BLUE BLOODS: RETURN TO DUTY
CHAPTER 11
ST. VICTOR'S HOSPITAL
BROOKLYN, NEW YORK
FIFTH FLOOR – SUPPLY ROOM
Tuesday, April 12, 2016: 3:59 p.m. EDT
She checked to in insure that her uniform looked authentic and that she was wearing it correctly.
With her hair dyed black and cut short, and dark contacts to mask the natural blue hue of her eyes, nobody would have recognized her.
Now all she had to do was wait until the distraction which would hopefully draw away the officer posted outside Danny's room and she would be clear to rid her family of one Reagan.
At precisely 4:00 p.m., there was a loud explosion from the fourth floor. She poked her head out of the supply room in time to see the officer assigned to guard Danny vacate his post as he headed towards the stairwell leading down to the floor below.
At the same time Noble Sanfino and two of his crew were approaching the rear exit of the hospital, thinking they had made a clean getaway when a voice Noble knew all too well called out.
"Noble Sanfino, NYPD, you're under arrest." Jamie called out.
Sanfino turned to shoot but the youngest Reagan was faster and easily as good a shot as his father or sister.
The first round entered Sanfino's chest dead center, while the second struck him in the middle of his forehead. He was dead before he hit the ground.
In the interim, his two associates tried to make a run for it, but were quickly subdued by Joe and another officer on the scene.
"We have to get inside, Bianca is going to make her move on Danny." Jamie called out to Joe, where upon the brothers ran back into the hospital.
Bianca Sanfino made her way to room 527 where she entered to find a sleeping Danny Reagan.
She reached into the pocket of her uniform, withdrawing a hypodermic needled containing potassium chloride, the same drug used in lethal injection protocols to stop the heart.
She walked over to the left side of Danny's bed where she removed the cap covering the tip of the needle. She then began to insert the needle into the IV line port running to Danny's left arm. She looked down at Danny Reagan and smiled. "This is for my Uncle Phil, and all that you Reagans have done to hurt my family, especially your baby brother."
Just as she was about to depress the hypodermic's plunger, Danny's eyes snapped wide open and his right hand suddenly came out from under his blanket, his trusty Kahr 9mm pistol aimed directly between Bianca's eyes.
"I wouldn't do that if I were you." He coldly informed her.
Bianca was stunned. She was just beginning to assess her options when Erin Reagan came out from behind the corner vanity screen, her Glock 26 pointed directly at the back of Bianca's head.
"And I'm sick and tired as to how your family has treated mine, so drop the syringe or I will gladly drop you." Erin seethed.
Finally, Bianca's indecision was answered when Danny lifted his left arm out from under the blanket to reveal the IV lines had already been removed and their ends capped off and taped to give the impression they were still inserted.
"Won't do any good to push that plunger, the lines were removed hours ago." He smirked, cocking back the hammer on his pistol, which caused Erin to follow suit with her Glock.
Knowing she had lost her advantage and that the Reagans had once again managed to win, Bianca dropped the syringe at which point Erin kicked her behind the left knee while flipping her over onto her stomach in a classic NYPD takedown. She then drove her knee between Bianca's shoulder blades while her left hand pressed against her prisoner's neck while she simultaneously reached behind her back and withdrew a set of handcuffs from her waistband before firmly clamping them on Bianca's wrists.
"Damn." Danny remarked as he leaned out from his bed observing his sister.
Erin hoisted Bianca up off the floor and surrendered her to two NYPD uniforms who had just entered the room.
She looked over at Danny. "You guys have it easy, try doing my job sometime."
What Bianaca didn't know was that earlier that morning, Danny had been brought out of his coma and very soon afterwards had awoke. He had been apprised of everything that had happened except for one particular detail the family had intentionally failed to disclose.
Jamie explained how he believed Bianca and Noble would make an attempt on Danny's life before he could leave the hospital, and that she was under pressure to do it soon as OCCB had heard chatter that both she and Noble would be wacked if they didn't fulfil their duty to Phil within the next 48 hours.
Apparently Phil had set a deadline prior to being moved to the Supermax in Florence, Colorado.
Joe had come up with a plan on how to catch both Bianca and Noble, but when Erin and Jamie informed Danny of the impending threat, they made it seem like they had thought it up. It had been Danny's idea to have his pistol under the blanket and to be ready to back up his sister if anything went wrong.
TARU had quickly wired the room for visual and sound and placed the monitors in Dr. Keller's private office on the second floor, from which all the remaining Reagan's watched events unfold.
Once Erin had Bianca in custody, they all headed up to the fifth floor to see Danny. All except one who held back.
Danny promptly hugged and kissed everyone, even Jamie who tried to pull away but even in a weakened state, Danny still had strength enough to hold him tightly.
Frank looked over at Erin. "You sure you don't want that gold shield?"
"Depends on my starting rank, salary, benefits, and where I would be stationed and with whom I would be partnered." She replied.
"Stay put, no way the NYPD can afford you." Henry quipped to everyone's laughter.
"Okay, now that this is over, I want out of here." Danny made clear.
"I'll let your doctor know." Linda smiled as she quickly left the room.
An hour later, Danny Reagan sat in his hospital bed, hoping, praying, hell, begging to be discharged.
"Linda, don't you have any pull around here? What the hell is keeping the doctor with my discharge papers, I want to get out of here now." He yelled.
"Gee Danny, you're worse than Jamie and we all know how he whines about being hospitalized." Erin remarked.
"That's because he can't go a month without winding back in here, the klutz." Danny replied.
"Hey, that's not fair." Jamie retorted.
"Yeah, let me tell you something kid, the concept of fair ended for you the day you left your ivory tower at Harvard." Danny retorted. "Welcome to the real world."
"Okay son, calm down." Frank cautioned.
"I'm starving, I want to go hit that hot dog cart near the court house, the one that has that spicy chili that tastes like Nathan's, not one of the knockoffs but the real one on Surf Avenue in Brooklyn, or maybe grab a slice from Salducci's pizza, with extra sauce and pepperoni."
The room was now packed with Danny's well-wishers, including Baez, Janko, Garrett and Sid. This was Danny's family so he was surprised when another voice piped up from the door way.
"I can personally tell you there isn't a hot dog in any other city of the world that tastes like they do from a cart on 5th Avenue."
Danny looked up and the entire room grew as quiet as the North Pole and about as frigid, to say you could hear a pin drop would have been an exaggeration.
Danny's eyes, which had been warm and friendly just a moment ago turned almost black, his jovial expression, to one of anger as if he were staring down a suspect who just hurt a child.
The other man was just as still, leaning against the doorway, arms folded, his warm blue eyes and gentle smile just as evident as he studied Danny.
The remainder of those in attendance looked back and forth between the two men as if watching a tennis ball in play, seeing which one would break first.
Finally, after what seemed several minutes, but was only a few moments, Danny's eyes turned from black to warm brown as tears began slowly running down the sides of his face. His trademark smirk returned and he began to chuckle.
He pointed and shook his head. "You little shit".
"Moi?" Joe inquired while smiling at his older brother.
"Yeah you, you pain in the ass, get over here." Danny ordered, a big grin plastered on his face as he held out his arms to receive Joe.
As the two brothers hugged the remainder of the family surrounded them.
"I knew you weren't dead. I always had this feeling that someday you would come back to haunt me for being so hard on the kid." Danny stated.
"Looks to me like you did a great job. You made him as bullet proof as you made me Danny, but I'm back now full time and don't worry, I'll do my fair share of kicking his butt too." Joe replied.
"Hey, my butt and I are standing right here." Jamie reminded them.
"Come here kid, you too Sis." Danny directed. "I have them all back with me, my sister and both my brothers." He announced as he hugged and kissed each sibling.
"And I am grateful that I have all my children back with me." Frank replied as he joined in.
"Amen to that Dad" Chorused the four siblings.
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