Breaking Point

Chapter Ten

Travis fought his way through the drunken crowd to chase after the man, while Detectives Cafferty and Laroche worked on taking them down so that he could. Once the suspect had cleared the bar and ran down the street just over two blocks, as he reached an alleyway, he believed that he had lost the detective chasing after him, when suddenly he was knocked down to the ground hard as Travis came through the exit of one of the shops in front of him.

"Tommy, from your fast exit and attempt to run from me, I take it that you know who I am," Travis said gruffly as he pinned the man to the ground in order to cuff his hands behind him. "This certainly makes my job a lot easier."

"I don't know what you're talking about!" the man cried. "I didn't do anything!"

Travis roughly pulled him up as he grabbed a hold of him by his jacket collar, shoved him hard against the wall of the building in front of them, and angrily responded, "I have evidence that proves otherwise. You were one of the men that attacked and nearly killed my partner in his home two nights ago and then tried to kill him and me earlier this morning as you and your buddies shot up and crashed our car into a restaurant; weren't you?"

Cruise objected as he answered, "I don't know…"

"We found the mask you wore at my partner's house!" Travis continued angrily. "He ripped it off your head before your friend shot him twice in the back! Now, tell me who hired you to kill him and I might recommend a deal."

"All right, I was there, but I swear to you, I don't know the guy, who hired the two of us," Tom replied. "My friend, Rick, hired me to help him break into the detective's house and wait for him to come home, but he told me that we were only hired to ruff him up a little. The bastard lied to me. As soon as the guy got home, Rick pulled out a gun and tried to kill him. If I had known, I wouldn't have accepted, but it was too late. As he fought us, I only fought back in order to keep him from finding out, who I was. The guy who shot your partner must have been the guy that hired Rick. I didn't know him."

Travis pulled him away from the wall and walked him over to the patrol car he and the other detectives came in as he said, "All right, if you're telling the truth, you won't have as much to worry about as your buddy and the other guy. What's the rest of your pal's name and where does he live?"

Tom answered, "His name is Rick Jackson. He lives just down the street. That's where I was heading just now, but he won't be home. He left town for a few days to visit someone. I don't know who."

"That's your theme song tonight, you know that?" Travis responded sarcastically as he shoved him into the back of the car, just as Cafferty and Laroche finally started walking toward them. "And I doubt your pal left town. If I were to show you a picture of his shooter, could you identify him?"

"No, I didn't ever see his face," Tom replied. "And he didn't stick around as the cops showed up as soon as he shot the cop."

Travis pulled out Jeff Scott's picture and said firmly, "Try."

Cruise shook his head angrily and shouted, "I told you, I don't know!"

"Good work, Travis," Kate called out as Travis stood up after finishing up with the criminal. "You caught your man."

"Did you doubt that I would?" Travis turned to her and asked.

Both Kate and her own partner could see the anger in his face as Amy solemnly replied, "No, we knew you'd catch him. Did he tell you anything?"

Travis answered, "Not a whole lot, but I've got the name of one of Wes' other attackers. Unfortunately, he's not Scott. Mr. Movie Star here doesn't know who hired him and his scumbag of a partner."

"You'll catch him, Travis," Kate responded comfortingly. "You and Wes always catch your man, especially when it's personal."

"We do, don't we?" he asked smugly.

As they arrived back at the precinct and both Cafferty and Laroche escorted Cruise to the holding cell, Wes came storming out of Captain Sutton's office toward the prisoner, until Travis quickly intercepted him and gently pulled him back as he said, "Take it easy, Buddy. You know that I wouldn't have gone to pick him up without you, unless I was given a direct order to do so, which I was. Believe me, I tried to tell the captain it was a mistake."

Wes ignored him as he continued to stare at the prisoner and asked angrily, "Is that one of the guys in my house? Did he tell you who shot me?"

"Yes and no, he doesn't know who shot you," Travis replied as he pushed Wes down into one of the chairs in Sutton's office. "And no, he doesn't know if Jeff Scott is involved. Just relax."

"You expect me to relax?" Wes asked again just as angrily. "You should never have gone without me!"

Travis answered, "I didn't want to, but you needed to rest. You look like hell, Man. You're going to make yourself sick if you don't give yourself the break that you need and let me do my job. We will get him and anyone else involved. We've got a lead, but I could use your help to find him, if you're up to it."

Wes finally calmed down and nodded as he rubbed his hand over his face, then softly responded, "Fine. Who is this guy and what's the lead?"

"This guy's name is Tom Cruise," Travis replied. "I know, ridiculous. He was only at your house though and not one of the men, who shot at us earlier this morning. Cruise was hired by his friend, a guy by the name of Rick Jackson, who lied to him about the job he'd be doing. Cruise only expected to break into your house and beat you badly. Jackson was hired to kill you, but when he failed, someone else broke in and shot you from behind. We still don't have proof that Jeff Scott is behind all this."

"We need to find Rick Jackson then," Wes said somberly. "Hopefully, he'll know who hired him."

Travis nodded and then responded, "Agreed. We have an address, but I don't think he'll be there. Cruise said he was out of town for a few days. Chances are, he's gone into hiding."

Sutton spoke up finally saying, "Well, maybe you'll get lucky by starting there. Get going and bring that son of a bitch in."