Chapter 6

The school day bears all the resemblance of a Friday: in other words, by the end of the day heads are drooping and even the people that are always sitting stick-straight taking notes with rapt attention have slowed down a bit. However, I'm too wired to be among them (the head droopers; I've never been a stick-straight note-taker).

Somehow, I manage to make it through the day without bouncing off the walls (too much), and before I know it (okay, that's a lie. Way, way after I know it) the last bell is ringing. I hastily shove all but the most pressing books into my locker, wave good-bye to those I see on my way out (no PDA this afternoon) and positively race down the steps of the front building. As promised, the police car is parked right in front, receiving more than a few fleeting glances from students bustling past.

I knock on the front door and wave to Sully as he turns. Ty gets out of the driver's seat and walks around to meet me.

"Hey," he greets me, taking my bag and stowing it in the trunk. I return his greeting with a "hey" of my own and a smile, suddenly shy as the enormity of what I'm about to do hits me. Well, maybe "enormity" isn't the right word; but still, I'm getting slightly nervous.

Ty opens the door to the backseat for me and I climb in, greeting Sully (verbally this time) as I do. Ty gets back into the driver's seat and they both turn back to face me, the effect of which is slightly amusing as there's a grill separating us.

"Okay," Ty begins, over the occasional crackling of the radio, "We need to go over a couple of ground rules." (I settle back into my seat for what I'm sure is going to be the type of conversation that requires comfortable seating; surprisingly however, it seems that the backseats of police cars are not built for comfort.) "First, you stay in the car. I'm serious Kylie," he adds, probably on account of seeing my mouth wrench open in both outrage/shock/relief. If it's something you can see, either Sully or I'll come and get you, but unless we do, you stay in the RMP, got it?" I nod.

"Jesus, Davis, she's going to think we're not taking this seriously," Sully cracked next to him. Ty shot him a look before continuing,

"And, if anything happens out there, you get down as low as you can in your seat okay? Also, if we need to transport a prisoner or anyone like that, you might need to ride back to the house with someone else." He turned to Sully, "I think that's it, what d'you think?"

"The doors," Sully grunted.

"Oh, right," Ty continued with a small grin. "You're locked in, for obvious reasons. So, you know, you'll have to wait to be let out," he finished somewhat lamely, somewhat obviously. "Anyway, ready to roll?" I nod, making a mental note of the phrase "Ready to roll" for future use in my reintroducing words and terms campaign.

After a half hour, my ride-along is actually getting pretty boring. Sully explained to me that they drive around their sector, keeping an eye out for anything suspicious, waiting to get calls on the radio. So far though, nothing's happened—

"Units respond, shots fired at 135th and Broadway," the radio squawks, (finally) crackling to life.

"55-Charlie, 135th and Broadway," Sully repeats, acknowledging the call.

Ty guns the engine and flips on the siren as I hear "55-David, 135th and Broadway" over the radio.

We fly through the streets and soon arrive on a crowd of people bending over someone on the sidewalk, presumably someone who's been shot, or so I can surmise. Ty and Sully jump out of the car just as another squad car pulls up, who I'm guessing is 55-David. Despite the excitement unfolding in front of me, it occurs to me that it's been a while since I've seen Bosco and Faith.

Ty and Sully approach the knot of people, who break away to let them through. They are closely followed by Faith and Bosco. I catch a glimpse of a woman on the ground, bleeding heavily from somewhere in her abdomen. I fight every instinct in my body to stop myself from jumping out of the car (if I could have, that is) and going to help her.

"55-Charlie to Central, we need a bus at this location. Confirmed shooting of an approximately 30 year old female, GSW to the abdomen." Ty says into his radio. He turns to the group before him as Faith and Sully don gloves and (from what I can see) look like they're putting pressure on her wounds. "Okay, what happened?" he asks.

"This lady was just walking, and a guy came up behind her and they started arguing, and then he pulled a gun out and she started yelling and he shot her!" a younger guy answered, looking scared but eager to be of help.

Bosco takes him aside, I can only assume to question him further, while Ty says more things into his radio. Meanwhile, the only thing I'm concentrating on is the woman bleeding on the sidewalk. Where are the paramedics?

After what only amounted to probably about two or three minutes (but felt much longer) I finally hear the sounds of the siren that hail an ambulance's arrival. I receive a jolt when I realize that Grace and my dad have jumped out, med bags slung over their shoulders.

"Carlos! Over here!" Faith yells from her position at the woman's side. I notice that Sully is now attempting some form of crowd control, to give the medics some room to work. I watch on the edge of my seat as IVs are started, injuries are assessed, and finally, the patient is transferred onto a stretcher and wheeled into the back of the ambulance.

It looks like Bosco and Faith will be staying behind, because Sully and Ty are making their way back over to the car.

"We're going to follow them to Mercy," Sully explains as Ty speeds away after the ambulance's flashing lights.

Author's Note: Okay. I know absolutely nothing about the streets of NYC, and my only knowledge of police calls/codes/procedure comes from the show and a lot of online research. If there is anything brutally wrong/distracting/etc., please let me know so I can fix it!