Alison woke in the bed, glancing over at the clock. It was 10 in the morning. She thought she would have slept longer. It had been another rough night. Granted, all of the nights were ruff. A noise came from the closet, causing her to tense. She looked to the right side of the bed. It was still made the way she left it when she came up to take her nap.
"Greg, what's going on?" Alison called out. She reached to the side of the bed, where she hid a knife. Greg ran out of the closet, shoving close into his go-bag. She relaxed, letting go of the knife so he wouldn't see it.
"Mac just called there was a shooting." Alison shot out of bed, following him as he made his way down to the main floor.
"Who was it."
"It was from Jessica Angell. I'm going to help Stella clear the scene so Mac can be with Flack." Alison tilted her head, and Greg closed his eyes. "Flack and Angell were dating. It started while you were going." She nodded.
"Go, I'll be fine." Greg hesitated a moment before grabbing his cane and heading out the door. Alison closed her eyes, processing the silence. She was alone for the first time since he took her. She bounced on her heels. She was going to be okay. Greg was going to be fine.
Greg looked down at the bloodstain. He hears someone approaching. Glancing up, he spotted Stella walking over. She had gone to talk to Mac and see how Jessica was doing.
"She's tough, Greg. She'll pull through." Greg returned to picking up evidence since they had already taken all the pictures.
"Nine Millimeter standard issue. She went down fighting." He shook his head. "Emptied her clip." Stella bent down where she stood.
"Got a .50 caliber hollow point. Found a bunch of .45's over there."
"These guys weren't fooling around." Lindsey and Hawkes walked in carrying extra equipment.
"The Witness said the same thing," Lindsey explained. "Truck comes barreling through. Two guys dressed in all black get out." She faltered slightly at the blood in the ground where Jessica had been shot. "two others follow them inside."
"The Two from the truck start firing." Hawkes continues. "The other two made a beeline for Conner Dunbrook. Took him hostage." Stella shook her head. "Smash and grab."
"Once they grabbed him, they fled to a black hummer. That was waiting outside no plates," Lindsey finished, and Greg got to his feet.
"Hawkes, where did it go." He asked.
"Took off down Tilery made a right on Flatbush. We've got every officer in the city looking for that car." Greg looked down at his notes.
"Connor was due to testify against his father in the grand jury today." Stella nodded.
"If his son decided to testify against him, Dunbrook has all the motive and certainly the means to pull this off."
"And the transfer to the courthouse was probably the only opportunity." Greg looked around them at the smashed in a diner. "Without any physical evidence, all the motives in the world isn't going to do us any good. We need to find something that connects Dunbrook to the gunmen."
"Man, there's got to be an easier way." Hawkes said, pointing at the tuck in the middle of the diner." Greg looked over at Stella, and she nodded.
"Right, Lindsey, you and I will take ballistics."
"Hawkes, you take the truck. Anything that can give us a name or location. If Dunbrook's behind this, he's still in the city, and he's waiting for the ones who did this."
Alison walked slowly down the hallway of the hospital. Her heart was pounding in her ears. She gripped the small lockpick in her coat pocket while the music played in her headphones. She rounded the corner and stopped spotting Flack. He was standing by the nurse's desk, waiting for new on Jessica. She walked up to him. Lifting her hand, she tentatively placed it on his arm. Flack turned, looking at her, his eyes growing wide at the sight of her.
"Al, what are you doing here." She lowered her hand, smiling.
"I didn't want you to be by yourself. Greg told me about you and Jessica." Flack blushed slightly.
"Thank you." He wiped his eyes, turning back to the door that was in the direction of the surgery floor. "They wouldn't tell me anything. It's been over an hour." Alison stood next to him, breathing in the emotions that ran through her.
"They will be here any minute." Almost as if on cue, the door opened, and a doctor walked out. The look on her face told Alison everything. She had seen it once before. When she and her family were waiting to hear about Joe. Flack stiffened as if bracing for a strong wave.
"Detective Flack." The doctor started.
"Yes."
"I'm sorry we did everything we could, but the damage was too severe. Angell passed away in surgery." He swayed slightly, and Alison and the Doctor grabbed his arms, leading him over to an empty set of chairs in a quiet corner.
"Can you give us a minute?" Alison said to the doctor, looking at her friend. He was staring out into the distance. The doctor left with a final stamen of condolences before it was just the two of them.
"You'll need to get her clothes. They'll need them for evidence." Alison gave a sad smile grabbing his hand.
"I'm not here to work; I'm here for you. I'll call Mac and see if he can come and get them." Flack nodded. His body was shaking as he fought back the tears that threatened to overtake him. Alison took her headphones out, focusing on him and not the terrible noises that surrounded her.
Greg sat in the conference room with Mac and Stella. They were able to clear Dunbrook. His son was currently being held for ransom by some military-grade team somewhere on the island. His phone rang, and he excused himself. Ducking into an empty hallway, he answers it.
"Ally, can this wait? I'm" She cut him off.
"Jessica is dead." Greg slammed his and against the wall. "She died in surgery."
"Did Flack call you?"
"No, I'm at the hospital." Greg paused at that.
"Are you alright? I mean with the noise?"
"It doesn't matter; I need to be here. You should go. I just wanted you to know."
"Thanks, Ally." Greg hung the phone up, walking back into the conference room. Mac looked at his face shaking his head.
"She didn't make it did she?"
"No." Mac nodded as Greg took his seat. "Detective Angell was an excellent cop and a good friend. She died trying to protect the kid. We need to do everything we can to find him." Messer and Lindsey burst through the door. Lindsey handed over a tablet.
"I have something that might help narrow down the locations of where they are his son is being held. We isolated two very distinct elements mixed in the sediment from the tire treads we got from the shop. High concentrations of aluminum oxide and traces of chlorinated rubber paint are used outdoors, mainly on bridges and ships. Dunbrook Sandblasting also uses it. Now it's also one of the companies under contract with the city of New York to repaint the Williamsburg Bridge, and the color is a match to the chips we recovered from the tires. On top of that, the chips were layered. So must have driven over it several times. So there is a pretty good chance that Connor is somewhere in that neighborhood."
"Now, all we need is an abandoned building with some infected bats," Greg said, looking over one of the reports. Messer snapped his fingers.
"I just uploaded information on that." He pointed at the map on the main screen. "Infected bats were found here, and the Army used this building as off-base housing for Fort Hamilton. It was abandoned a few months back." Mac slammed his hand on the table.
"Sanders, get hold of ESU. Stella, Grab our people we'll Tac up at the precinct in 30 minutes."
Greg walked into the old house. There were no lights on as they had not been installed yet. So the only light the entered the house came from the city lights. He made is his way to the back. They had been able to catch the men who had killed Angel. The kid she had died protecting had made it to court. Everything had worked out. Well, almost everything. Flack sat on a bucket by the window. A beer left forgotten at his feet.
"My last conversation with her was about breakfast," Flack called out, not bothering to look at Greg while he sat on the bucket next to him.
"She called me to talk while they waited for their food to arrive. I wish…I wish I would have said something. I don't know something meaning full."
"The last thing she heard was your voice." The words were hollow. Greg didn't know what to do.
"Messer's is on his way over. You should get back to Alison. I'll be alright." Greg did want to see how she was doing. She had spent the day at the hospital and the rest at home alone.
"It can wait. She went home with Frank after she left the hospital." Falck nodded.
"I wouldn't have asked her to come, you know that, right." Greg patted his shoulder.
"Alison wanted to be there."
"But."
"Don't worry about Alison. She will be fine."
Alison sat at the kitchen table, holding a cup of tea close to her chest. Silent, the house was silent apart from the clock in the corner. But to Alison, she was surrounded by noise. Her mind was spinning around her with flashes of memories. She gripped the mug tighter as her mussels tensed.
"Alison." The voice called out to her, pulling her from her mind. Looking around, Alison's eyes locked with her dad's.
"Did I wake you?" She whispered out. Frank walked over to the coffee pot. "No, I was up filling out paperwork that I didn't get to today." Alison watched him. He was careful in how he acted around her. She could feel it in the way that he didn't look at her.
"Greg is on his way over. I was just waiting for him." Frank glanced at her, and that look told everything. "I didn't tell Greg that I was going to the hospital. I knew that he would have someone go with me or come himself. I needed to do this. Flack has always been there for Greg for this family. I wanted to be there for him." Frank walked over, sitting down next to her.
"I was on my way there." Alison nodded, taking a sip of her tea.
"Yeah. But I was there when he got the news. No one should find out alone." Frank moved to grab her hand that was resting on the table. Before he could, Alison pulled it to her chest, flinching. Frank pressed his lip tight together, giving her a small smile. "I'm sorry." He smiled.
"Don't be you had a long day. I'm going to finish my coffee and then go up to read." Alison nodded, guilt slipping in. She wanted everything to be normal. Not the normal she had when she was a child, but the normal she had last year.
"Thanks, Dad." She reached over and grabbing his hand. Frank squeezed her hand.
"Anything for you, Alison."
