Elle: So I decided to take a quick brake from studying and post something sooner than I said I would. Fluorine, Uranium, Carbon, Krypton Chemistry. :)


Chapter Seven

Jabari opened the newspaper as he sat down to eat breakfast the next morning. His answering machine was blinking, a message from the coroner's office alerting him that his younger brother's body was waiting in the morgue after being killed by a police officer. His cell phone blinked with several voicemail messages of the same content. But nevertheless he unfolded the newspaper to read the cover story. He spilled hot coffee all over the table.

"He's still alive?!" Jabari snarled. The cover title read: "Officer Shot in City Hall Square" with a subheading motioning Braddock's condition in the hospital. Jabari snarled again. His plan had failed meaning his younger brother had been killed in vain. He wouldn't stand for this. The article mentioned which hospital Braddock had been taken to; it was a forty-five minute drive from Jabari's house. Jabari wanted nothing more than to end this, avenging his father's death was the only thing that mattered now.

Pulling a semi-automatic sidearm from the cabinet, Jabari got in his car and drove toward the hospital.

~*~*~*~

Jules woke the next morning with only a vague recollection of yesterday's events. They seemed so far away and yet she remembered them vividly. She rolled over and with a pang of sadness realized that the other side of her double bed was empty. Sam should have been sleeping there last night but because of some person he was clinging to life in the ICU.

Bring, bring

Jules's blackberry was buzzing on her bedside table. Rubbing the last bit of sleep from her eyes she reached over to answer.

"Callaghan," her voice was groggy.

"Hey Jules," Ed's voice was on the other line. "How are you doing?"

"Ok, I guess," Jules replied sitting up and moving the hair out of her face.

"I hate to do this to you Jules but team four got into a bit of tight spot and they need us to cover the station for a few hours this afternoon," Ed said. Jules resisted the urge to groan. She needed a break, she needed to see Sam.

"I'll be down there," Jules said as Ed hung up. She tossed the phone onto Sam's side of the bed and fell back down onto her pillows. There was a huge stack of paperwork on her desk that needed to be filled out. The usual protocol for when a subject was killed. Jules was certain now that she had hit the proper target but the fact that she didn't know who shot Sam was unsettling.

She got out of bed and decided to take a shower before she went to work. After Wordy had dropped her off last night she barely changed before passing out. The cool water cleared her mind as it ran down her body but all she could think of was Sam.

~*~*~

Ed fired the Remy, once again hitting the center of the target. There was no center now except for a giant hole that had been created by the rifle's ammo. Ed still had half an hour before their unofficial shift started but something about firing the Remy at inanimate objects calmed his nerves.

After he had finished off the last magazine Ed packed up and returned to the briefing room. Greg was there already, sitting in his usual seat and reading the newspaper.

"Does SIU have any new info boss?" Ed asked. Greg put the newspaper down.

"Sorry Eddy," Greg said picking up his paper coffee cup. "Nothing new."

Ed sat down next to Greg as Lou and Spike walked in. Neither of them seemed remotely happy to be working on their day off. Wordy followed in closely after Spike and Lou.

"Any news on Sam yet?" Wordy asked. Greg and Ed shook their heads. Finally Jules showed up and she had definitely seen better days. Spike got out of his seat and met her halfway between the table and the doorway and gave his teammate a hug.

"Hey Jules," Spike said walking her over to the rest of the team. "How are you feeling?"

Jules didn't answer as she took her seat at the table. The seat next to her was empty and she felt another pang. But this one was different from the first. The first one had been of sadness and disappointment. This one was for revenge. Jules knew that she couldn't take matters into her own hands though and that was what made the pang hurt more.

"Alright guys," Greg said at the front of the room. "This is the part nobody wants to do but we have to go through yesterday's mission."

Team one groaned. Going over missions wasn't their favorite part of the job but now it was even worse seeing as one of their teammates had got caught in the line of fire.

"Before I start," Greg said. "I would like to say that SIU has indeed confirmed the pretense of a third party shooter. They found gunshot residue in the spires of the clock tower and an unused magazine. They're hoping to pull a finger print off the magazine to put a name and face to our shooter.

"Also, we don't know how long Sam's going to be out for so we need to start looking at temporary replacements…"

"Can we please not invite Donna back?" Spike interrupted. Greg ignored him and continued.

"Last night I was able to pull up some applicant forms so hopefully in the next couple of days we'll be able to fill Sam's spot."

Greg went to open the folder containing the transcripts when the alarms started blaring.

"Team one suit up hot call," Kira said over the loudspeaker. "There's a gunman at the hospital several shots have been fired but there's reasonable suspicion to believe his target is Constable Braddock."

As the trained professionals they were the members of team one nearly leapt out of their seats and bolted toward the armory to pack their weapons. Greg turned to Ed as the two of them loaded equipment into one of the SUVs.

"Did Kira say their target was Sam?" Ed asked suddenly. Greg slammed the back hatch closed but his expression said everything.

"Shit"


Elle: Drop me a line and let me know what you guys think