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Chapter 7

"What the hell does he want?" Ioki asked in a loud whisper once the four were in the cooler.

Lola shook her head as she looked flustered at her husband. She was at a loss. She knew that there had been and issues between Gil Senior and Lou Tyler's dead older brother Danny. She never knew exactly what those issues were but that there were issues that caused a lot of tension between the two men and now that Danny was gone the tension was still there between Gil Senior and Lou. Somehow the whole Royal family was now under Lou's radar.

"It all has to do with Pop's. He was part of the set up that took down Danny Tyler." Gil Junior spilled.

"What do you mean Pop? Gil he's just an old man." Lola pointed out.

"Yeah, but the cops came to him when Danny was discovered to be the front runner of the drugs in this area. Pop's was asked to be a part of the set up. He was auxiliary for the Metro Department. That's also the reason he left here for Florida. He was told that there was a chance he was being watched by the Dragons and they were going to make a hit on his life."

"So what now, Gil? He runs to sunny Florida chasing bikini's and leaves us to clean up his mess." Lola shouted.

"Shhh... quiet!" Penhall hushed loudly.

"Who the hell are you to order me around anyway?" Lola snapped at the officer.

"He's an undercover police officer like I am… and the others out there trying to figure out what the hell is going on here." Ioki confessed.

"What… you're both cops?" Lola pointed her finger between the two.

"Yeah and we got problems out there." Penhall whispered.

"What do you mean problems?" Ioki asked slowly.

"Your friends been shot and the good looking cop was busted by Louie." Lola blurted out crossing her arms in front of her."

"Wait… who was shot?"

"Booker's took a hit, and it's bad. Hoffs and Fuller are taking care of him." Penhall remarked.

"Who the heck are Hoffs and Fuller?" Junior asked softly.

"Detective Judy Hoffs and Captain Adam Fuller." Ioki commented looking back at Penhall.

"You mean there are more cops out there? Why don't you all just shoot the son's of bitches and get this coup over with?" Lola asked.

"Lola…" Gil Junior scolded his wife.

"Screw you Gil, you know I'm right…"

"Calm down you two." Penhall motioned raising a finger to his lips. "I know this is stressful to you but we can't just pull our weapons and start shooting. There are too many innocent people that could hit in the crossfire. This isn't a Wild West Show."

"I have an idea." Ioki stopped the group who all turned and looked.

--

Tommy watched Booker as he continued to struggle with the agonizing position he was in. He burned inside each time he watched his friendly nemesis cringe in pain. Each time there was a tear that escaped his eye. Every time he shook from fever and cold. Hanson wanted to pull his jacket off, wrap it around Dennis Booker and just reassure him through the continuous attack of pain he was being subjected to. Then once he was sure that Dennis wasn't going to die he wanted to take Lou Tyler by the neck and squeeze it until his face turned bright purple and his head popped like a pimple.

Then there was Bear. It seemed like every time he walked by the two officers he took his chance to assault one or both of them. He would kick their legs, shout insults, or hit the top of the chair that they were crudely attached to. Each time he did anything to Dennis the officer would yelp and jump with more precious crimson blood seeping from his punctured torso. Hanson could feel bruises on his own knees and shins so he was sure that it had to be worse for the other officer. With each stray attack he could see the anger burning in Fuller's eyes. He could see the white hot rage in Hoffs face also. The two had kept a continuous vigil on the officers, neither letting the other out of their sight.

Bear walked by the two men stopping to look them both over carefully. Hanson was certain he was deciding whom he was going to assault this time. He looked at Hanson who returned his hateful stare with the same ferocious daggers. He turned his sights to Booker who had his head rested on his right arm which was still attached uncomfortably above his head. He let out a soft groan barely lifting his head but opening his eyes to see who had stopped in front of him.

"Y-You come by… to get your… jollies… T-Teddy Bear." Booker mocked raising an eyebrow.

Hanson was amazed that even in agony he could find an insult to hurl at someone. Only for him the better idea would probably have been to keep his mouth shut as Bear only chuckled under his breath. He knelt down calculatingly in front of Dennis grasping the officer's chin in his hand.

"You're awful pale and really sweaty here cop. You feel sick?" He reached his other hand down and intentionally pressed his hand forcefully into Booker's bleeding side.

"AHHHHH… GOD! STOP… P-PLEASE…" Booker tilted his head back and screamed piercingly; his whole body nearly convulsing in pain as Bear continued his sadistic abuse of the badly injured man.

"Get your filthy hands off of him you over sized piece of crap!" Hanson snapped pushing his feet far enough forward that he was able to shove Bear back onto the floor.

Booker whimpered as his head fell towards his chest and still shaking uncontrollably. He acted as if he was having trouble taking in a breath. Tom could see him flexing his blood stained fingers above his head where they were still attached with metal hand cuffs.

"Sit down!" Hanson could hear another thug ordering Fuller and Hoffs back into the booth they had been confined to.

Bear sat up and started to lunge at Hanson when something stopped him.

"Not this time Bear." Lou Tyler chimed in from where he was watching the assault continue.

"What the fu…" Bear turned and looked at the older man.

"Don't need them dead. I need these two alive." Lou looked almost disgusted as he looked down at his sidekick on the floor.

Bear seemed as if someone had punched a hole in his balloon. He looked over at Hanson with a hate Hanson hadn't seen in a long time. He shifted his gaze to Booker whose was still struggling to recover from the vicious assault to his gunshot wound.

"When this is over cop, I'll kill him for fun and then you'll feel pain you never felt before." Bear seethed as he slowly lifted himself off of the floor.

Hanson and Bear continued to stare at each other with jagged hatred. The two men shared a definite abhorrence of each other. Bear cracked his neck as he stood up on his feet and continued to stare down at Hanson. He turned slowly and walked away from the two officers. This allowed Tom the chance to talk to Booker who was still shaking from the attack.

"Dennis… Dennis come on buddy…" Hanson whispered towards the officer.

"Tom-my…" Dennis's voice was barely audible. "it… burns Tommy."

"Stay awake for me Booker; come on don't pass out on me Dennis; come on… I need you to stay with me."

Booker didn't respond. His body went limp and his head lulled to the side. Tom felt as if he could throw up. He pulled at his own restraints in an effort to get to his partner. He couldn't see him breathe. He couldn't see him doing anything. Booker was motionless, like a leaf on a still day.

"Dennis come on… don't do this Dennis…" Hanson hissed at his partner. He watched him uncomfortably for what seemed like forever. He finally breathed a sigh of relief when he heard the sweetest sound to his ears as Booker moaned softly in his unconscious state.

Hanson sat back and began to contemplate the situation. He flexed his own fingers as he felt the uncomfortable recognizable sense of pins and needles; he was losing the circulation in his hands. He listened intently for Booker to moan or breathe from time to time and prayed silently to himself that something would give soon for them and everyone else having to watch them be tortured by the great Grizzly Bear.

--

"You found pop's old get away. He used to use that ladder when they were having the all night poker parties and the wives would come to break them up. They would head up that ladder and hide on the roof until the coast was clear." Junior explained. "I remember momma once…"

"Gil!" Lola snapped as the man started to reminisce.

"Is there a way down to the street?" Ioki asked.

"Not that I know of; you can get out but not down." Junior shrugged.

"That's great! I can climb up to the roof and drop a note or two down to the Chief and let them know who's in here and with what." Ioki

"What good is that gonna do?" Lola asked sarcastically.

"You know, you remind me way too much of that ungrateful bit…"

"Doug!" Ioki hissed. She reminded him a lot of Doug's ex-girlfriend Dorothy but now wasn't the time to upset anyone with a hurtful comparison. "Just keep quiet and don't give any information to them. Don't give away Penhall, Hoffs, Fuller or myself. It's bad enough that they have Booker and Hanson. We don't need to give them anymore reason to hurt someone." Ioki calmly addressed the others now shivering in the cooler who responded by nodding. "How far along are you?" Ioki pointed to Lola.

"Eight months." Lola answered running her hands over her swollen midsection.

"You're not gonna have that thing on us are you?" Ioki asked running a hand through his hair.

"No, I'm not due for another four weeks exactly." Lola responded as if offended by the question.

"Good." Doug blurted out.

Harry looked over at the other officer with a be silent glare before he continued.

"Go fix them whatever they want. Give me some time to get the information from Doug here that I need to get together and then to get out of here." Ioki looked at Penhall as Lola grabbed a large container of cheese.

"Don't wanna mess up those cheese burgers do I." She growled at Penhall as she walked out.

"I'm not eating anything she puts her hands on." Doug declared in a whisper to Harry.

"You'd be smart not to." Harry whispered back.