CHAPTER 8
Shawn was starting to wonder if he should move some of the stuff from his apartment onto the walkway, as much time as he'd been spending there. He could at least throw down some pillows and rugs to soften it up a bit. He was once again crawling on his belly because the rest of the warehouse was apparently crawling with thugs. It was great, though, that his distraction had worked so well. It had worked even better than he'd expected because the forklift had gotten itself wedged in the shelf system so badly that the men couldn't jump into the cockpit to turn it off. And the whole shelf was starting to wobble a bit. The men were all yelling at each other to run in and retrieve the satchel, but none of them was actually risking it, yet.
Shawn began hoping that there would be a clear shot at the front door, but then his hopes were dashed by the sound of an actual gunshot, and his stomach dropped to his toes. Or more accurately it slid along the splintery walkway until it got snagged on his toes. Damn, damn, damn, he thought. The shot had come from up ahead. He crawled forward and peered through the railing. Cesar was hiding behind a crate and looking towards the front door. Shawn leaned out more and saw Juliet ducked down behind a 50 gallon barrel that was leaking some kind of grain or powder from the fresh bullet hole. Even further on, he could see Lassie and Frank trying to crawl for the front door. Lassie looked barely mobile, but they were trying to get out while Juliet provided cover. Shawn squinted and thought quickly. He looked down and scanned the area between himself and Cesar, then he formulated a plan of action, something his father might call hair-brained, but it was a plan of action nonetheless.
oOoOoOoOoOoO
Lassiter felt as if his brain had become detached and was floating a few inches behind his aching skull, held by just a thin tether of ability to think and react effectively. In some part of that floating brain he felt embarrassed at needing to be supported by Frank, and he felt ashamed that his partner was providing cover for him to get away instead of it being the other way around. But he was too dizzy to dwell for long on his grievances. Just moving was proving to be enough of a challenge. Frank tugged on his sleeve and Lassiter lunged forward a few more feet in the odd half-crouch, half-crawl that they'd adopted when Cesar had opened fire. He stumbled and landed heavily on his left elbow, which jarred his right arm and sent a spear of pain through his ribs. Hissing, he looked up and saw Frank's hand reaching out. He grabbed it and was pulled along to sit next to Frank near the front door.
"I'll check it," said Frank, pulling out the gun Juliet had given to him. Lassiter felt a stab of jealousy, but he understood why Frank had gotten the one spare gun. Being able to see straight was a definite advantage.
Frank opened the door and peered outside for a moment, then he began to stand up and exit when a shot sounded from outside. Frank yelped and fell backwards, tripping over Lassiter and falling heavily to the ground as the door slowly closed again.
"Frank!" said Lassiter, moving to his side. He saw a hole in his sleeve and a quickly spreading stain. "Dammit! Did you see the guy?"
Frank looked dazed either by the shot or the fall to the floor, or both, but he grimaced and nodded. "Yeah," he breathed. "Front truck, hiding behind open driver's door."
Lassiter nodded. He looked in Juliet's direction. She was trying to see what had happened, but when she leaned too far out, Cesar fired, hitting the barrel again. Lassiter waved at her and held up his hand to tell her to just stay under cover. She pointed to Frank and he gave her an okay sign. He looked at the front door again, trying to form a plan of action with his sluggish brain. He noticed a stack of rolled tarps nearby. Then something on the wall caught his attention, but it took a moment for the significance of the object to sink in. When it did, he had his plan. He turned back to Frank.
"Give me the gun."
Frank held it up to him, then rubbed the back of his head. "Oof, I hit my head on this floor," he said.
"Looks like you hit that bullet with your arm, too," said Lassiter. Frank snorted as Lassiter checked the gun and then tucked it into his waistband. "Just hang in there, I've got an idea for the guy outside."
He moved to the other side of the door and looked up at the control box with the plastic cover protecting the big red button underneath. He wondered for a moment in his floating brain what it was about big red buttons that made people want to push them. Luckily, he would get to indulge himself today. He reached up, lifted the cover, and pushed the button. The tall rolling door started to rumble and rise. He ran back to the other side of the door and pushed it open a tiny bit to try to get a visual on the bad guy. He could see the man looking at the rolling door but still aiming at the front door. Lassiter went over to the stack of tarps and pulled one to the ground, struggling a bit with having to only use his left arm along with his general weakness. He positioned it and pushed it with his foot to make it roll across the rapidly widening opening. He ran to the front door, pulling out the gun, as a shot rang out from outside. He pushed the door open with his left shoulder, trying to brace his left arm against the door for support to steady his shot. The man had stepped out from the SUV just enough. Lassiter aimed and fired. He hit the truck door, his shot off by a good two feet.
"Shit," he hissed. He blinked and willed himself to focus as the man turned towards him. He fired again and the man fell, unmoving. Lassiter slumped over, feeling as if he'd just run a marathon. He moved back to Frank's side and looked at Juliet, but she wasn't behind the barrel anymore.
oOoOoOoOoOoO
Shawn rubbed at his sore rear end where he'd landed after trying to get down from the walkway without a set of stairs. He'd meant to roll after the drop, but he'd ended up just jarring his knees and then falling hard onto his backside. At least there weren't style points involved. He was moving around a stack of pallets that was behind Cesar's hiding place. Unfortunately, the pallets weren't close enough or stacked high enough to try and toppled them onto the man, but he was pleased to find a pallet with a loose slat. He pried the wooden piece off and proceeded to stalk his prey. As he rounded the corner of the pallets, he heard Cesar fire his weapon again. Shawn tried to see where Juliet was, but his view was blocked. He was pretty sure, though that the powdery stuff was leaking from the barrel faster, which meant he'd probably hit it again. Shawn assumed maximum stealth mode and stepped out from behind the pallets, wooden club raised.
He got to within a couple steps of Cesar, hardly believing his own stealthiness, but then Cesar started to whip around. Shawn swung down hard, hoping to hit something vital because the man was moving faster than he could aim his swing. The board slammed down on Cesar's forearm and the gun fell to the floor. Shawn stepped forward and kicked the gun so that it skittered away under the pallets, then he turned back to Cesar, board raised for another swing. Before he could bring the board around, though, he saw too late that Cesar's left fist was already arcing towards him. It caught Shawn on his right cheek. Bright lights seemed to explode in his vision. He heard something wooden clatter to the hard floor, and then he was blinking up at an impossibly high ceiling. He thought he saw a small bird flying in the rafters and wondered if the cartoons had all been accurate about birds flying around your head after you were knocked silly. He could see Cesar looming overhead for a moment, but then, inexplicably, the man turned and ran off.
"Yeah, you better run, creepy dude. You see what kind of ass-kicking I've got in store for you," said Shawn from the flat of his back. Actually, he wasn't entirely sure everything he'd just said hadn't come out sounding more like "Guuhhh..."
"Shawn!" cried Juliet who was suddenly standing over him.
"So that's why the guy ran," said Shawn. Juliet just gave him a puzzled look as she held out her hand.
"Come on, Shawn, we need to check on Frank and Lassiter. I think Frank got shot."
Shawn wobbled for a moment after getting to his feet. He rubbed at his sore cheek and moved his jaw around.
"What about him?" he asked, waving in the general direction of Cesar's retreat.
She shrugged, looking around alertly. "Keep your eyes open. Let's just get outside. Hopefully backup will be here any minute," she said, her words more optimistic than her expression.
Shawn nodded, then stopped because it made him dizzy. She waved him ahead of her towards the front door and followed, scanning the area for Cesar. Another shot rang out from the direction of the front door. Shawn yelped in surprise. Juliet pushed past him, gun raised, as they rounded the boxes. Lassiter was sitting next to Frank, who was still lying on the ground near the door holding his wounded arm and looking dazedly at the ceiling. Lassie's gun was up and aimed along the front wall. When they reached him, he looked up and shook his head.
"Cesar ran past and out that door. I tried to hit him, but my aim's a little off," he said tiredly. Actually, he looked like he was about to pass out. Shawn was amazed he'd been able to raise the gun and get off a shot.
"Good try buddy," said Shawn.
Lassiter squinted up at him. "Hi, Spencer. Good to see you."
Shawn knew then how out of it Lassie had to be to say something like that. He smiled. "Thanks, man. But what are we going to do now? There's a bunch of bad guys playing rodeo with a forklift back there, but we don't know how long that'll last. And now we've got at least one bad guy out front somewhere."
"Should just be Cesar out front," mumbled Lassiter. He was sitting with his knees pulled up and his left arm resting on his left knee, the gun just dangling in his grip. Shawn saw that his right arm was tucked into his shirt. "I got the guy who stayed with the trucks."
Shawn raised his eyebrows and gave Lassie and admiring look.
Juliet was crouched near the garage door, leaning to peer outside. She turned so that she could talk to them while still keeping an eye on the outside. "I don't see him out there. One of the trucks is gone. Maybe he took it. They were both still here when I came in a few minutes ago."
"Maybe," said Shawn. "Or maybe those injured guys they'd loaded in that truck saw Lassie doing his Steven Seagal impression and decided to beat it before Cesar could join them."
"Well, we can just stay here, or go back into the office and barricade ourselves in until backup arrives," suggested Juliet.
Shawn grimaced. "I'm pretty tired of this place, and I'm also feeling a bit vitamin D deficient. I say we go outside."
Juliet gave a half-shrug and then they both looked at Lassiter. He was squeezing his eyes shut and opening them again as if trying to clear his vision. . "Um, maybe these guys can hang here for a minute while we check outside," said Shawn. Lassiter squinted up at them looking vaguely confused, and Frank just grunted. "Okay, that settles it then! Let's go."
"I'll go out the garage door, you go out that one," said Juliet.
Shawn grabbed a crowbar that was leaning against the wall near the front door. He'd considered asking Lassie for the gun, but he thought the crowbar would look sexier. He also thought that, in general, having a gun was much more dangerous to one's own self than not. He looked over at Juliet. "Ready?"
"Go."
Shawn opened the front door, crowbar raised. Two things happened at once. He heard Juliet yell "Freeze!" and he saw a blur as Cesar lunged for him. He'd been standing up against the wall of the building between the front door and the garage door, apparently waiting for them to make a move. He'd probably been able to hear their plans from that position too, Shawn realized with an inner sigh. He'd placed himself where Juliet would have to hesitate taking a shot because of Shawn being in the line of fire. All of these thoughts flashed through Shawn's brain in the split second that it took for him to take the step out the door and focus on the man hurtling towards him. He tried to swing the crowbar, but Cesar grabbed it and pulled him off balance. They spun around several times, struggling for the bar. Shawn caught glimpses of Juliet waiting for a clear shot with a frightened look on her face. He held onto the crowbar desperately, just trying to keep Cesar from ripping it away, but then Cesar yanked him to the side and kicked out with a foot, catching him in the knee. He felt his hands slip from the bar as his knee gave out and he fell to the ground. He tried to lunge for Cesar's legs, but the man spun away as soon as he had the crowbar.
Shawn watched with horror as Cesar turned and swung the crowbar like a bat, releasing it so that it started to fly towards Juliet. She saw the metal bar spinning at her through the air and had to jump to the side to avoid it. In that time, Cesar had sprinted towards her. Before she could bring her gun to bear again, he swung his left arm in a backhanded swipe that knocked the gun out of her hand, and then he punched her with his right hand.
"Jules!" yelled Shawn, pushing to his feet and stumbling towards them, heart racing.
He saw Juliet fall to the ground. He saw Cesar reaching for her gun. He jumped, trying for a flying tackle. He plowed into Cesar's left side and tried to drive him into the dirt, but the man had seen him coming. He'd planted his feet and now Shawn felt like he was trying to push over a tree. This isn't good, though Shawn ruefully. Cesar brought a knee up into Shawn's midsection, knocking all of his breath away. Then he did it again. Shawn gaped like a dying fish but tried to hold onto the man's waist. Cesar spun around and pushed Shawn's head down hard until he fell off. Shawn landed in a heap on the ground, still fighting for air. He blinked at Cesar as he leaned over and picked up Juliet's gun. Shawn thought about how angry his father was going to be. Cesar raised the weapon. There was a gunshot, and a patch of red blossomed on Cesar's side. Shawn felt a tiny bit of oxygen finally get through as he gasped in surprise. Cesar looked shocked as well and tried to turn to see who had shot him, but then Juliet reared up behind him with the crowbar. She swung it against his back and he fell to the ground, the gun dropping from his hand. Shawn turned his head to find Lassie standing near the front door, lowering his gun.
"Well, that went smoothly," croaked Shawn. He sat up, wincing against the complaints of his sore stomach. "Great shot, Lassie."
Lassiter walked over to stand next to Shawn as Juliet retrieved her gun again and joined them. "I was aiming for his head," said Lassiter dryly. "But he told me earlier that I was a thorn in his side, so I guess it was appropriate. Are you okay, O'Hara?"
Juliet was holding a hand against her left cheek, wincing. "Yeah, I'll be fine. That guy could move quick!"
Lassie and Shawn nodded in unison. Lassiter held out his gun to Shawn. "Here, take this," he said. Shawn took the gun. Then Lassiter held out his hand to help Shawn up. Shawn took it but tried not to pull on the detective too hard, knowing that he wasn't in very good shape. He was oddly touched at Lassie's proffered hand, though, and wanted to accept the help.
"Thanks," he said when he was standing again. But then Lassie didn't let go of his hand.
"Help me down now," said Lassie as his eyes started to glaze over. "I'm going to pass out."
"Oh, jeez," said Shawn as he tried to hang onto Lassie's arm and ease him to the ground slowly. Juliet rushed over and lent a hand as well. They helped him lie down on his back as he let out a groaning sigh of pain and relief. In the bright daylight, Shawn was able to see clearly the odd angle of Lassie's right arm and his stomach twisted sickly at the sight. It was either broken or the elbow was badly dislocated.
"What a crappy day," mumbled Lassiter as he covered his eyes with his left arm.
Shawn and Juliet were looking down at Lassiter when someone came running out of the big warehouse door. He had a gun and held it on them, but then he lowered it.
"Jen!" yelled Jason. "What the hell?"
"Jason, put the gun down," said Juliet tiredly as she turned to face him.
"What are you doing out here? Is that Cesar? Oh my god, did you kill him?"
Juliet shook her head. "No," she said, but then she glanced down at Cesar's still form. "Well, I don't know. But what are you doing?"
"I saw that Cesar wasn't around and I wanted to see what he was up to. I wanted to make sure he wasn't doing something to you."
Shawn raised his eyebrows and looked down at Lassiter who was squinting up at him with one eye from under his left arm. He gave Shawn a little half-shrug and closed his eye again. Shawn looked at Juliet and Jason again. Jason was eyeing him and Lassiter suspiciously as he walked up to Juliet.
"What's the deal with these guys anyway?"
Before Juliet could answer, the distant sound of sirens reached them, finally. Shawn and Juliet both gave sighs of relief at the sound, but Jason started to panic.
"We have to get out of here, Jen. Come on," he said as he grabbed her arm.
"Jason, let go of my arm," growled Juliet, pulling back on his grip as he tried to drag her towards his car.
"Come on, honey," he said.
"Okay, that's it," said Juliet. She wound up and punched Jason square on the nose.
Jason dropped his gun and fell back hard on his rear end, holding his nose with both hands as blood started to pour out of it.
"I'm a cop, you idiot, and you're under arrest." She retrieved Jason's gun and then turned back to Shawn, face still red with anger. "Shawn, keep an eye on him, please."
"Absolutely," he said, considering adding "honey" for a brief instant before his survival instincts kicked in.
Juliet walked over to Lassiter and crouched down. "Carlton, I need to borrow your badge."
"Okee dokee," he mumbled.
Juliet pulled the badge off of Lassiter's belt and held it up over her head as the flood of police vehicles started to arrive at the warehouse.
