Rising from his seat, John hurried across to the elevator as the elevator doors slid open and Lucy stepped out and began to look around the room full of uniformed and plainclothes police officer.
"Luc-" he began as he reached her.
"Any updates on Tim?" Lucy asked anxiously as John gently grabbed her elbow and led her across to where Jackson, Angela and Talia were standing, waiting for some news.
"Nothing so far." Angela told her as John and Lucy joined the worried trio. "The doctors are still examining him."
"I don't understand," Lucy frowned, her confusion evident in her eyes as they reached Jackson and the two T.O's. "Tim and I had the night off."
"Some of the guys on night shift told me that last night they had a couple of guys out with the flu and were short-staffed." Talia answered. "I guess when the supervising officer on the night shift called him looking for volunteers, Tim put his hand up to work a double shift…" Talia's voice trailed off as she watched the doors to the elevator open.
"What the Hell is she doing here?" Angela Lopez growled softly as she watched the young woman step out of the elevator and cautiously make her way to the edge of the waiting area. "And how the Hell did she find out Tim was hurt and get here so fast?"
Lucy turned and frowned, instantly recognizing the dirty, disheveled woman, who was nervously rubbing her thin arms as she tried to avoid making eye contact with either Angela Lopez or Talia Bishop as the two LAPD glared balefully at her. Isabel Bradford! Tim's drug addicted wife and the woman Lucy knew had shattered her T.O.'s heart.
"If I find out she had anything to do with this, I will kill her!" Talia hissed.
"Not if I kill her first!" Lucy whispered as she stepped forward to stand shoulder to shoulder with the other two female officers.
Angela was momentarily forgotten by the trio when a doctor entered the waiting area and hurried across to where Sergeant Grey was standing.
Turning back towards her sergeant, Lucy felt her heart race as she studied Grey's face as the doctor spoke softly to him before turning and hurrying away.
Taking a deep breath, Grey turned to find all the officers in the now hushed room anxiously watching him as they waited for the update that he had just received on Bradford's condition. Clearing his throat, he ordered, "Okay, gather around, people." Waiting until all the officers had gathered around him, he continued softly, "As you all know, Officer Bradford was brutally assaulted last night or in the early hours of this morning after going missing while responding to a 495 call of a home on Washington Avenue. He was found dumped in a dumpster in the Venice Beach Playground parking lot at approximately six hundred hours this morning by a couple who had been enjoying a romantic sunrise breakfast."
Casting a quick, furtive glance towards his four friends who looked as anxious for an update, any update, on Tim's condition as he was, John returned his attention back to his sergeant and interrupted quietly, "Sir… how serious are Officer Bradford's injuries?"
"Critical!" Grey answered snapped, more harshly than he meant to. Sighing, he rubbed his hand over the top of his head before he added softly, "His condition is critical. The surgeon just told me they are taking him up to the O.R. to remove a blood clot that is pressing on his brain…" Swallowing hard, he forced himself to continue, "The surgeon told me that he has also suffered internal injuries, two broken ribs, a broken arm as well as severe bruising." His hands curling into tight fists, Grey wasn't able to stop the anger he felt towards what had happened to one of his officers and friends from spilling over as he spat out, "The bastards who did this really worked him over."
Drawing a deep breath, he forced himself to regain control as he looked around at the now pale faces of his remaining officers. "There's nothing more here that we can do for Tim, the doctors are doing everything they can but there is one thing we can do and that is catch the people responsible. And get them off the streets before they can hurt anyone else or attack another police officer."
All the officers nodded in agreement as the sergeant continued, "We don't know if this was a targeted attack against Officer Bradford or an attack against police officers in general and they just grabbed any office who was unlucky enough to cross their path. So, until we know that Bradford wasn't the target I want him protected after he comes out of surgery."
"I'm off-duty today, Sir, but Tim…umm I mean …Officer Bradford is my T.O.-" Lucy began.
Grey nodded, "Do you have your back-up piece and police ID on you?"
"Yes Sir," Lucy head bobbed up and down.
"I'll have a radio sent over as soon as I get back to the station. If there's any trouble, any trouble at all, I want you to radio immediately for back-up, got that?"
"Yes, Sir!" Lucy agreed immediately.
Acknowledging Lucy's answer with a single nod, Grey turned his attention to Angela and Jackson, ordering, " Lopez. Jackson, I want the two of you to go back to the station and search for threats file for threats that have been made against Bradford and then I want you to chase down everyone who has ever threatened him. I want to know where they were last night and if they have anyone who can back up their alibi!"
"Threats file?" Nolan frowned, casting a quick questioning glance towards his T.O.
Hearing the rookie's question, Grey turned to John and quickly explained, "It's a file where we keep a record of any and all threats made to any of our officers."
"So, in situations like this, it's quicker to look up the threats file to find a list of possible suspects who have threatened the officer rather than go through all of the officer's reports, I see." Nolan breathed softly as his sergeant continued with his orders.
"Smitty, I want you to question the homeowner who made the 911 call about the burglary. Bradford never radioed in that he had arrived at the house. I want to know if he even made it to the call and if he did, what time did he leave. Also run a full background check on the homeowner, canvass the neighbours as well. I want to know if any of them noticed Bradford's shop or any suspicious activity or cars in the area around the time of Bradford's disappearance."
Not waiting for Smitty to respond to his order, Grey turned to Talia and John. "Bishop, I want you and Nolan to get down to Venice Beach and oversee the investigation. Then canvass the businesses along Ocean Front Walk, I want any outside security camera footage they may have for the area last night. Also get onto the city council, for their security footage of the playground and the parking lot. Then I want you to go through it. Hopefully we might get lucky and one of the security cameras has managed to capture Bradford being dumped in the dumpster."
"Will do." Bishop responded as Grey rushed on .
"Bradford's gun, utility belt, radio and his shop are missing, which means we have police weapons and equipment in the hands of a potential cop killer who can not only listen into our radio calls but also access to police weapons and ammunition. Look, I know the chances of Bradford being the target is small, I know, especially as he was not supposed to on duty last night which means he was targeted more because he was a cop. It also means that we all might have a target on our backs. I want you to get out on the streets and press your CI's. Someone out there knows something." Satisfied all his officers knew their assignments, Grey finished, "Okay, hit the streets and please, be careful out there!"