021: Fatal
"So here's the plan," Jack said to his team as they gathered around him a few blocks away from Terry Gray's apartment. They were all dressed as civilians and they were waiting for Jack's orders for how to go about capturing Gray.
"I want this guy to lead us to where Shawn is, so we need to keep it cool. I don't want to just go in there and apprehend him, because my guess is that once he's caught he's not going to give us the location of Shawn."
"But how do you know he's even going to go back to him?" Martin asked. "The kid may already be dead, Jack."
"I don't think he's dead," he said firmly. "And he hasn't left that apartment since yesterday afternoon which means that he needs to go check on Shawn within the next twelve hours. We'll have two cars posted here: Danny and Samantha in one, and Martin and Vivian and me in the other one. Danny and Samantha will be somewhere around here, away from the apartment, and Martin and Vivian, you guys will be parked right outside. Now it's very possible that he's going to catch onto us and we'll be stuck in a high-speed chase."
"But just two cars after him?" Samantha asked doubtfully.
"We'll have other FBI cars scattered through this area, so you'll have plenty of backup. I'll be in one of those cars. Now Angela," he said turning to her. "Remember the Morgan case?"
"The one with the two kidnappers in the warehouse?"
"And you had to lead us through it over radio while you looked at our positions on a screen?"
Angela nodded. "I remember it." How could she not remember it? It was the first time she had fired a gun in six months.
"We're going to be doing the same sort of thing. The tech guys have fixed locators on our cars to a screen that you will have. And someone undercover right now is fixing a locator on Gray's car."
"Just direct you to him?"
"That's it," Jack said with a nod. "You'll be in a car with another agent tailing the chase. Got it?"
"Got it."
"Ok. Let's go."
---
It had been nearly four hours now that Angela and the other agent, Will Breaking, had been in the car, and Terry Gray still hadn't emerged from his apartment.
Angela absentmindedly flipped through the radio stations, but to fit the boredom of the car, nothing seemed to peak her interest.
"Will…" she said in a long, mock-complaining voice as she tossed her head back onto the headrest. "Has he come out yet?"
"Like the last fifty times you've asked me, Angela, no," Will Breaking replied in the same bored tone. He was a rather young agent, perhaps twenty-five with bright copper hair and vivid blue eyes. At first he hadn't been able to keep still as this was probably the first field job he'd been on. But his antsy behavior died within the first two hours.
"I really just want to go knock on his door, tell him to get in the damn car, and lead us to the kid."
"And I'll see you in Federal prison," he grinned.
"Probably not worth it…" Angela agreed as she continued to flip through the radio stations. "Oh, hey, I like this song—"
"Damn, there he is," Will said suddenly as he tensed up.
Sure enough, Terry Gray came slowly out of his apartment looking around as if he knew that someone would be watching him. He went to his car cautiously still watching everything around him before he got in. As the car pulled away from the sidewalk, Angela and Will watched as a navy blue car came to life and began to tail it.
"All agents, we've got movement on the suspect moving northeast on Freemont Avenue," Angela said over the radio as she pulled the headset over her head and quickly grabbed her screen which showed a red light moving down a street closely followed by a green one. "Car One is in position following target. All cars copy."
"Car One copy," Vivian said.
"Car Two copy," Danny radioed.
"Car Three copy," Jack's gruff voice said.
Cars Four, Five, Six, Seven, and Eight all relayed their copies to Angela as well as Will started up the engine and moved the car forward. They were to just follow slowly at a distance since Will was too young and green for anything quite this dangerous and Angela wasn't a field agent.
"Car Five, suspect will be passing you at the intersection of Marvel and Mead in about thirty seconds. Car Two, go to Cooper Street and take a left and you'll be on his tail as well."
"Angela, put cars on his sides as well," Jack said over the radio.
"Copy. Car Eight take a u-turn and keep going until you get to the first intersection and then take a right. Car Six go forward and take the first left you come to and keep heading that way."
Angela watched the little colored dots on her screen; the green lights became to follow her instructions and form a horseshoe around the slowly moving green one.
The red light and Car One's green light began to slow as they came to an intersection. All of a sudden, the red light shot through the intersection and over the radio came sounds of screeching tires and a few obscene curses from other drivers.
"Shit, he knows," Martin said over the radio. "Damnit. We're at a red light, and there are cars in front of us."
"All cars, we've got a breakaway and the beginning of a chase at the intersection of Collect and 14th," Angela said quickly. "Cars Three and Four you've got green lights ahead of you. You are the closest to him now. Car Two, take an immediate left and then forward."
"Start your sirens," Jack said over the system. Immediately the sound of eight cars turning on their sirens came over the radio system. Toggling the volume switch, Angela reduced the background noise so she could hear the voices.
"Hey, that means us too, Agent," Angela said pointing at the switch on the dashboard which enabled the sirens. "We've got to keep up with them."
Will switched their sirens on as they tore after the other cars.
"Lead us here, Ang," Danny called over the radio.
"You're going to want to take that left," she replied looking at her screen and finding Danny's car dot. "Oh, damn, Car Seven, take that right there quickly. You're right on top of him."
"Copy. I've got a visual on suspect and Car One."
"Angela, I want him cut off at the front," Jack said. "He's not taking us anywhere anymore. He's just running. Get at least three cars to cut him off."
"Copy. Car Two take that right and then double the speed limit so you can cut him off. Car Eight, take a left and also speed up. And Car… Four, take a left also and get up there. Keep going until I tell you that you're in front of him and then I'll tell you where to go."
"Shit. Angela, this needs to end now," Jack said sharply.
"They're getting up there," Angela said as she watched the green lights speed up rapidly to the right and left of Terry Gray's car on parallel streets, unseen by him. "There, they're ahead of him. Car Two, take an immediate left and then another left and you'll be head on with him. Car Eight and Four, take two sharp rights and you'll be with Car Two and facing the suspect car."
Angela watched as the green dots followed her instructions. There was finally a circle of green dots surrounding the red one. But then—
"Holy shit, what the—"
There were several rapid gun shots over the radio and a scream and shout.
"Talk to me," Angela said urgently over the radio. "What's going on?"
"He's shooting at one of the cars!" Martin shouted. "Oh, fuck, he's shooting at Samantha and Danny!"
More gunshots sounded over the radio. There was a screeching of tires and then a loud crash.
Angela's heart had seemingly stopped beating. What happened to Danny?
Oh, God, let him be alive. Let him be alright. Dear God, let him be alright.
Suddenly there was another screeching of tires, and then the sound of slamming doors and loud, yelling voices.
"FBI! Get out of the car now! Hands in the air!"
The next few seconds were filled with yelling and sirens before Jack radioed them again. "Suspect apprehended and now unarmed."
By this time, Will and Angela pulled up to the scene. They got out quickly, and hurried over. Angela's heart was in her throat and she felt as if she was going to throw up.
Jack approached her quickly. She saw him and before she could think of anything else she said, "Where's Danny? Where's the car? Are they alright? Did he get shot?"
"The ambulance is on the way," he said quickly, holding her shoulders and leading her towards the crashed car. "Gray started shooting at them as they came towards him. Danny must have lost control of the car, and they crashed."
The navy blue car had been flipped upside down and broken glass lay all around it. The windows were so badly cracked that Angela couldn't see inside of them, but just the thought that Danny was trapped in there made her feel sicker and sicker.
"Oh, my God. Oh, my God." Angela felt as if she was hyperventilating. "But he's going to be ok, right?"
Jack hesitated before he answered, but he didn't get a chance as the ambulance roared to the scene. EMTs jumped out of back of the car and started for the crashed car.
"We've got two people trapped in a flipped car," one called to others as the team quickly but cautiously opened the upside door car door. "They may have bullet wounds as well."
After a tense minute, the team pulled the first person from the wreck. Her blonde hair was tangled and dirty and her face was bloodied. There was a large gash over her left eye. But she didn't look like she was moving.
There was a dry sob from behind Angela. She turned and saw Martin looking on with an indescribable look of pain on his face as he watched the EMTs take Samantha's form away from the wreckage.
"I've got a weak pulse on the female," called one of the EMTs.
Angela tore her eyes away from Samantha as she watched others work at getting the second body from the car.
Another minute passed by. And then another.
Why is it taking so long? Just get him out of the damn car and take him to the hospital. He's going to be alright.
After what seemed like hours, a second form was dragged out of the wrecked car. Angela nearly collapsed as they mounted him onto a gurney: his face was pale and there was blood at the corner of his mouth. His left leg was bent at an odd angle. And there was an EMT holding bloodied gauze to his right shoulder.
"Gunshot wound to the right shoulder," called an EMT. "He's conscious, but probably not for long."
Angela and Martin remained motionless as the emergency team quickly loaded the two gurneys with their loved ones on it into the ambulance.
Jack walked quickly over to one of team members and talked with him for a few moments before the EMT nodded and got in the ambulance which left immediately, hurtling down the road.
Neither Martin nor Angela said anything but just looked at Jack.
"They're being taken to St. Vincent's," he said quietly. "It looks like Samantha hit her head pretty hard on something. There's a deep gash on her forehead, but she's unconscious. They were just hoping she'd come out of it."
Jack sighed heavily as he looked at the ground for several second before looking back up at Angela.
"Danny… was shot twice in the shoulder. They're worried about internal bleeding, especially if it nicked an artery. They won't know until they get to some doctors."
Vivian walked up slowly behind Jack with an emotionless look on her face.
"Police now have Terry Gray in custody," she said in a voice much unlike her own. "Jack, he's told us where he was keeping Shawn Rutgers."
He nodded slowly. "I'll go with you to get him. Uh, why don't you two go to the hospital? Agent Adams will escort you."
Angela nodded numbly and blindly followed Martin and Will to the car. She was hardly aware of anything around her anymore. The sounds were muted, her sight was blurred, and her whole body was dulled.
The only thing that was more vivid as ever was the picture of Danny's face in her mind that she feared she would never see again.
A/N: I'm hoping this chapter gets a few more reviews than the last one.
Well, school is OUT guys. I'm SO excited. Mostly because I get to write nonstop for two weeks. I'm taking on a huge project which is something quite different than I've ever done before. It's a mix of my Harry Potter and Eragon fan-ness creeping in on me. It's going to be wonderful, and maybe someday when I'm older I'll be able to publish it. But for right now, I think I may just stick with trying to pass my junior year of high school.
I'm also planning to write another Danny centered story (who's shocked by that one?) but it's going to be quite different from this one too. Same loving Danny, a new twist. I shan't give away details here, but it's going to focus less on romance and more on… ok, I can't say it. It's not as romantic as this story, but it's still cute and loving all the same. I think you guys will like it.
Also, if anyone's an Eragon fan, I'm going to try to map out an Eragon fan fiction sometime soon. God knows when I'll have time to write all of these!
ANYWAYS. So this chapter. Leave you hanging? I know last chapter was kind of "… what" but I really had to set up what was going on in this chapter. Anyways. I mustn't give away what may or may not happen in the FINAL chapter, but I shall be posting it (internet permitting) on FRIDAY.
So please look forward to that. If you're traveling for the holidays, stay safe! If you're still finishing up exams, I hope you do well! Study hard!
And I hope you guys don't pee your pants waiting for Friday. :)
-Laura