Arrival Overdue

Chapter 10
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The five officers were in the middle of their meal at the steakhouse, swapping horror stories and passing around pictures of the accident scene, when someone's pager went off. "Man, he's lucky to be alive," Ty said as Kavanagh took his pager off his belt and looked at the number. After glancing in Franklin's direction, he took out his cell phone and dialed as the others sat in silence knowing by the look on his face that it may be something serious.

"Yeah, this is Kavanagh," he said when his call was answered. He listened for a moment, adding a couple of responses to questions and hung up.

"Well, I'm sorry to have to cut this short, but we may have a good lead on this Mason character," he said, using his napkin and reaching for his wallet to pay for his meal. Franklin did the same.

"No way. This one's on us, guys," Ty said, telling them to put their wallets away.

"What's the lead?" Faith asked them.

"Well, it seems that one of his former associates may have seen him in one of the seedier parts of our fair city. We've got a couple of Albany units on the way to check it out," he said, standing up.

"Mind if we come along?" Sully asked. Kavanagh thought for a moment.

"Alright. But you guys need to stay out of it. You don't have clearance to be working up here and it's my ass if something goes wrong. Not to mention having to deal with your C.O. in the aftermath," Kavanagh answered.

"We're strictly observers," Sully answered for all of them as they threw money on the table to cover the check. The five of them exited the restaurant and climbed into Kavanaugh's SUV.
*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^

"You wanted to see me, Mr. Mason," said the nervous little man.

"Not really, but I need to know something," Mason said.

"Yes, Sir?"

"I need to know how you could miss an unmoving target?" he said, the anger bubbling up in his voice and stance.

"Sir?" said the man in confusion.

"You left one of those cops alive!" Mason bellowed. "You told me they were both dead!"

"What? I thought they were, Sir! I don't know how one could have survived. They were both shot and then that rollover wreck..." he said only to be interrupted.

"Well, I survived that rollover wreck!" yelled Mason, as the man noticed the facial bruises that Mason had sustained in the wreck.

"I'm sorry, Sir. They both looked dead to me," he said, trying not to shake too badly.

"Well, I suggest that you find a way to get into that hospital and finish the job," Mason yelled even louder, making the man jump.

"Yes, Sir. I'll take care of it, Mr. Mason. You don't have to worry about a thing," he squeaked as another man hurried into the room and whispered into Mason's ear.

"Get it done!" Mason said, dismissing the man.

"How?" he asked the second man.

"Word is that Smitty found out from some of his connections and called the cops. They're on the way here now so we have to move," the man said.

"Let's go," Mason said, hurrying out behind the man to make his getaway.
*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^

The five officers were standing outside of the building talking to the Albany Officers at the scene.

"Somebody tipped him off. He was definitely here, but he was gone by the time we got here," said the police officer.

"Okay. Thanks for your help," Kavanagh said, shaking the Officer's hand.

"We're all keeping an eye out. How's that NYPD cop doing?" the Officer asked.

"Well, these are his co-workers and his partner," Franklin said, pointing out Faith and they all shook hands.

"He's gonna be okay. He's pretty banged up, but he should make a full recovery. Now we just gotta catch the bastard that did this to him," Faith said.

"I hear that," said the Officer. They all said goodbye to one another and the five got back into Kavanaugh's SUV and headed back to the hospital to drop them off.

"Well, thanks for everything guys," Faith said as they all got out of the SUV at the hospital.

"Sorry we couldn't have gotten this guy while you were here. But, we WILL get him," Kavanaugh assured them all. "And, I've got your number and you've got mine and Franklin's, so don't hesitate to call us. We'll keep you posted. Give us a call when you come back up to get Boscorelli and we'll meet up," he said.

"Will do. Take it easy," Faith said and they all said goodbye. The three headed back up to Bosco's floor to check in before they headed out.
*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^

As they got off the elevator and reached Bosco's room, Faith said, "Oh my God. We forgot to bring back something for Bosco's mom to eat."

"Don't worry. I'm not very hungry anyway," Rose said. She was sitting in the chair in the hallway.

"I'm sorry Rose," Faith said. "Everything okay?" she asked, looking at the closed door to Bosco's room.

"Yes. Dr. Tate is just checking his wounds. He's been awake for a little while now. He turned down the pain medicine until you guys got back because he wanted to be awake," she told them.

"Well, we're gonna head back to the City tonight, so we just wanted to see him real quick and then he can have some more medicine," Faith said. "You want me to run down and see if I can get you something to eat from the cafeteria?"

"No. I'm really too tired to eat, Faith," Rose said as Dr. Tate came out of the room.

"Well, I'm heading home and making something to eat, so why don't you come with me, Mrs. Boscorelli. We'll come back first thing in the morning, okay?" Jennifer Tate said.

"It's Rose, and thank you very much," Rose said.

"You guys are heading back tonight?" Jennifer said to Faith, Ty and Sully.

"Yeah. We've all gotta work tomorrow. But, I'll call tomorrow to see how he's doing and I'm gonna use Ty's truck to come back up and bring Rose and Bosco home when he's ready," Faith said.

"Okay. We'll take good care of him," Jennifer said. "You can go in and see him. He heard your voices out here. But not for too long."

"Thanks," they said as they all walked into Bosco's room.
*^*^*^*^*^^*^*

"John Sullivan?! You must have thought I was gonna die if you came all the way up here to see me," Bosco teased, reaching out to shake his hand.

"Seriously, Man. Thanks for comin' and bringing my Mom up," he said.

"No problem. I'm glad everything's gonna be okay," Sully said.

"Ty, thanks for coming up here," Bosco said, shaking his hand also.

"You know I'm always here, Bos," Ty said.

"Ty's gonna let me use his truck next week to bring you and your Mom back home," Faith told Bosco.

"Thanks. I'll make sure she doesn't scratch it," Bosco said teasingly.

"Well, we're gonna head out into the hall and wait for you," Sully said to Faith.

"Alright. I'll be out in a minute, guys," she said as the two walked outside.

Bosco watched them leave and then saw Faith looking at him. "What?"

"Nothing. I'm just... You gave me quite a scare, Bos," she said simply.

"Sorry. Wasn't my idea," he said, trying to lighten the mood.

"I know. I just.... Well, I just wanted to say that I'm glad you're my partner and I'm waiting for you to come back to work. I'll have my cell phone so you can call me anytime and I'll probably see you early next week when it's time to go home," she said.

"Thanks, Faith. I'm glad we're partners too. I'll give you a call tomorrow. Have a safe trip back. Tell everyone at the house I said Hi and tell the Bucket Boys and medics thanks for the gift," he said, pointing to the box on the table next to his bed. Faith walked over and looked in the box.

In the box was a hardhat and reflective traffic safety vest, along with some road flares and a flashlight that had a red and amber flashing light. She picked up the card and read it: "Bosco. Here's to a speedy recovery. Please carry this small token with you at all times when driving." It was signed, "The Crew at Camelot."

Faith chuckled and put the card back in the box. "That came today?" she asked, walking back over to his bed.

"Yeah. Wait'll I get back home," he said kiddingly. Faith noticed by the look in his eyes that he was having some pain.

"Well, we're gonna head home. You get some rest and I'll talk to you tomorrow, Bos," she said, reaching down to take his hand. He grasped back and they each gave a squeeze.

"Thanks, Faith," Bosco said as she let go and headed for the door.

"Have fun with The Good Doctor," she teased as she left, the words that Bosco wanted to say left unspoken as she pulled the door shut.
*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^

They were southbound on the Thruway when they came to the spot of Bosco's accident. Faith and Ty were riding together and Sully followed in his car. Ty pulled off to the shoulder of the road, with Sully pulling off behind them. The three got out of the vehicles and looked at the skid marks that seemed to go on for a long way.

"Boy, he must have held it for a long time before he lost control," Ty said.

"Yeah. I can't imagine him giving up easily," Faith said as they looked down the embankment and saw where the car had dug up the grass and dirt and came to rest against the tree. The bark was stripped off of the tree where the car rested and they could see the reflection of some of the broken glass in the grass.

"Wow," Sully said and they all shook their heads in agreement.

"Anybody hear if Hogan had any family?" Faith asked.

"I don't know. He was pretty young. I heard his funeral's gonna be day after tomorrow," Sully said.

"I told Bosco I'd go for him," Faith said as they headed back to their vehicles.

"I'll go with you if you want," Sully offered.

"Sure. Thanks," Faith said. After another moment they were all back on the road toward home.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
TBC...