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Cooper Crazy
(6/25/05 11:52 pm)
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Giving In - Chapter 9
When they were both dressed, Gus opened the door and they followed the two officers out of the hotel and got in the backseat of a dark sedan. While the officers filled them in on what was going on, Harley avoided any eye contact with Gus and stared out the window watching the city fly by. Gus shook his head when he saw Harley avoid him. He should have known this would happen. He was a fool to think one night could have made her realize they should be together.
"Detective Aitoro?" one of the officers repeated.
"I'm sorry, what?" he asked, brought back to reality.
"I said that call was from the Captain. You're to get into your vests and make sure your guns are loaded and ready. We're going to the warehouse instead of the station. If you pull down the seat between the two of you, you'll find vests and bullets. I assume you're carrying standard American issued Glocks?" the man asked and Gus nodded as he tugged at the small loop and pulled down the back of the seat.
They had become pros at quickly getting into bulletproof vests and they were under their clothes in less than a minute. They both checked their guns and saw they were already full, but each grabbed another round just in case.
By the time they got to the warehouse, they had been briefed on what was going down and were the last to arrive. Kozlovic had decided to hold the meeting even though Mezzini couldn’t deliver the Italian woman to Laroque. Kozlovic wanted his request fulfilled and didn’t care about anyone else. It was expected that Laroque would not be happy and there could be a shootout. They were the last to arrive at another warehouse about a half mile down the street from where the meeting was going to take place. As they rushed over to the group, Harley grabbed his arm and pulled him aside.
"Gus, wait. I wanted to apologize for what happened earlier...what almost happened earlier. I never should have let that happen. And I'm glad we were interrupted before we did something we would both regret," she said quickly.
Gus shook his head, "Whatever," he scoffed and walked away from her.
”Agent Aitoro and Detective Cooper will continue their married tourist act and approach the guard outside of the warehouse, asking for directions. They will immobilize him, quietly, and we’ll move in. When we do, Agent Aitoro, you'll be coming in with us," the Captain instructed then turned to Harley, "you'll join Agent Sampson up above doing surveillance," he told her and she nodded. "Let's go," was his final instruction and the group spread out to their designated areas and Gus and Harley started down the street in character.
“What are we looking for?” Harley asked as she slid her arm through Gus’s and walked close to him.
“The closest metro stop,” he answered and pulled Harley closer to his side, kissing her cheek as they came into view of the bodyguard keeping watch over the warehouse.
“Honey, let’s ask for directions,” Harley said loudly.
“We don’t need directions!” Gus argued. “We have a map.”
“And we’re still lost,” she added and stepped ahead of Gus towards the bodyguard. “Excuse me sir, do you speak English?” she asked and he hesitated before slightly nodding his head. “Honey, he speaks English,” she told Gus and he joined her by her side.
“We’re trying to find a metro station. We got a little lost, complete tourists, you know,” he laughed.
“The closest station is one block north and then two blocks west,” the burly man instructed, pointing down the dark street.
“Could you show me that on this map? I’m sorry to be such a pain,” Gus said as he reached into his back pocket and pulled out a city map which he unfolded in front of the man.
“It’s so dark, sweetie, do you still have that flashlight on your keychain?” Gus asked Harley.
“Oh yeah,” she replied and pulled a set of keys out of her pocket and held the light up from behind the two men.
With her other hand, she got the stun gun out of her pocket and zapped the guard in the back of the neck as he gave Gus directions.
“Lousy bodyguard,” she said as he dropped to the ground and she sprayed a gas in front of his face to keep him unconscious for a while.
“Showtime,” Gus said as squeezed Harley’s hand before he joined the rest of the team that had assembled outside of the warehouse and Harley joined Sampson and two French agents by the fire escape.
They scaled to the top windows of the building as quietly as possible and managed not to make any sound that couldn't be attributed to rats. They took their positions above the group of men and took in the situation before motioning the other to go in.
While Laroque argued with Kozlovic about when he would get his girl from Mezzini, Harley identified Jacqueline Rousseau from France and much to her relief, Alicia Davis of Chicago. There were eight other men in the room, three standing by Kozlovic, two by Laroque and the other three were by Alicia. Harley looked closely at those three and didn’t recognize any of them as Santos employees, puzzling her more than she would like to admit. Alicia and Jacqueline were each being held by one man, bound and gagged. They both looked unharmed for the most part, and Harley breathed a sigh of relief that both were present and they could be taken to safety as soon as possible.
On of the French agents with her finally gave Lumiere the signal and the rest of the group rushed into the warehouse, guns aimed and surrounded the surprised Mafia circle.
Lumiere yelled out accusations of kidnapping and other charges in French, Russian and English after warning the bodyguards to set down their weapons.
The refused and everyone in the room found themselves in a standoff, bullets ready to fly at any small twitch.
“It’s over Kozlovic,” Lumiere continued. “Let the girls go and tell your guards to surrender their weapons.”
Kozlovic stifled a laugh, but smirked at Lumiere. “You heard him boys,” he said and all of the guards put down their weapons.
“The women,” Lumiere demanded.
“I’m afraid I can’t let that happen,” Kozlovic said and a shot rang through the air from a dark area of the room and Harley saw Gus drop his arm that was holding his gun and grab his chest. She knew the shot was for him, but he was wearing a vest, it shouldn't have hurt him, she convinced herself until she saw him pull his hand out of his jacket and it was covered in blood.
By this time, the bodyguards took advantage of the distraction and pulled their guns out again, while the one closest to Gus kicked the gun out of his hand, catching Gus's chin with the toe of his boot along the way, causing both the gun and Gus to fall to the ground.
"Gus!" Harley screamed silently when he didn't get up or make any move to.
Before the rest of the agents could recover the gun, the shooter grabbed it and aimed it on Gus. Harley gasped and trained her gun on the man in case she needed to fire it. She didn’t want to shoot him if she didn’t have to, but it appeared she didn’t have much of a choice. Everyone was taken off guard by the lone shot from the dark and they had lost their advantage. She had a clear view of the gun and felt sure she could shoot it out of his hand and cause enough of a distraction for the agents to get the upper hand again. Gus still hadn't moved and there were guns aimed on both sides. Harley weighed her options, took aim, announced she was shooting into her headset and pulled the trigger.
The blast surprised the mobsters and the man holding the gun screamed in pain when it was shot out of his hand, grazing the tip of his thumb. One of the agents finally apprehended the shooter and everyone lowered their guns when they saw the agents above them, guns trained on them. When they had gotten all of the guns on the ground and the mobsters with their hands up, each agent apprehended one and the other agents attended to Gus, Jacqueline and Alicia. The Captain gave the agents above the signal that they should come down and help and Harley practically leaped off of the fire escape and rushed to Gus's side.
"Where was he shot?" she asked as ripped open his shirt and stuck her hand inside looking for the blood.
As she ran her hand along the bare skin along the edge of the vest around his underarm, a piece of a bullet scratched her fingers and she pulled her hand out and saw blood.
"God, Gus, this isn't that bad. Why aren't you awake?" she asked aloud and wiped her bloody hand on the leg of her pants then ran it through his hair and found more blood.
"He hit his head. Is there an ambulance on the way?" she demanded and the agent who was with them told her there was.
"Wake up Gus," she pleaded as she finally heard sirens in the distance.
She climbed into the back of the ambulance with him and they were on their way to the hospital. She was told to stay in the waiting room and a doctor would come speak to her soon.
Agent Sampson joined her and gave her an update on the situation. Jacqueline and Alicia were both brought to the hospital to get checked out, but both seemed to be fine physically besides a few cuts and bruises. The team had apprehended Laroque, Kozlovic and the rest of the men at the scene, including the unidentified Americans who were responsible for Alicia. Harley barely heard a word Sampson told her while she waited for information about Gus.
After over an hour she grabbed a nurse and asked what was going on. The nurse couldn't seem to understand what Harley wanted to know so she asked for a doctor.
The doctor who had been working on Gus finally came out a half-hour later and Harley rushed up to him asking how Gus was.
"Mademoiselle, sit down, please," he said and Harley's heart sank. That could only mean bad news.
The doctor saw Harley's panicked face and stroked her arm, "My apologies, mademoiselle, you just seemed jumpy. Your friend will be fine. His gunshot wound is very superficial. The bullet did enter the skin, but we were able to remove it and stitch the wound. There was no tissue damage and it should heal in a matter of days. His chin will be sore and bruised as well, but he has a slight concussion. I stitched the cut on the side of his head and now we are waiting for him to wake up."
“He’s still unconscious?” she asked, worried.
“Yes, but that could also be from the anesthesia we gave him. He should wake up soon.”
Harley breathed a sigh of relief, "So he's going to be okay?"
"When he wakes up, he should be."
"Oh thank you," she replied, "Can I go see him?"
"Oui," he replied and led her into the room.
He explained to her the IV in Gus’s arm and the monitors he was hooked up to before leaving her alone in the room.
“Gus…oh god, this is one time I want you to be awake and bug the hell out of me. You just refuse to do anything I want you to, huh?” she teased quietly and ran her hand through his hair as she sat beside the bed.
“Things went well, Gus. The girls are safe and the perps are behind bars. Now you need to wake up so we can celebrate,” she added and lowered her chin to her chest after the response of a still body.
She sat beside his bed for a few more hours before Sampson came into the room and asked how he was.
“No change. The doctor keeps saying he should be awake soon, but he’s not,” she replied. “How are Jacqueline and Alicia?” she asked.
“Miss Rousseau has been released and is at the station. Miss Davis is still here. I think she is asleep and they are waiting for her parents to arrive before they take her to the station,” he answered.
“Is she talking at all?” Harley asked and he shook his head.
“No, not to us.”
Harley looked at Gus, then back at Sampson. “I want to go see her, maybe she’ll talk to me. Can you stay with him, please? I don’t want him to be alone when he wakes up.”
“Sure,” he nodded. “She’s in 417.”
“Thanks. Let me know if he wakes up,” she said before he ran her hand over Gus’s arm then left the room.
“Alicia?” Harley asked as she peeked her head in the door of Room 417. “Can I come in?”
The small body lying covered up in the bed rolled over at the sound of an American voice and looked at Harley.
“Yeah,” she answered quietly and sat up in her bed. “Who are you?”
“My name is Harley Cooper. I’m a police detective from Springfield,” Harley answered her. “How are you feeling?”
“What are you doing here if you’re from Springfield? I thought everyone here was in the FBI,” Alicia asked.
“Most of them are. I used to work with one of the agents and he asked me to come along and help on the case.”
“The one who got shot?” Alicia asked and Harley nodded. “Is he going to be okay?”
“Absolutely. He’s tough,” Harley forced a smile. “Alicia, I know you probably don’t want to talk about what happened the past couple of days, but you need to talk to the FBI agents so we can make sure this doesn’t happen to anyone else. You don’t have to talk right now, and you don’t have to talk to me if you don’t want to, but I thought it might be easier to talk to me than a guy.”
“Yeah,” Alicia replied quietly. “Are my parents coming?”
“They should be here in a few hours,” Harley nodded. “I was just thinking that I could stay here for a little while and if you want to talk we can, if you don’t want to, we don’t have to. Whatever,” she smiled, trying to make Alicia feel comfortable. “Oh, I brought you this. It was the only thing I could find in English,” she added as she handed her the latest issue of People.
“Thanks,” Alicia replied and flipped through the magazine but didn’t say anything else.
“So you’re a junior?” Harley asked.
“Yeah.”
“I have a daughter who is just a few years younger than you. She goes to school in Connecticut.”
“Why?”
“Well, she’s a dancer and it’s a great school for dancing,” Harley answered.
“Does she live with her Dad?”
“No, her father died a few years ago.”
“Your husband?”
“No. He was her adoptive father.”
“Oh. You must have been young when you had her,” Alicia noted.
“I was. Too young, but the couple who adopted her was wonderful. Her mom died a few years before her dad.”
“Are you two close?”
“Yeah, we are now. She’s a great kid and I had nothing to do with it,” Harley smiled.
“I’m sure you did. Do you have any other kids?” Alicia asked, willing to talk but not about what Harley wanted to know.
“Yes I do. I have two little boys. Zach is almost three and Jude is six months old.”
“Very little.”
“What about you? Do you have any bothers or sisters?” Harley asked.
“I have a younger sister, Amanda. She’s twelve.”
“Do you get along?”
“Sometimes. Sometimes not,” Alicia laughed. “She likes to borrow my stuff without asking.”
“Yeah. Little sisters are like that,” Harley replied. “I was a complete tomboy when I was a kid and I always took my older brother’s stuff.”
Alicia laughed then got quiet and flipped through the magazine for a while.
“Did you get them?” she finally asked in a near-whisper.
“What?”
“Those guys. Are they in jail?”
“Yes, they are. You don’t have to worry about them anymore,” Harley assured her. “Do you know what their names were? Who they were?”
“They called each other Luis and Rico, but that’s it,” she shrugged.
“Did either of them ever mention the name ‘Santos’?” Harley asked cautiously.
“No. I don’t think so,” she shook her head.
“Did they hurt you?” Harley asked, glad she was willing to talk.
“Only when I talked back to them. They slapped me a few times, kept me tied up…”
“Did they ever try to touch you? Sexually?”
“No. Not really. They would touch my face and say stuff, but that’s all,” she answered.
“That’s good,” Harley said as she touched Alicia’s hand. “Do you know where they kept you?”
“No, I don’t know…I don’t remember much of it right now.”
“That’s okay. Anything you can tell us helps. Is there anything else I can get you?” Harley asked.
“No, I think I’m going to try to sleep. Will they let me know when my parents get here?”
“Absolutely. Do you want me to stay until you fall asleep?”
“Will you?”
“You bet,” Harley smiled and sat back in the chair while Alicia curled into a ball under the thin covers and closed her eyes.
She was asleep within a few minutes and Harley left the room and asked the nurse to let her know if Alicia needed anything then she went back to Gus’s room.
“No change?” she asked as she walked into the room and saw Sampson flipping through the channels on the television.
“No,” he replied. “How’s she doing?”
“She’s okay. She’s sleeping. I got names of the guys, but that’s it. She never heard them mention Santos at all,” Harley told him.
“Damn. Lumiere just called me. They can’t get anything out of those guys about who their boss is. He doesn’t even think they know anything. They were just told who to take and where to take her. No names, nothing.”
“Any word on Francesca?” Harley asked.
“Oh, yeah. She got away from Mezzini, but he didn’t want to tell Kozlovic that. She showed up at a station in Rome. She’s okay, physically, like the others, you know,” he told her.
“So is Mezzini in custody?”
“They’re working on it. But it’s not our case anymore. We’re just working on Kolovic, Laroque and the clueless Americans. I bet there have been more than a few jokes about that among the JP,” he teased and Harley cracked a smile.
“You should get some sleep,” he added as he looked at his watch and saw the near-dawn hour.
“I’m okay,” she replied and pulled another chair up to Gus’s bed. “I wish he would wake up.”
“He’ll be okay,” he assured her. “You can tell me if it’s none of my business, but are you two a couple?”
Harley sighed, “No…we’re not a couple.”
“Oh. Well, you could have fooled me. I’m going for some coffee, can I get you some?” he asked.
“No thanks,” she shook her head and he left the room.
“Please wake up. There is so much we have to talk about,” she whispered as she pulled her knees up to her chest and closed her eyes.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
 
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