"How is he?" Brendan asked the female paramedic, who introduced herself as Maureen.

The male paramedic, named Elliot, was driving them toward Mercy Hospital, traveling as fast as he could.

"His vitals are stable," replied Maureen. "It looks like he just lost consciousness. He's got marks all over his body. He's probably in a lot of pain. How did you manage to stop the attack?"

"I'm trained how to fight, if I need to. Will he be all right?"

"With rest and care, he should be good in no time."

Brendan nodded. "I'm gonna make a phone call," he said, pulling out his cell phone and dialing a number. The dial tone rang a few times before a woman answered the phone.

"Detective Smith, Homicide," the woman said.

"Detective, this is Brendan Hopkins. I'm Jack Gray's friend."

"Of course, I remember you from when Jack called us a few years ago. Is something wrong? You sound flustered."

"Jack was just attacked, Detective."

"I'm sorry?" Olivia said in a skeptical tone.

"He was just attacked by five men. I think they must work for John Calvert, since they all seemed to know who they were attacking. One of them said they had orders to cause a lot of pain."

"Where did this happen Brendan?"

Brendan told her the name of the recording studio and mentioned that the perps were probably still there, since he had disabled them.

"Okay, Brendan, we'll have some officers get to the scene of the crime and my partner and I will meet you at the hospital. Which one are you heading to?"

"Mercy," Brendan replied.

"I know the place," said Olivia. "We'll be there in twenty minutes."

"Thank you, Detective," Brendan said, hanging up his phone.

"I don't mean to be nosy, but did you say John Calvert was somehow involved in this?" asked Maureen.

"Yes, I think he hired the people who attacked Jack. Why do you ask?"

"I thought he was in jail? It was all over the news that he's been arrested and might go free because two officers lied about someone being dead."

"Yeah, and my friend there is the one who they said was dead. It can't be a coincidence that he was attacked on the night before he was due to testify in court."

The ambulance came to a stop and Elliot got out of the driver's seat and ran to the back of the vehicle and threw open the back doors. He stepped into the back and helped Maureen pull the stretcher out of the ambulance. Brendan quickly followed them out as they started to wheel Jack into the hospital, where some nurses were waiting.

"What have we got?" one of them asked.

"Unconscious teenager, name of Jack Gray," explained Elliot. "He was attacked by some thugs before his friend here stopped them and had some friends call for us."

"Good work, young man," the nurse said.

Brendan nodded. "Is he going to be okay?"

"He looks okay and he'll probably have to stay here overnight, but it doesn't look like there are too many extensive injuries," the nurse explained. "Now, you'll have to stay in the waiting room until a doctor sees your friend."

At that moment, another nurse appeared out of an adjacent room.

"Is there a Brendan Hopkins with you?" she asked the group wheeling Jack's stretcher.

"I am," Brendan said, stepping forward. "Is something wrong?"

"The police are here from the Homicide Unit, and would like a quick word with you. Please follow me."

"Take care of him," Brendan called to the group. Maureen nodded at him before he turned and followed the nurse, who introduced herself as Mary. She was elderly and looked like she could pass as Qaasim's grandmother. Mary led him to the waiting room, where Brendan saw Detectives Smith and Owens waiting for him.

"Thank you, ma'am," said Olivia when Brendan reached them.

"Of course, Detective. Brendan, I will go check on your friend for you," she added kindly before walking away.

"Brendan, it's good to see you again, even under the circumstances," Olivia said.

"We just want to ask you a few questions," Chase added. "The officers we sent to the recording studio found the men who attacked Jack and arrested them on the spot. They looked pretty banged up, according to the officers. Can you tell us what happened?"

Brendan explained how he arrived in the nick of time to stop Jack from being killed by the ringleader and then fended off all of them single-handedly. When he finished explaining, the detectives nodded at him.

"So you assisting a third party in need of assistance from bodily harm," Chase said. "That's all we needed to hear. I'll call our DA and let her know that no charges will need to be filed against you for what happened."

Chase stepped away and pulled out his cell phone. While he was on the phone, Brendan and Olivia sat down, waiting to hear any news.

"It's lucky you got there when you did, Brendan," Olivia said. "Things could have been a lot worse had you not stopped them."

"Yeah, well if my friends hadn't decided to call a break at the time they did, I wouldn't have known."

At that moment, Brendan heard his name being called from the direction of the elevator. The band, along with Jesse and Sonny had arrived. He ran up to them and hugged them.

"How is he?" Rosalina asked.

"I haven't heard yet, but the nurse who took him said he should be fine. He'll probably have to stay here overnight, but should be okay otherwise."

"How are you doing?" asked Nat.

"I'm fine."

"Oh, come on, Brendan, you just kicked the heck out of five guys by yourself in about thirty seconds!" Thomas said excitedly.

"Yeah, don't you feel good about that?" added David.

"Guys," Nat said in an exasperated tone.

Brendan grinned. "No, it's okay. I can see what they mean. And to be honest, guys, I was surprised I was able to stop it so quickly. I don't think they were expecting to face someone who was able to put up a fight, which is why I managed to take all of them down so quickly."

Thomas, David and Qaasim all laughed and Brendan couldn't help grin with them.

"How soon were you guys able to leave the studio?" Brendan asked.

"We got a limo as soon as you left," Cooper said. "I called in a favor to a friend and he was able to get us one pretty fast. "

"We left as soon as the police arrived and we showed them where to find the bad guys," added Alex.

Brendan nodded as Mary returned to the waiting room and walked over to them.

"How is he, Mary?" Brendan asked.

"He'll be fine. I talked to the doctor and he told me there are no long-term injuries. We're gonna keep him here overnight, but he should be okay as long as he takes it easy."

"Thank you."

Mary nodded and left. Olivia and Chase approached them.

"How is he, Brendan?" asked Olivia.

"He should be fine. I think he'll be ready to testify tomorrow."

"Good, let's go find out," said Chase.

"Guys, can you give me a minute? I'm gonna go with them to see Jack. I'll be right back."

"Yeah, sure, Brendan. Go on," Nat said.

Brendan followed Olivia and Chase to Jack's room, which they got from a desk clerk. When they reached Jack's room, they found him sitting propped up on his bed, looking okay, but tired.

"Hi," Jack said in a weak voice.

"How are you doing?" Olivia asked in a soft tone.

"Sore. But I think it could have been a lot worse."

"Yeah, it might have been had Brendan here not intervened."

"How did you know, Brendan?"

"The band took a break inside the studio," Brendan explained. "Qaasim stepped outside from some fresh air and heard you being attacked. He told me what was happening, so I ran outside and stopped them from killing you."

"Thank you," Jack whispered.

"You know you don't have to thank me for that. I was just protecting you."

Jack nodded. "I assume you think I was attacked by some of Calvert's men?" he said to the detectives.

"Why? Were you?" asked Chase.

"Yeah, that's who they were. They told me they had a message to give me from Calvert and then they started beating on me. I kinda blacked out while it was happening, so I don't remember much about the actual beating, but I remember them saying they had a message."

Chase nodded, pulled out his cell phone and stepped to the back of the room.

"And how many were there?" Olivia asked.

"I counted five. They were all men, dressed the exact same. I thought it was weird that they weren't wearing masks."

"They probably thought they'd be able to knock you unconscious fast and not be able to remember their faces."

"Well, they were right about the unconscious part," Jack said.

"Okay, we'll meet you there," Chase said from the back of the room. He hung his phone up and walked back to Jack's bedside.

"What's up?" Jack asked.

"I'm sorry, Jack, but we've gotta go. Casey wants to meet with Calvert and his attorney to discuss adding another charge after what's happened tonight. She wants Brendan to come with us."

Jack nodded. "It's okay, I understand."

Brendan patted him on the head. "Listen, the rest of the band is here. I'll tell them you're okay and they can stay with you til I get back? Will that be okay?"

"Of course," Jack said, grinning.

"I'll be back soon."

Half an hour later, Brendan followed Chase and Olivia through a prison. When they reached their destination, they Chase opened the door and bade them inside. Waiting for them was Casey Hoskinson, the assistant district attorney for Chase and Olivia's unit. She was a young Hispanic woman, whose face suggested a "no nonsense" attitude. She smiled at Brendan when he answered.

"So, you're the hero?" she asked as she motioned for him to sit down.

"I'm no hero. I just put a stop to a bad situation."

"Well, Calvert will probably be angry about what you did. Although, he doesn't know about it yet. But we'll let him know."

At that, another door opened and a man dressed in a suit, looking tired, walked into the room, followed by a middle-aged man Brendan recognized as John Calvert. When they sat down on the table opposite Brendan and Casey, the man in the suit addressed Casey."

"This had better be important, counselor," he said. "You called me and had me come down in the middle of the night. I don't know about you, but some people like to sleep during the night hours," he added, pointing to Casey's hair, which was perfectly groomed as if she had not done anything to it since that morning."

"Save the sarcastic comments for the trial, Lionel," Casey said. "Now, the reason I dragged you here is to let you know that we are adding another charge against your client."

"And what charge is that?" asked Lionel.

"Conspiracy to prevent a witness from testifying. Plus, numerous charges of assault."

"And how am I supposed to have assaulted anyone when I've been remanded here ever since my arraignment?"

"I didn't say you did. As attorney Bernstein will tell you, I can charge you with conspiracy and add on the assault charges when we prove that you conspired to physically assault a witness to prevent him from testifying."

"Where's the proof?" demanded Lionel. "You've given us no evidence to support your claim!"

"I won't have to," Casey retorted back. "The men who attacked the witness have already confessed to being hired by you, Calvert. We also have a statement from the witness, who said his attackers told him you had hired them to send a message."

Lionel and Calvert merely looked at Casey with blank expressions on their faces.

"What are you offering?" asked Lionel.

"Nothing."

"Then why are we here?"

"I wanted your client to know that his cronies failed to achieve their goal. You see before they could cause too much damage against the witness, young Brendan here put a stop to them. You underestimated Jack's friend, Calvert. You should have thought of that before you sent your men after him."

Calvert glared at Brendan, who looked back at him smugly.

"You're gonna be sorry you did that," Calvert declared in a dark voice.

"Lionel, I suggest you advise your client to keep his mouth shut," Casey warned.

"No, that's okay," said Brendan, speaking for the first time. He leaned forward and looked Calvert directly in the eyes. "Are you threatening me?" he asked.

Calvert merely glowered at Brendan.

"You think your guys are loyal? I took down five of them in about thirty seconds by myself," Brendan continued. "I've got a huge gang of friends much bigger than yours. Go ahead. Test my friends. I dare you."

"We're done here," Casey standing up. Brendan stood up with her, still glaring at Calvert before he turned and followed Chase and Olivia out of the room. When the door closed behind them, Chase and Olivia turned to Brendan.

"What was that?" Chase demanded.

"I just telling him how it is," Brendan replied calmly.

"You do realize who that is, don't you?" asked Casey.

"Yes. I'm fully aware who he is."

"Then you know what he's capable of," Olivia said.

"He won't try anything, especially now that the trial is here," Brendan said.

"How can you be sure of that?"

"Because he's smarter than that. If he were going to do anything to me, he would have done it already. Just like he did against Jack. Jack's attack was planned enough in advance in case he came back. I'm sure of it. Even if he didn't know Jack was still alive, he still would have wanted to make sure his men would take care of him if he was, and that's what he did."

The detectives and Casey looked back at Brendan, clearly impressed with his reasoning.

"He's right," Casey said after a few seconds. "Calvert won't and can't try anything. Since he's remanded, his visitor logs and phone calls are all monitored, so even if he does try anything, the prison will know about it in heartbeat."

"Still, I think you should have some police protection, Brendan. At least until this is over," Olivia said.

Brendan shook his head. "No. I don't want to live like that. I won't live in fear. He can't send me into hiding like he did with Jack. I can take care of myself. After all, I did single-handedly take down five of his men in a span of about thirty seconds. I'll be fine."

"Very well," Casey said, nodding. "Detectives, take Brendan back to the hospital and make sure Jack will be ready for testifying tomorrow. Call me when you know."

"We will," replied Olivia. "And get some sleep, counselor. You'll need it to kick Calvert's ass tomorrow in court."

Casey grinned and walked away. Brendan followed Chase and Olivia out of the prison and back to their car. They dropped him off in the hospital waiting room and spoke with Jack. When they were done, they bade Brendan good night and left him with the band in the waiting room.