got back to his apartment, it was already almost noon. As he unlocked the front door, he was both amused and annoyed to see Kishan lounging casually on the sofa, absently flicking through channels on the TV every five seconds. Though, once he saw that Alec was back, his attention immediately pulled away from the screen and turned to face him.

"So what's the news?" he asked curiously.

"Well, be prepared to see a whole lot more of the bounty hunter," Alec grumbled spitefully as he explained. "Chief assigned Maize and me as your protection detail until we get the whole FBI framed thing resolved." He was still not happy with the idea—working with Maize was going to be a pain, he was sure of it.

Kishan looked surprised for a moment, before giving a nonchalant shrug. "That only makes sense...I mean, she certainly seems capable of handling business just from that look in her eye."

Alec muttered out some sort of absent response, his mind having drifted to other things. Namely the partnership itself.

Since he and the bounty hunter—as reluctant as he still was to accept it—would be working together, on the same team, should he try contacting her? See where she stood on the topic of the mission? They still had no idea how close the gang was on Kishan's trail—or the FBI for that matter. And at the moment it was hard to decide which posed the greater threat. Was it even a good idea to stay in the city while the Captain brought up an investigation? What if it only succeeded in leading them straight to him? Damn all these unknowns.

"Hey Kishan, is there any reason that either the bureau or the gang would suspect you had a reason to come to New York?" Alec asked openly, still in thought.

Kishan seemed momentarily surprised by the sudden question before he saw the calculating look in Alec's eyes, and he tilted his head up as if considering the possibility. "Between the two, I would say I'm more concerned about the gang—they were higher on my trail when I left LA. The bureau, on the other hand, hasn't actually made very many moves to go after their 'rogue agents' as far as I know. But, I have a feeling that might just have been because it was a part of the mission, now that my two colleagues are gone, and any proof of my innocence was stolen and most likely destroyed, I just have no idea..."

Alec listened and gave a sole nod of his head once Kishan finished. "So what you're saying is Zmeya is currently the higher threat."

"Yeah, I suppose. They're a ruthless group, with a lot of resources..." Kishan trailed off. "But I seriously doubt they'd be able to catch up with me this soon—"

His careless tone suddenly cut off. They both suddenly felt it, a new apprehension in the air.

Something wasn't right.

Outside the door Alec could have sworn he heard it; a heavy shuffle over the floorboards in that hall just outside their door, followed by a faint muffle, as if something was creeping slowly outside.

"What are the odds that's just the sound of some guy delivering pizza at the wrong address?" Kishan murmured carefully.

They heard an unmistakable weapon click.

Alec sucked in a tense breath, "Unlikely."

Shit. They had company—and something in the air told Alec it wasn't the friendly kind.

Silent as a shadow he drew his gun from his waistband. However, a moment before he could even take a step forward, there was the sound of a surprised yelp followed by a heavy thud that actually shook the base of his door. Alec suddenly paused, glancing back to share a confused look with Kishan. Until he heard a new voice cut in, muttering outside the door.

"Damn idiots."

You have got to be kidding.

No longer caring about how quiet his steps were anymore, Alec marched up to the door and swung it open, revealing Maize standing there, arms crossed, and glaring up at him with a look that read 'what are you going to do?'. Slumped against the walls behind her, was an unconscious form—someone who would have looked like any other random tenant, if it wasn't for the dropped pistol on the ground beside him. Maize nudged it away carelessly with the toe of her boot.

"Jee, no wonder Captain put me on this job," she muttered to herself.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

Maize effortlessly returned his irritated look with one of her own, but chose not to answer. Instead, she bent down and retrieved the abandoned pistol from the ground, dumped the contents of the chamber, and then quickly tossed the empty weapon carelessly at Alec, who caught it in his chest, throwing her a bizarre look.

"You're welcome by the way," she said as a matter of fact.

"What for?"

She gestured to the man on the ground.

"I was going to have a handle on that no problem before you showed up," Alec stated as he twirled his raised gun. The bounty hunter only raised an eyebrow at him.

"Oh and I suppose you also had a handle on the one that showed up this morning too then?"

Kishan showed up at the doorway, looking confused. "What one from this morning?"

"Exactly," Maize said pointedly, as if Kishan's confusion only proved her point further.

Alec didn't know what to say to that. He had been at the precinct this morning, but...Maize had been looking out while he was gone? Any retort he had to counter her sarcastic insinuation died on his lips as he realized something in the bigger picture of things. The man in the hallway, there was no way he was FBI, that's not how they did their business. And the weapon he carried was not that of the standard Glocks the bureau used, it was something off the street.

"The gang..." Alec breathed, turning to give Kishan a pointed stare. "What were you saying about you doubting they'd catch up so soon?"

"Ok, but how the hell was I supposed to know? Like, come one!" he defended.

Alec looked back at the unconscious form. "...they knew where to find you," he said, muttering to himself out loud as a narrow-eyed look crossed his face.

Kishan was quiet for a moment. "I thought it should have been impossible...this fast...how—"

"It doesn't matter how at the moment," Maize cut in seriously, arms crossed. "Zmeya now knows where you are, and as far as I know, they've only sent two hit-guys for the time being—but if their those kinds of people that don't let up on grudges so easily, I can bet you they'll send more once they realize their guys didn't—or should I say couldn't—carry out the job."

She was right, Alec didn't deny that, which is why he cursed under his breath. "Shit."

"Yeah, pretty much," Maize shrugged in response.

"Did you just agree with me?" Alec asked as he flashed her a long look, but she just responded with one of irritation.

"Savor it, it doesn't happen often," she retorted.

AND she's back.

While Alec thought that slightly amusing, he knew he had more important things to think about. So the gang had found them sooner than they thought—shit. That didn't give them a whole lot of time to work with, or maybe it did, depending on how fast word would get back to LA that their men had failed. They could thank the bounty hunter for that. Maybe he didn't have to worry so much about her being a problem on this job...

We'll see.

For now, he had a plan in mind, it might be time to take a little vacation leave from his job—and the city. He pulled his phone and left Maize and Kishan where they stood as he went to the next room, saying he was going to make a few calls.

Meanwhile, Maize watched him go in the corner of her eye, silently wondering if he was okay with her just leaving the unconscious body outside his doorstep—it wasn't like the guy would be waking up and walking away anytime soon. Briefly, she heard Alec dial a number. Then she became blatantly aware of a pair of eyes studying her.

"What?" she snapped her gaze to Kishan.

"What do you think he's calling about?"

They could both hear the muffled voice carry from the next room, which wasn't that far away in the smaller space of the apartment. If Maize was being honest with herself, Maize had been quite surprised when she came here for the first time—the detective's apartment wasn't anything like she had expected. For starters, it was quite clean. No, clean was the wrong word...it was empty. Aside from basics like furniture and shelves and such, the place lacked the things you might usually find in a home—displays, old trinkets, family photographs...Though Maize felt as she herself had no room to judge. It wasn't like her place held any personal feel to it either. Still, she found it a little amusing to know that the detective was a minimalist of sorts.

"Isn't it obvious?" she answered absently, her gaze still lingering around the apartment as she spoke to Kishan. "You're no longer safe in the city anymore, therefore, the most logical thing to do would be to get out of here before that gang you pissed off sends even more goons to try and kill you." She sent a look at him. "As an FBI agent, shouldn't you have figured that much out on your own?"

He brushed off her comment as if it meant nothing to him and shrugged. "Just wanting to see if you two were thinking in the same headspace..."

Alec could hear the other two in the main room, but his attention was more focused on the words coming out the other end of the phone call.

"So they already know?"

Alec sighed. "Yeah. They were able to catch up to him much faster than we thought..."

"Well then, I think you're right about your next course of action. I'll sort out the necessities for you," the Captain's voice said from the other end. "When will you three be departing?"

Alec thought for a moment. "As soon as we can, if possible. Especially since we don't know how many gang members are currently in the city looking as well. I would rather not give them time to regroup and catch us off guard again."

He couldn't see the Captain's slight nod of approval, but after knowing him so long, he knew that was what he was doing. Then his voice dropped low, a hint of disquietude seeping from his words. "Listen, while your gone I'll be making sure to do the investigating on my end, but there may be a point where we lose contact in the future...And if that happens to be the case, I'll say this now, be careful. You and Maize keep in check with each other. And good luck, Alec."