Reaching the second floor, Steve moved down the corridor, un-holstering his weapon as he neared Henderson's one room apartment door. Reaching the door, he lifted his leg and kicked it open as he yelled, "Five 0!"
The sound of cursing and running feet instantly warned Steve that the murder suspect was making a break for it, probably down the fire escape. Quickly barging into the apartment, Steve was just in time to see the terrified looking face of the man, he and Danny had been searching for the last four days, look at him through the window before disappearing out of view. Racing across to the window, he leaned out and looked down the metal ladder fire escape only to see Henderson leap from the bottom of the ladder and onto the ground, glancing up at him as he yelled, "Danny! He's coming your way!" Climbing out the window , he jumped down to the ground, landing on his hands and knees just as Henderson disappeared out of view around the side of the building and into the alleyway where Danny was waiting.
Confident that Danny would stop their desperate fugitive as Henderson rounded the side of the building, Steve pushed himself up onto his feet and began to run towards the alley. His heart momentarily froze in his chest as he heard the sound of a single gunshot coming from the alleyway. With an extra surge of speed, he ran to the corner of the building with his gun ready for any trouble that he might encounter. Casting a quick glance around the side of the building, his chest tightened with fear when he saw the motionless body of his partner lying face down on the wet, litter strewn ground.
Steve quickly scanned the dimly lit alley before he cautiously stepped into the alleyway and forcing himself to momentarily ignore the body of his partner, he quickly searched for any potential threats or hidden dangers, but other than Danny, the alley was empty. Henderson was gone.
Re-holstering his gun, he turned and ran back to where Danny was lying. Crouching down, he found himself staring at Danny's bloodied face and head and the burgundy red puddle that was beginning to pool beneath his partner's head and shoulders. A head shot!
Pressing his trembling fingers against the side of Danny's neck as he desperately tried to feel for a pulse. He sighed a soft breath of relief as he felt a weak thump underneath his fingertips. Stripping off his shirt, he quickly bunched it up and pressed it against the side of Danny's head, trying to stem the bleeding as he whispered, his voice shaking, "It's okay, Danny. I've got you, Buddy, I've got you. You're going to be okay."
H50 H50 H50 H50
Carefully opening the back door that led into the kitchen, Sammy poked his head inside and quickly looked around. The kitchen was empty, and he could hear the television on in the living room, and by the sound of the theme music that he heard playing, he knew his mother had just settled down for to watch her show, Days of Our Lives, he thought it was called. He frowned, he didn't understand what was so interesting about it, The Simpsons was so much better, but he did know his mother would be more interested in her television show than what he and Tommy were doing.
Waving at Tommy to let him know the coast was clear, he pushed the door fully open, pausing only long enough to wipe his feet so he would not leave dirty footprints on his mother's clean floor. Quickly crossing the kitchen, he hid the gun behind his back before he pushed the swinging doors to the living room open and tried to casually saunter, behind the sofa where his mother was sitting watching her show, towards the stairs that led upstairs to the bedrooms, with Tommy trailing close behind.
"What are you two boys up to?"
He froze at his mother's question, pressing the gun harder against his back in an attempt to conceal it better as he stopped and slowly turned towards her, "Umm, nothing, mom, just …just ridin' our bikes. We stayed in the street just like you told us."
Frowning at her son's guilty answer, Jane turned and looked over her shoulder, pinning him with her famous 'I know you are lying' stare and narrowing her eyes as she asked, "Okay, just where did the two of you go?"
"Nowhere, honest, Mrs Wakefield, we just rode up and down the street like ya told us," Tommy interrupted, giving his friend's mom the best innocent look that he could do.
"Ah ha," Jane's eyes narrowed a little more, watching the two boys with suspicion, as Sammy eagerly nodded, a little too fast, agreeing with Tommy.
"See, I told ya, Mom," Sammy rushed on as he edged towards the stairs, his hands held behind his back as he asked, "Can we go now? We want to go upstairs and play the PlayStation."
Eyeing the two boys for a few more minutes, Jane finally nodded as she turned back towards the television, calling over her shoulder as she heard the two boys run up the carpeted stairs, "Try not to make too much noise. Remember, Sammy, dad's on night duty, so don't you go waking him up."
"Okay, Mom." Sammy called down as he reached the top of the stairs before he turned and ran across to his bedroom, closing the door firmly behind him after Tommy followed him in.
"How are you going to put the gun back now? You heard your mom, your dad's asleep." Tommy asked, watching as Sammy hurried across to his bed and carefully put the gun down onto it.
"It's okay, mom always says to be quiet and not to wake dad up when he's sleepin' during the day. But I heard her tell grandma that dad can sleep through an earthquake, and luckily nothin', not even me and my friends playing can wake him up." Sammy told his friend as he turned and hurried across to his dresser and opened one of the drawers before pulling out a clean tee-shirt and returning to the bed. "And I got the gun out of his drawer after he went to sleep this morning," Sammy smiled with pride as he picked up the gun and carefully began to wipe it with his shirt, "So I will just put it back the same way. But you will have to be my look out, mom's show finishes soon, and I don't want her to catch me."
Tommy nodded as he watched Sammy carefully wiped down the outside of the gun, "Yeah, okay," he agreed distractedly before he frowned and asked, "Why are ya doing that? The gun ain't dirty."
Looking up in surprise, Sammy shook his head at the confused look on his friend's face as he answered, knowingly, "I'm makin' sure our fingerprints ain't on it. Don't ya watch the T.V? That's what the bad guys do if they don't want to get caught and dad says it's so the police can't find their fingerprints. That way it makes it hard to arrest them for murder."
"I knew that, just checkin' you did!" Tommy protested as he turned and followed Sammy, who was still holding the gun carefully with the tee shirt, towards the door.
"Bet ya didn't!" Sammy hissed back as he carefully opened the door and looked out into the hallway before he looked over his shoulder and whispered the words he had often heard on TV when the baddie wanted to sneak in somewhere, "Come on, the coast is clear," before stepping out and heading across to his parent's room.
Stopping as he reached the door, he turned and reminded Tommy, "Just remember, ya got to warn me if you see my mom comin'."
"How?" Tommy whispered.
"I don't know, the baddies always give a whistle in the shows," Sammy sighed in annoyance.
"I can't whistle," Tommy whispered, "but I can call out your name if I see her, will that work?"
Sammy nodded. "Yeah, just make sure you call out loud enough for me to hear," he told his friend before he opened the bedroom door and slipped inside the darkened bedroom.
Closing the door behind him, he stood still and stared at his father in the bed, holding his breath as he waited to see if his father had woken up when he had opened the door. He grinned as he heard his father's soft, familiar snore before he crept, on tip toes across the room, before going down onto his hands and knees and crawling with the gun in his hand as he got within a few feet of the bed.
Stopping when he reached his father's bedside table, he quickly rose to peek to make sure his father was still sleeping before he reached across and slowly pulled the drawer open, just wide enough to put the gun back from where he had got it. Sticking the tip of his tongue out of the corner of his mouth, he carefully placed the gun in the drawer, freezing when the gun slipped from the tee shirt and softly cluttered against the bottom of the drawer.
He held his breath as he turned in fear, expecting to find his father staring at him but instead he watched his father murmur something in his sleep as he rolled over onto his back. Releasing his breath, he slowly pushed the drawer closed before he turned and crawled quickly back to the door, standing up and opening it before dashing back out into the hallway.
"Did ya put it back?" Tommy asked as Sammy turned and quickly closed the door.
"Yeah, told ya I would, now no one can arrest us." Sammy smiled as he headed back towards his bedroom. "I bags first go on the controller," he told his friend as he and Tommy ran back to his room to play.
H50 H50 H50 H50
Steve looked up as the elevator doors slid open and Lou, Chin and Kono stepped out and quickly looked around before they turned and hurried towards him. Pushing himself away from the wall where he had been leaning, he silently waited for them to join him outside the Operating Room into which Danny had been rushed.
"How is he?" Chin asked, anxiously, glancing towards the closed operating room door.
Steve shrugged as he looked back at the doors of the OR before he looked back at anxious trio, his voice catching in his throat just a little as he forced himself to answer, his words making the situation a reality and not the bad nightmare that he had been praying that he would wake up from, "Not good, he took a round to the head. They took him straight into surgery, they didn't even try and stabilize him in the ER." Running a hand over the back of his head, Steve swallowed hard as he added, "The doctor promised to update me as soon as they can."
Lou nodded as he glanced towards down the empty corridor they were standing in before he looked back at Steve, "What happened Steve?"
Looking down at the bag containing Danny's wallet, badge, house and car keys, as well as his gun and holster, that he held in his hand, Steve shook his head. "We got a tip off that Henderson was hiding out in one of the rooms at Rosie's on Hotel Street. Danny covered the back in case Henderson tried to make a break for it while I went up to his room. Henderson panicked and made a break for it down the fire escape. Danny must have confronted him in the alley. I heard a shot but by the time I made it to the alley, Danny was down, and the bastard was gone."
"And you're certain there was no one else was in the alley, Boss?"
Steve turned and looked at Kono in confusion, "No, there was no one, the alley was empty, why?"
"HPD have a witness who said she saw two, small boys run out of the alley almost immediately after the shot was fired." Chin answered, glancing across at Lou and Kono before returning his attention back to Steve.
"Two small boys?" Steve frowned.
"The witness told HPD that she saw two boys, no older than seven or eight years old, one was blonde, the other had dark hair and both were dressed in jeans and tee-shirts run out of the alley just after she heard the gunshot. She was too far away to get a good look at either boy, nor had she seen them around the alley before. She also saw a man fitting Henderson's description follow the boys out, a few seconds later."
Steve frowned, "Maybe the two boys saw what happened."
"That's just what I'm thinking." Lou nodded in agreement as the operating door opened and the surgeon still dressed in his surgical scrubs, emerged.
Hurrying across to the surgeon, with Lou, Chin, and Kono close behind, Steve asked, "How is he, Doc?"
"Detective Williams's condition is currently critical but stable," the surgeon began, tugging the surgical mask that still hung around his neck free, "The bullet struck the left side of his head and although it did not penetrate the skull, it did cause a depressed skull fracture as it gouged across the outside of the bone, causing several large bone fragments to break away and press down against his brain which caused some intracranial hemorrhaging and swelling. We were able to stop the bleeding and remove the bone fragments which we have wired the fragmented bone fragments back into place."
"But he's going to be okay, isn't he?" Steve pushed, silently praying that he was about to hear the answer he so desperately needed to hear.
"He's young and strong and barring any complications, he has a good chance… but as for the chances of it being a full recovery," the surgeon shrugged, "I'm afraid I can't answer that just yet. We won't know if there is any brain damage, or how severe any brain damage he may have suffered may be, until he regains consciousness."
Steve swallowed hard and nodded, "Can…can I see him?"
"Not until tomorrow, I'm afraid," the doctor replied, "he's still in recovery and then they will be transferring him into the ICU where we will be monitoring him closely tonight. Now if you will excuse me, I really need to get back to my patient."
"Thanks, Doc," Steve said quietly as the doctor turned and headed back towards the OR doors.
Pushing the doors open, the doctor paused and turned back towards the four Five 0 officers. "We also found gunpowder stippling around the wound when we shaved his head for the surgery, not sure if that's useful or not." he added, almost as an afterthought before he turned and disappeared through the doors.
"Gunpowder stippling around the wound," Chin murmured as he stared at the doors as they closed behind the surgeon. "That means Danny was shot at close range but why the hell did he let Henderson get so close without firing a shot to defend himself?"
"I don't know, but I am going to find Henderson and find out why!" Steve growled as he turned and hurried towards the elevator.
