A/N: I accidently posted chapter 8 instead of seven, nine instead of 8, etc. Chapter 7 is new and will help the story make sense. Sorry for the mix up.
Now We'll Get Them
Captain Samantha Sackett was not new to being a captain. She was a veteran of many years as a detective and more years in the Army. She had come to the new Major Case West with high hopes and great expectations. So far she had yet to be disappointed. But having two of her best detectives out of commission put her out of sorts. She called the hospital the next morning and received word that Karen had had a rough night, but had an appointment today with an eye specialist that could shed light on her eyesight. The captain snorted derisively at how that thought had come out.
She called for another of her detectives "Salazar, come in here."
Detective Salazar was lean and looked faintly like a pirate. He had a moustache that curled at the end and if it had been allowed he'd have probably worn a scarf around his head. At least that was how Sackett thought of him. "You needed something, Captain?"
"Go on the database and see if you can find anything about group killings in big cities by families. See if there's anything we can use to crack this case."
"Will do."
Captain Sackett picked up the phone and dialed. "Dan, Sam. Have you heard anything yet? Another one?" Aware of how many ears were listening, she went over and closed her office door.
Alex and Bobby arrived back home weary in mind and body. The kids were happy to be back home safe in their own rooms. Bobby went to the kitchen to start dinner while Alex got them washed up.
Alex came back to the kitchen and slid her arms around her husband from behind, laying her head against his back. Bobby patted her hands and went back to seasoning the food. He put it in the oven and turned to pull her against his chest. She snuggled under his chin. "I feel bad for Karen. This is so unfair. How cruel to become a detective and then possibly lose her eyesight."
"She hasn't lost it yet. And hopefully she won't. We have to believe that the doctors can help her and her natural defenses will protect her eyesight."
"What kind of vicious people are we dealing with that shoots from hilltops and kills all kinds of people out of an attempt to get to us? Have we really done someone so wrong that they are willing to kill multitudes over it? Who the hell could it be?"
"I've been thinking about that. What kind of cases are we usually involved in? Murder, right? Very few other kinds of cases make Major Case. However we have had a few. Some embezzling, some fraud and some drugs. I think I know who could be doing this. Do you remember a case about two years ago, we caught a guy stealing money from his firm, but when we investigated it, it turned out that he was taking the money to pay for the drugs he was buying and sending home to his family."
"He was trying to help someone in his family who had cancer. He still got 25 to life for selling drugs. And the embezzling." Alex said. "What was his name?"
"Martin Davidson."
"Davidson. Of course, he pleaded with the judge to let him go on a work release program so he could keep sending home the money. How could he do all this from prison?"
"He hasn't. He died. About six weeks ago."
"Right before all of this started." Alex stared at her husband. "So he couldn't be the one."
"He may have been the one who planned it, but not who's doing it. When we get to the office tomorrow, I think I need to look up the case and see what else is in there. It's entirely possible that it's his family that's doing this. If that person who was using the drugs for medicine has died and so has Martin Davidson, they might think that the two deaths are motive enough to come after us."
"That's a mighty weak argument."
Bobby shrugged. "It's a theory can't that fits. We just have to look at the plausibility of it."
Mitzzi and Sam came out into the kitchen with freshly washed hands and faces. "What's for dinner?" Sam asked.
"Monster parts and dragon eggs." Bobby teased his son. Sam had just discovered that monsters and dragons were cool from kids at school and he liked to have everything couched in that language.
"Cool." Sam ran into the livingroom to play before dinner.
"Eww." Mitzzi wrinkled her nose up.
Alex laughed at her. "It's chicken and fries."
"Boys are so gross." She informed her parents in a superior tone and went after her little brother.
"We need to keep her thinking that as long as possible." Bobby sighed.
"She's got a lot of years yet before she discovers boys." Alex patted her husbands chest.
"The longer the better. Have you talked to Mike or Carolyn tonight?"
"No. Carolyn is feeling very uncomfortable and she needs her rest. This case is taking a toll on her even if she doesn't want to admit it."
"It seems the cases take more and more toll every year. We need to be thinking about what we're going to do when it gets to be too much for us."
"There's always Jim Deakins. He keeps telling us that he wants us to retire from the department and come to work for him."
"He talks about how he is able to take on more cases and get results than he did as a detective. He has a bigger variety and they 're more satisfying. He doesn't have the higher ups getting all the credit for his works."
The timer on the oven beeped for the one minute warning as Mitzzi came back into the kitchen. Bobby turned to the stove as Alex turned toward their daughter. Both were lucky accidents. A bullet shattered the sliding glass door and slammed into the refrigerator. It went right through where Bobby and Alex had been standing together. It could have hit either one of them.
Alex dived instinctively for their daughter and Bobby moved to cover both of them as two more bullets struck into their kitchen. Alex landed with Mitzzi in her arms and landed heavily on her right shoulder. The pain was searing and she gasped, but her first concern was if Mitzzi had been hurt. She rolled over behind the protection of the living room wall and let her daughter get up.
Mitzzi was wide eyed and shaking. She stared at her mother laying on the floor holding her shoulder. "Get down." Bobby told her and bolted toward the table where they kept their weapons and badges. The timer on the oven was beeping that the meal was ready, but no one gave it any thought. Bobby eased toward the kitchen. There was shattered glass all over the kitchen floor, but no new bullets came screaming through the open frame and Bobby couldn't see anyone outside.
Alex grabbed both the kids and put them down in front of the couch and grabbed the phone. "This is Detective Eames. There have been shots fired at my home. I need a squad car here, ASAP."
Bobby moved toward the door and looked cautiously out. No one was there. He hurried back to the living room. Mitzzi and Sam were huddled together on the floor in front of the couch. "Are you guys alright?" He crouched down in front of them. They launched themselves against his solid bulk and clinging in terror.
He held them close to him and looked over to see Alex, she was staring at him with eyes wide in shock and as he watched anger, towering and potent surged into her gaze. "They came to my home, to shoot at me and my family, at my children. They have to go down, Bobby. Now!"
Alex went to roll to her feet and gasped in pain. She was holding her shoulder her face white with pain. Bobby wanted to go to her, but the kids were clinging tightly to him. She shook her head at him. She didn't want to scare the kids any further. There was no blood, she hadn't been shot, just landed wrong on the floor.
Sirens were sounding from outside. Bobby stood up still carrying both kids and the baby was making noises from the bedroom. Alex got up being careful of her shoulder, retrieved her gun and badge then went to the door. Two officers charged up to the door with guns drawn. She opened it and showed them her badge.
They came in looking around. "Did you see who did this?" the senior partner asked. He gestured for his partner to go into the kitchen.
Bobby updated him with the facts as best he could with the two children unwilling to turn him loose. Alex went into the bedroom and came out carrying Fran who was crying though from different reasons than her siblings.
Alex sat down on the couch and coaxed Mitzzi and Sam to let go of their father and come sit beside her. Bobby crouched in front of her and touched her cheek with a tender hand. "Go see what you can find out, Bobby. I need these guys caught."
"I'll be right outside."
"We're fine." She told him.
Someone had shut off the timer on the oven, Bobby noticed absently. He turned off the oven as he passed. The monster parts and dinosaur eggs would be ruined. The young patrolman was nervously looking all over the yard, but Bobby had followed the trajectory and knew where to look for clues. The patrolman was a very new graduate and he was trying to stay one step ahead of Bobby.
Bobby stopped in the yard. "Officer…."
"Stevens, sir."
"Officer Stevens, this is a crime scene. I am a detective and CSU will be here soon. No one is still here. Stand still and let me look so you don't contaminate the scene."
"I'm supposed to protect the victim." Stevens said.
"Yes you are. But not if they happen to be a NYPD detective, Major Case Squad. Which I am. My wife and I both are."
Stevens face showed his amazement. More sirens were sounding in the background. He glanced at the house, seeking guidance. "I should go see if my partner needs help." He said anxiously.
"Stay with me. You can help guide the CSU techs over here when they get here. Just stand there and when the come in tell them I'm back here, so they don't shoot me."
"Ye, yes, sir."
It was completely incongruous to Bobby to be profiling in his own backyard. But he had been in stranger places and he paced carefully around the yard, noticing absently that it was time for the lawn to be mowed again. That was one piece of unexpected luck. The shooter had stood on the garbage cans in the alleyway to shoot into the house. The rifle had ejected a shell into the yard. Bobby found it because he saw the glint in the grass. The shooter wouldn't have been able to catch it before it fell or retrieved it before help showed up.
Bobby mentally marked where the shell was and looked for more evidence. There was mud on the lid of the cans. And tire prints in the alley. It occurred to Bobby with a chill up his spine that the shooter had been careless because they'd expected this to be the last hit and they'd be able to make a clean getaway, fading into the background and never be caught.
Their mistake was in not knowing who their intended target was. Even if they had gotten both Bobby and Alex they would never have gotten away, not that it would have helped their kids. More police arrived and CSU. Bobby showed them his badge and told them to check his findings in the alleyway.
He hurried into the house to find Alex still sitting with the kids on the couch and getting angry with the officer who was grilling her. Her language was hampered by the presence of the kids. They refused to let go of her. Bobby deliberately stepped between the officer and Alex, rudely interrupting the third degree. He took the baby from her arms and gestured for the kids to get up, then he helped his partner to her feet.
He turned and gave the officer a very hostile stare. "My family and I are going someplace safe for the night. I will be letting the proper authorities know where we are. Then, when I am present and the children are not, we will finish this interview."
"We aren't finished now."
"Yes, you are."
Bobbys imposing bulk could be trouble some times, but it could also be used to overwhelm people. He used it now to guide his family out of the house they called home and into the family SUV. There were objections, but not for long.
Alex got the kids strapped in and got into the passengers side. She was in no shape to drive. This alone told Bobby how much she was hurt and shaken. He pulled out into the night, dodging arriving squad cars. He turned down a side street and headed away from the scene. "I can't believe how they treated me. Like I'd done something to cause someone to shoot at us. He kept asking me if I was seeing someone else, if I'd taken out a hit on you, if there might be a jealous lover somewhere…." Alex said.
"Daddy, I'm hungry." Mitzzi said quietly.
"I'm scared." Sammy said.
"I know, guys. We're going somewhere where we can rest and get something to eat." Bobby glanced back at the crew in the back seat. Only baby Fran was quiet, having fallen back asleep.
"Where're we going to go? They might know about my Dad, Mike and Carolyn would be a target, too. We can't go to Karens cause she's not there."
"We need to contact the Deakins. Did you grab your cell?"
"They bagged it for evidence. Yours, too."
Bobby nodded. "I expected as much. Let's stop and call the Deakins."
"Do we dare? Could we be followed?"
"I haven't seen anyone. We have to do something. We can't just drive around all night. The kids need to sleep in a real bed where they're safe."
"You're right."
Bobby looked again in his rearview mirror and saw both of the older kids had fallen asleep like their sister. They looked too young to be involved in this. He looked over at Alex. This was the first chance they had had to talk since this whole episode began. "How is your shoulder?" He reached over and grasped her hand.
"It hurts. I think it's only a bad sprain, but I can move it and I have no strength in it. I landed wrong when I tried to get Mitzzi out of the kitchen."
"We'll need to get it looked at. Do you have any money?"
"Some in my pocket and we have that emergency credit card in here. Are you thinking we need to hide?"
"No, but we'll need diapers and formula and I'd just as soon not go the entire week until they clear the house in the same clothes."
"A week? Bobby someone is after us.
"And you know as well as I do that until they concede that we weren't out to kill each other, they'll be watching everything we do."
"This is so wrong."
"Yes, it is." Bobby could only agree with his beautiful partner and keep driving.
TBC