~~~~~

Part 3

by Wenda

 Ezra couldn’t seem to put into words the concern and worry he was feeling, as he stood and stared at the slowly congealing blood on the metal walkway. He hadn’t seen Vin fall as he dashed across the warehouse and up the stairwell, but looked down anyway hoping he was right and that there would be no tanned and lean body splayed across the concrete below.

The breath he didn’t even realize he was holding, escaped from his lips powerfully. Vin wasn’t there… SO WHERE WAS HE?

 The fire fight below him sounded like thunder up on the catwalk, sounds of gunfire mixing and overlaying the shouts of his team as they tried to round up the miscreants below. Ezra looked wildly around him hoping to find or see anything that might lead him to his missing friend. He briefly glanced at the opening of the old fire escape but discounted that train of thought when he remembered the location briefing and Nathan’s description of it.

 Just then a bullet ricocheted upwards from the battle, almost parting Ezra’s hair. He raced back down into the fray with only two thoughts whirling around in his head.

 The first was, the sooner they finish this the sooner they could find Vin, and the second which brought no comfort as he positioned himself behind a concrete post ready to fire… was, ‘Oh lord… I have to tell Chris!’

 *****

 ‘Well this went to hell in a hand basket…’ Chris thought to himself, as he readied to move and fire. ‘What on earth happened?’

 Chris rose up from behind the crate he’d thrown himself behind when he and the others rushed into the building. He fired across the open space, seeing his target madly scramble back behind the concrete pillar as his bullets flew past and in front of him. Chris saw the concrete shards explode from the pillar and shower down to the floor in a dusty haze, before the criminal once again leapt out and fired back at him.

 Chris ducked but something felt wrong. For the life of him, he couldn’t work out what it was. Josiah was to his left and Nathan was slightly behind him to his right. Chris’s heart skipped… where was Ezra?

 He had seen him moving across the warehouse to the pillars in front of the stairs, but he was no longer there. ‘A cat has nine lives…. a cat has nine lives…’ was the thought racing through Chris’s mind as he returned fire then raced out to down and cuff the henchman. Pulling up the crook he looked around to see both Josiah and Nathan doing the same.

 He quickly turned his head towards the stairs and took a calming breath when Ezra stood up and moved towards him. ‘All good…’ he thought, but the uneasiness remained like a shroud around him.

Ezra looked at him directly, then taking a deep breath before replying said, “Chris there is a problem…”

~~~~~

Part 4

by Amelia

Ricky looked to the man holding his wrist. Dark brown eyes were met by brilliant blue, though it was obvious even to the youngster that something was wrong, the man was unable to focus.

"Mister, we need to go before those bad men come out and find us," Ricky pleaded.

Having only a hazy memory of gunfire and being shot at, Vin slowly sat up. He thought he might lose his breakfast from the way his head was spinning.

"Please mister we got to hurry."

Nodding his head, Vin slowly reached out and used the side of the building to pull himself up.

Ricky slipped up beside him, putting his arms around the man’s waist as best he could. Then led Vin down the alley.

Neither noticed the gun that was left behind.

Weaving back and forth, Vin leaned against the corner of the building to catch his breath before allowing the boy to pull him on around the corner. The two made their way down a block before Vin fell to his knees by a light pole, losing the contents of his stomach.

Ricky did the only thing he could think, patting the man’s back until he was finished. He reached into his jeans pocket and pulled out everything that was in it. The boy looked through his treasures, an agate marble, a fishing bobber and a piece of gum. He watched until the man had settled back against the pole. "Mister I ain’t got no water. But I got a piece of gum," Ricky offered.

"Thanks, kid, don’t think my stomach could take it."

"If you think you’re done mister, we need to get," Ricky said worriedly.

"Call me Vin."

"Oh, I’m Ricky."

Vin used the pole to get back to his feet. Ricky quickly wrapped his arms around him and helped lead Vin down the pavement, not realizing he had dropped his treasures.

Two blocks later, Ricky turned to what once was a guard’s house for a shipping yard. Opening the door they were met by a gravelly voice, "Who’s this!?"

"Grandpa, this’s Vin. He got hurt saving me when all these men started shooting, ya got to help him," Ricky pleaded.

The older man stepped closer to get a good look at the man’s face, "Tanner?!"

~~~~~

Ezra quickly explained to Chris and the others about the bullet and searching the catwalk as well as what he found on it.

"He wouldn’t have gone out on the fire escape with the condition it was in," Nathan announced.

Chris looked up, "He would if he had no other choice. Buck, JD, tell team four, to take the prisoners down to lock up and ask Martinez to handle things. Then catch up with one of us. We start at the fire escape in the alley and go from there," Chris ordered.

They headed out the door and around the building stopping at the sight of the collapsed fire escape.

Rushing to the crumpled structure, Chris picked up what he knew to be Vin’s gun and saw more blood.

 ~~~~~

Part 5

By Nadine

 “Well, gentlemen, that would explain how our intrepid sniper vanished from the warehouse.”

“Guys,” Chris called, “you better look at this!”

As the others came over they noticed that Chris was holding Vin’s rifle.  A rifle that Vin would never leave unless something was wrong.

“Spread out and see if we can find any more clues as to what happened to him.”

The men started searching the alley at one end and moved slowly to the other end hoping that they would find that all important clue to their friend’s whereabouts.

“Nathan, I found a blood trail heading down to the next alley.”

“Looks like we have an injured sniper again,” stated Nathan as he shook his head.

“Gentlemen there is evidence that our friend didn’t enjoy his morning repast about half way down the next alley.”

“Damn, means he probably has a concussion.”

“Which means he’s not thinking straight and could have wandered anywhere.”

As they scanned the area where someone had obviously been sick Chris noticed something shiny nearby.  When he picked it up he got a contemplative look on his face. 

“What you got there Stud?” asked Buck as he and Josiah finally joined their friends in the search.

“A fishing bobber, like what a kid would keep as a coveted treasure.  You don’t think that Vin was helped by a kid do you?”

“Maybe he was injured protecting a child and now they are helping him,” explained Josiah.

“Now that would make sense.  Can’t see him dropping a bullet unless there was a reason.  Trying to protect a child could be that reason.  It would also explain how someone could get into the warehouse without being seen,” stated Buck.

“Alright if he had help then he could be anywhere but I bet it’s close.  Everyone spread out and start looking.  Keep expanding the search area until we find them.”

*****

 “Tanker Tom?” gasped Vin just before he lost consciousness.

“Grandpa, is he going to be alright?” Ricky was really worried since the man was hurt helping him.

“Don’t know but we will do what we can.  What I do know is he is a member of a crack ATF team and they are bound to be looking for him.”

“Do you want me to keep an eye out for them and warn you if I see them?”

“Yeah, that would be good.”

As the boy headed out the man began to inspect Vin’s injuries.  Boy did you get yourself in a mess this time, but that’s nothing new for you is it? 

~~~~~

Ricky was keeping a close watch on a man dressed entirely in black and wondering if this was a good guy or bad guy when a large hand landed on his shoulder.

“Eeep!”

“Easy son we mean you no harm,” the large silver haired man said.

“We are looking for a very close friend.  Do you know where he is?” asked Josiah.

~~~~~

Part 6

by zarbettu

Ricky looked closely at the big man who had spoken to him. This man's jacket had the same eagle-topped badge on it as he had seen on Vin's vest. He thought that these might be the 'friends' grandpa was talking about.

"You've gotta tell me his name before I tell you anything," mumbled Ricky, wanting to make sure his hero was going to be safe.

Josiah looked into the child's eyes, reading his emotional connection to someone - likely their missing sharpshooter. He kept his hand on the boys shoulder and let out a piercing whistle. Then he knelt down so that his face was just a little higher than the boy's.

"Son, no one here is going to hurt Vin," Josiah rumbled in his calming baritone, trying to ease the fears of this child as more footsteps approached. "We just want to make sure he is okay."

Ricky watched with wary eyes as the angry looking blond man dressed in black stopped a few feet away.

Seeing the boy's distrust, Chris also knelt down to the child's eye-level. "Hey sport. One of my men, my friend, was hurt just a while ago at the warehouse over there," Chris pointed back the way they had come. "We think he might need to see a doctor – what do you think?"

Ricky's quavering voice responded, "He got shot and then we fell down when some steps broke."

Nathan came forward with his bright orange EMT bag. "I have things in here that help hurt people – but you have to let us know where he is."

Looking at the six worried men gathered around him, Ricky came to a decision – these men could certainly protect Vin better than he or his grandfather could. "My Grandpa is trying to help him, but we don't have much." He grabbed Nathan's hand, tugging. "Come on, he's this way."

Holding firm to Nathan's hand, the other six trailing closely behind, Ricky quickly led the men to the old guard shack. He called out as he approached, "Grandpa! I brought Vin's friends with me!"

The young boy reached for the handle of the door. Before he could get it open, Chris stepped forward and pulled the youngster back. Startled, the boy tried to squirm out of the hold, but Chris carefully pushed him towards Josiah.

"Sometimes, Vin reacts first and asks questions later when he's hurt. I'd better be the first one through," was the blond man's quiet explanation.

Ricky nodded that he understood and stood quietly next to the large man holding onto his shoulder.

Chris pushed the door open into the small, dark space. He stepped inside, holding a small flashlight down towards the floor, so as not to blind whoever might be inside.  The click of a hammer being pulled back made the dark man stop, looking towards the sound.

There, in the corner of the dingy building, sat Vin, a dazed look in his eye and a gun pointed straight at Chris.

~~~~~

Part 7

by Mariah

Chris was relieved to find his missing friend. But relief quickly turned into concern when he realized that Vin wasn’t lowering his weapon. He was shielding an elderly man, who Chris concluded was the kid’s grandfather. Vin was clearly in pain, with a bloody cloth tied around his thigh. But what really worried Chris was that Vin seemed to be looking at him without really seeing him.

Knowing any movement may be perceived as a threat, he forced himself not to move. In a calm voice, he soothed, “You’re safe now, Vin. Stand down.”

“Whatcha do with the boy?” Vin insisted, the gun maintaining a steady bead on Chris.

“He’s fine. He’s with Josiah and the rest of the boys, just waiting for you to let us help you. I betcha Nathan’s nipping at the bit to get at that leg of yours. How about you let them in so he can fix you up? And Buck’s real anxious to get home. He’s got that big date tonight, remember?” Chris hoped mentioning names would help Vin to realize he was out of harm’s way.

“No . . . make me . . . hospital.”

Recognizing this man was a friend of Vin’s, Tom put a hand on the injured agent’s arm. “Now listen to me, son, you are going to go to the hospital and do everything the doctor tells you to do. If you don’t, you won’t be able to join Ricky and me on our next fishing trip.” As he was speaking, he gently pushed down on Vin’s arm until the gun was aimed toward the floor. “How does that sound?”

Blinking as he tried to focus, Vin muttered, “Can I . . . bring my friends?”

“Sure, son, just as soon as you’re better.”

Chris chanced moving toward Vin and when he didn’t end up with a gun muzzle in his face, he whistled for the rest of the team.

The others entered the shack. Nathan quickly assessed Vin while Ezra pulled out his cell phone to inform the paramedics of their location.

Ricky ran to his grandfather, who put an arm around the boy’s shoulders. “Is he gonna be OK, Grandpa?”

“I’m sure he’s going to be fine.”

With Vin safely in Nathan’s hands, Chris turned his attention to the older man. “Thank you for helping my agent.”

“My pleasure, sir. I’ve known Vin Tanner since my days working in Purgatorio. He helped me out of a couple of run-ins with the local gangs. Wouldn’t be right to turn my back on him now. Sides, he kept my grandson safe and sound,” Tom finished, tightening his hold on Ricky.

Chris looked down at the little boy who was anxiously watching the EMT’s transfer Vin onto a stretcher.  He knelt down and put the bobber he found in the street in one of Ricky’s hands. “And thank you for helping my friend.  You were very brave today.”

The smile that lit up the boy’s face almost made up for the disaster of a day.

The end

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