Chapter 6

The terrible silence lasted only seconds. Radios began to shout, tires squealed, and holsters snapped and cracked.

"Dammit, hold your fire!" James Deakins yelled as he braced himself against the inside of the patrol car. "Eames, Goren! Are you there?" His heart fell as responses came from everyone but Goren and Eames. The Captain heard the terrible shots and watched the horrible scene play out in front of him. He knew that Goren had performed exactly as a good cop should—he had gotten a civilian out of the way, but possibly at a huge cost. Deakins watched Eames and then Goren fall out of sight behind parked cars. He had no idea of where they were, how badly they were hurt.

"Hold your fire!" Deakins shouted again into his hand radio as he scrambled out of the car. "Can anyone see them?"

Alex struggled to catch her breath. Each one brought a stabbing pain. Her leg was on fire. She turned her head to see Bobby lying beside her. His eyes were clouded, dazed, and his breath was coming in desperate gasps. "Oh no," Alex thought, "I'm shot...he's shot...not again...please..."

"So," Bobby thought as he slid down the stairs, "this is what it's like to be shot." The pain in his right knee shot through his body with every heartbeat, but Bobby knew the more dangerous wound was the one that was filling his protective vest with blood. "Stay still," he told himself, "Alex...where's ..." He turned his head and met her frightened and pain filled eyes. "She's alive...thank..."

A movement at the top of the steps caught Bobby's eyes, and just inside the door he saw Francis Lamont. "We're sitting ducks," Bobby thought, and with his ebbing strength he reached out, grabbed Alex, and rolled with her to rest between two parked cars. Both of them screamed with pain. Lamont, shouting, pushed towards the open door.

"I have a clean shot!" Deakins radio clattered.

"Take it!" Deakins shouted.

A shot rang out, and Lamont dropped his gun. He fell in the doorway and clung to his leg. A mass of blue surrounded him. "I'm shot," he screamed, "you shot me!"

"Shut up, or we'll shoot you again!" one of the cops yelled.

"I'm so cold," Alex thought. She began to realize the pain in her chest came from the bullet stopped by her vest. She tried to rise, but Bobby's arms around her stopped her.

"Bobby," she whispered, "please...let me up..." She pushed gently against his arm; he let her go. Alex rose to a sitting position and leaned against a car. She felt dizzy, sick. "Bobby," she thought, "have to help Bobby."

He was lying on his left side, his legs on the curb. He was pale, paler than Alex had ever seen anyone alive. His lips were moving, his body shaking with the effort of breathing. Alex leaned over him. She had to place her head near his to hear his voice.

"Alex...I'm sorry...sorry...I love you...please forgive me..." He gasped out the words.

"Bobby...nothing to forgive...I love you too...please, don't...don't die..."

"I...I'm trying not to. Want...to...live...want you."

Alex fumbled with the closures of Bobby's vest, but her own pain made it difficult to get her fingers to work.

"Alex, Bobby..." Deakins dropped beside them. He had followed the blood streaks on the sidewalk. Both Alex and Bobby were covered in blood, and Deakins couldn't tell who was more badly hurt. "Hang on...the ambulance is coming..."

"Help him," Alex said, "please..."

Two officers came from the street side and began removing Bobby's coat and vest. Alex saw him wince with pain. Deakins got Alex out of her coat and vest, and Alex cried out. She could feel a massive bruise forming on her chest. Deakins grabbed his handkerchief and placed it against the wound in her leg. "Hold that there," he told Alex.

"I'm drowning," Bobby thought, "I'm drowning in my own blood." He turned his head to see Deakins helping Alex. "But she's all right...Alex is..." He cried out as the two cops eased the vest off him. The world blurred, and then Deakins' face focused in front of him.

"Hang on, Bobby." Deakins took off his coat and slipped it beneath Bobby's head.

"Captain...I'm sorry...I..."

"You did everything right, Bobby. Everything." Deakins laid a hand on Bobby's shoulder.

Alex eased over. "Bobby," she whispered, and gripped his hand.

Bobby looked at her. He couldn't say anything. It was too hard to breath. He could feel his blood covering him. It felt terribly warm against his cold skin.

Deakins stood up. "Where's that ambulance?" he shouted. He saw a stunned young man sitting on a step. Two officers flanked him; another was wrapping him in a blanket. The young man looked up at Deakins.

"He..." he pointed down at Goren. "He saved me...he shoved me..."

Two ambulances roared down the block. Deakins heard Lamont's voice whimper for help. The Captain was so full of rage he didn't dare move towards the man; he turned his attention back to his detectives.

The ambulances finally arrived, and EMTs quickly reached Alex and Bobby. "Please, detectives," one of them said gently, "you have to let go of each other...let us help you."

End Chapter 6