by Sandra Schwarzer
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Disclaimer: The Sentinel and all its characters belong to Bilson & DeMeo and Pet Fly Productions. I just borrow them for some fun. Any other characters you don't recognize mentioned in this story I made up on my own wicked mind.
I WOULD LIKE TO THANK ANDROMEDE, CHRISTINA AND SONNEVI VERY MUCH FOR BETA READING THIS
********************
Blair Sandburg was driving down the freeway, listening to his favorite radio station. He had spent
the whole day grading tests; now he was looking forward to spent a relaxed evening at the loft.
Jim had told him that morning that there was nothing to do at the station except for some paperwork, so Blair decided to catch up with his own paperwork at the University.
Suddenly the music was interrupted by a special report:
"...now to a special update about the situation at Cascade's Bishop High School, where the former soldier Jerry Owens is holding several teachers and 10 students hostage. Owens was involved in covert operations during his time in the army, and has escaped from a lunatic asylum near Cascade yesterday.
His doctor described him as uncontrollable and violent. He was carrying a gun when he was discovered near the school by a patrol car this morning. Two officers were shot when they tried to take him into custody. Right now, he is not responding to the attempts of the police to contact him, nor has he
demanded anything. Captain Simon Banks of the Major Crimes Department has just sent in one of his men to check on the situation..."
There was a short break before the report continued.
"....our reporter at the scene has just informed me that there have been shots fired. He's trying to get some information about what happened. We'll be back in a few minutes with an update..."
Another song started as a filler.
"*Oh, my God. Jim!*" Blair thought. He knew that the man Simon had sent in must have been Jim, because they had mentioned Covert Ops and the Army. He stepped hard on the accelerator, forcing the engine of his Corvair to howl in protest.
*************
Jim was lying on the floor in front of one of the classrooms at the Bishop High School. Blood was slowly flowing from a bullet wound in his left shoulder. Owens was standing above him with a gun trained on his head. There were several other people sitting on chairs in the room, their hands and feet were tied together with some kind of a plastic wire.
"Hey, cop, welcome to my party," Owens had said. Those words, and Simon's shouting over the earpiece of the communicating device, were the last things Jim had heard before he lost consciousness.
*************
The day had started out well. He had gone to the station with the idea that he could knock it off early and maybe spend some time at that new sports center he'd discovered last week. He even had told Sandburg that he could manage the paperwork alone today, go ahead and get your stuff done at the University. But fate was against him.
He had just sat down when the call came in. Two officers were shot by a wanted fugitive from the Forster Asylum, and the man was now inside Bishop High School.
Simon filled him in.
"His name is Jerry Owens. He is an ex-soldier, and was dishonorably discharged a few years ago for attacking the Captain of the unit. After he tried to commit suicide twice, he was committed to the closed ward of the Forster Asylum." He gripped Jim on the shoulders. "He has *Special Ops* training, Jim!"
"What a wonderful day," Jim sighed. "Let's go."
*************
By the time they reached the scene, the SWAT-team was already there.
One of the students had made it out of the building without being seen by Owens. He informed them that most of the students were out of school that day, and that Owens now had 5 teachers and ten students in there. Owens had locked all the doors and forced all his hostages into one classroom. The student said that he had heard Owens say that if he saw even one cop within a ten yard range around the building, he would kill them all, one by one.
Soon they had the blueprints of the building and were searching for a way to get inside without drawing Owens' attention. The only way, they found, was a ventilation window leading to the basement.
Simon had a hard time convincing the captain of the SWAT-Team that Jim should be the one to go in because Jim knew how to deal with someone who had been trained in Covert Ops.
After 15 minutes, Jim was ready to go into the building. He was wearing a kevlar vest and was equipped with a two-way communicating device.
"Are you sure you can make it, Jim?" Simon asked, while Jim checked his gun.
Jim stared at him in disbelief. "What? What's the matter, Simon?"
"Hey, man, no offense. It's just this Sentinel thing. You can control it without Sandburg, right?"
Jim thought a moment before he answered, "To be honest, Simon -- I don't know." He put the gun back into the holster on his ankle.
"Oh, come on Jim, we can send someone else in. I don't wanna lose you because you --what's that Sandburg's calling it? Oh, yeah -- *zoned out,*" Simon said, even more concerned now.
"Simon, think straight here. You and I know that most of the people who have undergone Covert Ops training are crack shots. The fact that Owens is possibly insane makes him even more dangerous. If you sent one of them in," he said, pointing to a member of the SWAT-team, "then there won't be any
survivors. I'd rather take my chances alone." He paused to look the captain straight in the eye. "Don't worry."
"Do me a favor, Simon. Don't tell Sandburg about this." Then he lowered himself into the narrow opening.
"You don't even have the slightest idea how worried I am," Simon thought as he watched his friend disappear into the basement.
*************
Once inside the basement, Jim needed to adjust his sight to the darkness. Soon he was able to see his surroundings. He found the stairs to the first floor and focused on his hearing. There were several sounds in the empty building, as well as every sound outside the building, to sort through.
Suddenly he focused on the pleading voice of a woman. "Please, Mister, can't you just let us go?" Then he heard a slap and the sound of the woman crying out in pain. "Shut up, Missy, we're all going to die sooner or later," a very calm male voice answered. "It's just going to be sooner. For all of us, including myself. Very soon."
"Simon, do you know how much ammunition he has?" Jim asked over the small mike.
After a few seconds, he heard the captain's voice over the earpiece. "Negative Jim. We only know that he has the ammo of the two officers and their guns, but we don't know how much he had before that."
"Ok, way to go," Jim said, more to himself than to anyone else.
Again, he focused on the male voice coming from somewhere above him. This time he piggybacked his hearing with his sight. There they were. One story above him.
He walked up to the next floor with his gun drawn and stopped in front of the first door. Suddenly he heard a loud noise. It hurt like hell to his sensitive ears; he had no chance to turn his hearing down. The gun dropped from his grip as he covered his ears with his hands.
The sound of the metal hitting the floor alarmed Owens, and he fired a shot through the closed door. The bullet hit Jim in the shoulder and he fell over backwards. Then the door opened, and Owens had the gun trained at his head.
*************
Simon heard the shot and shouted into the mike. "Jim, what's wrong? Can you hear me? JIM!"
There was no answer until he heard a stranger's voice. "I've got him, and if you don't wanna lose any more of your men, you'd better not let anybody get near the building again."
"Have you killed him, Owens?" Simon asked, trying to sound as calm as possible.
"No, I'll save that for later. But I can't guarantee that he won't die from the big hole I just put into his shoulder," Owens answered.
"All right, Owens. What do you want?"
"I want you all to leave *us* alone."
"You know we can't do that, Owens," Simon replied.
"Have it your way, then, cop. Wait and see!" Then came the sound of the mike hitting the floor and total static as Owens stepped onto the communicating device.
*************
Blair reached the school within ten minutes of hearing the news on the radio. He hit the Corvair's brakes hard, and the car skidded to halt with squealing tires just before the police line.
He jumped out of the car, and was about to walk over to Brown when a large hand on his chest stopped him. "This is a crime scene. Please step back behind the line, sir," said the owner of the hand firmly. Then he was shoved back.
"Hey, wait a minute. My name is Blair Sandburg. I'm working as a consultant for Major Crimes. I'm assigned to Detective Ellison," he spoke rapidly, his voice raised by the adrenaline that surged through his system.
"Can you verify your identity by showing me your badge?" the officer asked.
"OH, COME ON!" Blair shouted in frustration, but started searching his pockets for the ID.
*************
Simon was talking to the captain of the SWAT-team again when Brown walked over to him.
"Sir. We might have a problem," he addressed the captain, and pointed over to where Blair was arguing with the officer.
"Oh no. *Sandburg*. Do me a favor and bring him in here before the press gets wind of this," Simon ordered Brown.
Minutes later Brown was back, with Blair eagerly pacing at his side.
"Simon, what's going on?" Blair asked, his voice sounding panicked now. "Where's Jim? You sent him in? Is he hurt?"
"Hey, hey, calm down, kid. You're going way too fast here." He put his hands on Blair's shoulders to slow him down and felt the small tremors there.
"Listen, Blair. Yes, I sent Jim in, and, yes, he is hurt, but we do know that he is still alive and we are going to get him out of there." Blair's face grow paler with each word. "I want you to sit down in my car and
*wait.* The SWAT-team is ready to go in. I don't wanna see you anywhere near that building. Do you understand me, Sandburg?"
Blair was shocked. He just nodded and followed Brown to Simon's car.
Before the cop returned to Simon, though, he squeezed the arm of the young anthropologist reassuringly. "These guys are good, Blair. They'll get him out!"
Blair just stared into space in front of him.
"I let Jim down," was the only thought that was in his mind.
*************
Jim woke to a throbbing pain in his left shoulder. He was now sitting on a chair and his wrists and ankles were tied together.
Owens was standing in front of the window watching him. He was the same height and probably the same age as Jim. He had black hair and dark eyes.
"Hey, cop. Glad you decided to join us. Ladies and gentlemen," he addressed everyone in the room, "let me introduce to you Detective James Ellison, Cascade PD."
"How did you know my name?" Jim asked, his voice hoarse from the pain.
"I checked your pockets," was the answer. Then the badge was thrown on the floor in front of the Sentinel. "So, why did they sent you in, Ellison? Are you that good?"
"I don't know, maybe it was the Special Ops training..." Jim started.
"*You* were in Special Ops? That's a joke. If you were, I couldn't have gotten you so easily."
"Nobody's perfect," Jim hissed through clenched teeth. The pain in his shoulder was giving him a hard time.
Owens' attention snapped back to the window when he heard a noise.
*************
The SWAT started to approach the building.
Suddenly Owens started firing out of the window.
Jim had been right, the man was a crack shot. He fired 5 times, and with each shot, a man went down. The rest of the team worked on dragging the wounded men out of the range of Owens' weapon. Nobody noticed when Blair slipped out of the car. He went to the same window Jim had used earlier. Without hesitation, and probably without even thinking, he vanished into the basement.
*************
The basement was pitch dark, but after stumbling around for a while, Blair found what he was looking for, and started to go upstairs. He knew were Owens was because he had seen him at the window.
At the second floor he paused and thought for the first time about what he was doing.
It was a fault of his -- reacting without thinking was an easy habit, but now that he had stopped to think about what he was doing, he started to panic.
He sat down on the stairs and tried to calm down by slowly breathing in and out.
"Come on Blair, think. Jim is counting on you."
*************
After Owens started firing, all hell broke loose in the small room. Everybody except Jim started screaming.
Jim tried to move, to do something to stop the psycho, but he couldn't even raise his arms.
Owens turned around and pointed the gun at one of the teachers, "*Shut up*, or I'll kill her."
Silence fell inside the room. Now that it was quiet, everybody heard the sirens of the approaching ambulances. Owens started grinning when he heard it.
"Don't deal with the devil," he said cryptically. He started laughing.
"Shut up, you bastard," Jim growled.
"What?!?" Owens exclaimed, and walked over to Jim. "You have a death wish or something, Ellison?"
He hit him on the injured shoulder.
Jim couldn't prevent the cry of pain from escaping his lips.
*************
Meanwhile, Simon tried to gain control over the chaos that was that was taking place in front of the school.
*************
Blair was still performing his breathing exercise when his gaze fell on Jim's gun.
It was still lying on the floor in front of the classroom. The door to the room was closed.
He slowly stood up, and went over to were the gun was lying on the floor.
He picked it up, not quite knowing what to do next, then he heard Owens talking, and Jim's cry of pain.
"Jim is hurt, he needs my help." Now everything was on automatic again.
He knocked on the door, and went to the side to avoid being hit by the bullet that he knew, by the bullet hole that was already in the wooden door, would be fired at him.
*************
Owens heard the knock on the door, and stepped away from Jim.
Then he fired once again through the closed door.
*************
Blair held his breath when the bullet pierced the door. If he'd not stepped aside, it would have hit him right in the heart. Then he listened for any sound coming from inside of the room.
*************
Owens knew that whatever had been in front of the door should now be dead meat.
Secure in that knowledge, he stepped forward.
Jim was still trying to gain control over the stabbing pain in his shoulder. Otherwise, he would have registered the familiar heartbeat of his guide in front of the door.
*************
Blair heard Owens walking towards the door. He lowered the gun to a level he thought would not kill the man, then fired.
The bullet went through the door and hit Owens into the right knee.
Blair opened the door and ran full force into the still-standing figure.
Owens stumbled backwards. He hit his head on one of the tables and was knocked out cold.
*************
Jim couldn't believe what had just happened. Someone had shot Owens through the door, then the door opened and his Guide tackled the freak. Now they were both lying on the floor.
*************
Blair lay on top of the unconscious body. He moved away from the man, got his Swiss army knife out of his pocket, and cut the nearest person loose.
Suddenly he was very aware of what he had done. He leaned against the nearest wall and slowly slid to the ground.
Jim saw that his Guide was going into shock. He told the girl that was free to cut the plastic wire around his wrists and ankles, but she didn't move.
"Come on, Ma'am, you need to move. Owens is not dead, he is just unconscious. I need to get him secured," he reasoned, but she was to shocked to move.
"MOVE", he shouted, the urgency of the situation getting to him. This time she snapped back to reality and began frantically cutting the wires.
When Jim was free, he tried to get up, but the pain was burning in his shoulder like fire. He looked into the shocked, pale face of his Guide, and managed to turn the pain down to a bearable level for his sake. He got up, weaving a little as the dizziness from the blood loss hit him.
He walked to the window, but stopped before he could be seen by any sharpshooter. He shouted Simon's name and that the situation was under control, before turning around and kneeling down beside his shaking Guide.
"Hey, Chief, are you all right?" he asked.
"*No.* I let you down, Jim," Blair whispered. Tears were forming in his eyes.
Jim sat down on the floor, and pressed his hand on his shoulder. "What are you talking about, Chief? You saved our lives!"
"No, I should have known that something would happen today. You *zoned* before he shot you. Am I right, Jim?" he challenged.
"Listen to me. Just two things. Number one - *Hell, Blair, you are not an psychic!* How on earth could you have known that something would happen today? And number two- *No*, I was not zoned when he hit me, I was distracted by a loud noise. Now, come on. You did a good job today." He stretched his good arm out, and Blair crawled into his embrace.
"Easy, Chief. Careful with the shoulder," Jim said softly, as he held his crying friend.
*************
The situation outside of the school was barely under control when Simon heard the shot coming from inside the building. A few minutes later, he heard Jim calling his name and that the situation was under control.
Instantly he and several others raced into the building.
He entered the classroom on the second floor and was greeted by the sight of Jim holding a crying Blair in his arms.
He looked at Owens, then back to Sandburg, and threw a questioning glance at Jim.
Jim nodded, and Simon smiled and shook his head.
*************
The hostages were freed without any significant injuries. Jim was taken to the hospital to get his shoulder checked out. Since the bullet could be removed easily, Jim didn't need to stay.
Blair never left his side.
When they came home to the loft several hours later, Jim told Blair that he was proud of him and that he had saved a lot of lives that day.
Blair refused to let go of the thought that he had let Jim down. It would take a lot of time and reassurance to get him over that guilt complex.
Jim was fully aware of that, but would give anything to the man who was his partner, Guide, and best friend.
*************
A few weeks later Blair was honored by the mayor of Cascade for having saved the lives of 15 people.
Owens was sentenced to life imprisonment.
*************
THE END