A/N: The next part! I hope this suffices for all readers. Thank you all so much for your support and constant reviews; please do keep them coming as I love reading them and they give me that extra drive to continue on with the chapters! Once again, thank-you all for your support and please enjoy!
Chapter 8 – The Broken
"Go Stell'!" Josh pushed, his hands placed firmly on the wounds on Michael's stomach region, trying to stop the blood from pouring out. Racing through the city to a hospital at this hour was just simply catastrophic. Between the traffic and all the people who didn't consider the police sirens worthy of them moving off the road and allowing the emergency services to pass meant that the job at hand was only more difficult, and Michael's chances of getting medical attention were becoming more and more slim.
"Stell'…. I need you to hurry!" Josh reiterated, his eyes flashing up to meet hers as she looked in the rear-view mirror.
"I'm trying, Josh!" she defended firmly; worry and sincere concern on her face. For the most part, her eyes had been darting towards the mirror to see if Michael was doing okay. She couldn't concentrate on the road. Her only worry was Michael.
"Josh – is he going to be okay? Is he going to be alright, Josh?"
"Stella!" Josh announced, "Keep your eyes on the bloody road and get us to a hospital!" The sergeant spoke firmly, his hands applying more pressure as he felt the warmth of the blood trickling through his fingertips. If Josh was going to be completely honest with himself; Michael wasn't going to pull through and the whole thing inevitably was going to fall on his head. He had failed to keep pressure on the wounds – failed to find the young officer in time and furthermore – failed to do his duty as a friend. Then Josh fell forward a little onto Michael with a hard turn by Stella, narrowly avoiding a collision with a turning vehicle. Hitting a ramp and feeling the jolt, the tactical response vehicle came to an abrupt halt. With a quick snapping glance out the window, a welcomed sight; the hospital.
"Stell' – give me a hand with him?" Josh asked sternly, opening the side door and waiting for Stella to jump out of the vehicle and help him transport Michael. With an officer on either side of him; the Constable's arms draped over either's neck – the two TR members raced towards the entrance. Blood dripped along the road, marking the path that the team had made and the second they were in the hospital, nurses swarmed to take the battered police officer to get tended too. Shocked faces surrounded the room – but it was the neutral and un-phased faces of the Sergeant that kept everyone at bay. Deep down, Josh may have been feeling this more than anyone – but – he was a leader; and he had to act like one. He had to keep everyone cool and make sure everyone was level headed; including Stella. Especially Stella.
Turning to meet where the Constable was standing, Josh offered her a brief smile.
"We got him here, Stell'. That's all we can do. We need to just keep an open mind. He'll be right; it's Michael. He's too stubborn to drop off the face of the Earth yet." Josh attempted to lighten the mood. He received a sad smile from Stella – nothing more. As much as she wanted to laugh and simply agree with the Sergeant, there was something about this time that was different. She just couldn't shake the feeling that, this time, no matter what the nurses and doctors did – this time she'd have to say goodbye to her best friend.
...
"I'm astounded to hear of the police corruption that has occurred over the past few years under my watch. It wasn't until yesterday that I was made aware of these claims when a unnamed, for court hearing reasons, individual, announced in his trial that the following individuals are in fact, involved in corrupt policing activities: Inspector David Donohue, Commander Eric Howard and Chief Inspector Donaldson Hawthorn." Commissioner Steven Hoff-Bauer plotted carefully at the front of his office to the media huddle that had arrived to hear his announcement. "Under my watchful eye – police corruption will be obliterated. Thank-you." And with that, the Commissioner retreated into his office and Kerry followed in step, with Lawson not falling too far behind. Clicking his comm. in, the Senior Sergeant whispered. "See Kerry. You give a guy that's up the top a big enough reason to go against his mates to save his own ass – he'll take it."
"Oh, Lawson." Kerry uttered back. "You have no idea how close you came to being completely removed from the force. If you hadn't had me to back your ass up and the video surveillance along with it – Venture, the corrupt coppers; they would've all walked."
"Yeah, well – they didn't, did they?" Lawson spoke matter of factually back.
Dropping into the seat behind his desk the Commissioner shot a look toward Kerry. "Are you happy now? I outted some of my closest friends for you and your ape-in-a-suit there." Steven uttered forcefully, his eyes filling with the distress of what was to come from those who he'd condemned to lose their jobs and most certainly, some jail time. It was no secret now that the Commissioner had no more friends in the police force. He may have saved his job by succumbing to Lawson's threats, but he'd landed himself in ever more dangerous waters as a result of accepting the terms in which Lawson had offered. Though, even through the Commissioner's attempt to make his actions seem selfless on the outside; Kerry saw right through them, rolling her eyes.
"Steven – let's not bullshit. You did this to save your ass. You did this for you – not for me and not for Senior Sergeant Blake." There was a certain concentration on her words and the Commissioner's eyes tracked away as he struggled to argue with the Superintendant's words. "Venture will have his hearing in a week's time." Steven charged off topic as well as he could. "He'll get a sentence – I'll make sure of it."
"Oh, Steven – considering that your job depends on it – I've got no doubt in my mind." Kerry spoke simply, with a stirring smirk rising across her features. Though, while Kerry openly expressed her pleasant feelings toward the outcome of Lawson's actions, the Senior Sergeant himself was far more suppressed. He simply looked on with neutral features, arms crossed over and eyes trained on the man he'd pushed to breaking point; t a point he was willing to even betray his friends. As much as Lawson was happy that his mate was going to have justice, and the man that took his life was going to be serving time – Lawson couldn't help but feel betrayed by the one thing he held onto more than anything; the law. It was black and white. There weren't meant to be any shades of grey. But now, when times seemed the most hard, the Senior Sergeant had come to realize that nothing was ever as simple as it should have been, and everything on the face of this Earth had been corrupted either by good people doing bad things for a good purpose, or quite simply, bad people doing bad things for their hit of adrenaline and strive to cause chaos.
...
Leon's hands were gliding in their usual gracefulness across his keyboard and his eyes were locked on the screen ahead of him. A picture of Kronin was up on one of the smaller side screens, and in the central screen that Leon worked off was a security cameras live feed. TR had managed to track Kronin to his second safe house and it seemed as though now, their initial attack on the Police force and TR for what they'd done to him in the past was falling into place. Four gunman including Kronin himself were huddled around a large white van, shotguns and assault rifles in hand. Charlie and Shannon had returned to base and found themselves leaning against the far walls of the Intel office and watching on as Leon did his best to amplify the sound so that they could all have a heads up on exactly what Kronin and his gang were planning.
"Right… So we shoot the big-cheese and get on out of there?" one of Kronin's men announced, looking for clarification.
"Yup. Shoot it, and then get out of there. Then we'll take a full manned assault and target the pig-farm." Kronin confirmed with a nod.
Without any further notice, the men jumped into their van and began on their way out of the facility. Leon's eyes tracked back to Charlie and Shannon and he looked almost dumbfounded.
"It's not much to go on – but from what I can tell; they're using codenames for either Kerry or the commissioner. If I had to put money on what the pig-farm was though; I'd say that's TR headquarters." Leon announced in a somewhat more educated tone than usual.
"So you're telling me that Kronin's going to hit the Commissioner's office head-on in an attempt to either take out Kerry or the Commissioner himself?" Charlie plotted.
"Yup."
"Shannon; get the car started." Charlie signalled and watched as the Sergeant jogged off down the hallway. Pushing his comm. in, Charlie uttered quickly. "Josh, Stella – we need you to meet as at the Commissioner's office. Kronin's moving in!"
...
"You know, I've been leading him on for a year?"
"Who?"
"Michael." Stella put simply.
"He left a message for me and I didn't message him back because I thought he could wait a little longer. He'd waited this long right; what was the big deal if he had to wait another couple of days?" Stella spoke through an emotion-filled voice. "He didn't have a few more days, Josh. Look at where my stupid game's gotten him?" the young female tried to hold back the emotion somewhat – but it still spilled out through her words.
"Stell' – no matter what you've done; Michael got himself in this position." Josh counselled truthfully, his eyes locking on the female that was sitting next to him.
"No Josh. If he knew that I was interested – maybe he would've been with me instead out of there doing whatever he was trying to do. There's nothing you can say that'll rule that out, Josh. I'm partially responsible for this." Stella pushed. "Life's too short – and I just…. I ignored that and put him through an emotional hell." The tears were swelling behind the constable's eyes and Sergeant Brendan Joshua didn't know exactly what to say. There was no doubting that the girl sitting next to him was completely and utterly in love and Josh knew that no matter what anyone said; taking the guilt away from a situation like that was near to impossible. So he didn't speak. Instead, he reached his arm around his long time friend and comforted her with a sincere hug. In that moment of peace, quiet and comfort though – the world continued to move around the two officers and inevitably, trouble and trauma were around the corner. The sound of distinct and repetitive beeping sounded from the hall and doctors and nurses began rushing to it. Stella immediately snapped out of her state and jumped to her feet, eyes struggling to see through the crowd of people rushing the hallways now. Was it Michael? Was Michael alright?
"What's going on!" Stella tried, attempting to get someone's attention; but no one seemed to have the time of day for her.
Josh got to his feet; more slowly and assessed than Stella and his eyes were simply looking for the one person he knew could provide him with answers; Tash. Giving Stella a gentle pat on the shoulder, Josh advanced forward and caught glance of his fiancé amidst the chaos. Signalling her out and calling her towards him, the blonde, beautiful looking doctor approached. Her perfectly angular features settled on Josh and her lips pursed tightly together; she knew what Josh wanted to know and he didn't even have to ask.
"Michael's just fallen into a coma. We…. We're not sure if he's going to pull through." Tash tried to ease out gently. It hadn't worked. Josh's eyes fellow low and his head began pumping fiercely with the panic he was feeling. Placing his hips on his side as he felt himself losing air, the Sergeant breathed in deep and heaved out; trying to compose himself. Trying to hold onto that essence of sanity that was getting him through all of this. Tash's assessing eyes scanned Josh over and she cupped his hand in hers, trying her best to comfort him in the small time she had to do so. "Look – Josh; we'll do what we can. I need to – I need to go and make sure everything's going okay. I'll be back as soon as I know anything." Tash spoke promisingly, before squeezing Josh's hand a little more tightly, only to receive a tighter squeeze from her partner.
"I love you." He lipped to her gently. Truthfully, Josh didn't know if it was the whole ordeal he was going through that made him say that – or the idea of Stella's speech. Life was too short; make the most of it while you can. It didn't matter – Josh had meant exactly what he said. His words were received with a warming smile from Tash, once last squeeze of the Sergeants hand before she disappeared down the hallway and into a room to her right.
"Josh, Stella – we need you to meet as at the Commissioner's office. Kronin's moving in!" Charlie's voice echoed into Josh's ear.
"On our way!" Josh clicked back, pulling himself together and jogging by Stella and giving her an encouraging pat on the arm. None the less, she didn't follow. She stayed standing and looking on at where the fuss in the hallway had been only moments ago.
"Josh!" she called back as her superior continued to make his way back to the tactical response vehicle. "Was it Michael?"
Josh said nothing, stopping in his tracks and simply looking back at Stella. "We need'a go, Stell'."
...
"Kerry – I need to get you and the Commissioner to a safe zone of this office. I just got word from Charlie that Kronin's making a move on this place." Lawson announced, grabbing Kerry firmly by the arm and guiding her towards the door.
"Senior Sergeant – we'll make the decisions, thank-you very much!" the Commissioner called out in his irritable tone, but Lawson seemingly ignored it. "Senior Sergeant!"
"Look, Commissioner. With all due respects, I have a job to bloody well do. You're not apart of that specified job – so if you want to stay here and have your face blown off by Andrew Kronin you be my guest, but don't hinder my obligation to protect Superintendant Vincent." Lawson shot back forcefully. "Now, you are more then welcome to tag along if you want. But you've got about ten seconds to decide what you want to do." The Senior Sergeant spoke simply. Continuing on his path, Lawson found himself escorting Kerry onto the roof of the facility. It was the only area in which Kronin would find it most difficult to reach. He'd first have to advance past TR officers and track through the entire facility before realizing Kerry wasn't within it – and furthermore – the chances of him expecting her to be on the roof were nil-to-slim. All precautions had been taken, and Lawson made his way back down the stairs and out to the front of the offices where he met Charlie and Shannon, followed not long after by Stella and Josh.
"Okay." Lawson announced. "Kerry's been secured on the roof, while the Commissioner has refused to leave the confounds of his office. It's up to you what happens with the Commissioner, Charlie. He's not my bloody job." The Senior Sergeant added blatantly, before offering Josh a nod of greeting. "Josh; you and Stell' should take the rear entry points and secure them. If Kronin's smart – he'll try those first, yeah?"
"On it." Josh nodded, patting Stella who accompanied him.
"What about me, Lawson?" Shannon spoke through desperate lips. She just wanted to embrace him and kiss him; they hadn't seen each other since his MIA ordeal until now, and Shannon just needed to spend some time with her man.
"Shannon – you're with me." Lawson summoned, advancing back into the Commissioner's office building and tracking into a lounge. Taking a seat and leaning forward, Lawson offered Shannon the seat in front of him. The moment she'd taken to sitting down, Lawson leaned forward, cupped her chin between his forefinger and thumb and pulled her lips into his. The tenderness of the kiss was clear, but the passion behind it seemingly took over. They'd both missed one another – and it seemed – not even the professionalism of the work environment could suppress that longing for one another's touch. Pulling slowly away, Shannon spoke softly, "I missed you."
"I missed you too, Shan." Lawson uttered back, rubbing his hand across her soft skin. "Look – Shan…. I don't know if it's because I'm stubborn, old fashioned and just plain bloody stupid; but I think I finally realize that you're the one for me. I love you, Shannon." Lawson broke through his lips softly. "What I did – just leaving the way I did – It wasn't right. I should've called…. I should've let you know where I was; that I was okay." Lawson admitted through a sad smile.
"Yeah, you should've." Shannon nodded a seriousness crossing her features. "If I didn't love you all this may have been a problem, Lawson. But I think this whole ordeal we've been through has been enough to let me know how completely and utterly in love with you I am." Shannon reiterated Lawson's words.
"I just want you to know though, Shan. It wasn't you that was making me distant, yeah? I just – after losing Dom – getting close to people just seems to be becoming harder and harder. The idea of going through losing close friends, but more than that, someone I love completely – it's something I couldn't bare." Lawson confessed, his voice holding strong where most would begin to tremble. "I just want you to know that I'm sorry." Lawson finalized.
Shannon simply looked on with purposeful eyes and a silence ensued. With a brief smile crossing her features, she pulled Lawson forward and kissed into his lips once more – speaking softly through it, "Consider your apology accepted."
"Lawson! Kronin's here!" Charlie called into the comm. and the moment of enjoyment that Shannon and Lawson had been allowed to share was broken.
"Alright – all unit's, prepare for assault!" Lawson uttered back into his comm. and standing from his seat. Drawing his glock and holding it low in his left hand, the Senior Sergeant directed Shannon to take one of the side doors and watch it. Meanwhile, he approached the main door and allowed himself to offer a quick glance around the corner. The vehicle was there, but no one was to be seen.
"Charlie. There's no one there? Where the hell did they go?" Lawson tried but the sound of footsteps working their way up the walls made Lawson stop. "Shit! Charlie – all units get to the roof! They're using rappel lines!" Lawson confirmed, springing off from his guarded position and up towards the stairs where he quickly brushed through the door, finding Kronin with a pistol firmly placed to Kerry's temple.
"Put your gun down, Senior Sergeant!" Kronin screeched, but Lawson had pulled his gun up so that he could glance down its sight – lining up Kronin's forehead with the barrel. "Put your weapon down and let her go, now!" Lawson charged firmly.
"Lawson – we've got the gunman down here… but Kronin isn't with 'em. Have you got him, mate?" Josh spoke into his mic.
Clicking his mic gently in with the most discrete hand movement he could make, Lawson lipped back. "Kronin has Kerry at gunpoint. I'm going to attempt to negotiate. Josh – be ready to take him out from behind. Use their rappel lines, yeah?"
"On it, Lawson." Josh confirmed.
"Alright, Kronin – I'm going to lower my weapon and we're going to talk this through do you understand me?" Lawson spoke slowly.
"You do what you like, Senior Sergeant. Either way – this ends with me going home."
