Fool Me Once

Chapter 2

Outside Mike had smiled as he had watched Steve act the part of the concerned police officer and watched him trying to access the building. He envisaged Haseejian and Tanner and the others hiding somewhere inside, dressed in various costumes just waiting to surprise their Lieutenant like they had last year not so far from this address as it so happened. Well this year they were going to be sorely disappointed, he decided. They couldn't fool him two years running. No Sir! He picked up the radio and checked with Dispatch if Hartman was still safely under lock and key. While he waited for Dispatch to get back to him, he glanced back up at the foreboding building and wondered how long it would take for Steve to return and have to admit that it had all been a ploy that hadn't worked. Boy! They sure could pick spooky buildings in which to host their parties. He had to at least give them that. Their only mistake was thinking they could fool Mike Stone so easily two years running. A sound like a gunshot filled the night air and Mike swallowed hard as he grabbed the door handle and unclipped his gun just as the radio came to life.

"Lieutenant Stone ... Gregory Hartman was released on bail two hours ago ... His father paid the bail ..."

As those words reached Mike's ears, Mike felt a strange sinking sensation in the pit of his stomach. Hartman was on the loose. If he was the perp, this call out could have been victim number five! What if Steve hadn't been trying to trick him at all. He thanked the operator and exited the car just as a dark figure came limping around the corner and Mike recognized him instantly as Gregory Hartman.

Pulling his gun, Mike pointed it at him before he had time to run back the way he came.

"FREEZE HARTMAN!" Mike roared as the limping man stood breathing heavily and slowly raised his hands and laced them behind his head just as another patrol car pulled up beside them.

The two Officers exited their car, and converged on the suspect as Mike shouted instructions at them.

"BOOK HIM ... Steve's inside ... "

Back inside Steve struggled to get his fingers on the gun as the heavily built perp crushed him beneath his body weight. He clambered his fingers desperately forward feeling the handle just as the muscled arm grabbed him once more around his neck in a fierce choke hold and squeezed once more. As fear and panic filled his heart again, he stretched his fingers as far as they would go and felt them finally get purchase on the trigger. Hooking the trigger towards him as the choke hold tightened he got his hand on the gun just as the perp's hand came forward and gripped his hand that held it. As they fought for the gun, Steve pointed it towards the window and fired twice as the glass shattered. He hoped against hope that Mike had heard it and would come to his rescue.

Mike raced around the corner and found the doorway that Steve had entered through. Mike moved swiftly despite the darkness and heard the next two gunshots ring out and heard glass shatter as he ran anxiously towards the sound. He entered the room just in time to see the large man on top of Steve, grappling with him and attempting to choke him. He fired a warning shot into the ceiling as he shouted at the perp.

"FREEZE! Get off him or the next one has your name on it!" Mike roared hoping that the man didn't persist as he feared whether a bullet fired at the man would possibly pass right through him and hit his partner.

He watched the man hesitate and consider his actions as he also heard Steve's choking gasps echo alarmingly through the room. Having heard Mike's voice, Steve didn't have time to feel relieved as the relentless pressure against his windpipe never let up and he could feel the pull of unconsciousness gripping him as he grasped desperately at the arm that held him fast. Just as he felt the blackness descend, he felt the grip loosen and he was dropped unceremoniously to the floor as the dead weight shifted off him. He grasped at his throat and coughed violently as the soreness made itself known and he desperately tried to suck much needed air back into his oxygen starved lungs. Each sucking breath rattled down his sore and inflamed windpipe and caused another wracking cough to erupt at the sensation. Mike had pushed the heavily built man against the wall and was patting him down as two more officers entered with their weapons drawn. Leaving them to handcuff the suspect, Mike dived to the floor and gripped his partner from behind as he watched Steve grasping his throat and he felt his heart constrict as he realized how close Steve had come to being throttled to death.

"Take it easy Buddy boy ... Just breathe ... Nice and easy that's it ... " Mike cajoled as more gasping breaths and choking coughs followed and echoed around the dismal, barely lit room.

Between the choking coughs, Steve's raspy voice tried to speak but the words came out in hoarse, broken sentences.

"Mike ... The girl ... She's alive ... But she needs medical ... attention ..."

Mike swallowed back the pride he felt at the young man's concern for the victim despite having almost lost his own life just seconds before. He watched as two more officers entered the room and he beckoned for them to check the girl and call for an ambulance. What happened next came as a huge shock. The heavily built man let out a roar and pushed the officer trying to handcuff him to one side like he was a mere rag doll and he turned and pushed the second officer with equal force as he grabbed the gun from the young Officer's holster and turned towards where Mike was on the floor attending to Steve. As the perp turned and lifted the gun, Steve felt his gun still in his grasp and countered the move, firing his gun before the heavily built perp could discharge the weapon. A soiltary shot rang out as the perp stopped mid turn and swayed for several seconds as the bullet went through his chest and exited the other side. Seemingly suspended for several seconds he then pitched forward heavily causing a loud thud as his heavy body impacted the floor mere inches from where Steve and Mike were.

Silence descended for several seconds as everybody took stock of what had just happened before activity slowly took over again as the Officers present helped each other up and dealt with the fallen prisoner. Steve's hand that held the gun tightly shook as more wracking and pain filled coughs tore through him. Mike removed the gun from his grasp gently and lifted his chin to see what damage had been done. Even in the streaming moonlight, Mike could see the growing bruises manifesting around Steve's neck and choked back a sob of regret. He spoke urgently to the young man who was still fighting for breath.

"We need to get you to the Hospital fast in case that throat swells Buddy boy ... Just try to breathe as normally as you can in the meantime, ok?"

Steve nodded and then looked up dolefully as he tried to get more words to pass through his sore and inflamed throat.

"Mike ... Where ... were you? Why didn't ... you come?"

Mike felt the guilt wash over him as he struggled to explain his unforgivable absence.

"I'm so sorry Buddy boy ... I thought it was another trick to fool me into another Halloween party. I ... I never realized it wasn't until I heard the first gunshot and Dispatch told me Hartman had been released on bail. Looks like you were right Steve. He had an accomplice all along. But you nailed them singlehandedly and most likely saved that young girl's life."

"I ... I gave you ... my word ... Mike ..." Steve rasped again as Mike once more felt a sharp pang of guilt and regret wash over him.

"I know you did Buddy Boy and I shouldn't have doubted you. I swear to you ...I'll never doubt you again and you have MY word on that ..."

Steve's response was lost in another coughing fit as Mike urged him not to speak but to concentrate on simply breathing until the medics arrived. Within minutes, Steve was being loaded onto a gurney with an oxygen mask in place and ice packs covering his neck to ward off the swelling. Within another few minutes, Steve was being shipped off to San Francisco General along with the nineteen year old victim with sirens blaring. Mike hadn't been allowed to travel with them due to lack of space so had followed closely behind, arriving at the same time as the ambulance and following Steve's gurney in through the double doors of the Emergency Department.

It was nearly an hour later when Mike had finally sighed with relief as the Doctor informed Mike that Steve would be just fine. The throttling he had been subjected to had led to inflammation in his throat and neck but thankfully his airway hadn't been too severely compromised and they had gotten him medical help in plenty of time. He was going to be very sore for several days and his voice and ability to swallow food of any great substance would be compromised in the interim healing period but no permanent damage had been done much to Mike's relief.

The victim would also be ok in time though she had similar issues to Steve. They had extra concern initially for her as she had lost consciousness due to the throttling but they were confident she would make a complete recovery. Mike was also pleased to hear that due to Steve's swift intervention, no sexual assault had taken place so the news had all been good. Mike was asked if he wished to see his partner and was duly led into a cubicle to see the stricken young man. There in the bright light of the cubicle, the bruising around Steve's neck and windpipe stuck out more starkly and more frighteningly than before. Purple bruises peeped out behind ice packs and the young man looked utterly miserable, propped up in the bed, with a nasal cannula feeding oxygen into his lungs.

As he saw Mike enter through the blue curtain a brief smile crossed his face but Mike noted that it faded just as quick.

"Hey Buddy boy ... How are you feeling?" Mike asked with forced enthusiasm.

"How ... do you think ... I'm feeling? ..." Steve grumbled in a voice that was even more hoarse than it had been back at the crime scene.

Steve visibly winced as he swallowed and his hand came up to rest under his chin in the vain hope that if he held his throat as he spoke, it wouldn't hurt as much. Mike tried to make small talk, despite the proverbial elephant that was quite obviously in the room.

"Well don't worry. Doc says that in a couple of days you'll be as right as rain and that your voice should start improving as early as tomorrow when the swelling comes down a bit. That's good news isn't it? "

"I guess ... " Steve answered nonchalantly. "I don't ... suppose he told you ... when I'd stop feeling ... like I was swallowing razor blades, did he?"

Mike frowned as he heard the discomfort his young partner was suffering as a result of his negligence and he shook his head sadly.

"No ... no, I'm afraid he didn't but well ... I can ask him for you ..."

"No ... no, leave it. I ... mightn't like ... the answer I'd get ..." Steve answered in a depressed sounding tone but he quickly asked in between a few barking coughs .

"Have you ... heard how ... the girl is?"

"Yes, she's going to be fine, thanks to you."

"Mike ... was she ... you know? Only he was ... on top of her when I ..."

Mike knew what was bothering the young man and quickly grabbed his arm reassuringly.

"No, no she wasn't ... you got there just in time. Thank God you drive as fast as you do, huh?"

Mike watched as Steve closed his eyes and shuddered in relief at that news.

"Thank God ... he was so smug Mike ... saying we weren't ... clever enough to get ... evidence on him ... Acting like ... he was unstoppable ..."

Mike could see that he was reliving the whole scene again and squeezed his arm to draw his attention.

"Well he's been stopped now. Him and that accomplice of his. They wont be hurting any more women ever again. You've seen to that."

Steve allowed himself a brief pained smile at that thought before wincing and holding his throat gingerly.

"Man that guy ... was some gorilla ... wasn't he? I tried everything ... I was ever taught to get him to let go of me ... and he never even flinched ..."

"Yeah. You were right about that too. Those other women never stood a chance against him. Him and Hartman made a pretty evil partnership, alright. But not anymore."

"The big guy ... "

"Tanner gave me the lowdown on him. His name was Barry Weston. He got out of San Quentin six weeks ago. He served time for murdering his wife after she had an affair behind his back. Looks like every woman he murdered since must have reminded him of her, I guess. He roomed with Hartman in one of the cells over a four month period. Looks like Hartman used him for his own sick purposes. "

"Did he ... survive the gunshot?"

Mike stared at Steve and judged if he was up to hearing the truth or not. Deciding that it was best to just tell him out straight, he shook his head.

"No ... he was DOA Buddy boy. I guess as big and strong as he was, he wasn't that invincible, huh?"

Steve nodded as that fact sunk in and Mike could sense that something was very off between them and felt that he knew what that something was. Sitting down on the edge of Steve's bed, Mike twisted his fedora in his hands as the guilt he was feeling returned full force.

"Listen Steve, about earlier ..."

Before he could continue, Steve's raspy voice spoke across his in a hurt and anguished tone.

"Why didn't ... you believe me ... Mike? I mean ... if it had been Norm ... I'd have maybe ... understood you know? But it was ME, Mike ... I've ... never broken my word ... to you. Not ... once ..."

As he finished the small few sentences the coughing started again and it took several pain filled minutes before it subsided long enough for Mike to be able to offer him a few welcome sips of water to ease the dryness in his sore throat. As Steve sucked greedily through the straw and savored every welcome sip, he was finally sated and Mike helped him rest back against the pillows as he answered dolefully.

"I know you haven't Buddy boy and I ... well ... I never should have doubted you. I guess I let the whole Halloween thing get to me and then I overheard you and Norm talking before we left and ..."

Steve lifted a hand and placed it against Mike's chest.

"Wait a second ... What exactly ... did you overhear?"

"Something about later on and if I was going or not and you said not after last year but you'd see what you could do ... Well I thought the dispatch call was a false lead like last time ..."

Everything suddenly made sense to Steve and he shook his head in disbelief.

"Oh man! That's why you didn't come in?"

"Yes ... I'm so sorry Steve. I feel just awful. I mean you almost died and I thought it was all just a silly ploy to get me to their Halloween party. It will never happen again. I swear to you. Can you ever forgive me?"

Steve allowed the first genuine smile to cross his face and he patted Mike's chest warmly.

"Of course I forgive you ... You saved my life ... Just ... please don't doubt my word again, ok?"

Mike crossed his finger over his chest purposefully.

"I won't ... Cross my heart. I swear when I saw that gorilla on top of you my heart almost stopped. I was afraid to fire in case it hit you too. Thank God he let go of you when he did. To be honest, I wasn't really sure what my next move was going to be, if he hadn't."

Both men remained silent and thankful for a few minutes for the way things had turned out until Mike broke the silence unexpectedly.

"You know its funny but I honestly could have sworn that you two were discussing a party earlier."

Steve chuckled weakly as he answered Mike's statement.

"Well we were ... but ... it wasn't what you thought it was."

"Oh? How's that?"

"Well after all you said ... about Halloween and how it should be ... used for the better of others ... or words to that effect ... me and the guys decided to throw a party with a difference this year. Here at San Francisco General ... in the children's ward."

Mike's jaw dropped and he looked both stunned and speechless.

"The children's ward? ... You mean for the sick kids?"

"Yeah ... I was to ask you if you'd come and do some magic tricks and I was supposed to pick up the candy but I never got a chance to ask you when that call came over the radio."

As Mike realized just how wrong he had been and as the kindness and selfless act of his men filtered through his thoughts, Mike's face lit up in a proud and huge grin.

"Well what about that, huh? Well of course I'll do magic tricks for the sick kids and don't you worry about a thing Buddy boy. You just lie back and relax and get well. I'll pick up candy on the way to my house to pick up my clown outfit. Why we'll give those kids the best Halloween party they ever saw!"

Steve smiled even wider as he saw and heard Mike's enthusiasm build by the second. Maybe this was one Halloween party Mike might even manage to enjoy for once and he was so glad he had thought of it.

A/N: Title and story inspired by the quote : Fool me once, shame on you : Fool me twice, shame on me!