Catharsis

Jack walked down the stairwell. Arms raised, venomous glare directed towards his former superior officer. It was crazy to think that Jack had initially doubted that Hennessey had nothing to do with the murder of his father, but after what Mayor Pinnacle told him, it made sense. Plus, Jack remembered that Hennessey had it in not only for him, but also his father.

So many thoughts flew through Jack's mind at that very moment. He was also face to face with the one man responsible for his father's death. All Jack could think about was how he was going to finish this.

"What are you doing here, Hennessey?" Jack said.

"You just couldn't keep yourself away from all this shit, could you, Slate?" Hennessey said. "You even brought your old girlfriend into this mess. You Slate boys don't have much luck. First your mom, now it's your old girl. You and your dad, losers, look at you. You will follow your dad very soon."

Hennessey then pointed his gun to Jack, who maintained keeping his arms in the air.

Hildy got herself caught up again, too. Jack couldn't help but think that Hildy had been through a lot within the past couple of weeks. She got kidnapped twice. She was almost killed a few times. It was no wonder that Chris and Eve suggested that Jack not get her involved in the blackmail evidence that he stole from Hennessey. All Jack could think about was how he could make it up to her after all this is over.

"Let her go," Jack said.

"Hell no, I'm not letting her go," Hennessey said as he stood there with his fellow GAC members.

"She has nothing to do with this, let her go!" Jack yelled.

Hennessey laughed. "That's funny, Slate. I know she has been aiding a criminal, and I'm looking at him right now."

"Fuck you, Dick," Jack said. "She has nothing to do with this. Let her go, now, and that's an order!"

"Oh, you think you can talk to me like that, your former superior officer?" Hennessey said and pulled out a gun and pointed it to Hildy. "I got to hand it to you, Slate. You had a lot of balls going after Fahook. There's no way you'd be standing here if you went face-to-face with him. With Fahook, Blatz, and Sanderville all dead, and maybe with the mayor going to jail soon, this city is practically mine, and all this gold. Do you have any idea how much power that would buy me?"

"Yeah, it will buy you one hell of a funeral," Jack said. "I'm not going to tell you again, let her go."

"Cute," Hennessey said, sarcastically. "I'll let her go, if you tell me where that evidence you stole from my station is."

Sweat ran down Jack's head. He glanced at Hildy one more time. Hildy looked at him with the same type of fear she exhibited when being held at gunpoint by Fahook. Jack remembered that she was almost shot in the back of her head until Ruby gave her life for her. She was in the same situation, except the GAC member probably was following Hennessey's orders. But what concerned Jack was if Hennessey didn't get the answer he wanted what he would do to Hildy. He knew that he had to make it up to her, big time.

"All I can tell you is that you have not been watching the news lately," Jack said.

"Wait, what?" Hennessey said.

"Now how safe would it be if I just told you?" Jack said.

Hildy shot Jack a look of "what are you doing?"

Jack shot her a look of "don't worry, I got this."

"What did you do?" Hennessey said.

"I'm only going to tell you this once, Dick," Jack said. "You're finished. You're no longer going to be a cop."

"What the fuck did you do?!" Hennessey said.

Jack remembered. He got under his skin that night at the station. Once Jack hit his weak point, Hennessey got upset. This was just like that one night.

The GAC member who held Hildy at gunpoint looked up towards Hennessey. The other GAC members pointed their SPAS-12 shotguns and M4 Carbine rifles to Jack as well.

"Sir, you want us to kill the girl and Slate?" said the GAC member who pointed his gun to Hildy.

"No," Hennessey said. "Let the girl go, and all of you stand down. This is between me and Slate."

Jack looked to Hildy one more time and mouthed "Go find Chris" to her. Hildy nodded her head. All of the GAC members put down their weapons and walked away. Hildy got up and ran away to the door to exit the hangar.

Much to Jack's shock, the other GAC members just left after being told by Hennessey. It appeared that he had authority over his men, as well as a sense of honor to a point. Otherwise Hildy would have been lying there dead by now. But Jack knew Hennessey as well.

"You know something, Slate," Hennessey said. "You and your father, you were too much alike. You just couldn't keep your nose out of other people's business."

So much heat flowed through Jack's veins when Hennessey said that.

Hennessey put down his gun and his riot shield. He then took off his GAC vest, revealing his black shirt with the GCPD initials on the left part of his chest area. Jack put up a stance as he looked Hennessey dead in the eye like he wanted to end him.

Meanwhile, Hildy went outside of the hangar and with the night sky looming over the airport runway, she saw some red and blue lights flashing. Those cops could not have been with the GAC from inside the hangar. A male cop looked like he was interviewing some of the ladies who were abducted and were almost going to be flown out of the country.

She saw a familiar face. I thought he quit the force. She thought.

She ran towards the runway with her sights on that man with the other cops.

"Chris!" Hildy yelled.

As soon as he heard his name, Chris turned around. "Hildy?"

"It's Jack," Hildy said. "And what are you doing here? I thought you weren't a cop anymore."

Chris flashed his badge. "Tonight I am. Long story. Where is he?"

Hildy looked behind Chris and saw two other cops approaching them.

"Excuse me, miss," said the cop. "I am Chief Redwater. Did I hear you mention Jack, as in Jack Slate?"

"I am Captain Inness," the other cop said.

Nervous, not knowing how to respond to that, Hildy nodded her head.

"It's okay, we're together," Chris said.

Hildy sighed in relief. "Good, because there were other cops in there." She said pointing to the hangar. "One of them was going to try to kill me. The main one tried to shoot Jack."

"Main one?" Inness said.

"What did he look like?" Redwater said.

"He looked rough, older, had a mustache," Hildy said. "He and these other cops had uniforms that had the letters G.A.C. on them."

Chris, Inness, and Redwater all looked at each other like they knew who she meant.

"Come on, let's go," Redwater said. "Hennessey's finished."

Nearby, two men in suits walked up to the group.

"Hold on, Redwater," said a man in a suit. "My partner and I want to handle Hennessey as well. This is a federal matter, you know. We're taking him alive, though."

"Right," Redwater said. "Let's go."

The two circled each other. Despite the dead bodies laid out in the hangar, whether it was of Fahook's soldiers and mercenaries, as Fahook's personal bodyguards/assassins, Meeshaka and Shadraka. However, the GAC team spread out as well as exited the hangar. All Jack and Hennessey were stare each other in the eye.

"You really think you got a chance against me, hotshot?" Hennessey said.

"You obviously didn't survive half the shit I went through since getting out of jail," Jack said.

Hennessey chuckled and then delivered a hard punch to Jack's stomach.

"Ohhhh!" Jack yelled.

He fell, landed on his knees, and rubbed his hand against his stomach.

"What now, hotshot? Going to give up like your old man?" Hennessey said looking down towards Jack. "I heard he practically begged for his life."

Jack slowly ascended to his feet while his field of his vision ascended to look right to Hennessey.

"Go to Hell," Jack said.

Hennessey laughed some more. Jack rushed right towards Hennessey and tackled him to the ground.

Big mistake on Hennessey's part.

With Hennessey on the ground, Jack stared right into Hennessey's eyes with so much rage and hatred as he threw a hard right hand and a hard left hand to Hennessey's face. Bruises came up on his face, as well as blood coming out around his jaw-line. But Hennessey struck Jack on one of his shoulders, causing him to yell a bit. Hennessey used his strength to shove Jack right off of him.

Jack was on the floor. Hennessey got back to his feet and kicked him right in the gut. Jack was hit there three times tonight. Fahook did the same. Now Hennessey had punched and kicked Jack in the same area. On top of that, Hennessey hit him on the shoulder, which was a weak point for Jack considering he had an arrow go through it sometime before.

"Stay down! Don't hurt yourself now!" Hennessey taunted Jack and laughed at him.

Hennessey kicked him again and then stomped on him. Hennessey also kicked Jack in his back.

Jack slowly crawled on the floor and then looked up at him. No matter much pain he was in, as not long before that he fought Fahook, Jack knew that Hennessey was taking his current state as a sign of weakness.

Hennessey stood before Jack and looked down towards him, who lied flat on his back. Hennessey was dead centered on Jack.

"You and your dad," Hennessey said. "Losers, look at you!"

"Fuck!" Jack yelled. "You!"

Jack swung his right foot upward towards Hennessey's groin.

"AAAAHHHHH!" Hennessey screamed.

He dropped to both of his knees after being kicked down there. Jack delivered a swift roundhouse right to Hennessey's head. Blood squirted from his face while Jack stood there with a venomous scowl and breathed hard.

All Jack could think about was everything that had happened with Hennessey. He had remembered that his father and Hennessey were friends at one time. The two were partners, but things had led to their falling out. Despite their differences, they maintained a working relationship.

But then Jack remembered that his father was framed, and after finding that evidence that proved it, Jack kicked Hennessey while he was down. Frank Slate was kicked off the force because of Hennessey. Jack picked Hennessey up to his feet.

Jack butted his head right to Hennessey's face and then elbowed him in the face as well. But Hennessey didn't go down without a fight either, as he delivered a few punches to Jack, some where in areas where Jack was vulnerable.

But the rage was enough for Jack to tackle him one more time and punch him again and then got up and kicked and stomped him as well. He saw a pistol lying around. With Hennessey on the ground, Jack went and picked up the gun and pointed it to Hennessey's face.

Hennessey laughed while he lied there with Jack standing over him, holding him at gunpoint.

"Go ahead, Slate, do it," Hennessey said. "Shoot me, and it's back to Old Sparky for you. Sickle would love that, you know. But do you think your old man would like that?"

Sweat ran down Jack's face, as did a tear, with the knowledge of Hennessey being responsible for Frank's murder. Jack's wrist started to twitch.

"You can't do it," Hennessey said.

"Jack!"

"JACK!"

A male voice and a female voice were heard calling Jack's name from a close distance. It sounded like Chris and Hildy. But regardless, Jack still held the gun and contemplated pulling the trigger.

"Slate!"

"Slate!"

Hearing his last name uttered drew Jack's attention even more. Jack turned around and saw Hildy with Chris, Inness, and much to his surprise, Redwater. On top of that, there were two men in suits nearby. One man was African-American and the other was Caucasian.

"Slate, put the gun down," Redwater said. "Don't worry about Dick. He's finished."

One of the men in suits said, "We're here to take him in."

"Who are you?" Jack said.

"I'm Special Agent Bradley Jordan," the man said. "This is my partner William Dennis. We can take this from here."

Despite the feds, his best friend, his old girlfriend, and two of his former superior officers standing there, Jack still had his finger on the trigger and pointed the barrel to Hennessey's face.

"Jack," Hildy said. "Don't do it. How do you think your dad will feel about this? It won't bring him back, but your dad wouldn't have liked this."

"It's not worth it, Jack," Chris said. "You do this and you will be put back on the electric chair."

Everyone had a point. As much as Jack wanted to kill Hennessey for framing Frank and killing him, doing this won't bring his father back and he would also get the electric chair again. He likely wouldn't be lucky to escape this time around, either.

Jack inhaled and exhaled as he slowly descended his arm and dropped the gun. Hennessey reached for something on the left side of his pants, but no one saw what it was.

The only thing Jack did was reach for Hennessey's belt and saw something shiny and pulled it away from him and held it. It was Hennessey's badge.

"You don't deserve this," Jack said and tossed it towards the other cops.

Hennessey's eyes locked with Jack's and said, "Yeah, well, send your dad my regards."

Jack felt something sharp pierce into his stomach. His mouth opened agape as the sharp alloy turned clockwise. Jack slowly dropped towards his left.

"JACK!" Hildy screamed.

"Holy shit! Jack!" Chris yelled.

Hildy and Chris ran to Jack's aid. Redwater called in for a medivac.

Both feds went to Hennessey and pointed their guns to him.

"Drop the knife!" said Agent Jordan.

"You're coming with us," Agent Dennis said.

Hennessey raised his arms and looked right at Jack as he lied there bleeding out of his stomach with Hildy and Chris kneeling before him. He smiled as he was being taken away.

Jack lied there and looked up at the ceiling as blood started to come out of his mouth.

"Please, get us some help!" Hildy yelled.

"Don't worry, miss, they're on their way," Redwater said.

While Jack lied there, once again many thoughts ran through his mind, ranging from his childhood memories with his parents Frank and Dolores to attending his senior prom with Hildy to enlisting in the military and the graduation from basic training with both of his parents and Hildy attending. He remembered his time in Bosnia when he was in the service and then when he became a cop to finally getting put in jail.

They often say that when you're close to death that you remember your whole life. Jack thought. I thought it was bullshit at first, but that was all I could think about right now.

Jack breathed hard and looked up at the ceiling with everything around him moving in slow motion and growing, as well as people's voices sounding distorted.

"Jack, stay with us," Chris said. "You're going to be okay, bro."

"Stay with me," Hildy said.

The hangar's big door opened and in walked some paramedics with a stretcher rolling towards Jack. The medics helped put Jack on the stretcher while they put a respirator on him and patched up his stomach to help with the bleeding. The medics rolled him to the outside while Chris and Hildy walked with them.

The sound of a propeller spinning as well as a bright white light shining over everyone made it clear how Jack was getting out of here.

The medics helped Jack into the helicopter. Meanwhile, a couple of ambulances were parked near the hangar as a couple of stretchers rolled up with two bodies that were covered up. They were likely Ruby and Fahook, but there were other bodies in the hangar, so more were coming so that they could be taken away.

"Let me come along," Hildy said.

"Sorry, miss, we can't," one of the medics said.

"We have room for one more," the other medic said.

"It's…okay." Jack struggled to talk but he managed to tell them.

"Okay, miss, are you his girlfriend?" the medic said.

Hildy nodded. "Yes, yes, I am."

"Okay, get on," the medic said.

Hildy climbed into the helicopter and sat before Jack while he was being tended to.

"I'm here, Jack," Hildy said. "I won't leave your side. I'll make sure you'll be okay."

Jack looked up to her and put his arm around her. "Thank…you."

Hildy smirked while a tear ran down her eye.

Chris stood with Redwater and Inness and watched as the helicopter ascended.

"I heard you turned in your badge the other day," Redwater said.

"Yes, I did," Chris said.

"But you didn't fill out any papers," Redwater said. "Good thing Eddie found your badge. You would not have done any of this tonight if you didn't have your shield."

"Yes, sir," Chris said as he watched the helicopter fly away.

"Well, given your work tonight, there might be a promotion in store for you two," Redwater said.

Chris and Inness smiled at that remark.

Meanwhile, from a distance, through a pair of binoculars, Eve watched everything from Jack being rolled on a stretcher to being put on the medivac helicopter. She then put them down.

Hang in there, Jack. Eve thought. Until we meet again, I will always think about you.

Author's note: It's not over yet. Just one more to go. It will be the epilogue.

The two feds' names were based on the real names of rappers Scarface and Willie D. I thought about having a third fed named Richard Shaw, as that was the late Bushwick Bill's real name, but I changed my mind.