PART 7:

Goodwin came racing up the driveway. Throwing his car into park, he got out and ran up the stairs to the house.

"Where the hell is the fire?" Jackson asked, walking out of the kitchen in time to see Goodwin come running in.

"We're moving on with the plan," Goodwin said walking past him into the kitchen. He stopped short when he saw Franklin sitting at the kitchen table with a needle in his arm. "What the hell is going on here?"

Jackson came in behind him.

Turning around to face him. "I'm not paying you two to sit here and get high. God damn it, we have to get Sloan out of here, and you two are high as a kite."

"We can still help you," Jackson said.

Goodwin looked at Jackson and then Franklin. He shook his head. "I have no choice. I'm going to give Sloan another shot for this trip."

"We just gave him a shot."

"Well then giving him another one now won't hurt him that much, will it?" Goodwin asked, picking up a syringe and tourniquet. "We need him doped up good before we dump him."

"Why dope him up more when we're just going to kill him?" Jackson asked.

"Do me a favor, stop asking stupid questions. And get the other syringe ready."

Goodwin walked into Steve's room. Stave sat on the floor, staring at the wall, oblivious to the fact that Goodwin was in the room.

"Lieutenant Sloan."

Steve looked at him and then the needle.

"Look what I brought you," Goodwin said, sitting on the floor next to him. "We're going to take you away from here." He tied the tourniquet onto Steve's arm.

Steve looked down at what Goodwin was doing, and then he looked up. "Where…where are you…you taking me?"

"On a trip. A long trip that you're going to enjoy very much."

Steve fought to keep his eyes open. "Will I…I be come…coming back here…here from this trip?"

Goodwin smiled as Steve's eyes closed. "This is a trip you won't be returning from Lieutenant Sloan."

Jackson and Franklin appeared at the door. Goodwin go up off the floor and faced them.

"Get him into the car."

Jackson and Franklin got Steve up and moving out of the room, out of the house and down the stairs to the waiting car. After dumping the drugged detective into the back seat, Franklin jumped in the back. Jackson sat in the front next to Goodwin, who started to pull out of the driveway.

Mark and Cheryl got into her departmental issued car.

Taking a pen from his pocket, Mark crossed out something on the paper in his hand. Sighing he leaned his head back against the head rest. Jumping when he heard Cheryl's cell phone ring.

"Banks, Captain…No, nothing yet… Yeah, I know… Still have…" Mark showed her the list. "About five more places to check out…No, heading downtown, that's where most of the places are…Okay…Yeah, I'll call you when we're done… All right…Bye." She flipped the cell phone closed, started her car, and drove away.

Steve slowly opened his eyes when he heard the voices talking. Realizing that he was in a car, he decided to close his eyes and listen to the conversation that was going on around him.

"Where are we taking him?"

"Alleyway, downtown. We'll dump him there and shoot him up with heroin. Once we see that he's dead, I'll place a call to the police department and let them know where he is."

Steve's mind was reeling. He knew he had to get out of the car before they killed him. He felt the car slowing down; opening his eyes, he carefully looked up to see that they were stopping for a red light. This was his chance, he thought. He looked over at Franklin whose attention seemed to be on looking out the window instead of watching him. Once the care came to a complete stop, Steve went into action.

He kicked Franklin in the face as hard as he could. Opening the door, he fell out of the car onto the pavement below.

"Oh shit! Get him!" Goodwin yelled.

Steve had already recovered from his fall and was stumbling across the street toward the alleyway.

Two officers sitting in a patrol car caught sight of him staggering across the street.

One of the officers looked at a flyer they had just received. "Hey, isn't that Lieutenant Sloan?"

"Yeah, I think you're right. Call it in and let's go check it out." He started the car, putting on the siren; he drove toward the alley.

Goodwin caught up to Jackson and grabbed his arm once he saw the squad car pulling down the alley.

"Forget him," he said. "Let's get out of here."

They both ran back to the car, got in and took off.

Cheryl had just pulled onto the main strip of downtown Los Angeles when her cell phone rang again. She picked it up and continued to look at the address on the buildings. Flipping it open, she brought it up to her ear. "Banks."

"Cheryl, it's Captain Newman."

Alarmed at the tone in his voice, she said. "Captain, what's wrong?"

"Just got a call from the station; a patrol car spotted Steve."

"Where?"

"Downtown. Alleyway between Sixth and Seventh streets."

"We're about four blocks away from there, Captain. We'll go check it out."

"I'll be there in five minutes."

Cheryl flipped her cell phone closed and glanced over at Mark.

"Someone found Steve, didn't they?" Mark asked.

"That's what we're going to go find out," Cheryl answered. She put on her light, and sped toward the alleyway where they had just found Steve.

The patrol car slowly made its way down the alley.

There he is," the cop said, pointing to a figure on the ground.

His partner sped the car up a little and stopped right in front of Steve. Getting out of the car they approached Steve slowly.

"Lieutenant Sloan."

Steve looked up and saw the two cops walking towards him. He got up and leaned against the wall. "No…no, stay away."

They stopped and looked at each other.

"Lieutenant Sloan, we're here to help you."

Steve looked around like a trapped animal. He could see there was nowhere for him to go. He slid down the wall and brought his knees up to his chest. He began rocking back and forth.

Cheryl's car came racing up the alleyway, the tires screeching as she stopped the car and her and Mark jumped out of the car. Flashing her badge, she ran around the patrol car, stopping when she caught sight of Steve. "Oh my god."

Mark didn't want to believe it was his son that he was looking at. His hair was a tangled mess, his clothes were torn and dirty. Tears came to his eyes when he looked at his battered face.

"Steve," he said, walking over to him and kneeling down beside him. He put his hand on his shoulder. "Steve."

Steve looked up at him, tears streaming down his face. "Dad?" He moved close to him, wrapped his arms around his waist and sobbed.

Mark lost his balance under his weight and fell the rest of the way to the ground. He wrapped his arms around him as his own tears began to fall. He looked up when he heard another car approaching the scene.

One of the patrolmen took a hold of Steve's arm and pushed up his sleeve.

Captain Newman approached the group; he caught sight of Steve and took a deep breath.

"This guy is a junkie!" the cop said, seeing the marks on Steve's arm. "We have to call this in."

"No one is going to call this in," Newman said.

"It's procedure. We have to call it in to our captain."

"If your captain has anything to say, you tell him to call me. Do you understand, Officers? I'll take full responsibility for this."

The patrolmen backed away from Steve as Captain Newman knelt down next to his officer.

"Doctor Sloan," he said, gently putting a hand on his shoulder.

"Why the hell did they do this to him?" he asked. The tears rolled down his face.

Newman looked down at Steve. "I wish I knew, Doctor Sloan, I wish I knew. Let's get him to a hospital."

"No, Captain."

"Doctor Sloan."

"No, Steve got away from whoever took him and they're going to be looking for him. The first place they'll look is a hospital."

"Where do you suggest we take him? He needs medical care, Doctor Sloan."

"I know that, I can have what ever he needs brought to us." He looked down at Steve, who was still crying and then back at Captain Newman. "Please Captain; back me up on this one. Please."

"We can take him to on of the safe houses," Cheryl suggested.

"All right," Newman said, frowning. "We'll take him to one of the safe houses."

"Thank you," Mark whispered. "Come on, Steve. Let's get you out of here."

Newman helped Mark to his feet, and then they helped Steve.

Once they got him into Cheryl's car, Mark turned and looked at Captain Newman. "I'm going to call Jesse and Amanda, and them meet us at the safe house."

"Okay."

Mark got into the car and looked at Steve. "We're going to get the bastards who did this to you, Steve."

Cheryl started the car and drove away.