Thanks for reading, let me know how I did on this chapter :) A little surprise for you in the bottom :)
It was six in the morning, when Danny's phone buzzed him awake.
"Yeah," he said, knowing it could only be his partner. He didn't even have to look at the caller ID.
"Danny, I have a lead on the SEMTEX. It turns out a badge with four pounds was stolen, no less than five days ago. And get this. It was the same two guys from the footage of the van. One of them, the smaller one of them, left a finger print," Baez said, sounding tired but satisfied.
"You have a name?" Danny asked, already hopping from one foot to another while putting on his pants from yesterday. He had fallen asleep in his old room, and Linda had probably taken the kids home yesterday.
"Yeah, it's Johnny Wilson, thirty-four, I'll text you the last known address. He's been in an out of Fort Dix Correctional since he was eighteen for possession and theft, mostly," she continued, hoping, that it would ring a bell.
"Fort Dix, you say? That makes sense," Danny noted with the phone between his shoulder and ear.
"I did some more digging and found a possible location. In between the stays in Fort Dix, he has had multiple jobs, one of which stands out, because it's the longest employment he has ever had. It turns out another worker got him the job. That worker was the bigger one of the two in the footage," Baez said and Danny paused for a second when reaching for the door to the hallway. His tie hanged loosely around his neck and his shirt was still open when he jogged down the stairs. He couldn't help but smile and think that his kid brother would be home soon.
"Who is he?" Danny asked when he walked into the kitchen. Frank and Henry was already up and drinking coffee and eating breakfast. They both looked up when they heard Danny's voice, curious because he didn't sound grumpy but almost as cheerful as possible. It was very unlike him, Frank thought, but didn't interrupt the phone call.
"Vitali Ivanov, thirty-eight, Russian. The one, they called 'Knuckles'. They were employed near Brooklyn Navy Yard, I couldn't find out what they did, but the firm has recently moved, so the buildings are empty," Baez said when Danny filled a mug with coffee.
"You're kidding? Send me the address, I'll go check it out. Good job, Baez. Go home and get some sleep. When you are rested, I want you to check out O'Hara, all right?" Danny said, only returning the favor she had done for him last night. Shortly after he hung up and took a sip of the coffee. The heat and the caffeine jolted him fully awake instantly.
"What's the good news?" Henry asked from his seat across the counter.
"Baez found some names and connections I'll go check up on," Danny answered and gulped down the rest of the scalding coffee. "I'll call you later with an update," he said when he had placed the cup in the sink and slipped out the door.
"Be careful, Danny," Frank called after him before he drove off. Henry looked at his son's weary eyes.
"He will get them home, Francis," Henry tried, knowing that Danny would stop at nothing to bring back his brother.
At half past six Danny parked the car and cut the engine. He was just going to check out the address Baez had sent him, he thought, when he walked closer. He had parked the car a little bit farther away, so the engine noise wouldn't alert anyone. The big, supposedly empty, building towered over him, seeming bigger yet, with the low morning sun behind it. When he reached the door, tiny in comparison, he stopped to listen and a rumbling laughter caught his ears. He tried the door handle and peeked inside.
"Did you see the look on the lady cop's face, after the explosion?" A man laughed. The laughter was clearly emphasized by the big room and obviously coming from a smaller room across the floor. Danny's stomach turned, knowing this was the place.
"They are still going to pay for killing Kuckles," another voice said. Danny put a foot in the door, so that it would not make a noise if it closed and then he found the phone in his pocket. He made a call, and shortly after the line was picked up.
"This is Detective Reagan, I need backup at Marshall Street, near Brooklyn Navy Yard forthwith," he said with a low voice and listened. As soon as the order was acknowledged, he slipped the phone in his pocked again, pulled his service weapon and pushed through the door, closing it silently behind him. The adrenaline was already pumping in his ears, when he worked his way along the walls, silent and alerted on the open door, from which the laughter had come from.
"If we didn't have orders, I wouldn't mind some time with the lady cop," the second man laughed, clearly unaware of Danny moving closer outside the door.
"If the boss knew that…" a whistle filled the room after the third voice had talked. The unmistakable sound of a bottle being opened soon followed with the immense laughter from the three men. Danny stopped next to the door, his back against the wall and the gun pointing to the floor. Seconds later the laughter died out and a chair scraped the floor.
"Hold down the fort, I'll take a stroll," the third man said and Danny stepped back from the door, when he realized the man was coming his way. Not even a second later the man stepped through the door. Johnny Wilson. The man was a couple of inches smaller than Danny and very skinny. He looked like the scrawny drug user he was. The first thing Danny noticed was the gun, a semi automatic Colt, in the brown shoulder holster made of leather. It made him look like a mob boss from the eighties, only less intimidating. The second thing he noticed was the look on the man's face, when he realized the presence next to him and the gun pointed at his head, only a few inches away.
"You open your mouth, I'll put a bullet through your head," Danny said slowly and quiet, scowling. "Understand?" he asked and the man nodded, not moving an inch. Danny encouraged the man to move away from the door with his gun and he slowly followed. Then he pushed him up the wall and removed the Colt from the man's holster, still with his own gun trained on the man, now at his back. With one hand, he reached for his cuffs and slammed them on the wrists of his collaborating new friend. In less than a second he grabbed the barrel of the Colt and whipped the butt on the back of Wilson's head. Danny caught him before he collapsed and put him down gently. Making sure the scrawny man wouldn't suffer her moved back to the door, where the two remaining men had become silent.
"Did you hear something?" the second man asked the first, sounding a little bit alarmed.
"It's probably just Wilson, taking a piss outside," the response came, rather dryly.
"I'll go check it out," his partner said, in an anyway-tone and pushed the chair away from the table. Danny heard the growing sirens far away, a second before the two men and he looked to the door he had come through.
"What the hell?!" the man burst out and Danny turned his head back, just in time for it to connect with the searing right hook to his left temple. He swiveled to the right and his gun dropped to the floor, and skidded a away, the second before Danny did. He did not have time to move nor defend himself from the hail of kicks to his body. When he turned to get up a boot connected with his ribcage and he felt it snap before he heard it. The sirens grew louder yet, there were a lot of them. Then the punches started coming in and he felt the presence of another attacker on his other side. Somehow he caught the elbow of the newcomer and twisted his whole body around, so that he was thrown into the first attacker. All three of them tumbled on the ground for a few seconds when one of them grabbed Danny's ankle. Shortly after he kicked himself free and launched for his gun only a few feet away. He grabbed it, threw himself away and turned mid-air and when one of the two attackers towered above him, he pulled the trigger and put three rounds in the guy's chest. Then the door opened and a lot of cops spilled through it, guns raised. The last man, shocked as he was, threw his hands in the air, surrendering, not like the tough cookie he had been ten seconds ago.
"Reagan!" Renzulli called and Danny caught a glimpse of the sergeant over his shoulder. "You're okay?" he asked, when he got closer, three other men in blue covering the last guy. Danny nodded and pulled himself up when Renzulli offered him a hand.
"Peachy. Good timing, by the way," he said with a strained smile on his face and a hand on his side. "Let's clear the building. Jamie and Eddie could be in here," he said and breathed superficially when he started through the door his attackers had come through. With Renzulli on his back, followed by a couple of officers, they walked through the room to the hallway, clearing each of the seemingly empty offices one at a time. The last door on the right was locked and the two experienced men lined up on both sides of it, not knowing what to wind. Danny winched unwillingly when he raised his gun, so Renzulli walked to the center of the hallway and put all his powers in his muscles when he kicked in the big door. For a second, they were stunned by the looks of the two people on the ground, hands touching. Danny couldn't have felt worse, than at that moment.
"Call for a bus, forthwith," Renzulli ordered when he and Danny ran to the two shapes on the ground by the wall. Danny fell to his knees, next to Jamie, anxious to see him move and Renzulli knelt down on one knee next to Eddie. They had both stirred when Renzulli had barked at the other officers before and now Eddie opened her eyes.
"Serge," she whispered and lifted her head weakly. Her clothes were covered in blood from the bullet wound in her shoulder and her face was pale but smeared with black from the explosion.
"No need to get up, kid," the senior officer said gently. "You two can't have a day of, without ending up in trouble, can ya'?" Renzulli asked, hoping to lighten the mood.
"Jamie… come on, kid, open your eyes," Danny begged when he had checked for a pulse. Finding a shallow one he noticed the clearly busted shoulder, the bumps and bruises on his head and the blood covering the right side of it. He looked to be even paler than Eddie, Danny thought, much to disturb his already uneasy gut. Jamie slowly opened his eyes, looking up at the ceiling at first, until he could focus on the presence next to him.
"D'ny," he rasped and closed his eyes while swallowing. Seemingly not able to talk too much, Jamie turned his head and looked at Eddie.
"We heard them… talking," Eddie started, winching at the pain in her shoulder as starting to thump again when the short lived adrenaline disappeared. "Have a guy on you," she said and wetted her lips. "Before the explosion, you walked in on a man, on the phone," she said when paramedics entered the room. "Deep voice, sounded… edgy," she sighed and breathed in happily when an oxygen mask was placed over her mouth. Renzulli looked and Danny, who was not surprised by the update.
"They had an inside man to update them on the case," Renzulli realized and Danny could have thrown a fist through the wall for the pain his kid brother was in.
"Yeah, I think it's the DEA agent," Danny said and had moved, much to his discontentment, when the paramedics needed space. Quickly they had put IV's in both of the hurting, young people and not long after they were loaded in one of the waiting ambulances, Eddie declining a gurney.
"I need to be with my partner," she reasoned, and the paramedics let her ride in the back. Danny would have gone too, but he had some loose ends to wrap up. Outside the building the sun was now almost reaching the top of the sky, and it made the building seem smaller than before. At nine, promptly, when the ambulance had left, he placed a call to his father.
Frank picked up his phone, hoping for good news. "Danny?" Frank asked, anxious to get answers.
"I found them, they are on their way to Lower Manhattan," Danny said and Frank almost let go of a sigh. The hospital was only a five minutes drive from 1PP.
"How are they?" he asked and looked out of the window from his corner office.
"Eddie took a bullet to the shoulder and Jamie looks to be pretty roughed up, busted shoulder and all. Both of them conscious and in pain. Jamie was…" Danny said and was cut off for a second. Frank heard Renzulli voice through the phone.
"Hey, Reagan, go with the other ambulance and get checked out, I'll take care of this mess," the sergeant called from a distance. A second later, Danny returned to the phone.
"Before you ask, dad, I'm fine. It's just a couple of bruises from when I ran into some of the guys," he said and sighed, his breath shaking.
"Danny," Frank warned his oldest son.
"Okay, it might be a couple of busted ribs, nothing I can't handle, but I'll go," he said, clearly he wasn't about to have a discussion with his father. Frank let out a relieved sigh and closed his eyes for a second. He had never felt such a big burden being lifted from his shoulders. Of course he still had the wait to endure, but now he was more confident that the two young officers would survive.
"Thank you, son," Frank said and smiled, still a bit insecure.
"I'll see you there, dad," Danny called and hung up. Frank breathed in deeply and pressed the button on the intercom.
"Baker, cancel my schedule and have my detail ready in two minutes. Lower Manhattan Hospital. Danny found them," he said and released the button.
"Yes, sir," the blonde lieutenant answered, already knowing who he was talking about. Then he walked to the door and grabbed his coat of the standing hanger and pushed through the door. He nodded to Baker and started on calling the rest of the family about the update.
Jamie opened his eyes, once more, this time to a dimly lit white ceiling. The machines beeped peacefully next to him and he carefully tried to lift his head. He grunted when he didn't have the strength and then he heard the muffled sounds near the window.
"Hey, kid brother, how are you feeling?" Danny asked and moved into his vision. Jamie couldn't help the smile that formed on his lips when Danny squeezed his hand.
"You came," he quacked, his voice strained and hoarse.
"Damn right, I did. You gave all of us a pretty big scare, you and Eddie," he said and moved to sit on the edge of the bed. Jamie's face turned serious when he heard the name of his partner.
"How is she? She was shot," Jamie remembers, Danny could almost see the color drain from the kid's face.
"She is fine, believe it or not, she was discharged a couple of hours ago and went home to rest," Danny insured his brother. Only then Jamie took a good look at his face, hard features only more expressed by the dark circles under his eyes and his sleep deprived eyes.
"How long was I gone?" Jamie asked, trying to connect the dots.
"Since we found you, Monday…" Danny looked away, counting. "Three and a half days," he said and looked at Jamie's tired but surprised expression. "I'll go get a doctor," he said and let go of his hand. Jamie watched him leave and closed his eyes for what seemed like a second.
"Jamie, you're awake," a voice said, lulling him out of his sleep again. He smiled weakly when a doctor came in, followed by Danny. "Let me start by telling you, you'll be fine. We have relocated your shoulder and even the concussion is improving, you had a lot of people worried, with that one. You'll look like a color palette the next couple of days though," the doctor said while he examined Jamie. Soon after he left and Danny pulled the chair closer.
"Get some rest, kid, I'll be here, when you wake up again," Danny said and squeezed Jamie's hand again. Jamie needed no more encouragement and closed his eyes.
It's up to you what happens in the next chapter :) Post an idea with your review and we'll see where it takes the Reagans :) Thanks for reading :)