Hondo and the other Swat members finally reached the visiting room.

"Time's up," Luca said, staring at his watch. "We have to go in now!"

Deacon knelt, and took out the fiberscope. Then he carefully sneaked the tool out the corner, and started inspecting the corridor, trying to have a good pitch on the situation.

"There's a sentinel outside the door," he said in a low voice, "We can't go in from there without being seen."

"We have to neutralize him, quickly and silently." Hondo said, thinking of a good plan to execute the action.

"I can take care of it." Chris interrupted Hondo's thoughts.

"How?" They all eagerly waited for her explanation.

"The air vents." She made them look up. "I can go in from here, and reach the sentinel from the conducts, there's another grate right above him." She pointed at her objective.

They all looked toward the corridor, and over the sentinel's head.

"Alright, but once you are up there?" Hondo asked, still not convinced by Chris' plan.

"I'll paralyze him with the teaser, then one of you can reach him, and take him out of his mate's sight."

"I can do that, so you all can prepare for the final breach." Rocker said, wanting to be part of that action.

"Hondo we don't have time to waste, come on..." Luca was getting more and more impatient.

Hondo sighed, knowing from his teammates' faces that Luca was not the only one who was feeling like that.

"Okay, it can work." He nodded. "Get ready for the action."

As those words came out from his mouth, Luca helped Chris get in the conduct from the air vent, then they all waited for her move.

Chris reached the right grate in no time, and rapidly settled in, pulling out the fiberscope to get a quick look in the visiting room to make sure the action would not be spotted by the bed guys inside.

She vacillates for a moment, not being able to see her friend from her current position.
'C'mon Chris, there's no time for this.' She thought trying to concentrate. 'I'm sure he's alright, I just have to get in, and set him free.

She took a deep breath, then she used her rifle to give Rocker a warning signal that she was about to take her action.

At that point all she had to do was take the teaser in her hands, aim, and pull the trigger.

As the electrodes, touched the sentinel's arm, he started shaking.
His body tensed, his muscles became paralyzed, and he wasn't able to emit a single sound.

At that precise moment Rocker jumped on the man, grabbing him before he could fall on the ground right where he was standing, drawing the other mercenaries' attention on what was going on in the corridor.

It all went as planned. Quick and clean.

Now it was time to free their friend.

...

As soon as the sentinel was out, the Swat Team could approach the visiting room's door, and take a quick peek inside.

"Alright, they are well armed and fully geared," Hondo studied the situation, "Be careful, we have to avoid casualties at all cost."

Unfortunately, before he could come up with a solid plan, the men inside acknowledged their sentinel went missing, and the Swat Squad had to instantaneously intervene.

"Metro Swat! Put your weapons down!" They yelled, getting in.

As they clearly expected, the mercenaries didn't obey, and instantaneously started a gunfight.

'This is exactly what I wanted to avoid, damn it!' Hondo thought, frustrated.

Bullets started flying in every direction, and the risk for the hostages to be caught in the crossfire grew high.

Deacon was the first to succeed in taking a clean shoot to one of his enemies, and the first of their men went down.

The Swat members observed with the corner of their eyes Street rounding the other hostages, in the solid attempt of keeping them safe.

'Good job, kid.' Hondo thought, bringing his attention back to the bad guys.

As the mercenaries were neutralized one after another, Chris found herself with a situation on her hands: one of the men was using Karen as human shield.

Chris was trained to take this kind of difficult shots, but not like this, not with flying bullets, screaming hostages, and a friend in serious trouble.

She hesitated, and missed the window that Karen give her to shoot the man, as she freed herself from his catch.

In that split second Street knew he had to jump in, and take care of the situation by himself.
He had to save his mother, but he also had to protect his friend.

In that single moment of hesitation, Chris was an easy target, and Street knew that if the man regained control before she did, he was going to shoot her.

He had no choice.
He jumped on the man, and made him lose the gun.

Chris watched Street fighting with the mercenary, unable to help him.
'Come on, Street! You have this!' She thought, feeling powerless.

"Chris, watch out!" Deacon's voice reached her just in time, and she could duck, avoiding that another mercenary could attack her from behind.

Meanwhile the fight between Street and the bad guy frantically continued.

They both had their hands on the gun, desperately trying to take full control on it.
The two didn't save themselves kicks, pushes and various hits, till Two succeeded in pointing the gun at Street's stomach.

Street maintained his grab strong on the weapon, desperately trying to point it elsewhere, but it was all useless.
The gun was heavily pressed to his body, when a shot went off.

Street felt his guts burning as hell, and he lost his strengths, abandoning his body on the ground.

As Deacon quickly took care of the last mercenary still standing, silence immediately filled the room.

Chris mutely thanked Deacon for having her back, then she immediately turned back to Street, fully convinced that her friend successfully neutralized the threat he was fighting, but instead what she found in front of her eyes were two motionless body, and blood, a lot of blood quickly expanding behind them.

At that sight her heart stopped, and she couldn't breathe anymore.

She immediately knelt by her friend, checking on his conditions, while Deacon took care of the unconscious mercenary.

The silence grew heavy, as all the presents there were holding their breath, waiting for a good word on Street.

"He was hit in the vest," Deacon acknowledged, checking on the mercenary.
"The blood is not his..." he added, terrified by the outcome of that observation.

"Jimmy!" Karen yelled, trying to approach her son, but one of the guards blocked her.

"Let her go," Hondo nodded to him, knowing that in that moment Street needed his whole family there, and yes, unfortunately that included his mother.

As soon as she was free to move, Karen reached Street, and sat by him, putting his head on her thighs, and gently caressing his hair.

The silence was getting unreal.

The Swat family, Grace, the guards, and the others in the room kept watching the scene almost paralyzed.

'Please, please, let him be okay...' Grace prayed in silence, unable to move a single step closer to her friend.

"Entry wound in the stomach... exit wound in the back..." Chris said, staring at her shaky, bloody hands. "The...
"The bullet went through and through..."

"Hicks," Hondo took his radio, "Situation is under control here, but we need an ambulance now!
"Officer down."

"Street..." Chris tried to bring him back.
"Street, can you hear me?" She kept speaking to him, starting applying pressure on the wound to minimize the blood loss.

"Jimmy, open your eyes please..." Karen joined Chris in her prayers.

'Come on, come on...' Luca thought, observing the scene completely powerless.

Street slowly opened his eyes, disoriented, and tried to look around, to recognize the surroundings.

He first saw his mother's face.
'Mom?' he thought, unable to say a single word.

Then he felt a sharp pain in his abdomen.
'Did dad hurt me again?' he asked himself, trying to understand his mother's terrified expression.

"Street!" Chris voice barely reached him.
"Hold on, paramedics are on their way... just... hold on, please..."

'Chris?' He thought, with confusion growing on him. 'What is she doing here?'

He opened his mouth to ask for some explanations, but his throat filled with blood, and he had to cough it out.

"Don't try to talk, everything is gonna be alright, just hang on, okay?" Chris smiled, trying to keep him calm, always maintaining the pressure on his stomach.

"Agh..." Street closed his eyes for a little moment, and his mind cleared in a flash.
The hostage situation, Grace, the boy, his mother held as a human shield, his friend in danger for trying to rescue him, and finally the fight with the man.
It was all clear again.

"Y...you...o...ok...?" He forced his voice out, along with a spat of blood, needing at all costs to know the state of the situation, and the state of his friends.

"Don't talk... save your strengths." Chris voice was broken.

"An...anyone...h...hu...hurt...?" he insisted.

Chris looked up to Hondo, not understanding completely what he wanted to know.

"It's all clear, Street," the sergeant intervened. "You did a good job, nobody here is hurt.
"You did good, kid."

Street felt relieved, and relaxed, but the peace didn't last for long, as he started coughing out blood again, and lost all his strengths, slowly drifting away.

"Come on, don't give up." Chris prayed him. "Stay with us... please!"

He felt her, her words went straight to his heart, but he could do nothing.
He had to close his eyes.

...

The hospital hallways were crowded at that time of the day, with doctors, nurses, patients, and siblings going back and forward from the rooms.

The Swat Team settled in a cold, bare waiting room, along with Grace, who this time refused to leave her friend alone, and got there in the ambulance with him.

"I'm starting to get tired of this!" Luca said, getting up from his chair. "He can't keep doing this to us! He can't..."

"Hey...just take it down, okay?" Deacon made him sit back, and glanced at Grace.

She was already scared enough, without Luca's ruff tone fanning the flames.

"He saved me today..." Chris started talking out of the blue, drawing all her teammates' attention on her.
"We were there to save him, and instead, he had to save me!"

"Hey! I thought I saved you!" Deacon said, trying to relieve the tension.

"We all have each other's back all the time. We're Swat, it's our job." Hondo spoke up, using his most encouraging tone. "No," He paused for a second, "It's what we are, no exceptions."

"How?" Grace said, between one sob and another. "How do you do this? How?"

"Breathe, just breathe for a moment, okay?" Hondo went to sit by her, putting a hand on her back.
"He is strong, he can do this. I believe that, and you should too."

"He is," she removed her hands from her face to look straight to Hondo. "But he's not..."
She sniffed, "He... he already suffered too much... he doesn't deserve this... he can't... he..."

'She's right... damn it! She is right!' Luca thought, without the courage to say it out loud. 'He was not at his maximum strength... he was still weak... he was still lost...'

"Alright, alright..." Hondo had to maximize his efforts to calm Grace down, because she was really going to lose it.
"I know he has been through a lot lately, I know that." He took her hands. "But he still can do this.
I saw his eyes right before he passed out, he was ready to come back to the team, even after all he went through. And he did, he did his job, even if he wasn't officially back."

All the other Swat members stood there silent, listening to Hondo's encouraging speech.

"I saw it in his eyes," Hondo continued, "He is not going to lose this game."

"It's not a game..." Chris muttered between herself, drawing once again all his teammates' attention on her.
"It's his life... It's..."

Fortunately a doctor came in, interrupting her before she could say anything to worsen the already enough tensed situation, and they all jumped on their feet, waiting for the response.

"Is he..." Luca tried to ask for news, terrified from the doctor's look.

"The bullet punctured his stomach, but didn't cause any major organ damage in his abdomen, which is surprising considering the angle of the wound." He explained to them, trying to be as clear as possible. "It even missed the spinal cord, so I expect no permanent damages in the long term period."

'Some luck? Is it really possible?' Luca thought, hearing those words.

"It however lacerated some of the major vessels, causing a serious blood loss." The doctor continued. "And this combined with his already weakened status, determined a severe state of shock."

'I knew that!' Luca thought, discouraged again. "I knew he couldn't be lucky, even just one single time...'

"What does that mean?" Hondo asked. "Is he going to be alright or not?"

"Only time will tell." The doctor answered. "His body underwent some severe stress in a too short period of time, the shock, the blood loss, all these factors can determine the good or bad outcome of his recovery."

"So he is not out of the woods yet?" Luca said.
"Again..." he muttered.

"He is stable for now, we're giving him oxygen, antibiotics, and blood, to help his body fight and recover. It can take hours or days, we can just wait."

Hearing those not so encouraging news, Grace had to sit back on the chair just to avoid fainting on the ground.

"Does he have any family to contact?" The doctor passed to more practical things.

"We are his family!" Chris hurried back, almost victim of a nervous breakdown.

"We'll take care of that, thanks doc." Deacon immediately intervened.

"Can we see him now?" Chris asked in one breath, with a more suitable tone.

"Yes, but only a couple of people at a time. He is still unconscious, and he probably will be for a while, I already told you, but too much crowd can however stress him out, understood?"

"Yes, thank you, doctor." Hondo nodded to him.

"Can I?" Chris asked her boss, looking at him with puppy eyes.

"Of course, and take Grace with you..."

"But..." Luca objected, desperately wanting to see his friend.

"She needs this," Hondo made him glance at the still shocked girl.

"Yeah, fine..." Luca said, resigned.

"I'll call the correctional," Deacon said, getting out the room. "His mother will be dying to have some news."

"Thanks, Deac'," Hondo nodded to him. "I'll call the HQ."

...

The doctor escorted the two women to their friend's room, and left them there.

Chris immediately approached him, taking his icy, rigid hand, while Grace stood by the door, not able to get in.

"Hey," Chris caressed Street's pale, sweaty face with her free hand, "I'm here for you," she whispered to him, "I'm here because of you, you know that, right?"

Chris sniffed, staring at her unresponsive friend, acknowledging he was not going to miraculously wake up only to take credit for his brave actions, but however she had to try...

"Come in, let him feel your presence," she encouraged Grace, who reluctantly approached the bed. "It will be good for him knowing he is not alone."

"You think he knows we're here?" Grace asked, hesitant.

"Of course he does," Chris smiled to her.
"He has to feel us..." her tone grew darker. "Or how can we help him recover?"

"He didn't deserve all this... he... he..." she started crying again.

"Hey! Stop it." Chris gravely looked at her in the eyes. "Stop it right now! You have to be strong for him." She made her take a deep breath, looking at their friend's motionless, cold, and pale body.
"He was always strong for you, didn't he?"

Grace nodded. "The strongest and the bravest..." she sniffed.

"Now it's time to pay him back." Chris kept looking her straight. "It's time to show him how strong he thought you to be."

"Yeah," Grace took another deep, big breath.
"I can be his rock," she took his other hand. "Just this one time... I... I own him after all..."

"Yeah..." Chris soundly exhaled. "We all own him something..."

.

Author's note: Thank you for the interest you're showing for my story.
I know you probably expected to learn who was shot already from the first lines, but I decided to try a little different approach on this, repeating a scene, but chaining the point of view.
I sincerely hope you enjoyed the chapter anyway.
To be honest, this was supposed to be the last chapter of the story, but it turned out too long, so I decided to split it.
Hope you're still enjoying my writing, see you next week with the final update.