Bye Bye Baby

A/N: Thank you to all those following, reading and reviewing ... your words mean so much to me. As it's Friday and I left you all with an evil cliff hanger last night, I decided to give you two chapters today too so I don't leave you guys hanging too long. Also a quick warning too that there will be some violence involved in the upcoming chapters but with the reputation of the Russian gang as it is, it would be unrealistic to not have some violence involved. Let the drama begin!... And as Sylvia Elaine rightly said "Fasten your seat belts. It's going to get a little rough from here on in :-D

Chapter 6

Steve was fitfully sleeping, strange dreams disturbing his rest. He was in a spooky graveyard and everything looked very dark and foreboding. He couldn't remember how he had gotten there and he looked around to see if Mike was near but couldn't see him anywhere. He reached for his gun but it wasn't there so he stumbled forward in the darkness and tripped several times in his effort to reach some sort of safety. A loud rustle behind him drew his attention as he whirled around and saw a dark figure who looked remarkably like Christopher Lee the actor. The figure advanced towards him as the moon suddenly came out from behind the clouds and illuminated the scene a little better. Steve figured that he must be dreaming and yet he wasn't quite sure.

He stepped backwards as the figure approached silently and he fell over a half buried stone, landing on the ground behind him with a thump. Clambering desperately to stand up, the figure advanced with deathly precision pinning him where he had fallen. The man's face bent low above him and as his mouth opened, pronounced fangs could be seen. Steve struggled beneath to free himself as the man's mouth drew nearer his neck. "What the hell is going on? " he thought to himself, willing himself to wake up but instead of the bite he expected, the man reached beneath his cloak and produced a crying baby whom he then placed against Steve's chest. The crying deafened his ears and he tried to wriggle free once more until he heard above the din, a sound of footsteps off to his right. Turning his head to see who was coming, he saw a young girl approaching, her hands outstretched, calling for her baby. Before Steve could react the dark figure left the baby with Steve and advanced towards the young girl with deathly speed. Steve found he couldn't move. Still pinned tight where he lay with just the wriggling baby, he struggled in vain again as he heard the young girl's blood curdling scream ...

Steve woke with a start, his heart hammering in his chest and his hand instinctively tightening around the infant in his arms. A loud woman's scream filled the room and momentarily confused he quickly scanned the room only to see an actress on the television set screaming loudly as the figure of Christopher Lee as Dracula approached her. He let his head fall back against the couch with relief as he quickly scanned Brigitte and saw that his nightmare and start hadn't even fazed the sleeping baby. He ran a hand through his hair, now slightly slicked with perspiration and chuckled to himself as he realized what had caused his strange dream. Maybe horror movies weren't the best thing to fall asleep watching, he surmised. Feeling still a little rattled after the sudden awakening, he shifted slightly on the seat, taking care not to disturb Brigitte and swore in that instant that he had heard a click from the front door out in the hall. His eyes still half asleep he screwed his eyes to survey his watch and saw it was only twenty past one in the morning. "Wow! Mike really had found her fast " he thought, never having doubted Mike's skilled detective intuitions and sitting up a little he spoke drowsily as he heard the footfall out in the hall.

"Hey, that was quick. I didn't expect you back so soon ..." but his sentence didn't finish as he saw the first stranger enter the room.

Jolting up, his speed slowed by his drowsiness, he reached behind him for his gun but didn't even get the clip open before the stranger pulled what he recognized as a Russian Makarov pistol on him and spoke menacingly in a distinctive Russian accent.

"Don't even think about trying anything pretty boy unless you want a new pattern on that wallpaper behind you ..."

Steve's breath caught in his throat as a second and then a third heavily built man followed the first gunman into the room. Steve studied all three of their faces but didn't recognize any of them off hand. But it didn't take much to figure that they were hired muscle. But hired by who? Steve reckoned that they were here for the baby and he knew immediately that he was in trouble. Severely outnumbered, out sized and with a small baby in his arms that needed protecting, Steve couldn't see an easy way out of his current predicament. There was never anything in the training manual in the Academy on how to fight off three assailants while holding a tiny baby at the same time. No ... he'd have to write his own escape plan for this one.

The gunman shouted menacingly again, bringing Steve back from his thoughts.

"Let's see that hand back to the front ... pretty boy."

Steve scowled at the scar faced man, his patronizing nickname increasing Steve's distaste for the gunman more by the second as he brought his hand slowly back as requested. He studied the Russian gun in the henchman's hand and tried to remember his firearms training. He was almost certain that the Makarov was capable of shooting a 38 caliber bullet which would tie in nicely with the bullet that killed their latest murder victim and began to wonder if this man had in fact pulled the trigger. Knowing he had to act fast to get a handle on the current deteriorating situation, Steve decided to try ignorance as a ploy.

"Hey, easy man ... What are you guys doing in my house? You know if you're looking to rob the place I'm afraid you're going to be pretty disappointed ... "

He tried to keep the nervousness out of his voice but the gunman approached towards him, his expression not giving away his intentions.

"This is YOUR house? ... " the gunman asked incredulously casting a nervous eye back towards the others and the doorway, knowing the man who still had not entered the room yet, was listening to the interrogation.

"Yeah man ... Whose house did you think it was? I'm just trying to get my kid to sleep here you know? What's going on here, huh?"

Again the gunman appeared nervous.

"The kid's YOURS? ..."

"Hey man, would I be sitting here at one in the morning trying to get her to sleep if it wasn't, huh?" Steve uttered persuasively.

There was a nervous tension in the room as the other two men approached the gunman and argued quietly behind him. Steve strained his ears but couldn't make out what they were saying and hoped that he had been convincing enough. As the men argued, Steve's gaze fell to the basket on the floor just peeking out from beside the couch. If they saw it they would find the note and his lie would be found out. He felt a further sheen of perspiration break out on his brow as he tried to think how he could make it to the basket and move it out of sight without getting his head blown off in the process. Right now there seemed to be dissension in the ranks as they pondered whether they had gotten the right address or not. Feeling that perhaps this would be his only opportunity as the three men argued, he slowly stood up, bringing Brigitte with him, amazed that she was still sleeping through this whole fiasco despite the fact that with her head against his chest, Steve reckoned that his hammering heartbeat alone must be deafening to her ears. However, unfortunately his ascent was noticed and the gunman yelled maniacally at him again before he could move another step.

"HEY, who told you that you could move, huh?"

Steve stopped moving and held out his hand in a surrendering gesture as he balanced the sleeping baby against him in a move that he was becoming more used to the more times he did it.

"Ok, ok ... Look I don't want any trouble. If you want money just take whatever you can find and just leave us alone, alright?" he pleaded convincingly.

The gunman sneered.

"We don't want your money ... We were told this was Lieutenant Mike Stone's house, but you're not him. He's older. You know him?"

Steve felt his heartbeat quicken even more and forced his tired brain to work out a valid answer. He knew he was risking a lot but not exactly having time to work out logically the consequences of his response, he ventured bravely.

"Yeah I know him. I used to work with the guy. He ah ... He sold me and my wife this house a couple of months back before he took early retirement ... not long before ah ... Jeannie here was born ... Look if your beef is with him I ah ... I think he headed back East somewhere ..."

Inwardly cursing his pathetic cover story and feeling that they would have to be unbelievably dumb to buy it he knew that he had to stick to it now regardless. The three men exchanged a questioning look and a few more cross words in Russian before the gunman made his way over towards Steve and stood face to face with him, staring at him as if trying to work out if he was lying or telling the truth. He grabbed Steve's shoulders and pushed him sideways, reaching behind Steve under his jacket and spotting Steve's special holstered to his side. Pulling the gun out and flinging it across the room he then reached roughly into Steve's inside jacket pocket and pulled out Steve's ID.

Brigitte fidgeted and Steve held her tighter, feeling that he must protect this defenseless infant that had been entrusted into his care above all else. He kept his face as straight as possible, edging a little sideways as he did, while the Russian gunman opened and read his ID, in the hope that he could at least get a foot to the basket to push it under the side table and out of their line of sight. The gunman turned and spoke sneeringly to the others.

"He's a COP ... by the name of Steven Keller."

Steve didn't like the hatred that seemed to drip from his words as he spat out Steve's occupation and knew that he had unwittingly become possibly dispensable as a result. He figured that these three rough looking characters would probably take great pride in killing a cop. He had to talk fast and so he stammered one last time.

"Look guys ... The man you're looking for isn't here ... There's no harm done here. So why don't you gentlemen just leave the way you came in and we'll just pretend this incident never happened, huh,?"

The three men looked towards the doorway and Steve followed their gaze as an older grey haired man entered, walking slowly towards them, an expensive cashmere overcoat draped around his shoulders. He was holding a cigarette and he laughed but it was a laugh that didn't spread joy but rather terror in its wake. Steve's blood froze in his veins as he recognized the man who had appeared. Grigori Damacov, a Russian crime figure who had muscled in lately to an area of San Francisco just between Lombard Street and The Embarcadero. He had heard tell of him over lunch in the canteen in Bryant Street with Sergeant Bob O'Neill from the Criminal gang task force and the tales he had heard about this particular person had been blood curdling in their telling.

In the short time he had taken over the district he had several supposed murders chalked up to his name, one or two that had been investigated by homicide and all of which remained unsolved due to a distinct lack of evidence or the convenient sudden disappearance of vital witnesses. Damacov had featured in the investigations but at least he hadn't been with Mike when he had gone to interview Damacov. That would have given him away too easily. While he had been sent that day to trawl through various records for clues, Bill had been dragged along with Mike and while at the time he had balked about being left out, here and now Steve was grateful for Mike's decision that day. Vice and Narcotics had also spoken to them on occasion of this particular gentleman regarding his various seedy business ventures but he was proving difficult to catch. He had seen surveillance photos of the man standing before him and his rugged, weather beaten face held more menace in real life than the pictures could ever do justice to. His blood thirst and violence were well spoken of and Steve felt that his odds of surviving this encounter just fell through the floor. If Laura and their murder victim Susan had unwittingly stumbled upon one such murder committed by Damacov, Steve could fully understand why she had feared for her and her baby's lives. Rumor was, that this man was cold to the core and killing a cop or a baby or a young girl would not even lose him a second's sleep. The older man stepped towards Steve, an evil grin now emerging from under the thick grey mustache as he took the ID from his hired muscle. Steve noticed that Damacov wore black leather gloves and knew he was dealing with a very clever individual who made sure his fingerprints were never found on anything incriminating. The older man studied Steve's ID for several seconds before speaking coldly in a Russian accent.

"You are seriously expecting us to believe that the famous Mike Stone has gone back East to tend a garden and play bridge in retirement? Do I look ... like a FOOL to you Mr. Keller? And I would be very careful how you answer that question ..."

"His retirement party was a blast. I'm surprised you never heard ..." Steve stated dryly, deeply unnerved by this latest development but maintaining his exterior cool for Damacov's benefit.

Damacov smiled again at Steve's bravado, perusing the baby in Steve's arms as he did,much to Steve's dismay.

"You were obviously expecting someone as we entered ... Who were you expecting? Stone? Possibly with the baby's mother? "

"I don't know what you're talking about. No, I told you. Stone doesn't live here anymore. I thought it was ... my wife .. She's a ... a nurse ... She works evenings. I thought that was her finishing early ..."

Damacov had started pacing around in front of him and the pacing was unsettling Steve by the second. His henchmen looked increasingly nervous and Steve knew that also was a bad omen for him. Damacov dropped his cigarette butt on the carpet and crushed it into the pile with his boot. Then he came face to face with Steve.

"I think you're lying to me Inspector Keller. Do you have any idea what I do to people who lie to me? I can tell ... that you know who I am by your expression as I entered therefore you must have heard stories of the many unpleasant things that your kind accuse me of ?"

Steve didn't answer but swallowed hard and watched as Damacov flung his ID towards the spot where the basket was, anxious that it would be discovered and possibly mean certain death for him. Also the fact that he knew Steve had recognized him worried the young detective. After all he could not be let live to tell anyone about this incident and so he felt that perhaps his fate was already sealed. He paced slowly sideways pretending to rock the baby in his arms as a reason for moving but he did notice that the gunman's Makarov followed his movements, ready to shoot if ordered to, as he answered the older man flatly.

"Yeah, I know who you are ... But what do you want here?"

"You know what I want too Mr. Keller ... Let's stop what you Americans call beating around the bush, shall we? That baby which is not yours and looks nothing like you is valuable to me. So she will come with us and if you cooperate I will do you a favor and kill you quickly. Now I cannot say fairer than that now can I? ... Inspector of pigs."

Steve had reached the basket and stretched his foot behind him to move it out of sight but before he could move it very far, Damacov clicked his fingers and called out to the doorway.

"Dmitriy? Is this the one you say is Stone's partner?"

A fourth henchman appeared in the doorway and Steve's breath caught in his throat. There stood Dmitriy Bachorev, a Russian man that him and Mike had questioned on one occasion at a crime scene linked to Damacov and as the man nodded, Steve knew his lies were found out and that he was now in a very grave, potentially fatal situation. He kicked the basket further backwards but Damacov clicked his fingers again and Dmitriy moved forward and pushed Steve roughly sideways before reaching down to pull the basket back out and picking up the note he handed it to Damacov who quickly read it and then crumpled it furiously as he turned to his henchmen and barked angrily.

"Mikhail, Get Elena from the car ..."

Steve felt sick to his stomach again but mostly because he had just run out of luck and he feared the worst.

The first gunman turned and left while all those remaining in the room waited in relative silence until the henchman brought a young woman in from the car. She looked fragile and very pretty. Blonde cascading curls framed her youthful, unblemished, made up face but she looked scared and nervous and looked distinctly like someone there against her will. Damacov turned to her.

"Elena my dear ... Take the baby from this pig ..."

"Grigori ... I am not good with babies ... You ... you know that ... " she pleaded also in a distinct Russian accent but Damacov barked angrily.

"I SAID TAKE HER!"

The young woman anxiously stepped forward and stretched her arms out to take Brigitte but Steve was not willing to give her up lightly ... Not now that he felt he knew what was going to happen next. He wouldn't go down without at least putting up a fight. He stepped back, his legs right up against the couch with nowhere else to go and held the baby tighter refusing to give her to the woman in front of him The young woman looked compassionately and almost apologetically at him, the moisture in her eyes clearly visible as were her trembling hands that remained outstretched and he wondered how on earth she had come to be with this maniac crime Boss in the first place.

Dmitriy then stepped forward and spoke even more menacingly.

"Give her the baby or we will kill you and take her from your dead body ..."

Steve never answered or moved and was subsequently struck full force across the left cheek by the heavily built man who seemed to take some satisfaction in his work, the momentum of the strike sending Steve sideways as he struggled to remain standing and keep hold of Brigitte at the same time, his cheek stinging painfully from the forceful blow. The move caused Brigitte to wake and start to cry as Dmitriy wrestled her out of Steve's grip and handed her roughly to Elena who stood back holding her more gently and trying to cajole her to stop her from crying, looking equally as out of her comfort zone with the young infant as Steve had earlier.

With the baby now out of his grip, Steve was punched heavily in the stomach and doubled over as he was temporarily winded. Damacov took advantage of Steve's current weakness and slammed him down into the floor face first and put one knee into the middle of his back. Reaching inside under his overcoat he produced another Makarov handgun and pushed the barrel into the back of Steve's head. As Steve felt the gun at the back of his head, time seemed to stand still.

From his current pathetic viewpoint face down in the carpet beside Mike's dining room table, a myriad of thoughts spiraled in his head. He thought about the Tahoe trip with his friends this past weekend. He couldn't believe that it would now become his last. He wouldn't get to be best man for his friend Robbie's planned wedding or be there to celebrate the birth of Robbie's baby with him. He would ironically never get to find out if he would ever be marriage material as he had asked Mike earlier but over all those thoughts his most disturbing one was that he would meet his end here in Mike's house. How would Mike or indeed Jeannie ever cope with that? He couldn't believe the evening had come to this ... Although bloodstains could easily be removed from carpet, Steve didn't think they would ever be erased from Mike's mind if he was found beside the table on which he had shared many a home cooked meal with the two people who had become his family through fate and circumstance. He tried to think of a way out but there was no escape plan left. The inevitable was just a click away. He heard the trigger being pulled back as Damacov's cold voice, filled with rage, broke through his last thoughts.

"You see Keller? I do my own dirty work. I just hire these men to make sure I don't get caught doing it ..." He sneered again before adding " Now you will pay the price of lying to me pig. Any last words?"

Steve couldn't think of anything he wanted to say to this heartless creep but only all the words he wanted to say to Mike and Jeannie had they been there. He had let Mike down and the baby too as his mind tortured him as to what would become of her now that he had failed to protect her. He stayed silent for several seconds, Brigitte's tortured cries making his last few seconds unbearable until her cries suddenly gave him an idea. It was as if they were meant to inspire him, as if she were calling him to answer. With a new found bravado despite his lowly position he spat back at his captor.

"Go ahead Damacov, SHOOT ... but you're going to have to listen to that baby's constant cries after you do. She only stops for me ... And the girl you're looking for will want proof her baby is alive before she ever gives herself up. I can keep her quiet for you but maybe you don't mind listening to that, huh?"

Damacov screamed again at Elena.

"SHUT HER UP!"

Elena panicked and rocked the baby but she wouldn't settle.

"I'm trying Grigori but she ... she won't quieten. " the girl pleaded apprehensively, audibly afraid of the repercussions should she be unable to do as she had been instructed to.

Steve waited for the click that would mean certain death and closed his eyes in preparation until he heard the trigger being safely secured once more and Damacov's insane laugh filled the room.

"Ok, pretty boy ... I admire your courage. I will give you one more chance. You keep her quiet, and I will let you live for now but you will come with us and when I find the girl and find her I WILL, rest assured, you and her and that screaming baby will find yourselves in a shallow grave. Mark my words. "

Then grabbing Steve roughly by the hair at the back of his neck he pulled him into a kneeling position and screamed at Elena once more..

"Give him back the baby and let's see if pretty boy can really do what he says or if he is just trying to save his own skin with more lies. "

Steve could feel himself shaking from the ordeal but was trying not to show it externally to his tormentors. As Elena handed him Brigitte back he settled her against his right shoulder, hoping that she wouldn't some how sense his inner turmoil and remain upset, knowing his life depended on her settling for him. As her cries reduced to faint sobs Steve continued to rub her back soothingly and whispered barely audibly to the still sobbing baby as all eyes in the room remained in his direction.

"Come on Sweetheart. Don't let me down now ..."

Within seconds Brigitte stopped crying altogether and Steve inwardly sighed with relief as he hoped his plan had worked. Damacov laughed again as he sneered .

"Well, well, I have seen it all now, eh men? A pig who can calm babies! Perhaps you have missed your calling Mr. Keller? "

All five men laughed hysterically before he turned once more to Steve and yanked him back to his feet as the young man gripped Brigitte tightly.

"Now we take a ride ... Let's go ..."

"Please ... let me just take her basket of things and her blanket ... " Steve pleaded, worried that his request would be laughed at, but to his surprise Damacov was still giggling and shoved him in the direction of where it lay.

"Be my guest ... Consider it your last request. "

Steve knelt down where the basket was, still clasping Brigitte tightly, grateful that the tiny infant had saved his life for now, instead of it having supposed to be the other way around and vowed in that instant to repay the favor by protecting her at all costs. Depositing the blanket into the basket he saw that Mike had returned the baby formula powder tin to the basket at some stage along with the empty baby bottle and the pacifier. As he gathered her things into it he saw his discarded leather bound ID on the floor beside it and remembered that while Damacov had been wearing gloves, Mikhail's fingerprints were on it. He needed to alert Mike to that fact somehow when he returned. If he identified the prints and figured from them who had taken them he would be able to find and rescue them quicker so he risked a sly maneuver. As he casually glanced over his shoulder he saw the henchmen attentively listening to their Boss as he issued new instructions and taking advantage of their distraction he opened the baby powder tin and left a trail of the powder encircled around the leather ID case and hoped Mike would notice it and understand his clue such as it was. Then quickly closing the tin and gathering the basket back up, he stood with it in his hand and turned to see Elena standing right behind him. He swallowed hard as he realized that she had seen what he had done and waited for her to tell on him and for his reprieve to be revoked but instead she took the basket from him and gave him a half hidden smile as she turned to join the others. He watched her closely as the henchmen surrounded him, giving him little chance of escape. His cheek was now burning mercilessly and his stomach ached from the blow it had received but despite those physical injuries, the thing that haunted him most was the feel of the cold metal as it had pressed against the back of his skull, a feeling that would remain with him for quite some time to come, unsettling his very soul.

"Ok, LET'S GO. After you ... Inspector of quietening babies." Damacov sneered again as he held out the hand that held the gun, supposedly graciously for Steve to go first. As Steve hesitated he shoved Steve roughly towards the door as he spat out viciously " Go-ahead ... I INSIST! "