Danny returned to the waiting room after a request was sent to him from his sister to give her a turn. He was met by Jackie. "How is he?" she asked.

"Don't know," Danny said. The doctors kept changing their minds. One moment Jamie was recovering splendidly, the next they were giving him something for something else. Danny wasn't good with the medical terms like Linda, who simply would nod and ask confusing questions only to get technical answers in response.

"We've got more on the Morrison story," Jackie said, "We think we know why Jamie was in that warehouse…"

"Think? What does that mean?" Danny asked.

"Jamie's partner, David Randle has just regained consciousness," Jackie said, "he isn't very coherent because of a severe concussion, but he's saying something about Morrison taking them hostage."

Danny's blood boiled. "Has anyone made Morrison talk?" he asked heatedly.

Jackie shrugged. "He's shut tight. Literally hasn't said a single word."

"When I get my hands on him, he'll…" Danny started.

Jackie shook her head. "No, Danny. You need to stay here. I'll keep you posted, but for now, an emotionally charged homicide detective is the last person we need interrogating Morrison."

Danny stiffened. "This is still my case. If I need to come down to the station to get the information we need, I'm going to do that," he said.

Jackie hesitated. "Fine, I just think it would be better if you hung around here…"

"No. If that S.O.B. had my brother, and if he is the reason that Jamie was shot, then he's gonna pay, and I'm gonna make sure he does."


Danny stood across from a seated Morrison. The man was sitting with his eyes trained on his folded hands, looking placid and emotionless as though he were sitting down for a morning cup of coffee and a paper to check the score on the game. He did not have the attitude of a man who had recently killed three people.

"Really?" Danny asked, "You have absolutely nothing to say? You don't even want to ask for a glass of water, or…I don't know…a steak dinner?"

Morrison didn't move. Danny was starting to wonder if the man was even breathing. Danny leaned forward. "Where's your lawyer, Morrison? Why don't you ask for that? Because you're sure as hell gonna need one."

No response.

Danny brought his hands down hard on the table, the sound even making Jackie shudder from the corner where she stood, watching. "Listen here, you freak," Danny growled, "Because of you, two cops are in the hospital, Morrison! And I know that doesn't affect a cold blooded killer like you, but you better believe that we're going to make you pay!" Danny was just inches away from Morrison's hardened, emotionless face.

But then, suddenly, it broke, and Morrison lifted his gaze to meet Danny's. "Your brother," he said calmly, a smile crawling across his face, "is in the hospital because you drove a bullet through his chest."

Danny didn't know what happened next until he was being dragged from the interrogation room by three officers, and he was fighting against them. "I'm going to kill him!" he seethed, "I'm going to kill him!"

"Danny, stop!" Jackie pleaded, her face coming into his vision. "You've got to calm down. Sit down, now! Danny, sit down!"

Danny did as he told, thudding into the chair that had appeared. The three officers lingered until Jackie told them to leave. She knelt before Danny, picked up one of his hands and showed it to him. His knuckles were bloody. "This is why you should have stayed at the hospital," she said softly.

"You heard what he said?" Danny asked. His voice shook and he realized he was crying.

"Yeah," Jackie said. She sounded angry. "Honestly, I would pounded him the same way if he'd said something like that to my face. But the fact is, we can't. Danny, the captain's going to take you off the case."

Danny didn't care. If he never saw that smug face again it would be too soon. He trusted Jackie to get the rest of the details, to put Morrison away for life. "I need to get back to the hospital," Danny muttered after a few moments.

Jackie nodded. "That's a good idea. I'll drive you, but first, let's get your hands cleaned up. After that, I'll take you home so you can get a change of clothes."

"Why?" Danny asked. "I changed just before I got here."

Jackie raised an eyebrow. "And then you bloodied up our suspect," she said, "and you've got a little of that all over you." She indicated with her hand. Danny looked down and saw that his shirt was spattered with blood. "The captain's going to have a long talk with you, and I'm guessing that the word 'talk' is putting it too nicely."

"Me too," Danny agreed, and for the first time in nearly twenty hours, he smiled.


"What happened to your hands!" was the first question that came when Danny returned to the hospital waiting room.

He tried not to look at his dad as he answered Linda, "I had a little alteration with a suspect."

"Was is Morrison?" she asked, her voice barely a whisper.

"I shouldn't say," Danny replied. He dared to look at the commissioner at this point. As he suspected, his father had a knowing look on his face. Doubtless, he'd already received all the details on the 'little alteration'. Danny changed the subject, "How is Jamie?"

"Still unconscious," Linda said with a sigh. "Henry is sitting with him now. Erin went to check on the kids and get a nap."

"What about you?" Danny asked, for the first time noticing the exhausted features of his wife. Her entire form looked worn and depleted. "You should go, get a shower, get some sleep. I'll stay here."

"You need some sleep too," Linda argued.

"I wouldn't be able to sleep if I tried," Danny said.

Linda leaned up and kissed him. "I know. Do you want anything from the house?"

"I was just by there to change my clothes…because of the alteration."

Linda made a face. "You better not be getting yourself into trouble, Daniel Reagan," she said.

"Always," Danny replied.

He gave her one more kiss before she left. Then it was just him and Frank Reagan. The bulking man was standing at the window, looking out over the city. "I heard what happened," he said when Danny came to stand beside him.

"I suspected as much," Danny said.

Not another word was spoken until Henry came out to give Frank a turn at Jamie's beside.


TBC