THE SHAFT

Part 3 — Chapter 7

            An even more unlikely standoff, Mark thought to himself. He was standing in the shadows of the rows with Jesse by his side. Jamie's face was one of horror and disbelief. He looked as though he would break down right there and then. Time stopped for them all. Garrison looked at his own doctor that he trained in shock as well. Mark couldn't believe this was happening. This was the last thing Jamie needed to see. It was much easier hearing about it but he was getting a first hand taste. Mark's eyes casually drifted down to Jesse who was looking almost in pity. He had trained Jesse all through his internship years. How would Jesse feel if he was in Jamie's position. What would have happened if Mark had been there standing with a gun threatening to kill. Mark knew it was unimaginable. But then again, it probably was for Jamie as well until now.

            "What—what's going on?" Jamie asked uncertainly. He couldn't take his eyes of the gun in Garrison's hand.

            Garrison's world seemed to stop before him as well. He stared in shock. "Jamie. What are you doing here?" he demanded.

            "I—I heard shots."

            "This is all your fault!" Garrison shouted, his voice echoing all around the warehouse. "If it hadn't been for Duke Lotella and Dr Travis and all your meddling I could have got away with it easily. But I am still going to get away with it. I do not really want to kill you but it is necessary…I need to carry on with my reputation and education."

            "And—what about theirs?" Jamie asked quietly.

            "That is not my priority," Garrison hissed quietly as though he regretted it. He lowered his head and shook it. "I didn't want you to see this, Jamie. I would change this if I could. This was the last thing I wanted to happen to you. But I will not stoop to Carl Grave's level." Too late for that, Steve thought to himself. "Carl Graves called himself a doctor. He was more of a businessman!"

            "He took away your ideas."

            Garrison looked round at Steve. His gun was still on Amanda but slowly, inch by inch, she was starting to move away. Steve was managing to keep him distracted and even though Jamie didn't know it, he was as well by talking and asking questions. Garrison forgot he had the gun trained on her in the fist place. "He took away more than just ideas. He took away a whole future. He took away my future!" he said, as though the thought brought him to tears. "I dreamed for ages of that hospital. I dreamed and then I tried to make it work. Then Carl Graves comes with his cheques and bagfuls of money and steals it from me. He never needed that hospital. It was just another thing to get him on the status map. I NEEDED THAT HOSPITAL!" He shouted it loudly. Walls vibrated and everyone else flinched. He turned to Jamie. "Why do you think I took you in. I knew what it was like to see a dream fade away. When you have been accused of something you wanted and didn't do. I knew how you felt."

            Garrison shook his head. "Some dreams—some desires—are too hard to ignore. They keep itching at you and you know they'll develop into rashes. And he did it. And I hated Graves for it. I hated him like no one could ever imagine. Even through all my sins and his I would never have forgiven him if God asked me to." The older man stopped and took a few deep breaths. "Never."

            "So you just planned to kill him…like that."

            "I was careful," Garrison insisted. Amanda was now out of the way. Garrison had not noticed and because of that, had not even seen Jesse and Mark come out of their hiding place. They were full of curiosity over the story Garrison was about to tell. "I was careful. I hired Duke Lotella. They told me he was the best in America and I had enough money. I hired him to do it at the dinner party. Then he chickened out—told me he had a better offer so I decided to do it myself. I took some Cyanide because I had plenty of it from my practise and liquid potassium is hard to get for someone like me. I planted the liquid potassium near my area as soon as everyone got up after that long talk. No one would have noticed."

            "Clever."

            Garrison didn't hear the comment. "Then I slipped the drink to Jamie and told him to give it to Graves. He just happened to give it to Machu Lie along the way which was even better. Either way, the evidence would be too hard to definitely finger. When someone found Carl Graves dead, everyone ran there and I poured some water on the potassium making it start."

            "I couldn't imagine your shock when you saw Duke Lotella had come."

            Garrison nodded at Mark's comment. "I was definitely shocked. But at least I wouldn't be the one to blame. Hitmen never let people go after all or so I thought. He ran and there was commotion because of the fire. It went as I planned. I just never thought that Dr Travis and Duke Lotella would get so close. I could have got away with it. Travis come out here!"

            Jesse took an involuntarily step back in fear. To him, Garrison was an obsessed madman who would get what he wanted in the end. Mark, sensing that his protégé was scared, put a hand on his shoulder to steady him. "Do you really think Elgar that it is worth all the hassle now—killing four people, maybe your own intern? It would be more deaths on your hands and imagine what Duke would do if he found out Jesse had been killed by you. Would you want six dead bodies on your hands? That doesn't go down well in court."

            Garrison's eyes turned towards Mark. "Don't put me in that position. You haven't been through what I have. You have your wonderful job, you were never involved what I was in, you trained the perfect student and you have the perfect son. I lost all of that so don't tell me nothing is worth it. Carl Graves was worth all the trouble. Framing Jeanie Morgstone and Machu Lie was worth the trouble as well. I planned the Cyanide in Jamie so he could send it to her."

            "You what—" Jamie out burst.

            "It was the only way!" Garrison cried loudly, almost desperately as though he didn't want to lose his star student. "She was just getting in your way and right for the taking. I would never incriminate you, Jamie. But in these things, I knew it was something I had to do to save you."

            He looked across the room. "Now I'll kill Travis for you as well."

            Jamie's eyes widened. Steve was about to go and do something as Garrison whipped his arm round towards Jesse who was standing near Mark. There was no way he could get out the way in time and from a distance of seven feet, he was unlikely to miss. The horrible sound of the bullet leaving the gun echoed through the warehouse. But Jesse didn't move. His face didn't register pain nor did his body react from the bullet. It never hit him and in fact Garrison had never shot in the first place.

            His gun spun from his hand, landing in one of the other isles. Crying in pain, Garrison clutched his hand, which was bleeding. Everyone else looked around, searching for the source of the shot. It was found on the balcony—a figure in brown standing with his legs apart for balance and both hands clamped round a gun still smoking on the end. Despite his injured arm, he had taken the sling off. He re-opened his eye he had been using for aim. Duke Lotella. Who else could it have been. Steve wasn't sure whether he should be overjoyed or angered. Then again, he had just saved Jesse's life—again.

            Garrison looked at Duke, clutching his bleeding hand. It had grazed the skin but it was enough to send down a torrent of blood. "You idiot!" he cried up at the man. "You were meant to work for me. You were meant to work for me just once in your miserable lifetime and you couldn't even do a job well enough to keep the police from finding me. You are worthless at your job."

            Duke didn't say anything. He just stared down at Garrison. From such a height, Jesse couldn't see the reaction on Duke's face but he seemed to be unresponsive. He was hardened. Was this the way he killed all his victims? With a cold hard stare? Jesse wondered if he would finish Garrison off right there and then. It was just another body to him. No one moved for a few seconds. Time seemed to come to a stand-still in front of them. Garrison decided to move first and make a desperate leap for his gun. The shot almost deafened them as Duke let out another shot centimeters from Garrison's head.

            "Don't think about it," Duke hissed at him loudly. There was such authority in his voice that Garrison stopped dead. He stared at the gun at the ground and then at Jesse Travis, who was still backed against the wall, a mixture of fear and relief on his face.

            Garrison slowly turned round to look at Duke. "Are you going to kill me, Lotella?" he asked quietly. "I'm sure you are not afraid—or at least you weren't afraid before. You would have shot all six of us without a care in the world. What are we to you? Another bunch of bodies. There have been hundreds more befreohand. But no, circumstances have changed now. You've become soft."

            "I still have my aim," Duke replied tersely. "I shot the gun right out of your hand. And if you run now I will still shoot you in the back of the head…I will shoot you right between the eyes right now. I have good marksmanship." He shifted his gun for a moment and shot…right above Mark's head. The shot jogged them all and Steve suddenly wondered about Duke's mental state. Was he capable of shooting them in cold blood or for kicks? From the determined look on his face, he certainly didn't seem to be joking mood. "Do you want to move forward, Garrison? I can give you a demonstration. I still ain't afraid to pop someone."

            "You are a traitor to your own cause, Lotella," Garrison replied patiently looking at the man. "You are a hitman who failed to do his job and now stands at a decision, unsure of what to do. The sensible thing for you to do would be to kill us all."

            Jesse looked at Duke as well. He knew that once when a remark like that was made at Duke, he would have lashed out, hitting the person, attacking them, maybe killing them. But maybe some sense of maturity and thinking had made him realize that doing that wasn't the only way. He certainly wasn't shouting now, threatening to kill. "That would be doing your dirty work for you,"£ Duke said. "You want them dead, I heard you. I ain't holding the price of their deaths on my head. I wasn't hired to kill you. I would kill you. But four of those I can't because they are friends of Jesse's. There is another doctor here who deserves to see you at least fall if not for Jesse's sake."

            Garrison spread his arms. "And what about me?"

            Sirens were wailing. Garrison knew it. His face had a crude smile on his face. Jesse looked up at Duke again, wondering what he was going to do. Would Duke stay here and let himself get caught? Would he shoot it? Or would he prove one of Garrison's many points and make a break for it? All situations were dangerous. "Well, what would it be?"

            Duke's eyes narrowed. He thought out his actions carefully. What would he have normally done in these situations? Well, he'd kill all of them and then run without leaving a trace. They could identify him. Another post would be put out on his head and he didn't fancy lying low again. "Well," he started slowly, " Detective Sloan has been looking for you for so long. I helped him along the way. I'm not going to shoot them so you can get away with what you've done and live your life and blame it on me. I'm sure he can take it from here." As quickly as he appeared, he disappeared, running along the balcony and through one of the exit doors onto the roof. What happened to him after that was anyone's guess.

            Things happened quickly after that. Steve immediately leaped in to take an outraged Garrison before he could get his gun. There was a large seen as the warehouse doors opened again and police came charging in. Paramedics tended to Garrison quickly and to Steve as Mark and Amanda watched and to help asses the situation and explain what happened. Jesse stayed in the shadows,  he watched Jamie walked over to Garrison and said:

            "Why not just frame me?" he demanded quietly. "I was always there. You found other people to frame. I was always ready for something to do—why not just plant the Cyanide on me, forge some papers or something. Why everyone else but me?"

            Garrison looked at Jamie. "I couldn't do it to you," he said with enough heart felt emotion in him to make Jamie flinch. "You were my best student. I could never do that to you. I understood you and I knew you wanted to get far. I didn't want to ruin everything you were trying to achieve like Travis had. I liked you like you were a son of mine and I taught you everything and beyond what you know. I would never do anything like that to you, Jamie." Behind his glasses, he looked genuine and his voice certainly proved that. He really didn't want to let Jamie know what had happened.

            Jamie shook his head. "All that medical talk you told me. Then you go and do something like this. And all this talk about to try and stop hating so much before you do something you regret like revenge—and to never become like you. Now I know why you said it."

            The cop started to pull Garrison away. "You were always my best student," Garrison said, as he was walking off. Jamie watched him with icy blue eyes and then with a cold fury, he turned around and kicked at the nearby wooden box, sending it spinning along the ground. Jesse watched Jamie carefully and then stood a few feet away from him as Garrison was dragged to the car and placed inside. Looking at Jamie's face, he had turned into a hard-case again. Not a trace of emotion showed on his face but Jesse wondered how he was feeling inside.

            Jamie noticed Jesse for the first time, standing beside him. His eyes narrowed. "Go on, say it," he said. "Garrison must be wrong. He's lied about everything else, he lied about me being a good student. His best student."

            Jesse shook his head. "That wasn't what I was going to say." He sighed and looked at Jamie who refused to look at him. "Not at all. In fact, I was going to say the opposite. You must be a good doctor if he respected you so much. He saw you for what you were—unlike me who just saw you as a cheater and threw you out."

            Jamie sighed. "So much good that does me now." He looked over at Mark and then at Jesse. "It's not fair. How come you got everything you ever wanted. You got all the money, the wonderful education in Minnesota and a great mentor who may not be worldly brilliant but seems to understand you, care for you and have an interesting background."

            "You're talking about the kid who has everything? The kid whose parents are divorced? The kid who tried so hard to please his mom and dad? I never asked for Mark. He just seemed to appear. I can't describe how lucky I am. But you don't need a mentor. You have everything you need now and just need to go get what you now want." Jesse turned round and faced Jamie. "You know, I had totally forgotten you existed until you came back again. I never knew how angry I actually was and how I had made you feel in what I did. We were both young, we were both stupid—maybe I was stupider…"

            "Are you asking for forgiveness, Travis?"

            "Would you rather hate forever."

            The two men stared at each other for a few moments. No one noticed them in the arrest frenzy—two men having a minor argument. "I didn't even know how much I hated you or how much I forgot until I returned. But if I know one thing that's come out of it is a lot of memories. I know that I never blonged in Minnesota. I didn't understand what was going on anyway. I was a trouble maker. Besides, if you never got me kicked out, I would never have met Garrison."

            Jesse raised his eyebrows. "So, are we forgiven."

            Jamie shrugged. "I have yet to think about whether I have." He shook his hand. "But I suppose I can forget insulting you from now, egging you on into fights and just let the past go. What's done is done. There isn't any more we can do about it."

            Jesse smiled and took his hand. "Couldn't have put it better myself."

Once again, another Chapter, and thanks for all the reviews people have been giving. We are just one chapter away from the end of this story which I'm sure everyone is fed up with reading now, lol. End of authors rant except for one thing: Good luck to everyone in England who are getting their GCSE results (tomorrow?) I'm sure you all did well in your subjects!!