Chapter 2 - Riding Solo

Dispatch sent another car, Adam-24, to the 1100 block of 43rd Street where L-10 last reported being code 6. Woods spotted Malloy's car parked at the corner of 43rd and Kansas. It had been over forty minutes since he had first radioed, and Mac wanted an update. Brinkman called in the empty squad's location, and explained they were patrolling the area for the officer.

They cruised around the entire block and saw no sign of Malloy. "Jerry, what do you think happened?"

"He probably found the dog and walked it home." He was trying to not sound alarmed.

"Hey, maybe the owner is a beautiful woman, and Pete turned on the charm to get a date."

"Really, Bob, how stupid is that?" Woods just shook his head in disbelief.

"Isn't he called the Strawberry Fox?"

"That question doesn't justify an answer."

After circling the block Jerry looked at Brinkman, "Why don't you start knocking on some doors? I'll take the squad down the alley."

Bob climbed out and donned his hat. He walked around L-10 to confirm it was locked up then went up to the corner two-story house and knocked. Woods backed up and turned the squad into the alley. He started to get that bad feeling in his gut as he slowly drove through the block. About halfway through Jerry saw a man sprawled out on the ground in a backyard. He slammed the cruiser into park, hit the horn to signal Brinkman, and then grabbed the mike, "Officer down, send an ambulance code 3 to Kansas and 43rd Street in the alley."

Woods rushed over to the downed officer. Malloy laid face down and wasn't moving. Jerry shook Pete's shoulder and asked, "Pete, can you hear me?" But there was no response. He carefully rolled him over as Brinkman arrived. He felt for a pulse and found a very slow one.

Brinkman in a panic noticed Pete's lips were blue. "I don't think he's breathing!"

Jerry leaned over his mouth and nose to feel for a breath, but neither heard nor felt nothing. Though Jerry had little training, he kneeled beside Pete, held his nose, tilted his head back, and gave a quick breath. He repeated it half a dozen times when they both heard the siren approaching. Bob waved over the ambulance attendants.

"He's not breathing!" He shouted to them. Right behind the ambulance pulled up a rescue squad. Two men dressed in blue firefighter uniforms raced around the red unit grabbing equipment they would probably need.

The dark haired paramedic arrived first and asked, "What have we got?"

"We just found him like this. He's not breathing, but I think he has a pulse."

Johnny turned back to his partner and shouted, "Grab the Ambu bag!"

He took a quick pulse as Roy arrived and kneeled by Pete's head then placed the Ambu bag over his mouth and nose to start ventilating the officer. Johnny started examining him for what was going on. He flashed a penlight across Pete's eyes and noted the pinpoint pupils and then proceeded to run his hands down the officer's sides and arms. That's when he found the ripped sleeve and the fresh needle track in his right arm. Johnny glanced up at Roy, "He has a needle track here."

Johnny continued checking down both his legs, but found nothing else to explain Malloy's condition. He ripped open Pete's uniform shirt then cut through his undershirt to hook up the EKG leads. Next, he cut up the other sleeve to make access for an IV and applied a blood pressure cuff above it. Roy asked Brinkman to take over bagging Pete at the same pace so he could call Rampart. Bob just nodded his head and shuffled into a position right over Pete's head.

Roy flipped open the bio-phone and called, "Rampart, this is Squad 51"

"Go ahead 51."

"We have one male victim, approximately 35 years old, unconscious, and not breathing on his own. Vitals are to follow: BP 80 over 40, Pulse 30, pupils pinpoint and non-reactive. The victim has a blue tinge to his lips and fingertips and has a fresh track mark on his right arm. Rampart, we are ventilating the victim and just hooked up an EKG, sending you lead 2 now."

"Squad 51, have you found any drugs at the scene?"

"Rampart, the victim is a uniformed police officer. No drugs have been found at the scene yet, but with the track in his arm and no other signs of injury we are highly suspicious of an overdose."

"51, start an IV with lactated ringers, and push 2 mg of Naloxone IV"

Roy quickly repeated back to the doctor, "Rampart, IV with lactated ringers and 2mg of Naloxone IV, roger"

Johnny got the IV placed and running wide open with the fluids. After giving the intravenous reversal drug they lifted Pete onto the gurney and strapped him in. Roy took over ventilations again as he loaded him in the ambulance. Johnny picked up his gear then he looked to Officer Woods and said, "If you find anything or a drug that would explain what happened to Malloy call Rampart."

"Will do." For a few seconds, Jerry stood there along with Brinkman in a state of shock and disbelief. Both looked down at the medical trash left behind on the ground. Jerry tapped Brinkman's shoulder, "Let's do our job and search this place for any evidence." Woods paused for a second then said, "We need to catch whoever did this to Pete." Both officers glanced at each other with a quick unthinkable thought. Neither would verbalize the possibility of a fellow officer having a drug problem.