I hope everyone is staying safe. We're pretty snowed in with temps in the single digits coming. Livestock is hanging in there so far but definitely dealing with lots of extra work. Be safe out there!
A mess such as this warranted the brass's involvement and Dewitt wasn't the least bit surprised when Conden showed up a little after 3am, his expression stern, his steps hasty as he crossed the long hallway to the ER department.
Half a pack of cigarettes in, Roy felt his hand disappear into his breast pocket once more, ready to grab another one when his tired senses kicked back into gear and he raised his glance to meet his superior.
"John. Glad you could make it."
"How are our boys?", the chief asked, cutting straight through any formal niceties.
"Hanging in there. The doctors said that Mike is slowly stabilizing. But I won't lie, he's pretty banged up. Steve's been coming in and out. By the sound of it, they were ambushed by that group they've been following. And it wasn't pretty either. We got three bodies in the morgue, one more fighting for his life. The rest are unaccounted for."
"What in the world is going on in that neighborhood?", Conden scoffed and ran a hand through his short black hair, "I sent a couple more unis out that way, canvassing the area. Did you send a note out to all the hospitals in case a kid comes in with a gunshot wound?"
"Already done. Both our boys had emptied their weapons, so I figured there was additional bloodshed. 2 bullets are still unaccounted for as of an hour ago. Good thing Keller hit that liquor store window, or nobody would have been alerted to their position for quite a while."
"Damn. I am not going to allow some hooligans to keep terrorizing the neighborhood and pluck cops off the streets like it's some sick sort of entertainment."
With a hand in front of his mouth, Conden spun around his axis for a moment, trying to sort his thoughts in a mess that had grown disproportionately overnight.
He'd have to reel Bill into this investigation as well, Roy mused quietly, the African American inspector would be acting like a liaison, while Healey and Haseejian would canvas the area and take over the investigation from hereon out.
Hopefully the lab would have some more information for him come morning. The press sure as hell had already started to make phone calls about all of this.
His deep brooding was interrupted when rushed footsteps passed them by, coming out of several rooms and adjacent corridors; an army of busy ants heading to the very room Mike was in.
Sharing a worried glance with Conden and not having to say a single word, he followed suit, trying to make out the dialogue he'd heard ahead but failing.
"What's…what's going on?", Roy barked when he saw several doctors and nurses surround the fallen lieutenant's bedside, their tense eyes going back and forth between the machines and the still form in front of them.
"His blood pressure is starting to rise. We need to get it down or his brain bleed could worsen…", one of the doctors explained evenly; bless his heart for taking a moment to keep them in the loop while the rest of the people in the room moved on with rushed precision.
Conden stayed beside him as the nurses supplied several vials of clear medicine, exchanging phrases with the doctors that he didn't understand, and not necessarily cared to. Some of the machines in the back were beeping louder than others, the room an ever-moving slew of people going about their life-saving business.
In all of this, Mike looked eerily peaceful, the sheer sight sending Roy's stomach into another tailspin.
"Why don't you guys wait outside?", one of the nurses finally suggested as she turned around to face them, "We're doing everything in our power to stabilize him. There's nothing for you to do here. Get some rest if you can."
Pursing his lips to keep the snippy remark on his tongue from escaping; Dewitt nodded, although begrudgingly, then slowly backed out of the busy room, his captain following suit.
Feeling an unusual sense of helplessness and hating every second of it, Roy reached for another cigarette while eyeballing the door to the small recreational area outside the ER, once again stopping midway, desperately keeping his cool in front of his superior.
"They…they got a hell of a good set of doctors here, you know?", Condon mumbled, while looking him up and down, "They patched many hurt cops back together. I am sure they'll take good care of Stone. Lord knows this world wouldn't be the same without him."