Don't call me Princess!

Chapter 8

Bob POV

Pam is home and restless, worried about her babies, and with Bethany now home, I am hoping she will be able to calm her down. I am not sure what is making her so antsy lately. Maybe it is all part of the healing, and her body is readjusting to a non-pregnant lady's normal body; she might be due for the monthly visit to get her body into sync again. I don't want to make assumptions, but she needs help, and maybe Bethany will help. I thought she needed some company, and it must be hard being home with no baby, like an empty nest. You can see all the things you have arranged for the baby, but no baby. I can't imagine what it would be like to have no baby; if they had not survived, Pam would have been inconsolable.

I need to put her needs aside at the moment; I have some pressing work to do. Again, I have some complaints about corrupt police and need to investigate this. I hope it is just someone who had a bad time at the precinct and is complaining purely to get the cops in trouble. I let the inspector in charge of the precinct investigate, but he does not know that I am also investigating and have Scott doing some surveillance work. This is a part of my job few know about. I may be the one who hands out the awards and tries to make the police look good. Still, in the background, I am watching the precincts and some of the police officers to make sure they are not stepping over the line; a minor infraction I leave to the precinct heads, but anything higher than that, I send in the heavies, after I have the proof or enough suspicion to send them in to pull the place apart, I am not going to let the precinct get as bad as the last one. I am determined to raise the level of our force; one apple taints the whole barrel, and I will not be tainted on my watch.

With my team, I was observing two police officers detaining a man. From a distance, everything seemed normal, but my instincts were telling me otherwise. There was an underlying tension in the air, a feeling that something was about to go wrong.

'Sir, cars incoming from the south.' My sergeant's voice came over the earpiece.

'Roger, get ready to move in. Spike, this is your call.' I left it to the man in the trees to make the call. He can see all around us, and I trust they can handle this. I have my Kevlar jacket on; it is the best I can do to protect myself from stray bullets. I am not carrying a gun. I rarely have.

Somewhere out there, Scott and his team are on their way here. I have a bad feeling about this tonight; I hope they make it here in time. I called them ten minutes ago, letting Scott know what was going down and how uncomfortable I was about it. He was rushing here as quickly as he could; he was twenty minutes away on the other side of town. I had a feeling he was going to be too late.

We have backup coming, but I am not sure if they will get here in time either; we do not want a shootout, but it is looking more and more like that is going to happen. The eye in the sky is watching all of this, and he has informed me there is no way out; we are stuck here in the middle of whatever this is.

Everyone I trust is coming, but will it be on time?

I have video-linked this to several places to ensure it is all recorded and no one can alter it. Scott and Jacko, the FBI boss, will have a copy.

Three large SUV vehicles arrived, and several large men climbed out and looked around before opening the back door to let another well-dressed man in an expensive suit climb out. What annoyed me the most was that our police officers shook hands, exchanged something, and talked for a bit of while like they were old friends. If I needed any more proof than that these police officers were up to something elicited, it was right before my own eyes. I need answers to this. Then, the men in the SUV went to climb back into their vehicle.

Suddenly, gunfire came from inside the warehouse, killing the man with whom the police officer shook hands, and then a gunfight ensued between the large men from the car and the unknown number in the warehouse. I stayed low so far, so good; I was only here to observe and not get involved, but I could feel any moment I would be. We have some young, itchy trigger- happy guys here. The gunfire stopped when the last of the men hit the floor, and I sat still and waited to see what would happen next. This was difficult; we had witnessed a murder and had the proof, but how to round them up when we could not see all the shooters was challenging.

The two police officers went to check on the bodies and then took from them what they had exchanged; one stopped and looked our way. I froze, wondering if one of our guys had given our position away. He shrugged his shoulders and followed the other one inside the warehouse. Did he know we would be here? Had someone leaked our intent to be here? My stomach hit the floor like a lead weight.

Could anyone see inside? I asked over the earpiece, hoping someone was in a better position to see and that there was light inside.

'No, it's too dark.' came the response of one of my officers.

'Stay hidden and wait; backup is on its way,' I replied, hoping they would have the patience to sit still. I could see some were getting twitchy, and that was not a good sign.

Suddenly, there was an argument going on inside the warehouse. There was a lot of swearing, and then some gunshots, and then nothing, not a sound. I noticed one of our men creeping along to see. I wanted to call him back, but he was too close to back away.

He was spotted and got shot in the head. Random gunshots were sent out towards us from inside the warehouse, and I felt one hit me from the side, then another, then another; each hit was painful but not as painful as the one that I knew found a way in the vest. I had moved back, hoping to get some cover. Our guys, not waiting for permission, stormed the warehouse.

'Ambulances to the warehouse, stat.' I called in. I knew I had been hit, but not how bad; it hurt, and it was getting difficult to breathe.

I fell to the floor, unable to stay crouched any longer, and I must have blacked out for a little while, the pain intense.

Then, the next thing I knew, I was being rolled over, and Scott was removing my shirt and then my bulletproof jacket; well, it was not that bulletproof.

'Hey buddy, you are giving me a heart attack here; where did you get hit?' It was good to see a friendly face in front of me.

'Right side must have found an opening near the armhole or gap somewhere.' I gasped back, hardly being able to breathe without pain.

He finished, taking my jacket off, and was swearing a bit. He pushed on my side, and it exploded in heated pain. I sucked in a breath from the pain, but it was not that big a breath, as doing that only caused more pain.

'Ambulance pulling up now, hang in there buddy, you got three boys waiting for you to go home and a lovely wife.' I smiled a weak smile, knowing that I was most likely not going to see them again. I knew this was bad if my lungs were filling with blood.

'Stay with me, Bob, don't pull this crap on me, come on, stay awake. You don't have to talk; look at my sorry face, and I will do the talking.' he screamed at me, but I was so tired I did not want to stay awake any longer. He looked over his shoulder and screamed.

'Over here, Stat.' He waved his hand over his head, getting the attention of whoever he was waving to, and looked back at me, and concern laced his features.

'Come on, you can do it.' Scott, in an almost frantic voice, yelled at me.

Two men arrived, and Scott moved back, giving them room. They cut my shirt off and put some pressure on the same place that Scott had. They put an ivy line in my arm and started giving me fluids. I was lifted onto a gurney, and the pain of being moved was excruciating, and they wheeled into the ambulance.

'Which hospital?' I heard Scott ask, but I did not catch the answer. The door to the ambulance slammed shut, and a man sat beside me, fiddling with a blood pressure cuff. The siren's noise was very loud, but that was not enough to keep me awake. I thought of Pam and the boys with love and hoped they could keep me alive so I could watch them grow.

The man's voice was the last thing I heard as everything went cold and dark.

'Hurry up, we are losing him.'