Chapter Three: Implausible Consequences

Charlie felt something slam into his chest. Several somethings. The air was forced out of his lungs by an immense pressure. Blinding, white hot pain shot through his body as the impact threw him backwards against the truck. He couldn't breath. He heard another shot – then another, followed by a steady volley of gunfire. The windows on the SUV shattered and he felt the tiny pieces of glass raining down on him. Charlie realized he was on the ground, but couldn't manage to lift his head. He couldn't breathe. Why couldn't he breathe? Charlie tried to move, but an unseen force was holding him down. White spots starting dancing in front of his closed eyes.

Oh it hurts. Oh God, it hurts too much to breathe.

………………………………

The sudden burst of gunfire brought Megan Reeves' senses back into focus. Her eyes fluttered open and she saw Charlie slam into the truck and slide to the ground next to her. She brought her pistol up and fired two shots at the man facing them. Her first shot hit him in the right shoulder. The second bullet caught him in the neck and he went down hard.

Two uniformed officers appeared from the other side of the SWAT van parked in the middle of the alley.

"LAPD, DON'T MOVE!"

The two men firing into the parking lot turned, and another volley of gunfire erupted from the fully-automatic weapons in their hands toward the SWAT van. One officer went down and the other dove for cover behind the SUV. Megan threw herself over Charlie's body as the glass above them shattered from the gunfire. She could feel him moving under her, struggling to lift himself up. She felt him shudder violently and then he was still.

The firing stopped and Megan lifted her head to see that four of LAPD's finest had moved in behind the suspects. The two men knew they didn't stand a chance. They had dropped their weapons and put their hands up in surrender.

………………………………

Inspecting the warehouse, Don was in awe at the size of this operation. After eighteen arrests and four body bags, they had managed to confiscate over fifty two hundred pounds of pure, uncut cocaine. There were crates filled with boxes of small blue pills that had been identified as ecstasy. There were bags of whole leaf marijuana, as well as numerous containers containing the liquid drug known as Blue Nitro. Those small vials filled with light blue liquid were what they were looking for. Everything else was just icing on the cake. That was to say nothing of the money. Twelve duffle-bags were recovered; each of them filled with sorted $100 bills. This was the source. Charlie had been right.

A sudden outbreak of gunfire from the parking lot brought Don, David and Colby out onto the loading dock.

"I thought this scene was secure."

The young officer at the end of the ramp looked up at the agent in charge.

"It is now, Sir. There were three who got by us. They tried to make a break for it through the alley. LAPD got them, but the agents at the scene were caught off guard. We've got three down; the ambulance is on its way."

Don felt his blood turn to ice.

Charlie. Charlie was in the alley.

Please, God, tell me he stayed in the truck.

Without a word, he hit the ground at a full run with David and Colby hot on his heels.

………………………………

As they entered the alley Don could hear paramedics calling out instructions.

"Clear."

The sound of a re-charging defibulator filled the small space.

"Hit him again."

"Clear."

Don looked around the scene.

All the windows on his SUV had been shot out. The side of the vehicle was riddled with bullet holes. A smear of something dark (blood?) was streaked across the big white S on the side of the SWAT van. There were two clusters of people on the ground, one at the rear of his SUV and one just behind the large van. A uniformed officer sat on the bumper of the van holding his bleeding right arm up to his chest and staring at the group in front of him. The paramedics were, again, using the defibulator and working furiously to stabilize the injured cop who lay there. Around the back of his SUV, he could see Agent Megan Reeves kneeling; a DEA agent who Don recognized hovered nearby. A lone medical tech had just stood and was blocking his view of the body on the ground. Don could just make out a mop of curly dark hair spread on the concrete next to Megan's knee. The tech turned and walked away. Surely he wouldn't leave unless……..

"NO".

Colby moved first and brushed by Don, giving him a brief glance before running to where Megan was kneeling. When she looked up at Colby, Don could see the tears in her eyes.

Don put his head down and pinched the bridge of his nose.

He couldn't do this. Anything but this.

Time stood still while a thousand images flew through his minds eye. Charlie, a tiny baby, staring up at him from his crib…..as if he were keeping something from him... A three-year-old Charlie calculating the number of Cheerios in the box by volume and single serving count approximation. Little Charlie, withdrawn and unspeaking until his brother made him laugh again. Seven-year-old Charlie grinning like a fool and handing his big brother his completed geometry assignment, delighted beyond reason that he had done something to make his brother happy.

And that same look on Charlie's face when he had asked him to help out with this case. That same dumb-ass grin, thrilled to be a part of his big brother's world.

His brother's world, but Charlie didn't belong there. He should never have been here.

David reached out and grabbed him by the arm. Don had turned a ghastly shade of white, his expression completely void of emotion.

"Don…?."

David's voice at his elbow brought Don crashing back to the reality that lay before him.

Suddenly, as if he had stepped out of a trance, Don pulled his arm away from David and ran to the end of the truck where his brother lay on the ground.

Charlie's face was pale, but with the exception of a small cut on his forehead, Don could see no blood.

He had expected blood.

Megan was holding Charlie's hand in hers and she looked up at Don.

"He's having some trouble breathing. They think he may have a few broken ribs, maybe a collapsed lung."

Colby answered Don's puzzled expression by handing him the black vest that was lying on the ground next to Charlie.

"The vest caught 'em."

There were four 9mm slugs buried deep in the back plate behind the solid cross weave of the light weight body armor.

"Oh God."

Don fingered the holes in the outer layer of the vest.

"He took four slugs?"

The implication of his statement hit Don hard and suddenly he found himself unable to remain standing. He sunk to his knees next to his unresponsive brother. He remembered the first hit he took in the vest. The pain had been excruciating.

"Charlie….."

His button down shirt had been pulled open and Don could see the angry red welts scattered across his brother's chest and ribcage. The backface signature contusions were already evident as purple bruises had started to form from the blunt force of the hit. His breathing was shallow, but he was breathing. He was alive and the vest had done its job.

The paramedic that had been looking after Charlie returned.

"We've gotta get this guy out of here."

He indicated the injured officer who was being loaded into the waiting ambulance.

"Your guy is okay for now. Just watch his breathing. Another wagon will be here in five."

Don looked down at his brother. He could see the confusion and distress brewing behind his brothers closed eyes.

"He's coming around."

………………………………

Charlie felt as if a heavy weight was lying on his chest. Had he been playing football again? It almost felt like this that one time that Don had tackled him…Dad had yelled at him for it.

"You can't hit him like that Donnie, he's too small for tackle football."

Did it hurt this bad then? He couldn't remember. He had seen a man enter the alley. That man had looked him right in the eye and then……

Realization of what had happened crashed into Charlie and he realized quite suddenly why it hurt so much to breathe.

………………………………

Charlie's eyes shot open and his sudden gasp for air doubled the pain that was radiating across his chest. Don could see the sheer terror in his brother's eyes as he struggled to inhale. Charlie was thrashing around on the pavement like a fish out of water. Don grabbed his brother's shoulders and pushed Charlie down, effectively restraining him. The wide panicked eyes found his big brother's face and stayed there.

"Don?"

A barely audible whisper.

"Just breathe, Charlie."

"Can't…..Hurts."

"Yeah, it's gonna hurt Buddy. But you're alright, you just need to breathe. Okay?"

Charlie drew in a ragged breath, forcing himself to expand his lungs.

"Good, Charlie…just like that. Keep breathing."

Charlie closed his eyes against the pain that was spreading across his chest like fire.

Don looked up at the concerned faces of his team and the other officers who had gathered around. How much time had passed?

"Where's that other ambulance?"

"I'm on it."

Colby ran back toward the street and the approaching sirens.

Moments later he returned with two uniformed EMT's.

It only took them seconds to get Charlie loaded into the back of the white van.

"I'm riding with him."

The medic put his hand up to stop Don from climbing aboard. David grabbed the man by the arm.

"He's his brother."

The medic nodded and Don climbed into the back of the ambulance with Charlie, still holding the kevlar vest tightly in his grasp.