Chapter1:
He never thought his life would end like that.
He knew death was a rare constant in the world, without death there will be no life. But death was always unexpected, you could always do more, you could always achieve more. He knew death was never pretty and seldom peaceful but to die like that, without a warning?
Roger Keith was just a paramedic. He worked as a paramedic for as long as he remembered. He remembered sharing coffee with the team of the other ambulance before they both received their first calls of the night. Fate brought him to this deserted street right next to the park.
He cursed loudly when he closed the ambulance doors. The last thing he wanted was to evacuate some drunken idiot who hit a bunch of trees with his car. The trees suffered mild scratches and a few broken twigs. The drunken idiot had a concussion and a broken arm; he also smelled like alcohol and suffered from nausea.
Roger was tired. They had a long night, he and his partner, and he couldn't wait for it to over. The graveyard shifts were always one big mess; it seemed like all the strange and horrible things waited for the night to come.
As he reached towards the driver's door he paused, glancing around him. He could have sworn he heard something. Looking around him all he saw were the trees surrounding the park. Shaking his head at his own wild imagination he pulled himself upward into the driver's seat.
The front window shattered when two shotguns went through it and hit him right in his chest. He fought to breath as he watched the destruction around him, pushing his hands against his chest but there was too much blood. He sighed softly before closing his eyes, death was unexpected.
The last thing he heard was the screaming of his partner.
By that time, she learned that death may come in many ways.
It may creep behind and take over slowly, torturing the mind and body
It may come in surprise with your dreams
And it can be violent and horrible leaving behind a trail of broken souls.
Death visited the room. Next to the tub, on the floor, was a dead woman. Her black hair was covered in blood and the red liquid pooled around her.
The woman died instantly, the small gun was next to her.
She raised her head from the body to look at the room around her. The red blood clashed horribly with the white bathroom. On the sink, she noticed a white envelope and she tilted her head to the right wondering; should she open it?
The loud knocks on the door startled her and she looked backwards, a sudden sense of dread filling her. Her stomach clenched, and she laid a protective hand against it. The knocking continued, and she felt herself moving towards it, her hand reaching for the door knob.
Someone shook her.
She looked around; there was no one in the room. The body glared at her with their open eyes. She gasped when the the woman moved suddenly.
"Wake up…"
Her eyes opened and she bolted away from the hand that shook her shoulder. "What?" she gasped, her voice shaking.
"We have to go." The red head man spoke quietly. "Something happened."
December 18th
Special agent Jack Hudson smiled when he ran towards the elevator, trying to catch Sue Thomas and steal some moments alone with her in the elevator. He had no idea when it happened but at some point he couldn't start his day without at least seeing her face. He wasn't even sure when her face took residence in his mind, but somehow, slowly she was inside his mind and inside his heart and he started to feel like he wasn't whole when she wasn't around. His free days were quite miserable and her image would hunt him even then.
"Good morning, how was your weekend?" He asked, smiling brightly.
She shrugged her shoulders. "Pretty quiet, I had a sour throat the entire weekend and it only got better this morning."
He concentrated on her voice, it sounded a bit hoarse and he immediately stopped the train of thoughts that started to form in his mind. He cleared his throat "You could have called; I can make a delicious chicken soup."
She raised her eyebrows. "You can't cook, Jack." She grinned.
"I know this great restaurant that has the most delicious soups." He grinned back at her. She laughed out loud and he felt like he could kiss her right now with her smiling mouth and twinkling eyes. The temptation was starting to get the better of him when the elevator doors opened and he cleared his throat, allowing her to move past him. He walked behind her a few steps, shaking his head. "Like a dog on a leash." He mumbled, trying to compose himself.
Levi glared at him, clearly not liking the comparison.
"Ah, finally the Hudson's has arrived." Bobby Manning's cheerful voice greeted them as they entered the bullpen. Sue smiled at him and Jack shot him a dirty look which only made the tall agent roll his eyes as he went back to his desk, carrying a cup of hot coffee.
The atmosphere in the bullpen was relaxed. The team was catching up with some heavy paperwork and enjoying some down time with no new cases in over a week. Dimitrius Gans who acted as supervisor hated to break the tranquility, but he had no choice. "I hate to break this to you, but we have a new case." He said, handing folders to Lucy Dotson, the team's rotor, to distribute.
"It's a week before Christmas; things were starting to calm down." Myles Leland complained.
"Apparently not." Dimitrius answered and pointed at the screen. "This is Roger Keith, 40 years old paramedic. He was shot last night while evacuating a car accident victim. He died at the scene. His partner, Linda Johnson got hit on her right shoulder, she handed her resignation an hour ago.
"Someone shot an Ambulance?" Sue sounded shocked and the team all nodded their heads.
"This is definitely low." Bobby agreed.
"This is also, not the first time." Dimitrius added. "Another Paramedic was hit last week, but the shooter missed her. She suffered minor scratches from the front window's glass and sprained her wriest while trying to stay below the fire line."
"Any leads?" Jack asked and Dimitrius shook his head.
"None so far. The first shooting seemed to be random but now…I want someone to talk with Johnson. I also need undercover people; it looks like someone is monitoring the radio to hear where the Ambulances are going. In both times, the shooter waited for them in the scene. Jack, Bobby congratulations, you just finished paramedic course. I also want us to be able to monitor Ambulance traffic from here, Tara?"
Tara Williams nodded her head, already typing at her keyboard. "I'm on it."
The team hurried to start their assignment while Jack and Bobby hurried after Dimitrius. "You need a refresh curse in first aid and CPR; your shift starts at 23:00."
"You don't suppose it's the right time to say that I'm a bit apprehensive about blood." Bobby sighed.
Jack shook his head. "Nope, Crash, that's not the right time."
Jack and Bobby arrived at the Ambulance station just before eleven o'clock. They climbed the few stairs that led the front doors and Bobby tried to open them. Shrugging his shoulders, he pressed the intercom button, but it seemed to be broken.
"Now what?" He sighed.
"It won't look that good being late for out first shift." They heard a car driving towards the building and turned to see an Ambulance stopping in front of them. The driver, a young redhead man, raised his eyebrows at them. "Can I help you?"
"I'm Jack and this is Bobby, we're supposed to start our shift." The Ambulance driver nodded his head.
"Follow me around to the parking lot." He motioned them to surround the building. "The intercom has been broken for months and the front door just stayed locked since then. There's a back entrance, I'll make sure to get you guys some keys by tomorrow."
Bobby and Jack followed the large vehicle until they reached a small parking lot. The paramedic parked the ambulance next to another one and Bobby chanced a look at how cleaned they looked. Next to the shiny ambulances stood two others; one had two holes in the left side of the front glass and the other one had no front glass at all.
"How do you do? I'm James Meyer." He extended his hand and Bobby shook it.
"Bobby Manning."
"Jack Hudson."
"Pleasure to meet you, fresh out of class, ha? I'm sure you'll be just fine."
They followed him inside and entered a large hall with several couches and a small kitchen; at the end of the hall they entered a large corridor. "Bathrooms and showers are the first door to the right." James motioned the door. "Right showers are for the men, left showers are for the women, try to remember that." He smiled wistfully and they chuckled. "Next is the bedroom." He opened the door to reveal a small room with five beds in it. "We have blankets and sheets, but I suggest you'll get your own from home, you'll be more comfortable." They continued down the hall to see it ends with a small room with a few sofas and a small T.V screen. Another paramedic sat in front of the T.V, reading a small book. James cleared his throat and she raised her eyes. "Our fresh meat has arrived."
Bobby and Jack shared an amused look and then shook hands again and introduced themselves. "Nice to meet you, I'm Megan Paul."
They settled down on the sofas while James volunteered to make them some coffee. Megan returned to her book and Bobby and Jack glanced at each other nervously. They both felt out of place in that small room. Bobby sighed before leaning backward on the sofa. "Is there any point at all in trying to get some sleep?" He asked.
The woman in front of him chuckled and closed her book. "That depends on how fast you can wake up. From my experience it takes about a half an hour for the first call to arrive. If it doesn't then it means that a very bad night is coming."
"Like the quiet before the storm?" Jack smiled.
"That's right." She nodded and accepted a glass of black coffee from James.
"We usually manage to drink a half of glass." James joked as he sat down. The phone ringed and James smiled. "See?"
"Yep?" Megan answered. "Hey, Millie. We're all here, I'll take number 54 and James will take number 47. We also have Jack Hudson and Bobby Manning with us. Already? I'll take it, I'll be right out." She hung up and rose from her seat, stretching as she reached for her coat. "We have a call; any of you guys want to join me?"
Bobby rose from his seat and grabbed his coat, following her outside.
"Washington 52." She spoke into the radio and Bobby sat besides her, grabbing a chart of papers.
"52, you're heading towards K street no. 116. 65-year-old woman, fell in her kitchen. Complains on severe pains in her back and neck."
"Copy that, on our way." Bobby wrote down the address and tried to calm himself as a sudden feeling of anxiety took hold on him. This undercover assignment was probably the hardest one he ever did. He will never confess it to anyone, but he preferred dressing as Elvis. Megan took off in a hurry, activating the siren as she drove. They reached their destination and they both grabbed their gear from the back of the ambulance.
"Don't worry, you'll be fine." She said quietly as they headed up the stairs.
"I'm not worrying." He assured her and himself and she smiled, ringing the doorbell.
Bobby found that the job itself wasn't that bad. They had a light night, Megan told him around 5 o'clock in the morning and besides that she didn't talk much. She was polite and answered all his questions and still he found her to be cold and very cynical. He was having a hard time dealing with all the emotional cases he saw in one night; a drugged teenaged boy, an elderly lady who fell down the stairs for the second time in that month, a crying baby. By the end of their shift he felt like he was emotionally drained and yet the woman beside him kept a cold gaze at the road in front of her.
He couldn't be happier when they reached the station at 6 o'clock. On one of the large sofas he saw Jack, drinking a glass of coffee; he seemed tired and too pale for his own good. Bobby raised an eyebrow, behind him he heard Megan chuckling. "You alright there, Jack?" She asked.
"I'm just fine." Jack waved his hand and smiled weakly.
Megan shrugged her shoulders and went inside the bedroom, closing the door behind her. Bobby glared after her and took a seat beside his friend and took off his coat. "You okay?" he asked.
Jack snorted. "It's possible that our last call was a little too much for a first night on the job."
Bobby raised his eyebrows. "What did you see?"
"An open fracture with the bone hanging out and all..." Jack Shuddered. "You know, I don't think it was the blood that caused the reaction but the guy wouldn't stop screaming, I couldn't listen to him anymore."
"And was James okay with it?"
"Yeah, he's great. Said it happens all the time and then continued on telling me that he didn't stop throwing up for a day after he saw a week-old corpse."
Bobby Shuddered and chuckled softly. "It's very generous of him to share the information."
"Speaking of information..." Jack leaned his head against the wall still taking deep breaths.
"I don't like her, Sparky." Bobby whispered. "She's so…cold and cynical. She does her job and nothing more. She was screaming on this family, I wanted to knock her out."
"That's not the kind of information I was looking forward, but it's interesting. Could she have any kind of hatred towards her job?"
"Nope, she's the paramedic who sprained her wriest last week; she told me when I asked her about her bandage. But if you ask me, I still think she's cold hearted…"
"Crash, it's not nice." Jack laughed quietly.
Bobby shrugged his shoulders "I know. It's been a long night." He went over to one of the other couches. "Wake me up at seven, will you?"
Jack nodded his head and glanced at the large clock that hanged on the wall. Their shift will end at seven and he had a meeting with SOG at ten o'clock. He yawned, their first shift shed no new light on their case and he hoped SOG could help them. There was no way he and Bobby could keep those shifts for too long.
