Good Hello Readers! How are you all doing today, I hope you have answered "Good," and if not I hope this chapter brings up your spirits, Please Read and Review, love always ~layna
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"Eddie," Nicki called as she knocked on the doorframe, she stood afraid of being turned away, and she saw a man with Eddie who she assumed was Jake.
"Nicki, what are you doing here?"
"Can I come in for a minute," She looked to her shoes waiting for Eddie's brother to shoot her down but Eddie's soft voice came instead and welcomed the teenager.
"How are you feeling Eddie?"
"I'm fine, I have however been worried sick about your Uncle, my mother said he isn't doing well." A small catch in her throat gave her away though Nicki knew that it would be insane if Eddie were not worried. Nicki fidgeted slightly, true her Uncle was getting slightly better but his condition was still scary enough.
"I don't mean to try to press you for information or anything Nicki; I know that you are under a lot of stress and just the thought of you coming in here…" The tears became slightly visible as they began to build up in her eyes. Nicki let out a light sigh before pulling up a chair and sitting next to her Uncle's girlfriend.
"Eddie, I'm not going to lie, he is not in the best condition, however he is slowly getting better, I think because he knows better than to leave what he has here. I want you to know, the whole family wanted you to know but your brother refused to let them in."
"I apologize for that, my brother Jake is very protective, he believes that Eddie being injured it the NYPD's fault but my mother and I know that it isn't." Simon explained.
"You're not Jake?"
"No I'm Simon, listen we are all shaken up, I know your family is just as worried to know that there is still a man out there."
"This has been the craziest, most dangerous case I have ever seen any of my family work, except for two of my mom's cases."
"Nicki, are you and your mother also being protected, I know Jamie and I are under protection because of being shot but I know when you were shot and your mom was kidnapped, I have never seen him so worried."
"The whole family is, dad said your family is too, they will catch this guy, I know my Uncle Danny wont sleep until he has caught this guy, he working now much to his wife's protest."
"I don't doubt that, he is a dedicated man to his family and any victim out there, listen Stay safe Nicki, I cannot stress that enough, I know you are no dummy but I have seen what these guys can do and I just want you all safe." Nicki smiled and nodded the fact that Eddie was not only worried for Jamie but for the rest of the family too brought warmth in her heart.
"I promise I have to go, my grandfather will wonder where I am, stay safe Eddie, and don't worry about Jamie; he will be okay." Nicki picked herself up from the chair and walked out.
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The words of Edit Janko rang in Nicki's ears, she knew the danger they faced with the last Diablo member loose, and they all knew he wasn't going without a fight. She sat in her moms room as the doctors brought her up to date with what she had to do once released from the hospital, not that it mattered because Erin would be spending a lot of time there.
"Nicki," Erin called for the third time finally capturing her daughter's attention.
"Sorry mom, I blanked for a minute, what did you say?"
"I was wondering if you wanted to get out of here, go get lunch, I need food other than hospital food." Nicki chuckled; it was beginning to get to both of them with the joined amount of time that they had spent in the hospital.
"Yes, I'm starving, and then we can go home and relax for a little bit." It was nice to think that Erin was finally going home, Nicki was finally getting back to a close interpretation of normal.
"Okay Ms Reagan, you have to go out in a wheelchair so maybe your daughter can push you." Erin grinned at her daughter.
"Well look at that, you have to be my mini chauffer." A small chuckle escaped her as she settled down in the wheelchair; Nicki rolled her eyes.
"Well don't get used to it, I don't want to push you in a wheelchair again until you are at least eighty." Erin happily agreed to those terms and they were off, but first a quick stop.
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Danny laid his head down on the table as he hit another dead end, or rather another dead witness. All of the former buyers of the Diablo were dropping like flies. It was beginning to pay a toll on Danny, he knew that the family could not rest easily until Don Freedmen was caught and locked away until he is 120. Deidra had given them everything she could tell about Don Freedman to cut a deal but it was not worth it for her because in prison snitches do not make it in prison. Just three days after the car accident Deidra was found dead in her prison cell, the murderer was her cellmate who knew Henry the leader of Diablos personally.
"I brought coffee!" Baez said in an uplifting tone; she had almost healed from her injuries but was sporting the stitches on her head.
"Thank god, we are going to need it, we have another dead victim, Truman Dennis."
"Man, was it the same as Alison Kinnley and Meghan Dugson?"
"Yeah, I don't know how Freedman is pulling this off, he has to be close if he knows we interrogated Kinnley and Dugson, I'm surprised he hasn't fled the country yet."
"Well we are on to him, every cop in New York is looking out for him, so far three sherriffs think they saw him, one from Buffalo, one from Brockport and one from Rochester, and they said it was all in a three day time period."
"Those places aren't that far apart from each other."
"True but we just questioned Dennis and that is when the Rochester Division said they spotted him in a town called Chili."
"Maybe there is another man involved, it that is the case we should be highly concerned," Danny said rubbing his face.
"No quiet," Gormley entered the bullpen with a file in hand.
"What do you mean?" Baez asked, hopefully.
"Don Freedman is not who we think he is," Gromley placed down the file on Danny's desk. Danny quickly scooped it up and tore into it.
"Samuel Ricker, Sarge how did you find this?" Danny asked looking up in amazement.
"You aren't the only one looking Danny, while you and Baez were recovering I did some research of my own, I just got that, and flip to page two." Danny obeyed and with Baez reading over his shoulder he took in the new information.
"Ricker has a twin brother, Greg and he is a contractor in the Rochester area, mainly in Chili." Baez read aloud.
"Yes, I had the sheriff there bring him in and interrogate, turns out Greg is the golden child, not a mark on his record, says he has not talked to Samuel in ten years."
"So the Rochester, Buffalo and Brockport police stations were picking up Greg and Sam might still be here," Baez said pulling up their list of witnesses.
"Okay so what do we do with this information?" Danny asked.
"I have an idea but it is a little risky," Baez said causing both men to look at her nervous for her response.
"The next person we are questioning is Matt Stevens, he is a teacher at Xavier High, and we could have a few cops follow him." Gormley looked skeptical at first but then weighed his options.
"We are really putting Matt Stevens in danger," Danny spoke exactly what Gormley was thinking.
"Let's face it, the minute we interview Stevens he has a target on him and the minute he steps outside he is as good as dead."
"He could reject the idea of all this," Gormley pitched in.
"Oh come on, the fact that he knows that he is as good as dead is motivation enough to go along with our plan." She caught them on that one; both thought it through.
"Fine but we have to pick out our cops, ones we trust."
"What about Renzulli and Willows, and Demarcus," Those were the three cops that Danny trusted most, Renzulli had been his side since day one, and his brother had the same relationship. There was Willow, she was top in her class and she had guarded Jamie the first time in the hospital. Demarcus was Danny's third partner; he had moved back to NYC but only returned as a cop to regulate his hours.
"Fine, I'll meet with the commissioner and brief him on the situation until then we have to get Stevens to take the bait." Danny and Baez nodded to their boss and got up to pull in the wanted man, hopefully this would work.
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Frank looked out over the view of New York City from his office window, his day had dragged on and his mind was not there. Mayor Poole sat in the corner trying to talk stats but he could easily tell that Frank was barely in the room with him, he knew that Jamie was still fighting for his life and that the man responsible for that was still on the loose.
"Frank, I can come back later if you wish," He said wheeling himself to the front of the mahogany desk that was cluttered with files, pens and a plethora of family photos.
"No, this needs to get done and I am listening contrary to belief, I know my crime rate is up but we are working on Harlem, cops are cracking down and we are pushing them to follow proper protocol in order to minimize the overused excuse of race vs the NYPD."
"Okay, well I keep hearing from Reverend Potter about the excessive force on the African American population."
"I can assure you that is not the case, also you have to know that 95% of the population is in fact African American, and also that there have been more arrests on the white males in that area."
"Well show me the stats and I will have the talk with Potter, lately he is out for blood."
"I can have Garrett draw those up for you." A knock on the door broke the conversation.
"Commissioner, Sergeant Gormley is here to speak to you," Baker said in a slightly urgent tone.
"I will be there shortly, I have to finish up with Mayor Poole."
"That is quite alright Frank, I think that we are finished just have Garrett drop off the papers."
"Can do, Baker put Gormley in the conference room."
"Already there sir," She said.
"Alright thank you Baker, as you were."
"Yes commissioner," She said as she signed off and exited the room. After she cleared the room, Frank sighed and rubbed his face with his hands before opening the door. As soon as he entered, Gormley shot up stood still until Frank offered him to sit back down.
"How may I help you Sergeant?"
"Commission, Detectives Baez and Reagan and I have planned a way to bring out Don Freedman from hiding, we just want your permission first."
"Which is?" Gormley went on to explain in detail the plan that Baez had laid out. Frank silently listened, once Gormley had finished Frank stayed silent for a moment as to contemplate the pros and cons.
"Do you believe this will pull him out?"
"Yes sir, I do think that we can catch this man in the short time of two days tops." Frank nodded and once again thought this over.
"I give my permission; please make sure you thoroughly brief your top choices for this assignment."
"Of course Commissioner," both stood up and shook hands, a plan was set now it just had to be put into action and hopefully catch Don Freedman.
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He flickered his eyes open, it took a moment for his eyes to adjust but when he did the pure white walls blinded them more, the sickening smell of alcohol crowded his sense of smell. He heard the machine next to him have a steady beat and then all at once he became aware of all the wires that tangled around him. He heard the beeping increase as he became more panicked at the fact that a tube was stuck down his throat. The beeping must have triggered some alarm because only a few seconds later a female nurse rushed in and stood shocked at the sight of her patients consciousness. She had caught him just in time as he had began to raise his hand to fiddle with the tube.
"Please don't mess with that, it is helping you, I promise." Jamie's confused eyes turned soft as the woman gently took hold of his hand and place her fingers on his pulse point. She smiled the sweetest and most calming smiles that made Jamie settle down from his slight panic.
"I am going to page your doctor, I'll be right back." She held up a finger to indicate that she would only be a moment and Jamie, though groggy, nodded. She began to walk out but stopped abruptly and turned around to add on.
"Welcome back Officer Reagan, there are a whole bunch of people that will want to see you."
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So I had to post this chapter I am going camping and I didn't want to leave you hanging. Please Read and REVIEW, I love your reviews. PS I read the synopsis for the first episode of the blue bloods new season and there is going to be some Baez harm going on, I don't want them to take her away form the show I like her a lot, she is a great character… Any way I'm off to bed, lov you all! ~Layna
