"Steve!"

His desperate plea for his partner was answered by a few curious faces turning around, as Mike pushed several cowboys aside to rush toward the entrance gate of the corral.

From afar, he could see the stocky man in a clown outfit half drag, half carry Steve toward the gate, while a second man distracted the pacing bull by waving his arms frenziedly and yelling insults at the unpredictable bovine. Agitated by the ongoing commotion, the large animal pawed the ground and snorted several times, before taking his attention off the clown and charging at the slender man in the opposite corner of the pen.

Reaching forward, Mike grabbed the metal handle of the entrance gate and opened the panel wide enough for the stocky clown and his precious cargo to clear, before closing it again.

The bald man was panting and breaking out in a sweat, his right hand wrapped around Steve's waist, the left one pulling the young Inspector's limp arm around his massive neck to keep him upright.

"What happened?...Here…let me help…", Mike offered, his eyes running over his partner's dirty tank top, the bloodstain on his jeans and his head dangling lifelessly against the clown's shoulder.

"Beats me.", the man in the red and green checkered costume with the white pants countered and accepted Mike's help, as he carefully lowered the young Inspector to the straw-bedded ground, "Found him wandering around in there. The bull got him once in the leg, might've broken it. Then he just went down. Something ain't right with him…You the cops?"

"I am his partner."

The clown froze in place, looking the Lieutenant up and down before nodding imperceptibly.

Mike fell to one knee, his trained fingers automatically reaching for the side of his partner's neck. The cold touch was enough for Steve to regain a subdued level of consciousness, as he opened his glassy green eyes, focusing on the ceiling above and trying to tilt his head away from Mike's gentle hand.

"Call an ambulance, Dan.", the Lieutenant ordered fleetingly, when he felt Steve's shaky hand reach up aimlessly, looking for his.

"M…ike?"

"It's me, Buddyboy. Help is here. Just take it easy, we're here.", Mike mumbled like a quiet mantra and grabbed his partner's hand with both of his, "Can you tell me what happened? Where's McAllister?"

The red and white bull in the corral next to them came charging up, stopping short of the metal panel where he remained snorting and pawing threateningly. Glancing up at the massive animal for a split second, Mike felt the heat of its breath against his face, as its big black eyes scanned them suspiciously.

When he looked back down, he could see Steve trying to say something but not mustering the strength to do so.

"Stay with me, you gotta stay awake…Steve, stay with me…damnit!"

The young Inspector's watery green eyes began to roll to the back of his head, as his labored breathing slowed considerably; signaling the loss of his battle for consciousness.

Letting go of the now limp hand and gently placing it by his side, Mike leaned forward and put the back of his fingers on his partner's cheek and forehead.

"He feels cold. It's hot in here…He shouldn't feel cold like that."

Next to him, the clown scooted over to make room for Norm, allowing the Armenian detective to take a look at the bleeding wound below Steve's left knee.

"Name's Jeffers. I work here. And you should know that Jordan's missin' too.", the man next to him said worriedly, trying the get Mike's attention away from his partner, "They was supposed to be at the show this evening but they just disappeared. That boy knows better than to walk into the pen with Menace. He looks like he's drugged up to his eyeballs. Somebody must've set the two of 'em up."

Mike nodded in somber agreement, scanning his partner's body for any other injuries hiding beneath the dirt covered clothes, before pointing his chin at the little red dot of blood on Steve's upper arm, where the flannel shirt was ripped to shreds.

"Norm…"

"Pretty slick attempt to make this look like an accident…"the Armenian Inspector breathed, his dark brown eyes meeting those of the Lieutenant, while his hands were still picking at the blood soaked fabric of Steve's jeans, "And they almost succeeded…Not sure if his leg is broken, but there's a good size gash below the knee, probably the horn fileting it wide open. I am not seeing any bone, just tore up flesh, about five, maybe six inches long. Pretty deep though. Dan is coming back; do you want one of us to stay down here with Steve so you can look for McAllister?"

Running a hand through his partner's damp brown hair as he leaned back on his heels, Mike nodded.

"I'd hate to have whoever did this to him try it again…"

Behind the slowly dispersing crowd of curious onlookers, he could see Haley march down the long corridor at a rapid pace, glancing over at the angry bulls peripherally.

"Ambulance will be here in a few minutes. I told dispatch to have our black and whites block off all the exits until McAllister is caught.", the detective explained, his hand playing with his dark brown tie nervously, "How's Steve?"

"He's not going to be able to help us much right now.", Mike sighed and bit his lip deep in thought, "Looks like McAllister has Russel Henderson's daughter with him. He could try to do the same thing to her that he did to Sally."

"Dan and I could start at his office on the top floor and work our way down.", Norm offered determinedly and stood back up, keeping his distance from the waiting bull nearby, "With the exits sealed off, he's not going anywhere."

"Tell you what, folks.", the clown interrupted their discussion and shed out of his brightly colored jacket before gently draping it over Steve, "Why don't y'all go look for McAllister and Jordan. If you really think he's the animal responsible for what happened to Sally, then I want that son of a gun caught before he can do any more harm. I'll stay with the boy, make sure he's alright."

The stocky man sensed the hesitation in Mike's body language, as the Lieutenant glanced back and forth between his detectives for a brief moment, unwilling to leave.

"Don't worry, officer. Him and I've been working quite well together the last few days. Ain't nobody going to mess with your partner while I am here. Heck, ain't nobody gonna to mess with me once I am hot. Not even them bulls."

Mike took a deep breath before cocking his head in gratitude, his hand subconsciously squeezing Steve's shoulder.

"Okay. It's time to go hunting, gentlemen."