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Title: Trapped
Author: Pammie Helton
Email: bjtvgcd@aol.com
Rated: PG
Challenge: #85) Steve is trapped in a warehouse that is on fire
with a broken leg. -- Bbw517536
Summary: Steve goes on a stakeout that endangers his life and
kills another.
Disclaimer: The characters aren't mine. I'm just borrowing them
for a while.
***************
"Steve, can I see you in my office for a few minutes?"
"Sure, Captain," Steve stops his paperwork and gets up
and follows the captain into his office. "What can I do for
you, Sir?"
"We just got a lead on one of the drug dealers we've been
watching. There's going to be a drop at a warehouse
downtown."
"When is the drop going to be?"
"That's just it. We're not for sure. The source could only
give us an approximate date. So, it'll probably be about a week's
job, "the captain paused, "I want you to be the officer
in charge."
Steve nodded.
"That means that you'll have to stay in the warehouse until
the drop takes place. But I want you to call in every morning and
report to me."
"Alright, Sir. When do I leave?"
"I want you there tomorrow morning. Here's the address. I'll
send some officers there around nine in the morning. Go home. Get
some rest. And be at the warehouse in the morning."
Steve took the address and walked out of the office. He cleaned
off his desk and left the station.
**************
"Dad, I'm home," Steve called as he shut the door.
"Steve? What are you doing home so early?" Mark asked
as he walked out to meet his son.
"The captain gave me the afternoon off."
"What did you do now?"
"Nothing. I'm going to be on stakeout for probably about a
week and he told me to come home and get rested."
"What's the stakeout for?"
"A drug raid."
"And it's for a week. Why so long?" Mark asked as he
and his son walked into the living room.
"We don't know the exact date, so we have to stay
longer."
"Well, when do you leave?"
"I'm supposed to be there tomorrow morning at 6:00."
"That soon, huh? Well, I've got to be at the hospital at
seven tonight, and I don't get off until seven in the morning. I
don't guess I'll see you in the morning then."
"No, I guess not," Steve paused, "I'm going to get
something to eat, then I'm going to get some sleep."
"Alright. Well, I'll see you when you get back."
"Yeah. See you then," Steve went downstairs.
Once downstairs, Steve pulled off his jacket and threw it on a
chair. He went into his bathroom and tugged off his shirt. He
unbuttoned his pants and let them fall to the floor. He walked to
his bed and crawled under the covers. He knew he had a long hard
job ahead of him. And he knew it was a dangerous job, but he was
chosen by the captain to be the officer in charge, and he knew
that was an important recommendation so he had to do his job. He
felt that something wasn't right with the stakeout, but he soon
put it out of his mind and slept like he hadn't slept in years.
****************
"Lieutenant Sloan, we're officers Sean Bryant and Tom
Porter. The Captain sent us for the raid."
"Great. I've already set up in that office over there.
That's the only place we can get a pretty good view of the
building next door," Steve leads the two officers towards
the office, "There is to be at least one of us at this
window at all times. If you see anything suspicious, call me.
Wake me up if you have to."
"Yes, sir," the two officers sat down and looked out
the window.
The day passed and no one entered the building. No drug raid
occurred. In fact, nothing at all happened. The next day nothing
happened. But early the next morning Officer Bryant spotted some
activity occurring at the building. "Lieutenant, I think
we've got something."
Steve sat up from the couch he was on and holstered his gun,
"What's going on?"
"There are two cars pulling up to the corner of the
building," answered Bryant.
"Porter, get out here," Steve called as he walked to
the window.
"What's going on?" Porter asked as he came out of a
side room.
"There are two cars at the corner of that building."
Steve motioned for them to be quiet, "Five people just went
in." Steve continued to watch and after a few minutes
several people came out to the cars. "Alright, Bryant you're
with me. Porter when you see something happen, tell me,"
Steve put a listening device in his ear.
"I don't think so, Lieutenant," Porter pulled a gun and
aimed it at Steve.
"What are you doing Porter," Bryant asked as he started
out the door.
"Stop where you are."
Bryant turned around and saw that Porter had the gun pointed at
him.
"We are not going to interrupt this exchange."
"Porter," Steve started, "why are you doing
this?"
"Well, you see, Lieutenant, the man in charge of this
exchange is my father. I will not let him get hurt or arrested.
Now why don't both of you go and sit down over there." He
pointed to a couple of chairs.
While they were walking, Steve reached for his gun. "Now,
now. I wouldn't do that if I were you. It wouldn't do you any
good anyway. While you were asleep last night, I unloaded it. Now
why don't you just hand that over to me." Steve complied.
"And Bryant, you too." Bryant complied. They both sat
down when they reached the chairs.
"What are you going to do now, Porter. Kill us? How are you
going to get out of this?" Bryant asked.
"I don't know yet. I haven't decided. But if you don't shut
up, I'll kill you anyway."
"How could you do this. We've been partners for a year and a
half."
"Yeah, I know. Worst year and a half of my life. Having to
play a good guy and all," Porter looked out the window.
Steve is trying to think of a way to disarm the man, but he knows
he is pretty much powerless without a gun.
"And don't even think of trying to escape. The only two ways
out of here are the door where we came in and that window in that
office." Porter made sure Steve and Bryant knew he was in
control.
"What are you planning on doing with us?" Steve asked
trying to keep Porter talking and occupied.
"Like I said before, I'm not sure yet."
****************
Mark was sitting in the doctors' lounge reviewing a patient's
file when Amanda entered the room. "Mark."
"Oh, hi Amanda."
"Where's Steve lately. I haven't see him around in a couple
of days."
"He went on a stakeout a few days ago. He didn't know how
long it would be, but he said about a week. I thought you
knew."
"No, I didn't. I was wondering why he hasn't been up here to
get an autopsy lately. And you don't know when he's supposed to
be back?"
"No, I don't. I hope it's not too long though. I still worry
about him when he goes on stakeouts."
"Of course, Mark. I would worry about you if you didn't
worry about him," Amanda smiled as she got up, "well,
I've got to get some work done. See you later."
"Bye, Amanda."
**************
An hour passed and the cars drove off. Porter knew he had won. He
had let his father make a big drop. Porter came back into the
room and looked at the two, "Now what to do with you two.
I'm supposed to meet my father in an hour, so I've got to hurry
and decide."
"Well, I'm getting tired of this. If you're going to kill
us, then kill us," Bryant said to Porter.
"Well, maybe I will," Porter pointed the gun to
Bryant's head.
Steve intervened, "Now, you don't have to do anything that
drastic."
"Oh yeah," Porter took the gun and pointed it at
Steve's head, "well maybe I do. I think I'll start with you.
But maybe not. It doesn't really matter. You know I think I'll
start with Bryant over here. He's been such a goody-goody the
whole time," he turned the gun to Bryant and shot. Bryant
fell out of the chair when the bullet entered his chest. His
shirt was soon soaked with blood. Steve wanted to check to see if
he was all right, but when he tried to go to Bryant, Porter
threatened to shoot him, "Don't even think about it,"
Porter warned.
Porter left to go into the office. Steve went over to check on
Bryant, but just as he thought - no pulse. Steve wanted so bad to
go in there and knock Porter out so this would all be over with.
He then noticed a ventilation system and decided that could
possibly be his only way out. He tried to climb up into the vent
before Porter came back. He almost made it before Porter came
back. Porter caught Steve's leg. Steve kicked with his other
foot, but almost lost his hold. But he managed to keep a tight
grip and managed to free himself from Porter's grip. Steve
crawled through the vent, but he had no idea where it led. He
just hoped Porter didn't try to follow. Steve had barely made it
up there, and Porter was a lot smaller than he was, so he didn't
think Porter could make it up.
Steve continued to crawl around; he still didn't know where he
was. He wished he had looked at more of the warehouse when he
first arrived, maybe then he would have known where he could go
to be safe. He stopped after a while and just sat. Before much
longer he heard some rattling below. He looked through the vent
and saw Porter pouring some liquid on everything in the room.
"Great," Steve thought. He knew it was probably
gasoline. Porter left the room, but Steve heard him pouring the
liquid in the other room. Then Steve heard nothing. But a few
minutes later he heard a car leave the parking lot. Then he
smelled something. The building was on fire. All of a sudden the
vent he was sitting in started to get warm, and ever so slowly it
started getting hotter and hotter. He crawled to find somewhere
to get out of the vent system. He finally found an escape, but
the metal had already burned him. He looked down and saw it was a
long way, but he had no choice; he had to jump.
He jumped and landed on his leg. He got over the initial shock of
hitting the floor, and then he looked himself over and found a
few burns on his arms. But once he looked around the room, he
thought he'd better find a way out or he'd have a lot more than
just a few burns on his arms. When he tried to get up, a pain
shot through his leg and he realized he might have broken it when
he jumped. He tried to think of a way to get out. He knew he
could have probably crawled out had the fire not been around him,
but it was so he had to find some other way to crawl out.
***************
Amanda walked up to Jesse, "Jesse, are you okay? You look
kind of ragged."
"Yeah, I'm fine. Just tired. I had a double shift yesterday,
and I had to do some work at Bob's last night. By the time I got
home I had to leave to get here at seven."
"How much longer are you on?"
"Four hours and counting."
"Hang in there. Steve will be back soon. Then you can make
him do all the work at the restaurant."
"You'd better believe it," Jesse wrote something in the
chart, "well, I need to go tell this patient that he's got
the flu."
"Bye."
"See ya."
*******
The fire was spreading quickly. Steve didn't know how he was
ever going to make it out alive. He noticed the fire wasn't as
strong towards one end of the building. So, he gathered all his
strength and started to crawl. He was in pain, but he knew he had
to get to the place where the fire wasn't as strong. Sweat formed
on his face. He went into a small room, but then decided that
wouldn't be the best place to be. He started his way away from
the biggest fire. He knew that the door was the other way, but he
didn't have a chance of getting out that way because the fire had
almost demolished that end of the building. And it was moving
quickly towards him. He managed to find his way back to the area
where the three of them had been.
He remembered Porter saying something about a window in the
office. Steve thought that could be his way out, but the office
was full of fire. "Dammit," Steve silently cursed. By
now his shirt was wet from his sweat. He was tired so he stopped
a while. His breathing soon became harder. He started to cough.
He wanted to get up and find a way out, but he didn't have the
strength. He just sat where he was, and his mind started to
wander.
*******************
Captain Newman was standing outside with the fire chief,
"Captain, the fire is pretty much all over the building. I
don't see how anyone could have survived."
"Well, I suggest you and your men get busy so we can find
out if anyone is in there or not."
The fire chief went over and soon several men went around the
building. Fire hoses went up and the firemen started spraying at
the flames. It took them a while to get the flames under control,
but when they did, several firemen went inside.
The Captain stood looking as the men entered the building. He
knew something had been wrong when he hadn't received the call
from Steve that morning. He sent an officer to check on things
and was shocked when he received a call from that officer saying
the building was on fire. The captain had rushed to the site and
found the firemen already hard at work.
*****************
Steve's breathing had become labored. He lay down on the floor.
He knew that was going to be his best chance. He started to lose
consciousness. He heard a noise, but darkness overcame him before
he could find out what the commotion was.
"Chief, we've found something," the fireman said as the
other one went over to Steve.
"What is it?" the chief answered.
"It's a person. Hang on," the fireman put his fingers
to Steve's throat, "he's got a pulse. I'm coming to get a
stretcher."
The fireman was out of the building in a matter of minutes. The
paramedics had a stretcher and oxygen ready for him to take
inside. The fireman ran back inside with the stretcher.
"Here. Let's get him some oxygen." They put the mask on
Steve and then quickly lifted him to the stretcher, "Let's
get him out of here." They rolled Steve outside, and Captain
Newman walked over to see who it was. He told the paramedics,
"This is Lieutenant Steve Sloan. Take him to Community
General. His father works there," he turned to the other
fireman, "Did you find the other two. We only found one
other. He was dead. Gunshot wound to the chest."
The paramedics loaded Steve in the ambulance, "Captain, want
to come with us?"
"Yeah," the captain replied as he climbed into the
front seat of the ambulance. He called to some police officers,
"This is a crime scene. When the fire is completely out, get
in there and go over everything. I'll be back in a while."
"Yes, sir.
On the way to the hospital, Steve remained unconscious. Captain
Newman called ahead to the hospital, and Jesse said he would meet
them. The paramedic started an IV, and then did a quick
examination. He saw Steve's leg and splinted it. They arrived at
the hospital, and Jesse met them at the ambulance bay. "What
have you got?"
"Smoke inhalation, possible broken leg, some second degree
burns. He's on 15 liters of oxygen, we've inserted and IV, and
we've splinted his leg."
"Let's get him into Trauma 1. Has he regained
consciousness?" Jesse asked as they wheeled Steve into the
room.
"No."
"Alright, let's get an x-ray of his leg," Jesse
listened to Steve's chest. "Heartbeat is irregular. I hear
some rattling in his chest. Let's get a chest x-ray to see if
he's got any damage from the smoke." Jesse took his
flashlight and looked into Steve's eyes. "Both eyes are
reactive. Let's get another IV going. He's still
dehydrated."
Jesse continues working on Steve when he sees Mark rush to the
door. Amanda followed closely. "Come on Mark, let's wait out
here. Jesse will come out when he's finished."
"No, Amanda, I want to stay."
"Mark, let's go and wait. Jesse will let you know, but first
you have to let him finish." Somehow Amanda managed to get
Mark to a chair. Captain Newman came up to Mark and Amanda and
waited with them.
"Alright, we've got him stabilized. His heart rate is
almost normal. We need to get some dressings on these burns. I'm
going out here to talk to his father," Jesse walks out of
the trauma room to find Mark.
"Jesse, how is he?" Mark asked as he stood up.
"We've got him stabilized."
"Is he awake?"
"No, Mark, he's not. He broke his leg and he's got several
burns. He had some smoke inhalation and was dehydrated, but we've
got him on two IVs and oxygen."
"Doctor Travis, he's waking up," a nurse called from
the trauma room.
"Alright. Mark, I'll be right back."
"Let me go in," Mark said walking towards the room.
"Mark, let Jesse take care of it," Amanda said as she
made Mark sit back down.
Jesse walked into the trauma room and went to Steve's side,
"Steve."
Steve slowly opened his eyes and turned them toward Jesse. He
tried to say something, but it wouldn't come out. "No, don't
try to talk right now." Steve nodded and closed his eyes
again. "Steve, as soon as we set your leg, we're going to
move you to a room." Steve nodded again but didn't open his
eyes. "Nurse, have you finished dressing all the
burns."
"I've got one more and then I'll be finished."
"Has the orthopedist been in yet?"
"Yes, Doctor. He said he'd be back in a few minutes. He was
finishing up with another patient."
Jesse checked the monitors and IVs and in a few minutes Doctor
Woods came in.
"Good afternoon Dr. Travis. What do you have?"
"A tibia and fibula fracture."
"How did it happen?"
"No one's sure."
"Alright. Let's get started."
Jesse and Dr. Woods worked on setting the leg and putting it in a
cast. Steve woke up again and complained of some pain so Jesse
ordered him a sedative. The two doctors finished the cast and
Jesse ordered Steve to be moved to a room. He walked out to Mark,
"He's doing fine. He's in room 412. But I ordered a sedative
so he should be asleep."
Mark left the group to go to Steve's room. "Doctor,"
Captain Newman started, "when will he be able to tell me
what happened?"
"He should be up later tonight, but it might be better to
wait until tomorrow."
"Okay, thanks. I'll be back tomorrow then," Captain
Newman walked off.
"So, I guess you're even more tired now, huh?" Amanda
asked Jesse.
"Yeah. What happened anyway?" Jesse asked.
"I have no idea. He was supposed to be on stakeout. Did
Steve not say anything?"
"No. He's been out of it most of the time."
"Poor, Steve. I think I'm going up there to see how both of
them are doing."
"Yeah, me too. Hang on. I've got to get someone to cover for
me." Jesse went over to talk to another doctor. "He
says it's fine. He'll take over and call if anything major
happens." Amanda and Jesse walk to the elevator and go up to
see Steve.
**************
Amanda and Jesse quietly opened the door. Steve was still asleep
and Mark was sitting by the bed. Mark looks up when he hears the
door open. Jesse walks over and checks the monitors and then
tells Mark, "His heart rate is normal. His vitals are
strong." Jesse finished and then walked over to a chair and
sat down.
Amanda walked to Mark, "Mark, I know you're worried, but he
is going to be fine. You know that."
"Yeah, I know."
Amanda sat down in the chair next to Mark and the three waited in
the room until Steve woke up. In about an hour, Steve started to
stir. Mark moved closer to the bed as Steve was waking up.
Steve's eyes opened and he blinked a few times against the bright
lights of the room. "Steve?" Mark said. Steve rolled
his head toward Mark and smiled, "Dad." His voice was
rough and it barely came out a whisper.
"Steve don't talk," Mark turned to Amanda, "Could
you get him some water?"
"Sure no problem," Amanda got up and left the room.
Mark looked back to his son who tried to talk, "Did
they…" his voice trailed off into a faint whisper.
Amanda walked back in the room with some water, "Here,
Steve, let me help you sit up so you can drink some."
Mark moved the head of the bed so Steve's head was slightly
elevated. Amanda lifted Steve's head further and he sipped some
water. He stopped and lay back down on the pillow. He closed his
eyes and turned to his father and opened his eyes when he asked,
"Did they find Bryant?"
"Yeah, they did. He was dead, Steve."
"I knew. I just wanted to be sure they found him,"
Steve answered, voice rough.
A few minutes later when Mark thought Steve had gone back to
sleep, Steve looked back to his father, "What about
Porter?"
"The Captain doesn't know. He was hoping you could tell him
when he comes by later."
"Steve," Jesse said getting up from his chair,
"what happened?"
"Not now, Jesse," Mark told him.
Steve raised his hand, "No, it's fine. Can I sit up a little
more?"
"Yeah, here Steve." Mark elevated the head of the bed
more. He was glad Steve was starting to feel better.
"Well, we saw something going on at the building,"
Steve started, voice still rough, "me and Bryant were going
to go down, but Porter pulled a gun. It turns out the drug dealer
was Porter's father. After the drop, about an hour later, Porter
shot Bryant and killed him. He went into the other room. I saw
the vent system and decided to try to crawl around up there to
find my way out. I went up, and a little while later I saw Porter
pouring gas all over the place. He left, and the building started
to burn," Steve paused to get a drink of water, "the
vent that I was in started getting hot, so I had to jump to get
away from the flames in there. I must have landed wrong because I
hurt my leg. Well, I tried to get back to the place where we were
so I could get out. But the room was full of fire. I got tired so
I lay down, and the next thing I remember is waking up in the
emergency room," Steve got another drink of water.
"And Porter didn't say anything to clue you to where he
would be?" Amanda asked as she refilled Steve's drinking
cup.
"No, he didn't," Steve paused, "the only thing he
said was that he had to meet his father in an hour. But that was
before he killed Bryant. Thank you," Steve replied as he
accepted the full cup of water from Amanda.
"So, Steve. You feeling alright?" Jesse asked as he
stood at the foot of the bed.
"Yeah, okay I guess."
"Well, I'm going to get outta here. Take it easy. And
remember when you get out of here, you owe me at least a week of
work at Bob's."
"Well, we'll see about that later. Bye, Jess."
Jesse walked out of the door and left. A few minutes passed and
the door opened again. An orderly entered. He was carrying a
dinner tray, "Hungry?"
"I can eat."
The orderly put the tray on the table, "Enjoy," and
then left the room.
Steve tried to sit up more. This time he pushed the button that
made his head elevate. "Why don't you two go down and eat
something."
"Will you be alright," Mark asked as he watched his son
get settled.
"Yeah. I'll be fine."
"Well, alright. We'll be back in a little while."
Mark and Amanda left the room while Steve began eating.
Amanda and Mark took their trays and sat down at the nearest
table. Amanda was the first to speak, "He seems to be doing
good."
"Yeah, he's doing good."
"Mark, what's on your mind?" Amanda asked.
"I'm just trying to figure out how to start looking for this
Porter and his father."
"Listen, Mark, they're probably in hiding somewhere. And
even if you could find them, I doubt you could find them
tonight."
"I know, Amanda. It's just what they did to Steve. Somebody
needs to pay."
"Mark, I know that, but you don't know where to start. And
Steve needs you right now. He doesn't need you wandering around
getting yourself into trouble."
"You're right Amanda. But you know me," Mark smiled.
Mark and Amanda finished their dinner, and then made their way
back up to Steve's room. When they opened the door, they found
Steve asleep. They stayed in the hall and talked, "Amanda,
why don't you go on home."
"Well, okay. I do need to get home to the kids. Are you
going home?"
"No, I think I'll stay the night up here."
"Mark, you won't help matters by doing that. Steve would
want you to go home and sleep in your own bed."
"But I told him we would be back after we ate."
"Mark, if he fell asleep this early you know he must be
tired. And you know he would worry about you if he woke up and
found you asleep in a chair in the room."
"Alright. You win. I'll go home," Mark said as he and
Amanda walked towards the elevator.
*************
Jesse walked into Steve's room the next morning to find Steve
already sitting up in bed and eating breakfast. "Good
morning."
"Hey, Jess," Steve said as he lay down his fork.
"You look like you're feeling better," Jesse said as he
checked the monitors and IVs.
"Yeah, I am."
"Well, I'll take one of those IVs out after you finish
eating."
"Why are there two anyway?" Steve asked.
"Because you were dehydrated when you were brought in, and
you needed fluids."
"Oh. How long will I have to be in this cast?"
"Probably 4-6 weeks."
"Great, what am I supposed to do for 4-6 weeks?"
"You'll probably get a walking cast in about 3 weeks. So
while you can't do police work, you can do restaurant work,"
Jesse smiled.
"Well, I guess that's something."
The door opened and Captain Newman walked in. Jesse knew the
Captain was here to talk about Porter, so he excused himself,
"Steve, I'll be back in a little while."
"Alright, Jess." Jesse left and Steve greeted his
commanding officer, "Good morning, Captain."
"How are you feeling?"
"I'll live."
"So, I need to know about Porter. What he did. About the
time he left. Anything that may help us locate him and his
father."
Steve told what happened. The captain took notes.
**************
"Hi, Mark," Jesse greeted as Mark walked into the
doctors' lounge.
"Hi. Have you been in to see Steve this morning?"
"Yeah. He was sitting up and eating when I went in. I told
him I would take out one of his IVs after he finished breakfast.
But the captain walked in to question him."
"How long ago was that?" Mark asked getting himself a
cup of coffee.
"About 20 minutes ago.
"I think I'll go on up and see if they're finished."
"Yeah, I'll go too."
Jesse and Mark walk to Steve's room and find the Captain leaving.
"Captain," Mark greeted, "do you have anything on
this Porter yet?"
"No, I'm afraid not Mark. But we are working on it."
"Was Steve able to help any?" Jesse asked curiously.
"A little. We know that father and son are more than likely
going to stay together after this. We've got another lead on
another drug drop. We are going to stake that out and try to make
some arrests."
"Let us know what happens," Mark said as he stepped to
the door.
"I will," the captain walked away to the elevator.
Mark opened the door and found Steve watching TV. "Hey
Dad," Steve said as he turned the volume down.
"Well, look at you. Feeling better?"
"Yeah. Hey Jess, what about this?" Steve asked as he
pointed to the IV in his arm.
"Okay, I'll take it out now," Jesse put on some gloves
and walked over to Steve's bed. Jesse clamped the IV tubing and
gently pulled the needle out of Steve's arm. Jesse put some gauze
on the place where the needle was, "Here, put some pressure
on this." Steve pressed on the gauze until Jesse lifted his
hand and put a band-aid on his arm.
"Steve," Mark said as he walked to the bed,
"sorry, I left last night before coming back in here. Well I
came back but you were already asleep. Amanda talked me into
going home."
"That's okay. I fell asleep right after I finished eating.
Jess, how long do I have to stay?"
"Another day or so. We need to make sure your burns don't
get infected. I'll be back later to check on you. I've got to get
to work."
"See ya Jess." Jesse walked out the door.
A few minutes passed and neither father nor son said anything.
Mark picked up his newspaper and started reading and Steve turned
the TV volume up. The morning news was on and Captain Newman's
picture was shown, "Captain Newman of the Metropolitan
Police just released a statement concerning the injury of one
police officer and the death of another. 'We have a few leads in
connection with the Officer Sean Bryant's death. However, we are
not at liberty to discuss any of the details because it is an
ongoing investigation.' Captain Newman, what's the word on the
police officer that was injured? 'Lt. Steve Sloan is going to be
fine. He does have a few injuries, but he is being taken care of
at Community General Hospital.' And that's the latest news
concerning the recent activity that took place yesterday
afternoon."
Steve turned the volume down and Mark asked, "Did they not
release information about Porter being missing and being the one
responsible?"
"No."
"Why?"
"Because Porter knows how the police work, and if he knows
about the planned raid next week, he'll change the date."
"Oh." Mark noticed Steve looked tired and he offered to
leave, "I'll let you rest. I've got some work to do. But if
you need anything call the nurse and she'll get me."
"Okay, Dad," Steve yawned and as soon as his father
left the room, Steve moved the head of the bed down and fell
asleep.
***************
Two more days passed, and Steve was released. Mark took him home.
Jesse decided to go with them in case they needed any help. Steve
got out of the car and managed to make his way up the stairs and
into the living room. Exhausted, he sat down on the sofa.
"Steve, do you need anything?" Mark asked as he put
Steve's bag on the floor.
"No, I'm good. I never realized how hard these things were
to use," Steve said motioning to the crutches.
"Yeah, they take a little bit of practice. But in a few
weeks, we'll get you a walking cast and you won't have to use
crutches."
"Can't wait. I think I'll just stay right here on this couch
until then."
"So, Steve have you heard anything from Captain
Newman?" Jesse asked as he sat down beside Steve.
"No. The drop is in two days. So we won't know anything
until then."
***************
Two days passed and Steve was anxious to hear some news from
Captain Newman. Mark was in the kitchen cooking lunch while Steve
watched TV. The doorbell rang, and Mark came out of the kitchen,
"Do you want me to answer that?"
"Please," Steve said from the couch, his leg lying on a
pillow beside him.
Mark walked to the door, "Captain Newman. Come on in.
Steve's in the living room."
Steve looked up, "Captain," and extended his hand,
"any news?"
"Yeah. We were able to catch Porter and his father, as well
as 5 others. We have evidence that links them to 4 other drops,
but we know they are linked with more. They will be away a long
time."
"That's good news. Would you like to stay for lunch?"
Steve asked.
"No, but thank you anyway. You hurry and get better. And
even though you can't be on active duty until your leg heals
completely, we have some paperwork that you could do."
"Thanks. I look forward to it." The two men laughed
each knowing how bad a detective hates to do paperwork.
The captain left and Mark and Steve sat down to have their lunch.
But before they could eat the doorbell rang again. Mark got up to
answer it and found Jesse and Amanda outside.
"Since when do you two knock?" Mark asked as they
walked inside.
"The door was locked," Amanda answered.
"Oh, lunch. Do you mind if we stay?" Jesse asked
walking to the table.
"Sure, Jesse."
The four of them sat down and began to eat. Amanda started
talking to Steve, "So, how are you feeling?"
"Great. The captain came by right before you two got
here."
"He had good news?" Jesse asked as he reached for a
roll.
"Yeah. They caught Porter and his father this morning. They
were charged with 6 counts of drug possession and 1 count of
murder, and 1 count of attempted murder. The captain says they'll
be away for a while."
"That is good news, Steve," Amanda said as she took a
sip of tea.
"So, Steve. Are you going to work at Bob's tonight, or do I
have to work alone?"
"Well," Steve started, "I'll come, but I don't
know how much use I'll be."
"I'm sure I can find something for you to do."
"Alright. Dad, are you going to come tonight?"
"No, I've got a late shift at the hospital."
"Amanda?"
"Sorry, but I promised CJ and Dion we would go to a movie
tonight."
"Okay. So, Jess. It looks like you have the privilege of
driving me there."
"Great. I wish you had broken your left leg."
"Why?"
"Because that way you could drive and I wouldn't have to
drive you around like I'm a chauffeur."
Well, I'm sorry. Next time I break a leg, I'll be sure to break
my left one."
"You promise?" Jesse asked.
Steve only responded by throwing a roll at Jesse's head.