Chapter three

Author's note: Thanks for the great reviews guys, that really means a lot to me. Keep 'em coming! :) Here's chapter three, hope you enjoy!

***

Faith was walking into the locker room when she suddenly felt her chest go tight. She reached out her hand and leaned on the wall, trying to catch her breath.

"Faith, you okay?" came Sully's alarmed voice.

"Yeah... I'm fine." she said, waving off her friend's concern. "I don't know... I guess I'm just tired, I've been running all morning." Truth was, she couldn't explain that. She closed her eyes and tried to compose herself. Soon the pain was replaced by an uneasy feeling in the pit of her stomach, but she quickly dismissed it as being over-reactive.

She walked to her locker and started to change out of her civvies. A few minutes later, they were all sitting in the roll call room, listening to Sergeant Christopher's voice as he rambled on about a suspect they were supposed to catch.

Faith lifted her head from the picture she'd been absently staring at and looked around. No sign of her partner yet. He'd told her he was probably going to be late, so she didn't give that a second thought. She just hoped that Christopher wouldn't come down too hard on him.

"Yokas, you heard from your partner yet?" Lieutenant Swersky's voice brought her back to reality.

She turned to look at him and realized she was the only one still sitting in the briefing room. "Uhm... no, sir. I spoke to him about half an hour ago, but he just said he was working on something and was going to meet me here in a while. He... he said something about his car not working, and that he was going to take the subway."

"Okay. You'll pair up with Gusler. I'll have the desk Sergeant give you a call when he shows up."

"Thanks, sir." she said as she got up from her chair and went looking for the young officer.

***

Bosco saw the glint of metal in the dim light of the alley as the man removed a gun from his pocket and aimed it at him, watching everything as if in slow motion. He opened his mouth to say something, but his words got trapped in a whisper as he realized the weapon was about to go off.

He tried to reach for his gun in a frail attempt to stop that from happening, but it was already too late, and he felt the bullet as it hit him in the abdomen, the echo of the shot vibrating in his ear. His body was thrown backward until he slumped to the cold ground.

He forced himself to open his eyes, and met De Marco's cold glare. "They say a gunshot wound to the stomach provides the most painful death..." he whispered as he knelt down beside him. "You should live long enough to realize what a stupid mistake you've made." A twisted smile crept up on his face as he shot one last glance at the wounded man. "Pleasure doing busines with you." he laughed, and then walked away.

Bosco closed his eyes and tried to catch his breath. He willed himself not to move until he was sure they were both gone. Then he brought his hand up to his chest and touched the fabric of his shirt, which was already soaked with blood. "Have to... get out... of here." he whispered as he tried to sit up.

Pain ripped through his body, but he knew if he wanted to live he had to move. So he tried again, his hand still clutched on the wound to keep some pressure.

He finally rose to his feet and managed to take a few steps forward. The pain was more intense with every step he took, and his vision started to blur. It was hard to breathe, but he refused to let it go and reached the end of the alley. He tried to look around, but his eyes wouldn't focus.

His hand reached for something to hold on to, but he found nothing. The pain was unbearable, and he stumbled and fell to the ground again. He thought about his brother, and all the things he hadn't been able to tell him. About his mother, and how this was going to affect her. About Faith... He'd promised he would always be there for her. "Can't... give up..."

He could barely feel his legs, and his breath was ragged and shallow, but he got up, and gathering whatever strenght he had left he started to walk. He wasn't sure where he was going, but kept moving until the pain was too much to handle and his body begged him to stop. "I'm sorry, Faith." he whispered as his world grew dark.

***

Mikey stared at Barry in shock, his words still playing in his mind. 'I'm afraid the problem's already been fixed. Someone's taking care of him as we speak.' God, please forgive me. What have I done?

"What... what do you mean?" he asked, trying to keep a straight face.

"Sorry, man, but you know how this works. A new guy stepping on our territory better watch his back." he smiled.

"No need to worry, man." the other guy echoed. "You give us what we want, we go back to business again."

"No, please, it's not what you think! I swear, that was my brother. He's got nothing to do with this!" He fell down on his knees and closed his eyes, running both hands through his hair. "Please, I wouldn't lie to you about this... just leave him alone... I'm the one who screwed up."

Barry turned to his comrade, a puzzled look on his face. He then looked at the young man in front of him, but felt no remorse.

"Alright, Michael, maybe you're telling the truth, so you know what? I'm going to take this money and tell Mr. De Marco that you're sorry for pissing him off." He took a step backward, as the other guy started to walk back to the car. "I'm sorry about your brother, man, but you can take that as a warning and be more responsible in the future. No one messes up with us, you tell your loser friends."

Mikey didn't move from his spot. Eyes still closed, he could hear Barry's footsteps as he approached the car, the engine starting off as they both climbed in, the screech of tires as they drove away.

He breathed a sigh of relief and slowly got up, but a wave of nausea suddenly washed over him, and his hand grasped a light pole for support. I have to find him, he told himself. I have to find him before it's too late. He started to walk, then took off running towards the place where he'd last seen his brother, praying to whoever God was in charge of up there that he was already at work, cleaning up the streets of people like himself.

TBC...