Time Will Test Us
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You are a fact for
me
not dream or fiction.
I agree that time
will test us
but time not spent with you
is lost.
Rod
McKuen
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
Danny, Ted, and Lindsay carrying Gus, exited the elevator and stood in front of the loft door. Danny knocked and Brian, having confirmed who was there, pulled the door open. “Dada,” Gus said excitedly as he reached out for Brian, who took him into a protective embrace.
“Hey, Sonny Boy,” he said and raised his hand for a high five.
Gus slapped his hand just like Justin showed him and
giggled.. As Lindsay entered the loft, Brian leaned
down to give her a light kiss on the cheek. Ted entered last, turning
to the young officer.
“Thanks.” Ted held out his hand for a handshake.
“My pleasure,” Danny answered back, extending his hand, too.
“Umm, good luck.” Ted nodded and followed Lindsay into the
loft.
As Brian closed the door, he looked at Ted and raised an eyebrow. “Seems
like a nice guy, Teddy. You two have a date planned already?”
“I haven’t even said two words to him. And besides, I have the
feeling he’s not ‘out’ at work. If he wants to see me,
he’ll let me know. I can’t believe
he...”
“Ted, don’t you dare say it,” Lindsay interjected.
“You’re successful, a
good person, and pretty
good looking, too. If you want to see him, ask him. Just
not in front of his partner or the police station, if you know what I
mean.”
Gus spied Justin and began wiggling in his father’s arms so Brian put
him down on the floor. He ran to Justin.
“Jussy,
Jussy,” he yelled and scramble onto the sofa.
“Jussy
hurt. Me see?” Lindsay
had taken Gus to see Justin in the hospital, hoping her son would cheer him
up. Justin lifted his shirt to show Gus one small part of the healing
incision. Gus leaned over, and before Justin could stop him, he planted a
sloppy kiss over the area. “Kiss make it
better.
All gone.” Gus raised his arms in a victory
gesture.
Justin pulled Gus into his arms and gave him a big hug. “Thank you so
much, Gussy. You make me feel all better.” Then, to no one in
particular, he mumbled, “Damn
allergies,” as a tear slipped
down his cheek. Brian watched his son and his lover, and wished he could
protect them both from all the evils of the world forever. But given the
reason they were all there, proved he couldn’t, no matter how hard he
tried. Gus rested his head on Justin’s shoulder for another minute,
then in true toddler fashion, was off Justin’s lap in a flash to find
something else to occupy his time.
Once the loft door was closed and locked, Danny
turned toward the stairs, but stood there for another moment thinking about
Ted. ‘He seems nice and I think he’s interested in me, too.’
He smiled, thinking that when this case is over, they would have to go out
for a drink or something. As his mind came back to the present, he saw a
movement out of the corner of
his eye. Looking to his
left, he saw that the door to the mechanical room was slightly ajar and no
light was on. He couldn’t remember if it was like that when he first
got off the elevator. ‘Damn, that’s something I should have
noticed,’ he thought, mentally kicking himself for not paying better
attention. Deciding to check it out, he quietly stepped back against the
wall and unsnapped the cover of his holster in case he needed his gun. He
also activated his mike, and talking
softly, called his
partner. “Sarge,
everyone’s in the loft and okay. I’m checking out an open
door here, then I’ll be right down.”
“Do you need me up there?”
“No. I’ll only be a minute. It’s the door
to the mechanical room here on the fourth floor.”
“10-4 and stay alert.”
“10-4.” The young officer walked slowly toward the
door. He pulled his gun from the holster at the last moment and held it in
his right hand and reached for the handle of
the green metal door with
his left.
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
Melanie opened her eyes and stared at the dirty brick wall again. She was
getting cold and the shadows were deepening. It would soon me dark. Despite
the pain, she had to move. She had to find a way to let someone know she
was there. She looked around, eyes finally resting on a beer bottle by the
wall near her foot. She was able to bend her leg enough to get her foot on
the bottle and lightly kick it back, closer to her hand. She reached out
and picked it up. The effort was exhausting, and she fell back onto the hard
road, willing herself not to pass out again. She wasn’t sure how long
ago it was, but she knew someone had been in the alley. When she heard a
man’s voice shout, “It’s all clear
here,” she wanted to scream, “I’m here, I’m here,”
but nothing came out. She remembered feeling
a tear run down the side of her face at the man’s retreating steps.
If only he had come a little further into the alley.
Just a few more steps. In her mind she was wondering
what was going to happen to her. Would she be found in time, and her thoughts
were back on Lindsay and Gus. ‘This has to work. It has to. I’m
not leaving them.’ She closed her eyes and let her breath slow down.
Now that she had the bottle, she had to move again, to get her arm past the
dumpster standing a few feet from her. The pain in her arm returned
in full as she slid several feet out into the road. She rested her head back
down until the white light in her eyes went away. When she was ready,
she tossed the bottle with all the strength she had left. It sailed through
the air, landing several feet inside the alley entrance. It broke with a
loud crash, shattering the glass and sending pieces an all directions.
Startled, Sgt. Silvers, looked toward the sound
but didn’t see anything. When he moved, the sun glared off a few pieces
of glass at the entrance to the alley. Glass that he was sure
wasn’t there when he checked the alley. He went to investigate.
Gun drawn, he crept along the building to the corner and glanced quickly
around. He didn’t see anyone in the shadows, but heard a faint moan,
and one word that sounded like, “Help.” He pulled his flashlight
out of its holder on his belt and let the light shine into the alley entrance.
A dumpster stood against the wall about ten
feet in, but he saw something lying on the concrete next to it. Shining his
light
around and not seeing anything else, he approached the form. It was a woman,
dressed in a dark gray suit. Blood was caked on her head and right arm, and
a small puddle of blood ran under her shoulders. She fit the description
of the lawyer Horvath told them to watch out for. “Ms. Marcus?”
He knelt down to see if she was still alive. “ Oh, my God,” he
said mostly to himself as the realization of what must have happened dawned
on him He spoke into his mike, “Lassiter are you there? Lassiter, answer
me.” His only response was silence.
Melanie opened her eyes at the sound of the officer’s voice.
“Ethan....Here...Inside....” She felt the darkness descend, and
this time she let it overtake her. Everything
would be alright now.
They knew.
Silvers was calling for an ambulance and back up
before Melanie could finish her sentence. He made sure she was still breathing,
then ran for the front door of the building, continuing
to try to raise his partner on the microphone. At the door, he buzzed
the loft, hoping to warn them that Ethan Gold was in the building, hoping
he wasn’t too late.
Cal was getting
ready to exit the car at the station when he heard the call for back up at
the address he and his partner had just left. “Frank, come on.
Something’s going on. Silvers just called for back up and an ambulance.
That kid is there.” Frank ran back to the car as
The older officer looked at his partner as he drove through the city streets.
“Kid, look. They’re good officers,
they’ll be ok.”
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
“You haven’t heard from Mel.” It was a statement, not a question.
The look on Brian’s face made it all too clear. Brian put his arms around
his friend and held her, knowing just what she was feeling right now. He
had felt it so many times himself. He tried not to let the images of Justin
lying in a pool of blood on a cold parking garage floor, or the awful wait
in the hospital to find out if Justin was still alive, take over. The
fresher images of Justin walking out of
“We’ll find her and she’ll be fine, Linds,” Brian said
as he led her to a chair. “How about a cup of
tea? I still have some of that herb tea you brought over last
month.” Lindsay nodded and
gave him a small smile. At least that was something. Brian looked expectantly
at Ted who was still standing by the door. Ted shook his head no,
then sat in the chair at Brian’s desk. Brian
squeezed his shoulder as he walked by.
Justin slowly arose from the sofa and followed Brian into the kitchen. He
leaned against the counter and watched Brian fill the kettle and get two
cups from the cabinet Justin loved the way Brian moved, fluid and cat-like.
“I’m sorry,” he said quietly. Brian turned the fire on under
the kettle then looked at Justin. Justin’s head was down, and he looked
so small and vulnerable just then.
“Justin, don’t. None of this is your fault.” He lifted
Justin’s face to his and looked into the blue eyes, glassy from tears
ready to fall. Justin closed his eyes and leaned his head against Brian’s
chest, listening to the steady rhythm of his heart beat. “I love you,
Baby. Don’t ever forget that.” Justin knew he would never
doubt that again. The quiet moment was broken by the whistling of the kettle.
Brian fixed the tea for Lindsay in one cup and poured some apple juice into
the other cup for Gus. As they both walked back into the living room,
Brian reached down and handed
his son the Pooh cup of apple juice and tousled his chestnut hair. Gus smiled
up at his father.
After handing Lindsay her tea, Brian sat on the sofa next to Justin and took
the younger man’s hand in his. He felt how cold they were and looked
at his lover. “Baby, why don’t you go lay down on the bed. I’ll
be right here.” Justin shook his head. “Okay, then,” he said,
patting his leg. “Lay down here for a while.” When Justin was
comfortable, using Brian’s leg
as a pillow, Brian covered
him with the chenille throw from the back of the sofa. The only sound in
the loft was of the wheels of Gus’s truck as it was pushed across the
wood floor, Pooh cup riding in the back.
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
As Danny touched the handle, the heavy green
door suddenly swung open, knocking the gun from Danny’s hand and sending
it flying toward the elevator shaft. Ethan sprang out slashing at the air
with his knife. The startled rookie felt a sharp pain in his arm as the knife
made several lucky cuts through cloth and skin. Despite the pain in his arm,
he grabbed for the younger man, hoping to disarm him. Ethan broke away, shoving
the policeman against the wall as he tried to get to the gun. Just then,
his mike clicked and both men could hear the
Sarge’s voice. Ethan turned for a split second
to see what was going on, and Danny took advantage of the situation. He lunged
at Ethan, sending them both crashing into the elevator gate,
making a loud noise as
several wood slats broke against their weight. Angry, Ethan yelled out.
“You’re dead, Cop.”
The noise and shouting in the hall pierced the quiet of the loft.
”What
the...” Ted said,
automatically heading for the door.
Justin jumped up from the sofa, heedless of the pain from his healing wounds.
“That’s Ethan,” he said putting
an arm around Brian’s waist. “How did he get up here? Brian?”
When Gus heard the noise and shouting, he stopped and stared at the door.
He wasn’t sure what was going on, but he saw the looks on the
grown-ups’ faces. “Dada,” he cried as he ran to his father,
suddenly scared. Brian scooped him up and held him for a moment then handed
him to Lindsay. Looking toward Justin, he said, “Take Gus and Lindsay
into the bathroom and lock the door. Don’t come out
til you hear Ted’s or my voice.”
Justin shook his head no, but Brian said firmly, “Justin, go with
Lindsay!”
He didn’t want to leave Brian. “No, Brian. I’m staying with
you.”
Before Brian could respond, the buzzer sounded and Ted reached for the intercom
button. Sgt. Silvers started talking as soon as he heard the click of the
button.. “Ethan Gold is in the building. I’m
on my way up.” Sirens sounded in the background. Brian turned back to
Justin. “Justin, please. Go with Gus and Lindsay. I want someone with
them. Please,” he said softly.
Justin looked into Brian’s eyes and nodded. “I love you,”
he said. “Please be careful.”
“I love you, too,” Brian said to Justin, then kissed Lindsay and
Gus and watched the three of them climb up the steps to the bedroom and
hopefully, safety. He turned to Ted, still by the door. “Do you hear
anything else?”
Ted’s eyes were dark as he shook his head. He heard the word
‘cop’ and was worried about the young officer he just met. He wished
he was brave enough to go out and help, but knew it would only make matters
worse. He would be just one more person who could get hurt.
The ambulance and patrol car arrived at the same time. Silvers directed the
Frank and Cal nodded in unison, drew their guns and the three men entered
the building.
Return to
the Time
series