Vendetta - Chapter 1
by spookycc
Summary: Robert Goren's testimony put his former captor, Gene Palmer, in jail - life without parole. But it "ain't over yet"...
Disclaimer: I don't own anyone you recognize. ;-p
Timeline: takes place a short time after Purgatory, but before Betrayal. Goren and Eames are partners again, but all is not well between them yet.
Thanks to my beta and best little sister, JudyG.
Authors notes: the 48th precinct is an actual precinct of NYPD - it's in a middle-to-lower class area of the Bronx. Rescue Three also services the Bronx area.
As many times as I've SEEN the courthouse on Law & Order (usually on The Mothership), I can't FIND it in the NYC government directory. I have chosen where I believe it may be located, in the building that houses the NY county DA's office, on Chambers Street in Lower Manhattan.
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"Goren", Detective Robert Goren answered his cell phone as his partner drove them back to 1PP from a felony hearing at the New York County Courthouse.
Eames glanced over at him when he said nothing for a few moments.
"You're sure? OK, thanks." Goren closed his phone.
"Everything OK?" Eames asked.
Her partner was quiet for a bit longer, but by now she was used to that. It just meant his mouth hadn't caught up with his mind yet. And their words had been few and far between, lately.
Goren spoke as if no time had elapsed since her question. "Um, yeah... I think so... Have you - do you know an ex-cop named Sanderson? From over at the 4-8?"
Eames shook her head. "Nope. Why?"
"That call was supposedly from a friend of his, who heard I was looking for Donnie Carlson. He thinks he knows where he might be staying." Goren was still deep in thought, trying to determine if the clue was real. He'd chased dozens of supposed sightings of his nephew during his suspension, and none had panned out.
"Is it close by?"
Goren shook his head. "No, it's in the Bronx."
"You want to head that way, check it out?" Eames knew Goren wanted to chase down every single clue that might lead to Donnie, even though none of them had as yet led anywhere.
"Do you mind?" Goren's brain was already plotting a course to the general area of Donnie's possible location. He often did it more quickly and efficiently than the GPS unit in their SUV.
"No, it's fine. We're not due back at MCS til after lunch."
Goren gave Eames directions as they traversed the busy mid-day streets from lower Manhattan to the Bronx. As they got closer, he flipped on the GPS unit and entered the street address. He pointed out a boarded-up house on their right, and Eames pulled their SUV up to the curb.
"Doesn't look like anyone's lived here for some time," Eames tried to bring realism into play, but she knew Goren would want to search the building anyway. They walked up onto the porch, and Goren knocked on the door.
"Donnie!" he shouted at the plywood-covered windows. Not surprisingly, there was no answer. Goren sighed. Another dead end.
"We could try the back," Eames suggested. The two detectives walked down the rickety steps of the porch, and headed around the side of the house.
They didn't make it all the way around.
As they cleared the front corner of the house, a small explosion rocked the building, and threw both Goren and Eames to the ground.
"Eames!" Goren crawled to where his partner lay. "Are you ok?"
Eames shook her head to clear it, and instantly regretted it. "Yeah, I think so." She sat up and pulled out her cell to call the fire department.
Goren was on his feet by that time, his only injury a scratch on his temple. Suddenly he turned pale.
"What?" Eames was watching him.
"What if Donnie is in there?" Bobby started to take off toward the house, which was now fully engulfed in flames.
"No!" Eames scrambled to her feet and grabbed the sleeve of Goren's coat. It was the only thing that kept the man from running into the burning house. She grabbed Goren's arm and usedall of her strength to pull him further out into the yard.
Goren was stammering, clearly distraught. "That could have been a meth lab! Donnie did - he was involved with a kid who sold drugs-"
"He didn't answer you, Bobby," Eames held tightly to his arm.
"He's a wanted man, he didn't know it was me!"
"Damnit, Bobby, wait for the fire department! You wouldn't last long enough to find anyone in there!" Eames fought for mental control, since he could easily overpower her physically.
The wail of a siren was a welcome sound to Eames' ears, as an FDNY engine rumbled up the street and stopped behind their SUV.
Goren ran to the firefighters as they jumped to connect their hoses to the hydrant. "There may be someone in there! It may be a meth lab!"
One of the firefighters nodded at their two rescue specialists, who donned air tanks and masks, and headed for the porch. The rest of the men played water hoses over the building from the tank on their truck. Soon their hoses were joined by the more powerful stream from the hydrant.
"Sir, you need to step away. If this was a meth lab, there could be further explosions." One of the firefighters, this one a match for Goren in size and stature, pushed him back toward their SUV. Eames was beside him the whole time, never fully trusting that Goren wouldn't try again to go inside. For a brilliant man, he pulled some bone-headed stunts when he let his heart think for him.
As the fire died down somewhat, the men with air tanks came back out the front door. They shook their heads at Goren as they strode through what was left of the front porch. "Nobody in there, all clear!" One of them yelled as he pulled his mask off. This would change the way they fought the fire, since there were no victims to rescue, and no other structures in danger.
Eames opened the SUV door, and Goren leaned against the passenger seat, defeated and dejected. She stood beside the door as he laid his head in his hands.
An EMS with the words "Rescue 3" emblazoned on its side pulled up behind the fire truck. It was standard procedure to send a rescue unit out with the engine and ladders, although they had been delayed by a call of their own.
"No one inside!" one of the firefighters yelled as the EMT's cleared the back of the Major Case SUV. One of them noticed Goren and Eames, and came to check on them.
"You two OK?"
Goren looked up as they approached, and they checked out the wound on his temple. "We can clean it up for you; it doesn't look like it needs stitches."
"I'm fine," Goren waved them away and leaned back against the seat.
After the fire was out, several firefighters went inside the building, now that they had more time, and one returned to the SUV with a small, charred box in his hand.
Goren looked at the box. "Incendiary device?"
"Yup".
"What set it off?" Goren asked.
"No way to tell yet," the firefighter explained. "Could have been remotely detonated, could have been triggered by something in or outside the house."
"Like stepping on the porch?" Eames asked sheepishly.
The firefighter nodded. "Could be. We won't know for sure until the CSU techs get through with it. You guys got anyone gunning for you?"
Eames shrugged her shoulders and Goren looked at the ground. "Just the usual suspects," she replied cryptically. She herded Goren the rest of the way into the SUV and closed the door, heading around to the driver's side.
She put the key in the ignition and looked over at her partner. "I'm sorry, Bobby. But I'm glad Donnie wasn't in there."
"He never was." Goren shook his head. "Someone wants us dead. Or, someone wants me dead, and you're just the innocent bystander again."
Eames shook her head, and shivered. Now that the adrenaline had worn off, she was worried for her partner. And a bit for herself, by association. It had been months since Palmer had been convicted, but Goren had told her of his quiet threat in the courtroom.
So much had happened since then. Goren and Eames had JUST started to relax a little, and they were getting along a bit better of late. They'd started to think that maybe Palmer's words were just that... until today.
"Are you sure you're ok?" Goren asked Eames.
"Yeah, just - a little shaken up."
Goren put on his seatbelt, as Palmer's words played in his mind. "This ain't over..."
end chapter 1