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The sound of clicking heels filled the empty underground level of the parking lot. Besides the lamps near her, everything else lay in darkness as the lights reacted to motion.
Sterling made sure of that since he hadn't moved for a while after he took his hiding place behind a pillar. And he had been sure that Sophie would take this exit route as soon as Spencer, pretending to be a security guard, had recognised him. Sterling suspected her to come back to the team after recent events. Of course, he was right.
When she entered his field of vision reality hit him like a wrecking ball. Sterling knew she was beautiful. His memories just betrayed him of how beautiful she truly was. It had been years since the last time he had seen her. Since they solved the murder of the art collector together. And she was still stunning in an evening dress. Good times. Gone times. He had offered. They never called. And now, it was too late.
When Sophie was close enough to activate the lights near him, Sterling stepped out of his hiding spot, directly cutting her off.
"Hello, Devereaux. Long time no see. You must have taken the wrong turn. The party is upstairs. Let me lead the way."
Sophie didn't seem surprised. Of course not. She was fleeing from him.
"I'm quite fine. Thank you for the offer. I enjoyed myself until a sudden headache struck. Any ideas where that came from?"
"London, England. As you can hear from my accent."
"So I hope you don't mind when I leave."
"I do, actually. Because I have a slight inkling that I should arrest you." At that, Sterling took out the cuffs he had got from his car on the way down.
"For what exactly? I haven't done anything. You should know better. I'm retired, remember?"
He snorted. "As much retired as I am. Of course, I will not find anything not belonging to you if I search your purse, correct?"
He had noticed her scanning the room, looking for another way out. Luckily there were only the elevator or the car exit, a steeply inclining ramp. And that would not do for Sophie. Not in these shoes.
She sighed. "Could we just... not? We are far too old for this game, Sterling."
"And miss all the fun?"
"What fun?"
He gestured at their surroundings. "Us."
"Good to know, you can be wrong, too."
"About?"
"Us." And with that, Sophie bolted in the opposite direction, towards the car ramp.
A gush of long-forgotten joy rushed through his veins as Sterling sprinted after her. A hunt. A cat and mouse play between equals. He enjoyed it so much, he almost laughed out loud.
As they ran along the cars, zig-zagging between them, while beelining for the exit, Sterling could hear her talk to the others on the com and his mind began to run. How would they try to save her? Would they get Sophie out before or after the arrest? Her escape attempt was futile, that much was sure. But maybe, Sophie was as skilled in climbing in heels as she was in running in them.
She darted around the corner, up the ramp, and out of his sight. When Sterling caught up to her, he got shoes thrown at him. So that was his heels question answered.
Just as Sterling entered the ramp, everything began to move, forcing him to grip the nearest car. The lights started to flicker when cracks began to form in the concrete below him.
He looked up to see Sophie also struggling to stay on her feet, just with the steep incline which made it much harder. The cracks moved further and further on the floor, on the walls, along the ceiling, right up to the exit while stones and dust trickled down on them. Sterling sprinted, struggling to keep his balance against the shudders of the earthquake as he closed the distance between them.
"Run!"
He had almost reached Sophie when the ceiling above her collapsed and the last thing he did was to shove her out of the way of a falling boulder.
After that: Pain. Darkness. And then, nothing.
A dull pain throbbed through his chest when Sterling awoke. At first, he feared being blind since he saw nothing but absolute darkness after he opened his eyes, but the more reasonable explanation was destroyed powerlines and dead lamps.
When the pain grew more and more instead of subsiding, Sterling dared to feel his chest for any wounds.
"Strange-"
"Don't talk," a voice in the dark said. He knew that voice. He just ran after that voice.
"Hello, Devereaux."
"Good to hear you're alive. Now be quiet."
"Or what?"
"Or you'll make it much harder for me to search through your pockets."
Only then he realised the delicate fingers running over his body, scanning him for something.
"Buy me a drink first."
"Oh, hush. As if I ever. I'm looking for your phone. Mine's broken thanks to your hearty push that sent me down the ramp again."
Right, he did that. Saved her from a piece of ceiling. Why was his mind so sluggish?
"Something was falling on you."
"And I am grateful for your heroic deed, but we are still trapped under tons of rubble. Congratulation, you've caught me. Aren't you hap-"
He screamed when lightning struck his chest where she touched him.
"You're hurt”, she said.
"You don't say?"
"I touched something warm and wet." He grabbed for her hand, before she could touch him again and searched his chest with unsteady fingers.
"A large chest wound. And..." He took out his phone from his chest pocket. "My phone is broken, too."
"How bad is it?"
"How much more precise than ‘broken’ do I have to be?"
"I've meant your wound, you muppet,” Sophie spat deeply annoyed.
"Language young lady."
"I wish I could hit you without hurting you more.”
"How nice of you,” Sterling said dryly.
"The wound, Sterling."
"Could be better."
"Let me look." A quiet second in the darkness. "You know what I mean."
"Be my guest. Just be a little softer. More pressing on the wound to keep me from bleeding out and less drilling into my innards."
"Shame, I couldn't see that. No talking is still appreciated."
He chuckled and regretted it instantly.
"Also, no laughing."
"Then stop making me laugh!"
He felt her fingers feeling for the wound before he could hear cloth ripping. Finally, she put pressure on his chest.
"Can you get up? We need to get you upright."
"I don't... I don't know."
"Wait a minute." The pressure and her warmth left. Her perfume still lingered in the air. Sterling could hear her stumble and curse under her breath.
"What did I say about language?"
"Very funny,” Sophie mumbled barely loud enough for him to hear.
"Thought that much."
"The pocket isn't that small, but we just have to move you a little to make you lean against some rocks."
"Help me up."
Her hands returned as she got hold of him under his arms. With a few grunts, gritted teeth, and her help, Sterling rested against something behind him.
As soon as he did the pressure on his chest returned.
After some silence beside their breathing, Sophie shifted her weight. More ripping sounds and she exchanged the cloth.
"I should search for an exit. Or all the pressing will be for nothing."
"What?" Sterling asked, his thoughts struggling to catch up with this conversation.
"You're bleeding out. We need to get you out."
"Oh."
He put his hand above hers holding the cloth.
"I can press for myself. I'm a big boy."
He could hear her smile. "Your ego definitely is. Just don't die while I look."
"Worried?"
"How would you like it to be trapped with a corpse?"
"A very handsome corpse, I might add."
"Same difference."
"Not to me! It's one of my favorite suits!"
Sophie chuckled. "You have to let me go or I cannot search for an exit."
"Oh... right." Sterling let go of her hand that was still trapped between his hand and the already damp cloth. "That bad, huh?" he mumbled.
"What?"
"You're still here. Weren't you supposed to do something?"
Cold seeped into his body as he lay on the ground. If it was from the nightly temperature or from his blood loss Sterling couldn't tell. But he preferred to concentrate on something else but the cold and the tightness in his chest. He listened to her footsteps as Sophie slowly moved around. More than once, she must have stumbled over something by the sound of it but thankfully he didn't hear her fall.
"Still awake?" sounded her voice from farther away than Sterling had expected. Apparently, their enclosure was bigger than he had thought. Sterling wasn't sure if that was a good or a bad thing. Maybe there wasn't much rubble between them and the open sky. Maybe a bigger pocket meant far less stability.
"Sterling?" Sophie sounded more concerned than before.
"Yes." His thoughts had drifted. Sterling needed to stay sharp. "I'm fine as could be. Just concentrate on a way out." He was gasping for air already and tried to keep his breath as even and inaudible as possible. No need to concern Sophie. She already said she'd prefer not to sit next to a corpse in the dark.
Sterling jumped when someone sat beside him. He must have nodded off.
"Everything alright?" Sophie.
"No luck?"
"No." Her hand pressed on his wound again. "There is one area where the ground starts going upwards. I suspect that's the car exit. But there is no way I could shove aside the stones with my bare hands."
"I see... That means for us to wait for help to come."
Sophie didn't answer, just pressed on in the pitch-black darkness that started to take hold of his mood. And her probably, too.
"Just to be clear: That is all your fault."
"What? How on earth could I be at fault for a bloody earthquake?"
Sterling hissed as the pressure on his wound intensified. She didn't ease up. At least he wouldn't nod off again.
"If you hadn't been there at the party, I wouldn't have to hunt you down. It's not that hard a concept to grasp."
"No one forced you to lurk here and wait!"
"It is my job, so..."
"You're not on the job right n- No. Wait. I take it back. People like you are always on the job."
"Something you can’t identify with, Mrs. I-am-totally-still-in-retirement. Just ignore the fact that Parker is pretending to be a waitress over there while Spencer is playing security guard for an evening. What a coincidence!"
"Just as much as you are being here. Try to explain that?"
"That at least is an actual coincidence."
Her silence told him how unconvinced she was.
"I hate coincidences. I enjoyed the eight years break from you and wouldn't have minded another eight more."
God, Sterling felt so tired. Since when was talking so hard? Or breathing for that matter? So hard he couldn't keep his breathing quiet anymore.
"Sterling?"
"Maybe... maybe you'll have your pause from me sooner than expected. And this time an everlasting one."
Sterling could hear her shaky breath before Sophie continued.
"I would mind that very much."
"I remember. Handsome corpses are still corpses."
"Just- just be quiet." Her voice was equally shaky. Sterling could imagine her suspiciously wet eyes. And should hit himself for that blunder. He shouldn't have breached the topic.
Not after...
"My condolences. He died too soon."
"Don't they always?"
He made a noncommittal sound, unsure what to say.
"You weren't at the funeral,” Sophie noted softly with the hint of a question in her voice.
"You never called."
"No, we didn't." Was that regret? Or was Sterling finally imagining things from blood loss?
He should have gone, shouldn't he? If not on the day of the burial itself, maybe afterward, when nobody else was at the grave. Maybe with a good scotch to poor Nate a glass. Or the cheapest stuff, just to piss him off. Or-
"You're drifting off again. You must stay awake."
"I'll try my very best. Talking to me would help, I guess."
"About?
"Let me think... I spy..."
She laughed. Good. Far better than tears. She shifted her weight again to exchange the cloth. Sterling feared at that rate, Sophie would be out of cloth... Not a bad thought he must confess.
"What a crummy day," she said far more lighthearted than before.
"Bloody awful. But at least you are in the best company."
He could feel her eyes rolling.
"And now I'm wondering how the debris hadn't collapsed by now from all that pressure by your inflated ego."
"It's not inflated! It's as big as it should be."
"I can hear it rumble."
"I doubt my ego-"
"Husch! I meant it. Listen!"
And he did. And Sterling heard a faint rumbling and soon he could feel it, too. The rumbling sound came closer and closer making his heartbeat go faster.
He had to fight the panic down. There were two options: The rubble collapsed above them or people on the outside were cleaning a path towards them. And he would not panic before neither of these options was proven or disproven. He could feel her stiffen next to her, probably fighting off the instinct to panic, too.
"Let's bet. I bet it's our rescuers."
"And why should I bet against it?"
"Because that way I'll win. And I always win."
"What are we bet about?" she said like a mother indulging her annoying child.
"Your number. So, I can call you."
A moment of silence.
"I preferred you dozing off."
His answer got lost in the crumbling of rocks and sudden influx of deafening noises and blinding light.
"Found her," a gruff and familiar voice said. "And Sterling, too."
*
It had taken Spencer only a second to throw Sterling over the shoulder and carry him out of the cave, followed by a very tired-looking Sophie in a now very skimpy-looking dress.
They had brought him to the nearest hospital where Sterling was treated, some blood infusions included.
Just as he was about to leave his room for good, his phone rang. A message. Probably work. Or Olivia.
Surprisingly, it was a message from an unknown number:
You won.