Disclaimer: Takers doesn't belong to me.

Chapter One

Jake was devastated.

They had managed to secure an ambulance once stepping out of the Roosevelt Hotel. He wanted to reassure A.J that everything was going to be alright but the way that things looked, he couldn't get his hopes up. Jesse was busy holding his hand and whispering tiny words of encouragement to the young blonde but the way Jake saw it, there was no way that someone was that pale. Eying the two leaders up front, he wondered if it was worth it to find someone who would be able to help A.J in time and stay away from the law at the same time.

He shook his head.

They should have never trusted Ghost. He was the reason that they were in this predicament and no matter how many times he went through the scenarios in his head, he knew the only one responsible for this was the man who had planned his revenge in the first place.

"He okay?"

He glanced up front to Gordon who even though he was acting calm, it was the kind of calm that they knew by now that he was faking. He was trying to remain that way for them because he didn't want anyone panicking. Not his brother Jesse who kept trying to tell A.J that he was going to be okay and not Jake. Most of all, he figured that Gordon was trying to put up a front for John who was all but colliding with other vehicles into traffic.

"I don't think it would be good to lie," he trailed off seeing Jesse try to get A.J to keep his eyes on him.

"Where are we going?"

John glanced at him through the rear view mirror before making a sharp turn and quickly pulling up into a raggedy looking house. By the look on Gordon's face, it was evident that he wanted nothing more than to put his foot down but A.J's sudden plummet in health was probably holding him back. Instead he exited the ambulance just as Rahway made his way to the door. Jake didn't want to think more badly about the situation than he already had but seeing the woman that greeted them, he saw that she was more than wary of their blonde haired pal. After a few words and a slap that seemed to all but anger their leader, Jake saw that Rahway just shrugged it off before coming in with a few more words. She seemed pissed and not the ex sort of pissed but after what seemed like a long silent battle between the two, she marched right over and entered through the back of the ambulance.

Moving past Jesse to seat herself, she used a practice hand to see what kind of damage she was looking at. Rahway watched with a critical eye and arms crossed as though the thought of her coming back to smack him silly was something she would certainly do again and yet Jake couldn't help but be grateful that someone was taking the time to help his best friend despite some sort of disagreement.

"This is bad Bri. I don't think we have any supplies that would help. He's septic and he could very well die if he doesn't within the next hour. It's just, he lost a lot a blood and if the bullet is still in there, then he will be infected. He just doesn't look good at all," she stated as though this was something he should have known.

"Well if you had the supplies, could he make it?" John calmly asked.

She glared at him before mustering a long lingering sigh.

"You know very well the answer to that!" she went back to trying to patch the young man up the best she could but not before adding, "This isn't a gunshot wound to the appendages, it's one to the gut and something that requires surgery."

"I know Mia. I don't think he would survive surgery anyways," he added and it was Mia's turn to give a sympathetic look.

"I don't know why you're back here trying to do all this. Even in a hospital the chances aren't great and he is plummeting fast. I say you don't even have an hour."

Jake closed his eyes as the new washed over him. A.J who he had known for a while, the young man that was always a stable presence in his life and someone he knew he could always count on even when the going got rough. The world was cruel to take away such a spirited person and he didn't know what he would do when he actually died. Since the day they had met it had been a special connection between them. He didn't know a world without A.J and he didn't want to have to go through it but from the way the lady Mia was talking, it looked like he was gonna have to.

"If we got him to the hospital right now, would he survive the night at least?"

It would make him better to think they did everything humanly possible for his friend instead of sitting around and waiting for him to die. He took a gun shot to the gut and they got the hell out of dodge, it didn't explain what was happening now because weren't they something you could have days before you died? It didn't seem the case here and seeing the young woman in front of him brush the blonde's hair back as she readied an I.V anyways, he didn't know how to thank her for all she was trying to do just to keep him from dying right now.

"He's probably not going to survive the trip over there."

Mia wasn't looking at him but when she answered him, he saw a lingering sadness that suggested that she knew what he felt and that she had been through this before. Nodding, he tried to fight the wave of emotions that were surfacing now that his young friend didn't have a chance. He wanted to cry or scream. Hell, he wanted to throw something just to let out how unfair this was but Jesse seemed to understand. He turned to the young woman and smiled a little smile of gratitude.

"Thanks," he managed and even though Mia didn't return the smile, she nodded and injected something in the I.V port she explained was for the pain.

A.J didn't deserve to be in pain so it was cool with him.

He paused seeing that Rahway and Gordon were near the other side of the house conversing and seeing their shared look, he knew it was something they were saying without words having to be uttered. After a second he suddenly wanted to slap himself for the thought that came to him.

Jake got that John Rahway was a private man with a past that no one outside of Gordon seemed to understand. He had a coldness that only the man mentioned was able to melt away. He knew John would do anything for the man and was loyal to a fault when it came to him. Jake wanted Lily and him to be like that someday. To tell everything with just one look and to converse with the eyes but it was something that John and Gordon had now that didn't even take them years to perfect, it was like they were soul mates or something.

Which brought him to the one thought that made him shudder.

With that being said, Rahway was still a private person to everyone else and Jake was fine with that. He didn't want to die just to get insight which would probably be little anyways and not something to die over.

He respected that.

Rahway's personal history was his own and everyone left it alone although everyone guessed what it could be. Glancing over again though just to be sure, he wondered if asking about his weight would be an issue because he could have sworn that within the last two months, Rahway got a little pudgy around the middle. Any outsider wouldn't have noticed but what surprised Jake was that Gordon didn't seem to.

Shaking his head again, he turned back to A.J who needed him now more than ever before. A.J who would have defended him without a second thought and the same man that was so full of life. He was talented and at the very same time not boastful about any that he contained. His ideas were always so out of the box crazy they worked and Jake wanted to think it was because A.J had always looked up to Rahway as an older brother. While he knew A.J had a family, he also knew that they weren't into the whole zest of life that A.J took on and looking up to John was something he did because he wanted that bond he never had with the siblings he actually shared blood with.

"You're gonna be okay man, you just have to hang on a while longer," Jake whispered wishing it were true and A.J wasn't shivering from the shock that was setting in or that his lips weren't turning blue from oxygen deprivation.

"You...were...always...a …...terrible...li...liar," A.J attempted with a stutter in between in which he tried to draw enough breath of air to continue.

"Not this time. We're going to the Carribeans and we're going to live a world of luxury, don't you forget it and then we could do whatever heist we want and just crash back here. Ghost isn't part of this anymore. Rahway will kill him. He never did like him and now he caused you to get hurt but you're not gonna die. You can't yet cause you have so much more to live for dude."

A.J looked like he wanted to reply to that but the lack of oxygen was finally getting to him. Jake decided to go on even though he knew it was hopeless, he didn't want A.J to think that he did and Jesse was being reassured too so taking a calming breath he continued.

"You'll be alright brother. We'll learn how to do the finer stuff we could never do while robbing banks. We could get real careers now if we wanted. Playing music is something you always wanted to do and you have the talent for it. We don't care as long as we're all happy. You'll be okay because you have to be. Don't you die on me anytime soon. When we met it was supposed to be an eternity of friendship. Don't you leave me-"

Taking a calming breath, he almost didn't realize when A.J squeezed his hand reassuringly. He wanted to cry at the irony. Here he was trying to reassure his best friend and he was the one being reassured instead. He almost lost it when A.J went unconscious and then stopped breathing altogether. He let a sob slip past and realized that A.J knew all along that he wasn't going to make it. He didn't want anyone to feel bad about it but sitting here now and still holding his best friend's hand in his, he wondered why it was that he always had to be assured that things would be alright.

"What are we gonna do now?" Jake asked and Jesse wished he had the answers.

"You two, go to the airport," John interrupted their haze filled looks to A.J. "Don't bother stopping at the hotel. Just go straight to the airport. We need to go. Rio. Don't stop until you get there and we'll gain contact then."

"Why?" Jake didn't mean for it to sound demanding but he just lost his best friend and Rahway was like a brother to him and he didn't seem to care about his death. It was cold and just so Rahway.

"G said there's nothing left at the hotel. It's gonna be ugly but go and we'll take care of things and follow you."

Jake glowered now. He didn't want to just leave and not leave things undone. What about Ghost? How was he gonna get Lily and why was Rahway suggesting that there was nothing left here? He didn't know but he wasn't stopping before he got his answers and he would've punched the clueless cold hearted blonde if Gordon hadn't been so close.

"Listen to him boys. That was the dispatch. Looks like Ghost wants revenge all around. We lost A.J and we lost the hotel but we ain't losing you two. You understand? We can handle it and then go down to meet you. You dawdle and it's your asses. L.A.P.D ain't gonna take this sitting down, they are gonna want to see someone take the fall and it ain't gonna be you two? Caprice?"

Jake finally nodded.

As he and his brother liberated a car with the help of Rahway, he wondered why the hotel would be a such a loss and realized that Gordon was trying to say it in a way that wouldn't hit home how much they had really lost. Ghost must have gotten Lily and although he really wanted to kill that son of a bitch now, he had a feeling he wasn't going to be able to without falling back in line. He looked up when Rahway rapped on the glass and quickly rolled down the window. He hadn't expected a wad of cash placed in his hands and the look of shock must have shown because Rahway looked uncomfortable. Always did when he did something and someone acknowledged it. They weren't Gordon anyhow.

"Be safe okay? Don't do anything stupid and we'll get back to ya very soon. You're not gonna lose anyone else," he added and Jake had to concede.

Rolling up the window and driving off, he watched as they became smaller in his rearview mirror. Mia was back to chatting with Rahway who looked the same as always and Jake finally got distracted by a huff made from his brother. Turning over to look at him, he didn't expect his brother to huff in plain amusement and raised an eyebrow while focusing on getting them to the airport.

"What's wrong with you Jesse? Finally beginning to crack?"

Jesse shook his head and leaned back before continuing.

"I have all respect for our leaders all around, not Ghost anymore though. That little shit but just glancing at Johnny, I thought he always stayed in shape."

Jake decided to fake ignorance at this point and watched as Jesse continued with another huff of laughter.

"It was always so obvious, the attraction between Johnny and G but I don't think they realize what's going on bro because that right there is either a beer gut or he ain't doing anything about keeping into shape."

"Share with the class what it is you're hammering about," Jake said with a sigh.

"It looks like he has a beer gut or something. All pudgy around the middle and such. If I weren't stupid I would think he went and started binge eating. I coulda sworn two months ago he was all solid muscle though. Could never tell under the suit though and wouldn't have looked with the chance G would kill me."

"Yeah, he is very jealous. Never understand why he never got mad whenever Rahway stopped what he did for A.J whenever he needed him though."

He didn't like thinking about him right now but Jesse understood and nodded his head.

"A.J brought John's protectiveness out and I think G liked that. No matter how cold he could be, he never allowed anything to happen to A.J until now. What are we gonna do now?"

That was a hundred million question and without A.J he didn't know anymore.