It's All Part Of The Plan

Who: Benny, Danny, and Sam
Where: The waterfront
When: Night

No one ever believed the stories given about the waterfront, not really. Sure, a fair amount of legal business happened down here, but just as much (if not more) went on every day that could land people in prison. If only the cops cared of course. Depending on the warehouse or dock space, a responding officer might owe a debt to DiGiovanni, Bartelucci, Konovich, or even the Lotus. And surely all of them and more had representatives out tonight, sparse and obscured figures that walked the dock rows and slid in and out of sight among rows of crates.

Off in the distance, ship lights lingered beyond the shore, some departing, some waiting for the right time to draw in and deliver cargo undisturbed. Surely those waiting in the open (and their fellows inside any given warehouse) might know which ship was which, but with men like these? In a city like this? They'd probably answer with a knife or bullet if they were asked.

It was a difficult target, and Benny knew as much as he watched slow rotations of foot traffic from the roof of one warehouse. He'd been up there since just after dark, slipping in with a cluster of five other asian men and scaling the building during a gap in their patrols, and honestly? The idea of a challenging target was a thrilling one. But he would wait, let them tire from exhaustion, listen to their idle chatter about who was fucking whom. The wait would be worth it.

Danny had rallied some of the best men he could find, most had already made Jakob's list, but he still changed things around a little. Like he'd expected they hadn't been thrilled at the prospect of working with Sam, but Danny had quelled any concerns and now they all seemed to bear that same anticipated nervousness that Danny was feeling in the pit of his stomach when the load of cars and vans pulled up alongside the first warehouse. Danny was driving the lead car, headlights killed, with Sam sitting shotgun. "You ready?" he asked her as they prepared to get out.

She was quietly seething and had been for some time, the fact that Danny was driving was just a cherry on top of her mood. The looks she had gotten as they had the debriefing reminded her of exactly why she had taken the detective's exam as soon as she was eligible, why she was glad not to be a uniform anymore. But she was playing nice. Sam looked down at the replacement weapon she was issued, missing the worn comfort of her old gun. "Yeah, I'm good." She glanced at him out of the corner of her eyes, a little grin on her face. "Nervous?"

Saying he wasn't relieved at that little grin on her face would be a lie. Danny had not enjoyed the little argument prior to getting in the car over who was driving, and her fuming over there wasn't making it anymore comfortable. In fact, until she shot him that smile? Danny was certain she was going to shoot him when she had the chance. "Good nervous," he told her, not one to lie about how he was feeling when it came to cop stuff. Real life stuff, he'd lie for days, but lying about how you feel in the field gets people killed. "Let's do this."

"Don't worry," she said. "I won't let the bad mobsters hurt you." She winked at him and exited the car, unable to help her teasing. It actually made her feel better. She looked back at the cars that had gathered behind them, at the other officers slowly getting out. The urge to shoot them all in the face was still there, but that was for later. For now, it was time to work.

Danny rolled his eyes, moving out the car, and motioning to their men. The boys had the little bit of a jump about them, slightly pumped up, but ready. They were good men. He gave two guys the lead to take, knowing that would probably piss Sam off too but he wasn't about to have her get shot going in the door of the first warehouse. He directed them along the side of the building, headed towards the door they'd picked out to enter from. "These two guys, then you and me," he whispered to Sam once they were close.

Sam nodded, checking her gun one last time. She mouthed the numbers, holding up her hand to count down. "Four... three... two... one." The two officers busted down the door, surprisingly flimsy for a warehouse like this and Sam and Danny followed them in, guns raised. "ECPD Everyone on the ground!" She felt herself yelling, but wasn't sure who really said it because they ran into a group of three guys, young, who stared at them wide-eyed and panicked. Her heart was pumping but she was calm, her eyes looking around for anyone else in the area.

The warehouse behind those three was huge indeed, much of the view hidden behind a row of crates that only let a glimpse of the ceiling behind them through. Somewhere back in the unknown spac, more voices carried faintly even as the three workers that had just been stunned stared at the cops. "Police!" one screamed suddenly in Chinese as the second twisted and broke into a run, pushing past the third just in time to give a glimpse of the gun being pulled from the back of his pants. What had been faint voices in the rest of the warehouse was suddenly a rush of commotion, languages mixing in panicked cries and getting lost in the bang of a door somewhere else in the warehouse.

"Go, now!" Danny called, the group of cops moving out quickly, going after the guy who'd run off, cuffing the yeller, and spreading out in the warehouse, adding the mix of commotion. "Drop it," he said, turning his gun on the guy pulling his. "Or jut give me a reason to shoot you. You're choice."

"Shooting him means so much paperwork though," Sam said, coming up behind the man and cuffing the hand he was using to reach for his gun. "And puts him outta commision for questioning." The suspects (besides the one or two that had run out) were getting easily rounded up. There weren't many of them but Sam couldn't help but be concerned that the other two wouldn't go as smoothly. "Wouldn't you agree, McKinnon?" She didn't say officer, considering a - that's who she was surrounded by and b - she didn't want Danny to think she was trying to insult him.

"Shame about that," Danny commented, not amused that he didn't get to shoot someone. "But then again I'm not usually the one who does the questioning. Don't look relieved you son of a bitch," Danny said putting the gun away. "You're gonna wish I shot you when she's done with you." Just as he finished a pepper of gun shot rang out from across the warehouse, followed by more shouts and a few other shots.

Dammit, she thought as the shots were fired. "Here, take him outside," she told one of the officers. The had two backup guys outside with the cars who would watch whoever was arrested in the raid. With the guy handed off, Sam pulled out her gun again and glanced at Danny as if to ask 'should we go?'. She'd never done something like this before and honestly, Danny had experience. He was kind of the senior officer in this operation.

Danny nodded, taking the lead. "Follow me," he told her, reassurance in his tone. She was right about one thing, this was something he knew how to do. And he was a damn good shot. He led them around the crates in front of them, checking the move first, then opening into the rest of the building.

There were a collection of officers with a group of workers rounded up, some looking like they had no idea what was going on. Danny wondered of some of them were just workers who had been brought here unwilling, just another set hostages. One of the officers nodded towards the far corner of the building, where the shots came from. "Come on Tyler, this way."

Back outside and up on the roof of the very warehouse he'd just watched a crew of cops approach, Benny smirked as he heard the first gunshots ring out. These police had no subtlety, and from the muted shouts he could hear? They talked too much and didn't fire enough. But the difference in methods was the last thing on Benny's mind as he looked back across the dockyard to the warehouse next to them. At least four, if not five figures were slipping from under the loading bay doors, moving between the overhead lights with practiced ease as the few cops who'd been sent outside busied themselves containing the arrestee.

"You're not off the hook, I promise," Benny murmured down at the man as he was shoved into the back of a squad car, lining his rifle up on one of the advancing shadows. Patience. Strike in the moment they do.

Down and inside, removed from Benny's anticipation, came a stream of Cambodian as Danny and Sam moved deeper into the warehouse. Just beyond a high-rising row of crates had been a common area; a poker table, chairs, a cooler filled with bottles... and their shooter. Squat, scarred, and frantically shoving fresh shells into an ancient rifle, he was muttering to himself even as he snapped the gun shut and shouldered it.

Sam rubbed her thumb over the metal of her gun as her and Danny carefully and quickly moved their way through the warehouse. They stayed somewhat crouched, smaller targets and all that but still upright enough to move. Every little sound echoed in a warehouse, but with so many people, it was hard to tell where some sounds came from, or it was hard to hear others. Still, Sam thought she might've heard something and she crouched low, signaling for Danny to get down too.

Danny took her cue, dropping into a crouch just in time to see a shot gun round blast through the crate just above here his head had been. Awesome. At least this meant Danny got to shoot someone. He motioned for Sam to move back, behind another crate with better coverage, briefly glancing around to see the shooter, and moving back before being seen. "Just one guy. You cover me while I take the shot?"

Just one guy... for the moment. While the shooter had been shooting, his friends had been fleeing. Some out a side door, some deeper into the warehouse to a crate they'd never had to use but kept ready. The shotgun shots were still reverberating through the air, muffling the click of more weapons being readied even as a trio of cops slid up to the nearest cover to Danny and Sam. "McKinnon!" one shouted, "We doing this?" His service revolver was drawn and ready as he crouched low, and one of his friends didn't need Danny's confirmation as he stepped out to fire at the shotgun-bearer, squeezing off two shots before a bullet from one of the Lotus caught him in the arm.

"Shit," Danny swore as one cop went down, another grabbing for him and pulling him out of the way. Turning from his cover Danny fired twice, both shots hitting home, but where there'd been one guy, now there were more. "Take 'um out boys!"

Sam stayed tucked behind the crate, just for a moment as her mind raced to identify exactly where all the shots were coming from. Carefully, she turned to the other side of the crate, facing away from Danny and the others to see if there was a better shot. She saw a flash of plaid and fired her gun on instinct, and kept firing. The blasts faltered for a moment but then came again. "Danny!" She jerked her head over to where she was firing. If they could circle this guy, that would be a good thing.

Most Lotus soldiers had seen some violence, sure, and some had even worked together in such situations? But none of them had ever been in a spot like they were now, and the dock workers were largely disparate and fractioned, some not even speaking the same language, or barely if they did. So it went that after Sam's first volley of shots? Her target, now wounded, snapped an order back to the men behind him and surged out in search of new cover. Behind him, the support he'd expected totaled three men who'd haltingly followed, wary of their surroundings but exposed.

Danny had taken Sam's lead, motioning for his boys to move into position. When he looked around from behind the crate again, he saw three very exposed and easy shots. The men he had with them were good enough to follow his lead, and after dropping the first one himself, the other police took their shots. It was a little hard to tell but Danny was pretty sure he got lead in at least one more. He wasn't top of his class in marksmanship for nothing. The space clear, the other officers moved in, shouting with guns raised.

The bodies hit the floor in dull thuds that somehow carried past the gunfire, or maybe it was just the sight of them falling that did the trick. With the shouts of the cops, first one pistol was tossed out from behind concealment, then another, then a shotgun, and finally? Four more men peered out warily, hands raised as they shouted back in broken English. It was too easy, but that was only the case inside. Even as the patrolmen with Danny and Sam moved to corral the surrendering men, the scene outside suddenly got violent.

Benny had been waiting patiently, counting heads off in the distance and frowning to himself. The glimpses he got? These men weren't of any asian descent. But they had weapons, they were watching the cops... they would do. He held his breath as two raised their guns on the patrolmen who were waiting outside the first warehouse, squeezing the trigger with a patient grin. His first shot of the night streaked downward with an echoing bark, yanking one of the shooters back like a ragdoll as the round tore out the side of his neck. Benny dropped quickly, ratcheting another shell into his rifle as the cops below scrambled for cover and the (unknown to him) Bartelucci men across the way started firing blindly, searching for his position. "Tyler!" one of the cops screamed at the top of his lungs as he dove behind his car, "We need some fucking backup!"

With things clamed down inside of the warehouse, the violence outside was a lot more audible. Sam frowned, and then she heard the screaming. With the rogue rifleman taken care of inside, Sam went to take a peek outside before sending 'all the troops in'. What she saw sent the blood draining from her face. "McKinnon!" She yelled back to Danny.

Danny was at her back in a second, reloading his pistol as he went. "What's going on Tyler?" He pushed her aside gently, taking a quick glance to the outside. The cops seemed to be undercover and there were shots but the direction was off, maybe over head? Looking at Sam he nodded. "We should come around from the back. Out the door we came in."

Sam nodded. "We should send a couple guys up to the roof." She had noticed the odd direction of the shots as well and getting onto the roof seemed like a good idea. "Get a better look around."

Benny wasn't wasting time as he skulked across the roof, listening to gunfire crack off the police cars below and whine through the air over him. He would've laughed if he didn't have his work face on; these unknown mobsters, probably Italian or maybe Russian, were wasting precious bullets. Keeping a mental bearing on where the shooters had taken cover in relation to his movement, Benny waited for a break in the gunfire before he rose to a knee, shouldering his rifle again and adjusting for movement. A second shot barked from the long barrel to punch into a man's gut, and this time Benny knew the shooters had seen the report from his weapon. Probably the cops too, which was a problem... he couldn't just shoot them if he didn't definitively know they were dirty.

But he still had targets, more of them even as a small cluster of men swarmed from the mouth of the second warehouse. Racking a fresh shell, Benny aimed into the cluster of new arrivals and fired, felling a third man even as he scowled. The one behind his newest casualty hefted something big, the circular drum of ammo clipped to the front of the gun telling him everything he needed to know. Thompson, he thought, dropping prone to the roof a moment before a steady hack of machinegun fire filled the night air and clanked off the tin sheets of roofing.

Danny knew that sound. Grabbing Sam's arm, he pulled her down, not sure where the machine gun fire was headed, and there was no telling the walls would be strong enough hold it back. In the echoing noise he pulled Sam close, yelling but barely able to hear himself over the noise. "We go out this way. You first. Stay low I'll cover you."

Sam nodded, really just... not liking this at all. No amount of respect is worth this, she thought, wondering exactly what had happened to send this all down. She wondered if Jakob was going to know this was going to happen. If that was the reason why he wasn't here. But that was for neither here or now and Sam watched the direction of the gun fire before making her way slowly out of the warehouse, making herself as small as possible to avoid detection. Sam spared a quick glance at Danny to see if he was okay before she caught a shooter out of the corner of her eye and she immediately shot back at him just as he opened fire.

Danny made it out in one piece that much was sure, but he was watching the guy with the machine gun when he came out the door. "Run Tyler," he called to her, his shot landing well enough to jerk the armed man's shoulder back and the gun fall to the ground unused. Danny's problem wasn't the machine gun though. Someone else had their wits about them and was able to get a shot off at Danny. Lucky for Danny the guy had bad aim, the shot that was probably aimed for his heart hit wide, burying deep in his left shoulder, throwing off his stance as well. He dropped low, not feeling the pain yet, but feeling his arm go useless. "Fuck," he mumbled under his breath, moving backwards, quickly as he could to cover, and praying for the fist time in a long time, that Tyler was already there.

And she was, getting an arm under his good shoulder and dragging him away. God, he was heavy. That's really what she focused on thinking about while getting him behind some more crates, enough shelter that they should be okay while they got the blood flow staunched. Sam spared him a glance before firing a few shots out at some of the shooters, watching as one of them went down. "Bad mosquitto bite you got there."

Sam's reaction wasn't much different than Danny's. All he could think of was the fact that Janey was going to kill him for bleeding all over his uniform. "Just a scratch," he informed Sam, already motioning for a uniform near by to find him something to put against it. What that wound up being was the patrolman's undershirt which he stripped out of effortlessly with only one or two sidelong glances at Sam. Danny did his best to press the shirt against the wound, feeling it go damp with blood quickly. "How many are left?"

"Enough," she said, paying more attention to Danny now. As someone who really, really didn't like hospitals, Sam was a fairly good at first aid and she batted Danny's hand away to take a peek at the bullet hole, simultaniously feeling behind to see if there was an exit wound. There wasn't. Damn. "Anyone got a lighter and a switchblade?" She added her own hand pressure with his to help. "Tweezers might be better though. Unless you wanna wait to get to the hospital." Which, she realized, he would probably prefer. She kind of doubted he hated the place as much as she did.

"Switchblade my ass," Danny commented now his turn to weakly push her hand away. "I'm fine. You shoot, I'll live to make it to the hospital." Before when he wasn't thinking about it, the gunshot didn't hurt too much and Danny figured he wasn't that bad off. Now though, it hurt like holy hell. God damnit. Wasn't he just praying? What more did God want from him? "Now tell me how many there are really," he told Sam, giving her a stern look even though the color was starting to drain from his face. Struggling he dug at one of his pockets, trying to get out the flask there. If he ever needed a drink it was right now.

Sam beat him to it, smoothly pulling out her own flask and handing it to him. "This is a little more of what you'll be wanting," she said. Because yeah, she was getting some headaches during the day and all the gunfire wasn't really helping. "Trust me," she added. By this point, the guy with the Tommy had been nabbed, which was a very good thing. "Five, from what I can tell."

Danny didn't want to take it, but he was having too much trouble getting his own. His hand was still shaking some when he did get the top off the flask, spilling a good helping back into his throat. There was a burn, then nothing and it hit him almost instantly. She wasn't kidding about this being the good stuff. Awkwardly he handed the flask back over and then did his best to shift to his knees so he could see better. It wasn't easy and he was start to sweat from the pain, but the drink was already numbing the edges. His eyesight wasn't ideal, but he could count them off: one, two, three, four, five. "Okay, I see them. I think I can hit three. But I have to lean over the box and I need you to cover me." It never occurred to Danny that he might be better off sitting this one out. No someone needed to get them out of here and shot or not, he was the guy to do the job.

She blinked at him for a moment. "If I was a mean person, I'd poke my finger in that open wound of yours that's still bleeding. Now I know that's good stuff but sit your ass down." She already had a firm grip on his good shoulder that was pushing him down. Who did this guy think he was? "You're no good to me dead and telling your wife that you're dead isn't on my to do list. She's a nice lady, I'd hate to see her cry." Because yeah, she'd heard great things about Janey McKinnon. Her mom thought Janey was nice, in the church way anyway and she really would hate to see that woman cry, especially because Danny was covering her ass when he got shot.

Danny didn't take that well at all, but he was in no state to push back against her hand on his shoulder. He was stronger than Sam, but not in this state. In this state he was barely functioning. Still, he had his wits. "Anderson, Edwards, back Tyler up." That was hard, turning it over to someone else.

Whether or not the police could realize or appreciate it, the Lotus had only been smuggling drugs among their cargo that night. The Barteluccis, on the other hand? They been sitting on a stockpile of guns, waiting on a tip that the Konovich's allies would be vulnerable. It was a good plan... but it was bad feng shui. Who keeps munitions next to the same wall as their gas cylinder? Benny thought with a shine in his eyes, crouching to a knee and shouldering his rifle. They practically deserve this.

The first shot clanged off the tank with an immediate hiss of venting gas, but only one of the Barteluccis outside had enough presence to look over at the shot. And the ones inside, hovering around boxes of guns, ammunition, and even a bit of the demolitions they were known for? No chance. The second shot was like triggering a front-row seat to the Big Bang, and Benny laughed in awe, the sound lost among the thunderclap. Flame burst out of the wall and tore half-shuttered doors free as a shockwave flung two of the men to the ground and left the only one who'd looked still on the ground and smoldering.

The explosion shook the very ground under Danny, and though it was something of an after thought, he grabbed Sam, pulling her low, and trying to block her from whatever the fuck had just happened behind them. "Jesus fucking Christ, what the hell?"

Her whole head was ringing at the explosion. She could barely hear anything. "What?" She yelled at Danny, but she was pretty sure that he was asking what the hell was going on too. Sam looked over in the direction of the now fire-encased warehouse, eyes big and wide in shock and horror. That... really wasn't part of the plan.

Sam's face was enough to get Danny to struggle to a position where he could see the fire although they were close enough to feel the heat from it. "Damn," he breathed. Of course the explosion had caught other attention, and despite the hour, people were already starting to show up, just a few here and there but Danny guessed there would be more. "Radio dispatch, we need back up, and fire trucks!" Danny yelled to a nearby uniform, mimicking the motion of calling on the car radio because although Danny knew he was yelling but could barely hear himself. The uniform nodded headed towards the closest cruiser.

Benny was satisfied as he watched the waves of light stretch into the night sky from the fire below. Both factions would blame the police and each other, and when they tried to settle grudges, they got messy. That would make future nights easier for sure. He could've left right then and there, but with everyone distracted by the explosion, the group of arrested Lotus thugs was too tempting to pass up. Creeping to the edge, Benny slid a .45 from his coat, aiming carefully at the backs of the handcuffed men.

He emptied the clip in a steady stream of gunfire, dropping two dead and a third with a ruined leg. They could have a few witnesses to arrest, Benny would just get them when they hit the streets again.

Danny's hearing was starting to come back in a ringing sensation. It was just in time to hear another volley of gun shots. Of course it was followed by the shouts of the few officers closest to the prisoners they had in custody. What the holy hell was going on? "Sam," he called to her trying struggle to his feet. "We need to get people out of here. Or at least in better cover until back up shows up."

"You should really stay down here," Sam said, her voice loud to compensate for the ringing in her ears. The air was thick with smoke, hot from the fire of the explosion. It was a powdery smell. It must've been munitions that had exploded. Kerosene? Gasoline? She couldn't tell. And were there sirens in the distance? She couldn't be sure, although that explosion wouldn't have gone unnoticed at all. "Robinson! Start rounding up guys. Find cover!" Because they couldn't just run away, not like the ones they were after. They had to stay.

Up on the rooftops, Benny's eyes were finally starting to properly burn with the choking smog building in the air from the burning building. He'd killed two handfuls of men, had wiped away whatever guns the white ones had been storing, it was a good night's work. If the cops could manage to hang onto the cargo the Lotus had been storing? It'd be an even better day tomorrow just spent on the streets of Chinatown, listening to the rumors about who could've done this. Turning to gather his rifle with a harsh cough at the smoke, Benny moved out the same way he'd come in, only this time he was smiling.

Danny groaned, shoulder aching. The raging pain was warring with his desire to actually do something of worth, something more than just sit here, back against this crate waiting for help. Pulling the shirt away from his arm, it dawned on him just how much blood he'd lost so far. Too much, enough to justify the slight light headed feeling he was getting. "Do I hear sirens?"

Sam nodded, crouching back down next to him and pushing the shirt back against the wound as hard as she could. "They're almost here, we'll get you to the hospital, you'll be just fine," she told him calmly, making sure he looked at her. "Just stay awake, okay, McKinnon? You gotta stay awake." He was pale, a gray, sickly color and there was so much blood. "I bet you're getting a promotion outta this. No more beat. No more uniform that you have to wear everyday. There's better coffee when you're a detective, too." Well, not really, but she brought coffee so then again, yeah, the coffee was better.

Danny laughed, a dry, dead sort of sound. "I doubt there's much of a chance of that. I'm bound to be a beat cop for life," he told her, watching her closely. He had an urge to touch her face, and got his hand halfway there before letting it drop again.

Sam frowned, grabbing the hand that dropped and squeezing it so he'd keep looking at her. "If they don't promote you to detective after this on their own, I'll personally see to it that they do. I wouldn't have been able to do this by myself. I got you shot. You're the one that knew what he was doing -- Danny, stay awake -- you're a good cop. We'll get you that promotion you deserve but you have to stay awake." She smiled wryly at him, squeezing his hand. "Hell, you're too cute to die. Almost make me wanna break that rule of mine to never sleep with my coworkers."

He squeezed her hand back, but it wasn't as strong a squeeze as he was normally capable of. "I'm gonna be okay, Sam. Don't worry." He didn't feel that way, but he felt like he needed reassure her of it. "Although I think I'm hallucinating because I swear you just told me you're considering sleeping with me."

"You think I'm worried? If you die on my account, do you know how much trouble I'm gonna be in?" Sam asked with a grin, glancing away to look for the help that she was sure was coming. Yeah... she could hear the sirens. "No, you're not hallucinating, but you're wife is nice so I won't. Besides, cops aren't my type."

"I'll be the dead one," he pointed out, feeling a little sick to his stomach. "I'll try to take that as a compliment, not being your type." The smile was weak, but the heard what she heard, sirens, no longer in the distance, but up close. "You'll call her right? Tell Janey I'm alright. If I don't come home she'll worry."

She laughed, a slightly forced but still genuine sound. She saw the ambulence pulling up with a number of other police cars a little ways away, a few of the other officers pointing in their direction. "I'll let her know. Don't worry. It's gonna be fine, I promise." She wouldn't be able to go with him to the hospital, and she felt bad for that, so she did the only other thing she could do. Keep him talking, keep him thinking. None of that going to sleep from blood loss nonsense. "You're not so bad, you know, for a beat cop," she said with a smirk.

"You're not half bad either," he said, returning the smirk. "For a chic cop." The paramedics arrived, moving in around them, talking quickly, moving to replace the shirt at his shoulder with clean gauze. One even reached for Sam, moving to pull her away, but Danny wouldn't let go. "You did good Tyler. Real good."

Sam smiled at him, a gentle one and nodded. "Thanks," she said, reluctantly letting go of his hand. "I'm gonna call Janey. We'll meet you at the hospital, alright?" She'd have to figure something out. Sam... she was okay with hospitals to an extent, but doctors... still, she should be there for Janey and just... she'd figure it out. "You're gonna be fine, McKinnon." Her mind was racing still. Jakob. Where was he? And how much did he know? She'd have to call him too, although maybe he had already heard of it.