5.

"Time to call it a night, McCormick," Hardcastle said as he switched off the television set.

"Yeah, I guess so." Mark stretched until his vertebrae popped. "Set your alarms on, Judge. I'll just walk around the grounds once before I head for the Gatehouse. Are you sure I shouldn't stay here in the main house?"

"It's not necessary. Neither is your prowling around the grounds every night, but I guess I can't stop you from doing that, huh?"

Mark grinned as he shook his head. "Nope, not a chance."

"That's what I figured. Just remember to turn your own alarm on."

"Yeah, yeah, I will. Night, Judge."

"Night, kiddo."

Mark waited outside the front door until he heard the heavy snick of the lock and the soft beep of the alarm being activated, then he sauntered to the stone wall overlooking the ocean. It was pitch black out, yet there was a glow to the south where the lights of Santa Monica pierced the night sky. Even the ocean's white caps caused by the rocky shore line also glowed with a surreal fluorescence.

He leaned against the wall, his arms crossed and his chin resting on them. Breathing in deeply, Mark's eyes gased at the array of stars above. His smile was satisfied, this was home. Mark glanced back at the main house, his smile becoming softer. That curmudgeonly old man, once the bane of his life, now was his family. No one is gonna hurt you if I can help it.

Mark frowned when two shadows seemed to move from behind the pool house. He squinted in an attempt to bring the dark shapes into focus. As the shadows shifted in the darkness, Mark realized that it was no illusion. He turned and raced for the Gatehouse and the panic button for the alarm, screaming the Judge's name.

One of the shadows shifted, blocking his way to the alarm box. "Dammit." Mark turned and ran to the still dark house. "Judge! Hit the alarm! Judge!!" He began pounding on the front door, desperate to alert Hardcastle. As he wondered where their police guard was, the world crashed down on his head.

-- H&McC --

Guzman stared down at the body crumpled at his feet. "Damn, Leo. Looks like we'll have to kill two people on this trip."

Leo joined him, shrugging. "Them's the breaks, boss." He looked up at the house containing their main target. "Might make things easier to get inside."

"Oh, definitely." Guzman reached down and grabbed a handful of curly hair, pulling the unconscious man's head up. "Hardcastle! I know you're there. Got your boy here. He's not looking too good. If you don't put down the weapon that I know you have, I'll have to finish him off."

The two killers waited outside the house, Guzman's pistol pressed into the nape of McCormick's neck. At first the house was quiet. Then they heard the lock open, the door pulling back to reveal an unarmed Judge Hardcastle.

"If you're gonna kill me, get it over with, but let the kid go. He had nothing to do with any of this." Hardcastle couldn't take his eyes off the man hanging limply from Guzman's grip.

"I might consider it, if you don't give us any trouble."

Hardcastle nodded, wincing when Guzman let McCormick's head drop back to the concrete. "Can I…I want to bring him inside."

Guzman stepped back to allow Hardcastle access to his friend. "Leo, give the Judge a hand."

After surrendering his weapon to Guzman, Leo helped the Judge carry McCormick into the house. "Upstairs to my bedroom."

Leo looked to Guzman for his okay, before following Hardcastle up the stairs. Supporting the unconscious man, they slowly moved down the hallway, the Judge walking backwards, holding McCormick's shoulders and trying to support his head. Finally they arrived at the master bedroom, conveniently placed at the back corner of the house, with a good view of the ocean out of the windows during the daylight hours.

"Let him down easy. Easy!" Hardcastle barked when Leo dropped his half of McCormick onto the bed. He continued to glare as he carefully set Mark's still slowly bleeding head onto the pillow. "I'll need some first aid supplies out of the bathroom."

Guzman nodded. "Leo, check for weapons. Do the bathroom first, then the bedroom."

"On it, boss."

Guzman walked to the bed, staring down at McCormick and observing how Hardcastle fussed over the younger man. "Here's the deal, Hardcase. You give us any trouble, Leo kills your friend. You cooperate, he'll live through this. All I want is your death and everyone involved in that farce of a trial."

"I'm supposed to just let you kill me? No fuss, no muss? Then just do it," Hardcastle said as he used the spare pillow's case, ripped from the pillow, to sop up the clotting blood from the wound on the back of Mark's head.

"Oh, no. That would be too easy. I want to take some time with you."

"What happened to the cop stationed outside the gate?"

"Unfortunately, I couldn't spare his life. Leo had to eliminate him."

"Then your time is limited. Sooner or later, someone will find him. If not when the dispatcher can't raise him on the radio, then early in the morning with shift change."

"Understood, your honor," Guzman replied. "It should be more than enough time to make you feel pain before I kill you."

"All clear, boss." Leo returned from a thorough search of the master bathroom.

"Okay, Hardcase, take care of your boy. Then we'll be moving this downstairs." Guzman made himself comfortable in a nearby chair while Leo searched the bedroom.

-- H&McC --

Mark groaned as he fought his way back to consciousness. He feebly tried to touch his aching head, only to have his hand gripped by another's just as he was about to let it drop weakly onto the mattress. He swallowed in an attempt to control the nausea boiling in his stomach, coughing harshly. A bright white light flashed behind his still closed eyelids.

"Easy, slow and easy, kiddo."

"Wha…?" It was too much of a struggle to form words, much less complete sentences, but he didn't understand why his skull felt as shattered as an egg shell.

"You want to know what happened?" The voice was gruff and familiar.

Mark squeezed the hand clasping his. "Yes…"

"You got clocked when you got between Guzman and the house. No, don't move. You need to stay still, McCormick."

"Head…hurts…"

"Yeah, I imagine it does. Do you think you can do what I told you?"

"Stay…still?"

"Yes, that's right. I think you might have a skull fracture, so you don't want to be moving around."

"'kay." Mark was frustrated by his inability to focus his eyesight on the Judge.

"Good." Not wanting to disturb him by trying to pull the bedcovers out from under McCormick, Hardcastle grabbed a well-worn quilt from the bench at the foot of the bed and draped it over the prone man. "I want you to just rest until the paramedics can get out here. Don't worry, I'm taking care of everything."

Mark struggled to think, to remember. "Where's…where's Guzman?"

"Staying still also means keeping quiet," Hardcastle said, ignoring the question.

"He's still here?"

"He's still here." This voice was new to the injured man, smooth and slightly accented. "You really shouldn't have interfered, McCormick. I was willing to let you live if you had simply minded your own business."

Mark's laughter turned into a painful cough. Once he caught his breath, he sipped from the glass of water that was held to his lips. The cool liquid slid down his throat, soothing him. "Thanks, Judge."

"What was so funny, McCormick?" Guzman asked.

"Nothing. You wouldn't understand."

"Try me."

"It's just something that I'm always telling Hardcase."

"Then I would say that you should take your own advice. Don't cause any trouble, McCormick, and Leo and I will be gone by morning. The police will call an ambulance for you and your life will soon return to normal."

Mark frowned. "But what about the Judge?"

"Ah, his life will be forfeit. It is the price for my wrongful conviction."

"You're claiming you were innocent?" Hardcastle huffed.

"Of that particular crime, yes."

"I think you've more than made up for that," Mark commented.

"Perhaps." Guzman chuckled. "I thought you'd understand, considering you also claim you were wrongfully convicted by the same judge. Yet here you are, close friends as well as business partners."

Mark smiled wryly. "Yeah, life's a confusing bitch, isn't she?"

"The room's clear, boss. All I found was the shotgun in the corner." Leo stood near the doorway, the shotgun cradled in one arm while in the other he still held a handgun ready for service.

"Okay, Judge Hardcastle will be downstairs with Leo and myself. I'm willing to leave you alone up here, comfortably resting. I don't actually think you're in any condition to be a danger." Guzman leaned over McCormick, probing at the wound.

The world exploded once again with pain and Mark slid back into the darkness.