[Home of Dr. Anton Hirsh]

> Sharlyn was about to pull out her cell phone and call for assistance when
> a beam of light fell across the yard. She instinctively dove behind a bush
> and waited. Through the leaves and branches, she saw a car turn around
> and back into Hirsh's driveway. There were three men inside. They sat
> for a moment, discussing something, and then got out, heading for the
> front door. Sharlyn breathed a sigh of relief. They hadn't seen her. She
> decided to head back to her car, and make her phone call from there.

> She started back toward the car, skirting around a row of shrubbery. She
> was almost there when she felt a hand on her shoulder.

Instinctively, she froze and waited for the person to address her when she she heard a grunt and the hand suddenly jerked away from her shoulder. The next thing she knew, she saw the body of one of the men from the car laying on the ground next to her, a gun in his other hand and two bullet wounds in his back. A few seconds passed before she felt another hand grab her by her other arm and dragged her into the shrubbery.

"Are you trying to get the both of us killed?" she heard Docker's unmistakable voice say in her left ear. "If you thought I was deadly, these men are paid to be lethal."

"What are you doing here?" Sharlyn hissed back at Docker.

"It doesn't matter." Docker said, looking towards the house, one gun aimed and ready to shoot. "His two friends are gonna be looking for him soon and they won't be pleased."

Sharlyn unholstered her gun before Docker covered her hand with his. "No... too loud. You don't want to bring the cops around, at least, not yet."

Sharlyn looked at Docker with surprise and reholstered her gun. It was then that the other two men from the car emerged from the house, guns drawn and ready to fire. Docker took aim and squeezed off two silent shots. Sharlyn saw one of the men's head snap back while the other clutched his throat, trying to stem the flow of blood Docker's bullet had unleashed. Docker took Sharlyn's hand and they made a beeline for the house.

"What are we doing?" Sharlyn asked.

"Looking for evidence... or at least a name or address." Docker told her as they went into Hirsh's den. Sharlyn rifled through the papers on Hirsh's desk as Docker went through the files that were scattered throughout the room. They covered every inch of the room as quickly as they could before Sharlyn found Hirsh's planner in his briefcase. Looking at today's date, she saw an address, a time, and a curious notation. Taking out her cell phone, she gave Kate a buzz.

[Hello, Agent Calloway speaking.]

"Kate, this is Sharlyn. I've found something at Dr. Hirsh's place. In his daily planner, for today's date, there's an address, 52 Escondido Drive, and a time, 8:15 pm. There's also another notation.... PM checkmates PN, game over."

[PN.... Peter Narrin.... PM...]

"Paul Moran? He knew all this time?" Sharlyn whispered, the fact taking away her breath.

"Hurry up." Docker said, from besides Sharlyn. "We don't have time, backup is probably on their way."

[Who's that?]

"It's Docker, we'll meet you at Escondido."

[Be careful, Sharlyn. We'll see you there.]

Sharlyn closed her phone and looked at Docker with a curious and wary glance. Docker smiled at this and shook his head. "Not here, not now... the time for explanations come after we get out of this. Kate's smart... she still doesn't trust me. Now, let's go!"

They moved quietly and swiftly through the house to the front door. As Sharlyn was about to step through the front door, Docker saw movement out of the corner of his eye.

"No!" he yelled as he heard the sound of semi-automatic fire coming from outside. Pulling Sharlyn back, Docker tried to shield her body with his and felt a bullet tear its way into his midsection. With a grunt, he fell back and dragged Sharlyn with him to the opposite wall. On the count of three, he stood up and rushed the front door, his guns blazing into the night. He saw two men fly backward as his shots hit them full in the chest. Looking for the third man, Docker saw him in the car peeling away from the house and heading down the street.

Convinced that there weren't any other surprises around, Docker went back into the house and looked at Sharlyn's body on the ground. Turning her over, he saw that he hadn't gotten to her in time, three bullet wounds were bleeding profusely, one in her shoulder, two in her chest. Gathering her up in his arms, Docker staggered to his car in the neighbor's driveway.

- * - * - * -

[Dade County Memorial Hospital]

Docker managed to get Sharlyn to the hospital still alive, but barely. He carried her into Emergency where the hospital staff quickly took over. The nurse on duty took a look at the blood stains on his shirt and was about to call another crew when Docker assured her that the blood was from Sharlyn's wound. The duty nurse nodded and turned her back for a moment. When she turned around once again, Docker was gone.

The nurse picked up the scrap of paper that the Agent dropped and called the number on the note.

[Agent Kate Calloway]

"Agent Calloway? This is Nurse Phillips at Dade County Memorial Hospital. I have a note here to tell you that an agent Robins is down and Agent Docker tried all he could to get her here."

[Where is Agent Docker now?]

"He was here a minute ago... but he's gone now."

[I'm on my way. Thank you for the message.]

The nurse hung up and shrugged looking at the floor leading toward the Emergency room door. She saw drops of blood leading out....


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