Disclaimer: I do not own any part of Rookie Blue.
A different ending to Takedown. The first chapter is a Prologue.
I'm not exactly sure where I'm going with this, but I hope you like it.
I could still taste him on my lips.
Sam had just left with Angel. I told Angel I would go, but Angel wanted Gabe and so did Sam. Now they left to go God knows where, and I have no idea what I have gotten Sam into…but I need to find out.
Sam had barely left when the wheels started turning in Andy's head. She didn't care that she was over thinking it; she just need to know how soon Sam would be back. Andy was worried and she craved reassurance. Unfortunately, she didn't know if Rick would be able to give that to her or not.
She thought that maybe, if she could get Rick talking, he might give her something to hold onto, anything that might convince her that Sam was going to be OK.
Slipping back into her role as Edie, she began. "Lotta money, huh?"
Under the guise of small talk, Andy kept digging, "So…any idea where they're going? You know how close this place is?" She wanted, no needed, to know just how long before she would see Sam again.
Rick wasn't very forthcoming, though. Whether it was because he didn't know or because he didn't want to tell her, Andy couldn't decide; so she opted for a different tactic.
"OK…Gabe doesn't tell me much either," Andy sympathized.
"What?" Rick replied.
She thought she had piqued his interest so she continued. "I'm just saying, you know…it seems like we're both kind of in the dark here."
Andy hoped she might be able to goad him into giving up more information, and he was definitely getting his back against the wall.
"Yeah well I'm not." Rick defended.
"OK - you don't look very old." She observed, pausing to let that sink in. "Yeah, I'm assuming this is probably one of your first big jobs so it doesn't really make sense to tell much to a kid."
"Hey! They tell me plenty all right." He bragged.
Now we're getting somewhere - time to turn the screws a little tighter. "Of course they do honey… yeah. It's fine that's why Gabe and Angel are taking care of everything." Andy belittled, with the condescension clear in her voice.
"Boy you really think your boyfriend's all that." Rick marveled.
"Well Landry did give him 2 million dollars."
"Yeah and he screwed up the deal that's why Landry had to fly into town to smooth things over." Rick disputed.
Andy had gotten way more than she bargained for and the panic was starting to surface. "Landry's in town?"
"Yeah, I picked him up at the airport myself." Rick replied smugly, before rubbing it in a little. "Oh…I guess you don't know everything either."
Andy had made up her mind. "Yeah…I'm gonna go." Her chest started constricting as various scenarios flashed through her head – not one of them ending well for Sam.
"Go? That wasn't the deal." Rick reminded her.
"I'm going." Sam's life was in danger and nothing was going to stop her from doing everything she could to save him.
"Hey," Rick yelled, and he pulled out his gun. "Look…don't make me shoot you OK? I don't wanna but I will."
Not good enough. "Let me tell you something Rick, right now you're in the middle of the worst day of your life." Andy informed him.
He wasn't buying it. "You don't know what you're talking about."
"You're scared." It wasn't a question; it was a statement of fact – one that Andy knew applied to her as well.
"No." Rick denied.
"Yeah cause you don't want to let down all those people who are counting on you." She knew she was not just talking about Rick again. Andy felt the weight of every decision she had ever made as a cop, and she was overwhelmed by the added pressure of knowing that Sam's life depended on the next one she was about to make.
"Well the best thing you can hope for right now is to get out of here alive." Andy stated, and then raised her voice as she pulled out her ace. "…which you will not do if you keep pointing that gun at a cop."
"Are you a cop?" Rick asked, not really sure he wanted to know the answer.
"Yeah…right now they're taking my partner to a place where they're going to kill him the second they see he is not Gabe so I'm going to walk out that front door and I'm going to try and save him." Andy had never been more determined in her life.
"And if you shoot me, a bunch of other cops are going to come in here and do a whole lot worse to you. OK…you're only other option is to let me walk out." Andy persuaded.
"I'll go to jail." Rick realized aloud.
"Yeah, probably but you know what? You'll be alive in jail."
Rick was in denial. "I can't…I can't do that."
"Shoot me or let me walk out; because you might be new at this, but this is not my first day." Andy started backing away towards the door. She kept her eyes on Rick, still not sure exactly where his head was at. She was banking on his insecurity and inexperience. But time was running out and she knew she had to move before she was too late.
"Don't you walk away." Rick warned.
She turned her back on him. It was do or die time…literally.
"I'm not kidding. Stop!" He ordered, but she just kept going as he followed her around the corner.
"Turn around – c'mon stop." He was almost begging her…he really didn't want to do it. But the people he worked for were not the kind of people you let down…at least not if you wanted to live to tell about it.
Andy kept walking; though she couldn't seem to get enough air. It felt like her lungs were collapsing. She took a deep breath trying to stay calm but her heart was anything but. It was beating out of her chest as it powered the adrenaline coursing through her veins.
"Stop!" Rick yelled one last time.
She really didn't think he would, but he must have panicked. She flinched at the sound not truly comprehending what he had done. In the back of her mind, the shot registered but it was insignificant – the only thing she could focus on was Sam and the sharp pain she felt at the thought of losing him. She had to hurry. She had to save him or nothing else would ever matter anymore.
Andy made it to the exit, and the minute the cool air hit her face, she was running towards her backup. Noelle, Boyd and Callahan were running towards her.
"We heard a gunshot." Noelle yelled.
Insignificant. "You gotta stop Sam's car; as soon as he gets to Bergen he's made. They're gonna kill him." Andy yelled.
She was terrified, but her feelings were irrelevant. It didn't matter that the boots were killing her and the ache in her chest was almost unbearable; they were nothing compared to the prospect of losing Sam.
Noelle grabbed the radio. "Alpha 2, Alpha 6, 10-33, Officer in jeopardy, move in now."
As they got in to the SUV, someone asked again. "Andy, didn't we hear a gun shot?"
"I don't know…I think so…just…let someone else take care of it." Andy really didn't care what happened with Rick; she knew there would be uniformed backup that would also have been called in when they heard the shots. They would already be entering the lounge to retrieve the money, and she was certain Rick was too scared to leave.
Boyd raced to the scene as they listened to the takedown play out over the radio. Andy was struggling to focus on the words, but they definitely hit the mark when a voice on the radio reported 'shots fired.'
Noelle heard it too and grabbed her radio again. "This is Alpha 1; there is an undercover cop in the building. I repeat an undercover cop in the building."
Everyone in the vehicle was on edge, but Andy had already dropped over it. She couldn't concentrate; she was overcome by her thoughts, drowning in them until she was pulled to the surface again. Someone had been shot in the chest. The realization that it could be Sam was almost too much as the pain in her own chest threatened to consume her.
They finally reached the warehouse. It was chaos: uniforms, ETF, flashing lights…
Luke, Boyd and Noelle exited the vehicle first; Andy was moving slowly through her haze trying to reconcile the scene with reality. Was this really happening? Could Sam really be…
Luke and Boyd headed directly to the body under the tarp moving to answer the question that Andy couldn't bear to voice. She forced herself to watch, not really wanting to see. She barely had time to feel the relief at seeing it was Angel, when she heard her name. "McNally!"
Her head snapped to the left so her eyes could validate what her ears had just heard. The release was immediate when Sam smiled over at her. His smile…she would still get to see it every day.
She thought that seeing him would free the tension in her chest, but it was still there. She walked towards Sam. "You're ok," she assured herself, the relief apparent in her voice.
"Yeah…thanks to you." Sam praised. "You were great in there."
"Thanks." She said with a shy smile.
"See…you don't have to fake it anymore." He said, trying to make her understand that he meant so much more than just the job.
Andy smiled and rolled her eyes as Sam chuckled. They stared at each other for what seemed like hours, each silently willing the other to say what they both wanted to hear.
Sam knew she wasn't going to, and although he wanted to, his eye caught sight of Callahan first. She was still with Luke and as much as Sam would have liked to, he had no right to say anymore.
So he did what he always did; he stood aside. "Uh…I should uh…get in there and give a statement." It was probably for the best anyway.
Andy nodded. "All right."
"See you tomorrow? …Copper."
"See you tomorrow." Andy confirmed.
She turned and watched him walk away as he passed Luke coming towards her.
"He's ok...you had his back." Luke commended.
Still playing the part she convinced herself was perfect for her, she nodded. "Yeah…thank you for having mine."
She lifted her head to Luke and he slid his hands under her jacket to embrace her. She was going to say more but before she could, she let out a whimper of pain. As her eyes rolled back, she collapsed in Luke's arms.
That was unexpected; he guessed that she had just been overcome by the enormity of the situation and fainted. Until he remembered that she had whimpered too. Was she hurt?
He laid her gently on the ground and pulled his hands back to brush her hair from her face. It was then that he realized that one of his arms was covered in blood. "Officer down. Officer Down. I need a medic."
Sam had not yet made it back into the building before he recognized Luke's panicked voice. Officer down? He had just seen him and everything had been under control. What happened?
Sam turned around, but couldn't see Callahan anywhere so he jogged back towards where he had passed him and saw Luke on the ground with Andy.
Sam broke into a run stopping just short of Luke. Now was not the time to worry about manners. "What the hell happened?"
Sam's eyes widened as Luke raised his blood stained arm. He looked up, his face completely blank. "I think she was shot."
I don't even know if it's physically possible to not know you were shot, but I liked the idea that she was so focused on Sam that she had no idea she was even hurt. I thought about Benny not even knowing he had a bullet in his head so I was hoping it was just believable enough.
I Googled it and found a few instances where people didn't know they had been stabbed or shot; maybe she should have realized sooner, but her mind was anywhere but on herself during this time. You could see it on her face.
And, hey...it is fiction right?