Disclaimer: I do not own any rights to Third Watch or it's characters.
Author's note: Once again I'd like to thank my faithful reviewers. You guys inspire me to keep working at it.
"Understanding Steven"
~Chapter Thirteen~
Gusler drives around nervously, trying to find a place where he can dispose of Faith. He has no choice, she betrayed him. When that is done, he still needs a place to hide until it is safe for him to leave town. His apartment is the first place they will look, and of course they will be looking for his car. This is bad...he doesn't have a plan. He needs to slow down and think clearly, or he will start making mistakes and get himself caught.
Faith moans from the passenger seat and begins to finally stir. Her head is pounding. She reaches her right hand up and feels a large welt on the back of her head. She struggles to remember what happened. She has become aware that her left wrist is handcuffed to something. She tries to open her eyes and the burn from the mace is still there. Her eyes start watering uncontrollably. She can feel the motion of the car...she is being driven somewhere but she can't seem to open her eyes enough to make out where she is.
***[Back at the precinct]***
Lieutenant Swersky waits, along with sergeant Cruz and the detective that is investigating the attack on Bosco. He impatiently keeps checking his watch. "Where the hell are they?"
"Are you sure they were coming right in?" Cruz asks. "Maybe they went on another call. Or...maybe that bleeding heart Yokas gave him a heads up. He may be in the wind already."
"Yokas wouldn't do that. She was ordered to come directly in with him. I'm gonna have dispatch call them on the radio. Something may have gone wrong."
*****
The radio suddenly calls out for 55-David to call in their location and ETA. Faith instinctively grabs for her radio and finds she is no longer wearing one. Her gun is also missing. Quickly she grabs for the car radio but Gusler sees her and grabs her hand away before she gets to it.
"Don't...I'll hurt you again if I have to."
She recognizes Gusler's voice and the memory of what happened, grabs her. "Steve...where are we going?" She looks over at him. Her eyes are red and sore, and when she tries to open them they start tearing again. "Please...you have to stop. You need to turn yourself in."
"Shut up. I'm making the decisions now."
She tries desperately to wipe the pain from her eyes so she can see where he is driving them. From the little bit of vision she has, she can see that they are on a street with little traffic, but nothing to tell her where exactly they are.
The radio sends out another call for them to report in.
"Steve...you have to answer them. They'll know something is wrong."
"Something 'is' wrong!" he shouts at her. "My partner was planning to take me down. Or did you forget that."
"No...they ordered me to come in. I had no choice." she pleads.
"You had a choice. But like everyone has done to Steve, you chose to stab me in the back as well. But I'm not gonna stand by and take it like Steve does. I thought you were better than that. But you're just like everyone else."
The radio puts a call out to all units to be on the lookout for 55-David in car number 5649. "Son of a bitch!" He pounds on the steering wheel. "This is all your fault. You couldn't just let me go!"
"Gusler...there's no way out of this. You have to turn yourself in."
"No. I won't do that! I've done nothing wrong." He turns and glares at her. His eyes are cold. "I have to ditch this car...and you."
He turns down a service road between two buildings, and shuts the car off. He pulls out his gun and sits there, holding it with both hands as if he is struggling with this decision.
Faith searches for her handcuff key, but Gusler had already removed it. She looks at him, sitting there just staring at his gun. Her eyes are focused on his gun as well. He is cradling it, and she can't tell what his next move is going to be. Her mind races, trying to think of an escape, but being cuffed to the car, her only chance is to try and talk to him.
"Gusler...please...you're too good of a cop to do this."
Then, in a quiet, emotionless voice, he starts talking. "You were the only one that ever gave Steve a chance. I thought you were different. You were patient with him...you tried to teach him...but then...you just abandoned him and chose to work with Boscorelli instead."
"Bosco's been my partner for ten years. The Lieutenant asked me to work with Steve. It was only temporary."
"Partners don't do that. Partners are not temporary." He looks at her, and his eyes are dark and threatening. "You don't ride with someone and then dump them. You were nice to him and he believed in you. All he wanted was a partner that would take care of him. Someone to watch his back."
"I did that. I watched out for Steve."
"You didn't do that for me!" His sudden burst of anger startles her. He is so mad he is shaking. "Steve was hopeless! I know that. I didn't blame you for not wanting to work with him...that's why I took over. I showed you that I am a good cop...that I'm not afraid of anything and that I am able to protect you. I even made that perp show you some respect. You didn't even appreciate it. You fucken yelled at me and pulled rank. And now that I need your help, you didn't even consider it. You were just going to drive me into an ambush."
He swings the gun in her direction. Seeing the sudden movement, she screams and reaches for the gun. She grabs his wrist with her right hand just as the gun fires, and the bullet imbeds it's self into the glove box. As they struggle for the gun, a second round goes off hitting her in the leg. Gusler twists away from her grasp, and throws an elbow into her face.
Faith falls back and slumps down in the seat struggling to remain conscious. She feels Gusler lean over her and she puts her hand against his chest in a feeble attempt to push him away. He puts the gun to her head. She feels the cold metal pressing against her temple and instinctively closes her eyes, waiting for the explosion to follow. However, there is nothing but the sound of her sobbing.
She feels the barrel of the gun quivering, as though he doesn't have the strength, or maybe the will, to pull the trigger. She is crying and frantic, and in a panicked voice she pleads with him. "Please...don't. Oh God...you don't have to do this. Please Steve...stop."
"You brought this on yourself." He tries to squeeze the trigger, but his hand is shaking too much. She is looking at him so desperately, and a wave of pity ripples through him. His hand is now shaking fiercely, and he can't bring himself to pull the trigger on her.
Faith senses his hesitation, and she tries urgently to reach the old Steve. She softly says, "Steve...you're my partner...I need your help."
He feels his control breaking down. A feeling of nausea rumbles into his stomach and his chest is getting tight. He is scared. He feels fear...Steve's fear. He doubles over, trying to will the feeling away. He can not let Steve come back. "No! Kill her!" he yells.
"Please...I trusted you. We're supposed to ride together. Stan is gonna ruin everything." she says.
He stares at her and his eyes start to look timid and scared, and full of confusion.
"Steve help me...please. You're my partner."
Suddenly a voice comes over the radio, excited and urgently calling in to central.
"10-13...10-13...this is 55-Charlie, reporting gunshots...I repeat...we have shots fired in the vicinity of 104 and Arthur. Requesting back up at this location."
"Shit!" He glares at her with a look of pure hatred.
Stan sits up and punches the back of the seat. "Why is this happening. Why don't they leave me alone." He starts the car and drives quickly down to the end of the service road. He turns right, but nosing out of the next road is an RMP being driven by 55-Charlie . He slams on his breaks and does a U-turn, forcing a car to swerve onto the sidewalk to avoid rear-ending him.
"There he is Sul." Davis turns on the siren, and quickly grabs for the dashboard to steady himself as Sully slams on the breaks to avoid the oncoming car that just missed Gusler.
"Get the hell out of the way!" Sully barks at the car. "Where Davis...where are they?"
"To the left...go left." Davis struggles to hold on, as Sully spins the car to the left. A taxi starts to pull away from the curb, right into their path. "Whoa...whoa...whoa! Does nobody see these lights flashing? Watch it Sul...to the right." They almost side swipe a van that also tries to pull out in front of them. "That's them ahead of us." Davis says pointing.
"I see 'em. Where the hell does he think he's going? Get on the radio, Davis. Talk to him."
"55-David...pull your vehicle over." He pauses. "Gusler...pull it over man. What are you doing." No response. "Gusler give it up before someone gets hurt."
A delivery truck noses out from an alley causing Sully to swerve hard to the left. "Son-of-a-bitch!" he yells over the truck's blaring horn. He grabs the radio out of Ty's hand. "Gusler...pull your ass over now. You're gonna get us all killed."
Gusler spots a small break in the oncoming traffic, and makes a fast left through it, hoping Sully will be blocked and unable to follow. However the car he turned in front of, slams on his breaks, giving Sully time to make the turn right behind him.
Davis takes the radio back from Sully and calls in to all units that they have a visual on 55-David and are now following them east on Roland.
Faith is being tossed around in the front seat, but finally gets a chance to grab at Gusler's arm in an attempt to make him lose control. They side swipe a few parked cars. He makes a fist and punches her leg where the bullet hit her. She yells out in pain clutching her leg, which is now bleeding badly. As they struggle, their RMP swerves dangerously all over the road.
Sully follows, not sure of how to stop him without endangering Faith. "God damn it. Where is he going?"
"We need to box him in, the way you did that truck carrying the illegal aliens that time. What do ya think Sul?"
"It's not all that easy to do. Let me think." He looks around, trying to picture where they are heading, and where they can send him that he will run out of road. "Ok...get on the horn and tell them we need a unit to put a road block at the intersection of Roland and tenth, and tell all other units to watch for him to head north off of Roland."
"Alright...but you realize Gusler will hear this too." he warns before he talks into the radio.
"I'm counting on that. I want to force him to turn south. He'll end up driving towards the docks. He'll have nowhere to go from there." Sully then turns south at the next street. "I hope the units behind us stay with him."
Davis looks back. "They did."
"Good. Now let's hope he does what I want him to do. Then we can stay one street over and keep him heading south." Sully makes a left, heading east towards Gusler again.
Another unit calls over the radio that 55-David turned south on Polar street. "Bingo!" Sully says excitedly. "Tell them to stay on him, and call for a road block on Paxton street, east of Polar."
Davis does as he's instructed. "What if they can't get there in time?"
"It doesn't matter. He knows they're going there...so he won't turn east. We stay to the west of him, and the units behind him, will keep him from turning around. Soon, he'll just run out of road."
"There he is!" Davis says excitedly, pointing straight ahead. "Nice job."
"I can't believe this is working." Sully says, making a quick right, one block short of the street Gusler is on. They are now driving parallel to him, seeing him cross over every side street they go by. "Can you see Faith? Is she alright?"
"I can barely see her. She looks hurt."
Gusler keeps driving, looking for a place to turn, but there are units coming from all directions. He realizes he is coming to the dock where the freighters are unloaded. There is no where he can go. They are closing in on him. He pulls into the parking lot and looks around frantically for an exit. Ahead, there is a gate for the trucks to pull through, where they can park on the dock to be loaded with the cargo from the ships. A guard at the gate puts his hand up to stop him, but Gusler doesn't even slow down.
He busts through the closed gate, as the confused guard ducks out of his path. He is now racing down the large pier, swerving to avoid the dock workers and forklifts that are running back and forth loading the tractor trailers. Behind him are 55-Charlie and three other units, all following and waiting for him to run out of pier.
The end is quickly approaching. "Gusler...stop!" Faith screams. She grabs his sleeve. "Steve it's over. Stop the car...you gotta stop. Please!" She tries to reach her leg over to his side and apply the breaks, but he jerks the wheel to the right, throwing her against the door. She is still screaming for him to stop, even though she now realizes that there is not enough pier left for him to stop in time. Then he guns it.
Gusler rolls his window down. The front tires hit a wooden board that frames the end of the pier, making the car lurch up as it gets launched off the pier. They are in the air for five or six seconds, before the car nose dives into the water, slamming Gusler hard against his seat belt. Faith is thrust against the dashboard with such force, that her wrist breaks against the handcuff.
The car bobs up to the surface, and then starts to sink as it quickly fills with the freezing water. Gusler quickly unbuckles his seat belt. Faith had lost consciousness momentarily, but the cold water revives her. She realizes the car is sinking. "Steve...help me." she moans. "Please. Give me the key." He gives her a quick glance as he pulls himself out through the window. "Please...don't leave me." Steve pushes off from the car and disappears.
The water is rising quickly inside the car. Faith flinches at the pain from her broken wrist, as she tries to pull her hand free. The water has risen to her chest. She cries for help. The car rolls onto the drivers side as the water reaches the open window and fills it even quicker. The water is up to her neck now, and she frantically tries to keep her head above it as she is slid down to the drivers side. Her side of the car is only inches above the surface. She grabs the door handle and pulls her head up above the water, but she knows it is hopeless. The car is sinking and she is going down with it.
She can see someone climbing onto the car from the water and she screams for them to hurry. The person outside is trying to open the door. She takes one last gasp of air, as the door is pulled open and the water floods in over her head. The car is now completely submerged. Her hand is desperately grabbing upwards, and she gets a hold of someone's shirt. They grab her arm and pull her towards the surface wrenching her broken wrist in the handcuff. The pain causes her to exhale her last bit of air and she inhales water.
Davis, along with two other officers, had jumped into the water and swam to the sinking car. Davis got there first and is the one who got the door open, but when he tried to pull her out, he realized she is somehow stuck in the sinking vehicle.
He climbs into the car in an attempt to free her, assuming that she is only wearing a seat belt. Then he sees her hand cuffed to the grate in the RMP. He struggles to keep himself calm.
He has to try and get his key, but in the confinement of the flooded car, he can't get his hand into the pocket of his wet uniform. He sees that she is drowning, and he feels the panic beginning to overtake him. He suddenly needs air desperately. He is about to climb back out of the car to get a breath of air, when he unexpectedly feels the key in his fingers. He pulls the key from his pocket, then convinces himself to go slow and carefully. He needs to get it unlocked without delay...Faith is dying in front of him.
For a moment her body convulses as it tries to push the water from her lungs, but she just keeps taking in more water. There is a thunderous pounding in her ears, increasing in speed as her heart races, then slows like an echo, until there is nothing but a dark muffled silence.
He frees her from the cuff, but as he pushes her up to the pair of hands waiting to pull her out of the sinking car, he realizes that she is no longer grabbing at him and the panic is gone from her face. He gets a sinking feeling that he didn't free her in time.
********
Author's note: Once again I'd like to thank my faithful reviewers. You guys inspire me to keep working at it.
"Understanding Steven"
~Chapter Thirteen~
Gusler drives around nervously, trying to find a place where he can dispose of Faith. He has no choice, she betrayed him. When that is done, he still needs a place to hide until it is safe for him to leave town. His apartment is the first place they will look, and of course they will be looking for his car. This is bad...he doesn't have a plan. He needs to slow down and think clearly, or he will start making mistakes and get himself caught.
Faith moans from the passenger seat and begins to finally stir. Her head is pounding. She reaches her right hand up and feels a large welt on the back of her head. She struggles to remember what happened. She has become aware that her left wrist is handcuffed to something. She tries to open her eyes and the burn from the mace is still there. Her eyes start watering uncontrollably. She can feel the motion of the car...she is being driven somewhere but she can't seem to open her eyes enough to make out where she is.
***[Back at the precinct]***
Lieutenant Swersky waits, along with sergeant Cruz and the detective that is investigating the attack on Bosco. He impatiently keeps checking his watch. "Where the hell are they?"
"Are you sure they were coming right in?" Cruz asks. "Maybe they went on another call. Or...maybe that bleeding heart Yokas gave him a heads up. He may be in the wind already."
"Yokas wouldn't do that. She was ordered to come directly in with him. I'm gonna have dispatch call them on the radio. Something may have gone wrong."
*****
The radio suddenly calls out for 55-David to call in their location and ETA. Faith instinctively grabs for her radio and finds she is no longer wearing one. Her gun is also missing. Quickly she grabs for the car radio but Gusler sees her and grabs her hand away before she gets to it.
"Don't...I'll hurt you again if I have to."
She recognizes Gusler's voice and the memory of what happened, grabs her. "Steve...where are we going?" She looks over at him. Her eyes are red and sore, and when she tries to open them they start tearing again. "Please...you have to stop. You need to turn yourself in."
"Shut up. I'm making the decisions now."
She tries desperately to wipe the pain from her eyes so she can see where he is driving them. From the little bit of vision she has, she can see that they are on a street with little traffic, but nothing to tell her where exactly they are.
The radio sends out another call for them to report in.
"Steve...you have to answer them. They'll know something is wrong."
"Something 'is' wrong!" he shouts at her. "My partner was planning to take me down. Or did you forget that."
"No...they ordered me to come in. I had no choice." she pleads.
"You had a choice. But like everyone has done to Steve, you chose to stab me in the back as well. But I'm not gonna stand by and take it like Steve does. I thought you were better than that. But you're just like everyone else."
The radio puts a call out to all units to be on the lookout for 55-David in car number 5649. "Son of a bitch!" He pounds on the steering wheel. "This is all your fault. You couldn't just let me go!"
"Gusler...there's no way out of this. You have to turn yourself in."
"No. I won't do that! I've done nothing wrong." He turns and glares at her. His eyes are cold. "I have to ditch this car...and you."
He turns down a service road between two buildings, and shuts the car off. He pulls out his gun and sits there, holding it with both hands as if he is struggling with this decision.
Faith searches for her handcuff key, but Gusler had already removed it. She looks at him, sitting there just staring at his gun. Her eyes are focused on his gun as well. He is cradling it, and she can't tell what his next move is going to be. Her mind races, trying to think of an escape, but being cuffed to the car, her only chance is to try and talk to him.
"Gusler...please...you're too good of a cop to do this."
Then, in a quiet, emotionless voice, he starts talking. "You were the only one that ever gave Steve a chance. I thought you were different. You were patient with him...you tried to teach him...but then...you just abandoned him and chose to work with Boscorelli instead."
"Bosco's been my partner for ten years. The Lieutenant asked me to work with Steve. It was only temporary."
"Partners don't do that. Partners are not temporary." He looks at her, and his eyes are dark and threatening. "You don't ride with someone and then dump them. You were nice to him and he believed in you. All he wanted was a partner that would take care of him. Someone to watch his back."
"I did that. I watched out for Steve."
"You didn't do that for me!" His sudden burst of anger startles her. He is so mad he is shaking. "Steve was hopeless! I know that. I didn't blame you for not wanting to work with him...that's why I took over. I showed you that I am a good cop...that I'm not afraid of anything and that I am able to protect you. I even made that perp show you some respect. You didn't even appreciate it. You fucken yelled at me and pulled rank. And now that I need your help, you didn't even consider it. You were just going to drive me into an ambush."
He swings the gun in her direction. Seeing the sudden movement, she screams and reaches for the gun. She grabs his wrist with her right hand just as the gun fires, and the bullet imbeds it's self into the glove box. As they struggle for the gun, a second round goes off hitting her in the leg. Gusler twists away from her grasp, and throws an elbow into her face.
Faith falls back and slumps down in the seat struggling to remain conscious. She feels Gusler lean over her and she puts her hand against his chest in a feeble attempt to push him away. He puts the gun to her head. She feels the cold metal pressing against her temple and instinctively closes her eyes, waiting for the explosion to follow. However, there is nothing but the sound of her sobbing.
She feels the barrel of the gun quivering, as though he doesn't have the strength, or maybe the will, to pull the trigger. She is crying and frantic, and in a panicked voice she pleads with him. "Please...don't. Oh God...you don't have to do this. Please Steve...stop."
"You brought this on yourself." He tries to squeeze the trigger, but his hand is shaking too much. She is looking at him so desperately, and a wave of pity ripples through him. His hand is now shaking fiercely, and he can't bring himself to pull the trigger on her.
Faith senses his hesitation, and she tries urgently to reach the old Steve. She softly says, "Steve...you're my partner...I need your help."
He feels his control breaking down. A feeling of nausea rumbles into his stomach and his chest is getting tight. He is scared. He feels fear...Steve's fear. He doubles over, trying to will the feeling away. He can not let Steve come back. "No! Kill her!" he yells.
"Please...I trusted you. We're supposed to ride together. Stan is gonna ruin everything." she says.
He stares at her and his eyes start to look timid and scared, and full of confusion.
"Steve help me...please. You're my partner."
Suddenly a voice comes over the radio, excited and urgently calling in to central.
"10-13...10-13...this is 55-Charlie, reporting gunshots...I repeat...we have shots fired in the vicinity of 104 and Arthur. Requesting back up at this location."
"Shit!" He glares at her with a look of pure hatred.
Stan sits up and punches the back of the seat. "Why is this happening. Why don't they leave me alone." He starts the car and drives quickly down to the end of the service road. He turns right, but nosing out of the next road is an RMP being driven by 55-Charlie . He slams on his breaks and does a U-turn, forcing a car to swerve onto the sidewalk to avoid rear-ending him.
"There he is Sul." Davis turns on the siren, and quickly grabs for the dashboard to steady himself as Sully slams on the breaks to avoid the oncoming car that just missed Gusler.
"Get the hell out of the way!" Sully barks at the car. "Where Davis...where are they?"
"To the left...go left." Davis struggles to hold on, as Sully spins the car to the left. A taxi starts to pull away from the curb, right into their path. "Whoa...whoa...whoa! Does nobody see these lights flashing? Watch it Sul...to the right." They almost side swipe a van that also tries to pull out in front of them. "That's them ahead of us." Davis says pointing.
"I see 'em. Where the hell does he think he's going? Get on the radio, Davis. Talk to him."
"55-David...pull your vehicle over." He pauses. "Gusler...pull it over man. What are you doing." No response. "Gusler give it up before someone gets hurt."
A delivery truck noses out from an alley causing Sully to swerve hard to the left. "Son-of-a-bitch!" he yells over the truck's blaring horn. He grabs the radio out of Ty's hand. "Gusler...pull your ass over now. You're gonna get us all killed."
Gusler spots a small break in the oncoming traffic, and makes a fast left through it, hoping Sully will be blocked and unable to follow. However the car he turned in front of, slams on his breaks, giving Sully time to make the turn right behind him.
Davis takes the radio back from Sully and calls in to all units that they have a visual on 55-David and are now following them east on Roland.
Faith is being tossed around in the front seat, but finally gets a chance to grab at Gusler's arm in an attempt to make him lose control. They side swipe a few parked cars. He makes a fist and punches her leg where the bullet hit her. She yells out in pain clutching her leg, which is now bleeding badly. As they struggle, their RMP swerves dangerously all over the road.
Sully follows, not sure of how to stop him without endangering Faith. "God damn it. Where is he going?"
"We need to box him in, the way you did that truck carrying the illegal aliens that time. What do ya think Sul?"
"It's not all that easy to do. Let me think." He looks around, trying to picture where they are heading, and where they can send him that he will run out of road. "Ok...get on the horn and tell them we need a unit to put a road block at the intersection of Roland and tenth, and tell all other units to watch for him to head north off of Roland."
"Alright...but you realize Gusler will hear this too." he warns before he talks into the radio.
"I'm counting on that. I want to force him to turn south. He'll end up driving towards the docks. He'll have nowhere to go from there." Sully then turns south at the next street. "I hope the units behind us stay with him."
Davis looks back. "They did."
"Good. Now let's hope he does what I want him to do. Then we can stay one street over and keep him heading south." Sully makes a left, heading east towards Gusler again.
Another unit calls over the radio that 55-David turned south on Polar street. "Bingo!" Sully says excitedly. "Tell them to stay on him, and call for a road block on Paxton street, east of Polar."
Davis does as he's instructed. "What if they can't get there in time?"
"It doesn't matter. He knows they're going there...so he won't turn east. We stay to the west of him, and the units behind him, will keep him from turning around. Soon, he'll just run out of road."
"There he is!" Davis says excitedly, pointing straight ahead. "Nice job."
"I can't believe this is working." Sully says, making a quick right, one block short of the street Gusler is on. They are now driving parallel to him, seeing him cross over every side street they go by. "Can you see Faith? Is she alright?"
"I can barely see her. She looks hurt."
Gusler keeps driving, looking for a place to turn, but there are units coming from all directions. He realizes he is coming to the dock where the freighters are unloaded. There is no where he can go. They are closing in on him. He pulls into the parking lot and looks around frantically for an exit. Ahead, there is a gate for the trucks to pull through, where they can park on the dock to be loaded with the cargo from the ships. A guard at the gate puts his hand up to stop him, but Gusler doesn't even slow down.
He busts through the closed gate, as the confused guard ducks out of his path. He is now racing down the large pier, swerving to avoid the dock workers and forklifts that are running back and forth loading the tractor trailers. Behind him are 55-Charlie and three other units, all following and waiting for him to run out of pier.
The end is quickly approaching. "Gusler...stop!" Faith screams. She grabs his sleeve. "Steve it's over. Stop the car...you gotta stop. Please!" She tries to reach her leg over to his side and apply the breaks, but he jerks the wheel to the right, throwing her against the door. She is still screaming for him to stop, even though she now realizes that there is not enough pier left for him to stop in time. Then he guns it.
Gusler rolls his window down. The front tires hit a wooden board that frames the end of the pier, making the car lurch up as it gets launched off the pier. They are in the air for five or six seconds, before the car nose dives into the water, slamming Gusler hard against his seat belt. Faith is thrust against the dashboard with such force, that her wrist breaks against the handcuff.
The car bobs up to the surface, and then starts to sink as it quickly fills with the freezing water. Gusler quickly unbuckles his seat belt. Faith had lost consciousness momentarily, but the cold water revives her. She realizes the car is sinking. "Steve...help me." she moans. "Please. Give me the key." He gives her a quick glance as he pulls himself out through the window. "Please...don't leave me." Steve pushes off from the car and disappears.
The water is rising quickly inside the car. Faith flinches at the pain from her broken wrist, as she tries to pull her hand free. The water has risen to her chest. She cries for help. The car rolls onto the drivers side as the water reaches the open window and fills it even quicker. The water is up to her neck now, and she frantically tries to keep her head above it as she is slid down to the drivers side. Her side of the car is only inches above the surface. She grabs the door handle and pulls her head up above the water, but she knows it is hopeless. The car is sinking and she is going down with it.
She can see someone climbing onto the car from the water and she screams for them to hurry. The person outside is trying to open the door. She takes one last gasp of air, as the door is pulled open and the water floods in over her head. The car is now completely submerged. Her hand is desperately grabbing upwards, and she gets a hold of someone's shirt. They grab her arm and pull her towards the surface wrenching her broken wrist in the handcuff. The pain causes her to exhale her last bit of air and she inhales water.
Davis, along with two other officers, had jumped into the water and swam to the sinking car. Davis got there first and is the one who got the door open, but when he tried to pull her out, he realized she is somehow stuck in the sinking vehicle.
He climbs into the car in an attempt to free her, assuming that she is only wearing a seat belt. Then he sees her hand cuffed to the grate in the RMP. He struggles to keep himself calm.
He has to try and get his key, but in the confinement of the flooded car, he can't get his hand into the pocket of his wet uniform. He sees that she is drowning, and he feels the panic beginning to overtake him. He suddenly needs air desperately. He is about to climb back out of the car to get a breath of air, when he unexpectedly feels the key in his fingers. He pulls the key from his pocket, then convinces himself to go slow and carefully. He needs to get it unlocked without delay...Faith is dying in front of him.
For a moment her body convulses as it tries to push the water from her lungs, but she just keeps taking in more water. There is a thunderous pounding in her ears, increasing in speed as her heart races, then slows like an echo, until there is nothing but a dark muffled silence.
He frees her from the cuff, but as he pushes her up to the pair of hands waiting to pull her out of the sinking car, he realizes that she is no longer grabbing at him and the panic is gone from her face. He gets a sinking feeling that he didn't free her in time.
********
