Within 45 minutes, Danny and Jack pull up outside 197 Brook Street. Darkness has descended on the city. The night is warm and humid. They make their way to the third floor. As they approach apartment F, they can hear some type of disturbance inside. Danny instinctively feels for his weapon. Jack approaches the door. Then a female voice howls to be left alone. "Get away from me," she screams.
Jack recognises the voice as Hanna's and without a second thought bursts through the apartment door, his arms outstretched, weapon drawn. He's relieved to see Hanna standing over by the window, unharmed. There doesn't appear to be anyone else in the room. Seeing his frightened child, he drops his guard and fails to react quickly enough when a figure rushes towards him from his left hand side. He is sent crashing to the floor and hits his head on the corner of the open door. He blacks out.
The assailant continues through the door and crashes into Danny. He hits him with a shoulder in the chest and knocks him into the wall of the corridor. Danny is winded and watches as the young man run down the stairs. Danny regains his breath, struggles to his feet and follows him.
"Daddy, are you okay?" Hanna cries, kneeling over her father, who is starting to come around. He had only been out for a matter of seconds. He moans as he reaches up to touch the side of his head. It was bleeding quite heavily, as most scalp injuries do. He stares at his bloody fingers, still stunned from the blow.
"Daddy, can you get up?" she asks, grabbing his arm.
"I'm okay," he says, looking into the frightened eyes of his little girl. Hanna helps him to his feet. He's a bit shaky and leans on her for support. He looks at her, pulls her close and hugs her as if his life depended on it.
"Thank God, you're alright," he says, kissing the top of her head.
"I'm sorry, Daddy. I'm so sorry," the trembling teen sobs.
"It's over now," Jack reassures her. He's starting to regain his senses and only then realises Danny's not there.
"Where's Danny?" he asks Hanna.
"He chased after that guy, Javier," Hanna informs him.
Jack takes out his cell and phones Danny. He is relieved when Danny answers.
"Where are you?" Jack asks.
"I lost him in the alley, two blocks from the apartment," Danny replies, somewhat out of breath, "Are you okay?"
"I will be," Jack replies, touching his wound.
"And Hanna?" Danny asks.
"Shaken, but unhurt. She'll be fine. Come on back. We'll put out an APB," Jack tells him.
Danny hangs up and holsters his weapon and starts back up the alley towards the street. The alley is dimly lit and littered with garbage. He hears a noise behind him and is about to turn when a piercing pain takes his breath away. Immediately he realises what has happened and screams in pain as the cold steel of a blade is suddenly pulled from his lower back. He arches his back and tries to turn but his knees start to give away. His attacker steps away and watches the young agent crumple to the ground. He stands and looks down at his victim. Danny looks defiantly into his eyes before his attacker runs toward the street.
Danny is struggling to stay conscious. He realises the desperation of his situation. No one will find him or hear him down here. He has to get help before he bleeds to death. Fighting the pain, he reaches into his jacket pocket and finds his cell phone. He scrolls to Jacks number and calls him. Jack answers immediately.
"Yeah," Jack answers. No one speaks. He looks at the caller ID. The call is coming from Danny's phone.
"Danny? Are you there? Can you hear me?" Jack shouts down the phone.
Danny could hear Jack, but he could barely manage to speak.
"Jack….help me," he says weakly.
"What? Danny, what's wrong?" Jack asks, barely able to hear him..
"Been stabbed….in alley…I need help…." is all he manages before passing out.
"Shit. Danny! Hold on, I'm coming," Jack shouts, realising his agent is in serious trouble. He turns to Hanna,
"Danny's hurt. I have to go find him. You wait here. Lock the door," he tells her before racing from the building. He reaches the street. Alley, two blocks…. which direction? He chooses south and prays he's right. He runs the entire distance. The exertion makes him light headed. He's still feeling the effects of the knock on the head. He reaches an alley. He peers down into the darkness. Nothing obvious. He walks cautiously down the alley, weapon drawn. Then he sees him. A motionless figure in a beige suit, lying close to a dumpster. He calls 911 and then approaches his colleague.
"Danny? I'm here kid. Come on, wake up for me," he says, kneeling down beside him. He feels his neck for a pulse. It's there. He rolls Danny over to try and see where the injury is. It's obvious from the growing bloodstain on the back of his suit that he's losing a lot of blood. Jack realises that he has to try and stem the blood flow. He removes his jacket and tears a strip of cloth from his shirt. He presses the cloth tightly against the wound.
He continues to talk to Danny, but gets no response from the injured agent. Finally, after what seems like an eternity, the ambulance turns down the alley. Jack stands up and waves his arms to get their attention. It stops and a paramedic smartly alights the vehicle.
"He's been stabbed," he says, motioning toward Danny. "I can't stop the bleeding."
The paramedic kneels beside Danny and gets to work. The other approaches Jack.
"Sir, are you okay?" he asks, seeing the blood stains on his shirt collar.
"What? Me? Yeah, I'm fine. Just look after him," Jack replies, confused as to why he was concerned with him when he thought it was obvious who was hurt.
Jack then remembers that he has left Hanna alone in the apartment. She's no doubt frightened. He phones Samantha and asks her and Viv to go to the apartment and explain to her what has happened. He also asks Sam if she would mind looking after her at her apartment until he got back. He would have to go with Danny to the hospital. Sam tells him that she'll gladly look after Hanna for the night.
Pretty soon, Danny is ready for transport.
"You had better come with us and have that head laceration seen to," one of the paramedics suggests to Jack.
Jack climbs into the ambulance and accompanies Danny on the journey to the hospital. After they arrive, Danny is rushed in to a trauma room while Jack is shepherded into an exam room. He sits and waits impatiently to be seen. He waits for what seems like ages, until eventually a young intern enters to examine him.
"Do you know how my friend is? He was brought in with a stab wound," Jack asks impatiently.
"No, sir. I'm sorry I don't," he says, examining the wound in Jack's scalp. "That's quite deep. It'll need to be stitched. How do you feel? Any headache, nausea, dizziness?" the intern asks, as he shines a light into Jacks eyes.
"No. Really, I'm fine," Jack insists, wincing at the doctor's touch.
"You may have a mild concussion. You'll need to take it easy," the doctor advises him. "Right, lets get this stitched for you," he says, as he begins to anaesthetise the area around the wound.
"Can you please find out for me how my agent is? His name's Danny Taylor," Jack asks once more.
"I'll get a nurse to find out for you," the doctor replies. "Would you mind?" he asks the pretty nurse standing close by. A few minutes later she returns.
"He's been stabilised. They're prepping him for surgery at the moment," she tells him.
"That's good, right?" Jack asks.
"Yeah, sound like it," the doctor assures him.
Note from Author: Hope you're enjoying my little fic. Sorry if I'm dragging it out a bit. Truth be told, I'm not quite sure where this is going yet. Reviews appreciated.