Reaching the second floor, Mike moved down the corridor, un-holstering his weapon as he neared Henderson's one room apartment door. Reaching the door, he knocked loudly as he called, "Police, Henderson. Open up!"
The sound of cursing and running feet instantly warned Mike that the murder suspect was trying to make a break for it, probably down the fire escape. Kicking open the door, Mike quickly entered the apartment just in time to see the terrified looking face of the man, he and Steve had been searching for the last four days, look at him through the window before disappearing out of view. Racing across to the window, Mike leaned out and looked down the metal ladder fire escape only to see Henderson leap from the bottom of the ladder and onto the ground, glancing up at him as he yelled, "Steve!", before turning and running towards the alleyway that ran beside the building.
Turning and running towards the door, confident that Steve would capture their desperate fugitive, Mike's heart momentarily froze when he heard the sound of a single gunshot from somewhere outside. With an extra surge of speed, that belied his age, Mike ran down the rickety stairs and out of the apartment door before running to the mouth of the alleyway. Standing next to the front wall of the apartment building with his gun ready for any trouble that he might encounter, Mike cast a quick glance around the edge of the building, his chest tightening with fear as he saw the motionless body of his partner lying face down on the wet, litter strewn ground.
Mike quickly scanned the dimly lit alley before he cautiously stepped into the alleyway and forcing himself to momentarily ignore the body of his partner, he quickly searched for any potential threats or hidden dangers but other than Steve, the alley was empty. Henderson was gone.
Re-holstering his gun, he turned and hurried back crossed to where Steve was lying before crouching down and he found himself staring at Steve's bloodied face and head and the burgundy red puddle that was beginning to pool around his partner's head and shoulders. A head shot! Pressing his trembling fingers against the side of Steve's neck, he desperately began to palpate for a pulse. He sighed a soft breath of relief as he felt a weak thump underneath his fingertips. He quickly shrugged off his coat and covered Steve before squeezing his partner's shoulder and re-assuring Steve that he would be right back.
Rising to his feet, Mike turned and ran out of the alley, crossing to their car before opening the door and snagging the police radio. Depressing the button, he made the one call that he prayed each day that he would never have to make and the one call that every cop hated to hear. "Officer down!"
O()O()O()O()O()O
Carefully opening the back door that led into the kitchen, Sammy poked his head inside and quickly looked around. The kitchen was empty, and he could hear the television on in the living room, By the sound of the theme music that he heard playing, he knew his mother had just settled down for to watch her show, Days of Our Lives, he thought it was called. He frowned, he didn't understand what was so interesting about it, Speed Racer was so much better, but he did know his mother would be more interested in her television show than what he and Tommy were doing.
Waving at Tommy to let him know the coast was clear, he pushed the door fully open, pausing only long enough to wipe his feet so he would not leave dirty footprints on his mother's clean floor. Quickly crossing the kitchen, he hid the gun behind his back before he pushed the swinging doors to the living room open and tried to casually saunter, behind the sofa where his mother was sitting watching her show, towards the stairs that led upstairs to the bedrooms, with Tommy trailing close behind.
"What are you two boys up to?"
He froze at his mother's question, pressing the gun harder against his back in an attempt to conceal it better as he stopped and slowly turned towards her, "Umm, nothing, mom, just …just ridin' our bikes. We stayed in the street just like you told us."
Frowning at her son's guilty answer, Jane turned and looked over her shoulder, pinning him with her famous 'I know you are lying' stare and narrowing her eyes as she asked, "Okay, just where did the two of you go?"
"Nowhere, honest, Mrs Wakefield, we just rode up and down the street like ya told us," Tommy interrupted, giving his friend's mom the best innocent look that he could do.
"Ah ha," Jane's eyes narrowed, watching the two boys with suspicion as Sammy eagerly nodded, a little too fast, agreeing with Tommy.
"See, I told ya, Mom," Sammy rushed on as he edged towards the stairs, his hands held behind his back as he asked, "Can we go now? We want to go upstairs and play Mr Potato Head."
Eyeing the two boys for a few more minutes, Jane finally nodded as she turned back towards the television, calling over her shoulder as she heard the two boys run up the carpeted stairs, "Try not to make too much noise. Remember, Sammy, dad's on night duty, so don't you go waking him up."
"Okay, Mom." Sammy called down as he reached the top of the stairs before he turned and ran across to his bedroom, closing the door firmly behind him after Tommy followed him in.
"How are you going to put the gun back now? You heard your mom, your dad's asleep." Tommy asked, watching as Sammy hurried across to his bed and carefully put the gun down onto it.
"It's okay, mom always says to be quiet and not to wake dad up when he's sleepin' during the day. But I heard her tell grandma that dad can sleep through an earthquake, and luckily nothin', not even me and my friends playing, can wake him up." Sammy told his friend as he turned and hurried across to his dresser and opened one of the drawers before pulling out a clean tee-shirt and returning to the bed. "And I got the gun out of his drawer after he went to sleep this morning," Sammy smiled with pride as he picked up the gun and carefully began to wipe it with his shirt, "So I will just put it back the same way. But you will have to be my look out, mom's show finishes soon and I don't want her to catch me."
Tommy nodded as he watched Sammy carefully wiped down the outside of the gun, "Yeah, okay," he agreed distractedly before he frowned and asked, "Why are ya doing that? The gun ain't dirty."
Looking up in surprise, Sammy shook his head at the confused look on his friend's face as he answered, knowingly, "I'm makin' sure our fingerprints ain't on it. Don't ya watch the T.V? That's what the bad guys do if they don't want to get caught and dad says its so the police can't find their fingerprints. That way it makes it hard to arrest them for murder."
"I knew that, just checkin' you did!" Tommy protested as he turned and followed Sammy, who was still holding the gun carefully with the tee shirt, towards the door.
"Bet ya didn't!" Sammy hissed back as he carefully opened the door and looked out into the hallway before he looked over his shoulder and whispered the words he had often heard on TV when the baddie wanted to sneak in somewhere, "Come on, the coast is clear," before stepping out and heading across to his parent's room.
Stopping as he reached the door, he turned and reminded Tommy, "Just remember, ya got to warn me if you see my mom comin'."
"How?" Tommy whispered.
"I don't know, the baddies always give a whistle in the shows," Sammy sighed in feigned annoyance.
"I can't whistle," Tommy whispered, "but I can call out your name if I see her, will that work?"
Sammy nodded. "Yeah, just make sure you call out loud enough for me to hear," he told his friend before he opened the bedroom door and slipped inside the darkened bedroom.
Closing the door behind him, he stood still and stared at his father in the bed, holding his breath as he waited to see if his father had woken up when he had opened the door. He grinned as he heard his father's soft, familiar snore before he crept, on tip toes across the room, going down onto his hands and knees and crawling with the gun in his hand as he got within a few feet of the bed.
Stopping when he reached his father's bedside table he quickly rose to peek to make sure his father was still sleeping before he reached across and slowly pulled the drawer open, just wide enough to put the gun back from where he had got it. Sticking the tip of his tongue out of the corner of his mouth, he carefully placed the gun in the drawer, freezing when the gun slipped from the tee shirt and softly cluttered against the bottom of the drawer.
He held his breath as he turned in fear, expecting to find his father staring at him but instead he watched his father murmur something in his sleep as he rolled over onto his back. Releasing his breath, he slowly pushed the drawer closed before he turned and crawled quickly back to the door, standing up and opening it before dashing back out into the hallway.
"Did ya put it back?" Tommy asked as Sammy turned and quickly closed the door.
"Yeah, told ya I would, now no one can arrest us." Sammy smiled as he headed back towards his bedroom. "I bags first roll of the dice," he told his friend as he and Tommy ran back to his room to play.
O()O()O()O()O()O
Mike looked up as the elevator doors slid open and Rudy stepped out and quickly looked around before he turned and hurried towards him. Pushing himself away from the wall where he had been leaning, he silently waited until his captain joined him outside the Operating Room into which Steve had been rushed more than two hours before.
"How is he?"
Mike shrugged as he looked back at the doors of the OR before he looked back at Rudy, his voice catching in his throat just a little as he forced himself to answer, his words making the situation a reality and not the bad nightmare that he had been praying that he would wake up from. "Not good, he took a round to the head. They took him straight into surgery, they didn't even try and stabilize him in the ER." Running a hand over his face to wipe away the tears that threatened to fall, Mike swallowed hard as he added, "The doctor promised to update me as soon as they can."
Rudy nodded as he glanced towards down the empty corridor they were standing in before he looked back at Mike, "What happened, Mike?"
Looking down at the paper bag containing Steve's wallet, badge, house and car keys as well as his gun and holster, that he held in his hand, Mike shook his head. "Steve got a lead to where Henderson was lying low, so we went to the apartment to make the arrest. I got Steve to cover the back in case Henderson tried to make a break for it while I went up to his room. Henderson panicked when I announced myself and made a break for it down the fire escape. Steve must have confronted him in the alley. I heard a shot but by the time I made it to the alleyway, Steve was down, and Henderson was gone."
"And you saw no one else around? Are you sure?"
Mike nodded his head as he looked at Rudy in confusion, "Yes, the alley was empty, Rudy, I checked, why?"
"We have a witness who said she saw two small boys run out of the alley almost immediately after the shot were fired."
"Two small boys?" Mike frowned.
"The witness told Lessing that both boys were young, no older than seven or eight years old, one was blonde, the other had dark hair and both were dressed in jeans and tee-shirts. She was too far away to get a good look at either boy, nor had she seen them around the alley before. She also told Lessing that she saw a man fitting Henderson's description also run out of the alley a few seconds later."
Mike frowned, "Maybe two small potential witnesses who were in the alley and saw what happened."
Rudy nodded in agreement. "That's what I'm thinking." he told Mike as the operating door opened and the surgeon emerged, still dressed in his surgical scrubs, emerged.
Hurrying across to the surgeon, with Rudy close behind him, Mike asked, "How is he, Doc?"
"Inspector Keller's condition is currently critical but stable," the surgeon began, tugging the surgical mask that still hung around his neck free, "The bullet struck the left side of his head and although it did not penetrate the skull, it did cause a depressed skull fracture as it gouged across the outside of the bone, causing several large bone fragments to break away and press down against his brain which caused some intracranial hemorrhaging and swelling. We were able to stop the bleeding and remove the bone fragments before wiring the fragmented bone fragments back into place."
"But he's going to be okay?" Mike pushed, silently praying that he was about to hear the answer he so desperately needed to hear.
"He's young and strong, and barring any complications, he has a good chance… but as for the chances of it being a full recovery," the surgeon shrugged, "I'm afraid I can't answer that just yet. We won't know if there is any brain damage or how severe any brain damage he might have suffered may be until he regains consciousness."
Mike swallowed hard and nodded, "Can…can I see him?"
"Not until tomorrow, I'm afraid," the doctor replied, "he's still in recovery and then they will be transferring him into the ICU where we will be monitoring him closely tonight, now if you will excuse me, I really need to get back to my patient."
"Thank you, Doc," Mike said quietly as the doctor turned and headed back towards the OR doors.
Pushing the doors open, the doctor paused and turned back towards the two homicide officers, "We also found gunpowder stippling around the wound when we shaved his head for the surgery, not sure if that's useful or not," he added, almost as an afterthought before he turned and disappeared through the doors.
"Thanks, Doc," Mike called after him before he turned and headed back towards the elevator.
"Gunpowder stippling around the wound," Rudy frowned, glancing across at Mike as Mike hit the elevator button, "That means Keller was shot at close range. Why the hell did he let Henderson get so close without firing a shot to defend himself."
"I don't know," Mike murmured as the elevator doors opened and he stepped inside and slapped the button to take them back down to the hospital lobby before he looked back at Rudy and promised, "But I am going to find out."
O()O()O()O()O()O
AN- Thank you Amanda for your awesome review to my first chapter. I am really glad you liked it.