Collateral Damage.
"She was just collateral damage Mac!" Flack yelled. He took his fist and hit the wall leaving Mac's office in silence.
He pushed by Stella and made his way out the door heading towards the elevators.
"Hey Mac. How's Lindsay?" Stella asked concerned. "She'll be okay. She's banged up. But she'll be okay. Don's pretty upset. He thinks it's his fault." Stella just shook her head. "Sheldon and Adam have the Avalanche in the garage. They are going over every inch of it."
Two hours earlier. Danny and Lindsay arrived at the crime scene; Flack approached the vehicle as they were pulling up. "Detectives." Flack said. It was 3:30 am and Lindsay was not in the mood. She wasn't feeling well; she had a really nasty cold. "Flack." Lindsay said gathering her kit from the back seat. Danny walked around to the passenger's side. "What do we got?" Danny asked. "One kid. Early 20's. Shot execution style in the back of the head." They proceeded to the body which lay in a dark dank alley. "Here Linds. Let me help. "You feelin okay?" "Thank you. Don. "Um no not really. I'll be fine though."
"Montana's stubborn. I asked her the same question earlier. She needs to get some rest. She's been workin to many hours!"
Danny leaned down to view the victim. "Flack? This remind you of anything?" Flack leaned down to where Danny was. "Yeah. The Salvatore case." Lindsay came over ready to start collecting evidence. "What happened?" She asked. "It was about 4 years ago. Danny and I were working a case. Dirty cop." "Pete Salvatore." Flack said. "He was dealing drugs on the side. Perp gave him up. Next day the perp turned up dead. Shot execution style to the back of the head."
"Do you think that this Salvatore's involved?" Lindsay asked as she knelt down next to the body. She pulled opened his jacket. Nico Vellios; 25 years old." Don started pacing. "Vellios? Vellios? Sounds familiar. Why does that name sound so familiar?"
Danny bent down next to Lindsay. "Flack. He's been in the paper recently for drug trafficking. He just posted bail." Lindsay looked up at Flack. "Let's see who posted it for him."
Lindsay and Danny were done processing the body. Danny looked over at her. He could see she was shivering. "Montana…why don't you take what we got back to the lab and start processing. Since your not feeling well you probably shouldn't be out in the night air anyway." "Yeah these early morning/late night calls aren't helping me feel any better."
Flack walked over to Lindsay. "Here Linds. Take my Avalanche. I'll catch a ride with Messer. We already put the evidence in the back seat." Don walked her to the car; she leaned against the drivers side door. Don was standing very close to her. While no one was around he gently stroked her cheek and then touched her forehead. "Don! Not at work!" He leaned in and touched his forehead to hers. "Nobody can see us. Besides I'm worried about you. You feel warm. I think you are running a fever." She gently nudged him away. "Well as soon as I am done processing the evidence I am gonna tell Mac that I'm going home."
Don opened the door for her. "Sounds good. If I don't see you at the lab I will be over to your place as soon as I get off shift and we'll cuddle." She smiled at him and shook her head. "Okay. See you later." Just as she got in the car Danny came running. "Montana wait!"
Lindsay got a look of panic in her eyes. "Oh GOD!" She thought. Did he see us? "Here. Look what I just found. A key piece of evidence," Danny had it bagged and tagged and handed it to Flack who then handed it to Lindsay. "A .45" "Found it next to the dumpster. Proves it wasn't a pro." Danny said. "Great I'll have Hawkes take a look at it when I get back to the lab." Lindsay sat it in the passenger seat.
Lindsay started the car and drove off. Flack and Danny were finishing up. Flack had talked to a few people that were in the facinity while Danny finished cleaning up his kit.
Lindsay was half way back to the lab. Traffic wasn't heavy at all. The road that she would have usually taken was closed for repairs. New York closed their roads at night when traffic was not as heavy. She had to take the detour. The detour went along the Hudson River. She was not familiar with this road. She came to a red light. There were not other cars in sight. All of a sudden the driver's side window was shattered and a man wearing all black reached in and grabbed her. "Where's the gun you BITCH?" She didn't answer him. Lindsay had just enough time to grab the gun that he was asking her about that was sealed in an evidence bag. The man punched her in the face; "After I'm done with you I'll get it myself!" He opened the door and started to drag her down an embankment. He had her by the back of her neck and was pulling her hair. She was struggling to get him off of her.
She couldn't stand up straight. He then threw her on the ground. When she fell it was directly on the gun that he had questioned her about. She had it in her right hand but couldn't handle it properly while she was struggling to release herself from his grip. She couldn't access her own gun. So she pulled the only gun she had access to. A tainted gun." When he leaned over her, she pushed him with both of her feet and he fell to the ground, she aimed the gun directly at him and immediately she pulled the trigger. He fell to the ground, a gaping hole in his shoulder. She tried to stand up. She was shakey. "GET UP!" She yelled. He didn't move. She went over to see if he was breathing. He was she could hear him. He seemed to be in a lot of pain. She pulled out her cell phone and dialed.
"Flack." "Don? She said shakily. Flack motioned to Danny to come over. "Linds? What's wrong?" Flack immediately his speaker. "I need help!" Just as Lindsay said that she gasped. The perpetrator started to get up. "DON'T YOU DARE MOVE! I'LL SHOOT YOU AGAIN!" She screamed. Flack and Danny immediately began running to the car. Danny called Mac to get a trace on the GPS of Flack's car.
"Lindsay? Where are you?" "Ummm" Her voice was very shakey. "I don't know. I had to take a detour and ended up somewhere along the Hudson." "Okay. Okay. We're comin Sweetie. Talk to me. Tell me what happened." Flack was driving like a maniac. "Danny?" "I'm here. Linds." "She got choked up. "I, I compromised evidence. I had to use the gun from our crime scene. I shot him with it. I couldn't get to mine." Danny shook his head and put it down. He took a deep breath "Linds. It's okay. You defended yourself." Flack could see his SUV in the distance. Lindsay could hear their sirens. "Linds. We see the car. Now tell us were you are." She kept the gun trained on her attacker. "Ummm, he drugg me down the embankment."
Flack threw the car into park and both he and Danny ran down the steep embankment.
Lindsay could see them running toward her. As soon as they got to her she was so shaken sup she immediately fell into Don's arms. Danny walked over and gently pried the gun out of her hand.
The perp was on his knees. "Arrest that BITCH. She shot me." Danny grabbed him by the shirt and pulled him up the whole way. "That BITCH is a cop. And a Friend." "You are under arrest for the assault of a Police Officer." Danny cuffed him and called in reinforcements. He walked over to Lindsay. Flack was comforting her.
"Linds. Are you alright?" She shook her head. Danny and Flack both escorted her up the embankment to Danny's Avalanche. Danny opened the hatch and made her sit down. Then Don took her face in his hands and lifted it to meet both his and Danny's eyes and they looked over her battered face. She had a cut on her left cheek where he punched her and a bruise under her left eye was beginning to form. We need to let the paramedics check you out. Danny said. "Honey. You know this is a crime scene now. Right?" Flack asked. She shook her head. As Danny was talking to her Mac, Hawkes, and Stella arrived. So did the paramedics that Flack had called for.
They all walked over to her. Mac waived them over. "We need a medic over here." The medics came over. The ambulance backed close enough so that they could get a good look at her. As Lindsay was being checked over Flack and Danny were explaining what had happened. "Ouch! The one medic said. Sheldon took Lindsay's face and tilted it towards the light. He examined the cut on her left cheek and a few scratches from where the glass had sprayed up in her face. "Linds. You're running a slight fever. You sick?" "I was gonna go home and lay down after I processed the evidence from the Vellios scene." She said. He smiled at her. "Good News. You don't need stitches. Just some butterfly bandages. Your cheek is gonna be quite sore for awhile." Sheldon said. "Medic? You got any fever reducer?" The medic went to the back of the ambulance and brought Lindsay some Ibuprofen; he even grabbed a bottle of water that he had brought with him. "Here Detective. I didn't even open it yet." Lindsay smiled. "Thank you!" she said.
Stella sat down and grabbed Lindsay's hand. "Perp's in custody. I'm gonna have to take your clothes. Lindsay nodded. "Detective. I have some scrubs you can put on." Lindsay shook her head. We'll give you some privacy." Stella helped Lindsay out of her clothes. She didn't want to loose any amount of trace so she bagged it immediately. After she changed into the scrubs Danny came over. "Linds. I'm gonna have to go through your hair. We need to any traces of glass out." She nodded. "You good?" Danny asked. "Yeah." She began to shiver. This had not gone unnoticed by Flack. He hopped in the ambulance and grabbed her a blanket. "Better?" She smiled lightly. "A little." She said.
Mac had Stella and Hawkes processing around the car. Adam had just shown up and Mac sent him down the embankment. Mac had told them if it was questionable he wanted bagged and tagged. He didn't want this case thrown out on a technicality.
Danny had finished going through Lindsay's hair. He packed up his trace and sat next to her. He couldn't stop staring at the butterfly bandages on her face. "Linds. I'm so sorry this happened to you." She squeezed Danny's hand. It's not your fault Danny."
After the medics were finished up with the perp; Flack went over to talk to the suspect. He grabbed the guy and pulled him up from the back of the other ambulance. "Take him downtown."