Derek froze.
Was this what it felt like to be dead? To be shot? This empty feeling of nothingness and…
No, it couldn’t be him, he thought as he touched his head and chest and looked at his hands. No red. Suddenly, Sidney crumpled to the ground in a pool of blood. He was confused.
“That’s why you leave this job to the professionals,” a voice said close by. Out of the shadows behind Sidney, an SIU agent suddenly came into view as though he had appeared out of thin air. Derek subconsciously held on to the little girl who was gripping his legs and sobbing uncontrollably.
No child deserved to have seen or heard something like that.
“I was a hundred percent sure you’d do something like this, seeing that you’d gone Geronimo on this case,” the agent said, touching Sidney’s neck.
“Any pulse?”
“She’s as dead as my conscience,” the man said. That didn’t sound like a joke at all.
Derek fell to his knees, the strain if the case on him the past few days finally weighing in. A couple of punks rushed towards him out of those shadows, although he was sure that they were the ‘plain-clothes’ officers.
He couldn’t any longer.
Everything went black.
********************************
When he finally regained consciousness, the bright lights of his hospital ward assaulted his eyes. It took a long while to his eyes to focus, but when they did, he noticed that there were a lot of flowers by his bedside.
“He’s awake!” a tiny voice screamed with excitement.
“Now, Aimee, don’t shout. He’s just out of…”
Before he could turn, he felt a huge hug, and facing the character, he saw Aimee beaming at him.
“Hey Mister,” she beamed.
Her mother whom he recognized from the day she came to report the kidnap of her daughter pulled her back, apologizing for her behavior,
“No, it’s okay. How’re you both doing?”
“We’re alright. I just wanted to thank you for all your efforts in finding my daughter. The news just got out and I just realized how dangerous the whole ordeal was for you,” she said, beaming with gratitude.
“You’re welcome. It was nothing, I guess. I don’t have kids, but I guess I understand just a little about how painful it is to lose someone you care about,” Derek mused, his mind far away.
She could probably see through his words into his sad soul.
“How long have I been unconscious?” Derek asked.
“A day,” Aimee chipped in. “We’ve been checking on you since then,”
“Thanks, kiddo!” He said, suddenly realizing how much he sounded like his dad. “You’re a great kid,”
*****************************************
It’d been three days since he regained consciousness, and he was discharged.
There was a lot of paperwork to take care of, especially as he refused to leave the case to the SIU. He’d had to read up a lot on Sidney and how she was able to infiltrate the police force so. Reading this wouldn’t change anything, since the people in charge would do nothing to regulate how people with criminal records got jobs in the Police Force.
But he’d do it because he never wanted to go through all this again.
It was left to the SIU and other units to carry on the investigation into the Black Lotus, Personas, and corruption in the Police force, all thanks to Sidney’s files.
Tony was sentenced to five years imprisonment. Derek swung into motion and got him transferred out of the State Penitentiary – he did owe him that favor. However, Derek was a day too late – he’d been raped by his cellmate a day before the transfer.
You win some, you lose some, he thought, remembering how Tony had thanked him when he’d come to tell him about the transfer. He laughed about it.
Turning into the small precinct canteen, he ordered two sprinkled doughnuts and a coffee. Everyone was surprised, including the salesgirl.
“What? There’s a first for everything,” he said, smiling as he bit down on the doughnut.
It did taste good.
***********************************
Yes, it’s finally done @Hanzell
I went for that calm ending because that’s what this heck of a story deserved. Any final thoughts on the story? I’d like to hear them.
Case Closed.
If you're looking for any of the Taken stories, please head to this post to read them
I FINALLY FINISHED READING IT OMG!!!!! That was such a long series, I swear but well worth the read!! The intensity was definitely there and i loved the twist. The calm ending seemed to have been expected from a detective story but it was still nice