When Alex walked up the stairs, he thought of how dark it actually was, the guy he was suppose to take could hide anywhere, and he couldn’t see a thing. He argued back and forth a couple of times, and came to the conclusion that it would be better if he actually saw where he was going. Thomas had assured him that this would be such an easy kidnapping, that he wouldn’t need any of the so-called "essentials" for a kidnapper. Night-seeing glasses, a dagger for fights, walkie-talkies, dark clothes and a cyanide-pastille. The pastille would be used if you were captured. Not that this crime would make him commit suicide, hell no, but because he had done some other things in his days, and the FBI had a pretty thick map on him. He was well aware of that if he ever went to trial, he wouldn’t walk out of there as a free man, he might even be carried out…in a coffin.

"Therefore, that pastille would be nice to have" he thought. In the dark, he saw a light-switch. He reached out, and pressed it.

*~*~*~*~*~*

When everything turned light, Thomas, who was on his way out the backdoor to see where that sound came from, turned around, for a moment blinded by the light. Then everything returned to black again.

*~*~*~*~*~*

When everything turned light, Alex sharpened his eyes and glanced around the first room. It was a livingroom with fashionable furniture and an entire wall covered by a mirror. He looked at himself in it. "Damn, I need to quit this job soon" he thought. He realised that he couldn’t keep up this anymore, it was tearing him down. He looked old. His reflexes were not what they used to be.

*~*~*~*~*~*

Nick trembled when he saw that the man turned on the light. He realised that it would only be a matter if minutes before he was discovered. He tried to get a better grip of the gun in his trembling hands. He wondered what Stacey was doing, how she was doing and if she was doing…it was so quiet…too quiet…

*~*~*~*~*~*

Stacey looked at Thomas lifeless body and sighed. Just one man left now. She dearly hoped that Nick wouldn’t panic, and that Ola and Sven would arrive soon. She knew from earlier that Nick’s stairs were creaky, so she couldn’t just run up and start shooting. Besides, she didn’t want any neighbour to call the police. Stacey knew that there was a ladder outside the house, and she could climb up to one of the windows with that. She quickly concluded that it was the best thing she could do, so she walked outside, put the ladder in place and started climbing.

*~*~*~*~*~*

Alex approached the closet where Nick was and he was just about to open the door when he heard a noise. But not from the closet, but from another room. He slowly raised his weapon and said: "Whoever you are, come out of the room. There is no one here to help you now, just come out"

*~*~*~*~*~*

Nick heard that the man walked away from his hidingplace and he sighed of relief. But on the other hand, it would only be a matter of time before he was found anyways, so he had to do something. He slowly opened the closet door and peeked out. He saw that the man was heading towards his bedroom.

He slowly raised the weapon, his hands shaking. He had no idea of what to do with it, except pulling the trigger. He wondered where Stacey was.

*~*~*~*~*~*

Stacey hurried up the ladder, thinking that Nick was on the verge of a nervous break-down. Anyone would be a wreck after this, except herself, i.e…

The first thing she saw when she peeked up the window in Nick’s room was a gun-pipe. It belonged to the third man, she realised. While staring into it, she cursed herself over letting this happen. The man waved with the gun a bit, to show her that he wanted her to get up from the ladder. Pouting, she heaved up and glared at the man. He looked somewhat surprised over finding a girl there.

"Who are you?" he asked. She didn’t answer. She saw that Nick was approaching them from behind, the gun in his shaking hand. "That boy can NOT shoot another man" she thought, and rolled her eyes. But she couldn’t exactly tell Nick to back off in this state, so she just glared at the man instead.

Suddenly, he heard Nick making a noise from behind, so with a fast move he grabbed Stacey around the neck and pressed the gun-pipe against her head.

"Drop the gun or I’ll blow her head off" he said. Stacey sighed.

"That was the most ridiculous line I’ve ever heard" she said loudly and sighed. The man lost his concentration for a second, and that was all she needed.

At the same time, outside, Sven and Ola heard gunfire from the Carter residence. 3 shoots. And then silence. Nothing but silence.