Anger flashed through her so suddenly, that she shook with it. It was white hot. It was a roaring fire. What caused it? Him. She knew he wasn't the source of the corruption, but he had shot the one person she cared most about in the world.
Anger drove her to yank her gun violently from its holster, and raise it. She wasn't thinking about the repercussions. She wasn't thinking about that if she killed him, she would lose her only lead to the source of the corruption, snaking its way through the police force.
Her hands were shaking, along with the rest of her body. How dare he target her partner?
She could see him out of the corner of her eye. He was on the ground. Blood had splattered the pavement. Did Harraway have armor piercing bullets?! She couldn't afford to look at OA long enough to determine. She had to assume he did.
The truth was, he was targeting anyone who got too close to the truth. Since the bureau had taken over the investigation, they'd been getting targeted, along with the police. They were smart, slowly manipulating and police officers, and then the bureau. Using them as puppets to cause further destruction. She didn't know who they were. Nobody did. Harraway was just a victim of this manipulation.
But now, she didn't care. He was trying to kill OA. And the sheer anger of seeing him fully intent on killing her partner drove her to fire. One shot got his left arm. Her aim was being thrown off by her shaking hands. She willed them to still, but it didn't work.
OA got out of the way at surprising speed considering his injury. Now that she had opened fire, Harraway had much bigger things to worry about, rather than make sure OA stayed put. She kept firing as he turn and ran.
They had him cornered in an alley. That's what she thought had made him open fire in the first place. He was like a caged animal. Panicked, and ready to use any means needed to escape.
Maggie wasn't thinking about being careful. She wasn't thinking at all. She was protecting her partner.
He ran for it, backing up against the end of the alley. He turned and fired. She returned it.
Click.
She had run out of bullets. She threw the gun at him instead. He leapt to the right, crashing through a door. He'd taken the blow with his shoulder. Maggie knew how much that hurt from past experiences. She gave chase. Without a weapon.
She chased him blindly. The building seemed to be abandoned. She chased him up several flights of stairs. Her earpiece came out at some point, she didn't remember where.
The roof. No. If he jumped…she'd loose her only lead. That only just now was occurring to her. Keep him alive at all costs. She could hear the door open, and then slam shut. She didn't have enough time to stop. She ran directly into it, and fell back. It took her several seconds to regain her bearings.
When she did shove the door open, she saw Harraway still running flat out, straight towards the edge.
"No!" She screamed, but knew there was no way she'd catch up with him.
He turned just as he reached the edge.
Very fast mental calculations told her he had one bullet left.
She tried to duck, but stumbled instead. Probably from sheer exhaustion. Running up stairs was twice as hard as regular running, at least to her.
Bang.
The bullet struck her just above her vest.
At first, she felt nothing at all. It was like time had skidded to a halt.
She watched him drop the gun, and then turn and jump over the railing as she sank to her knees.
Desperately pulling at her vest, she heard the crash and car horns of Harraway's body hitting the street below.
The sheer shock of the injury caught up to her in seconds. She fell onto her side. That didn't hurt either; her body had become totally paralyzed from the shock. She couldn't even catch herself.
Dizziness joined the paralysis as her head hit the concrete.
The pain caught up with her seconds later.
It was like someone had set off a firework inside her. She couldn't see. She couldn't breathe. She couldn't even feel the concrete she was lying on. She could only feel the pain shooting through her like fire.
Her breath came in gasps that set off more pain.
Make it stop, she thought to herself. Please.
She was shaking from the shock, and cold.
More than anything, she wished at least OA was ok.
This was the end of the road for her, she knew it. She was at peace with it. She let her eyes fall closed on their own. She didn't want to be found with her eyes open and staring at nothing.
It felt like hours, but was actually only seconds later when she passed out.
———————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————
OA pressed a hand to his side. The wound was minor. The bullet had just grazed him, right underneath his vest. He breathed a sigh of relief. Partly because he had been afraid for a moment that it had gone through his vest, meaning Harraway had armor piercing bullets. But, he didn't. That was good.
He looked up. Harraway had him at gunpoint. OA still had his gun in his hand. It was too low to make a kill shot, but he refused to drop it anyway, which was clearly what Harraway wanted. If he did, he'd lose what little power over the situation he had left.
Silently, he regretted splitting up with Maggie.
But, she found him surprisingly fast. He heard her footsteps. But, so did Harraway. They both turned to face her.
Harraway seemed unsure, all of a sudden. OA quickly realized what had made him stop.
Even he was scared as he saw the look on his partner's face. Anger. So strong it was blinding her. He knew her well enough to tell when her emotions overrode her mind. And this was one of those times.
"Maggie…" he warned, but was quickly stopped as she yanked her gun from her holster with way more force than was needed, and fired at Harraway. He got out of the way, trying to shield himself from the bullets that now flew in every direction. She was blindsided by her anger. And there was nothing he could do about it. Unless he could get close enough to her to talk her down. But that would be a huge risk he wasn't willing to take. She could shoot him by accident.
He waited until the fire ceased to stand. They were gone. His worry turned to fear when he saw Maggie's discarded gun. Closer inspection showed it was out of bullets.
Glancing to the right, he saw an open door.
"Maggie?" He said, hoping he could get communication with her over the wire. Nothing.
"What's going on? Where are you?!" He said frantically, running into the building.
Bang. The single gunshot made him run even faster, checking each floor as he went. Maggie didn't have her gun. He didn't want to think about what that meant.
The building had clearly been abandoned a while ago. He was still clearing each floor one by one when he heard the crash.
He tried to reach her several more times without response. The silence scared him more than the shot or the crash.
When he saw her, lying on the ground, in a pool of blood, he had never been more scared. He called for an ambulance as he ran to her.
"Maggie?" He asked as he reached her. She didn't stir. He put a hand on her shoulder. It was cold. He checked her pulse. It was there, but faint. He turned her onto her back, and saw her vest had been pulled halfway off. He took it off the rest of the way, and then he saw it. The wound in her upper chest. Right above her vest. She was bleeding out at an alarming rate.
"Ok, ok. I got you." He said, even though she couldn't hear him. He pressed a hand against the wound, and kept his other hand on her neck. "I'm right here. Can you hear me? I'm—I'm right here." His voice was breaking.
It was then he noticed her pulse had disappeared.
She was gone. Just like that. He felt a piece of himself die, right along with her.
He knew. By the time the ambulance arrived, it'd be too late. But, he stayed next to her. He didn't hear the sirens. But, he did hear someone burst through the door and onto the rooftop. He turned to see a red-haired woman. No partner. Didn't paramedics work in teams?
She insisted OA step back.
After a few minutes, she stood.
"I'm sorry. She's gone."
"Isn't there anything you can do?"
"It's too late. Taking her to a hospital won't make much of a difference. Can you carry her down?"
Right. They were going to take her for an autopsy. The thought of someone cutting into his partner's body make him feel sick.
"Yeah. Sure." He said. He didn't want anyone else touching her, at least while he was around.
He picked her up gently and carefully. When he reached the alley again, he saw Isobel, Tiffany, and Stuart were already there. They only had to take one look at him to know.
Tiffany let out a sob. He'd never seen her break down. But, at that moment, he didn't particularly care. Stuart pulled her close to him. OA glanced towards the ambulance.
"In here." The paramedic said softly, and gestured to the ambulance. He didn't question it. They didn't even turn sirens on as they pulled out.
Maybe, if OA hadn't been so lost in his grief, he would've realized her body should've stayed on the rooftop until the forensics team had documented the scene. He would've realized paramedics worked in pairs, not alone. But, he didn't. None of them did.
To OA, it felt like the end. Only one glance at his colleagues told him they felt the same way.
This was it. This was the end of everything as he knew it.
…Or was it?
AN- I bet you all are wondering; did I really kill off Maggie? I guess you'll have to wait and find out! ;-)