Settling the Score
Chapter 7
"So, do you think he took the bait?" Jerry Miller asked Mikki as she got back into the unmarked police car.
"Hook, line and sinker…I hope. We'll know shortly." Picking up the mic, Mikki flipped to Tac 2 and made contact with Mike and Jim, as well as Mac and the other backup unit, telling them that she had just finished placing the call. Seconds later, Mike's voice came over the radio saying that Callahan had just gotten into his car and was on the move.
Being careful to hang back several car lengths, Jim drove nonchalantly through the streets of downtown L.A., being very careful not to get too close to Callahan's vehicle. Behind them, Mikki and Jerry followed. Choosing to hang back by several blocks, were Mac and the other marked unit.
Where is this guy driving to? Mikki couldn't help but wonder when they had driven for about twenty minutes. It looked like they were headed out of the city limits. "Where do you think he's going, Jerry?"
"Looks like he's headed to the edge of town. There are a lot of abandoned farmhouse properties out this way. Could be that he has Pete and Barbara Ann holed up in one somewhere. The opposite edge of town is mostly abandoned warehouses, but that would be too risky…we patrol those areas frequently; not much attention is paid to these outlying abandoned farms, though."
Ten miles outside of town, Callahan pulled off onto a long, winding, dirt-paved driveway that led past a long forgotten overgrown field. At the end of the driveway sat a rickety old farmhouse. One hundred feet beyond that, sat an old barn in equal disrepair.
Jim and Mike slowed to a crawl until they were sure that Callahan had rounded the first bend in the driveway, thus disabling his ability to see them pulling in; Mikki and Jerry slowly pulled in behind them. Mac, and the other marked unit, had pulled off onto the side of the road.
Using binoculars, Mike was able to see Callahan park near the barn and exit his vehicle. When he saw him enter the barn, he jumped on Tac 2 and got everyone rolling up the winding driveway. Cutting their engines half way, so as not to alert Callahan, they exited the vehicles and quickly made their way toward the barn. Mike and Jim covered the back while Mac and the other two officers covered the front and sides. Mikki and Jerry were going in.
*******
It's too quiet…they're waiting inside to get the drop on me, thought Callahan. He was seething with rage, as he pulled out his gun and entered the barn expecting to find Mikki and Mike waiting for him. Callahan stopped just inside the door, the stench of the dead body was predominate now, causing him to swallow back the bile that was rising to his throat. Continuing on slowly through the barn, towards the back where he had left Pete and Barbara Ann, Callahan was careful to be aware of every bit of his surroundings, lest Mikki and Mike be laying in wait for him. Finally, reaching the area where Pete and Barbara Ann were sitting, once again side by side, Callahan lowered his gun and snickered, "Ha! You're friends thought they knew where I was holding you. I wonder what place they are raiding right now, looking for your sorry asses!"
"Who exactly are you and what d'ya want with us?" Pete demanded.
"You ask an awful lot of questions, you know that!" Callahan shot back.
"I just think we have a right to know…"
"Shut up! You don't have any rights…except maybe the right to sit there and watch me take back my girlfriend…right out from under your nose!"
"Mikki? What's Mikki got to do with this?" Pete couldn't believe that he was hearing correctly; he and Barbara Ann had been kidnapped by a crazed ex-boyfriend of Mikki's.
"He's an FBI agent, Pete." Barbara spoke up, "He was the one running the show when you were taken at the restaurant."
"Shut up!" Callahan bellowed at Barbara Ann.
Through the cracks in the barn walls, Pete caught a glimpse of movement outside. He could see enough to make out the forms of Mikki and Jerry Miller. He also caught a glimpse of Mike and Jim. I have to keep him talking…keep his attention turned away from the outside.
"You know you won't get away with this." Pete protested.
"Oh, I'll get away with it, alright. This place is nice and out of the way…no one would think to look out here in the boonies for you or her. I'll just shoot both of you, leave you here to rot with joe schmoe over there and…"
Pete could see the color drain from Barbara Ann's face as Callahan's words sunk in. She began to sob, against the reality of the situation.
Gotta keep him talking, keep him from looking outside. Sorry, Barbara Ann, but I have to do this. "So who's the stench coming from? Did you decide that this was a one-man job, after all? Who'd you end up killing and burying in this barn, huh?"
"It's been a one man job all along. Joe Schmoe over there is just another pawn in my plan. See, I needed to have someone to kidnap the two of you; you know, keep my hands clean, so to speak, so I found guy wanting to make a few quick bucks. I laid out the plans for kidnapping the two of you, and he did my dirty work. I did him in to get rid of witnesses, and voila, once I knock off the two you, Mikki will be all mine. She'll be so broken up over losing you, and I will be there to help her pick up the pieces and put her life back together. Plan perfected."
While Pete had Callahans' attention, Mikki, Mike, Jim and Jerry had silently slipped in through the barn doors, and were strategically maneuvering around the inside of the barn, making no sound, and being careful to stay out of sight.
"Your plan's not quite, perfect, Callahan." Mikki's voice came from behind him and he spun around, his back now to Pete, gun in hand, poised and ready to shoot. Mikki too, had her weapon drawn and ready. A classic stand off.
"How'd you know where to look?" Callahan had been caught off guard. Quickly glancing around, he could see that there were others surrounding the building, but he didn't see the others that were inside the barn.
Her voice low and steady, "You led me right to them, Callahan. You shouldn't be so paranoid! You thought for sure that I already knew where they were at…all I had to do was plant the idea with that one little phone call, and you did the rest. I've been following you since you left the Bureau parking lot."
"Bitch! You aren't leaving here alive and neither is your boyfriend…or the girl for that matter!" He was alternating between livid and placid; lethal and peaceful. "You know Mikki, we could've been good together. I told you that a long time ago, back in Denver, but you wouldn't have anything to do with the idea."
"Speaking of ideas, Callahan, when did you decide to pull this little ruse? And why lie about Jack Gallagher?" Callahans' face went stone cold at Mikkis' words, as she continued, "See, we figured out that Gallagher never broke out of prison. He's still sitting in his cushy little cell and living the high life off of the taxpayers money."
"Shut up!"
"You should have covered your tracks better…all it took was one phone call to Denver and the puzzle pieces just dropped into place…especially since we found the wiretap on our phone…the very same phone that YOU didn't want tapped. And now we know why. You had to tap our phone so that you would know every plan that we made. That's how you knew we'd be at the restaurant the other night."
Mikki knew that she was goading him with all of the details, but she needed him rattled and concentrated on her so that he wouldn't direct his anger toward Pete or Barbara Ann. "You know, for a professional, you did a really sloppy job. I'll bet one of our cadets could do a better job of covering up his tracks than what you did."
"I said, SHUT UP!"
"No, Callahan…I won't shut up. I want answers. Who's the corpse over there in the hay?"
"It doesn't matter! All that matters is that I am going to kill you, your boyfriend, your…"
"Yeah, yeah, yeah….me, my boyfriend, my partner and my partner's girlfriend…you're like a broken record, Callahan." She could see Pete struggling silently to get up on his knees; he was right behind Callahan and Mikki had a feeling that he was getting ready to dive into the back of Callahans' legs. She had to keep Callahan occupied. There was no doubt in her mind that he wouldn't hesitate to end Pete's life if he knew what Pete was going to do.
She was pushing his buttons and she knew it, as she continued to interrogate him. She had to hold his attention. Callahan stood there, with his gun lethally trained on Mikki. The more she grilled, the more he could feel himself reaching the boiling point of his anger, and the more his anger rose, the more pressure he put on the trigger. When he'd had all he could take, his face went blank of all emotion and he said, "Say goodbye, darling."
Just as he pulled the trigger, Pete dove, with a grunt, into the back of his legs, causing him to pitch forward as the gun fired. Simultaneously, Jim, who had been hiding behind an old tractor to the left, yelled "Callahan!" Callahan, trying to catch his balance, spun to the side just as Jim's bullet made impact, taking him down in a heap, where he breathed in his final breath.
Mikki dropped to the ground, holding her side and gritting her teeth against the searing pain as blood began to seep through her fingers. Feeling like the world was spinning out of control, she heard Barbara Ann scream; she heard Pete, who was scrambling to try and get to his feet, yell "MIKKI, NO!" Losing the battle of consciousness, the last thing that she remembered being aware of as blackness enveloped her, was Mike's face near hers, and him saying, "Just hang in there Mikki, we've got help on the way."
Mac and the other two uniformed officers had since come inside, they were busy cordoning off the area where the body was buried in the hay. They announced that an ambulance was on the way. Jim and Jerry worked quickly to unbind Pete and Barbara Ann.
As fast as his aching ribs and throbbing head would allow, Pete was at Mikki's side, keeping pressure on the gunshot wound as he held her hand and quietly kept telling her to hang in there. She wasn't hearing anything in her blissful state of unconsciousness. He looked over at Mike, who was holding a sobbing Barbara Ann in his arms, "Mike…I don't think she can hold out for an ambulance…we've gotta take her in the car; she's bleeding too much." Pete's voice held a worried urgency to it that only someone who really knew Pete would be able to detect.
Jim, hearing Pete's declaration, quickly ran and got his car, they loaded Mikki into the back seat, and Pete climbed in the back with her, keeping pressure on the wound. Barbara Ann sat up front with Jim as he drove them to the hospital as quickly as he could.
*****
Two hours later, finally cleared from the crime scene, Mike rushed into the ER through the ambulance bay doors. He immediately spotted Barbara Ann, Pete and Jim, sitting in the ER waiting area. Going over to the small group, "How is she? Any word?"
Pete shook his head, slightly, indicating that as of yet, there was no word on how Mikki was doing. "They took her right up to surgery; we haven't heard anything yet."
"Did you two get checked out?" Mike directed his question to Barbara Ann and Pete, both.
Barbara Ann nodded and told him that she was given a clean bill of health. The nurse had also found her a pair of slacks and a t-shirt to put on in place of her nightgown.
"What about you, Pete? Are you okay?"
"Yeah, I'm fine…just some cracked ribs and a couple of bumps on the head." His answer was vague and his mind was on Mikki.
Mike sat down, putting his arm around Barbara Ann as she laid her head on his shoulder, and kept vigil with the others.
Several more hours went by before the doctor finally came out into the waiting area. Immediately, four pairs of questioning eyes landed on him. After introducing himself, he proceeded to explain the extent of the damage and the necessary steps to repair it. He assured them that Mikki was stable and holding her own.
"How soon before I can see her, Doctor?" Pete asked.
"She's in recovery right now. We'll be getting her into a room shortly." The doctor began to shift his weight from foot to foot, as if there were more that he wasn't saying. Pete picked right up on it, as did Mike and Jim.
"What aren't you telling us, Doctor?" Pete demanded.
"Well, when she wakes up, there is a bit of information that she is going to need to hear. You can tell her, or if you prefer, I can do it." The doctor once again hesitated.
"Doctor, I can assure you that if it's bad news, she would just as soon that it come from either Pete or myself." Mike said.
The doctor nodded his head, "Very well, then, I will leave it up to the two of you to talk to her. She miscarried while in surgery. The trauma of the shooting, as well as the surgery, was just too much for her body to handle. The fetus just wasn't viable enough to survive the ordeal."
Mike's jaw dropped. Pete, who had been standing, began to sway slightly; he was in shock at the doctors' words. Immediately Jim was at his side, coaxing him to sit down. He too, was at a loss for words.
*******
Two weeks later, at Pete's apartment…
Wiping his hands on the dishtowel, Pete walked toward the door to answer the knock. Opening it, he smiled broadly, "Mikki; come in. What brings you out? Is everything okay? Are you supposed to be driving?"
Mikki gave a strained laugh at his twenty questions as she stepped into the apartment. She felt a little awkward as she stood there, staring into Pete's eyes for a brief second before adverting her gaze.
Through no fault of his, she hadn't seen him since that fateful day in the hospital when he had given her the news that the doctor had supplied. After he had told her, she had quietly asked him to leave; she said that she needed time to herself to sort through the many emotions that were threatening to overwhelm her at the time. He had called her numerous times, and had dropped by to see her, both at the hospital and at her and Mike's apartment, after she had gotten released to go home. She had refused to talk to or to see him.
"Uhm…sit down." Pete motioned toward the sofa. "I'm just getting ready to pull a pizza out of the oven in about ten minutes; are you hungry?"
Looking down at the floor, "No, uhm…no thanks. I'm fine. You go ahead though, I can stop by later…" She turned to leave.
Pete reached out and gently took her hand in his, and moved over to stand between her and the door. "Don't leave, Mikki. Please…don't leave."
Mikki nodded her head and followed him over to the sofa where they sat down, side by side. She continued to look at the floor.
Reaching over and turning her face towards him, and then tilting her chin up so that she was looking into his eyes, "You know that we need to talk about this."
Again, she nodded her head, not trusting her voice at the moment. Finally she spoke. "I'm sorry, Pete. I had no idea that I was pregnant. None at all…I'm on birth control pills. The doctor did say that oral antibiotics can lessen the effectiveness of the pill. A while back, when I cut my arm on that rusted fence, I had to get a tetanus shot and they gave me an oral antibiotic to stave off any infection. I had no idea that anything like that could happen."
"Mikki, sometimes things just happen, no matter what precautions are taken." Pete could see that she was just about to break. "Are you okay, Mikki?" Pete's voice was gentle, yet filled with emotion as he gathered her into his arms and held her. He felt her body begin to shake as she held tight to him. This was the release that she needed so that she could fully come to terms with what had happened. He too, needed this time with her, so that together, they could both come to terms with the harsh reality that they had created a child that they would never have the joy of knowing.
Pulling away, just slightly, so that he could cup her face with his hands, Pete placed a gentle kiss on her lips, saying, "It's okay Mikki, we'll get through this together."
Mikki smiled softly and hugged Pete a little tighter, "I know."
The End
My thanks to all who have taken time out of their busy schedules to read the latest in the Pete/Mikki saga. I hope you have enjoyed it. Any and all reviews welcomed.
