Another little one shot back on the island, maybe a two shot.
Apologies in advance for any typos
Disclaimer: I obviously don't own Rush.
….
After having had such a long day that was draining mentally, physically and emotionally, Lawson could feel the relief roll off from everyone as they all got ready to head home, they were all relieved to hear that Michael was on the road to recovery, that his wound had been treated and that he would be back within a couple of weeks on light duties until he was cleared by the surgeon and physio to return to active duties.
As everyone started to leave, Lawson noticed that Shannon had been in a daydream sort of state since the island and that she seemed to be in a dark place which almost put others at risk and he had to put it in his report on what happened on the island and the shooting on Collins Street.
Flash Back.
"Shannon, you alright?" he asked as she drove towards Collins Street at high speed.
"Yeah, I'm fine." She said keeping her attention on the road ahead of her while tooting the horn at the people that wouldn't move out of the way, she hated driving through the city when they had an urgent job to attend to as traffic was such a pain to navigate through.
"You seem to be in a really dark place." Lawson said.
"It's just that island was such a creepy place, I'm fine though." She said.
"You sure, you're not in too much pain from the boat?" he asked concerned.
"I'm fine; I just want this day to be over." She said as he placed his hand on her leg, giving it a reassuring squeeze before removing it as she approached the scene of the road blocks.
"It will be over soon." Lawson said as she placed the car into park and killed the engine.
"So you hope." Shannon said before getting out of the car and heading towards the back gearing up just as TR 2 pulled up.
"What have we got Leon?" Lawson asked.
"All I have is a Caucasian male, appears to be in his 30's, approximately 170 cm's, wearing a dark green hoodie, dark blue jean, with a rifle just shooting randomly at people that are near him or are in his way, it all appears random, like some form of shooting rampage with no specific targets, so far there are 5 injured but nothing too serious, back up are trying to clear the street as much as possible, I've accessed street cams and am trying to find a match to his image in the database, but it could take some time." Leon said.
"Do you know how far down he is from our location?" Lawson asked.
"His approaching Spring Street, so you may want to hurry, he may be headed to Treasury Gardens or Fitzroy Gardens, if he hits Fitzroy Gardens, it's going to be difficult to locate him, it's almost like a mini jungle there with a thousand possible hiding spots." Leon said.
"Alright Leon, get back up to set up road blocks to block access to both gardens, Josh, Stella and Christian will start finding covering positions at Fitzroy Gardens, his most likely to approach that over Treasury, and I will set up everything there, we will head over there in cars, it's going to give us a head start on him, Shannon will negotiate and trail him by foot with back up." Lawson said.
"Copy that Lawson; I'll keep you posted if I get a name on the guy." Leon said.
"Copy that." Josh said as they hopped back into TR2 and did a U-turn
"I think it would be better if you negotiated Lawson, after the island, I'm just not up to it mentally." Shannon said.
"I'm sorry Shan, but no one else is up to negotiate with him ,and with one man down I can't afford Josh to take charge of this, I need to, so you need to try and get out of the headspace your in." Lawson said.
"Well if this turns to shit, I did warn you." Shannon says before making her way on foot with two general duty officers trailing behind her as she started to jog down towards Spring Street.
As Lawson set up the last bit of equipment, he noticed a guy enter the gardens as a teenage boy made his way over to the exit as back up were trying to clear the gardens as best they could, and before anyone could stop it, the man shot him in the stomach, making the boy topple over in pain.
Just after that, Shannon entered with her gun raised and was followed by the two officers a few seconds behind her, appearing out of breath.
"Stop following me." The guy yelled out turning around and pointing the gun at Shannon.
"I can't do that sorry." Shannon said.
"I'll shoot." He said.
"I know you will, you have shot six people so far, but if you want to avoid getting shot yourself, you may want to co-operate with me, so you may want to tell me your name." Shannon said simply.
"How about you tell me yours, then I might tell you mine." He said.
"My name is Sargent Shannon Henry, how about you tell me your name?" She asked.
"Matthew." He said.
"Do you have a last name Matthew?" she asked.
"No, you can get your team mates to find that out for you, I'm sure." He says.
"Why are you shooting innocent people?" Shannon asked.
"Because I've had a bad day." He said.
"We all have bad days, I know I've had a shit day, but you don't see me going around on a shooting rampage in the city, so what happened to make you so angry?" she asked.
"My girlfriend dumped me today, she humiliated me, I thought I would treat her to a great meal at the press club, made the booking 6 months ago because it's so hard to get in, and the half way through, when the waiter brings us our mains she dumps me then and there and just left on a tram that went past." Matthew said.
"So that made you angry, angry enough to go shoot random people who had nothing to do with the break up?" Shannon asked.
"Well yeah, you don't get to judge me okay, your just a cop that knows nothing about how hard life id." He yells getting agitated and starts firing at the officers taking cover behind Shannon, making them duck.
"Okay just calm down, I know how hard life is, trust me I get it, what you don't think I have never been dumped before, or was brought up by mother who had to work two jobs to support me by herself, that I haven't had trouble in the past paying off debt, we all have problems but it doesn't give us the right to shoot innocent people." Shannon said.
"Just leave me alone and stop talking to me otherwise I'll shoot you, I'm serious." Matthew said aiming the gun at her and stepping closer.
Putting her gun back in its holster, she raises her hands in the air "Go for it, shoot me, try shooting the others again do whatever you want." She says while looking him straight in the eye.
"You're not meant to say that." He says taken aback by her reaction.
"What am I meant to say?" she asked.
"I don't know, but you're not meant to tell me to shoot you, if you're doing reverse psychology it won't work." He said while Lawson and the team watched in horror as Shannon started to walk closer to him with her arms in the air.
"I have a clear shot Lawson." Josh says.
"Hold your position, we don't know what she is up to, but he hasn't taken a shot at her yet so just wait." Lawson said hesitantly.
"I'm not doing reverse psychology, do it, you may cause me an injury, but I highly doubt you'll kill me, I'm wearing a bulletproof vest, and if you do shoot me, it's not like you aren't surrounded by people who will most definitely end up shooting you which may result in death, seriously I had a police officer try and do me in today, so I'm used to people wanting to cause me pain, so do it." She says looking him in the eye.
"What will happen to me if I give myself up?" he asks.
"I honestly don't know, it depends on a lot of things, between three to ten years maybe." She says before sitting down on the grass as she watches him think it over.
Squatting down, he slowly puts the gun down on the ground and pushes it towards her.
"I think you need more help than I do." He says.
"I don't doubt that." She says as she watches the team run down to arrest him, as Josh started to go off his block at her for being so reckless and putting lives in danger, while Lawson saw in her eyes like she had given up on all hope.
….
"ESD, will want to talk to you tomorrow, Kerry said that because of the general duty officers we couldn't cover up your actions out there, Kerry thinks that you might just cop a slap on the wrist with some counselling sessions." Lawson says sitting down next to her and looking at her.
"I know what I did was wrong, but I warned you not to put me in that position." She said.
"I know, and I wish I could change that but I can't." he says.
"Let's just go home." She says putting on her scarf and stood up.
"Are you going to be okay?" He asks.
"I don't really know in all honesty, I just need some time, I just need to go home and leave this place." She said.
"Well let's go then." Lawson says pulling her up and walking out of base with her.
