Chapter 21
Bosco approached the Lieutenant in charge of the ESU. The man turned to look at him and before Bosco could say anything, he said, "Boscorelli. You and Yokas are going in with us. This is your collar, we're just here to make sure your guy doesn't get away."
"Great. That's all I wanted to ask you. So, how're we gonna run this, Lieu?" Bosco asked him, as Sully, Davis and Faith approached.
"Well, my guys'll go in first with the armor since we don't know what kind of firepower this guy has. Our main priority is the safety of the hostage - meaning if we have to take Montanero down so be it," the Lieutenant said.
"We should be so lucky," Bosco remarked, causing the Lieutenant to grin.
He continued, "As soon as we have the place secured, you'll take Montanero into custody and we'll get the victim to a hospital to get checked over. I'm gonna call in EMS to stand by."
Ty spoke up, "I've got that covered already, Sir." The Lieutenant nodded, knowing that the hostage was one of their own.
"Okay. As soon as EMS gets here, we'll do it," he said. He went back to conferring with his team and Ty took out his cell phone.
*^*^*^*^*^*^
Alex answered her phone on the first ring, "Hello? Oh hi, Ty. What's up?"
Ty explained the situation to her and she looked over at Doc. "We'll be there in three minutes," she advised him.
"Okay, but come in silent. We don't wanna spook him," Ty advised her, hanging up the phone.
*^*^*^*^*^*^*
The Lieutenant looked over and Ty indicated three minutes by holding up three fingers.
"Okay, everyone take your places," the Lieutenant ordered.
Everyone moved into position and as soon as they saw the ambulance pull to the curb down the road, they began to move in.
*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^
Kim was freezing. She couldn't believe how cold she was. She couldn't stop herself from shivering and Tony had yelled at her more than once thinking that the rattling of the cuffs against the pipe was her trying to escape.
Finally, the last time, she spoke up before he hit her. "I'm not trying to escape! I'm freezing!" He took slight pity on her and threw his coat over her shoulders, helping to warm her slightly. Although, she just thought it was because he was sick of hearing the metal rattle. He must have resigned himself to the fact that she wasn't able to get away and tuned out the rattling of the cuffs against the pipe because he was soon sound asleep by the sounds of the deep, rhythmic breathing.
Due to the concussion she must have suffered at his hands, her head continued to pound and prevented her from getting any sleep of her own.
She could only sit in the corner on the cold floor and think. The tears started again as she wondered if Charlie had made it to safety to tell the police that Tony had her. She tried to look for her as Tony drove the car out of the motel parking lot and didn't see her anywhere. She was again second-guessing her decision to get her away from Tony. "At least I know she'd be with me," she thought to herself hoping that she hadn't made the wrong decision. The next minute she'd be telling herself what a strong kid Charlie was. How she wouldn't tolerate any abuse from anyone - she'd fight back. And so her emotions went back and forth between despair and hope.
She thought she heard a car door close outside the building and looked over at Tony to see if he'd heard it also. He didn't move, his breathing unchanged. "I must have imagined it," she thought to herself. Then she thought she heard a noise on the floor below them and strained her eyes in the dark, trying to see down the stairwell, but it was too dark. She listened for a moment, hearing no further noise.
"Keep it together, Zambrano," she told herself.
*^*^*^*^*^*^*^^*
ESU had approached the door to the warehouse and found it unlocked. They quickly greased the hinges to avoid any excessive squeaking from the rusty door as they entered the building silently, with night-vision equipment.
They slowly made their way through the first floor, making sure that there was no surprises waiting for them. They found none. They started to climb the stairs and made it to the top. The man at the top of the stairs stopped short, halting the men behind him, including the patrol officers.
He took a moment to be sure of what he saw and, sure enough, he noticed a woman sitting on the floor in the corner of the room, cuffed to the metal pipe in the corner.
*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^
Kim sensed movement out of the corner of her eye and took in a sharp breath, immediately berating herself for taking a chance on waking up Montanero.
After a moment, her eyes adjusted and she saw the man in the protective equipment she recognized as ESU. She immediately knew that the "cavalry" had arrived. "Charlie, my sweet baby girl. I knew I could count on you," she thought to herself, a sense of relief coming over her.
The officer put a finger up to his lips, signaling her to be quiet. She nodded her understanding and nodded her head in the direction of Tony. The officer nodded his understanding and turned to make a sign to the others as to where the suspect was.
The lead officer headed into the room without a noise and looked over to see a sleeping Tony on the couch. Three more officers followed him into the room, just as silent as the first and they positioned themselves between Tony and Kim, blocking her view of what was going on.
Everyone stayed very still for a moment to make sure that he did not awaken. After a moment of looking around the room and taking stock of what appeared to be the only weapon that Tony had, Bosco and Faith received the order to move into the room to take the prisoner into custody.
Bosco and Faith silently walked up to Tony, weapons drawn. Bosco held his gun close to Tony's face, his flashlight alongside his gun in the other hand. At the same moment that Bosco cocked his weapon, he pushed the button on the flashlight so that it shown directly in Tony's face.
*^*^*^*^*^*^*^
Tony was sleeping soundly and suddenly heard a familiar sound. He heard the click of a weapon being cocked and immediately felt the light in his face. He knew that he was surrounded with nowhere to go and slowly opened his eyes, unable to see who the officer was immediately in front of him.
Bosco and Faith noticed Tony tense up and waited for him to try to make an escape.
"Go ahead, asshole. Give me and ESU an excuse to blow you away," Bosco said from behind the light beam. Had he been able to see past Bosco's light, he'd have seen four officers with weapons aimed at him. But, being a former cop, he knew what would be behind Bosco.
Kim let out a sigh of relief at the familiar voice of Bosco.
Tony slowly took his hand off the weapon at his side and raised his hands indicating his surrender.
Bosco roughly pulled him off the couch onto the floor. Faith kept the suspect covered with her weapon while Bosco cuffed his hands behind his back and checked him for any further weapons. Bosco looked over at Kim to assure himself that she was okay and gave her a wink and a smile. Montanero was then roughly pulled to a standing position and led down the stairs by Bosco and another member of ESU.
Faith turned her attention to Kim who was shaking uncontrollably now. She reached down with her handcuff keys and freed her from the pipe. She grabbed the blanket that Tony had been using and put it and her arm around Kim, trying to calm her down.
"Charlie? Is Charlie okay?" she asked Faith.
"Charlie's fine, Kim. She's with Melanie and Bobby. Everyone's fine now. There's someone waiting anxiously for you outside," Faith told her. Into her radio, Faith said, "Advise EMS I'm bringing her out. She appears okay, but a little banged up." Faith stood Kim up and helped her to walk down the stairs and out the door to the waiting stretcher and her husband.
Bosco approached the Lieutenant in charge of the ESU. The man turned to look at him and before Bosco could say anything, he said, "Boscorelli. You and Yokas are going in with us. This is your collar, we're just here to make sure your guy doesn't get away."
"Great. That's all I wanted to ask you. So, how're we gonna run this, Lieu?" Bosco asked him, as Sully, Davis and Faith approached.
"Well, my guys'll go in first with the armor since we don't know what kind of firepower this guy has. Our main priority is the safety of the hostage - meaning if we have to take Montanero down so be it," the Lieutenant said.
"We should be so lucky," Bosco remarked, causing the Lieutenant to grin.
He continued, "As soon as we have the place secured, you'll take Montanero into custody and we'll get the victim to a hospital to get checked over. I'm gonna call in EMS to stand by."
Ty spoke up, "I've got that covered already, Sir." The Lieutenant nodded, knowing that the hostage was one of their own.
"Okay. As soon as EMS gets here, we'll do it," he said. He went back to conferring with his team and Ty took out his cell phone.
*^*^*^*^*^*^
Alex answered her phone on the first ring, "Hello? Oh hi, Ty. What's up?"
Ty explained the situation to her and she looked over at Doc. "We'll be there in three minutes," she advised him.
"Okay, but come in silent. We don't wanna spook him," Ty advised her, hanging up the phone.
*^*^*^*^*^*^*
The Lieutenant looked over and Ty indicated three minutes by holding up three fingers.
"Okay, everyone take your places," the Lieutenant ordered.
Everyone moved into position and as soon as they saw the ambulance pull to the curb down the road, they began to move in.
*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^
Kim was freezing. She couldn't believe how cold she was. She couldn't stop herself from shivering and Tony had yelled at her more than once thinking that the rattling of the cuffs against the pipe was her trying to escape.
Finally, the last time, she spoke up before he hit her. "I'm not trying to escape! I'm freezing!" He took slight pity on her and threw his coat over her shoulders, helping to warm her slightly. Although, she just thought it was because he was sick of hearing the metal rattle. He must have resigned himself to the fact that she wasn't able to get away and tuned out the rattling of the cuffs against the pipe because he was soon sound asleep by the sounds of the deep, rhythmic breathing.
Due to the concussion she must have suffered at his hands, her head continued to pound and prevented her from getting any sleep of her own.
She could only sit in the corner on the cold floor and think. The tears started again as she wondered if Charlie had made it to safety to tell the police that Tony had her. She tried to look for her as Tony drove the car out of the motel parking lot and didn't see her anywhere. She was again second-guessing her decision to get her away from Tony. "At least I know she'd be with me," she thought to herself hoping that she hadn't made the wrong decision. The next minute she'd be telling herself what a strong kid Charlie was. How she wouldn't tolerate any abuse from anyone - she'd fight back. And so her emotions went back and forth between despair and hope.
She thought she heard a car door close outside the building and looked over at Tony to see if he'd heard it also. He didn't move, his breathing unchanged. "I must have imagined it," she thought to herself. Then she thought she heard a noise on the floor below them and strained her eyes in the dark, trying to see down the stairwell, but it was too dark. She listened for a moment, hearing no further noise.
"Keep it together, Zambrano," she told herself.
*^*^*^*^*^*^*^^*
ESU had approached the door to the warehouse and found it unlocked. They quickly greased the hinges to avoid any excessive squeaking from the rusty door as they entered the building silently, with night-vision equipment.
They slowly made their way through the first floor, making sure that there was no surprises waiting for them. They found none. They started to climb the stairs and made it to the top. The man at the top of the stairs stopped short, halting the men behind him, including the patrol officers.
He took a moment to be sure of what he saw and, sure enough, he noticed a woman sitting on the floor in the corner of the room, cuffed to the metal pipe in the corner.
*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^
Kim sensed movement out of the corner of her eye and took in a sharp breath, immediately berating herself for taking a chance on waking up Montanero.
After a moment, her eyes adjusted and she saw the man in the protective equipment she recognized as ESU. She immediately knew that the "cavalry" had arrived. "Charlie, my sweet baby girl. I knew I could count on you," she thought to herself, a sense of relief coming over her.
The officer put a finger up to his lips, signaling her to be quiet. She nodded her understanding and nodded her head in the direction of Tony. The officer nodded his understanding and turned to make a sign to the others as to where the suspect was.
The lead officer headed into the room without a noise and looked over to see a sleeping Tony on the couch. Three more officers followed him into the room, just as silent as the first and they positioned themselves between Tony and Kim, blocking her view of what was going on.
Everyone stayed very still for a moment to make sure that he did not awaken. After a moment of looking around the room and taking stock of what appeared to be the only weapon that Tony had, Bosco and Faith received the order to move into the room to take the prisoner into custody.
Bosco and Faith silently walked up to Tony, weapons drawn. Bosco held his gun close to Tony's face, his flashlight alongside his gun in the other hand. At the same moment that Bosco cocked his weapon, he pushed the button on the flashlight so that it shown directly in Tony's face.
*^*^*^*^*^*^*^
Tony was sleeping soundly and suddenly heard a familiar sound. He heard the click of a weapon being cocked and immediately felt the light in his face. He knew that he was surrounded with nowhere to go and slowly opened his eyes, unable to see who the officer was immediately in front of him.
Bosco and Faith noticed Tony tense up and waited for him to try to make an escape.
"Go ahead, asshole. Give me and ESU an excuse to blow you away," Bosco said from behind the light beam. Had he been able to see past Bosco's light, he'd have seen four officers with weapons aimed at him. But, being a former cop, he knew what would be behind Bosco.
Kim let out a sigh of relief at the familiar voice of Bosco.
Tony slowly took his hand off the weapon at his side and raised his hands indicating his surrender.
Bosco roughly pulled him off the couch onto the floor. Faith kept the suspect covered with her weapon while Bosco cuffed his hands behind his back and checked him for any further weapons. Bosco looked over at Kim to assure himself that she was okay and gave her a wink and a smile. Montanero was then roughly pulled to a standing position and led down the stairs by Bosco and another member of ESU.
Faith turned her attention to Kim who was shaking uncontrollably now. She reached down with her handcuff keys and freed her from the pipe. She grabbed the blanket that Tony had been using and put it and her arm around Kim, trying to calm her down.
"Charlie? Is Charlie okay?" she asked Faith.
"Charlie's fine, Kim. She's with Melanie and Bobby. Everyone's fine now. There's someone waiting anxiously for you outside," Faith told her. Into her radio, Faith said, "Advise EMS I'm bringing her out. She appears okay, but a little banged up." Faith stood Kim up and helped her to walk down the stairs and out the door to the waiting stretcher and her husband.