Marian Ramon looked up as the front door opened, half-expecting to see fellow officers with prisoners from the hospital attack come in.

  Instead, she saw a group of people dressed in black come in. Before she could send out the alarm, one of them quickly came over and knocked her out.

  "Stay here," the leader ordered one of his men. "The rest of you, get your guns ready."

  They crept along the halls in the station, meeting no police officers until they came to Jimenitz's office. They were walking by this room when they heard a voice.

  "Stop where you are."

  The leader of the attackers stopped. "Who's there? Come out!"

  No one came out.

  Luther opened the door wide. Light burst into the dark hall, showing Jimenitz eight men dressed in black.

  Jimenitz was standing behind his desk, arms behind his back and his legs apart. "I was expecting you."

  Luther showed no surprise. "That's nice. What do you want?"

  "I should be asking you that question," Jimenitz answered matter-of-factly. "What do you want here in my station?"

  "My purpose here matters not," Luther crisply replied. "What do you want?"

  "I want to know why you are in my station," Jimenitz said in a commanding tone. "That is what I want."

  "You shall never know," Luther said.

 "Will you answer with a gun to your head?" Jimenitz asked in a cool, but threatening, tone.

 Luther lifted his chin defiantly. "No."

 "What if I throw you in prison for a month with no food?" Jimenitz inquired.

 Luther motioned behind his back for his men to leave as he shut the door. "No. You can try, though."

  "I think it would be better for me to put a gun to your head, "Jimenitz said as she pulled his gun from his belt and pointed it at Luther.

  From beneath his black cloak, Luther produced his own gun. "If you kill me, you will never get the answer, because everyone else will be gone and you will have no prisoners."

 Jimenitz lowered his gun. "You have a point...Luther."

 Luther's face was stony still. It was hard to surprise him. "You're smarter than I think you are."

 Jimenitz raised his eyebrow. "Are you insulting me?"

 "No." Luther smiled. It was an odd smile. "That was a compliment."

 "Oh," Jimenitz replied, his face showing no expression.

 They stood silent for one moment, looking at each other.

 Finally, Luther said,

 "Well, are we just going to stand here?"

 Jimenitz chuckled wryly. "If you want to stop standing.." he paused.."I'd be glad to help."

 "Thanks, but...I'd prefer to stand," Luther said.

 Jimenitz raised his eyebrow as he walked around the desk and, standing beside Luther, lifted the gun to the side of his head. "Are you going to tell me your business here?"

 "No," Luther said.

 Jimenitz slowly and deliberately pulled the trigger.

 

 Solana woke from a fitful sleep when someone whispered through her cell door window, "Solana, get up, get your things, and come with me."

  Solana said, "Who's there?"

  "It's Robin. We've come to take you away. And you need to hurry, so we can get upstairs and get Luther some help. Jimenitz is a tricky one, you know."

 The cell door swung open, and Solana grabbed her few belongings and crept out.

 Robin handed her a package. "Put this cloak on and pull it over your face no that no one recognizes you."

 Solana did as she was told. "How much time do we have to escape? How did you find me?"

 Robin pushed her down the hall. "That's better saved for later. We need to hurry."

 They ran down the hall.

 Suddenly, Robin stopped. "I heard something."

 "What?" asked one of the men.

 Robin turned to face them. "It sounded like a...gunshot."

 Solana breathed, "Oh no. Luther!"

 They all sped down the hall at top speed.

 

 Isaiah Fay had returned to the station.

 The instant he walked in the door, he knew something was wrong. Marian Ramon was lying on the floor, unconscious.

 And there was a man in black standing over her.

 "What are you doing here?" he demanded.

 The man's face was hidden by his cloak hood. He did not reply.

 Fay pulled out his gun. "Tell me-now."

 The man turned to look at him, still not answering.

 Fay pulled the trigger. "If you're not going to tell me, I'll-" His threat was cut short by a tall  man, dressed in black clothes and a black cloak, who came through the door and grabbed him, then pinching the back of his neck. Fay collapsed to the ground.

 The man who had knocked him out turned to the one guarding Ramon. "Can you handle two?" he asked in a deep, muffled voice.

 The guard nodded. "I can." He nodded towards the door. "Better get back to your place. There are more officers coming. There are too many for us to deal with. We might be able to get away with two or three, but..." His voice trailed off.

 His companion ducked outside, back into the bush from whence he had come.

 The man guarding Fay and Ramon dragged them under the desk and bound them with some rope that he had handy. Then he ducked down behind the desk to await more officers.

 

Jamie Sumner got out of the patrol car. "Where is everyone? Almost all of the cars are gone!"

 His patrol mate, Seth Patrick, pulled out his radio just in case he needed it. "I heard something about an attack on the hospital..it's a pretty serious thing, so a lot of officers were needed to help out."

  Sumner's sharp eyes caught movement in the bushes. "Hold it..something's wrong. There's someone hiding in the bushes, and the front room's lights aren't on."

  Patrick pulled out his gun and flashlight. "Let me check and see who it is."

  Sumner stopped him. "Hold it, Seth. That person is probably a criminal."

 "Really? As if that wasn't obvious!" Patrick replied sarcastically.

 Sumner rolled his eyes as he drew his gun. "Come on, let's go and catch this person..together."

 

 Scott pushed back his hood and shook out his shoulder length dirty blonde hair. He drank deeply of the fresh night air, then replacing his hood.

 His head turned when he heard a car door slam nearby. Then he heard two male voices who, after a few minutes, started moving toward the station cautiously.

 Quietly, Scott pulled out his hand held radio and turned it on. 'Dan,' he whispered into it, 'watch out. There's a couple more coming your way.'

  'Thanks for the warning,' Dan whispered back. 'What should I do?'

  Scott paused to check the position of the police officers. 'Uh...hide and hope they don;t find you. If they do, run. Prisoners don't matter. The others may need help downstairs.'

  'Got it,' Dan replied in a hushed voice.

 

  Sumner and Patrick were watched carefully by Scott as they came up toward the bushes he was hiding in.

  "We know you're there!" Sumner called out. "Come out, or we'll shoot!"

 Scott rolled his eyes, but knew that it was best to come out.

 Sumner held up his gun as Scott emerged.

 "Hands up," Patrick ordered.

 Scott silently obeyed.

 "Tell us who you are," Sumner said.

 "No," Scott replied quietly, but defiantly.

 "Don't make me shoot you," Patrick said as he pointed his gun at their prisoner.

 "I'm not making you," Scott answered. "It's your choice whether or not you need to shoot. I'm just answering your questions."

 Sumner and his partner came closer to Scott.

 Scott did some quick thinking. I can't let them get inside and see Dan. I have to do something!

 Before he could think or act, Sumner and Patrick grabbed him and pulled him inside. Dan peeked out from behind the desk, and Scott jerked his head in an attempt to get him to hide again. But Patrick saw him.

 "Take him, Patrick!" he yelled. "There's another!" He dove after Dan.

 Dan stood and tried to get away, but Patrick grabbed him.

 "Come on, let's lock them up!" Sumner called as he hurried off.

 Scott and Dan gave no trouble as they were hauled down to the cells and locked up.

 

 Click.

 Luther raised his eyebrow. "If you're planning to shoot somebody, I think that you would want the gun to be loaded."

 Ignoring the comment, Jimenitz pulled the trigger again and again and again.

 Click, click, click.

 Luther opened the door and slipped out. He ran down the hall.

 Jimenitz grabbed bullets and quickly loaded his gun. He turned off his office light and locked the door after he slipped out, then hurrying after Luther.

 Luther heard his pursuer gaining on him, and a gunshot.

 Luther tripped and fell face down.

 When Jimenitz caught up with him, Luther was lying on the ground. He was still.

 Jimenitz used the toe of his boot to nudge the still form over.

 Luther's hand was clutched to his chest. His eyes were closed and he was not breathing.

 "Served you right, "Jimenitz said as he pushed the body aside and ran on down the hall.