"So….got any plans this weekend with Kate?" Chris asked a few days later.
"What?" Steve asked as he looked away from the binoculars he held in his hand. He has been keeping an eye on the raid that was currently ongoing in the warehouse several hundred metres away. Word had been received on the OCG that the counter terrorism unit were investigating and the AFO's were currently inside the building trying to arrest them all.
"I said have you got any plans this weekend with Kate," Chris repeated.
"I heard the first time," Steve said as he returned to his observations. "Why are you asking that in the middle of a raid?".
"Passes the time," Chris replied as he stood beside Steve and looked through his own binoculars at the warehouse. "You think they're nearly done in there? It's been ages,".
As if in cue their radio's squawked to life with chatter that the OCG had been surrounded and arrested.
"Nice one," Chris said, pleased at the good outcome.
A movement in the periphery of Steve's binocular's caught his eye and he adjusted his line of sight to try to see what it was. He eventually saw a familiar looking man trying to make an escape from the raid. "Bastard!" Steve said as he dropped his binoculars and quickly set off in pursuit. He would not let this man escape justice if it was the last thing he did.
"Where're you going, mate?" Chris asked mystified as his friend took off. Steve didn't reply, instead he kept on running.
"What's up with him?" Joe asked as he approached Chris and picked up Steve's binoculars, tracking his friend .
"No idea," Chris said.
Joe found Steve through the binoculars and caught sight of who he was chasing. "Shit!" He exclaimed, also recognising the target. He dropped the observation device and took off, recognising trouble was imminent and that his friend needed his support.
"What the fuck?" Chris asked after his second departing friend.
"It's the bastard that took Mia!" Joe said over his shoulder. He'd seen the shop CCTV footage of Mia's abduction with Steve and had committed the man's face to memory.
"Shit!" Chris echoed as he took off behind Joe. He knew Steve wouldn't let the man escape again.
The two friends ran after Steve. He was quite far ahead and disappeared behind a warehouse outbuilding in hot pursuit of Mia's kidnapper. When Joe and Chris rounded the same corner they were shocked at the sight that greeted them.
"Steve!" Joe cried out reflexively as he pulled to a halt. His friend was on the floor, towered over by the man that had taken his daughter, a large bloodstained knife in his hand. On hearing the two other officers approach, Steve's attacker turned his attention to them. "Police!" Joe said as he took his weapon out and pointed it at the man.
"Put your weapon down!" Chris ordered as he too took out his gun and aimed it at the criminal.
Menacingly, the criminal started walking towards, Chris and Joe.
"Stay where you are," Joe shouted as he flicked off the safety switch on his gun. "One more step and I'll shoot," he threatened.
The attacker ignored them. A shot fired from Joe's gun and the target was on the floor after a bullet tore through his knee, maimed but not killled.
"Steve!" Joe said as he put his weapon away and headed to his friend, ignoring the criminal howling in pain. He crouched down to assess his friend. A large pool of blood was quickly increasing in size under him and Joe could hear weird gurgling noises coming from his friend. "We need to get his stab vest off," Joe instructed and Chris crouched down to help in the task as they gently manoeuvred Steve out of his protective armour.
A stab wound was visible to Steve's right arm pit, which had been the only unprotected part of his upper body. "Alright, mate," Joe soothed to Steve who already looked like he was fading fast.
"Southern 254 to Bronze command," Chris said in to his radio.
"Bronze command," the unmistakable voice of DCI Osbourne came back with a load of static.
"Request immediate medical assistance to rear of warehouse. Southern 156 has been injured during pursuit of suspect,".
"What happened?" Steve's mum asked Joe and Chris a little later as she entered the relative's room at the local hospital. She and her husband had been contacted by the hospital, informing them their son was in a critical condition.
"Hi Mrs A," Joe said as he stood from his chair and hugged his friend's mother. He and Chris were very close to Steve's family after they had all helped him get his life back on track after Anna's desertion.
"What happened?" Steve's mother asked again as she withdrew from Joe and greeted Chris. "The hospital wouldn't tell us anything over the phone,". She caught her son's friends looking awkwardly at each other. They didn't want to reveal the harrowing details of Steve's condition to them. "It's serious isn't it?" she asked worriedly.
"They won't tell us anything either Mrs A," Chris replied. "Only next of kin. But they have said he's gone straight to theatre,".
"Oh my god!" Mrs Arnott said as she broke down in tears and sought refuge in her husband's embrace.
"Who did this to Steve?" Mr Arnott asked as he comforted his wife.
"The man who took Mia," Joe answered.
"What?" Mrs Arnott asked shakily.
"We were on a raid after some intel on the OCG we've been investigating proved good. Steve spotted someone trying to escape and gave chase,".
"Mia's kidnapper?" Mr Arnott guessed and both Joe and Chris nodded.
"We followed him for back up," Joe said, "but we were too late to help Steve. He'd already been injured. He was on the floor when we caught up to them. I'm so sorry, Mrs A," Joe confessed as he started to get upset, feeling as if he'd let his best friend down.
"Hey!" said Steve's mum as she quickly moved to comfort her son's friend. "None of that," she advised. "Steve's going to be fine," she soothed, not just for Joe but for everyone in the room. "You were able to stop Steve getting any further injuries,".
"You got the bastard, I hope," Mr Arnott asked. Usually his wife would scold him for using such language in public but not today. His wife shared his sentiments on the evil man that had taken their precious granddaughter.
"Yeah," Joe sniffed. "Well that's something," Mr Arnott concluded, pleased at least that the kidnapper was under arrest.
"What time is it?" Mrs Arnott asked.
"Three," Chris said. It felt a lot later. Today had ben the longest day in Chris's life.
"Mia finishes at nursery in thirty minutes," Mrs Arnott said. "I should go get her. What am I going to tell her?" she asked her husband, starting to fret. The little girl had already lost her mother. How would she cope with her other parent absent?
"Someone should also probably contact Kate," Joe pointed out.
"Of course," Mrs Arnott replied, hoping her son's blossoming romance wouldn't be cut short by this bad attack.
"I can do it, if you like," Joe volunteered.
"Would you?" Mrs Arnott asked. "I'll probably be occupied by Mia for the foreseeable future,".
"No problem," Joe replied although he wasn't looking forward to the conversation at all. Kate was going to be devastated.