Ch 1 Witness Protection
Raylan closed his notepad and got up," Well thank you ma'am," he smiled and Tim rolled his eyes. Raylan had this effect on women, he glanced back at their witness who was now blushing and had forgotten that a cartel's hitman had roughed her up not a few hours ago. Raylan and Tim had burst in as the man was about to really start laying into her.
"If you think of anything else that could help us, here's our cards," Tim put their cards on the bedside table and nodded his goodbye," hope you feel better."
"Thank you Marshals," Karen smiled like a school girl, even with her face swollen and a bandage wrapped around her head.
The door clicked closed behind them as they started down the hallway," New druglord in town?" Tim wondered aloud.
"Well Boyd took over the meth business and the pot business," he adjusted his hat," and there's no cocaine in circulation."
Tim had always hated hospitals, the way they smelled, the way the staff scurried about down the halls and...he grabbed Raylan's arm above the elbow. His partner hadn't noticed yet, the hall was clearing and Raylan had kept walking. Tim didn't know what was going on, but something was definitely off about him. The job had taken its toll on him and whatever was going on in his personal life had him distracted, that and the fact that he'd been shot and had lost some of his confidence on a cross draw. Instead of his injuries giving him the kind of PTSD that made a man jumpy and nervous, Raylan was complacent and fearless. Almost like he thought nothing could kill him now.
"Tim, why are you...?" he stopped when he saw the man's expression, his hand instinctively went to his gun and unsnapped his holster.
Tim turned and scanned the hallway, the elevator wasn't far," Raylan," he whispered and motioned to it. Raylan nodded, he slid his gun out of his holster and hugged the wall opposite Tim. Hallways were the worst places to get into gunfights, nowhere to run or find cover. Tim dipped into one of the rooms to clear it, an older man slept on the bed amidst machines that beeped softly. He checked the closet and headed for the bathroom,' Nothing here, next room,' he gave the old man a glance and hoped they could get out of this without any complications.
Raylan saw Tim clearing rooms and followed suit until they reached the end of the hallway, it intersected with elevators making a T-shape with adjacent hallways leading to the other wings. Raylan apologized to the patients who were awake as he cleared the rooms one by one, it was difficult and went against all of his training to step into a room without pointing his gun but he didn't want to frighten sick people unnecessarily. When they reached the end of the hallway they had a silent conversation, Tim would take the hallway on his side and Raylan would take the other one. Tim nodded and the two looked around their corners, guns up. A woman screamed, a nurse from the look of her uniform, at the sight of Raylan's gun. The hallway suddenly came alive, staff running and yelling and carts overturning. Raylan stood up and tried to make sense of the chaos down his end of the hallway, he turned and looked behind him and saw Tim was making his way through to check further down.
It wasn't a good idea to split up, but given the circumstances Tim didn't see they had a choice. He ran through the crowd of people that were now flocking to the elevator to try and see back down towards their battered witness. Gunfire cracked through the air, Tim slammed his back to the wall and tried to find where it was coming from. He wondered if Raylan had found the cartel's men, a calm coldness spread through him as he looked around for that famous hat. People were pushing each other and fighting to get to the elevators, he couldn't see. More gunshots, Tim hoped Raylan had the sense to leave one of the guys alive. He ran the other way to check on the witness.
Raylan hit the floor as gunshots echoed through the small space, he rolled onto his back to try and get a look at who was shooting. His ears rang with a high pitched whine and he pointed his Glock in front of him, People were still scrambling past him, a man tripped over his foot and fell to his knee. As he tried to regain his footing he knocked the pistol from Raylan's hands, it clattered to the floor but Raylan never heard it. He grabbed it and put it back in its holster, until these terrified bystanders were out of his way he couldn't risk a bullet hitting one of them. He saw Tim headed back for Theresa and crawled to the clear part of the hall to meet him.
Tim found the witness, Theresa was crying and shaking," It's going to be okay," he flashed her a smile," I'm going to get you out of here," he unhooked the central line from the port on her forearm and lead her down the hall away from the gunshots. Raylan was outside the door, gun drawn again and pointed towards the elevators.
"We'll have to take the stairs," Tim put a second hospital gown around Theresa's shoulders to preserve her modesty.
"I'm right behind you," Raylan still had his Glock pointed at the elevators when Tim and Theresa started down the stairs. He was about to turn to follow them when the people who were half killing each other trying to escape via the elevators noticed him and the stairs sign. He advanced down the hallway, gun still up as a few panicked staff and family members still ran towards him," U.S. Marshal," he called to them," take the stairs and get to the lobby!" He held the door for a few of them and called down to Tim," Go! I'm coming," Tim heard footsteps following him down the stairs and looked up, he was surprised he didn't see his partner but civilians. He saw Raylan in the doorway directing them and hurried for the lobby. When he got there he scanned the crowd for his friend's cowboy hat. Chills spiked through him as he realized Raylan wasn't there.
"Good job, Gutterson," Art clapped a hand on his back," she's the only thing that stands between us and whoever this new drug lord is."
"Raylan," if he'd heard what Art said he didn't respond to it.
"Where is Raylan?" Art asked.
"He was getting civilians to the stairs," Tim felt the blood drain from his face," he said he was right behind me."
"He's probably getting more people to safety, or he's shot the perps and I'll have a mountain of paperwork on my desk," he added the last part under his breath as Tim sifted through the growing mass of people who had managed to evacuate.
"I'm going back for Raylan," he yelled as Theresa was lead to an ambulance. It wasn't even a thought or a request, more him telling Art what he was doing.
"Tim!" Art yelled back," no you're not, he's a big boy he can take care of himself. The gunmen have hostages and no telling what will happen if any more cops go in there."
"Hostages?!" Tim whirled around to face Art.
"Yes, hostages," Art had a radio in his hand.
"Do they have Raylan?"
"I don't think they know he's still there, these aren't Crowder's guys as far as we know so they might not know who he is," static on the radio.
"Whoever they are they're not talking much," an officer Tim didn't recognize approached them," they've got hostages and they want a chopper and a guarantee they can leave without pursuit or they're going to start killing them off. They want your witness too."
"None of that is happe…"
"Do they have a man in a tan cowboy hat?" Tim interrupted him.
"I have snipers posted in the buildings surrounding the hospital but they haven't been stupid enough to show…"
"Do they have a man in a tan cowboy hat?!" Tim repeated, his voice raised and harsher this time.
"Well, I didn't ask them for a list of names!" The other officer put some sarcasm in his voice and brushed Tim aside, turning back to Art.
"That's my partner," Tim grabbed his sleeve aggressively.
"Look, man I'm sorry I don't know any more than you do!"
"I'm going after Raylan," Tim turned and strode to Raylan's squad car, he popped the trunk and started taking out his duffle bag.
"Tim, I'm giving you an order!" Art caught up with him and grabbed his shoulder.
"I left him!" Tim shouted back," Where I come from you don't leave your friends behind," he looked defeated.
"If you go in now, those guys might figure out who he is if they haven't already and kill him," Art's heart went out to the man but he was firm.
