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The moment Helen's tearful voice came through the phone—
Hawk, who had been driving, was already moving.
SCREECH!
The black Audi A8's tires shrieked against the pavement. The car whipped into a sharp turn right in front of 521A Bleecker Street, then used its momentum to cut across the front lawn before rolling to a stop at the garage entrance.
Hawk and Gwen had already vanished from inside the vehicle.
New Amsterdam Hospital.
Gwen's vision blurred for a split second. When it cleared, she found herself standing in front of the emergency room, staring at Helen—who was still holding her phone, the call not yet disconnected.
"MOM!"
"GWEN."
Helen, who had always been composed and gentle, now looked completely lost. Seeing her daughter appear before the phone call had even ended, she clearly wasn't thinking straight. She rose immediately and pulled Gwen into her arms.
Helen's voice trembled.
"Your father's in surgery."
"What happened?"
Gwen's voice shook as she held her mother.
Hawk's gaze shifted to the lit-up operating room. Using his Sixth Sense—X-Ray Vision—he saw George on the operating table with perfect clarity. Already anesthetized, intubated, undergoing emergency surgery.
His Sixth Sense sank deeper, penetrating George's body.
What he saw, George had been shot in the abdomen, shoulder, and neck.
The neck wound wasn't too bad. Just a graze.
But the abdomen was a through-and-through. Same with the shoulder.
Jesus...
One shot to the gut, one to the shoulder, and a final shot aimed at the throat.
Professional work!
Hawk took a mental breath as he observed George's condition, then withdrew his gaze. Following Gwen's eyes, he turned to the female detective who had been waiting with Helen.
Her name was Hale.
Detective Hale was one of Captain George Stacy's best investigators at the 21st Precinct, and she had a good relationship with Helen. So Hawk didn't look at her with any bias.
Just like Hawk had always believed—
His moral code had a certain flexibility to it.
Hale, also too worried about George to question how Hawk and Gwen had arrived so quickly, explained what had happened.
She'd rushed here from the 21st after receiving word.
The specifics were unclear to her as well.
Because the incident hadn't occurred in the 21st's jurisdiction—it had happened in the 12th Precinct's territory.
Earlier that day, two patrol officers from the 12th had been making their rounds. When they passed a multilevel parking structure in their district and stopped to grab coffee, they suddenly heard gunshots coming from inside.
The two officers didn't hesitate. They called in the shots-fired code and went in.
Then, By the time backup arrived on scene, the gunfire had stopped. The two patrol officers were lying in pools of blood.
So was Captain George Stacy.
The responding units immediately called out a 999.
Police radio traffic had countless preset codes. Each code corresponded to a specific type of incident.
Code 221, for example, meant robbery.
That was the most serious code in the book. Calling 999 meant one thing—officer down by gunfire.
Every available unit in the area responded immediately. New Amsterdam Hospital's ambulances were dispatched without delay.
After loading all three victims into ambulances, one of the EMTs recognized George. That's when the 21st Precinct received word that their captain had been shot and his status was unknown.
Which explained why an officer had gone to get Helen and bring her to the hospital.
Hale, who was both a detective and close to Helen, had rushed over as well to keep her company.
However...
"Mahoney's already at the scene."
"The deputy captain's also negotiating with the 12th's captain to see if we can get jurisdiction over the case."
But it probably wasn't happening.
The incident occurred in the 12th's territory. And unlike George, who was still in surgery, the two patrol officers from the 12th had already been pronounced dead.
The 21st would be furious about their captain being shot. The 12th would be just as furious about losing their own.
So as Hale explained all this, her expression grew increasingly worried.
Hawk frowned.
"Detective Mahoney?"
"Yes."
Hale nodded.
Hawk borrowed Gwen's phone, stepped aside, found Detective Mahoney's number in the contacts, and dialed.
Hale was one of the 21st Precinct's finest detectives.
So was Mahoney.
Hawk had met both of them at the Stacy apartment before. They were the only two detectives he'd actually encountered.
You could say these two were George's right and left hands.
The 21st Precinct's solve rate was basically built on these two detectives' work.
At that moment, Mahoney—currently standing at the multilevel parking structure where the shooting had occurred—pulled out his phone, glanced at the caller ID, frowned briefly, then thought for a moment before stepping aside to answer.
"Mahoney speaking..."
"Detective Mahoney, it's Hawk."
"Hawk..."
Detective Mahoney let out an involuntary sigh of relief hearing Hawk's voice.
He'd been afraid it was Gwen or Helen calling. If it had been either of them, he honestly wouldn't have known what to say.
He'd only just arrived himself.
"Hawk—you and Gwen made it to the hospital? How's Helen holding up? What about George? What are the doctors saying?"
"Gwen and Helen are both really worried. George is still in surgery." Hawk didn't hide anything from Mahoney. He gave him the current situation at the hospital, then asked, "What happened?"
Mahoney rubbed his temples.
"I was afraid you'd ask that."
"Why?"
"I just got to the scene myself. Still trying to figure out why the captain was in the 12th's jurisdiction this morning in the first place."
"...You don't know either?"
"No. I just got the captain's schedule from his assistant. He was supposed to have a budget meeting today, but the assistant said the captain called last night and canceled this morning's meeting. Didn't say why. Just cleared his morning schedule."
"..."
Hawk frowned at that, then seemed to remember something. "Could it be related to that case you guys were investigating? I remember George mentioning it when we got back from Christmas. Said you were still working it."
That was right before he and Gwen had left for Forks. George had been investigating something.
And when they'd returned from Forks, George was still on that same case.
George wasn't a detective anymore—he was a captain. The commanding officer of the 21st Precinct.
As precinct captain, George had the highest decision-making authority and day-to-day management responsibilities for the entire station.
Technically, a precinct captain didn't need to be on the front lines anymore.
But George had come up through the detective ranks. So even now as captain, he still stayed personally involved in major cases.
In George's words, his career had already peaked anyway.
Precinct commander was both the summit and the end of his professional trajectory.
Mahoney seemed momentarily taken aback hearing Hawk mention that case.
"What... oh, you mean that case. That one's been closed."
"Closed?" Hawk blinked. "When did it close?"
Mahoney's tone hesitated on the other end. "I can't really say much more—you know the rules, Hawk. But the captain officially closed it last month."
Hearing Mahoney's tone, Hawk picked up on something off.
"You mean closed on paper?"
"...Yeah." Mahoney hesitated, then—considering that Hawk was his captain's future son-in-law—spoke in a lower voice. "The captain and I chased a lead for three solid months. Then suddenly this suspect shows up and confesses. All the physical evidence and witness testimony pointed to him. And you know how much pressure was on that case. So the captain chose to close it."
He paused there.
Then footsteps came through the phone. After a moment—once Mahoney had apparently found a more private location—his voice returned. "The captain's thinking was that there had to be a bigger fish behind this. So he had me keep digging under the radar."
Hawk frowned.
"But you don't know anything?"
"Right. Though the captain did mention something a few days ago. Said he might have a CI."
"A confidential informant? Who?"
"No idea..." Mahoney shook his head. "We were supposed to meet up during lunch every day to exchange notes. But then..."
Hawk finished the thought. "Then George ends up critical in the ER."
Mahoney made a sound of agreement, keeping his voice as low as possible. "I think the captain might have been set up."
Hawk's mind raced.
"The informant?"
"Yeah."
"Yesterday at lunch, the captain said the CI who supposedly knew the inside story had made contact. He was trying to get the informant's information."
"I offered to go meet him."
"But the captain said the CI would only trust him."
"And then..."
"So I'm thinking it was that CI. When I got here, I went by the captain's office first to look for any leads on this informant. Didn't find anything."
"The study!"
Hawk's tone sharpened. "You said George called his assistant last night to cancel today's schedule. That means he must have gotten some kind of message while he was home."
Mahoney's eyes lit up.
Hawk continued, "I'll check the study at home. See if I can find anything."
Mahoney thought for a moment, then agreed. "I'd appreciate that. I'm waiting on the 12th's detectives right now. Gonna see if we can take lead on this case. If that doesn't work, at least we can make it a joint investigation."
"Alright. Talk soon."
"Talk soon."
Hawk hung up with Mahoney and headed back toward Gwen.
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