CHAPTER TWELVE
"Bobby," Alex thought. "Bobby…Hang on…We're coming…We'll be there soon…" She strained to hear what might be happening to Bobby.
"We've got an ID of Sinclair and Caldwell," Wheeler said excitedly. "A restaurant that delivered to an address…Here…" She handed her cell to Ross. Alex sat up and leaned forward.
Ross listened intently. "Yes…Yes…" He handed the phone back to Wheeler. "Wheeler…Get on the radio…Let everyone know the address…Tell them to approach silently…No sirens…No lights…The trace on Goren's phone is taking us to the same area…We don't want to spook these guys…"
Alex felt a glimmer of hope. "Bobby…Hang on…" The phrase became a prayer in her head. She continued to listen to her phone, and gasped. Wheeler spun around to look at her while Ross concentrated on the road.
"They're back," Alex said.
Wheeler blinked, and Ross' grip on the steering wheel tightened.
"We're almost there," Ross said.
"What if they find the phone," Alex thought out loud.
They were in a section of Queens where industrial warehouses were being turned into expensive apartments, but the recent economic troubles had slowed or stopped the work. Ross parked the car at the chained fence entrance to a square of ugly, concrete block buildings. Alex hurriedly put on a bullet proof vest. Bobby hated the vests, gloomily commenting that they barely covered him and that the really bad guys had guns with bullets that could easily pierce them. She followed Ross and Wheeler.
"Alex," Ross said kindly. "Are you sure…"
"He's my partner," Alex replied.
"Goren said the same thing when…" Ross swallowed. "Let's go…"
Two uniforms appeared just inside the gate. They opened it, and the older black woman quickly credited her younger partner with noticing the two men and their resemblances to the bulletins and briefings they'd received. The younger cop reddened at the praise, and Alex was struck by how much he reminded her of Joe. "Please," she thought. "I can't lose another…Oh, God…Is that how I feel about Bobby?" Before she could consider the terrifying implications of these thoughts, a wave of cops swept Alex towards the building the two uniforms saw the suspects enter.
"Quiet," Ross said. "We don't want these guys to hurt Goren any more than they have or to create a hostage situation."
"Bobby said he was in a basement," Alex said.
The front door opened easily with the use of a skeleton key. "Be careful," Ross warned.
Only one set of stairs led to the basement area. Her heart pounding, Alex followed a phalanx of tactical cops. Ross was at her left; Wheeler just behind her to her right. They moved swiftly and quietly down the stairs and faced a large door that was a few inches open. They paused, and heard angry voices from behind the door.
"Bobby," Alex whispered when she recognized his faint voice.
"Wait here," Ross whispered to the tactical team. "I don't want a lot of guns in there." He turned to Alex and Wheeler. "You two with me."
The trio took a deep breath. Ross kicked the door open, and they rushed in.
Alex and Bobby occasionally discussed those moments when time seemed to move at different speeds. Bobby explained once that scientists thought the effect was the result of a trick of the brain. At a time of stress, the brain took in details and registered everything it could so that it could process the information and produce the correct response. "Unfortunately," Bobby told her as he poured her another cup of coffee from the thermos. "That may be why the brain remembers terrible things so well. And it may be why we can't tell it what to remember, or that it won't remember really good times as well as it does bad ones. But time is time. It is. It can't change. What changes is our experience of it."
At this moment, Alex's experience of time was horribly slow. As she rushed in the room, she saw a slender, short older man wearing a blue smock over a white shirt and grey pants sitting on a tall stool. A tall young man wearing a similar smock over blue jeans and a red T-shirt stood over a tall table. Both men spun to face the door. The young man raised his right hand, and Alex saw a gleaming knife in it.
"Police!" Ross shouted. "Drop the weapon! On the floor!"
The older man stared at them in shock; rage filled the younger man's face. He spun back to the table, the knife still raised. A gunshot roared in her right ear. The younger man staggered and crumpled to the floor. The knife tumbled from his hand, struck the metal table with a terrible clang, and hit the floor just as the young man did. Ross rushed forward, seized the older man, and threw him to the wet floor. Alex was dimly aware of a white Megan Wheeler standing with her gun in her hands and of hordes of cops scrambling into the room. But her concentration was focused on what was on the table.
She wasn't sure it was human at first. It looked like a huge piece of raw meat. As she moved closer (Alex thought she walked slowly, but Ross later told her she was a blur), Alex realized the object was a body. She rushed to the other side of the table and saw Bobby's face. A wave of relief poured over her as she saw he was alive; an equally large wave of fear followed it. Bobby's eyes were full of pain and fear and something else. Alex realized he was drugged almost to the point of unconsciousness. Rope and duct tape secured him to the table, and he was naked. She felt ashamed for him and seized the first thing she found to cover him. It was his grey raincoat, and it was only after she threw it over him that Alex saw that it was damp with blood.
"Oh, Bobby," she whispered.
Cops filled the room. Linley/Sebastian/Sinclair—whatever he was—lay on his stomach on the red streaked concrete and screamed about his work being interrupted and his son killed while two cops not so gently cuffed and restrained him. Mark Caldwell, his eyes blinking and his chest heaving, lay on his back as his life bled away from him. Alex registered this on her mind's edges; her attention was on Bobby. As gently and carefully as she could, she reached under the raincoat to untie the rope and pull off the duct tape. She winced as the tape clung to his bloody skin, but Bobby was either in too much pain or too drugged to notice. Other hands appeared to help her, and one pair gave her a bottle of water. Others eased Bobby on his back. Wheeler gently slipped a bundle under Bobby's head to act as a pillow. Alex opened the water bottle and raised it to Bobby's mouth. His lips moved when the first drops of water touched them, but he couldn't lift his head. Ross appeared on the other side of the table, and he helped raise Bobby's head. Alex held the bottle up, and Bobby gulped the water.
"Easy," Alex said gently. She was stunned that her voice sounded so calm. "Not too fast."
He continued to drink, but his pace slowed. He finished the bottle and stared at Alex, who lowered her head closer to his.
"Real…Are you…" he painfully whispered.
Alex tenderly touched his forehead. "Yes…I'm real…"
Bobby blinked and swallowed. "You…All right…"
Alex choked. "Yes," she said after a moment. "I am now."
Ross cautiously touched Alex's shoulder. "The EMTs are coming down."
Alex nodded, but kept her eyes on Bobby.
"Captain…" Bobby coughed violently, and his body shook with pain. "I…I wasn't stupid…"
"Detective," Ross said gently. "Take it easy. We've going to get you out of here…"
"They…They were going to…The girl…I…I couldn't think …Of anything else…I had…I couldn't let them…"
"Goren," Ross said. "You did the right thing. Don't worry…"
"I…I'm sorry…I…I cause you so much trouble…Sorry…"
"Goren…Don't worry…Just hold on…That's an order," Ross said shakily.
Bobby blinked and shivered. "Al…Alex…"
"I'm right here." Alex laid her hand against his cheek. His beard was surprisingly soft.
"I…I told you…Phone…I…I was sorry…"
"Yes." Alex saw how difficult it was for him to speak and to concentrate on her. "Remember what I told you. You want me to forgive you, you gotta hold on." She brushed his cheek with her fingers.
"Try…I…I'll try…" He turned his face towards her hand. "But…But…It…Hurts…And…I…I can't tell…What's real…"
Ross again touched Alex's shoulder. "Go with him to the hospital. I'll be there as soon as I'm able."
Alex nodded. Her eyes remained on Bobby.
Four EMTs entered the room and pushed through the chaos. Two started to drop by Caldwell. One of the cops growled, "Don't bother with that thing. Take care of our guy." He gestured towards Bobby.
Alex heard the cop, and thought that Bobby wouldn't have had that response to Caldwell. "So," she thought. "This is what it takes for him to be accepted by other cops…For him to be tortured nearly to death…"
The other two EMTs moved to Bobby. As they started to treat him, Alex saw fear grow in his eyes.
"Bobby," she said softly, and again touched his cheek. "It's ok. You can trust them. They're not the people who hurt you. They're here to help you. You can trust me. I promise."
He blinked. "Please…Please…Don't leave me…Please…"
"I'll stay…I promise…I'll stay…"
END CHAPTER TWELVE