"It's a nice day, LaFiamma, do we always have to be goin' somewhere?" Lundy groused slowing for a corner, then applying the brakes hard to keep from hitting two young boys who were walking up and down off the curb. The blond laid on the horn but the boys continued their fun. "What the hell's a matter with him? He deaf?" Levon grumbled.

"Maybe he is," Joey responded with interest. "Swing alongside and I'll see." LaFiamma pulled his badge out of his inside pocket, and leaned out the window as Levon slowly drove next to the boy with a skateboard under his arm.

The boy was startled at the tap on his shoulder. And when the badge was flashed in his face he froze with one foot up in the air and one on the curb. They stared wide-eyed as the cop holding the badge began to sign.

"Call in, Lundy. I want to talk with them for a few minutes," Joey replied, swinging out the door even before Levon came to a stop.

"9214! We're 10-6 - Spring and Neil with a couple of juveniles," Lundy mumbled into the mike, not understanding what his partner would have to 'talk' about with a couple of deaf kids.

Lundy sat in the Jimmy fine tuning his favorite country station while LaFiamma stepped into Davis Park, a mini-curb-side park with two park benches, a few trees and a patch of spring flowers. He watched with interest as the Italian signed in what appeared to be a very animated conversation. The Texan got the distinct feeling that Joe knew how to sign long before he met his deaf girl friend in college. Fact, that is probably what attracted her to him, he figured. He had to admit his partner was a damn good-looking man! Levon watched two young mothers with strollers that were sitting by the flower garden. One mother had all she could do to keep her youngster from picking the petals off all the blossoms.

Lundy looked up sharply when he heard what sounded like gunshots. First one, then three in rapid succession.

LaFiamma instinctively reached under his jacket for his guns as he heard the shots. His mind encompassed the slow motion action around him. He saw the two-year-old with a handful of flower fall face down on the cement. He knew from the angle of the body and the expression on his face that the little boy was killed instantly. He heard the mothers screaming as he shoved the boys he'd been talking with to the ground. From behind him he heard Lundy's voice over the Jimmy loudspeaker yelling, "DOWN! EVERYBODY DOWN!"

LaFiamma continued to spin on his heel, trying desperately the check the Jimmy and Lundy, when he felt a stab in his back that took his breathe away. He looked down to see blood on his new silk shirt. "Damn," he muttered, " the thing's not even paid for yet." Then his legs gave way and he spiraled down falling face down onto the grass.

Lundy watched the people in the park fall like dominos. He stared blankly at the blood on LaFiamma's shirt, when instinct suddenly took over and he realized they were under attack.

"9214!! SHOTS FIRED! OFFICER DOWN! SPRING AND NEIL!" Lundy screamed into his microphone. Before he could release the mike a spray of bullets shattered his back window and he ducked as low as he could across the front seat as bullets shattered the windows around him.

Other units were calling him back to see if he was okay but instead of answering he yelled into his mike, "WE NEED BACKUP! MEDICS! A CHOPPER! SNIPER AT DAVIS PARK!"

Lieutenant Beaumont was immediately notified when the first alert was received, her concern-etched voice now came over the radio, "Levon, what's happening?"

"We - we stopped to talk to a couple of deaf kids playing on the curb, Joanne, then all hell broke loose! A sniper! Don't kno' where he is. LaFiamma … LaFiamma's down! And at least two others."

"LaFiamma?" She questioned at first disbelieving the statement.

"He's been shot! Saw blood on his chest just before he fell. God, Jo, don't know if he's dead or what. I'm pinned down. Windows been shot out. Can't see where they're coming from." Levon gruffed angry at the situation, frustrated at not knowing the condition of his partner.

"Hang tight, Levon, help is on its way."

"I ain't goin' nowhere, Joanne," Lundy answered solemnly, taking off his hat and peering out the shattered window at the still figure of his partner on the grass.

-=-=-=-=-=-

LaFiamma felt like an elephant was standing on his back. He knew the bullet had gone clean through, which meant it was a sophisticated high-powered rifle. He was having trouble focusing through the fog he was suspended in. He saw the other toddler, about eighteen months he figured, sitting on the grass crying for his mother. Joe couldn't see the women but he could hear them crying, one was close to hysteria, probably the mother of the dead boy. He tried to move his hands to release the grip on his guns, one was pinned under him, and the other clamped close to his head. He could hear shots ping off the Jimmy every time Levon used the loudspeaker to try to calm the women … or call his name. He couldn't raise his head enough to see where the two boys were that he'd shoved to the ground.

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

Lundy heard the sirens approaching and wondered how close to the scene they'd actually be able to get. "You better not die on me LaFiamma!" The Texan muttered to himself. "I'm getting use to your strange ways and I like havin' you as a partner. Hang in there Joe - please just hang in there."

"Air One to Beaumont, we're approaching 9214's location. From our vantage point, Lieutenant -- it - it - looks like a war zone… it looks like LaFiamma - like -- hold on checking through binoculars - your detective's been shot in the back, doesn't appear to be conscious. Two boys crouched near his legs, can't see their wounds … and, oh man … babies … one loose, one dead. Okay we spotted the mothers behind a cement bench. We can't get any lower without disturbing the scene.

// LaFiamma shot in the back? But I saw blood on … // "Oh god, Lord, NO! I need that man. Don't let him bleed to death, please! Please, Lord, don't let him die."

A volley of gunfire was heard as the chopper hovered over the scene. "TAKING FIRE, TAKING FIRE. BACKING OFF!" The pilot shouted maneuvering his aircraft out of danger. "Looks like the retorts are coming from the Parker Building, fifth or sixth floor. Corner windows. Two guns. There's … "

The mumbled words "Holy shiii-iit!" came loud and clear over the aircraft's microphone, before the pilot yelled, "9214 - GET - OUT - OF - YOUR - VEHICLE - NOW! There's a Stinger pointed right at you!"

Levon turned on the seat and using both feet, kicked at the driver's door until it opened, then hit the ground running. He saw a parked MTD bus on the other side of the road and ran for it. His hands hit the side and he flattened himself against the vehicle edging along the side to the back, then dashed for the curb. His boot tip caught the curb and he fell into the arms of his lieutenant and former partner, Joanne Beaumont.

The Stinger landed beyond the Jimmy in a junkyard about half a block down. Black smoke billowed up as tires burned. Small explosions occurred as old cars with gasoline still in them were set ablaze. Lundy knew he came close to being fried.

"Levon, you okay?" Joanne Beaumont asked as she helped her former partner to his feet.

"Joanne! We got to get him out of there!" Lundy shouted breathlessly, his lungs bursting with fire and fear.

"Easy, Levon. We're doing all we can. SWAT is clearing the Parker Building now…"

"JO-ANNE!" Lundy cut in, "LaFiamma could bleed to death by the time SWAT flushes whoever it is out! Damn he could already be dead!"

"Levon, I know you are concerned about Joe, but you saw what kind of fire power this guy has. He could blow away an armored tank!"

Their argument was cut short when the SWAT Commander radioed that the building was clear except for three offices near that corner. Offices that the building's manager says are empty. The Commander explains to Joanne that the shooter has some kind of a mirror system set up in the hall so he can see who is approaching. He fires on anyone who comes within his range. They can't get to him from the inside.

Joanne listens to an offer one of the Air One pilots is suggesting, "Lieutenant Beaumont we don't have a hell of a lot of choices here. If we don't get whoever is still alive down there out, they won't BE alive by the time we get there. I'm a Colonel in the Army Reserves, I can get Apache helicopters here in minutes. Medics, the works… if this guy thinks he's at war we can make our own mini-war zone down there. The only way you are going to neutralize whoever is in that building is to lob teargas through the windows, and - ma'am, Apaches are built for just that kind of warfare."

-=-=-=-=-=-

LaFiamma felt a light touch on his shoulder. Groggily he opened his eyes into the grinning face of a dark-haired toddler who was saying, "Daddy, Daddy." In a distance Joe could hear a woman calling, "Cody, sit next to daddy. Stay with daddy."

Joe watched as the child stretched down next to him, "Cody, take nap too. Daddy."

// You can't talk. You can't move. How the hell you suppose to help anyone you stupid Italiano. //

Joey focused next on the two deaf boys. They were signing back and forth trying to figure out a way to get him behind the park bench. // Damn why isn't my body responding to what I'm telling it to do! I got to tell them not to bother. Not to risk themselves. // He was nailed to the ground, and from the trickles of liquid he felt on the hand under him, he knew he would probably bleed to death before Lundy could reach him. // Damn, I can't remember how long that doctor in Chicago said it takes to bleed to death. One hour? Two? Hell, and that's not even for someone who has a hole on each side. //

-=-=-=-=-

Lundy's patience was wearing thin. He knew his partner couldn't last more than an hour, if indeed he was even still alive. He picked up Joanne's binoculars and watched in horror as the toddler played around his partner - kneeling in front of him before lying down next to him. He watches one of the boys Joe was talking to try to peel Joe's fingers off his clutched gun. // Let go of the damn gun LaFiamma! Show me you're alive, but don't die doing it. //

"Levon?" Joanne's voice brought the cowboy back to reality. "We're going to use a couple of Apaches to try to distract the shooter long enough to get LaFiamma and the others out. You want to go in with the paramedics?"

"You know I do!"

-=-=-=-

It took all the strength of mind Joe could muster to release his grip on the gun. The two boys laughed at his one handed signing but they understood it - they were not to move him. Joey felt the warmth of the child next to him and said a silent prayer that this child be spared. // I know you're doing your best, Lundy, but I'm getting' damn cold out here. //

Lundy looked to the East and heard the unmistakable sound of approaching Apache helicopters. He smiled at the thought - they sounded just like those Dutch Klompen Dancers that dance in wooden shoes on tour from Holland, Michigan, that he and Joe saw last month. The blond detective gazed down the street to see two military ambulances approaching.

"Levon, you ready? You need to slip into this uniform, you're about to become an Army medic." Beaumont said, touching her detective lightly on the shoulder.

-=-=-=-=-=-

LaFiamma felt the ground vibrate under him and noticed the boys felt the vibration too. Suddenly the toddler next to him sat up. "Daddy, daddy, look! Your airpain!"

Tears slid down Joe's face as he painfully moved his arm around the youngster to keep him from wandering off. Ironic, Joe thought, that the boy's dad was an Apache pilot. He prayed silently that the gun pinned under him would be enough pressure to keep him from bleeding to death. He knew he was already on the losing end of the deal, he was shivering and going into shock. If Lundy didn't hurry, it would be too late.

-=-=-=-=-=-=

Lundy climbed into the back of the camouflaged ambulance, praying silently that they weren't already too late. He watched Army corpsmen, dressed in battle fatigues, jog along the side of the vehicle. Soon they began the call, "Medic! Medic!" And the slow roll started toward the park.

-=-=-=-=-

Cody heard the cry of 'Medic' and stood up to wave to the approaching parade. Joey's arm slipped useless to the grass, he had no strength to hold the boy down. Then the Italian heard Cody's mother call, "Cody! Stay with Daddy! Sit down!" And the youngster obeyed, dutifully sitting back down next to his 'daddy'.

As Cody's hand once again touched him on the shoulder, LaFiamma faded into a fog. A fog as close to death as the Italian ever wanted to be.

"Grandma?" Joey gulped staring with disbelief at his great-grandmother. He couldn't quite see her face but he'd recognize that blue apron of hers anywhere. She must have had hundred of them, she wore one every day.

"O, Little Josef, what predicaments you get into!" Christina Maria Angelina LaFiamma whispered with a smile. "Remember when the ladder fell away from the tree and you grabbed for the limb? You must do the same now Joey. Your partner is that tree, Joey."

"Levon?" Joey asked, "Is a tree?" He couldn't quite fathom the loud-mouthed Texan as a tree.

"Joseph!" Grandma LaFiamma said sharply pointing to a figure behind him. Joe turned to see Levon standing in the running board of an Army truck coming his way. His eyes dropped to the grass and he gasped at the sight of himself and the growing red spot on his back. "You and Levon have many things to accomplish Joseph. I have been sent not only for the miracle of life that Levon is praying for -- but for you, Joey, to pray for your family and what is coming to them. Your prayers may be the only thing that saves them."

"Grandma?" Joey yelped as he felt a rush of pain, but she was gone, fading into the fog that swirled around him.

-=-=-=-=

The Apaches swooped down on the Parker Building, returning fire as they were fired upon. Medics on the ground scurried through the park gathering up mothers, boys, children and a downed police officer. Joey gave an involuntary yelp of pain, followed by the word 'Grandma' when medics rolled him onto a backboard and raced him to the waiting ambulance.

Inside the ambulance the medics opened Joe's shirt to examine the wound. To their amazement they found the blood loss less than expected because of the pressure of Joe's gun on his chest. Knowing that releasing the gun from the wound would cause the wound to bleed profusely they radioed the Trauma Center as the vehicle began to move toward a waiting MedVac Chopper.

The Texan leaned low and whispered his partner's name, "LaFiamma?"

"Levon?" Came the hoarse answered whisper. "bout time -- you showed up."

The two medics exchanged glances, looked at Joe then up at Lundy as they administered IVs and oxygen to a man they thought was already dead. Finally one said, "this guy is blessed! He should have bled to death by now."

"Italians are hard to kill. Especially this Italian," Levon answered, praying it wasn't one of those exploding bullets that spread on impact. The blond stared at the open wound, and Joe's gun embedded in the skin.

"Looks like falling on his gun was a god-send. Cut off the bleeding and helped keep the exit wound from expanding."

Joey moaned as the vehicle came to an abrupt stop. He reached out for Lundy's hand as he was lifted off the back of the ambulance and carried to a waiting chopper. "Couldn't a' lasted much longer," Joey hoarse voice muttered.

"I know, Joe - I know!" Lundy answered, gripping the extended hand tightly. "Damn, Joe, it's a miracle you're still alive."

"Grandma said … you prayed for a miracle … and you and me - we still got lots to do." Joey rasped as chopper medics strapped him in.

"Grandma?" Levon echoed, startled at the word. The Texan stared at the MedVac as it climbed into the sky and disappeared. // Grandma? All his grandmothers are… are . // "Dead!"

Beaumont waited behind her former partner lightly touching his arm when the word 'dead' passed his lips. "He's not dead, Levon."

"Wha? Jo? No, I know, and he's not gonna die either. Not now or next time." The blond blurted not wanting to explain why he knew. "What happened? Did we get the shooter?"

"Oh, yeah! Apaches lobbed in tear gas and SWAT took him away. FireArms Control is doing an inventory now. The guy had a mini arsenal up there. A refrigerator full of food … he had plans for a long stay."

Almost forgotten was a little boy named Cody, who now ran up to Levon demanding to know where his daddy was being taken. Cody's mother, Terry Norton, explained that Cody's father was an Apache pilot and they'd just been transferred back to the states from Germany.

"Well, ma'am, knowing Sergeant LaFiamma like I do, he'll want to know if Cody is okay. He won't just take my word for it. You might stop by in a few days to say hello so he can see first-hand."

"Thank you, we will, all three of us!" She replied, bending to pick up Cody, hushing him about why he didn't get to go with his daddy in the Apache.

Lundy took his hat off and ran a hand through his hair as he leaned against the MTD bus. Joe had been close enough to death to see one of his grandmothers. // It had been too close this time. Too damn close! //

THE END