One By One – 11

"Was that …? Don't tell me ..." C.J. asked as Matt put the receiver down.

"Yes. It seems the celebration will have to wait. He said we only won the battle, not the war."

It was then that the pain C.J.'s body had pushed aside to endure her attack came railing back. Matt noticed right away.

"C.J. …" he said as he placed his hand on her wrist, encompassing and gripping her hand in the process.

Her nurse and several medics in the room noticed the expression on her face, too. They wasted no time in treating her.

"C'mon," her nurse said, seeing the carnage across the room. "Let's get you to another room."

Matt watched as they hurriedly unhooked several wires and pushed her bed into the hall and into a room several doors down. He stayed right with her, keeping his hand on hers her in the process.

As soon as they were in the room he relinguished her hand so they could treat her. A nurse noticed his face, sat him down and started examining his temple.

"You might have a concussion," she said as she pressed a cold compress on his face at the point of impact.

He could care less about his face. He was more occupied with C.J.'s condition. He stretched his neck to see past the hand treating his wound.

"Is she going to be okay?"

"That's what we're trying to determine."

"She's in pain," he stated, just as the medic was about to ask for himself. "The man who attacked her pinned her arms down and …"

The medic rolled his eyes and continued.

"On a scale from one to ten, what is your pain level?"

"A ten," she managed. He immediately reached for a vial and inserted a needle into her I.V.

Matt's attention turned to the doors opening up.

"They're in here," he heard a nurse say.

Lt. Hoyt and Uncle Roy appeared.

"What happened?"

Matt took hold of the compress, stood up and stepped into the hall with them.

"Steve Otto is what."

"Did he get away again?"

"No. He's dead. C.J. shot him."

"C.J. killed a man?"

"Yes."

"Didn't you have your gun?"

"I gave it to C.J. figuring she'd be better off with it than me. Guess I was right."

"I'm gonna need to get statements from both of you. Hopefully your stories will match so we can write this off as an open and shut case of self-defense."

"Okay, just go easy with her, Hoyt. Otto did more than try to kill her."

"More?"

Matt stared back at him hoping he would figure it out.

"Okay. I'll have one of my female detectives speak to her."

"Thank you. And as soon as you're done with us, I'm getting her out of here. Mercer is still out there. I don't think he'll rest until she's dead. And there may be more."

"More?"

"Yes. I was thinking, the voice on the phone that taunted me at the penthouse – it wasn't Jesse Mercer's. It was someone else's."

"You think there's more people behind this besides Mercer and Otto?" asked Roy.

"Unfortunately yes. What did you find out from Baby?"

"Not much. I've seem to hit a road block. Murray hasn't had much success either."

The wheels in Matt's brain were turning.

"Okay. Don't worry about it. I think I know how we can kill two birds with one stone, so to speak."


After they were done with their respective statements, Matt announced quietly, "I'm getting you out if here, C.J."

She nodded without pause. She wasn't going to give him any argument this time.

"Where are we going?"

"Some place safe. In fact, the safest place we could possibly be."

C.J. knew instinctively what he meant.