Tough Love

Chapter Sixty-Seven

Ash

I don't get home until 2am. It's been nearly 24 hours since the Cap flashed me for the bomb scare, but it feels like a week has passed. I grab a quick shower and try to get a few hours sleep. As my head hits the pillow, the tears spill from my eyes. Tears for Eli and tears for Dani. That she had to go through everything and we weren't there to protect her. I also cry tears for myself, because the thought of losing Dani hurts. Despite not being very comfortable in my presence, she has wriggled her way into my heart. She has a special place set aside in my heart, but not just because of what she has been through. It's mainly because of who she is. She has a way of making you feel special without even trying and maybe that's because of what she's been through, but it has a way of making you want to be her friend. When my tears have dried, I fall asleep to grab a few hours before heading back to the precinct.

I'm awake again at 7am and the first thing I do is grab coffee before dialing Arrow's number.

“Scott? What's going on? I can't get LT. What's happening?”

I briefly update him, leaving out some specific details that he doesn't need to know.

I hear a deep sigh come from him and he says, “I feel awful. I should have known something wasn't right. I just thought they'd dropped a guy off or something...”

“It's not your fault. There's nothing you could have done. Your orders were to stay on Babkin and that's what you did.”

“How's Eli holding up?”

“Honestly? Not good. He's barely holding it together right now. If we lose Dani I don't even know what he's going to do. I can't think about that right now.”

“No. From what LT said, she's a fighter. She'll fight this. What do you need me to do now?”

“Stay on Babkin. I'm checking in with Greggson in a bit and I'll need you to make sure Babkin doesn't do a runner before Greggson's men can snatch him up.”

“Roger. I'm on it. I'm on him now. I'll check in with you later and keep me updated about LT & Dani.”

“Will do.”

I hang up and dial Greggson's number. This is a call I'm not looking forward to. I don't even know how I'm going to explain this without dropping Dani's history in there. I'll just have to do my best. It's up to Eli to make the decision to bring Dani's past into this. I'm not going to make that call.

As soon as Greggson picks up, I say, “Hi, Captain Greggson, I'm Sergeant Scott from the Midtown South SWAT team. I'm calling on behalf of Lieutenant Ramirez.”

“Hey, what can I do for you, son? Is Ramirez ok?”

“Not really. We've had an incident with one of our analysts and she's in a critical condition in Lenox Hospital...”

“What happened? Is this the analyst that helped with the Russian Bank case?”

“Yes sir. She was attacked by a group of men who we believe are Bratva. Babkin was seen going into and leaving her apartment around the time of the attack.”

“What?! By who?”

I sigh and decide I need to reveal some truth here, “We have a man on Babkin, have had for quite some time. Before we even knew you were involved in this. He saw Babkin arrive and leave the apartment in the time frame, but he didn't think anything of it because they were a man short when they left.”