"Where are we going?" Jake asked Artie, who was turned around in the front passenger seat, holding the gun on them.

"You'll find out," he said.

Jake sighed as he watched the scenery zip by. They were going fast, over the speed limit. He could not believe that no policemen had been at the back door of the bank, and he made a mental note to ask Morgan why, if they got out of this. When, he thought to himself, not if. He sighed, wondering what Jay was going to do; the ball was in his court now, with him being at the wheel.

Jay was waiting to come to a more secluded area away from people and cars before he made his move. He was scared at what he was about to do, and hoped he wouldn't kill Frank or Jake, in his attempt to save their lives. Finally a quiet stretch of road appeared, and he looked in the rearview mirror, hoping to get Jake's attention.

Jake saw him, and realized that he was trying to tell him something. Jay looked at Frank, and then back at Jake, and Jake figured it out. He gripped Frank tightly, and braced himself.

When Jay saw that Jake was ready, he took a deep breath, and wrenched the steering wheel to the right, as hard as he could.

The car flipped over onto its back and rolled once, landing on the side of the road.

Jake opened his eyes, in shock that Jay had pulled it off, and tried to see if Frank was all right.

"Frank?"

Frank was alive but unconscious, whether from the stab wound or some new injury, he wasn't sure.

Jake took off the seatbelts and dragged Frank out of the car, where he laid him on the ground. He then went back to the vehicle, realizing that Jay hadn't come out, and neither had Artie.

He saw Artie unconscious, thankfully, and Jay fumbling with his seatbelt, looking dazed.

Jake opened the door of the now-mangled car for him, and helped him climb out. "You okay?"

Jay nodded, shaking like a leaf in the wind. "Y-yeah, I think so." He saw Frank lying on the ground, and stumbled over to him.

"He's alive!"

Jake nodded, as he dialed a number on his cell phone. "Yeah, he is, thanks to you."

********************

Alex's cell phone rang, and she almost ignored it till she saw a familiar number on the screen. "Jake!" she yelled. "Where are you? Are you and Frank all right?!"

Morgan jammed on his cruiser's brakes, waiting to find out which direction to go in.

Alex was shaking her head at what she was being told. "All right, we're near there, be there in a couple minutes." She hung up. "Jay flipped the car to take out Artie! They're on Illinois Road."

Morgan continued driving, grabbing his radio and asking for an ambulance to meet them there.

********************

Jake and Jay pulled Artie out of the car, and laid him on the grass, far away from Frank. Artie's head was bleeding, but not badly.

Jake took Frank's gun back, looking forward to returning it to him. He stuck it in his waistband with a sigh, as he went back over to his boss.

Frank looked worse. Jake wasn't sure if it was because of the different lighting—sunlight rather then the artificial lighting in the bank—or if he really was worse. He felt his pulse and found it even weaker now.

"Frank," he whispered. "Don't do this to us! You made it this far, hold on a little longer!"

He didn't expect a reply, so he wasn't surprised when he didn't get one. Suddenly he heard sirens, and sighed with relief when a herd of police cars came flying down the road. They screeched to a halt, and the officers all jumped out, pointing their guns at Jay.

"No!" Jake yelled.

Morgan walked over, with a frown. "What?"

Jake shook his head, not sure how to explain.

"It's all right, Jake," Jay said, holding his wrists out for the handcuffs. "It'll get sorted out."

Jake nodded. "Chief, he helped us, if it wasn't for him, Frank would be dead, and probably me too."

Morgan digested his statement for a minute, and then nodded and put his gun away.

The ambulance pulled up, and the medics jumped out and ran over to Frank and Artie.

"Forget about him!" Alex yelled, to the medic that knelt beside the thief. Pointing to Frank, she said, "He's the one who did this!"

Morgan nodded at them, and called for another ambulance over his radio.

Monica took Alex's arm and pulled her away from Frank, so the medics could do their job.

The four of them watched nervously, as the medics knelt beside their boss, and started to treat him.

"Pulse is weak and thready…"

"BP 55/20! He needs blood yesterday…"

"Can't find a vein for the IV…shoot…"

"Respiration shallow…gimme the oxygen...thanks…" Faster then the team thought possible, the medics had Frank on the stretcher, and were loading it into the ambulance. Jake jumped in, to go with them.

"Jake, wait!" yelled Morgan.

"What?" Jake said, peeking out the doors.

"We need your…oh forget it, we'll get your statement later. Go."

Jake gave him a half smile, and shut the doors.

As the ambulance sped away, Artie started to come around. He didn't stay conscious for long, for as soon as Alex noticed, she punched him in the face.

*******************

Jake sat in the hospital waiting room, his head in his hands. The relief at being out of the bank, and having gotten Frank out alive, was dulled by the uncertainty of Frank's future. Will he survive this? Was I too late? Is he even still alive, at this moment? He tried not to look at the clock, knowing it would say that only five minutes had passed since he last looked at it.

Suddenly his cell phone rang, making him jump. He fumbled with it, nearly dropping it. "Hello?"

"Jake, heard anything?"

"No, Alex, I wish."

She sighed. "Okay. We're gonna try to get up there ASAP."

Jake nodded. "Okay." He hung up, and heaved a huge sigh. Sitting back against the couch, the situation finally caught up with him, and he unexpectedly dozed off.

"'Scuse me?"

Jake jumped, again. Standing before him was a doctor, wearing a surgical gown. "Are you the one who brought Mr. Donovan in?"

Jake jumped to his feet, trying to ignore the inevitable bloodstains on the doc's scrubs. "Yeah, how is he?"

The doctor hesitated.

Jake felt like the air had been sucked out of the room. No…he's dead, I was too late…

"Unfortunately, the knife did some extensive damage…"

"No…" Jake shook his head.

"I'm sorry…"

"No!"

"We had to remove his spleen."

Jake blinked. "What?"

"We removed his spleen," the surgeon repeated. "The knife…"

"'Caused damage', I heard you. You mean Frank is alive?"

The doctor nodded.

Jake was so relived he felt dizzy. "Thank God!"

"I imagine you want to see him?"

Jake nodded.

The doctor motioned for Jake to follow him, which he did, all the way to the ICU, where Frank had a private room.

Jake sighed at the sight of his boss; pale and surrounded by machines. Jake stepped closer, and cringed when he saw that Frank's breathing was being helped by a respirator.

"He's gonna make it, right? What will his life be like without a spleen?" Jake asked, not sure how vital the organ was.

The doctor nodded. "Yes, he'll make it." Then he sighed. "The spleen is our body's fighter; the largest lymph node in the body. Without it, he will have a greater chance of infections, colds, and the like, especially pneumonia, which is very common in people without spleens."

"Wow," Jake said, with a sigh. "When will he wake up?"

The doctor shrugged. "Could be tonight, could be tomorrow. He's been through a lot."

Jake nodded. "He has." He saw a chair and dragged it over to the bed, not intending to leave.

The doctor was apparently used to cops never leaving their colleagues, and said to him, "I have to go make my rounds. If anything happens, just press that button on the wall, and the nurses will come."

"Okay, thanks."

Less then a minute after the doctor left, Alex, Monica, and Cody came barreling into the room.

"Frank! Oh no…"

"He looks terrible!"

"Yikes!"

"Shhh!" Jake said. "This is the ICU, people."

They all tried to calm down, and lower their voices, knowing that there were some pretty sick people in the adjoining rooms.

"What did the doctor say?" Alex whispered.

Jake sighed. "They removed his spleen."

"They WHAT?!" Cody exploded.

"I heard that that's not good, when someone loses their spleen," Monica said, worriedly.

Jake shrugged. "The doc told me that the spleen is the body's fighter. Without it Frank'll catch colds and stuff easily."

Alex sighed. "I can't believe this…"

Jake echoed her sigh. "I know."

They were all silent for a few minutes, lost in their own thoughts as they watched Frank.

"Where's Jay?" Jake asked.

"At the PD," said Monica. "He's still charged with attempting to rob a bank."

"With what you said, though," said Cody. "He might get off easy."

Jake nodded. "I hope so. If it wasn't for him, Frank and I both would probably be dead by now."