Part XI
Vince had no more than reached his squad car when the call came over his radio reporting shots fired at Rampart. He paused only long enough to let his dispatcher know that he was headed back inside before running back for the elevator, mentally cursing himself for underestimating how desperate the men they were after were. He didn't even consider that the gunshot might have been in another part of the hospital - he headed straight for the room Chet was in.
The scene Vince found when he arrived wasn't anything he expected. One of the gunmen was being held by Doctor Brackett and seemed to be trying not to doze off. Johnny was literally sitting on top of the second one, but Johnny really wasn't paying attention to the man underneath him. His gaze was fixed on the bed and when Vince looked over, the sight of the blood stopped him in his tracks.
Finding his voice, Vince shifted his eyes off of the blood and onto Doctor Early, whose back was facing him.
"Is Kelly . . .?"
"He'll be fine - assuming he'll finally get a chance to heal without anyone else intruding and disrupting his care."
Not that Johnny wasn't glad to here that, but he didn't see how anyone could be fine with all that blood.
"But - where did the bullet hit?"
Doctor Early glanced back over his shoulder and then back down at Chet before realizing what things must look like to Johnny.
"It looks bad, John, but the bullet missed Chet. It hit the unit of blood we were giving him - that's the reason for all the mess."
Taking a deep breath, Johnny closed his eyes briefly in relief until the man beneath him shifted again.
"Vince? Care to take over with this guy? He's the one that fired the shot."
Then Chet's voice spoke up from the other side of Doctor Early, his voice stronger than Johnny would have expected it to be.
"He's Ralph. That's the guy that was giving the orders."
Johnny nodded agreement.
"Chet recognized their voices and tried to warn us before they started anything."
Vince knelt down next to Johnny, grabbing one of Ralph's wrist as he pulled out his handcuffs.
"Ralph, huh? Where's the girl?"
Snorting, Ralph quickly showed he wasn't going to cooperate, giving Vince hard time for a couple of minutes until the handcuffs were fastened. Growling, he gave Vince a glare.
"You won't find her. Not where we have her."
Backup deputies were arriving by that time and Vince gladly passed Ralph over to them to take down to a squad while he took another set of handcuffs over to deal with Sam. Looking at the groggy man, Vince gave Dixie and Doctor Brackett a questioning glance. Dixie was unapologetic.
"When he grabbed me, I had a syringe of pain killer for Chet with me. I stabbed him with it."
Doctor Brackett made some noise Dixie took offense to and he grunted as her elbow hit his ribs.
"He was asking for it, Kel."
Trying to keep a straight face, Vince thought back over what Chet had told him. Sam - this must be Sam, the one that was being ordered around. Sam had a woe begotten look about him that made Vince wonder if maybe he could get the information out of him. He wasn't worried about getting anything that would be admissible in court. He just wanted to find Janice Gibson as quickly as possible.
Vince moved in front of the kidnapper.
"Sam - listen to me. You and Ralph aren't getting away with anything this time. The bullet they removed from Kelly and the bullet from Mister Gibson were a match. Only chance you have to plea for any kind of leniency from the judge is if you tell us where the girl is."
Sheriff
Webb came to the doorway as Vince was speaking. For a minute, he didn't think Sam was going to respond, but then he gave a nod.
"Sure. It's all Ralph's fault that we've been caught any way. If he'd just given me two minutes to follow Kelly? Couple of bullets to his head and we wouldn't have had to come here. We'd already be in San Diego checking out the locals. Kid's a motel with one of Ralph's lady friends keeping an eye on her."
The matter of fact way that Sam had talked about killing Chet gave Johnny the shudders and he found himself shifting to put himself between the gunman and Chet's bedside before moving to Doctor Early's side. Sheriff Webb noticed Johnny's move and turned to Doctor Brackett.
"Doctor, is there an empty room nearby where we can take this man to finish talking to him? I'm sure we aren't helping your patient's recovery."
"Of course. Follow me. Dix, Joe - I'll be right back."
After the two lawmen and their prisoner left behind Doctor Brackett, Chet let out an audible sigh of relief and Dixie gave him a sympathetic pat.
"You guys never get into anything simple do you?"
"Guess not, but I guess things worked out for the best. I mean, if Beverly hadn't hurt her foot, she would have been the one walking with Tina down that street. Think the other kid will be okay?"
Toward the end of his question, Chet's voice began to slur slightly. Dixie smoothed back the curly hair from his brow, lowering her voice to encourage him back to sleep.
"They know where she is now, so I'm sure she'll be fine. Let's worry about you for now. Rest."
With a soft sigh, Chet relaxed and closed his eyes. All of Dixie's work was nearly undone as Mrs. Grant picked that time to come to the door, but Johnny recognized her and hurried over to head her off before she could disturb Chet.
"Hi, Mrs. Grant. Sorry, but they just gave Chet some medicine and he's sleeping."
Adjusting her glasses on her nose, Mrs. Grant took a long look at Johnny before smiling.
"Mister Gage, how nice to see you again. Would you make sure Chester gets these flowers?"
"OF course, ma'am. I know he'll be sorry he missed you."
"Tell him not to worry about that. We're neighbors, so I'll just catch up with him when he gets home. Did you happen to see where the two firemen went?"
Johnny automatically looked around, but he didn't know of any firemen there other than himself and Chet.
"Firemen? Do you know their names?"
A slight frown formed on her face.
"You know, I don't believe one of them ever did introduce himself, but the other one was Mister Smith. They were in the neighborhood looking for Chester. They said they used to work with him and wanted to visit. They're the ones that drove me here."
Seeing Vince coming into the hall, Johnny waved him over. He had a feeling that he knew how the two men had located Chet.
"Vince? This is Mrs. Grant, one of Chet's neighbors. Two men claiming to be firemen that used to work with Chet brought her here."
When they exchanged looks, Johnny could see that Vince was thinking the same thing that he was. Vince offered Mrs. Grant a hand and escorted her to a window where she could get a look at the men they had just arrested. The answer was plain before she spoke from the expression on her face once her vision focused.
As Vince led her back away from the window, he assured her that he would make sure she got back home after he got a statement from her. Listening, Johnny felt a shudder go through him, not only at the though that Mrs. Grant had been alone in a car with those two killers, but how close the two men had been to little Tina again. Noticing he was still feeling a little shaky, Johnny made his way to a phone. He needed to talk to Roy and calm down some more before calling Cap to fill him in on what all had happened.
