Chapter Text
Celina and Lucy had spent no more than an hour back in her room before she announced she wished to go back down to Tim’s room as she waited for her discharge papers, and Celina obliged, rolling her by the Sergeant’s side as she and Aaron kept a respectful distance outside the room.
The Sergeant’s room was eerily quiet, bar the hum of the ventilator that Lucy was certain would haunt her nightmares for months after this, and the heart monitor that was, at this current point, the only thing that assured her that her fiancé was still alive. Once again, she clasped the nearest hand with her good one, trying to feel reassured by the warmth she felt.
“I’m sure you heard, but I’ll tell you anyway – Detective Harding’s taking the lead on the case. He says he knows you, and from what I could tell, he respects the hell out of you, so we’re in good hands there. Oh, and I guess I’m investigating too – kind of gave Harding an ultimatum. He chuckled and told me he understood why the both of us clicked.”
Lucy paused, for a delusional moment hoping that Tim would respond, but it was just the hum of the ventilator in the background. She shuffled around in the wheelchair that all the hospital staff were insistent she stay in, before getting to her feet and instead perching on the side of his hospital bed, this time letting her hand stray to his hair, absentmindedly twirling the strands around her fingers.
A knock on the door startled her, and she nearly fell off the edge she’d perched on, just managing to keep her balance as Dr Fellow walked in.
“Are those my discharge papers, doctor?” Lucy asked, eying the paperwork in her hands.
“Unfilled paperwork for discharge,” Dr Fellow said, gauging Lucy’s reaction.
“So you’re not going to discharge me?”
“Detective, I would be neglecting my duties if I discharged you now. You were shot half a day ago, had surgery, and are on very strong painkillers. And if treating LA’s finest has taught me anything in my decades of work, it’s that you will not take it easy and take a couple of days off. Especially since your fiancé has been injured.”
Dr Fellow wasn’t wrong – Lucy had no plans of taking it easy, not until she caught their assailant.
“You could of course leave AMA, but I want to keep you in the hospital over the weekend for observation.”
Over the weekend.
Lucy was thinking of something to say but Celina walked in, phone in hand.
“It’s Angela, Lucy.”
“Excuse me, Dr Fellow. I need to take this,” Lucy said as she slid back into the wheelchair and Celina handed her the phone. Dr Fellow just sighed and walked out, hoping her patient wouldn’t leave AMA but knowing that, more likely than not, she would. They always did.
“Angela, hi, you have a lead?” Lucy asked.
“Yes. Yes, we do, thanks to you. Does the name Garrett Michaelson ring a bell?”
“No, no. Who is he?” Lucy asked – she truly didn’t recognise the name.
“Former FBI agent. He was clean, but there’s an arrest warrant out for him – something about 5 million missing out of evidence? The point is, blood matches back to him, and he’s got an LA address. Grey and I are heading over there now, and Harding is making his way to the FBI offices to talk to the SAC.”
“What’s the address, Angela?” Lucy asked, looking at Aaron and Celina, who were now both standing awkwardly in the room, waiting for her to finish her conversation.
“Lucy. I know you want to help. But you were attacked less than a day ago, and Tim’s still not awake, is he?”
“No. No he’s not. Angela, there’s nothing I can do here for him. But I can go and do my goddamn job,” she said a bit louder, and Lucy was certain she saw Celina wince at the tone she used over the phone.
“Angela,” Lucy forced herself to soften her voice, “please. Give me address. Celina will drive me and I will wait outside until you give the all-clear, alright? I won’t go in until you give the greenlight. But let me help, please.”
She could hear Angela’s hushed voice before it came back clearly – “Did Dr Fellows discharge you?”
“No. She hasn’t yet,” Lucy admitted.
“Then please, Lucy, stay at the hospital. Grey and I will check out the LKA of Michaelson and I promise, as soon as we are done here, I will come straight to you at the hospital okay? You say you can’t do anything from the hospital, but you can. You can be there for Tim – that’s the most important thing, you hear me? I can’t have anything happen to you for both yours and his sake, alright?”
“Okay,” Lucy acquiesced, “Stay safe, Angela, please.”
“I will.”
Lucy ended the call, handing Celina back her cell.
“We going?” Celina asked, but Lucy shook her head.
“No. No, I’ll be staying here, for now. But I’d appreciate it if you could join Lopez and Grey.”
“You got it, Detective,” Aaron responded.
“Lucy, do you need anything from home? I can swing by and grab something.” Celina added as Aaron walked out.
“No, I’m alright. Thank you. Although, wait a second,” Lucy said, rummaging around the pockets in Tim’s trousers, chucking a set of keys towards her.
“Tim’s truck keys and house keys are both on there. Can you please pick up his truck and drive it home, and then can you please look on Kojo – give him some food, and water, take him on a walk?”
“Say no more, we’ll make sure Kojo’s okay. Oh, and here,” Celina reached for her radio and handed it to Lucy.
“That way you’ll have a way to reach us, and you can listen in on everything going on.”
“Thank you, Celina, truly,” Lucy said, standing up to give the young officer a quick hug before settling back beside Tim’s side, and turning the volume on the radio up.
She’d stay put, for now.
“Detective Chen?” A nurse stuck their head in a few moments later.
“Yes?”
“Sorry to disturb you, but I need to check your vitals.”
“Of course. Can you do it here?”
“Yes, I can.”
*
Whilst Lucy stayed by Tim’s side, Grey and Lopez, along with officers from the Metro division kitted up, ready to perform a dawn raid on the LKA of the disgraced FBI agent.
“One last time,” Lopez announced, showing around the photo of Garrett, “Garrett is a former FBI agent, so he is aware of our tactics. Consider him armed and dangerous – he’s targeted two of our own. Everyone knows their positions, let’s go.”
Everyone dispersed, Grey staying by Lopez’s side – “Will Detective Chen be joining us?”
“No. Lucy’s agreed to stay at the hospital, and I’ve agreed to keep her in the loop.”
“Understood. Let’s give her some good news.”
The officers moved swiftly, a tight perimeter around an isolate house on the outskirts of LA, its unkempt look making it difficult to believe that anyone could have lived there. Angela took out her firearm, first one in once the front door was breached.
There was something about this house that gave her the creeps. The home was eerily quiet, and dark. She flicked on a light switch, but all it did was illuminate the trashed living room, and the unmistakable blobs of blood on the edge of the sofa.
“Living room, clear!” she announced as she and a young officer carried on into the kitchen, clearing that too. A turn into the hallway, and she converged with Grey and two other officers outside an unexplored door.
“Your lead,” Grey announced as he opened the door and Lopez switched her flashlight, carefully making her way down the stairs.
“LAPD! Garrett Michaelson, we have a warrant for your arrest!” Nothing but silence in response.
The basement was vast, and the four officers split up. Angela headed east, finding the stash of guns and ammo enough to equip the LAPD for at least a week if not more.
“Lopez, you better get over here,” Grey yelled, and Lopez dashed towards his voice, putting her flashlight away and holstering her gun.
It was of no use anymore.
Garrett Michaelson was sitting slumped in a chair over his desk, a gunshot wound to his chest, the blood still flowing.
This was fresh. So fresh that…
“This is Detective Lopez. Michaelson is DOA, but the suspect could still be in the area. I want containment now,” she ordered over the radio before getting back to the deceased in front of her.
“I don’t want to say anything prematurely, but I sincerely doubt this is a suicide. Someone wanted to silence our former agent,” Lopez said, examining the body as Grey began to examine the rest of the room.
“Detective, Sergeant, you need to see this,” one of the officers that had been with them walked into the room, and the two of him into another room, their attention taken by the wall plastered top to bottom with… Lucy.
Photographs of Lucy at the station, on patrol, at the hospital last week with an injured patrol officer.
“And that’s not all of it,” the officer pointed at a manila file on the table, and Angela picked it up, flipping through the pages.
“It’s a dossier. A very detailed dossier. Grey, there’s even information about… about her time at the Covert Ops Academy. This is stuff we don’t even have access to.”
“He was stalking her,” Grey said, bringing a laptop to life.
Password protected, of course.
“I’ll take that, Sergeant,” the officer extended his arm, and Grey handed him the blood-spattered laptop.
“I was right,” Angela said, pleased that her initial theory behind who the target was was correct, but that feeling was short-lived. This wasn’t over, then, was it?
She whipped out her phone and dialled Lucy’s number, letting it ring for a while before remembering that it was in her stolen purse, before switching to her radio.
“This is Detective Lopez for Detective Chen, go to channel three,” she said, waiting.
“Detective,” she heard the voice of another young officer – Officer Marsh – coming down the stairs, phone in hand.
“Looks like you were trying to reach this number.”
Lucy’s phone.
“Find anything else?”
“Yes – a purse and a wallet upstairs.”
“Bag it, tag it, get it to the techs as soon as you can.”
“Angela, it’s Lucy.” Angela ushered the officer away and responded over the radio.
“Lucy, we’re at Michaelson’s LKA. He’s DOA.”
“Suicide?”
“Doesn’t look to be. Listen, is Celina and Aaron still with you?”
“No, I sent them to go and join you.”
“Okay, listen, I’m sending Harper and Nolan to your location, okay?”
“Angela, what’s going on?”
“Lucy, you were the target. It’s not over.”
A small silence over the air, before Lucy responded, “Thank you for keeping me in the loop, Angela. I’ll… I’ll stay put in the hospital until they get here.”
“Detective!” More yelling as Angela and everyone else filed back upstairs to see the disgraced agent's belongings tossed across the room, a generous pile of cash mixed in with the clothing.
“Looks like at least three mil, Detective. Counters are on their way.”
*
Lucy tossed the radio back onto the chair as she sat still beside Tim, contemplating what Angela had relayed.
She was the target. She was the one who was supposed to die last night, and instead, it looked like Tim was going to have to pay that price instead.
Someone wanted her dead, and still wanted her dead.
Lucy grabbed the radio and called out to Celina over the air.
“Detective, this is Officer Juarez.”
“Celina, there’s one more thing I need you to do for me please.”
“Anything, Detective.”
“I need you to swing by my apartment and grab my gun.”