It was raining slightly when Mark opened the door to the top of the
building and walked out carefully. It was already very dark and he didn't
want to fall on the slippery layer. The beginnig of a thunderstorm had
almost washed away the heat of the last days and replaced it by a sharp wet
wind. Mark felt the little drops of rain whirling around him, some of them
pearled onto his face and the storm was blowing through his clothes. But
even though it was comparatively cold now, Mark felt burning hot. He had no
idea what that man wanted from him, but was sure that it wasn't anything he
would like.
"Stop!" said his kidnapper and Mark stopped immediatly. He was really scared.
Closing his eyes for a moment and breathing heavily, he finally could overcome himself and asked slowly:"May I turn around?"
"If you want to...ok with me!" said an amused voice a few feet behind him.
Mark turned around, very slowly and cautiously, he didn't want his attacker to get the feeling that he was planning something and end up with a bullett in his back. As he could face the man, who was pointing a gun at him, he was completely stunned. He had guessed that he knew that man from somewhere, but earlier he had thought that it was just an illusion. It was the man who had smiled at him in the hall, as he had been wandering along the corridors together with Amanda. "You?!" slipped it out of Mark's mouth.
"Yes, me, Dr Sloan! Do you remember me?"
Mark did indeed. But it couldn't be true. Ray de Nino was dead. He couldn't be standing there and threaten to kill him.
"I had hoped that you would like my little surprise!" The other man's narrowed evily. Then he laughed out sarcastically. "Where are my manners? Haven't I introduced myself? I am John de Nino. My appereance may remind you of my brother Ray."
The similarity was amazing. John looked exactly like the man Mark remembered as Ray de Nino. "Why are you here, John?" Mark tried to stay calm, in all the years he had worked for the police, he had learned that this was sometimes your only chance to stay alive.
John looked down for a moment. Then he sloped his head and reached out his hand. "Let's go for a little walk!" He made an inviting gesture and Mark didn't have the courage not to follow him. The two man looked more like old friends as they strolled over to the edge of the roof. Small drops were whizzing around them and made it hard for each of them to open their eyes properly.
At the edge they stopped and stared down. Hundreds of feet under them the Los Angeles night traffic was rushing by. Thousands of small lamps, red and white, were wandering away from downtown and along the Santa Monica Boulevard, then they spread into different directions, some to the ocean, some to the valleys. If he hadn't felt his heart beating in his throat, Mark would probabyl have liked that sight. But with a man, who had a gun in his hand and seemed to be willing to use it, Mark wasn't in the mood to watch the nice city panorama.
"I love this city..." The silence was finally broken by a sad remark from John. He looked at Mark and smiled almost sheepishly. "All the dreams, the glory, the happiness that are hidden in it. Ray has never had the chance to see that. He always worked and then...", he shrugged,"...you know what happened then." "He was stabbed by Peter Berrow", added Mark and dared to ask:"But what do I have to do with it?"
Glaring at him, John's dark eyes sparkled angrily. "You're asking me what you have to do with it?!", he mumbled calmly. Then he grimaced and shouted into the wet night:"You heard that?! He is really asking me that!!"
'This man is completely mad', Mark thought, but considered that this could be his chance. Maybe he could find out something. John didn't want to see him dying immediatly, he more likely seemed to want to tell Mark something. Maybe it was possible to waste time, to convince him to give up...Mark suddenly realised that he was lost. No one knew that he was up here and it would take ages till someone would start to look for him. He had to keep John talking, somehow.
"My brother didn't want anybody to die!! He was really sorry for what happened to your friend and to you. He didn't deserve it to die....you were able to help him, to protect him, but you didn't! You only cared about yourself!", John screamed against the storm into Mark's face, which was -as his own- covered with rain drops.
"I certainly didn't want your brother to die!", said Mark and he felt really a small pity for John. He understood his motives
John laughed out sarcatically. "Oh yeah, you certainly didn't want to! But he is dead! Do you get what I'm saying: He is dead, damnit!"
"Look, what do you want to tell me, what do you want me to say?", though he knew that this was quite provoking and risky, Mark wanted to try it. He was a dead walking man anyway.
"I want you to listen! No one ever listens, but now you have to and you WILL listen!", John hissed.
"OK, I will!", agreed Mark.
As his kidnapper looked straightly into his face, Mark saw clearly the despair and the sadness in his eyes. And he believed to recognise that the rain on John's face had mixed up with some tears which were rolling down his cheek. The man with a gun in his hand was crying...John bit onto his lip and got closer to his original victim. But he wasn't sure who was the victim at the moment. "You know, I've heard what you said to your friend earlier. That he's like a son to you and like a brother to your son...you said that you are team...my brother and I were also a team. He was more than my brother, he was my soul brother...till he took that job which that damn Gale Wentworth offered to him. I told him that he was making a mistake...I mean...working with biological weapons...how long can you get through with that?! He...he didn't listen to me. He was just too naive...he was too good for this world. And then he was murdered by the people who had only used him."
"That was hard, was it?", asked Mark, sounding -as he hoped- sympathsizing enough.
John nodded."Yeah it was. I....I never got the chance to say him what he meant to me. Do you understand me doctor Sloan? I loved him and I could never tell him that. He was my brother...do you understand that, doc?"
Mark was reminded of the situation earlier when he had sat at Jesse's bed side and had sensed that he had to tell him how he felt. He could understand John. But now John took a deep breath and lifted, shivering, his gun so that it pointed directly at Mark's heart.
Inside his room Jesse wondered where Mark was. He had lost his feeling for time, but he was rather sure that Mark had been away long enough. Even if you went the whole way to the doctor lounge and back on your knees and backwards, you wouldn't need so much time. Jesse couldn't describe it, but he had the odd feeling that there was something not right at all. And it was certainly not his body temperature that caused that feeling. Maybe Mark was in danger... Slowly Jesse backed up and blinked once, twice. All he was seeing were multi-coloured stars in the darkness in front of his eyes. As Jesse swung his legs over the edge of his bed and touched the floor with his feet, it felt as though hundreds of small neels pierced his body and that got even worse as Jesse's tired, ill and delirious body got up. He was only able to make two steps, then Jesse sank onto his knees. The sweat was dropping from his face and a crushing nausea turned his stomach around.
Jesse heard someone rushing in. Though that happened directly in front of him it seemed as though it was miles away. But at the moment he was about to fall and was expecting to hit the floor, he was caught by two strong arms, which helped him to get onto his feet and guarded him gently back to his bed. Jesse didn't want to go back there, he had to find Mark. He tried to fight against the strong arms that were holding him, convinced that these people would never understand what was going on and why he couldn't stay in bed.
Steve felt his friend tensing up in his arms and was astonished how much strenght this little guy had still left after all he had been through, but he didn't want Jesse to get upset. "Jess..calm down...everything is alright!"
Jesse had heard that fairly too often in the last twenty-four hours to believe it any more. He tried again to break free, but he couldn't loosen that grip around his arms, couldn't fight against the man who was leading him back to his bed and forced him onto the mattress. "Jesse...Jesse...listen, it's me, Steve! Damn, Jess, calm down finally!" Steve commanded friendly as he let Jesse lay down, rubbing his back gently. Jesse really got calmer, though less because of the fact he had been told to, but because he had heard Steve's voice.
While Steve covered the shivering Jesse with a sheet, Amanda bent forward and asked quietly:"Jesse, what were you doing?"
"Steve...", panted Jesse as he finally recognised his friend's contours.
"What's up, Jess?" Steve didn't know if it was good for Jesse to talk so much, but he seemed to want to tell him something.
"Your dad...", said Jesse and was terribly angry about the fact that he wasn't able to put it in a full sentence, he was too busy with fighting against the unconsciousness. "You gotta search him!"
Steve looked at Amanda alarmedly and something inside him snapped. "You stay here! I'm gonna look for my dad!" With these words he pulled his gun out of the holster and hurried off. "And call the security!!" was the last thing Amanda heard from him.
"As though that wouldn't have come to my mind as well!", she shouted after him sulkingly, then she grabbed the receiver of the telephone next to the bed, having one calming hand on Jesse's arm. This phase of fever seemed to be even more serious than the last ones and Jesse was hardly able to hold anything against it. Right now Amanda didn't know whom she should more worry about.
Steve ran through the corridor, looking for any signs of his dad, and suddenly noticed the opened emergency exit. He didn't know what was telling him to go there, but seconds later he found himself, almost intuitively, running up the stairs. If his dad had taught him anything, then always to follow the feeling in your stomach.
The rain had become heavier, it was whipping over the roofs and over Mark's and his kidnapper's head. The gun in John's hand was wet and everytime a flash split the dark sky in two, the water reflected its light and made the weapon gloss dangerously.
"John...", Mark watched horrorfiedly how John's fingers trembled around the trigger,"do you really wanna do that?"
"You can bet I want!", replied John."I did it with Peter and I'll do it to you. And maybe I'm gonna shoot your friend as well. In fact he wasn't supposed to die, so I should maybe do him that favor..."
A loose sheet of the concrete clattered as Steve accidently stepped onto it. He winced and stood back, hoping that the persons in the dark hadn't heard anything. Coming closer, he recognised one of the men as his dad, the other one had turned his back to him, but from his gestures Steve assumed that he was holding a gun.
Mark saw relievedly that a tall shadow was silently nearing from behind, but at that moment an idea flashed through his mind. That was dangerous and probably wouldn't even work out, but it was maybe the only chance that he had got left to save not only his but also Jesse's life. "How have you done that?", he asked his attacker and couldn't help but smiling a bit suspiciously.
"Have done what?", John said confusedly, not knowing what to answer.
"The poison...in the water, you know?"
"Oh...that! You know...", an amused grin lightened up de Nino's face, "I wondered if you could figure it out!"
Now it was Mark's turn to ask confusedly:"Figure out what?"
"The composition of the serum! It is so easy, that I always gotta giggle thinking of it! Look at all those great doctors with their wonderful medical degrees, all of them had no idea!"
Mark nodded agreeingly. Now he clearly saw his son standing behind John, but he didn't want to look at him and give John a hint by that way. As Steve made another step forward, Mark shook his head, praying that Steve would understand what he wanted to tell him.
Steve understood. Not only his father's shaking head, but also the way he focused the other man told him that his dad was up to something and he knew Mark well enough to know when he should intervene and -and that was crucial right now- when not.
"It is just the same!" said John and at that moment a flash illuminated the threatening black sky and along with it that weird scene on the top of the building of the Community General Hospital. Where there had been a burning thrilled heat inside him, Mark felt now one shudder following the other and really wished he could fold his arms over his chest to make himself feel at least a bit warmer and comfortable. But he was too frightened to move at all because there was still the possibility that de Nino would stop talking and concentrate on shooting him instead. He couldn't risk that. Jesse's life was now more or less depending on him.
"How do you mean that?", Mark dared to ask, hoping that he wasn't pushing it too far.
Steve had slowly got why his dad didn't want him to arrest de Nino straight away. But still he was scared, after all that guy was pointing a gun at Mark. What if the man lost control over himself and pulled the trigger? What if he would realize that Steve was standing behind him? As though he was paralysed, Steve remained behind de Nino's back, all these thoughts flashing through his mind within seconds and only his imagination was already enough to make his heart beating so loud that he thought de Nino would hear it.
"It's just the same!" continued John in the meanwhile. "The same dose of the same stuff! Have you ever heard of those substances that cancel out each other, doctor?" he asked with distress, almost a bit reproachfully.
Mark inwardly kicked himself. Sure, if he had only thought of that. But he had no time for blaming himself right now. He had what he wanted. Jen Andrews had informed him earlier that she knew the the composition of the poison. It had been a mixture of about everything he as a medic could imagine.
However, it was time to end up this and save Jesse before something worse would happen.
Obviously John de Nino had a similar thing in his mind as he said: "Ok, played enough, kids, now let's end up this."
But to everyone's -which were actually only Mark and Steve- surprise he suddenly whirrled around and glared at Steve. For only one second Steve was so stunned that he couldn't react, but that was enough for his attacker to push him back hard.
Steve slipped on the wet ground and fell onto his back. Still falling, he managed to kick the weapon out of John's hand with his left foot and lifted his own gun. He knew that he was definetely in a bad position, somehow he had to get back onto his feet before de Nino would reach for his gun, but how should he manage that? He couldn't use his gun now that he couldn't see anything, it was too dark. He struggled to get up and watched John, who kept an eye at the still slightly bemused police leutenant all the time, looking for his lost gun.
By the time Steve was on his feet again, which was actually only some seconds after he had fallen, though it seemd to Mark and Steve like ages, John had found his gun and as he saw Steve aiming at him he quickly pointed it at Mark again. Mark believed to hear him mutter: "As though haven't known that!!", but had no time to think about the meaning of that sentence.
The bang of a thunder could be heard in the background, Mark saw John wincing a little, cowered and dived out of the shooting line. Steve recognised his chance to overcome the killer in this confused moment and attacked him again, but he hadn't calculated that de Nino would be able to react fast enough to aim at him. He didn't even hear the shot, but he felt the piercing pain he knew very well in his right hand. But Steve wouldn't have been Steve if he hadn't been dogged enough to aim himself and land a well placed bullett. De Nino's normally so even face grimaced as he pressed his hand against the bleeding wound on his shoulder and let his gun fall to the floor.
"You see, my dear, I'm left hand-handed!" hissed Steve into the shocked killer's ear, while twisting whose arms on whose back. "Little bastard!" he mumbled through gritted teeth and the hand cuffs clicked. John was dragged away by the finally arriving security, while Mark relievedly put his arm around Steve's shoulder.
"Thank you, son! Is it bad?", he asked, examing Steve's wound.
Steve shook his head. "Only a a flesh wound, I'll survive it!" Then he pulled back his hand from his fathers fingers. "We can sort out that later, you've gotta care for Jesse, he needs that stuff. Please dad, hurry, I just saw him, I've never seen him like this, he is in very bad condition!" The pleading tone his son's voice acknowledged Mark what he had said to Jesse earlier. Steve loved Jesse like a brother and didn't want to lose him. And Mark didn't either.
He nodded and their eyes met in the cloudy stormy night. "I love you, son!"
"I love you too, dad!"
They headed towards the door, both, father and son, were completely soaked by the rain, but at the moment that didn't matter to them. Their friend was important now and they wouldn't waste one moment of valuable time, especially as they didn't know how much they had still left.
TBC
******** Sorry, that you had to wait such a long time, but I was on holiday and you know, somewhen between eating, napping, eating and sleeping I suddenly realised that I had left my dictionary at home. I thank you for the reviews, I can't say how much they mean to me, I'm just happy that you like the story. Please review this chapter, too, I want to know what you think! THANKS!!!! ********
"Stop!" said his kidnapper and Mark stopped immediatly. He was really scared.
Closing his eyes for a moment and breathing heavily, he finally could overcome himself and asked slowly:"May I turn around?"
"If you want to...ok with me!" said an amused voice a few feet behind him.
Mark turned around, very slowly and cautiously, he didn't want his attacker to get the feeling that he was planning something and end up with a bullett in his back. As he could face the man, who was pointing a gun at him, he was completely stunned. He had guessed that he knew that man from somewhere, but earlier he had thought that it was just an illusion. It was the man who had smiled at him in the hall, as he had been wandering along the corridors together with Amanda. "You?!" slipped it out of Mark's mouth.
"Yes, me, Dr Sloan! Do you remember me?"
Mark did indeed. But it couldn't be true. Ray de Nino was dead. He couldn't be standing there and threaten to kill him.
"I had hoped that you would like my little surprise!" The other man's narrowed evily. Then he laughed out sarcastically. "Where are my manners? Haven't I introduced myself? I am John de Nino. My appereance may remind you of my brother Ray."
The similarity was amazing. John looked exactly like the man Mark remembered as Ray de Nino. "Why are you here, John?" Mark tried to stay calm, in all the years he had worked for the police, he had learned that this was sometimes your only chance to stay alive.
John looked down for a moment. Then he sloped his head and reached out his hand. "Let's go for a little walk!" He made an inviting gesture and Mark didn't have the courage not to follow him. The two man looked more like old friends as they strolled over to the edge of the roof. Small drops were whizzing around them and made it hard for each of them to open their eyes properly.
At the edge they stopped and stared down. Hundreds of feet under them the Los Angeles night traffic was rushing by. Thousands of small lamps, red and white, were wandering away from downtown and along the Santa Monica Boulevard, then they spread into different directions, some to the ocean, some to the valleys. If he hadn't felt his heart beating in his throat, Mark would probabyl have liked that sight. But with a man, who had a gun in his hand and seemed to be willing to use it, Mark wasn't in the mood to watch the nice city panorama.
"I love this city..." The silence was finally broken by a sad remark from John. He looked at Mark and smiled almost sheepishly. "All the dreams, the glory, the happiness that are hidden in it. Ray has never had the chance to see that. He always worked and then...", he shrugged,"...you know what happened then." "He was stabbed by Peter Berrow", added Mark and dared to ask:"But what do I have to do with it?"
Glaring at him, John's dark eyes sparkled angrily. "You're asking me what you have to do with it?!", he mumbled calmly. Then he grimaced and shouted into the wet night:"You heard that?! He is really asking me that!!"
'This man is completely mad', Mark thought, but considered that this could be his chance. Maybe he could find out something. John didn't want to see him dying immediatly, he more likely seemed to want to tell Mark something. Maybe it was possible to waste time, to convince him to give up...Mark suddenly realised that he was lost. No one knew that he was up here and it would take ages till someone would start to look for him. He had to keep John talking, somehow.
"My brother didn't want anybody to die!! He was really sorry for what happened to your friend and to you. He didn't deserve it to die....you were able to help him, to protect him, but you didn't! You only cared about yourself!", John screamed against the storm into Mark's face, which was -as his own- covered with rain drops.
"I certainly didn't want your brother to die!", said Mark and he felt really a small pity for John. He understood his motives
John laughed out sarcatically. "Oh yeah, you certainly didn't want to! But he is dead! Do you get what I'm saying: He is dead, damnit!"
"Look, what do you want to tell me, what do you want me to say?", though he knew that this was quite provoking and risky, Mark wanted to try it. He was a dead walking man anyway.
"I want you to listen! No one ever listens, but now you have to and you WILL listen!", John hissed.
"OK, I will!", agreed Mark.
As his kidnapper looked straightly into his face, Mark saw clearly the despair and the sadness in his eyes. And he believed to recognise that the rain on John's face had mixed up with some tears which were rolling down his cheek. The man with a gun in his hand was crying...John bit onto his lip and got closer to his original victim. But he wasn't sure who was the victim at the moment. "You know, I've heard what you said to your friend earlier. That he's like a son to you and like a brother to your son...you said that you are team...my brother and I were also a team. He was more than my brother, he was my soul brother...till he took that job which that damn Gale Wentworth offered to him. I told him that he was making a mistake...I mean...working with biological weapons...how long can you get through with that?! He...he didn't listen to me. He was just too naive...he was too good for this world. And then he was murdered by the people who had only used him."
"That was hard, was it?", asked Mark, sounding -as he hoped- sympathsizing enough.
John nodded."Yeah it was. I....I never got the chance to say him what he meant to me. Do you understand me doctor Sloan? I loved him and I could never tell him that. He was my brother...do you understand that, doc?"
Mark was reminded of the situation earlier when he had sat at Jesse's bed side and had sensed that he had to tell him how he felt. He could understand John. But now John took a deep breath and lifted, shivering, his gun so that it pointed directly at Mark's heart.
Inside his room Jesse wondered where Mark was. He had lost his feeling for time, but he was rather sure that Mark had been away long enough. Even if you went the whole way to the doctor lounge and back on your knees and backwards, you wouldn't need so much time. Jesse couldn't describe it, but he had the odd feeling that there was something not right at all. And it was certainly not his body temperature that caused that feeling. Maybe Mark was in danger... Slowly Jesse backed up and blinked once, twice. All he was seeing were multi-coloured stars in the darkness in front of his eyes. As Jesse swung his legs over the edge of his bed and touched the floor with his feet, it felt as though hundreds of small neels pierced his body and that got even worse as Jesse's tired, ill and delirious body got up. He was only able to make two steps, then Jesse sank onto his knees. The sweat was dropping from his face and a crushing nausea turned his stomach around.
Jesse heard someone rushing in. Though that happened directly in front of him it seemed as though it was miles away. But at the moment he was about to fall and was expecting to hit the floor, he was caught by two strong arms, which helped him to get onto his feet and guarded him gently back to his bed. Jesse didn't want to go back there, he had to find Mark. He tried to fight against the strong arms that were holding him, convinced that these people would never understand what was going on and why he couldn't stay in bed.
Steve felt his friend tensing up in his arms and was astonished how much strenght this little guy had still left after all he had been through, but he didn't want Jesse to get upset. "Jess..calm down...everything is alright!"
Jesse had heard that fairly too often in the last twenty-four hours to believe it any more. He tried again to break free, but he couldn't loosen that grip around his arms, couldn't fight against the man who was leading him back to his bed and forced him onto the mattress. "Jesse...Jesse...listen, it's me, Steve! Damn, Jess, calm down finally!" Steve commanded friendly as he let Jesse lay down, rubbing his back gently. Jesse really got calmer, though less because of the fact he had been told to, but because he had heard Steve's voice.
While Steve covered the shivering Jesse with a sheet, Amanda bent forward and asked quietly:"Jesse, what were you doing?"
"Steve...", panted Jesse as he finally recognised his friend's contours.
"What's up, Jess?" Steve didn't know if it was good for Jesse to talk so much, but he seemed to want to tell him something.
"Your dad...", said Jesse and was terribly angry about the fact that he wasn't able to put it in a full sentence, he was too busy with fighting against the unconsciousness. "You gotta search him!"
Steve looked at Amanda alarmedly and something inside him snapped. "You stay here! I'm gonna look for my dad!" With these words he pulled his gun out of the holster and hurried off. "And call the security!!" was the last thing Amanda heard from him.
"As though that wouldn't have come to my mind as well!", she shouted after him sulkingly, then she grabbed the receiver of the telephone next to the bed, having one calming hand on Jesse's arm. This phase of fever seemed to be even more serious than the last ones and Jesse was hardly able to hold anything against it. Right now Amanda didn't know whom she should more worry about.
Steve ran through the corridor, looking for any signs of his dad, and suddenly noticed the opened emergency exit. He didn't know what was telling him to go there, but seconds later he found himself, almost intuitively, running up the stairs. If his dad had taught him anything, then always to follow the feeling in your stomach.
The rain had become heavier, it was whipping over the roofs and over Mark's and his kidnapper's head. The gun in John's hand was wet and everytime a flash split the dark sky in two, the water reflected its light and made the weapon gloss dangerously.
"John...", Mark watched horrorfiedly how John's fingers trembled around the trigger,"do you really wanna do that?"
"You can bet I want!", replied John."I did it with Peter and I'll do it to you. And maybe I'm gonna shoot your friend as well. In fact he wasn't supposed to die, so I should maybe do him that favor..."
A loose sheet of the concrete clattered as Steve accidently stepped onto it. He winced and stood back, hoping that the persons in the dark hadn't heard anything. Coming closer, he recognised one of the men as his dad, the other one had turned his back to him, but from his gestures Steve assumed that he was holding a gun.
Mark saw relievedly that a tall shadow was silently nearing from behind, but at that moment an idea flashed through his mind. That was dangerous and probably wouldn't even work out, but it was maybe the only chance that he had got left to save not only his but also Jesse's life. "How have you done that?", he asked his attacker and couldn't help but smiling a bit suspiciously.
"Have done what?", John said confusedly, not knowing what to answer.
"The poison...in the water, you know?"
"Oh...that! You know...", an amused grin lightened up de Nino's face, "I wondered if you could figure it out!"
Now it was Mark's turn to ask confusedly:"Figure out what?"
"The composition of the serum! It is so easy, that I always gotta giggle thinking of it! Look at all those great doctors with their wonderful medical degrees, all of them had no idea!"
Mark nodded agreeingly. Now he clearly saw his son standing behind John, but he didn't want to look at him and give John a hint by that way. As Steve made another step forward, Mark shook his head, praying that Steve would understand what he wanted to tell him.
Steve understood. Not only his father's shaking head, but also the way he focused the other man told him that his dad was up to something and he knew Mark well enough to know when he should intervene and -and that was crucial right now- when not.
"It is just the same!" said John and at that moment a flash illuminated the threatening black sky and along with it that weird scene on the top of the building of the Community General Hospital. Where there had been a burning thrilled heat inside him, Mark felt now one shudder following the other and really wished he could fold his arms over his chest to make himself feel at least a bit warmer and comfortable. But he was too frightened to move at all because there was still the possibility that de Nino would stop talking and concentrate on shooting him instead. He couldn't risk that. Jesse's life was now more or less depending on him.
"How do you mean that?", Mark dared to ask, hoping that he wasn't pushing it too far.
Steve had slowly got why his dad didn't want him to arrest de Nino straight away. But still he was scared, after all that guy was pointing a gun at Mark. What if the man lost control over himself and pulled the trigger? What if he would realize that Steve was standing behind him? As though he was paralysed, Steve remained behind de Nino's back, all these thoughts flashing through his mind within seconds and only his imagination was already enough to make his heart beating so loud that he thought de Nino would hear it.
"It's just the same!" continued John in the meanwhile. "The same dose of the same stuff! Have you ever heard of those substances that cancel out each other, doctor?" he asked with distress, almost a bit reproachfully.
Mark inwardly kicked himself. Sure, if he had only thought of that. But he had no time for blaming himself right now. He had what he wanted. Jen Andrews had informed him earlier that she knew the the composition of the poison. It had been a mixture of about everything he as a medic could imagine.
However, it was time to end up this and save Jesse before something worse would happen.
Obviously John de Nino had a similar thing in his mind as he said: "Ok, played enough, kids, now let's end up this."
But to everyone's -which were actually only Mark and Steve- surprise he suddenly whirrled around and glared at Steve. For only one second Steve was so stunned that he couldn't react, but that was enough for his attacker to push him back hard.
Steve slipped on the wet ground and fell onto his back. Still falling, he managed to kick the weapon out of John's hand with his left foot and lifted his own gun. He knew that he was definetely in a bad position, somehow he had to get back onto his feet before de Nino would reach for his gun, but how should he manage that? He couldn't use his gun now that he couldn't see anything, it was too dark. He struggled to get up and watched John, who kept an eye at the still slightly bemused police leutenant all the time, looking for his lost gun.
By the time Steve was on his feet again, which was actually only some seconds after he had fallen, though it seemd to Mark and Steve like ages, John had found his gun and as he saw Steve aiming at him he quickly pointed it at Mark again. Mark believed to hear him mutter: "As though haven't known that!!", but had no time to think about the meaning of that sentence.
The bang of a thunder could be heard in the background, Mark saw John wincing a little, cowered and dived out of the shooting line. Steve recognised his chance to overcome the killer in this confused moment and attacked him again, but he hadn't calculated that de Nino would be able to react fast enough to aim at him. He didn't even hear the shot, but he felt the piercing pain he knew very well in his right hand. But Steve wouldn't have been Steve if he hadn't been dogged enough to aim himself and land a well placed bullett. De Nino's normally so even face grimaced as he pressed his hand against the bleeding wound on his shoulder and let his gun fall to the floor.
"You see, my dear, I'm left hand-handed!" hissed Steve into the shocked killer's ear, while twisting whose arms on whose back. "Little bastard!" he mumbled through gritted teeth and the hand cuffs clicked. John was dragged away by the finally arriving security, while Mark relievedly put his arm around Steve's shoulder.
"Thank you, son! Is it bad?", he asked, examing Steve's wound.
Steve shook his head. "Only a a flesh wound, I'll survive it!" Then he pulled back his hand from his fathers fingers. "We can sort out that later, you've gotta care for Jesse, he needs that stuff. Please dad, hurry, I just saw him, I've never seen him like this, he is in very bad condition!" The pleading tone his son's voice acknowledged Mark what he had said to Jesse earlier. Steve loved Jesse like a brother and didn't want to lose him. And Mark didn't either.
He nodded and their eyes met in the cloudy stormy night. "I love you, son!"
"I love you too, dad!"
They headed towards the door, both, father and son, were completely soaked by the rain, but at the moment that didn't matter to them. Their friend was important now and they wouldn't waste one moment of valuable time, especially as they didn't know how much they had still left.
TBC
******** Sorry, that you had to wait such a long time, but I was on holiday and you know, somewhen between eating, napping, eating and sleeping I suddenly realised that I had left my dictionary at home. I thank you for the reviews, I can't say how much they mean to me, I'm just happy that you like the story. Please review this chapter, too, I want to know what you think! THANKS!!!! ********