A/N: Sorry for another semi-cliff hanger. Thanks for the reviews, and please keep sending them. I need motivation to keep writing, and you guys are it! Thank a lot! I hope you like this chapter.
Faith Yokas squeezed her blue eyes shut, hands pressing down on top of her head as her face knitted with concentration. 'Think, Yokas. Suzie...Suzie...What the hell does he mean?' It had been ten minutes since Bosco's frantic words had come over the radio. Faith sat in the passenger seat of 55-David, racking her brain for some hint of an idea at what her partner had met. She knew it had something to do with their partnership, maybe something they had seen, or a call they had been on. But for the life of her, she couldn't figure out what. She looked out the window of the squad car, to the perimeter ESU was setting up. Lieutenant Swersky had designated the situation a hostage taking, and Emergency Services had been called in. With good reason, Faith had been left out of the planning stage, with specific instructions to find out what Bosco's words meant. The fact that they were just trying to get her out of the way was not lost on her. Whenever her partner was concerned, she knew she could be less than level-headed.
"God dammit!"she cried, lashing out with her hand against the door. Quite possibly, Bosco's life depended on figuring out what his code meant. She bent forward at the waist, rubbing at her face with her hands. Why the hell couldn't she figure this out? Suzie. It seemed so obvious, yet she was unable to come up with a solution. Suzie. It sounded like a child's name. She couldn't think of any adults that would go by that cutsie name. Okay, so did Bosco know any Suzie's? So far as Faith knew, he didn't have any young relatives. She didn't think he had many friends outside the station(or in it), and none of the other officers had a child named Suzie. Faith froze suddenly in her seat. A sudden memory came back to her so vividly she felt like she was back in that seedy apartment building, trying to make conversation with that dirt bag neighbourhood watch guy. She had been talking to him normally, but when the sound of glass shattering had reached her on the other side of the door, she had kicked the lock in. Now that she thought about it, it wasn't really a surprise to her to realize Bosco had jumped through the window and was beating the creep to a pulp. After pulling him off the suspect, she had sent him to find the girl. Even from where she knelt reciting the perp's rights to him, she could hear Bosco talking softly to the young girl. "Suzie? Suzie, honey, are you alright?" She sat up straight in her seat, blue eyes suddenly wide. That was it!
"Lieu!"she cried, jumping out of the car and bolting towards Swersky. The older man turned to look at her, his face stern as he opened his mouth to tell her to pipe down.
"I remember!"she yelled, grabbing his arm in a vice grip. "Dr. Susan Lewis, do you remember? She came down from Chicago. Her niece was missing. Don't you remember? Bosco took to the case personally. He jumped through that window, had to get stitches. Don't tell me you forgot."
Lieu shook his head. "No, I didn't forget. But what does that have to do with anything? Do you think this doctor involved somehow?"
"No, the little girl's name was Suzie. He was referring to the missing girl."
Sully and Davis had hurried over upon seeing Faith burst out of the car like a rocket. Now they stood on either side of her; deep, pensive frowns etched into their faces. "You think there's a little girl in there?"
Faith's reply was a helpless shrug. "I don't know. I don't think so. He said, 'I have to help her.'"
She was quiet for a long minute, lost in thought. "Okay, wait a minute. When we got to that guy's apartment, he wouldn't let us in to talk. Bosco told me to keep talking to him while he snuck around back." She stopped, and her hand flew to her mouth. "Jesus, how could I have forgotten? I told him to be careful, and he said he had to help her!" She looked at Swersky, then back at Sully and Davis.
"Yokas, you're gonna have to spell it out. We don't know what's going on in that head of yours."
Faith rolled her eyes as if she thought it ridiculous that they hadn't made the connection yet. "He wants us to create a distraction. I think."
"You think?" Sully stared at her, his left eyebrow raised slightly. "There's a lot on the line for something you're not even sure about."
If they were in different circumstances, Faith would've chuckled at the thought that Sully, Bosco's biggest opposer, was voicing his concern for the young officer. But after she thought about it for a moment, she realized it wasn't that far fetched. None of them wanted to see a police officer shot, even one as big mouthed and hot headed as her partner. She hoped to God that it wouldn't come to that.
Meanwhile, Bosco lay limply against the bookshelf, in a world of pain he had frequented few times before. His punishment for Faith's message was swift, and twenty minutes after, his vision was still cloudy. The whacko had yanked his radio off his shoulder, and crushed it under her foot. There was a brief moment when Bosco was certain she was going to shoot him in the head, and it would all be over. But she had settled for grinding the heel of her shoe into his shoulder wound. The agony filled scream couldn't be stopped, and Bosco had passed out for several minutes. Upon regaining consciousness, he had noticed with overwhelming despair that the puddle of blood underneath him had steadily grown while he was out. He no longer possessed the strength to hold pressure against the bullet hole, and he was disturbingly aware of how quickly his blood was flowing down his chest, and soaking his shorts.
"You're not gonna get away with this,"he murmured. His speech had long since become slurry and slow with the weakness loss of blood created. Rosina looked up from where she sat with young Mike, and smirked.
"Easy for you to say. I have the perfect hostage right here. I know how protective New York's finest is of their own. They'll do anything to get you back in one piece."
Bosco chuckled softly, despite the pain it caused. "That's where you're wrong. None of them like me. They'd be happy to see me killed in the line of duty." Speaking was becoming more and more difficult, and his chest heaved slightly with exertion. 'Please, Faith...hurry.' It had been too long since the message, Bosco knew. Either Faith hadn't understood, or no one was listening to her. Either way, the idea that Bosco was going to die from a shoulder wound in a school library was beginning to look more and more like a probable possibility. He shifted his gaze to where the two shooters sat quietly discussing things between them. The thought of the poor woman laying on the floor by the door chewed at Bosco's mind. He knew it would be considered a miracle if she was still alive. He had failed her. He had told her he would get her help, and he had failed. And now she was almost certainly dead.
"Hey!" His attempt at a shout was less a shout and more a rush of air leaving his lips. He reached his goal, however, when Rosina turned to look at him. "Listen,"he began, grimacing as he shifted his weight. "There's a woman over there who's going to die if we don't get her help. Let some paramedics come in and take her away. You'll still have me and that'll be good enough."
Much to his surprise, she actually seemed to be considering his suggestion. After a moment's thought, she nodded. "Alright. That sounds fair. I don't want too many people to die. How can I tell them to come get her?"
With a visible effort, Bosco reached into a side pocket and pulled out his cell phone. A flash of anger crossed the woman's face, and Bosco winced, fearing the punishment. "It's not even on,"he hastened to explain. "I thought I might need it for something like this."
She nodded sternly. "Alright. Call someone out there, tell them only two paramedics, no guns. Any funny business and you'll get a bullet in your forehead. Clear?"
He swallowed hard, then said, "crystal."
Faith stood with her arms crossed tightly in front of her chest. She prayed silently that she had gotten Bosco's message right, and hadn't just condemned her partner to death. The ESU had set up a perimeter; Faith was confident that whoever was responsible for this mess wouldn't get out unscathed. But she worried for Bosco, wondering where that left him.
A buzzing noise reached her ears then, one that was so unfamiliar in this context that she had to stop and think about the source. Her cell phone. She had forgotten it was still clipped onto her belt. With a sharp intake of breath, she ripped it from her belt and read the screen. Bosco. The glowing green letters spelled out her partners name.
"Lieu!"she screamed, catching the boss' attention from where he stood talking to the ESU commander. "It's Bosco!"
She waved her phone at him, then wiped her hands hurriedly on her pants and accepted the call.
"Bos? Is that you? Are you alright?"
There was a moment of silence, then a gruff voice Faith barely recognized as her partner's came through the tiny speaker. "Faith...I'm okay. You have to send a couple of medics in. There's a woman...she's shot in the leg, it's really bad. No guns, don't take any chances, she has my gun..." He trailed off as if too weak to continue, and despite Faith's pleading to stay with her, the call ended with a click. Lieu reached her side then, and Faith looked up at him with fear in her eyes.
"Boss, he said we have to send medics in. There's a woman with a bullet in her leg. He says its bad. Um, he doesn't sound too good, and he says she had his gun."
Lieu frowned, but nodded stiffly. "Alright. For now, we have to play by their rules. But that doesn't mean we're giving up, okay?" He laid his hand on her shoulder for an instant, then hurried across the parking lot to speak with Carlos and Doc.
