Cat and Mouse
By Terri D. Thomas
Part 14
Tom propelled himself backwards and twisted around into Murdock, using all of his strength to bring the man down with a full body tackle. The explosion of the bullet leaving the chamber as the men were falling to the ground was thunderous, instinctively causing Tom to jerk away and lose his advantage. He and his target collided with the hard surface of the driveway in a tangle of arms, legs and gun.
Tom reached out to grab the weapon from Murdock, but the man was too fast for him. Murdock swung it around connecting with Tom's left temple, the same one that had been injured by the murderer the evening before.
Stunned, Tom felt his face go numb and his arms go limp. He didn't seem to have the strength to keep his eyes open, let alone keep Murdock down. He could feel the man squirm his way out from under the weight of Tom's body. Tom reached out to grab the man's legs, desperately hoping that he would be able to keep his grip. Murdock roared, fury in his voice, and kicked out at Tom. His large foot connected with the bridge of Tom's nose.
The detective cried out in pain, his hands releasing their grip and instinctively flying to his face to protect it from further damage. Tears gathered in his eyes, blurring his vision. He could feel wet, warm liquid draining from his nose and running into his hands. Before he could think otherwise, he felt rather than saw the murderer break free of his grasp.
As his vision cleared, he saw Murdock retreating on foot into the darkness. Tom made a valiant effort to pursue, but his body wouldn’t cooperate. By the time he had pushed himself to his knees, Murdock was out of sight.
"Tom!" a voice yelled. The detective turned his head towards Harry's house, realizing that he had no clue of what had happened to Harry after the bullet had left the gun's chamber.
"Harry," he tried to respond, but it came out as a strained sound, muffled by the hand which still covered his bleeding nose.
Footsteps approached and Ryan felt hands grabbing him from behind, supporting his effort to make it to his feet. "Harry?" he repeated, praying it was his captain who was assisting him. He turned and found himself looking at the disheveled appearance of his commanding officer. "You okay?" he whispered.
"Yeah. . .but I'm gonna need a new porch light."
Tom glanced up at the front porch to find it was dark. The light was gone.
"That was close," Tom muttered, trying to wipe away the red, which was staining his face and clothes. It wasn't working.
Harry pulled the man to the house. "Back up will be here soon."
"Murdock got away," Tom commented, glancing back at the street. His eyes then caught sight of his gun in the darkness. It was only a few feet away. He leaned over with Harry's assistance, grabbed the weapon and slipped it into the waistband of his pants.
"Yeah," Harry agreed. "I had to get Frannie to cover."
"Huh?" Tom frowned, confused by the response.
"I didn't get out here in time to help." Tom nodded his understanding, but said nothing. "Let's get you inside," Harry said gently, guiding the detective to the house.
Frannie met the two men at the front door, the lights from inside shining outside. "Hesch, Tom are you okay?"
"We're okay," Harry responded calmly. "I think Tom may have taken another blow to his head, though. His nose is bleeding pretty bad as well."
"I'll call an ambulance," the woman offered.
"No," Tom immediately responded, his fingers feeling his nose gently. "He kicked me in the face. . .but I don't think anything's broken."
"You let me decide that," Harry said as he guided the injured young man to the living room couch and eased him down so that he was lying on his back against the cushions. Harry turned on the end table lamp. The light revealed a bloodied Tom Ryan.
"I'll get something for the nose," Frannie offered.
The woman returned with two wet wash clothes. She placed one against Tom's nose. "Hold that there," she ordered gently. Tom's hand pressed the cloth against his face.
Frannie used the second cloth to wipe the blood away from Tom's chin and neck.
Sounds of sirens in the distance could be heard. Harry pushed himself upright. "Frannie, could you check him over. Make sure he's really okay. I'm going to meet the officers."
"I'm okay," Tom commented as he pushed himself up.
Frannie shook her head. "No you're not, Tom." The woman forced the man to lie back down. "Just lie back and give the bleeding a chance to clot."
Tom nodded, resigned to his position.
Frannie gave the man a worried look. "It was Murdock, wasn't it?"
Tom nodded, but said nothing. The woman was silent for a moment. She then bit her lip and glanced at the front door. "How did he get to you?"
Tom frowned, confused at the question. Frannie tried to clarify. "The alarm in our room didn't go off until you were already outside with Murdock. How did he get to you?"
Tom then realized what the woman meant. She thought that Murdock had broken into the house and attempted to kidnap Tom. "He called me."
Frannie's eyes widened. "What?"
Tom felt guilt surge through his body. He sighed as his voice dropped to a sound barely above a whisper. "He called me and said that he wanted to give me some information. Told me to meet him outside." The detective's eyes widened as he realized he had forgotten about the file Murdock had left behind.
Before he could do anything about it, Frannie pushed herself to her feet, anger in her eyes. "And you went?" her words were loud and sharp.
Tom shrugged his shoulders, unable to answer. Before he could figure out a proper response, Harry returned to the house. "I've got them searching the neighborhood for any sign of Murdock, but I don't figure they'll find anything." The captain stopped at the alarm control panel by the front door. "Lot of good this thing did. Didn't wake us up until it was almost too late," he muttered.
"Harry, Tom has something he wants to tell you," the woman spat, shooting an angry look at Tom.
Harry frowned, not accustomed to seeing his wife so angry, especially when it was apparent that the anger was directed at Tom Ryan.
"What's going on?" Harry asked, mystified.
Tom sighed and pushed himself up to a sitting position. "Murdock called me, Harry. . .there's a fil. . ."
"What? When?"
"A little while ago. He said he had something to give me and told me to meet him outside, alone."
Harry immediately put two and two together. "What!" the man shouted. "And you went?"
"I thought. . .," Tom started to explain and then stopped. He then simply answered. "Yes, I went. He left a file. . ."
Fury crept into Harry's face, his eyes growing hard with rage. "You went? My God, Ryan, what kind of idiot are you?" he ranted. Without letting Tom respond, he continued. "Did you even think what kind of risk you were taking. . .what kind of risk you were putting Frannie in?"
Tom flinched at the older man's words. "I'm sorry, Harry."
"It's 'Captain' for you, Ryan. And don't you dare try to apologize for this. Sorry's not good enough this time, Sergeant." Harry began to pace back and forth, his anger only growing in magnitude. "You've pulled some real bonehead moves in the past, Ryan, but this has to take the cake."
Tom's eyes dropped to concentrate on the blood staining his shirt. "Harry, please. . .," he whispered, trying to offer some explanation.
Frannie watched the exchange between the two men. She, too, was angry at the stupidity of the man's actions. However, she could also understand Tom's motivations, albeit misguided. "Hesch. . .," she interjected, voice calm.
Harry spun on his wife, rage still consuming him. "No, don't, Frannie! Don't try to defend him."
"But, Har. . .," she tried again.
"No!" Harry shouted. "This doesn't involve you. This is an official matter. The Sergeant, here, just showed me how poor his judgment is. There is no excuse for the negligence of his actions. His careless conduct put a civilian in danger and that is unacceptable."
Tom said nothing, knowing that Harry was right. He had been an idiot. 'What the hell were you thinking, Ryan,' his mind chastised.
Harry spun back on the detective. "You, Sergeant Ryan, can consider yourself on suspension pending a full investigation into your conduct."
"Harry!" Frannie shouted, shocked by her husband's tirade.
Harry ignored the woman. "I want your gun and your badge," Harry ordered, his voice steady.
End Part 14
To Part 15