"Surrender, Sawyer. It's time to call it quits. Backup is arriving as we speak. Davis is in custody and Cassidy is dead. Stop now before you make things worse!"
Hidden beneath the protective cover of a pine tree, his index finger curled around the trigger of the .38, Mike peeked his head around the trunk, trying to make out Sawyer's exact location in the maze of the dense forest.
With his senses on full alert, his heart hammering in his chest, he waited until he saw the barrel of a revolver stick out from behind an old pine tree, split down the middle by a bolt of lightning quite a while ago but still standing despite missing half its bark and all of its needles.
Not long after the barrel appeared, Sawyer shot at him again, wasting precious ammo with his lack of proper aim, a benefactor Mike tried to take full advantage of.
"You can't be that dense.", he instigated, hoping the other man would lose his cool and make mistakes, "Did you hear what I just said? Davis is in custody. Cassidy is dead. The moment we take him to the courthouse, Davis is going to sing like a little songbird, getting you and Mahoney indicted, probably passing all the blame onto you two guys to get a lenient sentence. If you think for one second that he's your buddy, you are dead wrong. Davis is his own man; he'll do what's best for him and railroad you and Mahoney the moment he gets a chance. He's done it before, he will do it again."
Quietness ensued and Mike was hoping that he might finally get through to Sawyer, only to hear him reload the revolver all over again, then fire two shots in his general direction, missing him by a mile.
"Think about it, Morris…", he tried again, carefully glancing around the trunk, "You're the only firefighter in this group. You're amongst a bunch of cops who know how to bend the rules. You relied on them to keep you safe but you lost out. They'll throw you under the bus so fast that you won't even get a word out before you're sent to Q' for the rest of your days. But you can change that, you know? You can change that by surrendering now; give everyone a chance to hear your side of the story. You'll still have to pay for what you did, but there's a chance…and you deserve to give yourself that chance, Morris!"
This time his answer was that of rapid footsteps moving away from his direction and deeper into the woods. Sighing in frustration, Mike pulled away from his protective cover, taking a step out in the open before firing a warning shot in the air, then aiming his .38 at Sawyer.
"Stay right where you are!", he ordered calmly, seeing the whites in the eyes of the disgraced firefighter from his distance, "Where is Mahoney?"
"We split quite a while ago. He thought it'd be easier to find…to find the girl if we split."
Keeping his gun steady as he approached one step at a time, Mike took in his surroundings, fully expecting Sawyer to lie if it meant getting his sorry head out of the sling.
"How long ago was that?", the seasoned Lieutenant pried further, maneuvering the uneven terrain like a tiger stalking its prey, avoiding the occasional rocks and branches in his way as he approached the other man, "And what firepower does he have on him?"
"Ah…ehm…maybe ten minutes ago? I know he has a revolver on him. Not sure if there's more…"
Grunting dissatisfied, Mike pointed his chin at the other man's outstretched hand, still holding the .38.
"Drop the gun. Then take a step back. Then put your hands behind your head. Nice and slow."
Ignoring the cold breeze still blowing through the woods and chilling him to the bone, Mike watched the other man crouch down, gently reaching out his arm to place the gun in a spot right in front of him.
Following the move intently, he swallowed hard, worried about Mahoney still out and about, the detective's crazy streak well known around the department. There was no telling what the man could do in his heightened state of aggravation.
And then suddenly, it happened.
Mike had almost expected the move, almost.
But part of him had held on to the hope that Sawyer would know better than to do something stupid, that he'd be the one guy from this group of terror that would make the right choice if cornered.
Instead, the fire fighter quickly straightened out again, darted to the left to avoid getting shot at and fired two rounds at Mike. Except the Lieutenant was faster, his bullet hitting the tall African American man in the center of the chest, killing him instantly.
Unfortunately, without cover, one of Sawyer's shots finally came close enough to its intended target, sending Mike crashing violently to the ground, blood seeping from a deep wound near his stomach.