~ Chapter completed with assistance from fellow writer Chris Cody ~

Street's eyes were locked on the phone and he swallowed hard, taking a second to register what he had just read. "Uh, um," he slowly spun back to Stevens and Rocker. Not saying anything at first, just looking blankly at them. Stevens saw the look on his face.

"What is it Street?"

Street held out the phone and shook his head. "A taunt, or threat I guess." Rocker took the phone from Street and read it. Before tapping the tech analyst behind him on the shoulder.

"I wanna know everything we can about that text, like yesterday." He said, handing her Streets phone.

"Yes Sir!" she said walking away with it. Rocker followed her,

"I will go update Hicks."

Stevens stepped over and patted Street's shoulder, "Hey, remember you got this guy once, and took down his whole operation. And that was at Long Beach. Now your LAPD Metro SWAT. He is no match for us, we will get them."

"Yeah, but it's not us," he said motioning his hand around, "That I am worried about." Street said, heading out of the room. As he walked in a slight daze, his mind racing he heard Hicks behind him.

"Street?"

"Oh Sir, yeah?" he answered slowly and turned around.

"I hear you have done all you can for now." Hicks said as he stepped to him. "Now," his voice a bit softer, "Please go spend time with my daughter, I know she is scared for you. Rocker will come find you if they get anything."

Street clenched his jaw and nodded, "Ok, thank you Sir." He walked down the hall and pushed open Hick's office door. Molly was sitting in the armchair, holding her phone with headphones on. She looked up and smiled.

"Hey, everything okay?" she said, taking off the headphones and sitting upright.

"Hey, yeah… waiting for the tech guys to come up with something."

Molly blinked and nodded, glancing down. Before she stood up and moved to him. She reached out and took both of his hands. Looking him in the eyes and studying his face. "Are you doing okay though?" She asked softly.

He hugged her into him and wrapped his arms around her. "Yeah, I'm just worried and maybe scared for, for everyone else in my life. Not that that is too many people really but,"

Molly squeezed her arms tighter and looked up at him. "Jim, hey,"

He stopped speaking and looked down at her.

"You are doing everything you can. Everyone is helping and you just need to try and relax a bit." she said smiling at him.

He blinked and nodded slightly, "Yeah, switching off isn't easy when someone is threatening the people you care about."

Molly motioned for him to come and sit on the sofa with her. As he leant back, she rested her head on his chest and held him. He wrapped his arm around her and rested his head on the top of hers.

A few hours passed with no update or news. Street had sat with Molly the whole time and she had fallen asleep on him a while ago. He gently slid out from beneath her and covered her with the throw blanket. He needed to go see what was happening, he couldn't just sit there any longer.

As he slowly and quietly opened Hick's door and stepped out into the hall he almost bumped right into Chris. She was walking in, wearing her civvies, carrying a bag and heading towards the locker room.

"Oh crap, hey, sorry." He said as he stepped back and blinked at her, his voice almost a whisper.

"Hey," Chris said, looking at him, then the office door, then back at him with a confused look. She noted he was in his street clothes too and she wondered what he was doing sneaking out of Hicks office like that.

"What's um, up?" she said, squinting her eyes a bit.

"Oh, ah, Molly is sleeping in there and I need to go find Rocker and see if they found anything, so..."

Chris's furrowed brows and concerned look hadn't registered with Street. She reached up and touched his arm.

"Hey, what? Stop. What is going on? Did I miss something?" She said.

Street suddenly realised she didn't know what had happened. She was just arriving for a normal shift start.

"Oh, yeah, um, walk with me and I'll explain." He said as he motioned down the hall. As they walked, he explained about the guy in the helmet, the threats from Pullbrook and what had happened since he came back to HQ.

As they reached the doors to the tech lab, she stopped him. "Hey, are you okay?" Her eyes danced around his face as she tried to read him.

"Um, yeah. I just need to know what they have found and …" his words were cut off by Rocker opening the door. He had a look on his face that immediately sent Streets heart to the floor.

"What? What is it?" Street said nervously watching Rocker.

Rocker motioned for them both to follow him. "Pullbrook just made his play, but I don't think he knows we all know, so we gotta act fast."

Street tapped Rocker's arm, "Wait, what play?"

Rocker stopped and passed Street back his phone. Street looked at the screen, a video cued and ready to play. He tapped the play icon and stood glued to the screen, Chris at his side watching intently with him. The camera slowly moved up to show Buck Spivey tied to a chair in a darkened room. Street held his breath, swallowing with a gulp as his dimples flared and jaw muscles twitched. Buck was clearly injured, and he honestly didn't look to be in good shape. The video ended. It had no sound, no other message. Just the footage of Buck. Street's hands shook a little and Chris gently took the phone and squeezed his other hand. "Hey, Street," she said urging him to look at her. He slowly moved his eyes to hers.

"We got this," she said. The fear she could see in him scared the hell out of her. Rocker spoke again as he patted Street's shoulder.

"Come on, Hicks wants us to brief 20 David." He said nodding at Chris, "Both teams are on this".

Street couldn't remember walking up to the situation room with Rocker and Chris. His mind was a complete mess. He vaguely registered Deacon's hand on his shoulder as his voice snapped him back,

"Hey, we are all here for you Street. Whatever you need. You doing ok?" Deacon asked looking him in the eyes.

"Um, thanks and no not really. I want this son of a bitch. I want to be out there with you all. I…." He went to continue to speak, but Hicks voice made him pause.

"Ok, 20 David," Hicks began pointing to Hondo, who was busy talking with Rocker behind them, "You are on Buck. Tech has given us everything they can from the video message and Deac will walk you through what they have. 50 David your staying put for now, continuing to follow leads here."

Street's eyes darted around 20 David who had just assembled at the other end of the table, around Deacon and the iPad. They were all concentrating and listening to the information, but Chris felt his eyes and glanced at him. She turned up her mouth into a smile and nodded as if to tell him that they've got this. That it's ok. But she could see the fear and anger all over him and that scared her. When he was like this, he was unpredictable. He briefly returned her forced smile and motioned at her to meet him in the corridor when they were done. Chris again nodded and held up her finger for him to wait.

Street wandered out and leant against the wall. He was trying every trick he knew to remain calm and let go of the emotion. He knew that being all wound up like this was not helping anyone. As he lowered his head and closed his eyes counting his breaths, he felt her hand on his arm.

"Hey, you ok?" She said softly.

He looked up slowly and as soon as his eyes met hers, she had her answer. Even though things between them lately had been all over the shop and messy she could still read him completely in moments like this.

"Jim," She whispered, frowning at him. "I get it, I get your angry, scared and all of that, but Deac was right. You gotta let us and 50 David handle it. You have done all you can for now and we will do everything we can to get Buck back." Street glanced away from her, his dimples and lips twisted as the frustration showed on his face. "Why don't you go back to Molly and we will keep you updated?" Chris instantly hated mentioning Molly. It made a jealousy which she honestly hated to admit was there flare up. She closed her eyes after saying it and looked down briefly to regain her composure.

"Not as easy as just turning off a switch Chris." He almost hissed as he looked back at her. She sighed and tilted her head a bit.

"Yeah, I .."

"Chris let's roll… we got something…" Hondo's voice called and stifled her next comment.

She patted his arm and locked eyes again, as she stepped back and began to turn to follow Hondo.

"Chris, wait." He said reaching out for her arm. "Keep me updated…..please!" he begged her. She nodded and twitched her lips, and with that she was gone.

Street headed back inside the situation room to see what they had and where 20 David were off to. As he stood watching the screens and glancing about the information, Benny stood beside him.

"So, we found an address connected to Pullbrook in Hollywood. Uni's are watching the house. At least 4 suspects. No sign of Buck yet, but 20 David are checking it out now." He said pointing to the screen showing Black Betty on the map moving through the Streets of LA. "We are ready to roll if they need us." Benny patted Streets shoulder.

"Thanks man." Street nodded.

"Hey, Buck, is family for all of us here, but I won't pretend to know how you feel. I know he was like a father to you. We will find him. Try not to worry."

Street knew Benny was only trying to make him feel better. But if one more person patted his shoulder and said, "It's going to be ok, we got this," he was going to scream. He felt so useless. Rocker walked over and stood on the other side of him, handing him a headset.

"Let's see what they find." He said nodding to the bigger screen as he flicked up the body cam footage live from 20 David. Street could see Chris and Tan preparing to exit Black Betty as, Luca's familiar,

"Rolling up in 10," call came through the headset.

Street inhaled hard and blew his breath out slowly. Even though he wasn't out there with them, that adrenaline rush as a mission begins still hit him hard. He felt Rocker glance at him, like he was checking he was ok. Street ignored it and focused on the screen.

Hondo signalled the team to their places. Tan prepared to make entry through the front with the battering ram as Luca, Chris, Deac and Hondo lined up either side. As Tan went to swing the ram into the door the scene went crazy. Bullets flew through the front of the house as Hondo's voice to find cover, made Street flinch and hold his breath in fear. Suspects had opened fire on them, and they were scrambling for cover.

Bits of plaster, wood, glass and debris flew through the air and Chris's ears were ringing. Her and Tan had managed to crouch behind a nearby tree as they watched Luca take cover below the edge of the veranda and Hondo and Deac return fire as they moved back to the fence line and crouched behind the brick fence. Within seconds they had seen Hondo signal and as there was a break in the gunshots from the house, they made their move. Chris leant out from behind the tree and took out a suspect in the front room who stood reloading his gun. Several single shots came back out of the house as voices began yelling. Luca, Deac and Hondo covered Tan and Chris to move to the door and were quickly behind them.

"LAPD Metro SWAT!" Chris and Tan yelled as they entered the hallway and began to sweep rooms. Deac and Luca peeled off left and right.

"Chris! Gun!" Tan's voice echoed as Street, Rocker and Benny watched her go down.

She couldn't breathe. Her ears seemed to stop working, her brain struggled from a lack of oxygen and her chest was numb and not working properly. She lay gasping for a few moments as Tan was at her side,

"24 David down, I repeat I need an RA, Officer down!" He radioed in.

"Let me see Chris," he yelled. Street held his breathe and swallowed hard. His heart had frozen as he waited for more. He didn't really register Rocker place a hand on his shoulder.

"Ok, you're good, it just hit the vest, you're ok." Tan yelled pulling on her. "Get up, come on you're ok."

Street breathed a little relieved, but he could still see how it affected her. She could barely hold her pistol and move her feet as Tan almost dragged her along the hall.

"Put it down!" Luca's voice was followed by several shots as he fired at a suspect. Hondo was quickly at his side,

"On your stomach face down NOW!" Hondo yelled at the other suspect, who stood looking at his dead friend, he dropped his gun and laid down. Luca kicked it away and cuffed him, but by the time they had cleared the rest of the house, the other suspect was gone. Chris was trying to breathe; she shook her head and thumped a near by wall.

"Hey, we will get him." Tan said.

Chris didn't answer just frowned. Hondo helped her outside to the waiting ambulance and made her get checked out. Then he radioed it all in that there was no sign of Buck, but they had taken a suspect into custody for questioning and two others were dead.

Street handed Rocker the head set and walked out of the room. He needed a minute. Rocker nodded at him knowingly. Street walked, his body tense, towards the kitchen. He swung open the door, letting it bang loudly then close with a thud. He leant on the steel bench and dropped his head between his arms.

'This is all my fault. If I hadn't chosen to do that undercover work back in Long Beach, Buck wouldn't be in danger and Chris wouldn't have been hurt!"

He thumped his fist on the table and looked up at the roof. 'I gotta help, there must be something I can do.' In that moment he pulled out the phone in his pocket.

'Maybe I should go see Pullbrook. Set up a meet, try to fix this.'

Of course, he was not thinking clearly. He knew doing that was the worst idea ever. He knew that Hicks would kill him, he would be fired from SWAT, probably the whole department. His inner conscious voice was working and screaming at him. As he continued to argue with his own mind, Rocker came in to grab a water.

"Hey,"

"Oh hey," Street answered still leaning over the table.

"You know, Hondo would probably let you help question the suspect they are bringing in." Rocker said taking a sip of the water.

"Yeah, maybe." Street didn't look up. Rocker approached.

"I know this is driving you crazy not being out there 'helping' but you are helping, being here and giving us insight into Pullbrook and the crew he might be with. We will get to him."

Street suddenly remembered something. He looked up at Rocker and a smile grew on his face.

"You ah..." he began to turn and walk away. "You just reminded me about a journal I used to write in. Let me get it.. it might help." Street almost ran out to the garage. He grabbed the keys to a charger and drove out towards Luca's. That journal should still be in that old box he keeps. He was so focused on getting it, he didn't stop to think about telling anyone he was leaving HQ. Driving along the interstate towards his exit he hadn't even noticed the van that had tailed him since HQ. He got off at his exit and swung the charger down Luca's street. He pulled up, got out and ran inside. Rummaging through his cupboard he found the box. Flicking off the lid he saw the old journal,

'Yes!" he said to himself as he stood up and ran back outside. He unlocked the charger, opened the door, threw the journal on the seat and was about to slide in when he felt the barrel of a gun press against his neck.

"Shut the door, walk to the van and do it now!"

Street realised that this was Pullbrooks crew. That they must have followed him. He felt so stupid for coming alone.

"Okay, okay, I am." He said raising his hands and using all of his training to assess his options. As he slowly turned, he counted 5 guys. All with guns aimed at him. He knew he should just go with them. Leave the charger. They will find it and figure it out, he hoped.

One of the men grabbed his hands, while another shut the door. They pushed him towards the back of the van. The main thing worrying Street was how long until they noticed he was gone.

'Shit, Hicks will be pissed. He told me not to leave HQ.'

Street felt his phone buzz in his pocket. 'They can't have figured it out that fast,' he thought. He manoeuvred himself so that he could try and get it out without being seen. As he did, it began ringing. The closest man reached into his pocket and pulled out the phone.

"Who is Chris?" he said turning it to show Street.

"She um, is my partner. If I don't answer that she will know something is wrong and will be here any second looking for me. Let me tell her its okay and I'm on my way back."

The man scowled a little. "Fine, but I put it on speaker. No funny business!"

"The man answered it and held out the phone."

"Hey Chris, so listen can you let Hondo know that I am just about to leave Luca's with the book and head back into HQ…" he was talking fast and the tone in his voice instantly made Chris listen. She had stepped away briefly from Black Betty to call him and tell him about what happened here when she realised something was wrong. Why was he not still at HQ and what was he talking about?

"Oh ok, I will let the boss know," Chris said as calmly as she could walking up to Hondo, waving her hand at him for him to listen, she put it on speaker and held it out. She could hear the sounds of the traffic on Streets end, yet he had just told her he was still at Luca's.

"Thanks."

"Hey um, he will want to know how many reports you still have open?" She said hoping that Street would read into that question 'how many men are with you?"

"Five, just five, but they are the big ones you know." He hoped like hell that she would read into his answer, 'five heavily armed men'.

Hondo motioned for her to keep the line open as long as possible as Tan tapped away on the computer trying to ping the signal.

"Yeah, um ….. Which report is the biggest priority?" She asked hoping he could give her more.

"Ah, probably the one I was working on last. It's kind of pertinent you know." He chuckled. "I still need to chase up some leads, the vehicle, the black substance and the 15mile search radius."

The man holding Streets phone signalled at him to end the call. Street just hoped Chris new he was in a black vehicle within 15miles of Luca's.

"Ok, got it." Chris nodded as she saw Deac writing it down.

"Ok gotta go." Street said.

"See you soon." Chris said with emotion in her voice that told him to hang on they were coming.

Tan waved his hand showing them he had a location on Streets phone. They were moving south on the interstate, travelling fast.

"Get HQ to send as many units as they can and get me some eyes in the sky!" Hondo said climbing back into Black Betty and shutting the door.

Back at HQ, Rocker and Hicks stood deep in conversation.

"What the hell was he thinking?" Hicks said turning to Rocker and flapping his arms.

"He wasn't….no actually he was, but it was Buck, not anything else." Rocker answered, a bit of compassion filling his voice.

Hicks shook his head, he was clearly pissed, but also worried. "Now I've gotta tell Molly that her boyfriend has been taken by these guys and we don't know where he is".