Title: Betrayed
Chapter 1 – Traitor!

Summary: It was supposed to be a routine arrest, but when things go from bad to worse it's a race against time to survive under the city. But with Mac injured will they make it out alive? Who is working against them? Who's betrayed them? SMACKED

Disclaimer: I don't own Mac Taylor but I wish I did. Course if I did I'd have no time for writing (grin)!

A/N: Okay so I know we have a lot on our plate right now, but you know Alice and our love of Mac in peril so hope you like this short ficlet (with of course our AiP happy ending).

Dedicated to BF

"Come on Mac, you have to stay with me…"

"Stella…just leave me here…and go get Don."

"Your clip is almost empty and…oh god Mac you are bleeding again and I'm running out of…"

"Stella go!"

"Never Mac! I'll never leave you to his mercy. Now please just get up and…"

"BANG!"

"Stella!"

"Mac…I'm hit."

XXXXXXXX

~10 Hours Earlier~

"Don you sure this information is on the up and up?" Mac asks with a heavy frown. "We push McMasters with the wrong information and you know we'll lose him for good."

"It's on the up and up Mac, trust me. Steve asked for you because he trusts you," Flack answers with a small smirk. "Guess you not lying to him in that interrogation room earned you a warm and fuzzy moment. Gee doesn't that make you all warm and fuzzy all over?" Flack chuckles.

"All over," Mac deadpans. "Okay so what does he have to offer?"

"He says his boss, the G man will be there for the drop. We arrest the head hauncho, Steve signs his deal. The G-man goes away for life, Steveo gets ten to life and we get a few more scum off the street. I mean we don't have this guys DNA in the system so if Steve can get him into that room, we make the arrest for drug dealing, get his DNA and the rest is history."

"How do we know the G man didn't know Steve McMasters was arrested? He sees him talkin' to us and it's a setup," Mac looks at Flack with arched brows. "Don, before I send myself and…"

"And me," Stella pipes up, drawing a look from both men beside her. "Well if there is a party going down you know I'm going to be there."

"Mac, we covered that. It was an arrest made by myself and one other, no one else knew."

Mac looks at her but says nothing, only rewards her firm words with a small frown and then turns back to Don. "When does this go down?"

"Midnight tonight. So we got about…um ten hours," Flack informs them. "Can you guys figure out what to do until then? That won't spread lab gossip?" He smirks as he turns to leave. "I'll be back later."

Mac waits until Flack leaves the area within earshot and then turns to Stella but says nothing.

"Oh come on Mac, it's a routine sting, you honestly thought I'd sit this one out?"

"Right, what was I thinking?"

"Kinda like this concerned side of you," she mentions in a low tone, giving him a small warm smile as she leans in a bit closer. "But trust me, living with you hasn't made me weak or slow."

"I know," Mac holds her gaze a few seconds longer. "I remember how you twisted my arm when I forgot to separate the um…"

"Delicate items from the everyday stuff?" She counters with arched brows.

"Yes that," he remembers fondly.

"I grew up fighting Mac, you know you never have to worry about me in a tense situation."

"I don't worry about your fighting skills as you fight better than some men," he pulls back to give them a bit more professional space; especially to onlookers in his office. "But I do worry a bit more since we…"

"Made things serious?"

"Serious," he cocks his head slightly to the left. "I think you could call it that; but yes since we made things more serious. However, there is no one else's instincts I'd trust in a situation like that other than yours. But don't tell Don."

"My lips are sealed," she replies with a wink. "So what do we now?"

Mac hands her the file he had taken from Don earlier and then heads around to his desk. "Don's idea of routine and mine are a bit different," he mentions with a determined expression. "But I know how highly he values his Intel; I'm sure this is on the up and up as he says."

"I hear a 'but' in there," Stella comments without looking up from her reading; doing so a few seconds later when only silence was offered from her seasoned partner.

"Something is off about Steve McMasters," he tells her in truth. "I don't know what…something, maybe nothing."

"I'd trust your nothing over anyone else's something any day; what's the feeling Mac?"

"He's playing us. But if his boss is going to be there and we have the chance to get his DNA and put away not only a drug dealer but a man who in cold blood murdered two rookie police officers then we can't pass up that opportunity. McMasters is only the accomplice and this G man will just let him fry and be done with it."

"But you think if the G man set him up to take the fall then how trusting would he be with such important information such as where he'll be for another drop?"

"Guess I'm not the only one reading something from nothing," Mac gives her a small cryptic smile just as Flack walks back into the room. Both of them turn to look at him, cryptic smiles – gone.

"What's…going on?"

"Nothing," both Mac and Stella offer at once.

"Yeah I really hate it when you two do that," Flack sighs as he hands Mac another file. "Just a bit further Intel in case that famous Taylor gut instinct that is going to tell you otherwise. Yeah see I can do that too."

"Mac, Don has learned a new skill."

"Funny," Flack offers with a placid expression. "It's routine and we got all bases covered."

"Location?"

"The underground junction between the I-478 and the I-78."

"Don that's way beneath the city; that subway line has been closed for years."

"Well I guess when you do the kind of business they do, they don't care who under the ground sees as long as it ain't us. Still want to come?"

"It's not my shoes I'm worried about," Stella winks at Flack who just shakes his head.

"Okay we move out in two hours. I'll be back with a few extra's."

"I have a case to wrap up," Stella tells Mac as she turns to leave. "I'll be back later. I guess dinner will have to be a midnight snack."

"In bed?" Mac asks in a soft tone with a growing smile.

"Only if you behave until then and don't get into any trouble," she playfully warns.

"Don said it's routine, what could go wrong?"

XXXXXXXX

"Stella…where are you hit?"

"Just a graze," she huffs as her hand presses firmly on her left side, her lips trying to stifle a small gasp as pain reverberates throughout her body.

"Stella..."

"Trust me Mac, I'm fine. We need to get you..."

"TAYLOR!"

"Mac we have to go now."

"Mac! You surrender you and Stella…"

"Let's go," Mac groans as his right arm continues to clutch his throbbing mid-section. They head further into the darkened tunnels of the subway system; heading further away from the surface of the city; further into an unforgiving environment.

"How can this be Mac? How can G man be…"

"Money and hatred…" Mac huffs. "Those are very powerful motivators in turning…traitor. But I know he can kill…and he'll kill us…Stella…"

"Mac, save your breath. He won't get that chance," Stella whispers in concern as she hears his lungs heaving for any kind of fresh oxygen; her side burning but her mind biting back the pain. The area around them was dang and merciless, especially toward two injured and outnumbered NYPD officers. "Where to now?" Stella asks in haste as their small flashlight shows them a dead end before them.

Still with Stella's arm around his waist, Mac slowly twists his head and looks at the dancing lights behind them; turning back to Stella with a small frown. "You pick. Either way you'll have to leave me and get help or…"

"Don't say it again, I'm not leaving you," she says firmly as she looks down either dark tunnel. "This way."

But they only get a few feet before Stella's lips offer a small gasp and both stop to see a large male figure blocking their path.

"Oh no…" her voice dies out.

XXXXXXXX

~5 hours earlier~

"Alright nobody makes a move without my direct say so," Flack's voice talks to his team before they break apart and soon start to slowly descend into the bowels of the city; beneath the quiet streets, heading into a part of the subway tunnel system that had been abandoned for a few years now.

"You sure you want us just to cover the alley entrance Don? Stella and I…"

"Mac, we got this. He wants to see you there but if things get tense I want you to have a quick exit and trust me if Stella didn't have your back, she'd have my ass," he retorts with a wry smile.

"He does know us well," Stella smiles as they reach the dingy stairwell and slowly head down.

There were only two entrances that led to the surface but numerous exits that would lead further into the tunnels; at least that Flack knew of; but all of them dead ends. They reach the bottom of the stairs, pausing on the first landing and waiting for Flack to text his team as radio silence had been in effect since the walls carried sound expertly.

Flack gestures to move on and the small team of properly outfitted SWAT and NYPD members very carefully make their way down toward the second darkened landing. The small flashlights on the ground lighting the stairs were the only source of illumination, causing eerie shadows to be formed around them; haunting images dancing around them, watching them with mournful eyes and heavy frowns – warning them to turn back now, for all that lies beneath the surface is pain and death.

The small team reaches the second landing and stops, Flack once again texting the leader of his second team to see where they were and what if any problems they had so far run into. Everything was okay – so far. But lurking in the shadows was a team already in place – waiting.

"So this is," Flack mentions as they reach the bottom and reconvene with the other team. Flack gives instructions to his men and then heads back to Mac and Stella. "Stella you take this side of the room entrance and I'll take the other. Mac you get to wait inside."

"Lucky me," Mac deadpans. "Any other lights in there?"

"Fraid not," Flack answers with a small frown. "This G-man thinks you are connected with Steveo so get what you need on tape and then we'll storm in. Steveo said he trusts you and we can only hope this G-man trusts Steveo."

"Yeah what's not to trust," Stella remarks offhandedly as she watches Flack turn and disappear into the shadows. "Mac I don't like this."

"I don't really either but if we can get this guy to think I'm a buyer we got him in the deal and then when we arrest him, we get his DNA and arrest him for the other two murders; both of them will be off the streets and we can go home and…"

"Take a shower?" Stella whispers as they head toward the entrance that Mac would be using. "This place gives me the creeps down here."

"Well it's not exactly a place I'd like to spend time or come alone…even with my gun," Mac answers as his eyes dart nervously around. "But you gotta figure that most of the folks down here are here without choice or because society has written them off and they have just refused to die. So…they…what?" Mac asks with a pause as he notices Stella offer him an odd expression.

"Your ability to see the positive always amazes me."

"Thought that is what you were good at?" Mac retorts.

"Well I guess some of my good habits are wearing off on you after all," Stella whispers as she leans in closer, fixing the lapels of his dress shirt. "Just keep your wits about you in there. I still think there is something we aren't seeing or that Steve McMasters isn't telling us."

"There are only two entrances to that room and we have them both covered," Mac tries to assure her. "We got all our bases covered. Worst case, this guy says nothing and we are back at square one," Mac comments as his fingers tighten around the handle of his the brief case with the one bag of drugs; the rest filled with powdered sugar.

"But we are still having a shower after all this; I swear I have grown moss from just standing here or caught…well something," Stella softly grimaces as she flicks a bug off her shoulder with a delicate finger. She meets Mac's gaze as he gives her a warm smile and instantly feels some of her anxiety starting to subside. Despite being in a rather less than appealing situation, his presence alone was able to soothe her nerves with his quiet strength and visible determination. "I'll see you soon," she leans in, kisses him softly on the cheek; their actions lost to those around them in the dark but not lost on the two of them.

"Keep a sharp eye on the horizon," Mac instructs as his fingers give her forearm a reassuring squeeze and he finally pulls away and heads for the inside of the room. He places the briefcase on the table; the briefcase containing in addition to the bait drugs; his gun and phone.

Mac starts to survey the large empty room, his eyes scanning the darkened corners and his mind starting to get agitated as he nears one, only to feel cool air coming from underneath and some fresh scratch marks shown on the floor.

"Don," Mac talks softly into his mic, "thought you said only two entrances."

"What did you find?"

"A door…it's locked from the outside but looks like it might have been used recently and can be opened from the other side. Can you reach it?"

"Negative; there is a wall on either side of us," Flack informs him. "If the door opens head for Stella and we'll do the rest."

"10-4," Mac responds as he backs away from the door and turns to face the entrance Stella was covering with a small team behind her. He trusts her with his life and although he cannot see her beautiful face looking back at him, just knowing she was on the other side of the door soothes his mind in ways he was unable to verbalize.

He thinks back to the life altering decision they had both made together; wondering now why they didn't just do it sooner and relieve the years of pent up sexual tension and frustration that had been allowed to foster. But those years being alone were behind them now and although the past few years hadn't been problem free, they had come to love and respect each other in ways they had never even pondered at times. To say they were growing together as one was an understatement.

"Better be thinking about that midnight snack," Stella whispers into his ear piece.

"Alright guys I can hear you both you know," Flack's voice pipes up.

"Don't worry Don," Stella whispers back, "I'll keep it G-rated."

"Gee thanks," he lightly groans as the space around them is still once again.

Mac only offers a small smile as he continues to pace the room around him; it sort of reminded him of the space that he had been taken to by Drew except this was a bit more open and he was the one in charge. Or so he thought. The seconds slowly tick by into minutes and the minutes painfully trudge into a half hour…one hour…two hours and then…

"Alright heads up…we got movement on the street," Flack's voice finally cracks to life; forcing everyone to instantly switch into alert mode. "Steve is on his way down. Mac you ready?"

"Am ready Don," Mac confirms as he looks at the briefcase; his heart rate starting to increase as each second slides past.

"Second level," Flack's voice whispers once more before silence blankets them all once again.

Steve McMasters reaches the bottom, not seeing any of the SWAT or NYPD members as all of them were swathed in black, perfectly blending into their surroundings. He heads for the agreed upon meeting room and slowly enters; Stella's frame behind the door waiting to cover Mac in case something went wrong.

"Todd," Steve greets Mac with his undercover name.

"Steve," Mac answers.

Steve looks at Mac and nods but before either of them can say a word, they both turn in an instant as the back door that Mac had said was locked starts to be pushed open.

"Wait!" Flack hisses into his radio as he hears some of his men wanting to make a move.

"What's…" Mac asks in haste as he watches a foreign man enter the room with a gun in hand. "Who the hell are you?" He demands in anger.

"Relax pal, I speak for the man you want to do business with."

"If that's not you then I don't speak to you," Mac says as he makes a move for the briefcase.

"Hey hold on a second there," the man lowers his gun and looks at Steve and then back at Mac. "We are all here to make a deal right?"

"I don't deal with middlemen," Mac states firmly. "Now I want your boss in here or I will take my goods elsewhere and trust me I have a few other interested parties I can call."

"Alright hold on…" man huffs as he stops talking and the door slightly opens.

Mac squints toward the door, unable to get a good look at the man that he hopes to arrest very soon for drug possession and then more seriously two counts of first degree murder of two rookie NYPD police officers. However, he wasn't prepared for what was to come next.

"Step out into the light."

"Now why would I do that?" A low tone inquires; a voice with a familiar edge to it. Stella hears the tone and feels her stomach starting to tighten. She nears the open door, her heart starting to race; fingers tightening around the handle of her gun.

"Because the goods you want are on this table and you have come over here to get them."

"Mickey, lock that door," the man in the shadows directs his spokesman.

"Crap!" Flack hisses a whispered curse as the silence is soon broken by the sound of a heavy lock being pushed across the door.

"Never know who is lurking on the other side."

"Only ones here are us and those you brought with you, but if you aren't seriously looking to buy…"

"What'll happen then…Detective Taylor? We'll be arrested?" The voice asks smugly as the person steps into the light. Mac stares in shock as his world starts to slow; Stella's frame now hovering in the doorway. Mac had been made; the deal was off; time was their second biggest enemy now.

"What the hell…a cop!" Mickey shouts as he raises and cocks his gun at Mac.

"And where is…ah Stella…figured where he was you'd be not far behind," the all too familiar face looks at her as she enters. Time then seems to slow right down as Mickey fires off a shot at Mac as he was going for his gun; the man in the shadows takes out Steve McMasters before turning and heading back through the small secret doorway with Mac and Stella in tow; Mickey being caught in the crossfire with Flack's team just as they enter the room.

But as soon as they pass through, the door slams shut and locks behind them. It was a trap with them locked away from any kind of help; Flack and his men locked on the other side.

"Mac!" Flack bangs on the door.

With both guns drawn Mac and Stella head a few more feet and then stop when the man in black stops; his back to them.

"Damn it!" Mac curses, his gun drawn and trained on the man's back before him. "Why?"

"Drop your gun and I will tell you."

"Like hell we will," Stella growls. "You tell us!"

"Fine, we'll do it my way," the man huffs and snaps his fingers. Within seconds, the walls come alive and soon four men were pointing their guns at them just as the man in black slowly turns around to face them head on. He gives them a smile and gestures for them to drop their weapons.

"Damn you you bastard," Mac curses, drawing only a small sneer from the man before him.

"You are many things Mac, but I highly doubt you are faster than four speeding bullets," their captor chuckles. But when Mac refuses his amused smile is quickly replaced with that of an angered expression. "Drop your damn gun Taylor!"

"Not until you tell me what the hell is going on!" Mac demands in anger; refusing to budge from his position or back down in any way. The man in black, gun in hand marches up to Mac and pushes his gun into his forehead, Stella's body pivoting on her heel in a vain attempt to cover the man about to kill her beloved partner.

"You know I could tell you…but I don't think I will," their captor looks at Mac in anger as he cocks the trigger. "Let that be your last thought before you die!"

"NO!" Stella shouts, garnering only a mocking laugh from the man about to kill Mac.

"Stella…" their captor pauses, drawing his gaze away from Mac and looking at Stella with a small sneer. "Mind if I kill…your husband?"

A/N: Alright so any guesses as to who the mystery bad guy is? Want to see how Mac and Stella end up in the predicament they were in at the start of the story? Want to see how they will get out? Hope you are enjoying the story so far and Alice and I would love your thoughts so please review before you go and stay tuned for more! :D

PS: SMACKIES – ABC's of SMex has just been updated and hope you are still liking that story as well. I apologize that the updates for that one are very sporadic – blame RL :D