Dead End pt. 2

Part two of the series

 

 

24 Years Later FBI Head Quarters Los Angeles, CA  

 

One of the agents walks into an office and knocks on the side of the door. “Hey Danny, I got a new assignment for you” says the agent. He puts the files and a folder on Danny’s desk and leaves his office. Danny opens the folder and goes through the files and sees a poster template of a wanted man named Juan Hernandez. In the shooting range of the bureau Danny wears a FBI cap and puts on ear muffs. He pulls out his Glock 22 out of his holster and begins to fire at the cardboard dummy moving towards him. He scores by hitting the head and torso of the target and reloads the clip back in and aims shoots faster at the next target. The next day Danny gathers around with the other agents and they all equip themselves with bullet proof vests and arm themselves with 12 gauge shotguns and put their hand guns in their holsters. Then they all go into the garage and get into their GMC Yukon and drive off. They drive through the sections of the South Central neighborhood and pull over in front of this house. One of the agents in the car looks at the poster template of Juan Hernandez and looks at the address of the house. “This should be it” says the agent. They all get out and form a line and strategically walk through the gate of the front yard. Three agents including Danny walk up to the house and to the door. Two of the agents stand by on each left and right side. Danny stands in front of the door pointing his shotgun. The other agents are kneeled down in the yard. Danny knocks on the door twice. While he knocks he has an image in his head of what the suspect did which is shooting a gang member in the face in an alley and runs in the middle of the street away from a police squad car and gets pinned down by a single police officer. The officer gets out of the squad car and aims his firearm at Juan and yells “Put your weapon down and get on the ground”! Juan throws his pistol on the sidewalk and puts his hands on his head and drops down to his knees. The officer puts his gun away and walks up to him and takes out a pair of hand cuffs. Right before the officer locks one of his wrist Juan pulls out a switch blade knife from his back pocket and stabs the officer in the right leg. The officer falls to the ground and reaches for his gun. Juan turns around and drives the knife into the officer’s lower stomach. The officer screams in pain. Then Juan gets up and picks up his gun on the sidewalk and stuffs it between the front of his pants and his shirt. He hears sirens in the background and runs across the street into one of the residence’s yard and jumps over the fence. Other Police officers arrive on the scene and see the police officer on the ground bleeding profusely from his leg and stomach. Juan continues to run and spots a family on their porch and takes his gun out and points it at them. He shushes them and orders all of them to go back in the house. They do as he says and they all go into the house. He has them all sit down on the couch. Then he looks out the window. Danny kicks the door open and runs inside the house. The two other agents come in and guard his back. A woman and a little girl are sitting on the couch watching TV. They both look at Danny and the agents. Danny puts his finger over his lips and shushes them. The two other agents escort the woman and little outside and the rest of the agents come inside the house. Danny looks around the house and sees a staircase on the right side of the living room. He approaches it slowly and everybody else lines up behind him and follows his lead up the stairs. Upstairs there’s one bedroom with the door closed. Behind that door Juan aims a 9mm pistol at the door as he hears footsteps coming closer and closer. Danny signals with his fist making a gesture to halt. Everybody stops and Danny points his 12 gauge at the door. Juan pulls the trigger and fires three shots through the door. Danny jerks his body back and screams “Look out”! He aims his 12 gauge back at the door and fires a shot at the door. The bullet hole appears larger than the bullet holes from Juan’s 9mm. Juan reacts and slips on the floor and falls. He gets up quickly and opens the window of the bedroom and jumps out into the alley outside. Danny kicks the door open and runs into the room. The agents run in there behind him. “He went out the window” yelled Danny. Juan runs into the alley and turns around. He shoots his gun towards the window. Danny jumps back and shoots another shell out the window. Then he puts his left leg over the window and jumps out. Juan turns back around and runs in the opposite direction. Danny chases after him and tries to get a clean shot of him while he runs. Juan runs into the street and nearly gets hit by a passing car. Danny stops running and avoids getting hit by another car. Juan runs into the next alley across and sees three LAPD officers up ahead on foot running towards him. The street clears and Danny runs across the street towards the alley. Juan turns around and sees Danny coming closer and the police officers moving in. He presses his gun against his head and pulls the trigger. Blood splatters and his lifeless body drops to the ground and he lies there in a pool of blood. Danny and the police officers circle around him. Danny looks down and stares at Juan’s fresh corpse. Five minutes later the ambulance and more police officers arrive on the scene and put Juan in a body bag and strap him onto a stretcher and wheel him into an ambulance truck. Danny and all the other FBI agents stand by their vehicle. Danny leans up against the hood of the truck and looks down. One of the other agents walks by him and stops and looks at him and asks “Are you okay”? Danny nods his head yes. He turns his head and looks behind him and sees all the other agents getting into the truck. He sits up and wipes sweat off his forehead and walks around the truck and gets into the back seat of the truck. Later on in the evening of that day Danny drives his casual car which is a black dodge intrepid into a suburban neighborhood and parks it behind a black Range Rover in a drive way. He gets out of the car and holds his black blazer in between his hand and fore arm. He walks onto the steps of the porch and goes into the house. “Rochelle, where you at girl” asked Danny. “I’m in the kitchen and dinner is on the table” replied Rochelle. He walks into the kitchen and sees her set two plates on the table. She puts forks next to the plates and walks up to Danny. “Hi baby” says Danny. They both kiss on the lips. “I’ll be right back, I’m going get changed real quick” said Danny. He walks upstairs and goes into their bedroom and takes off his tie and throws his blazer on the bed. Then he sits on the bed and takes off his shoes. In front of him is their bed with a mirror hanging on the wall with a picture of his adoptive parents taped to the mirror. He looks up at it and smiles. He gets up off the bed and walks back downstairs and goes into the kitchen and sees a bowl of steaming macaroni and cheese and a platter with a pile of grilled salmon, and another steaming bowl of green beans. Rochelle sits at the head of the table and pours herself a glass of white wine. Danny sits on the left side of the table next to her and reaches for the platter of grilled salmon and puts each one of them on her plate and his plate. Then he picks up a large spoon on the table and scoops the macaroni and cheese on their plates and then scoops the green beans on both their plates. “How was work today” asked Rochelle. “It was okay but one of the suspects committed suicide today” replied Danny. Rochelle squints her face. “Really, I’m sorry about that baby” said Rochelle. “Yeah I know, but it wasn’t like he had any better chances but I didn’t expect him to take his life in front of everybody like that” says Danny. “People saw it” asked Rochelle. “It was in broad daylight and I think he had a girlfriend and children downstairs in the house or better yet it could have been his own wife” explained Danny. “That’s horrible” said Rochelle. Danny cuts his salmon in pieces and takes his first bite. Rochelle gathers her macaroni and begins eating as well. “It’s like he did what he did and in the end he will have a consequence but other people who care about him shouldn’t have to” says Danny. “I’m sorry to hear that” said Rochelle. “But it’s also by job to protect people who get hurt from people like that” says Danny strictly. “As long as you come home safe to me every night then I’m happy” replied Rochelle. Danny lays his left hand on the table and she lifts her arm up on the table and holds it with her left hand. “Next week my niece and nephew Janet and Roger are coming over and they want to know if you’ll have the pool set up for them by then” informed Rochelle. “Yeah I can do that for them” says Danny. 24 years ago back to that day when Darius walks on the campus of UCLA he goes into an orientation class of law and justice. He sits in the third row up front of the classroom and they watch a video formatted into a projector on the wall of court reenactments and how lawyers presented themselves to clients while in the court room.