Arriving at HQ he had a pep in his step. His entire ride there he had alternated between ideas to find the stolen car with the baby on board and how well he thought that went with Chris. He was proud of himself for not backing away. He thought he did a good job of making her understand that he wanted this. His only worry now was would time apart while he worked this case allow her to over analyse and shut down again.
He had planned in his head to keep his visits light hearted and drama free, but first he needed ensure that she understood just how much he wanted her. His mind never stopped thinking of her. The way he felt was driving him crazy.
"Hey Street" Rocker said meeting him at the elevator and placing an iPad in his hands as soon as he stepped out. "We really appreciate your help man"
"Yeah no worries" Street replied… "I'm in"
"Well so far we know…" Rocker continued for several minutes explaining the facts of the case. Street focused on the map on the large screen and already had ideas forming as Rocker spoke. Captain Cortez met them in the situation room and Street began to explain several ways they could try to locate the stolen Maserati. He suggested finding Whip. Cortez nodded. Street dialled Whip's number,
"Hey Street, how are you?"
"Whip, good man, listen I need your help …... we have a situation involving high end cars being stolen …..." Whip listened and swallowed hard. He dreaded that world. It had nearly gotten him killed twice.
"The latest one they stole an hour ago has a 4 week old baby asleep in a car seat in the back, they've disabled the GPS tracking and we need to find it, like yesterday." Street explained with urgency in his voice.
"Yeah… ok…. I will come in now" he answered.
"Thanks man I can't do this without you"
The situation room was full of 50 David and detectives from the major crimes squad. Street was already trying to access the car remotely when Whip arrived with an officer at his side.
"Officer Street" the uniformed officer said
"Hey Whip…... glad you're here man"
Whip took the iPad from Street and started working. Within minutes Whip had accessed the cars computer but was struggling to activate its location.
"The car is offline technically, but I am trying to find and activate the distress signal that is built in without alerting who ever has it that I am doing it…... I think I can access the parking cameras on the front of the car though." Whip said.
"Do it..." Street nodded. They all gathered around and watched the camera come to life. They could see the car was in a warehouse, crates and pallets in view. There were also several other high end cars parked there, probably all stolen as well. Street counted four heavily armed men in the background moving around, but no one seemed be near the car right now.
"No way of telling if they have the baby or not" Cortez was worried, they all held their breath waiting for Whip to get somewhere or for something to happen on the screen.
Suddenly the screen went dark and then light again, someone had just walked right in front of it. Tension filled the room, then as the figure moved away from the camera towards the other cars Street held up his finger
"That's Camille" he said
"Who?" Rocker asked confused.
"When I was undercover in the street racing world" Street said moving back to the table "I met her, she was an up and comer, desperate to climb the ladder and oversee a crew …... big money in the kind of thing she was into"
"How are we gunna locate her?" Cortez asked.
"She used to frequent a certain part of town" he said tapping the map on the screen. "I think we start there for now"
"Can you keep his feed open?" Rocker asked Whip
"Yeah… I think so, I can access the rear cameras too, but whoever is helping them has hidden the distress signal and well and truly disabled the location device. I am doing my best" he said tapping away nervously.
Half the screen swapped to the rear cameras, they could see much the same view. More cars, crates and boxes, but no real way of knowing where this warehouse was.
"Let's do a drive by of that part of town and see if anything picks up" Rockers team began to ready themselves.
"I'd like to join you guys…. I can help Whip as we get closer" Street offered to Rocker holding up an iPad. Hicks and Cortez nodded. "Go"
Street quickly talked to Whip about their plan and then was out the door with the 50 David team. He drove the charger and Stevens sat monitoring the iPad map. He knew every minute counted for that little baby girl. He drove along the freeway, navigating the everyday drivers with precision. As they approached the off ramp to that part of town, his mind swirled back to when he was undercover with these guys. It had been fun with all the cool cars he got to drive, but he knew they were a ruthless bunch of criminals who only cared about money. He worried they maybe too late to save the baby.
"50 David to 26 David" Rocker called over the radio
"26 David go ahead"
"Patrol car near the 200th block of William St just reported seeing another Ferrari nearby" ... can you check it out?
"Roger that, on our way"
Was this another car they had stolen on its way back to the warehouse? Street spun the wheel and slid the charger around the corner, Cortez came on the radio and announced that there was movement in the warehouse. Some of the cars were being moved, "Looks like they are taking them somewhere" she announced.
"Our Maserati is on the move…." Urgency filled her voice.
"This may help, whip added. Now the engine is online It will be easier too…. GOT IT"
A red flashing dot appeared on their maps.
"That's the Maserati" Whip announced happy with himself for helping.
"Street, can you see that?" Cortez asked
"Roger that, looks like they are avoiding the freeways and sticking to back streets…... trying to avoid attention probably"
Stevens clung to the door as Street drifted around the corners at speed trying to make ground on the Maserati flashing on his map.
"50 David to command… we are approaching the warehouse location"
Streets dimpled flared as he knew he was getting close too, the Maserati appeared to stop moving on the map,
"Why did they stop?" Stevens said nervously looking at Street.
Street slowed the charger and drove cautiously around the corner to see it parked at the entrance to an alley, engine still running and passenger's door open. A man was unlocking gates and Street knew if they let them get inside there with the car that their chance to get the baby, if she was still in the car would be gone.
"You ready?" Street said to Stevens as they both exited the car and quickly, but stealthily approached taking cover behind the cars parked along the street.
"LAPD Metro SWAT" Street shouted as the passenger approached the car again. Stevens had his rifle pointed right at him and when he drew a gun from behind his back, one shot from Stevens dropped him to the ground. Street was already around the driver's side with his gun pointed at the window and the driver.
"GET OUT OF THE CAR NOW" he yelled. "PUT YOUR HANDS WHERE I CAN SEE THEM"
The driver revved the engine, and Streets instincts were that he had to act, or this car may take off and disappear again. "WHIP NOW" he yelled into his radio and the engine suddenly cut out.
"NOW GET OUT OF THE CAR AND KEEP YOUR HANDS WHERE I CAN SEE THEM"
There was a quick pause in the noise and Street heard a faint cry, he knew it was the baby. Stevens had secured the other offender and moved to the open door of the Maserati. Pointing his gun at the driver he nodded at Street. Street opened the door and yanked the driver onto the ground.
"Don't move" he yelled at him.
Stevens moved to secure the cuffs on him and Street dove back towards the car, flicking the lever and moving the drivers' seat forward he climbed into the back of the car, there still strapped safely in the back seat of the car was the tiny little girl. She had begun to cry after all the noise and Street carefully unclipped her seat and lifted her out. He held her tightly in his arms as he climbed back out of the car.
"26 David to command…we are code 4 here, we have 2 offenders secured and have retrieved baby Evelyn. She is safe"
Command erupted into cheers and high fives as they heard her tiny cries through his radio. Cortez and Hicks went to tell the parents and Street sat holding her until the EMT's arrived.
"Can I ride with her?" Street asked them
"Sure" the female EMT responded.
Street rode all the way with baby Evelyn. She was so tiny, and he couldn't take his eyes off her.
"Which hospital are we heading too?" he asked.
"Angel of Mercy" the EMT responded.
Street felt a little jolt go through him as he thought of Chris.
Back at Angel of Mercy, a nurse was busily fussing over Chris, as she sat trying to watch the news when the story came on of the team finding the baby. She saw footage from news helicopters of two officers with the car and an ambulance. Although it wasn't a close view, she knew one of them was Street. She smiled. He had saved her, she knew he would be happy.
"Oh, they found her" Chris said aloud smiling
"Yes" the nurse answered, "was that your team?"
"One of them was I think" Chris smiled proudly.
"They are bringing her here to be checked out I just heard, amazing work you guys do" she said patting Chris's hand and readying to leave the room. "How relived will those parents be? … what a nightmare! I can't wait to see them reunited. That's what I live for"
Chris smiled, "Me too"
"Come down and see then" the nurse said.
Chris nodded, "I think I will".
A small crowd of nurses, doctors and police had assembled near the ambulance bay doors. They were all excited that this story had ended so happily. When the doors finally swung open, they all erupted into a cheer. Street glanced up briefly and smiled, before returning his gaze to the baby girl asleep in his arms.
Chris's heart skipped several beats all at once and she gasped in a breath when she saw him. Street had removed his tactical vest and was snuggling baby Evelyn protectively into his chest, as he smiled down at her. Seeing him carry that baby like that, gave her butterflies. She suddenly realised how much a baby suited him. It was a soft, caring and sexy look and she was digging it 100%. 'he will be an amazing dad one day….' She thought to herself. In that moment she could imagine him holding their baby, and it made her smile grow, ear to ear.
"Give them some room" A doctor spoke ushering the crowd to move back. Street caught sight of Chris in the crowd smiling at him. He walked towards her locking eyes, and she began to move to him.
"You did it" She said smiling at him. Street nodded smiling "Yeah…"
"Awwwww…... she's beautiful" Chris said leaning over the baby and cooing over her as she nuzzled into Streets chest.
"Meet Evelyn" Street said proudly "She's a lil trooper"
They both laughed and Street remembered how much he loved hearing the sound of her laugh.
"Officer Street…." The doctor motioned for Street to put baby Evelyn on the bed.
"Oh, sorry" Street said gently laying her down and stepping back a little. Chris her hand into his arm and squeezed him at the elbow
"I love it when it's a happy ending, you have to tell me the whole story later" she said. Street smiled and nodded.
Evelyn's parents arrived and Street and Chris stood watching how happy they were to have their precious baby back safely, Street was buzzing. Cortez and the rest of 50 David all arrived too, and it was smiles all round.
"Street you have 12 hours of down time…. Go home and rest" Cortez ordered.
"Yes Cap, I will" he nodded, as she patted his back and walked off with Rockers Team.
"Wanna grab a coffee?" Street said smiling at Chris.
"Yeah" she said, walking next him her hand linked in his arm. As they walked back to her room with coffees in hand, Street told her all about the mission and Whip's help and she couldn't help but hang off his every word, smiling at him the whole time. She couldn't not look at him with all the things he was making her feel right now. She was so happy, and knew she was so in love with him.
When they rounded the corner near her room, she was shocked to see her Uncle Sasso and cousin there. "Hey Sasso" she called out "what are you two doing here?"
"Oh, there you are" Uncle Sasso answered nodding and smiling at Street.
"Can't I come by to see my Chrissy unannounced?" he joked at her.
Her cousin shook Streets hand and hugged him "Nice to see again Street"
"Yeah likewise" Street said smiling. He didn't want to, but he knew he had to go home and let her have time with them, he only had limited down time before he had to be back at HQ on shift.
"Look I will leave you to your family business… I've gotta go sleep before shift start" he said exhausted. "you heard the Captain downstairs, I'll come bye after next shift, I have a few days off to use up" he gave her a knowing look, it was a I really want to finish our last chat type of look. Chris didn't want him to leave, the corner of her mouth frowned, but she let him go and waved him goodbye and he entered the elevator.