Disclaimer: You know the drill…I don't…She does…I'm not…
WHERE'S YOUR BALLS
CHAPTER 4
"Ranger, man…can you hear me? Ranger, answer me." Tank was yelling into his radio.
Sounds of a shotgun rang thru the darkness. Everyone called in safe…everyone except Ranger.
Things got fucked up somehow. It was supposed to be an easy pick up, no surprises. Unfortunately, things didn't turn out that way. The Intel was good…but unfortunately, Rangeman wasn't the only one the informant was working for that night. He made the mistake of double-crossing them. He warned the skip that someone would be coming for him.
He was waiting at the door for them. Ranger sent Tank and Lester to the back door, Bobby and Hector was on the north side of the house, Ren, and Cal on the south. Ranger always took the front entrance.
Tank counted five shots before he realized what was happening. Tank took off to the front of the house, with Lester hot on his heals. Ren, Cal and Hector ran after the skip.
It seemed as if it took Tank forever to get to the front of the house. When he did, Ranger was laying on the front porch. There was blood everywhere. There was so much blood, he couldn't even tell how many times Ranger was hit.
"Some one get an ambulance here." Tank yelled into his radio. "Ranger's down. He's been shot. I can't tell how many hits he took."
"I got it, man." Lester said as he ran up the steps.
"Where's Brown?" Tank's deep voice boomed through the night.
"Here I am." Bobby said. "Tank, move back let me check him out, man."
"Babe. Tank…tell her I loved her." Ranger breathlessly whispered before he blacked out, again.
"Ranger, damn it…I'm not delivering that message. If you want her to know you love her, your fucking ass better not die so you can tell her." Tank ordered.
"How bad is it, Bobby?" Lester asked.
"Looks like he took three bullets. Two in the stomach and one in the chest." Bobby continued to examine him. "I can't tell if it missed his heart. From the angle it went in, it very well could've. He's still breathing. His heart is weak, but still beating. Those are both good signs."
"Where the fuck is that ambulance?" Tank growled.
The wail of sirens rang out in the distance. Trenton's finest was the first to arrive. Lester was standing on the street waiting for the ambulance to arrive when Joe pulled up in front of the house.
"What the fuck have you lunatics done now?" Joe sneered.
"Morelli. We didn't do anything." Lester growled.
"I heard the call for an ambulance. I know someone is injured. Please tell me Steph isn't involved." Joe wasn't sure he wanted to know the answer.
"She's not here."
"Good. Now you can tell me here or I can haul all your asses to the station." Joe warned Lester.
"Ranger's been shot. It's not good, Morelli. He may not live. Took three bullets…one to the chest." Lester said.
"I'd like to say I'm sorry, but I wouldn't mean it, you know?"
"Fuck you, Morelli." Lester said.
"You're not my type, Santos."
"Where's your skip?" Morelli asked.
"He must've gotten away." Lester sarcastically replied.
"Yo, Ren…do you get him, man?" Lester called to him as he rounded the house.
Ren saw Lester talking to Morelli. He knew if he said yes, the cop would probably either want to see him or offer to take him in for Rangeman.
That wasn't a good idea. The guy wasn't in very good shape…hell, he wasn't exactly conscious.
"Naw, man. He ran before we could get around the house." He smiled.
"If you ask me, you guys are too calm considering your skip skipped on you. He shot your boss. You're not just a little upset about him getting away?" Morelli suspiciously questioned.
"Ranger is our main concern right now. We'll get him."
"When you do, make sure you bring him in alive." Morelli ordered.
"Now, if you don't mind, I'd like to check on Ranger." Lester snapped.
The ER attendants were waiting in the front of the ER when the ambulance arrived. Three black SUV's were squealing in right behind.
When the ambulance doors opened, the medic pulled Ranger out; CPR was in progress. Ranger coded on the way to the hospital.
Bobby was doing compressions and one of the medics was bagging him. Tank barely put his truck in park before he jumped out and ran to the back of the ambulance.
"Ranger, you fucking listen to me. You can't die. I refuse to deliver that message. You best fucking wake up or she'll never know you loved her. Do you hear me?
I'm not fucking playing. You are not going to fucking die." Tank was yelling at him.
"Sir, please…back up and let us get him inside or he is going to die." Some Amazon of a woman pushed Tank out of the way, jumped on the stretcher and took over compressions.
They wheeled Ranger into the ER. They wouldn't let anyone back to see him.
"Bobby, what happened?" Lester asked.
"We were on our way to the ER. Everything seemed to be fine. Well as fine as things could be considering he'd been shot three times.
He started moaning. He was calling for Steph. Mumbling about being sorry he hurt her that he loved her more than his own life, and then he coded." Bobby said.
"We shocked him three times. His heart started beating for a few seconds and then stopped again. We've been doing CPR the whole way here." Bobby quickly told them what was happening, and then went into the ER to be with Ranger.
"Hey, don't you think someone should got tell Steph?" Ren asked.
"Let's see what the doctor has to say and then I'll go tell her." Tank said.
The men walked in the hospital. Tank went to talk to the nurse…who was of no help.
"I want to know how my friend is and someone is going to fucking tell me, am I clear?" Tank slammed his hands down on the desk at the nurse's station.
"Sir, if you don't calm down, I'm going to have to call security." The nurse warned him.
Just then, the doctor came out with to talk with whoever was there for Ranger.
"How's Ranger?" Lester sprang to his feet.
"Hi, I'm Dr. Rowsalski. Mr. Manoso is in bad shape. It was necessary to defibrillate him, but his heart started beating again. He's still in serious condition. We're prepping him for surgery now.
He has a clasped lung, a ruptured spleen and possibly a lacerated liver. After examining him, we found a fourth bullet wound. The fourth one hit him in the leg, just missing his femoral artery. We're pretty sure the bullet that hit him in the chest missed his heart, but we won't know for sure until we get him into surgery. He's bleeding internally. He will more than likely need blood later. If any of you would like to donate in his name, the lab is on the third floor.
It will be touch and go. If he makes it through surgery, we'll have a better idea of his chances. Right now, I'm not sure he'll survive the surgery."
"How long before he goes into surgery?" Cal asked.
"It won't be long. Maybe half an hour. We'd like to get him sooner, but we're waiting on a cardiac surgeon." Dr. Rowsalski answered.
"Will our medic be in there with him?" Lester asked.
"Yes, we've already made the arrangements for him to scrub in with the surgeons." The doctor answered.
"Good. I feel better knowing that Brown will be in there with him." Tank said.
"What about Bombshell. We have to tell her." Lester said.
"I'm on my way. Hopefully, she'll agree to come to the hospital and we can get back before the boss goes into surgery."
Tank left, hoping he could convenience Steph to come back to the hospital with him.
tbc
