| Heroes And Angels Part 3 |
| Standing in the emergency room while the doctors feverishly worked on Joe was a horrifying moment for Harvey and Cassidy. Harvey kept staring at the blood that covered him, and ran through the last few hours in his head. To wipe away the tears he put his jacket to his face. He could feel the angel burning a hole into his forehead "How could this have happened?" He muttered to himself. On the other side of the waiting room, Nash and Cassidy did their best to comfort Inger as they sat together. Cassidy held on to Lucia and rocked back and forth, as if she was trying to detach all the memories of the last few hours from her body. All were in a state of disbelief over the events that took place at the warehouse. After about an hour the doctor returned to say that Joe was on his way to surgery. "Is he gonna make it doc?" Nash asked. "I'll be honest with you all, it is hard to say right now. We'll know more after the surgery. A lot of damage was done. Right now our main priority is getting him through surgery." Inger began sobbing into Nash's shoulder at the thought of Joe in surgery. He held her and told her things would be ok. After making sure Inger would be all right, Nash gently pulled away from her and made his way to Harvey. "Look Harv, Cassidy said she would stay here and call us when she found out anything. We should get back to the SIU and see what we can do to find Antwon." "Yeah, you're right...how's Inger holding up?" "Well, she's been here before, but I think she'll be ok." Nash pulled Harvey in the direction of the hospital entrance. When they were out of the building they began to talk again. "So tell me exactly what happened. Don't leave out anything?" "Well...We waited at the warehouse, just as planned. Cass and I went in the front, and Twon and Joe...went in the back. We got to a room in the middle of the building, and heard voices. We made our way towards it, and when we got to the door... I heard Joe yell, we went in and then the shooting started. Cass and I were trying to stop Chamber's men from going out the other door when we saw Joe get hit. It was like watching some horror movie Nash. They kept shooting at him even after he was down. We tried to draw their fire, but..." Tears began to flow down Harvey's cheek. Nash placed a hand on his shoulder. "I've seen guys get shot man, I've seen them die, but it was like nothing I've ever seen before." "Then what happened?, They just took Antwon with them?" "No...that's what we were trying to tell you before..." There was a long pause. "What were you trying to say Harv? What about Antwon?" "It happened so fast, it didn't even register at first..." "What?" "It was Twon...he fired the first shot..." "What are you saying?" "He kept us from getting to Joe. If Cass and I hadn't backed off when we did, we'd be in that hospital bed right next to Joe or worse..." Nash stood in silence for a moment "You're telling me that Antwon...shot Joe?" "The whole time we thought it was Joe. It never occurred to me that it could be...Antwon. All the evidence pointed to Joe. The way he kept firing at him, it was like he didn't even care...The bullets...the blood...this is all my fault Nash." Harvey began to sob into his jacket, as he turned away from Nash. Calmly Nash again placed his hand on Harvey's shoulder and comforted him. "This is no more your fault than it is anyone else's bubba. Don't blame yourself. These things-" "Don't tell me these things happen! You don't just lead your friends into a trap and that could get them hurt!! Joe could die in there tonight, and it is my fault!!" Angrily Harvey kicked the side of his PT Cruiser, and then moved away from the vehicle. Nash stood off to side and let Harvey vent for a few minutes, while trying to register these new revelations in his head. Later at the SIU, Harvey and Nash made some calls and had cops patrolling the streets looking for any sign of Antwon and Chambers. It all seemed to no avail, because they were nowhere to be found. They continued their search on into the morning hours, and still came up with nothing. Exhausted and ready to pass out, Harvey made one last phone call. "uhuh...ok...yeah...thanks Cappy...ok...bye." Quickly he grabbed his jacket and started for the door. "Whoa bubba. What'd you find out?" "Maybe something, maybe nothing, but one of my informants says he saw one of Chamber's guys entering the peer about an hour ago." "Ok, take Rachel with you, and let us know what you find." "Where is she anyway?" He commented looking around the room. "Right where I have been for the last two hours Harv..." Rachel chimed in as Harvey spun around to see her sitting directly behind him at her desk. "I never even saw you come in." "How could you have seen me? You've been married to that phone since before I got here." They all began to laugh. "All right. Let's get outta here." He began to feel around his pockets for his keys, and Rachel grabbed his arm and pulled him along. "Don't even think I am going to let you drive." A few minutes later after wrestling the keys from a very groggy Harvey, he and Rachel arrived at the peer. They were there for nearly an hour before giving up their search for Chamber's man. An angered Harvey and Rachel, then set off to find Cappy and find out what was going on. When they arrived and his apartment, Harvey burst through the door after Rachel knocked, and grabbed him by the arm and then placed his gun to side of Cappy's head. Rachel was quite disturbed by her partner's behavior, but she did her best to play along, hoping not to send him any further over the edge than he already was. "Hey man what the hell are you doing?" "Don't screw with me Cap, I am in no mood!!!" "Easy H. Take it easy." "You lied Cappy!" "What are you talking about? I don't lie." "Man are you stupid or do you just want him to blow your head off?" "ok. ok. They paid me 2g's to send you guys to peer for awhile." "Who?" "I don't know man, a couple a guys." "If you don't tell me what I want to know right now, I am gonna blow a hole straight through your head and use you as a bowling ball!" "Don't rush me H man. You know I got to take my time, and do my thing." Impatient, Harvey clicked off the safety, and readied to pull the trigger. A nervous Rachel stared at Harvey in utter disbelief. "Jesus Christ!!! It was Hobbs and Calhoun, two of Cody Chamber's flunkies. They showed up here, and gave me 2 thousand dollars to tell you they were at the peer. When you called I told you what they wanted me to say and that was it." "Where are they now?" "How should I know?" "Do really want to test me right now? because I will pull the trigger." He pressed the gun further into Cappy's forehead. "All Right. As far as I know, word on the street says Chamber's went under, but he won't stay down for long." "Why?" Rachel responded "He's got to feed his habit..." "I can't believe I didn't think about that!" "What? What habit?" "Chamber's is a heroine addict...It never even crossed my mind until now." "umm...could you please remove the weapon from my forehead now?" Quickly clicking the safety back on, Harvey returned his gun to its holster as Cappy breathed a sigh of relief. "He gets his goods from this guy downtown. His name is Lukas Berkett. If you want to get Chamber's check with Berkett. That's all I know H." "Let's get outta here Rach...I have an idea." They both moved back through the apartment and out the door. Back at the hospital, Cassidy and Inger waited anxiously for the Joe to get out of surgery. Things had been going well at first, but some complications arose and the surgery had continued on into the next morning. Finally after about fifteen hours, the doctors came out of the operating room. Inger clutched Cassidy's hand nervously as the doctor came closer. She had prayed for the best, but in the pit of her gut she feared the worst. It seemed like an eternity as they watched the doctor get closer. When he reached them Cassidy's blood ran cold when she saw the look on his face. Inger stood for a moment but fell to the chair when he began to speak. "Things did not go as we had hoped Mrs. Domiguez. There were some complications as you know. He did make it through the surgery, but he has slipped into a coma. We are doing all we can, but right now there is not much that we can do but wait." "Is he going to die doctor?" "To be honest I don't know, but if he's come this far there is a good chance he will make it." "Can we see him?" "I'll have one of the nurses take you to him in a few minutes." With that the doctor went back to the nurse's desk, while Cassidy and Inger sat there unsure of how to respond to what had just been said. After a few minutes, Inger picked up Lucia and then burst into tears when she saw the Joe-like smile come across her innocent face. Cassidy moved to take Lucia from her, but was promptly stopped by Inger as she collected herself and proceeded to the nurse's desk. Together they went to Joe's room. Looking at his small frame lying in the bed as though he would simply rise and go about the rest of his day, made Cassidy shed tear. Her feelings of guilt overwhelmed her and she could no longer stand in the room, lest she lose herself completely. "I think I'll go call the office and let them know what's going on. Do you want anything?" She said as she headed for the door. "No thank you dear. Lucia and I will be just fine. Joe will wake up soon and verything will be ok." Cassidy couldn't hold it in any longer, so she went to Inger and hugged her. "I am so sorry about this." She whispered in her ear. "There is nothing to be sorry about Cassidy. You only did your job. Just wait, Joe will be fine. You have faith don't you?" If only you knew we were there to takedown Joe, she thought. Wiping a tear from her face "Yeah, I guess so." "Good then. Just keep believing he will be fine, and he will. Now go call your father and Harvey." Oh my god she thought. She had completely forgotten about Harvey during all this. As she went out the door she fumbled for her cell phone, and went out the hospital doors to make the call. Nash sat anxiously at his desk going through paperwork for the Chamber's case, as he awaited Cassidy's phone call. A part of him wished he could be there with his friend, but he knew he could do more good here trying to catch the people that put him there in the first place. With the jumble of thoughts going through his head, he barely heard the phone ringing in front of him. "Nash!" "Daddy, It's me." "What's going on? How's Joe?" There was a brief pause before she answered. "Well, he made it through the surgery. The doctor said that there were some complications, and he's in a coma right now." Nash's heart sank at hearing those words. "Is he gonna be ok?" "They don't know, they said all we can do is wait...I am gonna stay here for a while with Inger and Lucia. Has anyone gotten a hold of JJ yet?" "I'm still working on it. He hasn't returned my phone call yet. I'll try again later." "I'll try him myself in a few minutes." "All right, well I'm gonna get back to work here. Tell Inger everyone here is pulling for him." "I will...by the way...how is Harv?" "As good as can be expected I guess. Why?" "It just that...I know I feel a certain amount of guilt over this, and I am sure he does too." "You two need to accept that this is not your fault. It is nobody's fault, it just happened." "I can't accept that daddy. I just can't." "Cass-" she turned off the phone before he could finish Nash looked up from his desk to see that half the department was staring in his direction wanting to know the status of their fallen comrade. Nash relayed the status to Ronnie as he walked outside for some air. * * * |
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