Chapter XXXV
Close Up
She winced when she heard her name being called. Kara Johnson was like a sister to her, a sister who was currently carrying a very big gun. She turned and pasted on her biggest smile, "Why, Lieutenant Johnson, how nice to see you." The black clad brunette didn't smile. "How the hell did you get here? Christ, Maria, this was almost a riot, not a picnic." Maria watched Kara take the heavy black helmet off her head, she shook out her short brown hair and ran her hand through it, rearranging it. She turned and scowled at her, "You're getting a Police Escort back to safety and when I get off the clock, I'm going to kick your ass for being so stupid."
Maria winced, it was a little bit like the time her Mother had caught her smoking. "Everything worked out fine, Kara, honestly. I'm a big girl now. I don't need the big-bad Jock-ette standing up for the AV Geek. Not anymore." She pretended not to hear the other woman's grumbled curses. "You're an idiot and a pain in the ass. If the guys knew I claimed you as a friend I wouldn't be able to hold my head up in the locker room." Maria snickered, "So it's all about you, huh?" Kara shrugged and shouldered her rifle, "It always is, 'Ria. Now, the tape." Maria shook her head, "Nope, not going to happen. It's an exclusive." Kara shook her head, "This isn't personal, Maria, it's business, police business. We'll need it for the case, you know that. It's your exclusive, but it's our evidence." She held out a black gloved hand, "Don't make me get a warrant, Maria." Maria sighed, "Give her the tape, Billy."
It was then, Maria would always remember, that she heard the first shouts. Time didn't slow down, not like it did in the movies. There was no sudden swell of music or camera pan to show what was happening. She didn't have a sudden epiphany, nor did she see it just a millisecond before it happened. She heard calls of codes that she didn't recognize and jargon that went over her head. She saw Kara's head snap around and Billy drop the camera. Everything was a blur. One minute she was standing on her own to feet, arguing exclusive versus evidence and the next...
"YOU BASTARDS, YOU KILLED HER!" Later toxicology, taken from his right foot, the biggest piece of him found, would reveal that Ian Terrell was on a dangerous mix of alcohol and anti-depressants. But those who watched him then, running towards the still open and occupied Mosque doors, didn't know that. They saw a man, running at full speed with a bag clutched to his chest. It wasn't as dramatic as a dynamite vest, but for a moment everyone froze. "HE'S GOT SOMETHING!" "OH FUCK!" "TAKE HIM DOWN!"
Kara saw him, saw him running towards the Mosque and she knew. She was the closest to him, but she saw it in his eyes, there was no time. She turned, pivoted just like she had trained for all those years and threw Maria and her camera man to the ground. She crouched over them, praying that they would pull through this. Even as the sound ruptured her ear drums and the intense heat licked at her back, she held her position and protected the citizens, the innocent, the woman she loved like she did her own family.
The camera, left lying on the ground, continued to record. It caught, from an awkward sideways angle, the explosion. The blast of fire and the fine spray of blood, the screams, the calls to God and Allah, the shrapnel, the debris. It caught the cowardly running, it caught the heroic pushing others to the ground. It caught the last seconds of precious life and the exact moment when death settled over the unfortunate. The time stamp read only a few seconds before everything fell silent again.
There was a weight on her back. She tried to roll and pushed at it, whatever it was. She managed to get her head up and looked at her palm, it was slick and red with blood. Maria struggled to get up. "Billy?" The man lay still, but he groaned. Panic shot through her and she struggled around. "KARA?" There was a body covering hers, Kara's body. She pushed at it. "KARA?!" There was blood, so much blood. Kara had been wearing her SWAT armor, though. She was okay, she had to be okay. She saw it, Kara's helmet, heavy and black, laying on the ground. "God. God. Oh God." She looked at the woman sprawled on the cement. Other people, officers, were running towards them. One of them, his vest said Lawson, got there first. "Johnson." He fell to his knees beside the fallen woman. Maria watched, horrified, as the man turned ashen. "She's hurt. Kara's hurt. Help her! HELP HER!" Her voice shook and broke. The man looked up, "She's gone." More officers were coming around them. Lawson, his voice choked with tears, hit his radio. "This is Baker Five. We have an Officer Down. Officer Down at 1189 Silvermount." He shook his head, "Send CSI and...and...send the Coroner. That bastard killed Kara Johnson."
Maria heard the words, but she couldn't believe them. "No. No. She's not dead! She's not dead!" She scurried back out from under the other woman and caught her first sight of the scene. Pieces of debris and fire and body parts and there. There was Kara...but the back of her head, she had been hit...she'd have a headache later. Why wasn't she waking up? Why were all the cops there? Why was the one man moving his hands over her, imitating Last Rites? Kara wasn't Catholic, was she? Had she said that out loud? Why were they all staring at her?
The reds, blacks and grays started to blend together and spin. Someone was screaming. As Maria sank into hysterical sobs and then the blackness of a faint, she realized the terrible truth. Kara had died. Who could live with half of their scull missing, protecting her? She had killed her best friend.
The call of Officer Down echoed through the PD and the Crime Lab. Every Patrol Car, every hand held unit, everyone who wore a badge knew, almost immediately, of Kara Johnson's death.