The same morning
Saturday
I-90, heading north

We were driving towards The Farm, as fast as was reasonable.

Dave and I were in the SUV and I was driving. I had scrambled Cathy, in case Josh was wounded; Chloe and Cathy were a few miles ahead of us, also heading for The Farm. Unfortunately it would take us a good twenty minutes or so to get there, by which time it could all be over!

Marcus, though, was less than two minutes away...

County Forest Preserve
5:15 A.M.

I skidded to a halt in the parking lot.

Two hundred yards to the west, I could hear gunfire and saw muzzle flashes, plus the headlights of a pair of vehicles. Two CPD vehicles came to a halt, as I grabbed an AR-15 from the truck. Sergeants Murphy and Fellowes appeared beside me, both armed with AR-15s, too.

Other Officers secured the exit to the main road.

West of County Forest Preserve
5:00 A.M.

I set the P90 to single shot and aimed using the laser sight.

I controlled my breathing and squeezed the trigger. A man fell, as his head almost exploded. The body fell back against one of the SUVs. That was one of the two men with the NVGs, the other man turned towards me, started shooting, and I dived down and crawled along the ditch for about five yards, then popped back up and aimed. I shot out three of the four headlights and killed another man. I poured rounds into the engine bay of one SUV before I heard a bang and smoke and steam poured from the engine compartment.

I inserted my last P90 magazine and popped up again. I could not see the last two men, at all. I took a chance and crawled back to the motorcycle and hauled it out of the ditch. I had no time to find my helmet, so I kicked the motorcycle to life and headed south west, away from the river. My thigh and lower back were hurting me badly, the pain was bad, but I had no choice, I had to keep moving. I could hear shouts over the motorcycle engine as the remaining men, shot at me before getting into the remaining, one eyed, SUV, which then started to follow me.

I must have gone about two-thirds of a mile. I couldn't go any further, I was beside a small lake. I dropped the motorcycle and hid down beside the water. I could hear the SUV and it was approaching fast, down the trail that I had just followed. I aimed the P90 and the moment that the SUV had appeared, I emptied the entire magazine into it. The SUV skidded to a halt with steam pouring from its engine compartment. Two men fell out of the SUV and scurried into cover. I dropped the now useless P90 and pulled out my pistol and started to fire off rounds at the men, keeping their heads down and buying myself time. I could hear Police sirens in the distance and I hoped that they were coming towards me.

Minutes later, I was inserting my last magazine, when I heard vehicles skidding to a halt somewhere across the water and I heard shouts. I kept firing rounds at the two men, who seemed to have an inexhaustible supply of ammunition. A voice barked out over the gunfire, just as the slide of my pistol locked back on an empty magazine.

"Chicago PD! Put the weapons down and your hands up!"

The most wonderful emotions swept over me, as I recognised Marcus' voice; I was safe. The Police started to engage the two men with what had to be AR-15s.

County Forest Preserve
5:20 A.M.

The armed men were returning fire, with automatic weapons.

Fellowes, Murphy and I kept firing. As we came around the lake I thought I could see where Josh could be, down by the water. It was then that I heard one of the men shouting.

"He's run out of ammunition, get him, then we can get the fuck outta here!"

Silhouetted by the remaining headlight, I saw a man move towards the water and just as I aimed my rifle, two slim objects seemed to grow out of the man's chest. I instantly recognised them as the hilts of two knives. The man dropped at almost the same time as the other man was killed by Murphy and Fellowes.

"Josh!" I yelled. "Joshua!"

There was no response.

I ran down to the water's edge and could see a dark form partially in the water. I rolled the dark form onto its back; it was Josh. I checked for a pulse; he was alive but unconscious and I could see blood on the side of his head. He must have been grazed by a bullet, at some stage during his escape. Beside the boy was a discarded P90 and a Five-seveN pistol with the slide locked back. Scattered around him were three empty pistol magazines and hundreds of empty bullet cases.

Just then Murphy and Fellowes appeared.

"The SUV is clear, Lieutenant!" Fellowes reported.

"Damn!" Murphy exclaimed, taking in the scene before him. "This must be Jackal!"

"What!" I said.

"Come off it, Lieutenant!" Murphy said. "We've known about Fusion for a long time; I owe them my life, twice! We know what Shadow looks like, without her mask; we saw her after that bank thing, last year and we have a fair idea who she really is, too - the same with Hit Girl! Have no fear Lieutenant; Fusion's secrets are safe with us."

"That's one brave kid!" Fellowes exclaimed.

I picked Josh up and carried him back to my truck. Fellowes and Murphy followed with my AR-15 and Josh's weapons.

I-90, heading north

My cell rang and Dave answered it.

All I heard was Dave's side of the conversation.

"Hi Marcus... Yeah... Thank God... We'll be there soon!"

Dave turned to me and I felt tears in my eyes and then on my cheeks. Dave was smiling.

"That was Marcus, he has Josh. He's wounded, but alive..."

I didn't hear the rest; the tears of relief just spilled down my cheeks.

Dave immediately rang Chloe and Cathy, and told them the good news. They were just behind us, as we raced up I-90 and we were less than ten minutes away from Marcus and Josh.

County Forest Preserve

I laid Josh in the back of my truck and unclipped his body armour, which I noticed had received several hits! As I removed the armour, my hand came away from his back wet and when I checked it under the light, my hand was red. Oh shit! I pulled up his top and checked his back. There was a small wound, which looked to be a through and through, but the wound was bleeding quite a bit. I grabbed my first aid kit and cleaned the wound as best I could and covered it with a dressing. Josh had started to regain consciousness and had screamed out when I had touched the wound.

"It is okay, Josh… It's me, Marcus! I'm just checking your wound," I said, as calmly as possible.

"It hurts!" Josh said, through clenched teeth and tears were streaming down his face.

"It will! I know; I've been shot before!" I said, trying to sound encouraging, but failing.

Josh suddenly stopped grimacing and stared directly at me.

"Jack and Natasha…" He said.

"They are both alive and currently in surgery."

"Oh God!" Josh said then passed out.

..._...

Minutes later two SUVs pulled up and Murphy went to wave them through the Police road block. I saw Mindy, Dave, Chloe and most importantly Cathy, running towards me. Chloe was crying and Mindy looked as though she had been too.

"How..." Mindy and Chloe said together.

"Hold on, girls! Josh is okay; I've dressed his wounds, but he needs proper medical care!" I said, waving Cathy towards Josh and holding Mindy and Chloe back.

"Let me go!" Chloe almost screamed. "Let me see Josh!"

"Give Josh some space, Chloe!" I said forcefully. "Dave!"

Dave grabbed Chloe and took her off to one side, to give her time to calm down. I explained to Mindy what had happened, while Cathy started to check Josh out. Murphy came over with Fellowes to find out how Josh was.

"He'll be okay," Cathy called over. "I just need to make sure that he's fit to travel and then we can get him out of here."

"That would be a good idea - before anybody arrives who isn't friendly to Fusion!" Murphy pointed out. "I think it would be best to keep the boy out of the news."

"Thanks, Murphy!" Mindy said, with understanding and a nod from Marcus.

"We owe you guys a lot; I hope he recovers," Fellowes said, genuinely concerned.

"Marcus, I assume you're staying here?" Cathy asked.

"Yes, I need to stay," Marcus confirmed.

"I've given Josh something for the pain. Dave, get Josh into your SUV and get him home, then into bed. I'll stitch him up there," Cathy ordered. "Curtis picked a good night to stay with friends!"

"Take it carefully, Miss Speedy!" Murphy said to Mindy.

"I don't speed; it was just that one time!"

"Yeah, right! You fairly tore up the Dan Ryan, the other week! What did you hit, one-ten, one-twenty?" Fellowes asked.

I watched Mindy and saw her smirk.

"One-twelve!"

Later that morning
West Ridge

Cathy came out of the bedroom.

Chloe had been pacing backwards and forwards, almost enough to wear a strip in the carpet!

"How is he?"

"For God's sake, Chloe, calm down! Your boy is going to be fine; nothing important was damaged!"

Chloe glared at her mother.

"Go on - just don't overexcite him, he needs rest!" Cathy said, then smirked as Chloe ran into the bedroom and started fawning over Josh.

"She's been really worried – can't really blame her really, considering that she has been through this before with Josh!" I said.

"As before, you'll be there to help her, Mindy," Cathy said with a smile. "I need a coffee."

"I'll join you. Josh seems to be in good hands!"

That afternoon
Northwestern Memorial Hospital

Marcus and I stood beside Jack.

He was in a bad way, but was conscious; at least for now.

"Did he get away?" Jack asked.

"Yes, he did – he killed almost every last one of them! He's hurt, but nothing serious," Marcus replied.

"Thank God!"

"I am going to do everything possible to find who did this, Jack! Vengeance will be swift, but or so violent!" I said, felling the anger coursing through me. "No one has yet seen exactly what I am capable of!"

"You're scaring me now!" Marcus said, half seriously, wrapping his arm around my shoulders.

"I know you will, Mindy. Please stay safe; I would not want anything to happen to you, or any member of your team, for my sake," Jack said. "It was your training that helped Josh today, without it – we would all be dead, right now."

I felt myself blushing.

Natalie was still unconscious, in the bed next to Jack. I felt so helpless, but I felt pride in what Josh had been able to pull off - alone.

Later that afternoon
West Ridge

"The gloves are off! Hit Girl has gone soft and that is going to change. Criminals will learn what the consequences are for hurting people dear to me. They will fear me, they will fear my name and they will be too damned scared to venture out…"

"Mindy, calm the fuck down!" I said. "I know you're mad; we all are. But you know what happens when you rush into things…"

"I know, dammit!" Mindy yelled back. "I almost lost three very important people today, Dave. I don't have that many people in my damned life and I almost lost three, all at once…"

Mindy fell down onto the couch beside me and started sobbing. I pulled her into me and held her tight.

That evening
West Ridge

"Hi guys, come on in!" I said. "Mindy, we have visitors!"

"Murphy, Fellowes!" Mindy said. "Good to see you!"

"Please, Paul and Sam, at least when we're out of uniform!" Paul Murphy said and pulled a large bouquet of purple tulips from a bag.

"For the lady!" Paul said, with a smile.

Mindy seemed to wilt at the sight of the flowers.

"They're lovely!" Mindy said, with an enormous smile.

"The florist said that purple flowers send a message of pride, dignity and admiration," Sam Fellowes said.

"Thank you," Mindy said, almost at a loss for words!

"You guys hitting on my fiancée?" I asked, with some pretend menace.

"Nah! But if we were; we're more scared of her, than you!" Murphy laughed.

"You guys having fun?" Marcus asked, coming in the door.

"Lieutenant," Sam and Paul said.

"Just letting the lady know that we admire her."

"She is no lady!"

"Thanks!" Mindy said sarcastically, but grinned.

"How's the kid?" Sam asked.

"Believe it or not, he's been through a lot worse!" Marcus said with a grimace.

"You can say hello, if you want. First on the left, at the top of the stairs. Better knock, Chloe's in there and well…" Mindy said mischievously.

"Hi, kid!"

I looked up from Chloe, who was laid on the bed beside me, to see two men that I instantly recognised. It was Murphy and Fellowes, but out of uniform.

"Almost didn't recognise you guys without your stripes!" I said.

"You look better than twelve hours ago!" Fellowes said.

"I feel better than twelve hours ago!" I replied and I really did.

"What you did, it took real guts, Josh. We're both extremely impressed and we both know what you're going through; we've both been there. But I understand that you've been through worse, so this should be a walk in the park for a veteran like you!" Murphy said.

"I've had more peaceful walks in the park!"

"You okay, Chloe? You seem to look after Josh very well; every good man, needs a good woman!" Fellowes said with a smile.

"That's sexist!" Chloe retorted, with a scowl.

"Okay, I know better than to piss you off; I saw what happened to the last guy!" Fellowes quipped.

"Funny!"

"I wish I could have done more, then Jack and Natalie wouldn't be in hospital. I should have stayed and…" Josh started.

"Joshua," Murphy said sternly and Josh looked up at him. "You did the only thing that you could have done; which just happened to be the right thing. We've spent all day up there, at The Farm; you did everything right. You used your training that Mindy gave you and used it to lethal effect. Nobody at The Farm today can think of anything else that you could have done. So cut that crap out right now! I want to see you better and out on those streets, doing what you do best. Even if it is winding up poor defenceless Police Officers!"

Josh laughed.

"Doughnuts are on you guys then!" Josh said with a laugh before turning serious. "Thanks that meant a lot."