chapter 197

word count: 1226

gil, and his new partner, jimmy dolan, decided to make a quick pit stop at the hospital to check in on stephanie as well as exchange intel with hank, bringing everyone up to speed, before they returned to the precinct for what was going to be a marathon session of filling out all the paperwork involved in the chinatown massacre..

nothing could have prepared them for the mayhem they saw playing out in the parking lot at the time of their arrival.... there were people running out of the building screaming.. doctors, nurses, aides and orderlies were all hurrying to the far end of the property,, each pushing a wheelchair,, or a gurney loaded down with the patients that were not ambulatory enough to get out of the hospital unaided..

as gil slammed the car into park blocking the entrance way to the parking lot,, jimmy grabbed the bullhorn,, as it was evident something terrifying was going on,, and someone had to take charge immediately so as to avoid a riot..

as jimmy barked into the bullhorn hoping to stave off complete chaos by assuring the crowd that the new albany police department was already on the scene,, gill placed a distress call to the precinct,, requesting all available backup..

neither of them had a clue as to what exactly was going on,, as they had not been there when the alarm sounded,, so it goes without saying that when gil spied buzz and marisa enforcing crowd control,, by guiding the fevered masses to the grassy strip between the main road and the hospital,, both of them broke into a sprint..

as soon as they got within earshot, gil called out to buzz,, who motioned him to come closer without ever missing a beat as he corralled the ever maddening mass,, and moved it toward the outer perimeter of the parking lot.. 

“we got back up on the way!” gil informed buzz off the top..

“bomb threat!!” buzz called out to them, as he moved toward jimmy and ordered him to “jump in here for me!!”

jimmy quickly assumed buzz’s position and effortlessly took over..  he was able to catch a quick glimpse of buzz huddling with gil,, before the two of them took off, weapons drawn,,  in opposite directions making a wide sweep of the hospital grounds..

hank was wheeling stephanie out of the main entrance in a wheel chair when he spotted buzz and gil,, armed and tracking.. he quickly instructed stephanie to take over from here,, and get as far away from the building as possible,, before he instinctively ran back into the hospital,, thundering toward the rear exit of the building, intending to meet up with buzz and gil there…

just as buzz was approaching the rear exit of the hospital,, the automatic door came to life.. he instinctively turned into the sound,, and leveled his .45..  as soon as he saw it was hank he yelled out  “lock this mother fucker down!! get me a ten block perimeter!! and an APB out on the that mob quack, bigelow!!”

“got it!!” hank called back in affirmation as he hit his speed dial for dispatch and set the dragnet in motion..

by the time he completed the call,, gil had made his way around the building as well.. the three of them came together,, just long enough for buzz to brief hank on the situation,, and then amidst a symphony of blaring sirens,, they headed off into the wooded area that comprised the lot to the rear of the hospital,, buzz on point,, with gil 30 meters to his nine and hank 30 meters to his three..

***

the maniacal dr. bigelow had fled his room as soon as he deemed the coast clear.. knowing he would look suspicious running in the opposite direction of the frenzied crowd, he ducked into the stair well and taking the steps as swiftly as his large frame would allow,, he barreled down the four flights of steps and out into the back parking lot of the hospital. the woods was his only chance.. to take off in any other direction would be sheer madness as he would have to fight the crowds of frightened personnel and patients and very possibly blow his only chance at freedom.. 

somewhat winded from his hurried descent,, he sought shelter behind a shed that sat right on the edge of the property line..  he afforded himself a moment there to catch his breath before lumbering off into the densely wooded lot behind the hospital.. knowing as he did that buzz miller was probably still on the hospital campus,, he wasted no time cutting his way through the  woods.. he had to make it through the wooded lot,, and onto the main highway that ran adjacent before buzz got wise..

even with the highway just coming into view,, it  became evident that no matter how much his mind kept telling him that he had to keep moving,, his lard laden body was unable to follow its direction.. he leaned heavily on the thick trunk of a solitary oak,, sweating and panting as if he had just run a marathon.. his heart was beating so loudly in his chest that it all but obliterated his ability to hear…

unfortunately for him,, the three stealth detectives that were quickly closing in on him,, had not suffered a similar loss of hearing.. instead,, they were able to audibly track him as he bumbled noisily through the overgrowth.. communicating with each other silently,, with positions set by a simple shake of the head,, and a final nod  from buzz indicating it was time to close in on the wheezing fat man,, they descended..  each of them on the ready, hoping for him to do something, anything that would give them the opportunity to justify a shooting…

“on the ground mother fucker!! on the ground!!” buzz screamed,,  as the three of them moved closer..

when bigelow hesitated to heed buzz’s ‘suggestion’ that he hit the turf,, hank and gil rushed in from both sides,, slamming into him at precisely the same moment,, and bringing the big boy down with the crushing sound of twigs and old dried leaves giving way,, as his enormous gut met heavily with the ground..

gil jumped on the doc’s back,, placing his leg painfully over the back of his head and shoulders,, pressing his gob into the damp, moldy undergrowth,, as hank grabbed gils cuffs and locked them together with his own,, making a set large enough to span the doctors girth and secure his hands as far behind his wide backside as humanly possible..

“you fat fuckin’ son of a bitch!!!” buzz thundered.

“do you have any idea how much i wanna put a bullet through your fat fucking head right this minute??” he continued, as he leaned in heavily and drove the muzzle of his gun into the soft flesh at the base of bigelow’s skull..

“stand down!!” hank commanded,, knowing all too well the look of blood-lust in buzz’s eyes.. sure,, they had had their differences,, but he wasn’t gonna just stand there and watch buzz do something in a fit of blind ragethat he knew would bring his whole world crashing in around him..

“stand down!!!” hank repeated, as both he and gil leveled their weapons,, not at bigelow,, but rather at one of their own, their friend,, their leader,, detective buzz miller himself..