July
McCall still hadn't had the time to go and see Charlie until today. She used her lunch hour to pay him a visit.
"I'm glad you're coming back next week, this Captain Smythe is..."
"Driving Hunter crazy," Charlie interrupted.
"Not just Hunter," she confessed.
"I know, I had some complaints from other people too."
"The case we are working on right now is putting a lot of strain on us. Working with Lt. Dunn and his men isn't easy."
"You look tired, everything okay?"
"I haven't been sleeping much the last week," she didn't tell him about the nightmares she'd been having every night and how she and Hunter were longing for a decent nights rest.
"How is that investigation coming along?" Charlie wanted to know.
"Slow. We are getting the feeling someone doesn't want us to find out the truth and in the mean time there's something brewing out there that could easily turn into a riot."
"What's the Captain doing about it?"
"Not much, Dunn's got him wrapped around his little finger."
"Hang in there, next week is gonna be very different for Mr. Dunn," Charlie smiled and managed to make McCall smile as well.
When she got back to the precinct Hunter was waiting for her in the parking lot.
"Good news, Ash finally got some info from one of the members of the same gang Mike Hernandez is in. Turns out Mike's a big shot and had a contract out on Romeo Ortiz. He wasn't just from the wrong neighborhood, he was from the wrong gang."
"This could end up in an ordinary gang war."
"Right and I know just the person who wants to light this fire."
"Did Ash have some more on the shooter?"
"He did, we can meet him in half an hour. How is Charlie?"
"He's fine, looking good and eager to get back to work."
"That's good to hear."
Hunter's informant Ash was waiting for them at their usual meeting place, an old abandoned warehouse.
"What have you got for us Ash?" Hunter asked.
"The kid who shot Romeo Ortiz said to me he got the gun from Mike personally. He wanted Romeo out of the way cause he was messing with Mike's sister and was considered a threat to his gang cause he knew too much. Mike had offered a place in his gang but Romeo refused."
"Do you think this kid wants to testify against Mike in exchange for a new ID?"
"I don't know, he's pretty scared. I can always ask."
"Unless you can find something else to tie Mike to this murder."
"I'll see what I can do."
"Okay, thanks." Hunter said and handed him his fee.
"That's another step closer," he said to McCall on the way back.
"Yeah," she sighed.
What they didn't know was that the fire was about to be lit.
Three in the morning, McCall woke up screaming, sweating and crying. She was sitting up in bed her eyes wide open and a frightened look on her face.
Hunter wrapped his arm around her and pulled her cose,
"Shhh, it's over. It was only a dream, you're safe now."
She relaxed at his touch and soothing words,
"It was horrible Rick. Smoke and fire all around me and I couldn't find you anywhere. I called out your name but all I could hear was someone laughing."
"It's a dream Dee Dee, it's over now."
She took a sip from the glass of water on the nightstand and snuggled close to him before dozing off again.
The next day started out as a quiet day.
Both Hunter and McCall worked on some reports while waiting for some news from Ash. It came just before lunch and it wasn't good.
"The kid that shot Romeo Ortiz was found dead in his building this morning, it looks like Ortiz's gang did it. The rest of the gang is preparing to take revenge. It's gonna get out of hand."
"How did he die?" Hunter wanted to know.
"He was shot, I happened to see the shell casing before the detective bagged it. It looked like a 9mm."
"Who picked it up?"
"Lt. Dunn, he was at the scene pretty quick."
Hunter sighed when he heard this.
"There was something else. After he bagged the casing he looked around and then put it in his pocket."
"Thanks Ash, I owe you one." he said and hung up the phone.
"Sounds like Dunn is up to his old tricks again," McCall remarked after Hunter had filled her in.
"And a new one. He wasn't into murder before," Hunter pointed out to her.
"No he hasn't. It's gonna be tough to prove though."
"I know but it's not gonna stop me from trying."
"Why don't we talk to Mike Hernandez. He can stop this gang war from happening if he wants to." McCall suggested.
"Yeah we could try."
"Sorry Sgt's, nothing I can do. It's out of my hands," Mike told them.
"We know it was a cop who murdered your boy, not one of Ortiz's gang. We just haven't got enough to arrest him on," Hunter explained.
"A cop killed him?" Mike repeated in disbelief.
"I don't know his motive, maybe he wants this war to happen."
"I'll see what I can do but like I said earlier it's out of my hands."
Evening fell, Hunter and McCall were busy going through the case file again to find out where Dunn fitted in when a call from Ash came in. All hell had broken loose in the neighborhood where Ortiz's gang ruled and the violence was turning into riots.
People were going through that part of the city luting and setting fire to stores, dumpsters and cars leaving a trail of destruction.
Special forces were desperately trying to stop them, so far to no avail.
"We have to get out there," Hunter said to McCall.
"We have to find out what or who started this."
With big strides he headed for the elevator but stopped and turned around when he noticed McCall wasn't coming.
"Come on."
"I don't know Rick, maybe we should wait until it's over."
He noticed her hesitation,
"The sooner we find out what caused this the sooner we can put a stop to it."
McCall wasn't sure but she didn't like the idea of him going out there alone either, so she went along.
The streets looked like a war zone, sidewalks covered in glass, garbage and other rubble. Burning buildings, empty shop windows, cars either on their side or upside down, some of them burning. People running from one side of the street to the other trying to stay out of police hands. A feeling of fear came over McCall as she watched this while Hunter maneuvered the car through all this. The whole scene looked just like what she had seen in her dream.
Hunter pulled up in front of a building and got out, McCall followed. They went in and stopped in front of apartment 3c on the first floor. He banged on the door with his fist,
"Ash, it's Hunter. Open up!" he yelled.
No answer.
"Ash!" he yelled again.
Still no answer.
"He's probably somewhere out there," McCall said.
"I think you're right. We have to find him, he might be able to help us link Dunn to all of this."
"Why don't we start looking at his usual hangouts?" she suggested.
"Good idea."
As they left the building a big mob of people followed by police separated Hunter from McCall in a split second and when the sidewalk had cleared he was gone.
"Hunter?" she said thinking he was hiding somewhere but he didn't show.
A feeling of panic washed over here,
"Rick this isn't funny. Come out." she raised her voice in concern.
For a moment McCall didn't know what to do. She couldn't call for backup cause Hunter had locked the car and took the keys. So she had to find another way, went back into the building and wanted to knock on the first door she came across. At that moment someone grabbed her and pulled her into a darker part of the hallway.
The person that grabbed her had a gloved hand over her mouth, she couldn't make a sound. The firm grip prevented her from moving.
"Listen carefully," a hoarse mans voice said.
"Stop your investigation in this case. You might get hurt if you don't."
McCall tried to listen if there was anything familiar about the voice, but there wasn't. Her purse with her gun had fallen when the guy grabbed her, so there wasn't much she could do.
"You can find your partner between two buildings," he said before pushing her forward and making a run for it.
She slammed into the wall and landed on the floor hard. Before leaving the building the guy took a last look at her and laughed, something that sounded familiar to her. Another part of her dream.
After sitting on the floor for a while she stood up, picked up her purse and limped out the door.
'That's gonna be black and blue,' she thought rubbing her behind.
Once outside she saw their car, it had been set on fire.
'Great!' she thought.
The clue the guy had given her told her Hunter must be in some alley but where. The only alley she could think of was the one Romeo Ortiz had been murdered in and that one was on the other side of the neighborhood. That meant she had to go through the riots.
It was the least of her worries. In what kind of condition would she find Hunter, as far as she knew he could be dead.
Finding a way through the groups of fighting people and police wasn't an easy task but somehow she managed. When she reached the street where Romeo Ortiz used to live everything was silent. A couple of burning cars and the mess on the street were the only reminders of what had happened there. She reached the alley and turned the corner.
Hunter was sitting on the ground, his back against a dumpster his eyes closed. McCall walked towards him with her gun drawn, kneeled besides him and wanted to check his vitals when he opened them.
"Are you okay?" she asked him.
He looked her in the eye,
"I'm okay. A bit groggy and my head hurts like hell," he said with a soft voice.
"What happened?"
"When that mob separated me from you someone hit me on the head. I passed out and woke up here. I must have woken at some point cause I can remember a voice telling me to quit this case or else."
"Someone grabbed me from behind when I wanted to call for backup and told me the same thing. He set fire to the car by the way."
"Damn! How did you get here?"
"I walked." she said sitting down next to him.
"This case is getting more complicated by the minute," she sighed.
"I know how you feel but we must go on or this person will get away with what he did."
"Yeah, I know. Let's get out of here can you stand up?"
"I think so," carefully, holding on to the dumpster and McCall, who was already standing, Hunter got up.
A bit wobbly he took a couple of steps,
"I'll be fine," he said surely.
It took them a long time to get home, they had to go through the still spreading riots.
Once they got there McCall ordered Hunter to the bedroom. He didn't mind, his head was throbbing and he felt tired.
Not long after she joined him and brought a cold compress for his head.
"I'm gonna take a shower, back in a minute," she told him.
"Okay."
When she returned he was fast asleep. She watched him for a while, stroked his cheek and whispered,
"I love you,"
Before snuggling close to him and doze off herself.
The next morning when McCall woke he was gone. She found him sitting at the kitchen table looking through the morning paper,
"Good morning, how are you feeling?" she wanted to know.
"Better," he answered.
"Those riots were pretty destructive," he changed the subject.
"The paper is full of it."
McCall poured herself a mug of fresh coffee and joined him at the table,
"Did they managed to stop them?"
"Sort of. It's quiet now but anything could start them again."
"What are we gonna do about our case?" she asked.
"Continue."
"I figured that."
"How about we go through the file one more time to see if we haven't missed anything and take it from there," Hunter suggested.
"Works for me," she answered.
Hunter got up from the table to get another mug of coffee. McCall watched his stiff moves, he was feeling worse then he let on.
Later after a hot shower he felt better, but McCall wouldn't let him drive to the precinct. She had called her mom to ask if she could use her car until they got another one later that day.
At the precinct Hunter went through the case file with a fine tooth comb but didn't come up with anything new. McCall was going through some other files looking for a connection between Mike Hernandez and Lt. Dunn, she got lucky.
"Dunn arrested Mike for possession of an illegal firearm and an illegal substance two years ago. He got off with a fine and probation cause he gave evidence in another case. He was arrested a lot of times after that but never did any time."
"I bet Dunn made it go away for something in return. I think we should bring him in for a serious talk," Hunter said and lifted himself out of the chair, the expression on his face told McCall he was hurting.
"Are you sure you are okay? I could take Brad with me instead," she said worried.
"I'm okay McCall," his reaction was harsh and blunt, something she hadn't seen from him before.
Without saying another word she took her purse out of the bottom drawer of her desk and headed for the elevator followed by a stiff moving Hunter.
"I'm sorry," he said after the elevator doors had closed.
"I know you are worried and I shouldn't have reacted like that," he put his hand on her shoulder.
She looked up to him, "You are right, I'm worried. You are obviously in pain and it isn't a shame to admit that you know. Let someone else handle the tough work."
"Yeah but on the other hand, the less people know about this the better. There can always be a leak."
The door to Mike Hernandez's apartment remained closed after several knocks.
"He must still be out there," Hunter thought out loud.
"He's gonna be hard to track down," McCall added.
"Maybe Sporty can help,"
"Good idea partner."
Sporty wasn't at his usual spot, actually there wasn't much left of his usual spot. The rioting mob hadn't spared his 'office'.
A couple of people were busy clearing out the rubble and cleaning up. One of them was Kirby.
Hunter pulled over and rolled down the window,
"Hey Kirby!" he yelled.
Kirby jumped up as if he was stung by a bee but soon calmed down when he saw Hunter,
"What's this, new police tactics. Scaring people to death instead of shooting them?"
Hunter ignored his comment, "Where can I find Sporty."
"You don't want to see him right now, oh no. He's in a foul mood over this," pointing at the mess.
"Well, I'm about to make his day, so where is he."
"The playground two blocks from here."
"I know where to find that, thanks."
"Just what I need, you two bringing me more bad news." Sporty remarked as he saw them walk up.
"I just got off the phone with my insurance company, they don't cover this."
"That's too bad Sporty."
"Anyway, how can I be of help to you officers today."
"We are looking for Mike Hernandez. He's very important to our case and we think hid life may be in danger."
"Mike Hernandez? He's real trouble you know. I'd keep far away from his sort."
"We can't Sporty. He can help us put a dirty cop away," McCall pitched in.
"Well okay, I'll ask around and give you a call in an hour."
That hour became two hours, then three hours and finally after three and a half hours Sporty called,
"Man this was one hard to find dude,"
"Did you find him?"
"What do you take me for!"
"Sporty where is he," Hunter said angry.
"Their new gang head quarters at York street. It's crawling with members, not a safe place to be I tell you."
"Thanks for the advice but I've been to worse places," Hunter said before hanging up the phone.
Hunter parked the car in an alley across the street, where they had a good view on the building. Two large guys were guarding the front door, people were going in and out.
"What do you want to do?" McCall asked him.
"Wait until Mike comes out and pick him up?"
"No I'm going in to get him," he said opening the car door to get out.
"You don't have to come if you don't want to." he shut the door and walked off.
She watched him walk stiffly towards the building and decided to come along.
"What do you want?" one of the big guys barked.
"We want to speak to Mike Hernandez," Hunter answered.
"He ain't here."
"Why don't I believe you."
The guy looked at Hunter, "Didn't you understand me the first time, he ain't here. So you better leave before I get angry." he said and opened his jacket to reveal his gun.
Hunter wasn't impressed and showed him his, "And so will I."
The other guy was looking at McCall from top to bottom,
"Maybe we could have some fun sweet cakes."
"You are not my idea of fun," she remarked.
"Ohh feisty."
The two men laughed. Hunter could feel his blood starting to boil but managed to remain calm,
"Either you two ask Mike Hernandez to come out or we are going in to get him ourselves."
"I told you before, he ain't here." the first guy shouted.
"Hey, what's a guy gotta do to get some rest around here!" Mike's head appeared through the opened window above them, he froze when he saw Hunter and McCall.
"Not here huh." Hunter said to the big guy in front of him and turned to Mike.
"Mike, I wanna talk to you. You're life is in danger."
Mike thought about it for a second, "Let then in guys."
The two stepped aside so they could enter the building. Mike came down and lead them into what appeared to be the living area.
"So what's this about my life being in danger," he said crossing his arms in front of his chest.
Meanwhile outside, a hand reached through the open window of Hunter's replacement car and destroyed the radio. The same hand took out a gun from under a jacket, the other hand attached a silencer. It took two shots to take out the two big guys by the door, entering the building was easy now. The sound of voices lead the shooter to the next target. Standing outside looking just around the doorway the shooter took aim, pulled the trigger and send a bullet flying through the room.
"Dee Dee get down!" Hunter yelled throwing himself to the ground taking Mike with him. McCall did the same and rolled into a safer position behind the couch. Hunter and Mike joined her when Mike noticed he was bleeding. The bullet had hit him in the arm.
"Are you okay?" Hunter asked his partner looking worried.
"I'm fine. You?"
"I'm fine too. I think the bullet was meant for Mike.
The shooter realized the target had been missed and had to plan the next move carefully. All three people in that room had to be killed so there wouldn't be any witnesses. The plan was to make them think the shooter had left and then strike again.
Ten minutes later they were still behind the couch,
"Do you think he left?" Mike asked Hunter.
"Don't know, I'm gonna check it out."
With his gun drawn Hunter left the hiding place very carefully, keeping as low as possible. Once he reached the wall he stood up and pressed himself to it moving slowly towards the door.
In a flash the shooter was standing in front of him, the gun pointed in his direction. Hunter wasn't surprised when he saw who he was dealing with.
"Johnny Dunn, I should have known."
"That's Lt. Dunn for you. Drop your weapon and that goes for you to McCall!"
"I'm not gonna be your target practice and neither is my partner."
"Stop playing hero Hunter, it doesn't suit you."
McCall was taking aim from behind the couch, "One clear shot is all I need," she whispered.
Mike heard this and made an unexpected move, he jumped up.
"It's me you want Dunn, not them."
What happened next all went in a split second, Dunn swung himself and his gun in Mike's direction ready to pull the trigger. McCall got her clear shot and beat him to it hitting him in the chest twice. He sank to the floor and died instantly.