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They arrived at the Eclipse a little after six, following Chris' sketchy directions and religiously using the GPS map function on Howie's cell phone. Walking past the front entrance, noting that the place won't open for another two hours or so, they head down the street looking for the entrance to the alley. They find it a around the corner, and walking down it, Brian knows they are at the right place. Everything looks just like it did in his dreams, right down to the faded red color of some of the walls, overfilled dumpsters and scattered trash bags around the clubs back door.

As they walk down slowly, he looks around for places they can hide. On the way down they had a long discussion about what exactly they were going to do when they came here. One thing they all agreed on was that calling the police was out of the question. Even though it seemed like the obvious solution, the problem was how they were going to explain to the police how they knew someone was going to get killed. As AJ had pointed out, the police weren't going to act on the word of a psychic. And if they called, weren´t believed, and they were somehow unable to save her, they would be the first people the police arrested for her murder, and chances were they would be the last as well, as prior knowledge of the crime was probably enough to land them all in jail for murder, even if there was no other evidence.

In the end, they had come to the conclusion that they had to stop this on their own, as crazy as that might be. Once they had decided that, they had started to think of a plan. Howie had figured splitting up in the alley would be their best option. Some would be closer to the back door of the, ready to try and get the woman to safety while the others, hidden closer to the street, would distract her killer in some way. Hopefully the presence of other people there would be enough to scare him away. As Nick had been quick to point out, the plan pretty much sucked, but it was all they had, so it would have to do.

Thankfully the alley offered plenty of hiding places. Three large dumpsters about halfway between the street and the back door offered the perfect location for the ones dealing with the killer, while the smaller dumpsters and a small mountain of everything from furniture to cardboard and trash would do the job of hiding her rescuers. Nick and JC would stay in the middle of the alley, ready to distract her killer when he was passing in some way or another. They had already decided that jumping out yelling or shouting would not be an option, as it could ultimately make the killer shoot at random. Instead, a more subtle distraction was brewing in Nick's head, one that would let the killer know he was not alone, and hopefully make him change his mind and simply walk away. Not the perfect solution, but it would save her life. Meanwhile, Brian, AJ and Howie would hide by the door, ready to get her to safety if she needed it. They had decided to split up a little, each hiding in a different spot around the door, so they could cover more ground and not have to risk her standing out of their reach if the killer made a move.

No one voiced what they were all thinking, that this would make the list of the top ten most stupid plans ever, and that they were probably all going to end up dead along with her. Brian had tried touching some of the things in the alley, but aside from the flash of the gun, and the sound of it going off ringing in his ears, all he got was blurred flashes of nothing at all. He knew that the fact that they were here ready to interfere made her future uncertain. Right now there were too many variables, and he was one of them, and if there was one constant with his visions, it was that he never saw anything directly related to his own future.

They walked around a little, getting familiar with their surroundings, as the one thing Brian did know for a fact was that only one street lamp worked in the alley, which meant most of it would be all but completely dark when she arrived. That was one thing both his visions and his dreams had been clear about, when she got killed, the alley was dark as a tomb. This also meant she would not arrive for at least a few hours, so they took their time, setting up their hiding places, and Nick finally letting JC in on his master plan of how to distract a cold blooded killer without getting shot in the process.

A little before eight-thirty they finally retreated to their hiding places, cell phones the only way to communicate, all set to vibrate so a ringing phone wouldn't blow the entire thing. Settling down, all they could was wait, and hope the people at the office would be able to follow her and give them a heads up when she was coming.

**********

Lance had stationed himself on a bench on the plaza outside the office building, coffee from a nearby street vendor in hand, pretending to read a paper while never taking his eyes off the entrance to the office building. As Chris and Justin arrived, he filled them in on everything that had happened when he was waiting, a story that lasted two sentences, starting with ´lots of people walked by´and ending with ´she's not one of them´.

After getting another two coffees from the vendor, Lance tried to describe the woman to Justin and Chris, in hopes that they could split up to cover more ground, but since medium height, dark hair and a dark coat could be about a fourth of the women who walked by them, they decided that it would be better to stick together.

As the clock ticked by six, and the office building was closing down, lights going out wherever they weren't needed, they were starting to loose hope she would come back. It would seem she would go straight to the alley, and they would be unable to give the others a heads up. This also meant they would not be able to help the others, as another three people showing up at the alley now could screw up everything.

“She's not going to come back,” Justin said, voicing what they had all been thinking for the past hour. “I know,” Lance answered. “But still… We should wait a little longer,” he added. It wasn´t that he thought she would show up, it was the fear that if they left, she did show up, and they would miss her because they gave up. But he also knew that if they stayed, she wouldn't show, and they could have left hours ago. It was an impossible choice, and none of them wanted to make it yet.

An hour later she was still nowhere to be seen, and Lance was starting to loose feeling in his toes. “I'll message Brian,” Chris said, reaching for his phone, stopped by Lance handing over his own phone. “Yours is where you left it charging underneath the bar,” he explained, as Chris quickly typed up a text and sent it to Brian, knowing he at least would have remembered to turn his phone on silence. Throwing the now ragged looking newspaper in the nearest bin, they headed back to the bar.

**********

By ten the alley was in almost complete darkness, and Brian was doing his best to try and stretch his legs without moving around too much, as what little light there was happened to be at his end of the alley, so she would probably be able to see him before he saw her, and the same would be true for whoever was going to follow her into the alley and shoot her.

Wishing he had brought another coat or a blanket, he texted Nick, asking if he saw her, but really just needing to know they were still there, needing to know he wasn't alone. Nick's reply vibrated in ten minutes later, and he had to put a hand over his mouth to stop himself from snorting out loud when he read the message where Nick informed him that she was nowhere in sight yet, and that JC was good for keeping warm, even if he was a bit on the aggressive side, kissing wise. He replied with the universal reply to all things funny (lol), and informed Nick that he might consider more watching and less kissing unless he wanted to come up for air only to find out the whole mess had gone down and everyone else had either gone home or were on the way to the hospital in the back of an ambulance.

Another hour was spent forwarding Nick's messages to the others, though he did stop sending them to AJ after he had knocked a garbage can over trying to stop from laughing his ass off. Howie had informed JC that Nick was kissing and telling, which had earned him a picture of Nick's middle finger. Glad that the easy banter was keeping his mind from thinking about the reason they were sitting in the dark, Brian was considering sending Nick back a picture off his nostrils when he got the message they had all been waiting for; SHE'S COMING!

Though it was still too dark to make out details, he could hear footsteps coming down the alley, and a few seconds later (though it seemed like an hour), a woman appeared, and then a text came in from Howie, confirming that this was the woman, and he finally had a face to go with his visions.

She was walking slowly, looking around nervously, just as he had in his visions. He did his best to stay hidden while being able to see her at the same time. She stopped ten feet away from him, almost halfway between Howie and himself, and after scanning their end of the alley, turned to face the entrance, waiting.

He considered getting up, grabbing her and drag her to safety, but he knew that the only way they could be sure they saved her was to wait until her would-be killer arrived and somehow managed to interfere directly in such a way that her killer backed off. They had considered trying to catch him, but for the most part they had agreed that though they may be stupid (they were sitting in a dark and cold alley waiting for a killer after all), but they weren't that stupid.

A shiver ran down his back as he heard another set of footsteps walking down the alley. The woman stood there, glancing around again, and then she took a half step back, closer to him and now standing almost directly in the light from the street lamp. Out from the darkness he could see the outline of a man, long black coat and briefcase in hand. The man stopped as the back door to the bar opened a little and a faint trace of music flowed into the alley, but no one came out, and it quickly shut again.

The man took a hesitant step closer, clutching his briefcase, his eyes locked on the woman. She looked calm, both hands in her pockets, but she didn't take her eyes off the man. Nick and JC hadn't moved yet, but he knew that they wouldn't do that until they were sure this was the man, not wanting to scare off the wrong man, tipping off the real killer in the process. The woman started to walk slowly towards the man, and Brian realized he would have to move a little if he wanted to be able to see her clearly, as there were some trash bags currently obscuring his view.

As he tried to move crouching down, his foot caught on something and he felt himself falling backwards. He flung his arm out, feeling from something to stop his fall, praying to any higher power that would listen that they hadn't heard him. His hand caught on something, he felt a sharp pain his his hand, and then his head felt like it was about to explode.

BANG!

The alley was dark, and there was only the gun.

BANG!

In the darkness he could see a figure falling.

BANG!

Deep red blood stained the ground.

BANG!

There was darkness, and a hand holding the gun.

BANG!

A figure falling, the ground stained red with blood.

BANG!

No emotion in her face as she pulled the trigger.

BANG!


The vision hit him like a ton of bricks, and he shot to his feet without thinking, yelling as he moved as fast as he could towards the woman.

“He´s not the shooter. SHE IS!”

**********

As he ran towards the woman, it was as if the world around him was moving in slow motion. He could see Nick and JC appearing from their hiding place further up the alley, surprised and shocked from his statement, taking one look at the woman before they both switched directions and headed for the man with the briefcase. The air felt too thick to move through, his feet so heavy he could barely lift them, like trying to run through water, his lungs screaming for air. He could hear someone screaming his name, it sounded deep and distorted, yet he thought it might be AJ.

Then the woman was turning, and it seemed she was the only one not moving at half speed, like she was the only one still on dry land, while the rest of them were struggling for their lives in the deep water. He could see surprise on her face, and then the light reflected off something she was holding in her hand.

In her hand was the gun from his vision, clear as day, and suddenly the water was gone and everyone was frozen in place instead, all eyes fixed on the gun she was pointing at Brian. Then there was a yell, and Howie was there, pushing her hand upwards as she was distracted for a second, holding her hand up as he punched her in the face and stomach, twisting her arm as she dropped the gun to the ground, and forcing her down on her knees.

AJ was by Howie's side in a second, kicking the gun further away as he helped restrain the woman. From the other end of the alley, JC and Nick were talking to the man with the briefcase, hands all over the place, pointing at Brian an the others, their voices strong enough so the sound carried, yet low enough so they couldn't make out what was being said. Then the man with the briefcase took up his phone, dialed and put it to his ear, as Nick came running back towards them, past them and up to the back door to the bar. He stuck his head inside, yelling something, then moved back and opened the door wide open and one of the club´s bouncers came through. They exchanged a few words, and then the man went back inside, only to emerge a moment later with two others.

“They´ll deal with this,” Nick said, slurring his words a little and faking a few drunken steps as he walked over, throwing himself around Brian. “Lets go through the club,” he whispered, and Brian allowed himself to be dragged towards the door, his eyes still locked on the woman kneeling on the ground. JC followed closely behind them, and as they reached the door, two of the bouncers had taken over for Howie and AJ, while the third had gone over to the man with the briefcase who was done talking on the phone and now only stood there, white as a sheet in the dim lighting, eyes locked on the gun, the hand not holding the briefcase shaking slightly.

As AJ and Howie reached them at the door, Nick lead them all through the club and out on the other side. As soon as they hit the sidewalk on the other side, Brian felt his feet give out under him and hadn't Nick still had a good hold on him he would have fallen over. Howie and JC quickly hailed a cab each, and with some much needed help from AJ, Nick managed to maneuver Brian into one of them, Howie and JC getting in the other one. As the cab started to move, Brian could hear sirens in the background, and as they drove down the street a whole fleet of flashing blue lights passed by them, heading the other way.