Disclaimer: Disclaimer: I don't own Third Watch or anything else affiliated with Third Watch but I do own my own characters.
Special thanks to sullyfan for reminding me, 'hey when are you updating?'
See, what had happened was- I can't really think of anything right now except that I was stuck on what was going to happen next. Here it is, the next chapter, nice and long because you all had to wait.
Enjoy!
Mistaken Identity
Chapter 7
'Flash'
"Just a few more, officer."
'Flash'
"We just need to document all of your injuries for the police report." The bearded man said giving Ty a small nod from behind his instant camera before continuing the slow process.
'Flash'
Ty couldn't turn his head away from the flash but kept his eyes focused behind the officer instead. He felt exposed as he sat up in bed letting the officer take as many pictures as he wanted of his battered body. His gown was pulled down along with his blankets to his hips giving the camera full access to his torso that was slowly starting to heal but was still hard to look at without recoiling in repugnance. The angry reds had faded into dark hues of blue and purple slowly starting the process from looking raw to just looking worse. 'Did I even try to fight back?' He thought sullenly viewing his outstretched arms.
'Flash'
'They said I've got defensive wounds on my arms and I did shoot one of them.' He reasoned turning his head away from the camera man who had moved to take a picture of his splinted arm.
'Flash'
'It'll be over soon just think about anything else. Something good.' He thought hearing the camera click and spit out another carbon image of himself.
"Officer Davis? I just need to take one more picture of your face before I leave."
"Again?" Ty asked incredulously. The guy had already taken a picture when he first got in his room.
"Well, I just need to make sure we have documentation since your face is the most... apparent evidence of your attack."
"You mean it's the worse." Ty said catching the police tech's stumble.
"Sorry." The man didn't want to hassle Ty at all but he needed to make sure he took one more picture.
Ty sighed hoping to get it over with as he stared at the watercolor picture picture on the wall.
"Uh officer? I need you to stare directly at me, I mean the camera. You're almost done."
"Am I?" Ty asked the man. Carlos was still missing and he had been spared by his captors to simply wait and hope for the best for him.
'Flash'
"Drink up."
Carlos had a shrinking thought that he should thank them in some way for the medicine but changed his mind once he saw the familiar handful of medical supplies piled on the kitchen table. 'They want to help me so I can help Rich out.' He grimaced at the bad taste of the liquid but didn't make too big of a scene not wanting to infuriate his captors, or more specifically, Lou.
"Well how does it look?" Rich asked.
Carlos fought back a smile as he looked at the oozing infected wound. Surrounding the small hole were red and hot to the touch welts signifying a definite infection. 'This is exactly what I need to happen.' If anything could help turn the tide his way, this was it. "I don't think it's doing so well."
"What do you mean?" Lou asked standing beside him.
"It's getting infected more and more. He needs an IV with antibiotics and that's something I can't do." Carlos said meekly putting his great acting skills into play. 'The ones that have gotten me out of numerous situations with the ladies.' He knew he would have to act if ever wanted a chance to leave. His plan was simple: Get Rich to go to the hospital, one of the nurses would know where the wound came from, they would alert the cops that were already canvassing the hospitals, and the police would catch him. All he had to do was get him to go. He'd had all night to think about it and he wasn't going to screw up now.
"What the hell are we going to do?" Lou asked his brother oblivious to Carlos' plan. "We can't take you to the hospital without someone noticing."
"I know, I know." Rich said watching Carlos carefully re-bandage his arm. "I'm sure we know someone who might be able to help me. You know some people, right?"
"I might have to look around some and that could take awhile." Lou muttered rubbing his hand across his neck. "Time we don't got."
"You know..." Carlos said slowly making sure everyone was focused on him. 'Please work.' "You could go to the hospital and say that this was from a metal rod from a construction site. Maybe you fell as you worked around the site?"
"Keep going." Rich said.
"Or a piece of rebar. They won't be able to tell the difference. No questions asked." Carlos finished setting down the ace bandages to rest his head in his hand feeling the room spin like a tilt-o-whirl. Lou pulled him up off the ground and turning him around and making him look directly at him. "Why are you telling us this? Huh!"
"I don't want to die." Carlos whispered honestly.
Lou smiled feeling a great air of superiority over the man before letting him go back to the ground. 'Exactly. I think a reward is coming your way."
Ty stared impassively at the half eaten tray in front of him with nothing but bland foods on the plate his nurse had brought in just a few moments ago. She had coolly told him she expected most of it gone when she came back. 'Hooray.' He thought as he stirred around what he had to taste to know that it was mashed potatoes with his spoon not at all hungry. His mind kept flashing back to Carlos making him feel guilty for being even able to eat. 'But if I don't eat...' He sighed stirring more designs in his lunch. He heard a sharp knock at his door making him drop the utensil on his plate. "Come in." He wasn't expecting anyone to visit him today. He was quite surprised to see Bosco come in with his badge around his neck. 'Is it after three already? Bosco's already at work?' Ty wondered glancing at the clock. 'Nope, still one o'clock.'
"How's it going Davis?" Bosco asked giving his friend a smile. Doc had mentioned Ty looked a little rough the other day and he wasn't lying.
"You know." Ty said sullenly going back to looking at his plate. "You on the way to work?"
"No," Bosco said taking a seat. "I'm on lunch break myself and decided to stop by and see how you were doing."
Ty glanced at the wall clock again before looking at the older man."You never go in early. What's goin' on?"
'I knew I should have taken off the badge like Yokas said.' Bosco thought loosely fidgeting with the gold metal. "Swersky's got a few of us working the street right now for any leads on your case. FBI is working this thing too."
"FBI?" Ty asked in disbelief. "How long?"
"About two days ago. They volunteered after seeing the story on TV." Bosco said. "You didn't know?"
"No, I stopped watching the news. No one mentioned that bit of info." Ty thought feeling his frustration build as he pushed away his tray. Sully hadn't mentioned it at all yesterday but he ould have mentioned something. Ty could barely recall much of the past two days in the hospital but he wanted to know what was going on with the search for Carlos. 'I can't do anything except sit in this bed all day.' He thought.
"I heard your supposed to be getting out of here in a few days." Bosco said changing the subject quickly. He didn't want to bum Ty out on his short visit. He was interrupted by the annoying sound of the phone ringing. "Do they think your deaf or something?" Bosco asked.
Ty smiled vaguely shaking his head. "I've never gotten call here before. It's probably my mom or something." He said picking up the phone. "Hello?" Ty heard a muffled sound before a shaky voice came on.
"Ty?"
Ty's blood ran cold as he grabbed the receiver harder. It was if the room had dropped to the harsh temperature outside. "Carlos?"
Bosco snapped his head away from looking at the numbers detailing his badge after hearing the kidnaped man's name. Ty's face was as white as the snow outside. "Is it Carlos?" Bosco whispered standing up getting a response from Davis.
"I thought you were dead. They told me they killed you." Carlos babbled. "They said if I didn't do what they said they were going to kill you-"
"Are you okay?" Ty said cutting him wanting to know as much as he could.
"I'll be okay." Carlos said not sure about how much time they had. He was just happy to hear a friendly voice. "You're alright?" He asked trying not to let too much emotion show in his voice. "The last time I saw you..."
"Yeah." Ty lied touching his swollen eye before clearing his throat. "Where are you? What do they look like?"
"Uhh-" Carlos looked up at Lou who tapped his watch angrily signaling he didn't have much time.
Of course Carlos couldn't answer him straight out. He signaled for Bosco to get a pen and pad. "Ask me a question if there's one. If there are two, just repeat what you said earlier." Ty said thinking quickly. He could get as much information as he could and it could help him.
"I'll be alright" Carlos slowly answered.
"There're two people." Ty repeated as Bosco wrote it down. "What about where you are? Do you know?"
Carlos saw Lou starting to reach for the phone and took a deep breath. 'It's now or never.' "I'm by the EL tracks he's tall black hair brown eyes he-" He was shoved to the floor as he held his head feeling if his brain had shook loose during the short fall.
"Carlos!" Ty shouted hearing a shout and a noise in the background. Feeling his stomach sink through the floor, he tried again. "Carlos!"
Another voice came on snarling practically. "You know, you should be here in his place. We wanted a cop but got him on accident. But a paramedic will just have to do."
"What?"
"Anyway, how are recovering? I know I gave you quite the beating. Didn't think you'd actually make it though. Didn't want you too." Lou taunted purposely trying to piss the man off.
"Why are you doing this?" Ty whispered gripping his sheets.
Bosco watched and could only guess Carlos was no longer talking to him. 'Do something!' Bosco screamed to himself as he pulled out his cellphone to call down to the precinct. He needed to get the tech boys to put in a tracer asap. It might not help now but whoever was on the other end of the phone could call again.
"You'll know soon enough. I promise I'll take care of Carlos for you. We'll have another chat soon. Oh, I hope you enjoy your gifts."
"Wait!" Ty said hearing the phone disconnect. He literally had stopped breathing for a moment. 'They wanted me all along? Because I'm a cop?'
"-he say Ty? Ty what was he saying?" Bosco asked. This was a major break in the case if Carlos' kidnappers had called him.
Ty felt his stomach rise back from the floor and continue rising as he looked over at Bosco- more precisely he was looking at his badge. Something he had worked so hard for himself, was now the cause for everyone's pain. 'For what? The reason all of this is happening is because I am a cop. Carlos is gone because I'm a cop. He could die because I didn't fight hard enough.'
"Davis?" Bosco asked slowly not knowing what was said on the other end of the phone. Ty felt tears building in his eyes as he dropped the phone to the bed painfully pulling out his IV to the dismay of Bosco. "Whoa Ty. What the hell are you doing?"
Ty didn't answer him as he pulled away the blankets from his sweat-panted legs. He was so glad at that moment that his mom had brought him a pair as he jumped out of the bed already feeling his tears spill over. He made it to the bathroom with Bosco close behind but Ty managed to get to the bathroom and shut the door in his face and lock it with a satisfying 'click'. He made it to the white porcelain sitting on the floor before heaving out the bland food he had eaten.
"Davis open the door!" Bosco shouted as he rattled the doorknob. "Come on."
"Just go!" He demanded as he wiped his eyes.
"We can talk about it if you come out." Bosco said a little more calmly after hearing the sounds coming out of the bathroom. Bosco even wondered if it was even safe for him to be throwing up considering his surgery and all. "Davis?"
"What's there to talk about? This is all my fault." He repeated taking a hard seat on the floor against the wall. 'All of it.' He thought covering his face.
"What happened?" Sully said seeing Bosco pacing back and forth with Dr. Barton standing by the bathroom door. Ty's hospital bed was empty and with no sign of him.
"He won't come out." Bosco said turning to face Sully.
"He won't come out of…" Sully looked to the closed bathroom door and back at Bosco. "...the bathroom? Is this some sort of joke Bosco because if it is, it isn't funny."
Bosco was obviously on the edge too as he stepped towards him. "I try to be helpful by calling you and-"
"Shouting at me to hurry up and get to the hospital because 'something bad happened' isn't what I call being helpful." Sully said making the height difference obvious as he looked down at Bosco.
"You know what Sullivan-"
"Officers!" Dr. Barton said stepping in between the two dueling men. "Why don't we go talk about this outside so we can have a private discussion?" Signaling that Ty could probably hear them both arguing.
"Fine." Bosco said leading the way.
"For the second time, what's going on?" Sully asked feeling his already thin patience wearing to the breaking point and Bosco wasn't helping. Dr. Barton looked at Bosco who decided to tell him what happened.
"I came over to visit him during my lunch break and he got a phone call-from Carlos."
"What! He's actually alive?" Sully asked stunned.
"Yes and he was able to talk to Ty for about a minute before one of the kidnapper's got on the phone. I don't know what was said but right after he ran to the bathroom and wouldn't come out. So we called you."
"Why didn't you just unlock the door?" Sully said looking at Dr. Barton. "I know you have a key."
"Yes I would have but Officer Boscorelli suggested that I call you instead." Barton admitted seeing the surprised glance pass from the older officer to Bosco. "He says that Officer Davis was given information about his friend and I agreed that it was easier if I didn't get orderlies to man handle him and sedate him. If you can get him to come out, you'd be helping out everyone."
'No stress. No pressure.' Sully thought as he looked back at the door way where Bosco and Barton were standing. Once Ty was out Bosco was all prepared to call the detectives so they could get whatever information Ty had on Carlos. He cautiously knocked a few times wanting to get Davis' attention but not scare him.
"What?"
Sully was put off a moment by the total absence of emotion in his voice before answering. "It's me wondering why you locked yourself away in a bathroom." Sully said trying to lighten the situation up a little.
"It's pretty obvious."
"Well will you let me in? You're starting to worry me."
"It's been open, you could have came in whenever you wanted." Ty answered.
'Always a smart ass.' Sully thought rolling his eyes. 'He must have just unlocked it when everyone left.' Sully peaked his head in seeing him seated cross legged across the small room with his hands in his lap.
"I'm sorry they called you down here. I just needed a little while to myself."
"I don't mind. You saved me from spending the day in the RMP with some rookie." Sully sighed. "Well maybe if we weren't in the bathroom..."
"He called."
"I heard." Sully said stepping further in the room shutting the door. Ty's head hung lower as he shook his head. "He had the fucking balls to call right to my room." He said looking up with tears still in his eyes. "He just called to mess with me."
"What do you mean?" Sully asked leaning against the bathroom sink.
"Carlos said he was okay but I could hear it in his voice that he wasn't." Ty said whispering. "Would you be if you were being held by gunpoint?"
"Well at least you both know each other is alive." Sully said attempting to put a positive spin on the phone call. Sully wasn't sure how Ty was keeping it together because he himself felt like finding the kidnappers and seeing how they liked the same treatment they gave Ty.
"The guy said that he really wanted a cop but got Carlos instead."
"What are you talking about?" Sully asked trying his best to put Davis' broken statements together.
"They wanted me but got Carlos instead!" Ty burst standing up. "All this is my fault! I tried to tell Bosco that but he doesn't get it either."
"Calm down Ty. They probably just want money and that's it. It's like you said, he's just saying things to mess with you." Sully said taking a step forward beginning to understand how this phone call went. Was Ty really the one that was supposed to be kidnaped, not Carlos? Carloss was supposed to be in his place not being held somewhere. 'No wonder he feels so guilty.' Sully noticed a few red splotches on his gown and arm growing concerned that Ty had hurt himself.
"NYPD isn't going to start giving money to kidnappers and you know it." Ty disputed turning away from Sully feeling the tears spring up in his eyes again. Ty knew he was right and it killed him inside.
"We'll find them. We always do. We just need some time to let them hang themselves. We'll find them."
"We don't have time Sully. They aren't two nice guys waiting around for the right time to call. They almost killed me. He admitted he tried to kill me." Ty said furiously wiping his tears from his eyes. "What do you think Carlos is going through right now?"
"Ty stop. Just take a second to breathe alright? I understand what your saying but you need to get it together and tell the detectives everything that happened during the phone call."
Ty stopped and forced himself to take a shuddery breath before he whispered. "He's going to call me again."
"When?" Sully asked in disbelief. The setails just kept getting worse and worse. 'Why would he call again?'
"He didn't say when but I don't-I won't talk to him again." Ty pledged looking at the tile flooring.
"Ty, we'll cross that bridge once we get there but right now we just need to get you back to bed and organize all the information we have to help Carlos." Sully said. "If talking to this guy can bring Nieto back, I know you'll do it." Sully said trying to ease Ty of the thought of talking to a man who had tried to kill him. Ty didn't answer him at all but continued to stare at the floor.
"Yeah but…"
Sully saw Ty's shoulders shake before he actually heard Ty crying.
"Ty could, this is a good thing. He's talking and as long as he's talking, Carlos is still alive."
"Sully? What if they kill him because I screw up? I couldn't live with that." Ty murmured.
"They won't kill him. Look, you trust me right?" Sully sighed. Ty nodded still not facing his partner. "And you trust the police department right?" Another nod. "And you know I trust you and I know you can do it. But if you don't think you can talk to him again, then you don't have to. No one's going to force you." Sully paused. "We'll just get Carlos back some other way." Sully concluded.
That simple statement was all it took as Ty turned around feeling the past few days finally take it's toll. "How do you know? How-" He trailed off getting his words choked off by emotion. He managed to keep it all inside while the investigators asked him questions's, when his mother was there, and when he saw the story on the Television stations. but now after speaking to the same man that tried to kill him, it brought all the memories and emotion from his attack to the day he was found back full force. He didn't try to hide it anymore as he felt the older man draw him into a much needed hug.
"I wouldn't lie Davis. We'll get him back. I promise." Sully assured him again rubbing his hand on Ty's back feeling him shake with each powerful sob coming from him. The more Sully heard, the angrier he felt at who was responsible. He and Davis were close, enough to the point he did consider him to be the son he never had. Just seeing Ty in this much pain was hurting him just as much. That pain was going to push him on the street as soon as he left the hospital to be on the street with Bosco and Faith and search high and low for the bastards himself. Sully knew he would turn the city upside down if he had to with or without the FBI to find who did this.
"He can't die. He can't." Ty said into Sully's jacket tightly squeezing his eyes shut as he returned the embrace.
"He won't. We'll get him back." Sully said continuing to give all of his attention to Ty.
End of chapter. Tell me what you think!
Mystral: I just think there's so much potential when writing about them.
Supergloo: He cracks me up. I think there's only like, two or three other stories out there with him as a main character?
soccergirl1395: Thank you! I aim to please. :)
Thanks to everyone who reviewed so far! I'll try and respond to you after each chapter from now on.
