Departure

Act 6, part 4: The Long Day

It happened in slow motion. Wang Tao rounded the corner, raised a .22 caliber pistol at the trio and fired. Only feet behind, Chin Wu entered and did the same.

Since Eric Hammer was in front, he caught the majority of gunfire. The first shot hit him in the forehead just over the bridge of his nose. His eyes flew open in shock and then remained open as he fell backward. The next several rounds hit him in the chest; each impact jerked his body. At close range, some of the shots went through the young man, entering the front and exiting somewhere out his back. Blood splattered everything around him.

As he reached back for his partner, Steve felt a searing pain in his shoulder and then felt hot prods in his chest and leg. Mike grabbed him by the arm while managing to discharge a couple of rounds at their attackers. As he continued to fall, Steve felt something hit his head which knocked him senseless.

The gunmen adjusted their aim in response to Mike's efforts and pulled back momentarily. The senior detective tried in earnest to pull his partner away from the line of fire, but lost his own balance in the process and slammed into the wall. Mike gasped as his ribs were further injured. The pain was so numbing, he dropped Steve's gun.

Suddenly, the shooting stopped. Tao and Wu, with their weapons trained on Mike, approached the detective.

"Magnusson." Tao stated matter of factly.

Immediately, Mike realized that Tao and Wu thought he and Steve were part of the original hit team against the Dragons.

"Magnusson is over there, dead. I'm Lieutenant Stone, San Francisco PD," Mike angrily replied.

Tao looked over to Wu and said something in his native tongue. The pair peered at the two men lying motionless and bloodied on the floor. "Cops, too?"

"One. The other is a man we arrested for the shooting at the restaurant."

Wu noticed that Hammer's hands were not visible at that angle. He wedged a foot under Hammer and levered him onto his stomach. The handcuffs were revealed.

Again Tao and Wu spoke in their native tongue, as Mike studied his partner for a sign of life. He saw Hammer's eyes opened and realized that the man died instantly, probably from the first bullet to the forehead. Steve's eyes were closed and his arm was lying in an unnatural angle. Blood soaked his head, side of his face and covered nearly every inch of his body from his shoulders to his thighs.

Mike swallowed hard at the sight. "Let me see what I can do for him," he requested as he gingerly tried to stand, but the pain in his midsection held him back. Steve's condition was unknown, but it was apparent that Tao and Wu had given him up for dead. Mike anticipated that Tao would simply shoot him in order to leave no witnesses.

At that point, the trio heard police enter the building. Tao reached down and pulled Mike to his feet. The pain was still staggering, but no longer really registered with the detective. "You are coming with us."

Mike looked over to his partner and Hammer. "Just let help get to them."

"We're not worried about them. Looks like it's too late anyway. You are our ticket out of here. Come on."

Tao yanked Mike through the door. The detective took one last look at his partner, then said a silent prayer that aide would not be too late.

Tao held his pistol tightly against Mike's back. "Let's go down this hallway away from the cops. We'll find a way out of here," Wu urged.

The pair pushed Mike forward as they tried to make a clean get away. Mike figured they were completely surrounded by now, but the trio continued their way to the opposite side of the building. He could hear reinforcements ahead of them as well as the sounds of police behind them.

He heard Sergeant Briscoe, a long time uniformed colleague and friend, breaking the door in behind them and yelling orders. "Stone? Keller? You in here?"

Stone wanted to respond, but Tao further pressed the gun into the small of his back. "You say one word, you die. Understand?" Mike nodded his head.

"Stone? Keller?" Briscoe repeated. After a moment, Briscoe conceded. "Damn, we heard at least a half dozen rounds go off just a few minutes ago, maybe more. Let's do a sweep in each room. Be careful, boys. The shooters could still be in here." Two pairs of patrolmen, each wearing bulletproof jackets began searching the rooms.

Tao, Wu and Mike made it to the other side of the building which faced another street. Wu checked to see where the police were and found a couple of black and white units parked in front of them. Again, he conversed with Tao quietly in their native tongue.

Mike wished he understood what they were planning. Suddenly, Mike heard Briscoe yell. "Damn it! We've got three bodies in the side room here."

"Our guys?" he heard one of the other officers ask.

"Definitely not Stone, but one of the victims looks like Keller. Look, the area between the room and the door is clear. Let's get a wagon over here. The one is definitely dead. I'm not seeing any signs of life in there, but if there's a chance the other two are alive we need to get them out of here," Briscoe ordered.

Mike was both relieved and terrified at Briscoe's words. While it didn't look good for Steve, at least help was on the way.

Tao put the gun up to Mike's temple. One of the police units was close to the door. The pair figured they could get to the patrol car and drive off with their hostage.

"Okay, Stone. You're a popular guy, you know that? I'm counting on your guys wanting you to remain alive. You and I are going to get into the back seat of that police car, see? My friend here is going to get in the driver's seat and we'll be on our way." Tao then turned to Wu, "You can hotwire, right, man?"

"Yeah," Wu replied.

The door opened and the nearby police officers saw Mike followed by two men. They understood what was going on. Mike looked around and saw Bill Tanner standing behind an unmarked car, concern etched on his face. Bill nodded to his boss and then raised his gun.

"Hold it!" Bill yelled. "Police. You are surrounded, so drop your weapons. You won't get out of here." It was a futile attempt, but Bill had to follow protocol.

"We have your Lieutenant. You let us go and then we'll release him when we're in the clear. We have no argument with him."

"I'm afraid I can't do that," replied Tanner.

"We'll plug him right here, then," Tao challenged.

"You do that, and it will be the last thing you do. Give yourself up now. It will be much easier on you if you do it now than adding on a kidnapping and resisting arrest charge."

Tao ignored Tanner and whispered to Wu. "Get in the car and let's go."

Mike knew that if he were to go with them, it would be the last time anyone would see him alive. Mike turned and caught Tanner's eye. He mouthed the word "Three".

On 'three', Mike dove to the ground leaving his two captors standing vulnerably by the car. The pain associated with a third fall with his busted ribs was insurmountable. Mike gasped and had difficulty breathing.

In the meantime, Tanner and his team opened fire. Only seconds later, the police car remained unoccupied with its drivers side glass shattered and its doors and fenders bullet ridden. Mike lay on the ground groaning while Tao and Wu lay feet away, ostensibly the next two bodies headed to the morgue.

Tanner ran over to Mike. "Get an ambulance!" he yelled seeing his boss in extreme discomfort and unable to speak.

"S-Steve…I need to see him. Need to know if he's alive." Mike was trying to sit up, but the pain was too much. He had his arms wrapped around his midsection trying to get relief.

"Mike, you are in no condition to go anywhere. I'll find out about Steve, okay? He's probably on the other side of the building waiting for you." Tanner tried to reassure his boss.

"No, he was…shot. I think they got him several times. Covered in blood. It was bad. Real bad. He wasn't moving. He may be…" Mike couldn't finish his thought.

"He's not dead. I won't accept that." Tanner urged as he lay a calming hand on Mike's shoulder.

Mike turned pale. He remembered the last look he had of Steve - still, pale and lying in an unnatural position. A small voice told him that the worst had indeed happened. But Mike needed to see his partner and dear friend one more time. "Help me up, Bill. I need to get to him," Mike said as he was trying once more to stand.

Bill shook his head. "Mike, the ambulance will be here and it will take you to the hospital. You'll be in the same ER. I'll find out where Steve is. I promise."

"He could still be in that damn room for all I know. Briscoe found them, but I don't know if an ambulance got here or not. If he's still in there, he's probably…probably gone." Mike was nearly distraught.

"Mike, look…" Bill tried to reason with his boss. "Let me get you in my car. We'll ride around front and find out what's going on. Then, no matter what, I'm taking you to the hospital."

The older detective nodded in agreement. "Help me up."

Tanner obliged. He carefully wrapped his arms around his chest and lifted.

As he rose, Mike became dizzy and his world started turning grey. "Mike….Mike," Tanner called out. Mike lost consciousness as he slid back to the ground.