Okay, this will be longer, back into the action and everything. The same applies, I don't own the CSI NY crew cries but I own the other characters. This will probably contain a lot more swearing and probably some violence so those who are faint of heart, you have been warned. Thanks for the reviews, keep them coming. Um, you tell me if you think there could be Danny/Aiden, I'm not a shipper. I may have come up with some things about the characters' pasts so bear with me it may be just friendship type stuff. I'm partially high on tea tree oil fumes so apologies if this randomly gets weird! Still trying to figure out what to do with it so bear with me! Read and Enjoy.
Aiden was chewing her nail, a habit she only reverted when something really worried her. She had been back at the lab for almost three hours and her evidence was well on its way to being processed, all she wanted now was word on Danny. She shook herself and stared back down at the mould she had taken from the original scene, one of the shoe prints. She looked from the print to the book in front of her, the photo 'line up' of other shoe prints that she was using to try and identify the print.
As she turned the page, she partially heard the door open and close behind her and glanced around to see Mac.
"Oh God Mac, how is he is he ok! She asked, all but jumping off her stool.
"He woke up just as I was about to leave, the doctor thinks he's gonna be okay but he has to stay over night" Her boss informed her.
Aiden felt like her whole body had been holding a breath and only now let it out. She put her hand to her mouth and took a few steps backwards so that she was leaning against the desk. "I really thought…" She started, looking up at Mac.
Mac just nodded. "It's kind of amazing that he recovered so quickly. The doctor didn't say anything but I think maybe because the water was so cold it helped some how, like an all over ice pack" He shrugged. "I got some stuff off've him, a photo of a print you might want to compare to the ones you got at the scene. I put everything else in to DNA and trace and I'm gonna go and process his clothes, for all the good it will do me" Mac said, somewhat pessimistically.
Aiden was grinning from ear to ear. "Well could he ID any of the attackers? I'm sorry, I'm just glad he's okay" She said to Mac's questioning look.
"He ID'd one of them; he said it looks like your original scene was a Tanglewood hit"
Aiden stopped smiling. "Shit" she said with feeling
"So, was this planned, I mean did they set it up to get to Danny?" She asked.
"I don't think so, I really think it was a coincidence, Danny even said that the guy told him the shooters where trying to make the grade for the gang and we trapped them in. I think Danny just has really shitty luck" Mac answered, smirking a little bit.
"So where's these photo's?" Aiden asked.
Mac handed her the digital camera. "Ready for printing in here" he told as she took it from his hands. She pressed a button on the camera to bring up the pictures on the screen on the back. "Oh God "She breathed, "This is Danny?"
"I'm afraid so" he told her quietly.
Aiden took a shuddering breath. Then another. "okay, I'll print these off, this one of the shoe print already looks like a match to what I have but I'll make an official comparison any way" she said, her voice steely.
"That's good Aid. Did Stella get back yet?" Mac asked as she turned toward the computer.
"Um no, she's still at the boat house" Aiden said "I called her when I left, she had just gotten started. She said there was a whole bunch of trace all over the place, these guys weren't careful" she told him, pulling the attachment cable out of a drawer and plugging the respective ends into the camera and computer.
"That's good, I'm betting these guys have a lot of their own personal priors so hopefully we'll have last known addresses"
The computer beeped as Aiden started to print off the photos. "I'll get back to you on the prints as soon as I can" she smiled at him, "And you should call Stella and tell her about Danny, she was freakin out. We all where, I guess. Oh and Flack too, he stayed with her just in case" she called to him as he walked out of the lab.
"I will" he called back "don't worry"
Mac ran down the stairs too quickly, slipping on the concrete as his foot hit the floor and crashing to the ground. "Mac!" Flack yelled, having to leap over Mac's prone form and skidding, grabbing the banister to steady himself. He had been moving so fast that he actually turned in a semi circle before he stopped.
"You okay?" He yelled to Mac as the older man began to climb painfully to his feet.
"I'm fine I'm fine, go get after them!" Mac snapped.
Flack didn't need telling twice and took off after the perps, kicking the door to the underground parking garage open and dropping to a crouch as he charged out. He could hear Danny yelling and cursing s he was dragged along.
"Get off GET OFF! The CSI cried out "You ugly mother Fucker let me go!"
"Danny? Hang on buddy!" Flack yelled, running toward the sound of Danny's voice.
"Flack, hurry up man" Danny yelled before his voice cut off suddenly.
Flack yelled for Danny again but there was no reply. He ducked behind a minivan and peered around the edge as Mac joined him, pressing his back to the side of the car.
He could see Vince Pencamo dragging Danny by the collar of the hooded sweater that Danny had changed into earlier. Danny was trying to fight but he was still injured and was gasping a lot. The Handsome man who Flack now knew to be named Sylvester Schiabbetta was glaring out at the parking lot, searching for Flack. He was holding a gun, a bullet from which had just killed an off duty uniform up by Danny's hospital room.
There was blood on Danny's face, his own and the cops, who had been standing in front of Danny when he was shot.
The Boxer whose name was still unknown grabbed the back of Danny's neck as the skeletal Vince jogged over to the same jeep he had driven out of the boat house a day and a half previously. Danny tried to twist out of Boxers grasp but the muscle bound giant punched Danny from behind, hitting one of Danny's many bruises, causing Danny to gasp in pain and go very still.
Boxer moved so he had one hand clamped over Danny's mouth and pulled a gun from the waist band of his jeans and pressing it to Danny's temple. Danny was dwarfed by the armed man but still struggled against his captor as Vince pulled the jeep round.
Vince opened his door and leaned out and pulling the back door open yelling "Put him in the back!" as Flack stood and ran out into the open, Mac just a second behind him.
"Freeze, NYPD, put the guns down let the man go!" Flack roared as he and Mac took up positions flanking the group.
Boxer was dragging Danny toward the jeep as Handsome, Sylvester brought up his gun, swinging it between the detective and the CSI.
"Back off, back OFF" Sylvester yelled, his eyes going wide with fear.
"Just hang on Danny" Mac said calmly as Danny tried to elbow Boxer.
"Get in the damn car!" Boxer yelled as Danny set his feet on the floor, shaking his head vehemently.
Sylvester was edging closer to the car "just back off, we're driving out of here" he stated, but his voice cracked as he spoke.
"Look Sly, we know about you; we know that that guy by the river, Marco, he was the first guy you killed right? And the second one was a cop. There is no hole in the world deep enough for you to hide right now and if you make this worse by hurtin another police officer, I promise you with God as my witness you wont survive your own trial Hell if you survive bein arrested I'd be very fuckin surprised" Flack said in a very low, very calm voice.
Sylvester was sweating, his gaze switching back and forth between the two cops. "We're driving out of here" he said with even less conviction than before.
"GET HIM IN THE CAR!" Vince practically screamed.
Boxer gave up trying to push Danny and just let go of him. Danny staggered back a little and Boxer half crouched and picked him up around the waist, carrying him.
Danny actually did scream as his bruised ribs where crushed under Boxers mighty arms. But somehow he kept his head and as Boxer got close to the car he brought his legs up and planted one foot on the side of the door and the other one on the top. He leaned back against Boxer as the big man tried to push him.
Sylvester now stood directly in front of the struggling Boxer. He glanced back and forth again then turned suddenly and brought the butt of his gun down on the side of Danny's head.
Danny went still and Boxer shoved him into the car as Sylvester spun back to face the cops. Flack squeezed the trigger and Sylvester staggered back wards, hitting the still open door. As he slid down, blood blossoming out of the wound in his stomach, he raised his own gun and there was a bang and Flack grunted, spinning and falling to the ground. Mac shot at Sylvester, hitting the man in the arm as the jeep sped forward. Mac ran after it, trying to get a shot at the tires but it was already heading up the ramp. He pulled a radio from his pocket and told the cops on the other end that the perps had Danny and that Flack and one of the perps where hurt.
"Don!" he yelled, running to the fallen detective.
Flack groaned as he sat up, pressing one hand to the top of his arm. "Guys a fucking lousy shot" He told Mac, wincing as he looked at the wound.
"They got away, they got Danny" Mac panted, helping Flack to his feet.
"Yeah but we got the pretty boy" Flack nodded toward the injured Sylvester.
They approached him, guns raised, but he was too weak to raise his own weapon.
"Where are they gonna take him Sly?" Flack asked.
Sylvester coughed painfully "f...fuck you" he panted.
"Now Sly, best not to forget that we can cancel those paramedics just as easily as we summoned them" Flack told him.
"You need me"
"We have CSI's" Flack stated " they'll figure it out Sly, this is just that bit easier"
"I don't know" Sylvester gasped
"Yes you do"
"No…Vince, he wanted to…mess with Messer….from when they where kids…he said we had to get him but not where we would go…I swear to God that's all I know" Sylvester coughed again.
"You know the cop you shot Sly? He wasn't even on duty" Flack said, his voice sad and hollow. "He's got….he had, a kid…are you in pain?"
"Yes"
"Good"
"Sly, where are they going?" Mac asked again.
"I.Dont.Know" Sly spat blood, the thick gobbet oozing slowly down his cheek.
Somewhere a door banged and paramedics and cops began to swarm into the parking garage. Mac kicked Sly's gun away from his hand, pointless now that the man was practically unconscious.
"Okay!" Flack called out, getting the attention of all of the officers who now filled the lot, guns drawn "Okay, this guy, he's today's shooter" He told the cops.
There was a bizarre Mexican wave movement as every single cop in the lot turned to glare at Sly, and the guns they all carried rose slightly. "He's too hurt to go anywhere, but his friends got away with Messer. We already know what there drivin do I want everybody out there lookin for him, we're gonna work under the impression that we have a time limit. These guys are armed, they have a hostage, and since they where willing to take on a hospital full of cops to get to one guy, we're gonna assume they're some sandwiches short of a picnic. Anybody who was upstairs just now stay behind to make a statement, I wanna know how the hell they got in here!" he yelled.
The cops scattered as ordered, maybe half a dozen of them staying behind to give statements.
A pair of paramedics removed Sly and another began to examine Flacks arm as Mac walked over nearer the ramp. He dialled Stella's cell phone.
"Bonasera?" She said brightly, and Mac heard Aiden in the background call out 'Hi Mac'
"Stell-Um, something happened at the hospital…Vince came back…he got Danny"
Sheldon Hawkes shook his head sadly as he pulled the sheet over the dead police officers face. "If its any consolation" he said quietly to Don Flack "He died instantly"
"Its not, but thanks. No pain right?" Flack looked up at Hawkes as the young doctor began to peel off his blood stained rubber gloves.
"I very much doubt it, the bullet-" he paused, trying to think of a way to explain it sensitively, a rare problem for the aloof ME "look, you don't need to know the gory details, just take my word for it, he wouldn't have had time to feel any pain before he died, he probably didn't even know he was shot" he explained "how's your arm?" he nodded to the sling Flack now wore.
"It hurts. But the pains good, it keeps me focused" Flack told him. " To be honest I'm just kinda glad I want wearing my jacket, you cant fix bullet holes in leather" he tried to joke, but it came out flat.
Hawkes smiled anyway. "Any new word on Danny?" he asked.
Flack frowned "No, these guys are in the wind. Sly's still in surgery, mac thinks we might be able to get something out of him when he comes out, if we can get the right doctor to sign off and say he's aware enough to make an official statement, we might be able to get him to tell us something he doesn't know he knows ya know?" Flack asked.
"Yeah, you just gotta find the right doctor though"
"We will…you know what makes it worse? Is Sylvester did tell us that Vince wants to mess with Danny, to, I don't know, screw with him, hurt him…but, what does that even mean? I mean are they gonna be knockin him around the place, workin him over? Because if they're just gonna beat on him he might be ok, Danny grew up with that kind of crap, he knows how to take a beating, but I mean…Oh I don't know, and that's what's killing me, not knowing"
"I hear you, its like, we're stood here talking right now, Mac and Aid and Stella are working their asses off in the labs…my assistant Melvin is eatin a nasty ham and pickle sandwich in my office…-" Hawkes paused as Flack smiled grimly "And the whole time you're wondering, what about Danny, what's he going through right now, is he hurt, is he somewhere close…as a doctor, I'm wondering about his head, he had a pretty severe head injury and as much as he was up and about walking and talking, I'm not convinced he's all that healthy, and from what you've told me about them having to hit him to get him in the car…I'm concerned about what condition he's in, is he concussed, has the swelling and bleeding on his brain that put him in his mini coma in the first place recurred or has he gotten lucky?"
Flack stared at Hawkes. "Way to make me feel better doc" he stated, his voice monotone.
Hawkes shrugged, not getting it.
"I'm gonna go and see Mac, I'll get back to you" Flack shook his head, confused at the ME's odd behaviour.
Then a voice in his head reminded him 'this is Hawkes' and he wasn't so confused any more, and the behaviour wasn't so odd.
Danny frowned as he slowly awoke, taking the deepest breath that he could. He froze as his ribs stated their disapproval of this action. As his body threatened to mutiny, Danny sat up, slowly opening his eyes against the fairly faint light.
"Hey gorgeous" he heard Vince's voice call out.
"Oh God" he groaned " please just tell me I drank too much"
"Afraid not buddy boy, its just you, me and Chuck here" Vince told him.
"Chuck?" Danny asked "Wait the big guy!" he opened his eyes further.
"The Big Guy? I like that" came a gravelly voice that could only be Chuck.
"Whatever, where are we going?" Danny looked around the car as his vision cleared.
"Oh you'll just have to wait and see" Vince told him.
And so will my readers, mwahahahahahahahaha!