Blowback

A slightly built blonde woman hugged the shadows of the parking garage. She was waiting for the confrontation. She had waited since six that evening; it was now just a little after eight. The click of heels came across the concrete floor at a quick clip. Somebody wanted to get home at long last. The woman pulled out a mirror to see her quarry, Captain Sharon Raydor, heading for her little silver car.

Sharon, keys in hand, gave a look around the garage. They were still dealing with a difficult case of neo-Nazis, most of whom had been rolled up and carted away to either the county jail or the morgue. She felt chilled by Wildred Darnell's "if looks could kill" stare she'd shot in her direction just the other day. Seeing nothing, Sharon clicked the key fob, opening the driver's side door.

"You killed my son!" shouted the woman who now left the shadows, gun in hand.

Before Sharon could turn, three shots rang out. She felt the fire of the bullets piercing her flesh and the push of the explosion as she twisted and fell between her car and empty slot next to hers. She was helpless and bleeding on the pavement.

The elevator door opened just as the shooting took place. Julio heard it moments before he saw it all.

"No!" he screamed, pulling his weapon and firing at the standing woman. He put four rounds into her before she even began to fall to the ground. He raced to the scene a few yards from him.

Andy and Mike had now gotten out of the other elevator in time to see the blonde spinning to her

death. Andy froze in horror, pistol extended.

"Holy crap!" exclaimed Mike as he raced to Julio's side. He pulled out his phone and started calling for paramedics.

Andy tucked his weapon back as he got to Sharon's side. Trembling hands reached out to her limp body and rolled her over face up. He swept hair out of her face and rocked her gently.

"Stay with me, Sharon, stay with me," he implored.

Her head lolled finally finding his side. Mike pushed Andy back a little and began to tear away clothing to get a look at the wound. He had his goodie bag with him and pulled small sachets of white powder out. He covered a gauze sponge with the powder and stuffed it deep into his Captain's injury as his finger would allow.

"Quik-Clot," he told Andy and Julio. "Roll her back over."

Andy complied.

"Three entrance and one exit wounds," Mike noted as he prepared another bandage. As he applied significant pressure to get the material deep into the first wound, they heard Sharon let out a cry of pain. It was the first they had heard from her.

"I'm here, Honey," Andy tried to reassure her. "Mike's got this magic powder stuff. Paramedics are on the way."

By that time, the garage was filling with detectives and others who were jerked out of their duties within the building to see to a colleague in the parking structure who had been shot. Julio began to set a perimeter and directed human traffic.

After Mike stuffed the last entrance wound, Andy rolled Sharon back to face him. What he saw scared the life out of him. Blood, frothy blood, was escaping her mouth. Sharon was struggling to breathe. Her hands clung to Andy's shirt with a death grip.

Between gurgles, she managed to speak to him, "Andy...love you...will marry you, yes..."

Mike knelt back down on the other side of Sharon, "Captain, you've got a sucking chest wound. We are going to need to elevate you a little and roll you to the damaged side. It will hurt, probably a lot, but it will also make it easier for you to breathe than it is now. Your lung is filling with fluid, specifically blood."

He and Andy brought her head and chest up and rolled her toward Andy who cradled her tenderly. Her eyes were closed, her breathing shallow, her pulse was weak and thready.

"We don't want you to drown," Mike went on. "You're in shock. Once the paramedics get here, they'll start an IV with Ringers and insert a chest tube. The chest tube..."

By this time, Provenza has also arrived on scene, "Ye gads, Mike, don't scare the woman any more than she already is!"

Mike looked up at the senior lieutenant with a puzzled look on his face.

Not only did the paramedics start the IV in one arm, but they also dropped another line in the other arm. They added not just a chest tube but also intubated her after administering morphine. Sharon was down for the count.

Kendall collected Dwight Darnell's mother's body after Captain Raydor had been carried away. The dead body of her assailant was merely an afterthought. Nevertheless, Amy took Kendall's report and let him know that somebody would catch up with Dr. Morales later on, after they knew something about their Captain.

Sharon was slightly aware of the ride to the hospital. People kept touching her. Andy stroked her head and spoke soft reassurances. The paramedic kept on adjusting this or that as the ambulance swayed down the streets of the city. The chest tube had truly improved the whole breathing process. Going in, stabbed between two ribs, had hurt every bit as much as being shot. She had again cried out in pain. However, draining the blood and fluid out and partially reinflating the lung had stifled the gurgles. Then the morphine was beginning to hit, too. She was as the song said - "comfortably numb." While aware of the tube in her throat, she was unable to decide much about its placement at that moment. So, she focused her energy on the sound of Andy's voice instead. Tears involuntarily rolled down her cheeks.

At the hospital, she was jerked off the ambulance gurney by the sheet she lay on and onto a cold table in the ER Trauma section, Andy was left out in the waiting room, and the remainder of her clothes were stripped from her body. She thought she felt cold but was not really sure about much at this point.

A young woman, not much older than Emily, pried open her eyes and flashed a light around.

"Equal and responsive."

Sharon was aware that the doctor was feeling her head, "No head trauma. Little bump where she hit the deck."

She examined the wounds, ordered ten units of whole blood "stat." Another person drew blood for type and cross-matching.

"I want a chest series. We need to send her up to the OR with some idea of where the bullets or fragments are," the doctor ordered.

"Does our patient have any allergies?"

"None noted."

"Okay, let's induce a coma to give her lungs some time off. Prep for surgery. Let's get her on the respirator," the doctor ordered. "Get a PIC line started..." were the last words that Sharon heard before the meds kicked in with a fury. She never felt the catheter inserted for surgery and recovery.

X-rays were taken and sent to the OR where surgeons waited for their patient. With a crash, the gurney went through the doors and toward the elevator to the OR suites. Sharon was wearing only the sheet the nurse had thrown across her body the moment before. She would be redraped in green by the OR techs as they finished prepping her for the surgeons.

Dr. Yael Cohen headed to the waiting room. It did not take her long to find the "Raydor Party." She pulled them off to a quieter corner. "Who's who?" she asked.

Rusty stepped forward, "I'm her son. These are our friends."

"Okay. Your mother is alive. Whoever did the initial dressing of the wounds probably saved her life. She's headed to surgery to clean the wound and repair the damage. There were three gunshot wounds. One went through and through. The others are still in her thoracic cavity and have got to come out. One bullet went through her lung, causing some damage, and collapsed it. The paramedics put in a chest tube which probably saved her life as well as the initial dressing with the Quik-Clot."

Rusty paled, hearing that he had nearly lost his Mom. Provenza held him up.

Andy wanted to know, "How long will she be in surgery?"

Dr. Cohen responded, "A few hours at least. We got whole blood started, and she was stable when we sent her up. She has a good prognosis. I would recommend you head home and come back in the morning when she is out of surgery and recovery. She may spend a few days in ICU then a regular room. You can visit tomorrow."

Rusty responded, "What if some of us want to stay?"

Dr. Cohen shrugged, "The waiting room for the OR is on the second floor." She smiled, "Not to worry. We have a saying around here - you get them to us alive, we keep them that way."

Rusty and Andy decided to head upstairs and send the rest of the team homeward. It was going to be a long night, and there was no sense having everyone try to sleep standing up.

Amy popped in just as Provenza was detailing tomorrow's planned actions, "What'd I miss? How's the Captain?"

Provenza took the lead, "Mike here saved her life with his magic powder. If you ever get shot, make sure he's with you. Captain is in surgery, and we were all sent home. We still have work to do on this case, so we'll see everyone but Flynn tomorrow in the Murder Room."