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Chapter 17

They climbed up the stairs that reeked of urine and rat droppings. It was the perfect anonymous building where anonymous people lived their anonymous lives. Once they arrived at the apartment, they stood back and listened through the paper thin walls. There were no sounds coming through. Mike Logan rapped on the door quickly on the door. "This is the police. We have a search warrant." When there was no answer he turned to one of the swat team members "OK, bust it down. The swat team members pushed their way through the door, rushing in to make sure the place was clear."

"Clear!" "Clear!" "Clear!" the chorus of voices echoed through the room. Swat team members removed themselves from the rooms to wait in the hallways, to be replaced by the forensics team and Detectives Barek and Logan.

"This place is a dump," said Carolyn as she picked through empty food cartons and old newspapers. Cigarette butts overflowed an ashtray. "Darjum brand by the looks of it," she said as she held the cigarette in her hand, inhaling the smell of cloves.

"Yeah well the party is back here," Mike said sticking his head around the door frame. His usually pale face had gotten even more so.

Carolyn took a long deep breath, preparing herself for what she would see in the next room. Carolyn pushed past her fellow officers and into the adjoining room. Her heart nearly stopped when her eyes caught the glint of hundreds of police badges neatly hung side by side on the wall. They were lit by candlelight, causing the gold in the badges to glitter and glisten in the dim light.

"Oh, my God. I never dreamed it could be this awful." she said, feeling her stomach reel. Beneath each badge was a Polaroid of the cop's body. In some cases there were even news clippings or photographs taken before and after the kill. It was truly frightening.

"Sick bastard," mumbled Logan. As he looked closer, one of the earlier badges was missing, no doubt Alex Eames' husbands badge and picture.

"Detectives, this guy has cleaned out. Clothes, toiletries, everything is gone. He left his computer though," the forensic technician informed them.

"And his trophies." replied Logan

"He wanted us to find these, so there would be no question as to whether or not he was our guy," replied Carolyn.

"Detectives, I think you should see this," the forensic computer technician asked quietly. He sounded scared.

They both walked into the other room and looked at the computer screen. The screen was filled with images of Alex and Bobby. The screen started with Alex and Bobby holding hands, then each being shot and dropping to the ground. The scene then faded to show Bobby being stabbed repeatedly while Alex just stood there silently screaming on the computer. The scene then faded into Alex and Marshall Wentworth walking hand in into the sunset.

"He knew we were coming, and left us a gift," Carolyn was already speed dialing Bobby's cell phone. It was a trap, and the Man was going after Bobby and Alex. He had left everything else behind.

"Come on Bobby, pick up, pick up." Carolyn was heading towards the door and down the stairs.

Logan called Deakins to get back up started at the Wentworth place, and was already heading to the car to start the drive to Westchester.

Bobby hung up from the call from Barek, and filled Alex in on what they had found at the Man's lair. "This is a trap Alex. He has left everything behind. And he left a parting gift, one apparently which doesn't have a happy ending for me, and where you walk into the sunset with him. Back up is on its way."

Alex shuddered. "The front door is ajar, Bobby. He could be in there holding them hostage. We should go in."

"No, we wait for backup. Even if he hasn't killed them already, he will only use them to get us killed. We wait. I can already hear the sirens now."

"Ok, we wait."

Soon, several squad cars sped up the driveway, spinning gravel in their wake.

Bobby hopped out of the car, and gave sergeant in charge the low-down. The house was surrounded by cops. Bobby and Alex took the lead, entering the already opened front door.

"Mr. and Mrs. Wentworth? It's Detectives Goren and Eames."

The house was eerily quiet as they moved from room to room, each time finding nothing. Alex could hear her heart pounding in her chest as they neared the kitchen. It was so loud she was sure Bobby could hear it. Pushing open the door, her heart nearly stopped at the sight before her. Sitting at the kitchen table with his throat slit was Mr. Wentworth. Alex could tell he was dead by the bluish tint of skin and the amount of blood everywhere. Moving into the room a little further they found Mrs. Wentworth lying on her back with a bullet hole to the front of her skull.

"He shoots her but slits his throat?" whispered Alex.

"It was more personal with him. He was the one who threw him out and disowned him."

The words "Clear!" were coming from all over the house as the other officers were clearing the house.

"We have two dead bodies in here…" Bobby started to call out when they heard a noise coming from one of the kitchen walls. They both slowly walked over to where they had heard the noise, guns drawn.

Everything happened so fast, Alex barely had time to react to the figure grabbing her gun and punching her in the face, knocking her back, hitting her head on the edge of the counter top. The last thing she saw was Bobby knocking his gun barrel into the Man's skull, causing him to drop to his knees. Then Bobby's hands went around the man's neck from behind, forcing him to the ground under the weight of Bobby's 230 pound frame.

The other cops surged into the kitchen to help Bobby and Alex. He passed Wentworth off to the other officers, still pinning him down on the ground while they put handcuffs on him. "You're under arrest," Bobby said, his breathing ragged. The cops led Wentworth away, all the while listening to his ranting screams about how he had taken Alex from him afterwards, and they would be together some day. How they had the wrong man; how all cops were worthless. All that outburst served, was a little harsher treatment by said cops. Wentworth was no longer a menace to society, or to the cop family at large.

He looked over to where Alex lay slumped against the counter. He rushed over to her limp body and felt for a pulse. It was good and strong, but she was still unconscious.

"We have an officer down, and need an ambulance right away." One of the cops went to lead the already on route paramedic unit to where Alex lay.

"Come on baby. You are going to be ok. Wake up Alex, wake up sweetheart. We got him. Honey, I need you to wake up." Bobby's voice was cracking under the fear of losing her. "Come on baby, come on…" He kept whispering in her ear. There was a lot of blood that was trickling down the back of her head where it had cracked into the cabinet.

The paramedics arrived and swooped into the kitchen, pulling Bobby out of the way, and checking Alex's vitals. "Her vitals are good, Detective. She was probably just knocked unconscious by the impact on the counter. We'll get her to the hospital right now."

They strapped her to the hard board to keep her neck and head from moving too much, and were quickly leading her away to the ambulance.

Bobby left the house walking rapidly beside Alex's stretcher when he saw another dark SUV pull into the driveway. Mike leaped out of the car before Carolyn had even brought it to a halt.

"What happened?" He said looking down at the diminutive figure on the stretcher.

"She got knocked out. I'm riding with her to the hospital. Can you guys meet us there, and someone take our SUV too? Here are the keys."

"Yeah, yeah, we got it. I'll call Deakins too. Are you going to call her family or should Deakins or Carolyn do it?" Mike wondered, racing to keep up with Bobby beside the stretcher.

"I'll call them Mike. Meet you at the hospital." Bobby climbed into the ambulance bay to ride to the hospital with the love of his life. The doors closed and he could feel the ambulance speeding away from the scene.

Bobby watched Alex's pale face. Her vitals were strong, and they were giving her fluids just in case. He really thought she was going to pull through, but couldn't believe he let her get hurt in the first place. What had happened to go so wrong?

"Bobbbbyyyy?" Alex whispered. Her eyes were still closed, but she was asking for him. "Bobby?"

"I'm here baby. I'm here Alex. You are going to be fine. You just got a bump on the head." Bobby almost cried with relief. The paramedics gave him a thumb's up sign. Her waking up on her own was a very good idea.

"Where are they taking me? What happened to Wentworth?" She was definitely sounding more coherent now.

"We are going to the hospital, baby. They are going to want to check you out. Wentworth is in custody. We'll get to him in a few days. I'll talk to Carter. We have to get him to Manhattan from here."

"Bobby? Check me out? What are they going to do exactly?" Bobby looked at the paramedics questioningly.

The paramedic answered her assuringly, "They'll take some x-rays, probably an MRI, keep you over night at least. We'll just have to see. Now that you are talking, that is a big plus that nothing major is damaged."

"Bobby, they can't give me any x-rays." Alex said with panic in her voice.

"Alex, they won't hurt…"

"No Bobby. No x-rays. I'm pregnant. I can't have any x-rays."

TBC...how is that for a chapter ending? Let us know what you think!