Title: Buried

author: Cindy Ryan

notes and summary: see part one

With police work sometimes it was feast or famine when it came to leads. Tim was never so thankful that they were feasting. After getting the video from the twenty-four hour gas station there'd been a radio call of another abandoned vehicle. This time an SUV. The black late model vehicle was half a mile from where Lucy's car had been dumped. The perps had left in a hurry and slipped up. They'd left behind Jackson's cell phone. It was dented and the screen cracked but Shear had been able to turn it on. Seeing Tim's missed call and voicemail notification had confirmed the owner.

While the video from the gas station had been uploaded and sent to the techs Tim was helping Shear search the dumped SUV. When his flashlight landed on a pool of blood towards the left side of the van Tim's stomach twisted. His rookie could be somewhere hurt and scared. If she wasn't the one hurt she'd be worried and scared. Neither sat well with Tim.

"You've become partners."Mark surmised breaking the silence as he searched by the driver's seat. "Not just rookie and T.O. Chen's your partner even if she's still a boot."

Tim paused as his friend's words hit home. He hadn't thought of it that way, but Mark was right. Since the quarantine and even before that partnership bond had started to form.

"Yeah, she has."Tim agreed quietly. "Though apparently I didn't know everything that was going on with her...:"

"Bradford!"Grey called moving around to the passenger side of the SUV. "Found an encrypted file on Jackson's cell. He and Chen were working on a cold case."

Tim backed out of the rear of the SUV and walked rapidly towards his C.O.

"What cold case?"Tim demanded.

"Trevor Boley, age eighteen shot and killed during a home invasion robbery."Grey read. "Lot of pricy stuff disappeared from that crime scene. The parents were traveling in Europe and weren't reachable for a few weeks."

"Let me guess West's Dad was first on the scene."Tim theorized.

"Gold star."Grey complimented. "Canton Paul was arrested and he had two accomplices Tia Blase and Daniel Booker. Blase was arrested later, Booker disappeared. I'm running their names through the system. If they are connected to this attack we'll get current addresses; bring them in."

"Hey!"Shear called excitedly from a block up from the SUV. "We've got a blood trail!"

Tim and Grey exchanged a worried look before running to join Shear.

Lucy hadn't expected their attackers to come back. She thought they'd left them for dead and escaped into the night. The sound of the door opening nearly caused Lucy to jump out of her skin. It startled Jackson awake and he inched closer to her.

"Can't believe they've come back."Jackson muttered through gritted teeth.

"Might not be the door."Lucy said in weak reassurance. "Could be a rat."

"Hell of a big rat."West responded. "You need to hide."

"No."Lucy said firmly.

"My Dad was involved in the mess that created this."Jackson continued in a hoarse voice. "Maybe revenge on me will be enough for them and they'll leave you alone."

A lump formed in Lucy's throat as she drew Jackson closer to her side. As brave and noble as the offer was Lucy was not hiding.

"Not leaving you."Lucy said in a heightened whisper.

"Lucy."Jackson protested.

"No, we need to come up with a plan."Lucy stated firmly.

The door to their small storage area creaked open and Lucy was momentarily blinded by a flashlight. Then she heard more footsteps and Lucy began to move to protectively stand in front of Jackson.

"Boot!"

Lucy nearly collapsed in relief; she'd never been so happy to hear that voice or that word.

"Tim!"Lucy called gratefully. "Are we happy to see you!"

"We've got paramedics."Tim stated as he dropped to his knees next to them.

Light flooded the room from various flashlights along with the chatter from police radios.

"Easy."Tim urged as he placed a gentle hand on Lucy's shoulder easing her back down to the ground. "Where are you hurt?"

Lucy realized in the odd lighting of the flashlights she must've looked as badly injured as Jackson.

"I'm..."Lucy began but Tim was already checking her over for injuries.

The paramedics arrived then and began attending to Jackson lifting him onto a stretcher. Lucy heard Tim curse and looked at him in surprise. Tim was holding his flashlight beam over a large tear on her uniform trousers of her left leg above the knee. Blood was spreading fast from the equally large cut soaking her uniform and the ground. With the adrenaline and worrying about Jackson she hadn't even felt it until now.

"She may have nicked an artery."Tim said anxiously to the paramedics. "I see glass in the wound; could've been a ricochet."

Lucy fought to stay conscious. She watched as Jackson was carried out. The darkness swayed around her and threatened to overwhelm. Lucy felt herself falling back.

"Tim."Lucy heard herself call in a small voice.

"We're getting you out of here, Lucy."Tim said as he laid a hand on her left shoulder. "You're going to be okay."

Tim followed the paramedics out of the small storage unit. His rookie's blood was covering his hands and uniform. Tim could tell by the surprised look on Lucy's face she hadn't even realized she'd had the injury. He didn't want to think of what could have happened if Shear hadn't found that blood trail.

"I'll drive."Grey suggested as they stepped outside.

The two rookies were loaded into an ambulance and with sirens and lights blaring it sped away. Tim and Grey quickly ran back to Grey's SUV and Tim climbed in the passenger side. His door was barely closed before his C.O took off after the ambulance.

In a rented room near the Long Beach marina two men listened to a police scanner. One a forty something white male heavy set with black hair. The other a tall thin bald man in his thirties. Both had sleeve tattoos that covered their arms and hands.

"Told you we should have killed them!"The black haired man said as he slammed a fist into the beatup table.

"Never thought they'd be found."The younger countered angrily.

"We may be alright."The black haired man reasoned. "It was dark and we never let them see our faces."

"Can't take that chance."The younger one replied. "They poked their nose where they shouldn't have. Them being found will give us a chance to teach a lesson."