let's save Holly ;)

Chapter 7 – Rescue Mission

An hour later when everything was prepared, they could finally set off the way. The young female officer got the position where to pick up her partner who ran out once she was in the uniform tracking the possible path of the assaulter's escape. Now she stood at the skirt of Toronto near a slip road to a motorway which led to the north.

Gail tried to pay attention to the driving as much as possible but her mind was preoccupied by various scenarios what all could happen to her favourite person. "Talk to me," she asked her companion.

"What?" wondered the other woman waking up from her own world.

"Talk to me so I can concentrate on the road and don't have to think about Holly being kidnapped, drugged and tied to a table with the possibility of being…" she stopped herself, at that thought all of her hairs on her body stood up and her stomach made a flip.

"None of the victims was raped," stated her colleague. "Was that your accident? Being kidnapped?"

"Yes. Fortunately they found me sooner than I was raped and killed. Now you can tell me more about yours."

"Still not willing to talk about it. You know the outcome so there is not much to say anyway."

"Hmm. Why were you sent to our division?"

"Are you having kinks out of my misery?"

"That too. I am trying to find out why Holly thinks so much about you."

"I don't lie… much. I am good in bed, definitely not a noob in gay world and we know each other for more than half of our lives."

"Stop bragging about yourself," commanded the younger woman rolling her eyes. "Why did you get demoted?"

Her colleague growled heavily. "Alright, we will talk but only because you are the driver."

"You can take over if you want."

"I told you I should not drive. Especially in the dark it is dangerous."

"So, your demotion…"

"It is connected to the robbery during the conference. Me and Percy, we managed to find the git who stole everything but he ran away, nevertheless we located him again. I charged forward and was the first one to enter. The guy was already dead, obviously attacked by a canine. Since he was a son of some top-classed lawyer I was suited with murder."

"But you are not a real dog."

"That is what Percy implied, that after all I am a human and human teeth marks do not correspond with animal's. So I was accused of having a pack of wolves somewhere. Erm, wait," she took a moment searching for a memory, "oh yea, the whole trial was a mess. First it was a cold blooded murder of his son who was having a good time on their family boat, and because we did not have enough evidence we got rid of him to close the case.
"We presented all the evidence and alibies about his son's fun, of course we had all that took to arrest him, there was no need for any harsh decision. At the end the accusation was that because I could not reach the suspect who ran away, I had sent the pack to track him and murder him. And then I pretended to find the man first while in fact I was cleaning up after my pets."

"You have a wolf pack?" Gail asked doubtfully.

"Of course I don't. The ZOO lost its wolves two days before we found the dead man. But somehow those fluffies were willing to listen to me." The former Montreal police worker sighed, "Lying bastards of bloody prosecution."

"Where do you stand now then?"

"My partner and Dad –Judge Stewart– are trying to prove my innocence."

"Judge Stewart?" wondered the blonde. "Like Holly's father? Your father?"

"Hmm. He took custody of me when I was seventeen but that is another story."

"So… do you have a chance to go back?"

"Sure, I was not suspended, they value me too much to get rid of me for good. It's the fact that I did not want to stay there watching people judging me about something they had no clue about. I wanted to be transferred to Vancouver but Percy convinced me to stay close. He is a great detective. He can do that."

"I thought he was a SWAT guy."

"He went back to do something less stressful now when they want to have another child," she explained and looked at her colleague. "Speaking of which, what about you and detective rotation?"

"I might apply."

"You shouldn't."

"WHAT?" yelped Gail. And she thought they could have a friendly drive.

"In the division there are more suitable people for detective work. They have skills and passion."

"And I don't?"

"You definitely lack the passion and your skills are average, nothing special. Even if you pass I would make sure to show you how lousy you are."

"Shut up."

They did for about ten minutes.

"Slow down," ordered the officer in charge. "The tire tracks go to this slip road."

"How can you be sure? I thought you are tracking Holly not the kidnapper's car."

"I might explain later, now listen to me and take the slip." Gail did as she was told. "To the left." They arrived to a doubtful road but with solid surface. After a few miles they went through a small village and continued to the north.

"Why are you with Holly?" another question was shot at the young constable. She was going insane of all these stupid comments.

"Because I want her."

"Why? As an experiment? See what the soft side is about?"

"No."

"Then why?"

"I like her a lot. She gets me like no one else."

"Yea, she is a magnet to straight girls." Priscilla chuckled, "And the silly creature has a thing for them. It's troublesome."

"And you believe I am one of those straight girls who break Holly's heart and run away."

"Exactly!"

"Well, I am not. Or at least I don't want to be. I care about her."

"That's what everyone used to say and then when Holly was proposing they laughed at her."

"You are making that up," accused Gail her partner.

"Really?" the brunette arched her left eyebrows. "Turn left and explain."

The blonde did as she was told. "Why would anyone say 'no' to her? Holly is beautiful, smart, funny, interesting, educated."

"Let's see," Priscilla counted on her fingers, "because the potential bride was still having a boyfriend or worse she was getting married to a guy. As the third time is a charm, the girl did say yes and a week later she was placed on Holly's autopsy table with gunshots in her chest. And those who were not into a serious relationship with the possibility of marriage, there were issues with coming out, temper, obsessiveness and of course men in the background." Gail was driving on autopilot until she was able to digest all she was told about the doctor's past. "I told her many times to find a nice lesbian with all the mess around already sorted but no, her new chapter of life started with you in it."

"And because of those prejudices I am supposed to screw up."

"Experience not prejudices. First time relationships do not work out and she is your first. Turn right."

"Or maybe it is because your first time relationship did not work out. It was with Holly's sister, right? She got married to a man and has a kid now."

"You just had to bring that up. A dagger straight to the heart, well done."

"Yes. Obviously I am not Holly's first so I give us slightly better chance to succeed on the long run."

"Why are you so sure it will be a long run?"

"Why do you doubt everything?"

"It's good to doubt things. Doubts lead to the truth. Once you start doubting, there is something wrong and you begin finding the truth."

At that very moment, Gail's mind went back when she had doubts about Nick and Andy's relationship. Those doubts did lead her to the truth. Very painful one, but also she realised that what she had with Holly now was very different, more powerful.

"I love Holly," she stated, for the first time in her life deeply understanding those words.

"Have you told her?"

"No. Have you?" she snapped back, needing a moment for herself from all the psycho‑analysis.

"Of course, she is my best friend. It is interesting that to friends the tolerance is much bigger and the relationship is more… free. Saying some things is much easier to friends than lovers and also you can do things without being judge. Like if you tell your friends you have cheated they will scold you and say some educational bullocks, but if you tell your girlfriend that you have cheated she will kick you out and never want to see you again. Have you ever cheated on someone?" The blonde stayed silent. She did not want to say it aloud, also she knew if she lied her partner would know immediately. "So you have."

"Did, once."

The other person snorted. "And you keep saying you are loyal. How can Holly know you will not cheat on her?"

"Because I really love her."

"Then why haven't you told her so yet?"

"She knows."

"No, she doesn't. She can only assume but cannot be sure unless you tell her."

"Look, I built the reputation of the Ice Queen, I don't lay out my feeling to just anybody."

"So Holly is 'just anybody' to you? Wow."

"No, it's not that, just –" Gail slammed the steering wheel in frustration. "Can you give it a rest? I love her, okay? So stop catching my every word."

"How can you be so sure? You have never had a girlfriend before."

"But I've had relationships. I don't know. The only thing I know right now is that I want to find her, hold her and have her back by my side because I love her and I am scared for her." If the blond officer looked at her companion she would see a smirk on her face, followed by a long silence.

"To the right now," commanded Priscilla. After another pause, she spoke up again. "You have to tell her."

"I will… soon."

"Stop!" ordered the brunette looking behind her and back ahead. "Damn it, I thought the car was overtaking. Turn back and drive slowly." Again without questions asked aloud, the driver did as she was told. "Stop here." Priscilla bent over the dashboard and looked at the road. "The tracks disappear in those bushes," she frowned trying to solve the puzzle. She buzzed the radio. "Chris, Dov where are you?"

"About half an hour behind you. Is everything alright?"

"Except the missing doctor everything is swell. If you can, speed up." She ended the connection and went back to the car looking for something. "Oi, do you know where Holly keeps the flashlight?" Gail went to the trunk of the car and pulled out the object. "Splendid," the older woman took it and went to search for more tire tracks into the bushes. She came back about five minutes later. "Indeed there is some field road along this one, but I am not sure how far or where it goes." She hopped on the hood of the car rubbing her eyes.

Gail joined her on the bonnet and looked around mostly seeing nothing. "Can we recap a little?" Priscilla looked up at her. "You don't drive because you are colour-blind, especially at night when everything is black for you. But you can see the black tire tracks in the dark."

"Hmm… and you want me to explain that."

"Please do."

"It's not about colours but tracking itself. When I know what I search for, I also know what to look for that would lead me to the goal. And when I find the something that leads me to the goal it appears to me on its own. Like these tracks. When I put together that exactly these tracks are connected to Holly's assault I am able to… well notice them."

"Is it a wolf thing?"

"No, training. The hardest part is to connect pieces together and find what you have to look for to reach the goal. The wolf part is that the puzzle is much easier when I have a connection to the person."

The two police squads arrived within ten minutes and the officers gathered together.

"Alright," the one in charge took a deep breath. "I need someone to stay here on the road or down on the other one as a marker for help if we need one. This one is a tricky hidden turn, easily missed and we don't have time for missing things. So one of you stays here with one car and calls in presence every five minutes so we know he is still alive."

"I will stay," volunteered Chris.

"Good. Dov, you go with me. Collins, no lights, any lights, no sirens. Keep close until I say otherwise."

"Roger that."

Slowly, carefully the three cars went through the bushes, one stayed behind and the other two continued. After another mile they could see lights from a house. They drove closer trying to make as less noise as possible. It could be a little over two-hundred yards when the leader ordered Nick to stay hidden in a tree shadow.

The house looked like a two stored cabin. There was only one room where the light was switched on. It was on the ground floor where through a large display window could be clearly seen a kitchen corner and someone standing behind a table cutting something.

"Oh my God, that's Holly!" yelped the blonde once she noticed there was a person on the table. The shout earned her a punch to the shoulder.

"Basic rule: first think then do. Stop the car in the next tree shadow." The older police woman turned around. "Dov stay here, check on Chris. I am going to stiff around, when I know the situation, I'll give you instruction." The young man did not spoke, only nodded his head.

"I am going with you," said Gail unbuckling her seatbelt.

"Don't you dare to make a noise then." The two women sneak to the corner of the cabin peeking through the window. "Stay here and DON'T do anything."

With a heavy aching heart the blonde looked at her girlfriend tied to the table with a blindfold over her eyes. She was in her underwear squirming and trying to get loose from those ties. The man above her seemed like he was about to have a dinner. He was in his late thirties, with unnaturally dyed sleek black hair and round glasses, also there could be seen a long scratch on his right cheek. The constable looked around for a weapon but the only objects that could be dangerous were medical instruments placed on a tray and something unidentified in a bowl on his right side. When he took some sharp tool to his hand, Gail started panicking.

"Pst," Priscilla hissed at her from the other side of the building. "Call Epstein to bring Holly's medical kit and join us. So far it seems there are only two people downstairs, but maybe someone sleeps on the upper floor. From one room wafts a horrible smell which covers everything, it's hard to say if there are more people. Somebody really has a bad aroma taste."

The blonde police worker stood back from her hideout and turned on the radio looking straight to the green jeep. "Dov?"

"Responding."

"In the back of the truck there should be Holly's spare clothes and a medical lunchbox. Bring it to us."

"Copy that."

"Chris?" she checked on her other flatmate.

"Responding."

"Call the ambulance. Holly is injured."

"Roger that, be careful."

"Nick?"

"Yes?"

"Get ready to back us up."

The younger woman took a deep breath and went back to her position. She nodded to her colleague who crawled under the window back to their original spot.

"Ready?" asked the brunette shaking off her jacket.

"As I can be."

"Shoot at the upper corner of the window."

"What?" wondered Gail.

"We are going through. If we take doors, that git will have time to do something stupid, so we must surprise him. Shoot the window, I really don't want to go through the glass. It would get even messier." She growled and changed to her usual wild self with blazing green eyes and tensed muscles. "First me, then the rest of you."

"Alright." Without another second of waiting, the blonde shot, immediately the din of shattering glass followed.

The next moments went by like in slow motion. Priscilla jumped on the table where the doctor was tied preventing the torturer from another cut, sending a quick "hi, honey" to her best friend and then continued her leap to the assaulter knocking him down on the floor. She was thrown away but with a quick turn she ran back and jumped on the elder man again dodging his attacks with scalpel. "Go!" she called announcing the green light for the others who had just arrived, to enter and she moved the fight to some kind of a small hallway.

Gail quickly scanned the room and the rest of the ground floor for other assaulters. Finding none, she hid her weapon and came to the tied up scientist and took away the blindfold. "Holly, we are here, it's alright now," she shushed her girlfriend and pulled her own jacket over the bare bruised body, zipping it up to her chin.

Meantime Dov dropped the medical kit and some clothes by the table where the doctor was placed keeping his eyes and withdrawn weapon in front of him, chastely looking ahead and not at the almost naked woman. Nick was hot on his heels nevertheless he did measure both of the women. "Are you alright?" he asked. In situation like this it was hard to say if he was honestly concerned or just masked his curiosity of the doctor's body. Tobias waited outside the broken window looking around.

"Go help Silver."

"Check upstairs and the cellar!" barked the other female police worker punching the kidnapper hard to his nose most likely breaking it.

The guy from bomb squad entered the kitchen and nodded to the blond officer to go and check what was hidden under the floor. Withdrawing their weapons they descended the stairs carefully. It was eerie silent there. Dim light and humidity caused mildew to grow nicely. In the basement there were some kinds of three cells and a weird chair with wires tied to it. "Home-made version of electric chair. Creepy," commented Tobi admiring the improved furniture. Next to that chair there was a small table and a projection machine. Fortunately no people were present.

"Clear!" called Gail and left the spooky place.

When they returned Priscilla was just cuffing the sleek hair man, so the other female constable went back to her precious person who was shaking, looking ahead with blank expression. "Holly?" Nothing. The blonde took the other woman's chin pulling it her way. "Let's get you dressed it is still cold here," she said gently. There were cuts all over Holly's body but luckily nothing seemed to be deep. As tender as she could, she help the doctor into jeans that Dov had brought.

Suddenly there echoed a scream followed by cursing. "You bloody bastard," swore Priscilla and punched the bad man again.

Gail petted the doctor's head and went to help her colleague to see what went wrong with the binding. Nevertheless the next thing she knew was a gunshot and flying female officer in front of her vision from left to right.

"DROP THE WEAPON!" shouted Dov from the stairs he was just descending. By that moment Gail stood between the kitchen and hallway observing the situation.

To her partner's response there was another shot. Two actually. Dov was sent down and his colleague stood on the spot like she was frozen, her index finger still pressing the trigger and she watch blood pouring out of the wound in the middle of the kidnapper's forehead.

"Gail, GAIL!" shouted Nick. She turned her head to him those ice blue eyes wide as plate in shock. The former soldier reached for her weapon taking it over. "It's alright, you saved our lives." She looked around. Two strangers –a man and a woman– tied to the stairs railing, looked like they were woken up. Their clothes were haphazardly hanging from their bodies and ruffled hair looked like nests. Dov was on the ground catching the kicked out breath as well as Priscilla who had blood around her. The blond police woman looked back at the culprit who caused this mess. "Gail," the military man spoke up again. "You saved us, you did well. Now Holly needs you."

"Holly?" she asked confused. What would the doctor do there? In the middle of a gunfight. Slowly, very slowly her brain managed to absorb the whole disarray. "Holly!" she yelped and slid down in front of her girlfriend who was now kneeling on the tiled floor with head down. The female officer stopped right in front of her grabbing her head trying to make an eye-contact but the brown eyes were still blanked.

The EOD guy shook his head. "She is not responding." He looked up to Collins who leant against the door jamb between kitchen and hallway. "It looks like there were more fish in the pond upstairs," he commented, becking at the two cuffed people.

"Yeah," said Nick tiredly. "And another victim too. Dov, are you alright?"

"God blessed the bulletproof vests," said the younger man and with the help of his companion he stood up. "Ouch, right in the middle of my chest. Priscilla?" he asked looking at his leader.

"I've been better," she tried to pulled up on her arms but they gave up.

"C'mon," said Nick and helped her up on her feet. "You are bleeding."

"Bloody git," she cursed looking at the scalpel deep in her thigh. "Oi honey," she called limping to the kitchen. Gail looked up to her partner who was pale as living dead. "Can you snap out of it for a little moment? I guess –" She did not finished her sentence and fell down unconscious.

Holly's reflexes reacted fast enough to catch the motionless body before it hit the hard floor. "Priscilla?" it was the first reaction since the rescued team arrived. She did snap out. "Gail, I need –" The blonde already handed over the medical kit. "Thanks." The doctor pulled out some instruments and scissors to cut the uniform trousers. She took out the scalpel from the injured leg and immediately the blood stated spurting out. "Damn it." Holly pulled out gauze and looked up. "Gail, hold on. I need you and –," she watched the EOD man looking for a name tag.

"Andrews. Tobias Andrews."

"You and Tobias to suck out the blood so I can see the wound clearly." They both nodded and the doctor pulled out a bottle of some liquid, clips and a needle with a string.

"Chris, where is the damn ambulance?!" asked Nick angrily pressing the button on his radio.

"It should be here in half an hour," came from the other end of the receiver.

"We don't have half an hour. What we have are two dead bodies, two accomplices and one officer down."

"They told me in half an hour. I suppose it should be here within a few minutes. I will call the forensics and cops then. What –" The buzzing sound was disconnected by Nick with an angry growl.

"What is this?" asked Dov disgusted watching the unidentified object in a jar bowl on the tray with other chirurgical instruments stained by blood. "Gross."

"That… man decided to straighten up lesbians," explained Holly quickly working on the gash. "To either wear that and pretend to be a man, or be tortured to death after series of… nevermind."

"Double gross."

"So the victim we found upstairs declined and he…" asked Nick not daring to finish the thought.

"Yes. She was alive when he brought me here." The doctor worked on the leg for a few more minutes –maybe seconds– it was very hard to tell. "We are closing up," she said. The helpers looked at each other confused. "That means pull away all the trash," Holly barked at them and they removed the blood-soaked gauze. Then she stitched the skin together and applied some green water on it. Tobias turned around and took Priscilla's discarded jacked to cover the unconscious woman to keep her warm on the ground.

Gail looked around breathing heavily. There was blood around. Her uniform was dirty as well as the jacket that Holly had on. Tobias was stained by the red fluid too and the floor was dirty of bloody mud. She looked up at Dov and Nick who were mostly sweaty but seemed alright. Her gaze travelled to her dear person and their eyes met. The deep brown and clear blue. Suddenly Holly leant forward and pressed their lips together. There were no words needed, the kiss itself was full of relief and gratitude.

Priscilla stirred, opening her eyes groaning. She was about to sit up when Tobias pressed her down on the floor. "Not so fast, have a rest."

"Ambulance is coming. They have just passed me," appeared Chris's voice in their radios. At the back they could hear the sirens of help. "Forensics and cops will be here in forty."

A rush was heard from the outside as the doctors hurried to them. "Coming through," called a medic to make some space and knelt next to the leading officer.

"I am fine now," protested the older police woman. "Check Holly."

"Just take us to the hospital," said the scientist tiredly. "And no medicaments or you will kill her." She stood up and glared at a needle the newcomer male doctor was about to pull out of his box.

"And you are?" he asked and watched her from messy uncombed head to her jacket with 'PECK' name tag and jeans to her bare toes.

"Dr Stewart."

"Holly?" asked some female medic rushing to them. "Jenna Springs," she introduced herself and the pathologist nodded in acknowledgement. "What the hell happened to you?"

"Not now," said the other paramedic. "This girl needs a proper treatment and the doctor should be checked too."

"I am fine!" emphasised the wavy haired brunette. "Alive, sound and screaming."

"Priscilla is stable now and I have superficial bruises with minor concussion," Holly explained the situation. She turned to her girlfriend looking right to the cerulean eyes and the other woman nodded. "I'm going with you."

"Of course, we will take you to the Huntsville Hospital."

Once the ambulance left, the house fell in silence. There were left only three police officers, one EOD man, two more culprits and two dead bodies. They had to wait for forensics to prevent the scene being compromise and for cops to hand over the most likely assaulter's helpers, so the rescue team sat down on the floor everyone in their own thoughts.

Gail looked to the hallway noticing a leg of the dead man. Dead by her own hands. Four and a half year in service and she never had to pull the trigger until now. She was forced to take someone's life and she felt sick. No one deserved to die. Hot tears were dripping from her face.

Dov squatted in front of her and pulled her chin up to face him. "You saved my life, you saved our leader's life, you saved your own life and first of all you save your girl's life. You did a noble thing. When I shot Tyler Markes it was self-defence, I protected only myself, but you protected four others."

"How do I get over it?"

"You never fully do. But the thought that you saved your friends might help," he smiled at her.

Their radios buzzed alive. "The forensics and Huntsville cops are here," announced Chris. "Frank called and said we should cooperate for now."

"Copy that," responded Nick emotionless.

my first action story and I really had fun writing it, but still was careful of some parts... I guess next mission will be more thorough... well, depends :P

thank you for reading!