As Fisher crawled towards the .38 dropped only a few feet in front of him, he had only one thought in mind. He had killed one cop already; veteran Gus Charnovski was days away from retirement after a thirty year career on the streets. What would it mean to kill two more cops?
As his focus narrowed the closer he crawled to the gun, his mind began to play out the best case scenario. He'd grab the gun, rollover and shoot Stone. After all, Stone was still armed, but hadn't yet reached the scene where he and Keller had fought in the tunnel. After that shoot out, he'd turn the gun on the unarmed younger officer who appeared rattled at being thrown not once, but twice, on his back landing uncomfortably on the construction cart parked on the track.
But Stone got to him first. After daring the killer to move, the angry detective yanked Fisher up to a standing position, pressing his service revolver into the murderer's face while backing him to a railing. With the strength of a well toned man half his age, Mike held onto Fisher with a death grip. With the fury seething from Stone's eyes, the criminal thought perhaps the older man would pull the trigger.
Keller sat transfixed on the cart, having recovered somewhat from his prone position. He couldn't say a word, but his mind raced with fear. He thought he knew Mike, his partner and friend for the last two years. That Mike would not pull the trigger. But this Mike? The Mike who was reeling from the death of his beloved long time friend and mentor? Didn't Stella talk about how inseparable they had been? Working together 6 days a week and then hanging out together on the 7th.
This was indeed Mike's closest inner circle and it was an inner circle that Mike had not really shared with Steve. That much he knew after his conversation with Devitt. Why was that and was that part of the reason that Mike came so far off the rails in this case? The reaction Steve saw he likened more to if someone had killed his daughter, Jeanne. He wanted to say something. He wanted to tell Mike to stop but for the moment, he chose to stay quiet praying that Mike would not cross the line that would change everyone's world.
Mike looked at Fisher with utter disdain. Thoughts flashed through his mind. He thought of discharging the bullet that would exact revenge for Gus's death. He weighed the impact that would have. His own 26 year career would end, but Gus's death would be avenged.
Gus.
Gus wouldn't want it this way. He was an honorable man and the finest the SFPD ever had to offer. Mike held his grip, but caught a glimpse of his young partner still on the cart. The look of fear in Steve's eyes underscored his feelings about what Gus would want. He began to realize that so much would change. The next generation of cops – his action would do irreparable damage to Steve's insights on being a cop. So much so, Mike could see that his action would quite likely turn Steve away from his career. And then there was Jeanne.
Mike loosened his grip on his gun; a signal to both men present that Fisher would be brought to justice by the laws that Gus sought to enforce for thirty years.
As Steve read the unspoken signals, he got up to join his partner, awkwardly cuffing their suspect.
"Get him out of here," Mike bellowed. So rattled was Steve, he never looked down to retrieve his revolver. Instead, he hurried Fisher out of the vacant subway station.
Mike watched as they quickly walked away, stooping down to pick up Steve's gun. While Mike thought this moment would bring some resolution to Gus's shooting, for the moment it felt bad for all the wrong reasons.