Where's Frank?
By Karri
Disclaimer: UC is owned NBC Studios and Shane Salerno. This short story was written for entertainment purposes only and no money is being made. The original characters & situations are the property of the author.
Comments are always appreciated :)
••••
Frank Donovan watched with morbid fascination as the blood pooling beneath him slowly engulfed another piece of loose gravel. Some small part of his increasingly numb brain reminded him that the sticky red ooze was supposed to be in him – and that it was a bad thing that it wasn't. Frank couldn't seem to manage, however, to focus enough of his dwindling energy to worry about any more than which pebble the creeping liquid would swallow next.
••••
"All yours," Jake Shaw quipped, as he handed the last of the perps off to a waiting secret service agent.
He was in an unusually light mood for a bust. Not only had the bag guys been remarkably easy to infiltrate, but the primary target had been too obnoxious for Jake to develop any particular attachment. Consequently, while successfully recovering the stolen Patriot Bonds, the team had nailed buyer, seller and middleman…and he wasn't feeling even a little bad about it. In fact, the undercover agent was feeling downright playful. Deciding that it was an optimal moment for a witty comment, Jake grinned mischievously as he glanced around to be certain that his terminally stoic boss was within earshot. However, the expression, along with his chipper mood, quickly faded. Donovan was nowhere to be seen.
"Hey, Donovan! Where are you! You're missing all the fun!" Jake tried, unsuccessfully, not to sound concerned. The slight edge to his tone caught the attention of his teammates and they quickly converged on him.
As they walked towards him, Jake's gaze met that of each of his teammates, before finally locking on his fellow undercover agent, Alex Cross. He could see his own thoughts reflected in her expression. Before the bust went down, she and Donovan had left the van together to back up Jake. Afterward, she and Jake had made a special point of making eye contact to be certain the other was all right, but neither had thought to do the same with Donovan. Neither had even bothered to determine that the man was present. It had just been assumed. He was Donovan, after all, the ever present man-of-steel. Their boss wasn't a real sociable guy, but he was always there watching their backs.
For the first time since Donovan's arrival, it occurred to Jake to wonder who watched Donovan's back? He knew the answer. NO ONE! The team had let the man know from the day he'd taken command that he was an intruder, and Donovan had kept his distance – let them have their space. He was always hovering silently in the background, though, seemingly content to cover their asses as a persona non grata. It was a relationship the team had grown comfortable with; so comfortable with, in fact, that it hadn't occurred to any of them that they should be watching Donovan's back in return.
"Donovan! Damnit! Talk to us!' Jake shouted, breaking eye contact with Alex and shifting his gaze to the scuffed toe of his tennis shoe. In an attempt to loosen the tightening knot of concern in stomach, he took a couple deep breaths before facing his teammate again. "I'll go right."
Alex nodded. "You two stay here and keep your eyes and ears open," she shouted over her shoulder, as she broke left. Cody nodded and ran back to the van, followed closely by Monica.
"Donovan!" Cody shouted repeatedly as he checked his gear. Everything was green-light. Donovan was online, he just wasn't responding. Cody refused consider the implication, but as his gaze passed by Monica, his voice trembled just a little. It was obvious from her stance that the profiler was already steeling herself against another loss.
"Donovan! Where the hell are you!" Alex demanded, in-between Cody's shouts. She was also trying to ignore the implication of Donovan's silence, reasoning to herself that there were a lot of other explanations for his failure to respond. The sick feeling in her stomach didn't mean anything. She was just over-reacting because of Jack.
••••
Frank dimly registered the cacophony of voices shouting at him through his earpiece. The relief he felt surprised him; he'd forced himself to ignore the random thought that the team wouldn't care that he was missing….that they'd just leave him there. The concern in their voices obvious. Concern? That was…unexpected. Frank wanted to respond, but the effort simply required more than he had left. He was too tired to worry about it anymore. Everything would work out now; they were looking for him. It wouldn't be long before he was found. Peeling his attention away from the plight of the next imperiled piece of gravel, Frank rested his head against the wall behind him and let his eyelids close. He'd just rest for a little bit…while he waited.
••••
Alex froze when she spotted him…slumped against the wall, head back, eyes closed. He's okay, she told herself, but even as she thought it, Alex knew that he wasn't. Part of her was afraid to get any closer. What if he's…? No…don't even think it. He's fine. She hadn't noticed the blood, yet.
"Alex, anything?"
Still frozen, she didn't register Jake's voice in her ear. Her attention was focused on Donovan. He hadn't moved, hadn't even twitched. As much as she wanted to, Alex couldn't go to him…not if it was already too late. She couldn't do it again…not so soon. She still didn't see the blood.
"Alex! Alex, talk to me!"
Donovan twitched as the fear in Jake's voice pulled him towards consciousness. Alex isn't answering. Something's wrong!
"Zzjaake?" he mumbled. It was slurred and barely above a whisper, but Donovan couldn't spare the energy to try it again. Everything he had left was going into the struggle to open his eyes.
"Donovan? That you, boss? Talk to me! Tell me where you are!"
Alex's knees nearly buckled as relief washed over her. Donovan was alive. Releasing the breath she hadn't consciously held, she moved towards him. Five steps later, Alex saw the blood.
"Jake, I've got him. Alley, three warehouses down from the van. We need an ambulance, YESTERDAY!"
"It's on the way!" Cody announced. He'd called it in as soon as he'd heard Donovan's voice. Even without seeing him, it was obvious the man was in bad shape.
"I'm on my way," Jake told his teammate, wondering why the hell the man had gone so far from the scene. Not now, Jake. You can ask him about it later. Right now, you need to focus. He knew there wasn't anything he could do that Alex couldn't, but Donovan sounded bad. He didn't want Alex to have to deal with it alone any longer than necessary.
"Me, too," Monica informed Cody, grabbing the first aid kit as she stepped out of the van.
Frank was just winning his battle when Alex reached him…well, almost, anyway. He'd only managed to open his eyes a crack, but it was enough to see her blue eyes looking down on him. The victory was fleeting, however, and his eyes slipped shut again, but not before he saw the tears threatening to spill onto her cheeks. Tears? His team was just full of surprises today. He'd have smiled if he had the energy.
"Donovan…Frank! Open your eyes, again!" Alex pleaded. "Come on, Frank. Don't do this to us! We're just getting used to you."
"Frank!" Intently focused on rousing her boss, Alex hadn't noticed Jake's arrival. She looked up to see Monica come up behind him at the same moment Jake shifted to lay Donovan down on the pavement. Alex realized she should have done that already.
"Where's he hit?" Monica asked, and Alex realized she hadn't checked. Jake grabbed the first aid kit and knelt down to help her search for the source of the blood now soaking through his jeans.
"Here," he announced, pulling out a couple pressure bandages and quickly applying them to the in-and-out wounds in Donovan's upper right thigh. Something didn't seem right, though. The wound was bleeding pretty good, but it didn't seem like enough to explain the amount on the ground. "Too much blood; must have nicked an artery or something."
It was Alex that noticed the new pool of blood spreading out from beneath Donovan's back.
"Jake!"
He looked up and saw her looking down. "Shit! Help me get his vest off and roll him over."
Way ahead of him, Alex was already pushing Donovan onto his side, as Jake finished yanking off the vest.
"Here," she stated, pressing a bandage against a wound about midway up and midway across the right side of his back. "No exit wound."
A shiver traveled down Jake's spine as he noted the icy calmness of his teammate's voice. Frank was in bad shape; probably wouldn't make it if the ambulance didn't get there soon – might not make it even if it did. Alex knew it as well as he did. She was shutting down.
"Ambulance is here, guys! One of you needs to point them in the right direction," Cody announced.
"I'll go," Monica volunteered. She didn't see either of her teammates willingly relinquishing their hold on Donovan.
••••
"…came through it fine. Barring complication, he should be up and around and out of here in a couple weeks."
"Thanks, Doc," Jake stated, firmly grasping the man's hand and enthusiastically shaking it.
"Can we see him?" Alex asked, grasping the surgeon's hand as Jake released it and giving it a grateful squeeze. Jake was relieved to hear emotion in her voice again. Actually, he was relieved to hear her voice at all. Alex hadn't said anything to anyone since the paramedics loaded Donovan into the ambulance.
"Mmm…no. He's in recovery now, you'll have to wait until we have him settle in a room," the surgeon explained. "A nurse will let you know when that it is, but in the meantime, the whole lot of you should consider getting cleaned up and, maybe, grabbing some food in the cafeteria. It's downstairs, in the basement." He paused, seeing reluctance in all four sets of eyes, and added, "He's not going anywhere."
"Come on. He's right, guys," Monica stated, pulling at Jake's arm. Although still reluctant, he grabbed Alex's hand and allowed Monica to guide the trio to the elevator.
Cody trailed a few feet behind, still trying to come to grips with the intensity of the day and wondering where the "cop-killer" bullets had come from. None of the perps had been packing them.
••••
Jake stepped from the elevator alone. The fading adrenaline had caught up with his teammates and they'd lingered over their food until he'd thought he'd loose it. So when the nurse had come down, just like the Doc promised, to let them know Frank was comfortable settled on the second floor, the agent had decided to come back up ahead of them.
"Excuse me, ma'am. I'm looking for Frank Donovan," he explained to the nurse at the desk.
"208, just around the corner," she replied, smiling flirtatiously.
Jake smiled back, but didn't have the energy to take it any farther. Instead, he wearily dragged himself in the direction she'd pointed, the fading adrenaline finally catching up with him as well. As he rounded the corner, Jake caught site of a woman about to turn the corner farther down the hallway. She paused when she saw him.
"Who's she?" Monica asked, startling Jake and making him jump.
"Shit, Monica! Don't do that."
"Sorry," she offered, although Jake didn't think it sounded very sincere. "So…who's is she?"
"You got me," he shrugged. Coming up from behind, Alex grabbed his hand, startling Jake again, and he rolled his eyes at her.
"Sorry. Well, she certainly seems to know you," she stated, as the women shot the trio a look of death before vanishing around the corner.
"Hey! How do you know that was meant for me? There are three of us standing here, you know.
"Four, actually." Jake, Alex and Monica all jumped.
"Sorry," Cody offered, although none of them thought that he sounded very sincere.
"Let's go," Jake grumbled, as he led the way to Frank's room. Donovan was still sleeping when they entered.
"With the blood loss, he'll likely be out for a while." Not having noticed the nurse from the desk entering behind them, they gang jumped. "Sorry."
Cody chuckled.
"I'll grab another chair if you'd like to hang around," the nurse offered. She'd worked with enough wounded cops to know that these guys weren't leaving until the patient woke.
"Thanks." Jake peeled the scowl off his face and offered her a genuine smile of appreciation before sinking into one of the chairs already available. Cody and Monica grabbed the other two and Alex curled up on the foot of the bed, being careful not to jostle her superior.
By the time, the nurse returned, all four were sound asleep. She shrugged, setting the chair against the wall, and moved to the bed to check on their fallen companion. Frank's eyes flickered open as she touched him.
"Hey, there. How are you feeling?" Frank groggily blinked his eyes a few times, but didn't answer. "That's all right. You've had a pretty rough day. You're going to be fine, though." She patted him on the arm and started to leave, but then turned back towards him with an afterthought, "They're gonna be fine, too."
Frank stared, puzzled, at the nurse's back as she went out the door. They? It was then that he realized there was a weight at the bottom of the bed. Painfully pushing himself up a little with his elbows, he saw Alex sound asleep…and Jake in a chair by the door…and Cody and Monica by the window. Easing himself back down, Frank closed his eyes and went back to sleep, a little smile plastered on his face. It was nice to know they were making an effort to watch his back…even if they were asleep.
••••
