Touch of Vision

Chapter Four

The four friends sat watching the fifth member of their group as he lay on the bed. JC was lying completely still, eyes closed, he’d have passed for someone who was sound asleep except the fact that he was talking. It was a faint murmur compared to the voice the boys were used to but it told them all that he was very much awake.

Suddenly everyone in the room was reminded that there were others present when an unfamiliar phone rang.

JC’s eyes shoot open and he sits up scooting to the headboard, propping himself there.

Agent Jackson answers on the second ring, listens for a few minutes then flips the phone shut. “Looks like our trip is postponed. Sanchez and I have to head out for a little while.” She looks towards JC, “You wanna tag along? We might be able to use your help with this one.”

JC stands, slipping on a jacket then turns to his friends who have also gotten up to join the agents. “Somebody needs to stay here, just in case Johnny gets through and can arrange a meeting.”

The boys all look at each other with Chris finally stating, “Fine! I’ll stay, but I better not…” He trails off as the door clicks leaving him alone in the room. “Geez…guess I didn’t have much of a choice anyway.” He shrugs and plants himself on the bed to wait for the phone to ring.

*~*

The boys and the agents pull up to an already ugly scene on the other side of town. The scene in both cars is remarkably similar. Each agent turns to their passengers and smiles, asking politely that everyone stay in the cars until the situation can be assessed. Joey and Lance both nod in compliance, however JC and Justin are not so quick to agree.

JC looks at Agent Sanchez and asks meekly, “If you’re gonna keep me in the car then why did you want me to come along?”

“Mr. Chasez, please. Just stay in the car until we can determine how bad the situation is. We don’t know how bad it is yet. All we know is that there are hostages, we just don’t know how many or where they are. Please just stay here. Once I know more I’ll come back to get you. Ok?”

“Alright. We’ll stay. I need to talk to Hailey anyway, if I can.”

“Good and thank you for understanding. If there is anything that you can assist with I’ll be back in a flash. Otherwise you boys stay in the car, it’ll be safer for everyone involved.”

Justin glares at the agent as he closes the door, “Why did we come along if we’re just gonna sit in the car? I don’t know what kind of help you’re gonna be here Jayce. It’s a freaking bank. If it’s being robbed what can you do to stop it? I don’t get these people sometimes.”

JC smiles at his impatient friend, “Relax Just. If they need me I’m here. If not, I’m gonna sit back and relax til it’s over. Can you sit back and relax for a minute or two. I need to let Hailey know why I just disappeared. It’s getting really bad for her now. I don’t know why but the guy that was nice to her all the time hasn’t been back since he helped her clean up and put the dress on.” JC takes Justin’s hand and holds it in his as he leans his head back and closes his eyes.

Hailey is sitting quietly on the floor, “Where’d you go this time? Why’d you have to leave without saying goodbye?”

“Sorry about that. The Agents that are trying to help me find you…well one of them got a call and we had to leave the hotel. I’m in a car right now so I may have to leave abruptly again ok?”

“Ok. I just, well I was worried when you didn’t come right back. Got kinda scared. How much longer do you think it will take til they figure out where I am? I think the mean one, John, I think his name is is getting meaner and meaner. He came in here again and look (she lifts her shirt about midway up her stomach to display a still bleeding cut along one rib). It hurts really bad. Please hurry.” The tears stream from her eyes, “I miss my daddy so much Mister JC.”

“I know you do sweetie. I’ve been trying, well I’ve had one of my friends trying, to get ahold of him. Maybe you can use me to talk to him. If I can get him to understand how this works. We’re trying sweetie. I wish I could do more.”

JC’s eyes fly open as the first shot is fired. He jumps at the second shot cracks across the parking area and Agent Sanchez comes running around the side of the car, pulling the door opposite the bank open and yelling, “Get out of the car. They’ve got armor piercing ammo. Two officers are already down.”

Justin scrambles out the door and moves slightly to the rear to allow JC room to get out and hide behind the car. JC looks at Agent Sanchez for a few minutes, confusion clear across his face then he speaks up, “Um…if it’s armor piercing, then what good is it going to do for us to be hiding behind the car? Can’t it go straight through?”

Agent Sanchez glances at JC quickly then returns his attention to the action in front of him, “You want one layer of metal between you and the shooters or two? Personally I prefer at least two.”

“Good point,” JC whispers as another bullet whizzes close by. “What about the officers that were shot? Where are they?” JC leans forward and places a hand on Agent Sanchez’s shoulder and closing his eyes.

The S.W.A.T. team pulls pasted the car that he’s hiding behind, several officers jumping out in different positions around the building. He glances up at the building across the street and can see the snipers moving into position. The microphone in his ear full of noise, “I’m in position,” one voice states as another pipes in, “Team two ready.” As several more teams check in he concentrates on the S.W.A.T. team directly in front of him as the first shot is fired. “Shit,” he yells. “Man down. Make that two. We have two officers down. They’ve got cop killers. Pull back, get back out of range. Now damn it.” He turns and runs back to his car, “Jackson? Get those two out of that car and get as many cars between them and the shooters as possible. That’s the last thing we need is one of these guys getting shot. That’d make for a great headline, great publicity for these assholes.” He watches til she’s got both men behind her car and then heads towards his own again.

JC pulls his hand back and looks at Agent Sanchez, “Cop Killers? That’s what you call them?”

Sanchez looks at him for a minute then replies, “Yeah. Cuz they go straight through the flack vests. They’ve got military equipment. We’re way out of our league here.”

Justin gasps, causing JC and Sanchez to both turn in his direction. The look on his face made both men avert their gazes in the direction he was looking, just in time to see a squad car practically explode as several rounds were shot into it. JC jumps up and runs, without thinking, towards it.

“Chasez! Get your ass…shit, you’re gonna get.” Sanchez jumps up and follows the young man as he realizes the younger man can no longer here him for all the noise. He watches as JC reaches the burning car, leans down and attempts to drag a body from the front of it. “Here, let me help.” He huffs as he reaches the scene. They pull the fallen officer behind Sanchez’s car and Sanchez leans over to see if the man is still alive. Feeling a pulse, he looks up and smiles at JC and Justin, “Looks like he’ll live to fight another day. If we can get him out of here soon, that is.”

Their attention is quickly drawn back to the foray when everything becomes deathly quiet. Their eyes meet and in unison they whisper, “This can’t be good.”

Once again Sanchez finds himself chasing after JC as he’s running across the parking lot. However, this time JC’s headed for Agent Jackson’s car. When Sanchez catches him JC gives him a stern look, “I’ve seen this. We need to get them all out of here or they’re gonna get shot. Help me?” Agent Sanchez nods and they continue making their way towards the car.

JC reaches the car first and Agent Jackson yells, “What the hell? Thought you didn’t want them in the middle of this?”

“You have to move! Now!” JC yells in return. “I’ve seen…” He trails off as a bullet hits the windshield. He looks at his two friends crouching behind the car. “You have to get out of here. You’re too close.”

The three of them cower behind the car, then rush behind another car a bit further back. As they’re dodging behind the third car JC hears the one sound he was dreading but was near certain he was going to hear.

“Joe get down. You’re gonna get hit.” Lance screams from behind the patrol car he’d just ducked behind.

Joey ducks behind the car just as barely getting far enough behind as a bullet goes through the tire he’d been in front of just second before. The five of them manage to dodge the bullets and make it back behind Sanchez’s car where they find a very distraught Justin. He looks up as JC sits next to him and wraps his arms around his friend, “God Jayce, don’t ever do something like that again. I thought I’d lost you for sure.”

However, JC didn’t hear any of what Justin had said due to the vision he was receiving:

“Get your hands up. You’re gonna pay dearly for what you’ve done today.” Sanchez grabs the first man out the glass doors and roughly makes him lay face down on the hood of the patrol car. “You have any idea what the sentence is for killing a police officer in the line of duty? Let alone the fact that you killed two of the hostages and the attempted robbery. Not sure what you boys were thinking but guess it doesn’t matter much now does it?” He pulls the man up and looks at the officer standing in front of him, “Get this piece of shit out of here.”

JC pulls back, attempting to smile at his friend, “I’m sorry Just. What’d you say?”

Justin just smiles, “Nothing. Just don’t pull anything like that again ok?”

“You got it. That was some scary shit man. I don’t know how they do this every day.” He looks out over the car at all the officers, “However, I do know that it’s not gonna turn out as bad as it looks. Can you,” he indicates to Sanchez’s back. “I need to tell him something. I may not be able to help get the hostages out but I think I can help with saving the officers that are out here.”

Justin taps Sanchez on the shoulder and indicates that JC wants to talk to him. Sanchez turns his attention to JC, “What is it kid?”

“I think I have an idea.”

“You think?”

“Well, I’m not sure if it’ll work but,” he shrugs. “It might.” He waits for Sanchez to nod then begins to lay out what he’d seen in his brief vision. Finally he states, “I imagine that the hostages they’re hiding behind would rather be injured than dead, don’t you think?”

“You’ve got a point kid.” He presses a button on his chest that the others hadn’t noticed til then and starts yelling orders. “You boys need to stay here. No matter what.” He looks pointedly at JC. “NO MATTER WHAT! You got me?”

JC ducks his head, “I got ya.”

In a flurry of movement and gunfire the standoff is over. Finally JC hears Sanchez’s voice, “Get your hands up. You’re gonna pay dearly for what you’ve done today.” He releases a deep sigh that catches the attention of his four friends. He smiles, “It’s over guys and hopefully not as badly as my vision.”

Sanchez returns several minutes later, “Well, you were right Chasez. They were exactly where you said they’d be. The sniper had to shoot one of the hostages in a leg but that’s it. Seems there will be no funerals from all this.” He pauses, “Well not on our side anyway. We had one guy who thought he was bulletproof, he found out the hard way that he wasn’t.”

JC remains quiet for a few minutes, thinking, then looks up at Sanchez, “Um…he wouldn’t…well the guy that got shot, he wouldn’t happen to be a Dr. Carrasquillo, would he?”

Sanchez wheels around, “How the hell? Oh never mind. I don’t know if you’re a curse or a…shit I don’t know what to think of you kid.”

Joey walks up, throws an arm over Sanchez’s shoulders, “Dude, we’ve known him for years and WE don’t know what to make of him. You think in a couple of months you’re gonna figure him out?”

With a chuckle Sanchez looks at the four friends, “Guess not.”

*~*

Chris jumps off the bed as he hears his friends coming down the hallway. He opens the door and starts talking before they’re all even in the room. “Johnny called. He finally managed to get a hold of Eminem. I don’t know what he told the man but we’ve got exactly twenty-four hours to get to Orlando and meet with him. Johnny’s already booked the flight. We’ve got,” he pauses long enough to check his watch. “2 hours to get the airport or we’ll miss our flight. I’ve taken the liberty of packing for everyone, so grab your stuff and let’s go. The hotel has had a limo reserved for us, I told them that as soon as you walked in to have it ready to go cuz we wouldn’t have much time. Where are Sanchez and Jackson? Aren’t they with you? Johnny booked them both tickets as well.”

“Whoa man, take a breath.” Justin smiles. “Sanchez and Jackson are kinda busy. Haven’t you been watching tv?”

“Yeah, I saw all that. JC YOU ARE CRAZY! What the hell were you thinking?” Chris states.

“I wasn’t, just knew that it had to be done.”

“Well, don’t do it again, ok?”

“Yeah, yeah…I’ve already heard it man.” He looks from Justin to Lance to Joey then mumbles, “Ungrateful little…”

“What’s that Jayce?” Justin smiles.

“Nothing. Don’t we have a plane to catch?”

“I’ll see if I can get through to Sanchez and Jackson,” Lance states as the five boys get on the elevator. “Maybe they can meet us at the airport. I’m sure there are a few strings we can pull on their behalf if need be. What time are we supposed to meet Mathers?”