5x22: Under Siege

***

Hunter and Tim were sleeping in Tim's bed, with his arm wrapped around Hunter's waist when their phones started ringing and after Noah Foster calling her in the middle of the night, the two had placed their phones on DND and the only calls that got through were Grey, Angela, Wesley, Nyla, Lucy, Grant, Lexi, Nolan, Aaron and Celina.

Hunter and Tim groaned as they checked their phones. "Grant's calling me, I'm gonna answer it on speaker." Hunter said to Tim.

"If he's calling me at the same time as Grey then something's gone wrong." Tim replied.

Hunter answered Grant's call. "Grant you're on speaker with me and Tim, what's going on?" Hunter asked.

That's when Grey spoke up. "Celina and Aaron were attacked, can you two get here as soon as possible?" He asked.

Hunter's heart dropped, remembering Jackson. "Yeah, yeah, we're on the way." Hunter hung up and the two hurriedly got their things together and left, Hunter texting Lexi about what was going on.

***

Tim and Hunter arrived on scene, Aaron and Celina had already been taken to the hospital. "What happened?" Hunter asked practically running over to Grant and Grey, Grant gives his partner an odd look as she was wearing heeled boots and wondered how the hell she could run in them but that wasn't the point.

"GSW to the back," Hunter placed a hand over her mouth, her mind flashing back to when she was forced to watch Jackson being shot in the back under the orders of La Fiera, Tim placed a hand on her shoulder. "Celina says they were ambushed. Three men with masks." Grey explained.

"I'll coordinate with the canvassing officers." Tim said.

Grey nodded and turned to Hunter. "Run everyone in a 5-mile radius who's on parole, probation, for assaulting a cop." He said.

"Yes, sir." Hunter nods.

***

The sun had risen and all the cops were in the briefing room, Aaron was in emergency surgery, Angela was in the hospital having her baby. "All right, listen up. All time off has been canceled. All OT approved. Catching these suspects is the department's top priority." Grey moved aside.

Tim stepped up where Grey was. "All right, this is what we know so far: at approximately 4:00 a.m., Officers Thorsen and Juarez were attacked. Officer Thorsen was shot and is currently in surgery. A blood drive has been set up at the hospital. If you can donate, please do at the end of shift." He said.

Hunter looked at Grant, and he placed a hand on her shoulder as a tear ran down her cheek, no-one was surprised, she still had nightmares about Jackson's shooting and death even now. "What if--" She started to say softly

Grant shook his head. "No, don't think of it, don't think of that please." He begged his friend.

That's when Nyla spoke up. "Officer Juarez sustained a concussion, but has been providing Nolan and I with the details of the assault, including sketches of the masks the assailants wore."

The masks were shown on the screen in front of them, Hunter wiped a tear away and looked closely at the screen. "Those are not store-bought Halloween masks." She and Lucy said at the same time.

"No, they are not. So, our first job is to try and identify the manufacturer and then hopefully track them back to our assailants." Nyla said.

Hunter looked at Lucy, who nodded and the older cop spoke up. "Luce and I'd like to help with that." She said.

"Sold. We are currently pulling cell tower records for that area. There shouldn't be a lot of activity at that hour in the morning." Nyla said.

"Intel is also combing through social media to see if anyone has posted video of the attack or the aftermath." Nolan added.

"Yeah, and I've also compiled a list of everybody that's done time for assaulting a police officer, but so far, nobody's jumping out." Hunter spoke up.

"Most of those guys were drunk and sucker punched a cop. It's something else." Tim said.

"A lot of this still doesn't make sense. So we need a list of top-priority questions to answer." Grey said.

"I mean, it seems obvious that they were targeted. Why else the masks and the riddle? So was this specifically about Aaron and Celina?" Hunter asked.

"Yeah, and why not just kill Aaron? Look, from the description that Celina gave of the shooting, they easily could've just shot him in the head. All I am asking is if there was a reason they did not." Nyla said.

"Fair enough. What else?" Grey asked.

"Thorsen's not just a cop, he's a public figure. So is it related to his family?" Tim wondered.

"Right. Or were they sent by Elijah? Even behind bars, he still has power." Nyla said.

"You'd think he'd target Angela first, but you're right. We should look into it. Anything else?" Grey asked them.

***

Later, Hunter and Tim walked over to Grey, Bailey, Luna and Nolan who'd been updated by Aaron's surgeon about the surgery it was once again nighttime. "Hey," the four looked over at the two cops, Hunter had been crying and managed to calm herself down before walking in. "We heard the good news about Aaron. Unfortunately, none of our CIs have heard anything about a gang targeting cops." Tim said.

"And we're on the same boat with the masks. They're clearly custom, but we've struck out with every manufacturer in Southern California." Hunter said.

"What about Elijah?" Nolan asked.

"They've been going over communication in and out of prison, and nothing indicates that he's playing at anything." Tim replied.

"Anything positive on the riddle front?" Bailey asked.

"Not yet. The front half is deceptively simple, but the back half is a head-scratcher. Angela and Wesley are deep into it." Luna replied.

"I hate to say it, but this is not gonna break tonight. Go home, get some sleep. Night shift will run whatever leads come in. The rest of us will have clearer heads in the morning, I hope." Grey said.

Hunter shakes her head. "No voy a dormir esta noche, Wade. Me recuerda demasiado a Jackson y todavía tengo pesadillas con eso./I'm not getting sleep tonight, Wade. It reminds me too much of Jackson and I still get nightmares about that." Hunter said in Spanish.

Grey nodded as did the others, Nolan and Bailey needed Tim to translate what she said, Luna just knew because she like her husband spoke Spanish, Nolan turned to Grey. "You're gonna stay with Aaron?" He asked.

"Yeah. And I'll keep an eye on Celina too." Grey said.

"Thank you." Nolan, Bailey, Tim and Hunter all walked out.

***

Hunter and Tim returned to the house, Tim unlocked it and turned the lights on and then disarmed it as Hunter placed her hands on the table as tears dropped from her eyes, Tim grabbed her waist and she stood up and looked at him. "Come here." Hunter sniffled as Tim bought her into a hug, she once again burst out crying as Tim looked sadly at two of the photos on the mantle, one of the whole group with Jackson and one with Aaron and Celina. "He's gonna be okay."

"Are you sure?" Hunter asked, Tim sighed. "I know you're not sure but I need you reassure me that everything will be okay."

Tim kissed the top of Hunter's head. "I can't because you'll know that I'm lying and what if it's not okay?" He asked.

Hunter sighs and continues sobbing. "I can't lose him, he's a good friend, I can't lose him like I lost Jackson." She said after slightly calming down.

Later, Tim and Hunter were sitting on the bed, Tim had his arms wrapped around Hunter holding her tightly. "You know I didn't even like Jackson at first?" She asked him, Tim made a curious noise. "The day you got shot he froze and Angie covered for him but I'd've ratted him out."

"So, what made you change your mind?" Tim questioned.

"He told me the reasoning he had for messing with his phone during the briefing when the VP visited, said his mom blamed him for his brother almost dying." Hunter said.

Suddenly Tim's phone started ringing, Hunter glanced out the window and screamed. "What is it?" Tim asked Nyla who was on speaker and Hunter at the same time.

"There's a masked man outside the house, one of the shooters." Hunter said.

"Shit! I was just calling you to tell you both to get out of the house right now."

"Thanks Nyla." Tim hung up.

Hunter looked back out the window and saw the man was gone. "He's disappeared."

Tim grabbed her hand. "We're leaving, call Lexi tell her to meet us at the Nolan's house." Tim requested.

The two got into Tim's truck and drove off while Hunter called Lexi. "Okay, she'll be there."

***

Grey, Nolan, Bailey, Grant, Lucy, Tim, Hunter arrived at Nolan's house with Lexi who was still in her pyjamas. "Who hired you?" Nolan asked as Bailey was standing beside Young and applying pressure to the wound.

"I don't know what you're talking about. I'm just a tourist here to see the glamour of Hollywood." Young replied.

"And kill cops." Nolan said, Young just smirked and shrugged.

"You're pretty smug for someone who just got shot and stabbed." Grant comments.

"It's not the first time." Young said smugly.

"No, we know. We ran your prints." Lucy said.

"Hamza Young. Professional mercenary wanted in connection with three foreign assassinations." Tim deadpanned.

"You don't get out of bed for less than 20K a day. Who hired you?" Hunter asked.

"If you read my file, you know I'm not a guy who talks to cops. So let the medics through. I need a hospital and a lawyer." Young replied.

Everyone turned to Lexi. "Oh hell no, I'm not defending this bastard, he's part of the people that harmed Aaron and Celina, attacked John and Bailey, kidnapped Leah giving Nyla and James heart attacks before they found her, stalked my parents, stalked me, stalked uncle Grant and Aunt Lucy. So you know if you want a lawyer, find someone else and not Wesley." Lexi said as Young was given to the paramedics. 

***

The cops and Lexi moved to another part of Nolan's house to speak quietly. "All right, listen. We're in DEFCON 1 territory. We have to assume all hitters have the same skill level, which means we need to isolate everyone we care about." Tim said.

"That is gonna take a lot of space-- a whole floor of a hotel." Lucy comments.

"Aaron's parents just rented one at the Peninsula," the others look confused. "I tried to talk 'em out of it, but they texted back, "It's only money."" He replied.

"All right. We'll need heavy security in the lobby and a SWAT team guarding every elevator or stairs." Tim said.

"We should move everyone covertly, make the homes seem occupied, see if we can draw them into another attack." Hunter replied.

"Two teams on each home should be enough." Tim said.

"How many officers is that?" Lexi asked curiously

"On top of the ones at St. Stephens? 45, 50. I'm pulling everyone I can." Tim replied.

Bailey walked over to them. "How are Harper, James, and the baby?" Bailey asked.

"Shaken up. They took Leah to get checked up at the hospital, which is where you guys are going to get cleaned up." Grey replied, looking at Nolan and Bailey.

"Fine, but after that, I'm getting right back into the game. It's time we start playing offense." Nolan said.

Hunter was contemplating telling Tim that she was pregnant as she went to Patrice's OB/GYN the other day and discovered that she was now four weeks pregnant, so she only had morning sickness, feeling bloated and tender breasts, Hunter sighed as she rolled her head cracking her neck and walked out with Tim, Lucy and Grant all heading towards the hotel as none of them were going home again that night.

***

The next day, Angela was going off to give birth, giving Nyla, Nolan and Bailey the information and so the cops assembled in the briefing room all staring at a whiteboard and Grey who was standing in front of said whiteboard. "We have a suspect." Grey moved to stand with the others.

"The masks our attackers are wearing were for a play back in 1996. It ran for three weeks before closing. The theater company sold all of their props and costumes to Second Life Theater Supply." Nyla said.

"Where they sat on a shelf until 15 of them were purchased last week by Roy Gracco." Hunter said.

Gracco's face was on the screen in front of the cops. "Gracco is a two-time felon with a history of violence." Nyla said.

"What's his beef with Mid-Wilshire?" Lucy questioned.

That's when Hunter spoke up. "We don't know yet, but his first felony conviction came from an arrest that we made, but the arresting officers have since transferred." She said.

"I still don't understand the point of this riddle. Why are they pointing us down this path, and should we follow?" Tim asked.

"We have no choice. But we're showing up with overwhelming force in case there's another ambush. Everyone stay on your toes. Let's go." Everyone walked out the room.

***

Tim and Hunter along with some other Metro officers and other cops burst into Gracco's house through the front door while others took the back entrance. "Front room clear." Tim called out.

"It's freezing in here." Hunter comments, all of them had their guns up just in case they needed to take a shot.

Some cops went upstairs while Tim warned to another part of the house, noticing someone in a dining chair holding a gun. "Drop the gun! Drop it!"

"On your front side!" Nyla yelled.

Hunter stood beside Tim and they observed the body. "I think he's dead." Hunter comments, there was a knife through his hand as well pinning him to the table.

Tim grabbed his radio. "Control, suspect is down," Tim checks his pulse. "Not conscious, not breathing, cool to the touch. He's 10-5-5." He puts the radio away.

"Must've cranked the AC to slow the decomp," Hunter carefully removes the mask and the cops all stared in shock. "It's Gracco," Hunter glanced at Tim. "But why?" She asked.

That's when Grant realised something. "It's a trap."

Tim speaks into his radio. "Abort! Abort! Abort! Fall back!"

"Everyone out! Let's go!" Hunter yelled.

Everyone exited the house, Tim stood at the door making sure everyone got out. "Go, go, go, go, go," Tim joined Hunter and the others, speaking into his radio. "Control, I need the bomb squad to the target house for a full sweep. Send the M.E. and TID out here, standing by for a priority search once the house is clear."

Hunter waits for Tim at the front gate allowing others to evacuate before the two walked towards a car. "I don't understand. Was Gracco in charge of this crew or not?" She asked.

***

Grey, Nyla, Nolan, Lucy, Grant, Tim and Hunter were all back at the briefing room. "M.E. puts Gracco's time of death before Aaron and Celina were ambushed." Grey said.

"So the riddle led us to Gracco's house so we could be blown to kingdom come." Hunter and Nyla deadpanned.

"Are we any closer to catching this guy? 'Cause it's starting to feel like we're not getting anywhere. All we've done since Aaron has been shot is follow the clues they wanted us to have." Nolan said.

"TID is processing the house. These guys are pros. We're not gonna find anything. We should move on." Tm replied.

"What? No. Not yet. Look, if Gracco is a patsy, then we should be asking why him?" Hunter interrupted.

"He's a felon with a history in Mid-Wilshire." Grant deadpanned.

"Yeah, sure, but there are hundreds of guys like that, so why Gracco? Did they pull his name out of a database, or is there some kind of a connection?" Hunter asked.

"You think it's personal?" Tim asked.

"I mean, look, if-- if I was gonna go to the extreme of targeting police officers, why not take out some of my enemies along the way?" Hunter wondered.

"Costs us nothing to run with that." Grant comments.

Grey nods. "Check Gracco's known associates, family, coworkers, anyone he did time with that might hold a grudge. Run them against people that we arrested. And say a prayer while you're at it. We can use a little divine intervention right now." He said.

Hunter's phone starts ringing and she looks at the contact calling her on FaceTime before looking at the others. "It's Wesley," Grey nods and she answered it. "What's wrong?" Hunter asked.

"Uh, nothing. Angela had the baby. It's a girl."

Hunter turned the phone to her friends and showed them as Wesley showed Angela holding the baby. "Hey! Hey!" Nolan said and everyone moved towards the phone.

"Ooh!" Lucy hummed.

"That is some much-needed good news. Sending our love." Grey said.

"Hi!"

"Hey!" Tim said with Grant at the same time.

"Did you catch the bad guys yet?" Angela asked.

"Not yet, but we're on it. You just focus on you and that little angel." Grey replied.

"Hey, um, what about Aaron?" Wesley asked.

"He's still in a coma." Grey replied.

"What's her name?" Hunter asked after the others moved off to do their own thing.

"Emmy Hunter Evers." Wesley replied.

Hunter smiled. "Love you guys, I gotta go." She said before hanging up and pocketing her phone.

***

Later they had all reconvened in the breifing room, Lexi hanging around at the hotel Aaron's parents rented out. "We have a list. These seven people have a troubled history with both Gracco and one of us." Nyla said in the front, there was a screen with all seven people's faces on it.

"The top four are the most hardcore-- Bill Gyst, Demarcus Hahn, Keegan Ray, and Mariela Cruz-- all of them violent felons we've arrested in the last three years." Nolan said.

Grey turned to Tim. "Bradford, I want Metro knocking on their doors. Even if they're not behind the attacks on us, they like to fight."

"All right," Tim grabbed his phone out. "I'll get Lieutenant Pine moving on setting up the raids." Tim walked to the back of the room to make a call.

"What about the other three?" Lucy asked.

"Non-violent offenders who did time with Gracco-- Donald Weathers, Luke Moran, and K.D. Howard." Hunter said.

"Nolan, Harper, you check out Weathers," Nolan and Nyla nodded and Grey turned to Grant and Lucy. "Lawrence, Chen you two check out K.D Howard." Grant and Lucy both nodded.

"I'll take Moran." Hunter said.

Grey shakes his head. "You're not going by yourself."

Tim walked up to them after finishing his phone call. "I'll go with her," the other six cops turned to him. "Pine's got every Metro officer in the city mobilized. She can spare me." Tim said, placing his phone in his pocket.

"All right. Everyone, stay sharp. If you even think you see something off, call for backup. Let's go." Everyone filtered out the room.

***

Hunter's gotten changed into a long sleeve shirt that pretty much matches Tim's but without the Metro logo and rather the LAPD logo not that anyone could see it under her bulky bullet proof vest, the two arrived at Moran's address and walked through a hallway. Hunter looks at Tim. "You should be out kicking doors with Metro."

"I'm good." Tim replied.

"I don't need you protecting me." Hunter said, although she was happy it was him at her six.

"I know." He replied.

Hunter smiled. "So what you're saying is you need me protecting you."

"Clearly." Tim said sarcastically as he moves closer to her. "You know me so well." And she really does know him well in all aspects of life.

"I'm happy it's you at my six. Just don't tell Grant." Hunter said as the two walked upstairs.

"Never, besides I've been at your six since 2001, it's never gonna change and I'm glad you're at my six as well." Tim replied.

The two arrived at Moran's apartment and Hunter knocked on the door. "Police. Open up. Luke Moran, we need to talk to you," upon getting no answer Hunter turned to Tim. "What do you wanna do?" She asked.

"I wanna kick it in and see if he's in there, but we need a warrant for that, and we're not gonna get it without probable cause." Tim replied.

***

That's when they heard a noise down the hall and walk to check it out, keeping their hands on their guns just in case. There's a group of masked men headed towards them, all with riot shields. "Stop right there!" Tim yells at the group.

Lucy takes her radio out and calls for backup. "7-Adam-100, we have a crowd coming towards us and we need help right now." They shoot at the group, but they have riot shields and their bullets don't do much. 

***

They go outside to find a locked fence door and up is, unfortunately, their only option. Hunter, for the first time since all this started, is scared for her life and the baby's life, but she knows she needs to make it out of here safely. They all do. She won't lose Tim either. "Go up. Up!" Tim tells her. "I'll hold them off."

Hunter's heart lurches in her throat hearing his words and she looked at him as they stand on a break in the steps. "What? No. We have the higher ground. We stand a chance but only together." Tim notices how afraid she looks.

They continue to shoot and they both know they need to fight off as many as they can. "Okay, we hurt as many as we can." Tim says as they pull their batons out.

"They're going to expect us to push, but let's go the other way." Hunter added.

"Pull, not push copy that." Tim replied.

They attack as many as they can, pulling them and beating them as much as they can. They are just trying to survive this entire ordeal. She kicks them down the stairs before going to fight another. Hunter pulls one man and throws him off Tim.

The masked men are getting their fair share of hits in as well, Hunter's just making sure they don't hurt the baby and therefore potentially cause a miscarriage. They hear sirens in the background but have no idea who shows up. 

Tim pushes Hunter to run and go up another set of stairs. "Lets go, lets go." The two run up and the masked men follow them.

The two turn and shoot as they run upstairs which somewhat hold the mask men off but not as much as they need them too, they notice Nyla and Nolan arrive. They are now coming at them from both directions.

That's when Tim's gun clicks. "I'm out of ammo!" Tim yelled and Hunter shoots at one but their are another two coming down the stairs each to after both of them.

Tim has a man's hand around his own throat but pepper sprays him in the eyes and then throws him to the side. He then sees one of the men grabbing at Hunter's throat.

Tim punches and then throws that man down the stairs. Hunter meanwhile is praying that nothing's gone wrong with the baby. Nyla manages to take one down with a shot of her long gun and Tim punches another. 

Tim grabs Hunter and wraps an arm around her torso just as Nolan opens a door at the side, Tim pulls Hunter through and they slam the door shut. "7-Adam-15, I have Bradford and Lopez secured upstairs." Nolan said.

That's when they hear Nyla speak over the radio as cops filtered into the complex. "Control, I've got two injured officers and multiple suspects injured by blunt force trauma and GSWs. At least 12 for transport. This is a mass-casualty event."

That's when they hear Grey speak over the radio. "All units, I have eyes on Aaron and Celina's attacker. Black pants, brown jacket, and a mask. Just ducked in a doorway north end of the alleyway."

***

Tim, Hunter and Nolan arrive at the basement where Grey, Grant and Lucy are, Grant turned to his partner and Tim. "You should be on your way to the hospital." Grant said, mostly looking at Hunter and giving her a knowing look.

"We'll go after." Tim replied.

"You're trapped, Luke!" Grey yelled.

Moran was hiding inside a room while Grey, Grant, Lucy, Tim and Hunter all had their guns trained on him. "I must say, the list of possible masterminds-- you were at the bottom." Grey called out to him.

"Doesn't surprise me at all." Moran replied.

"I don't get it. You did 90 days for elder abuse. How'd you end up here?" Tim asked.

"Because that 90 days destroyed me! I was beaten, forced to humiliate myself to survive. My mom died while I was in there. I lost my job, my home. Everything. I was just a case to you. But you-- you were my apocalypse." Moran replied.

"Well, it's over now. Drop your gun and step out, and keep your hands where we can see 'em." Grey said.

"No, I'm not goin' back." Moran stepped out and pointed his gun at the six cops, all of whom took a shot each.

***

The three cops were walking outside the apartment complex where shops were all waiting for them. "It just doesn't add up. I mean, Luke had motivation for days, but how the hell does a guy like that afford to hire a dozen mercenaries?" Nolan wondered.

That's when Hunter noticed Bailey luckily standing by an RA and excused herself getting confused looks from the others except Grant. "Hey, so long story short I'm pregnant and only Grant knows, I've not told Tim or Grey and for now I'd like to keep it that way." She deadpanned.

Bailey checked Hunter over before reassuring her that the baby was fine, Hunter thanked her and returned to the others. "Everything okay?" Tim asked.

"Yeah," Hunter sighed. "Never better."

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Now, Hunter's quite dumb for putting herself in danger but oh well.

The fight scene was inspired by it was love at first sight, at last sight, at ever and ever sight - Chenfordlover13 on Ao3 and was reworded.

So, Tim's gonna propose before Bailey and Nolan's wedding but they're gonna keep it quiet, he's also going to find out Hunter's pregnant in episode 3 when he notices that she isn't drinking anything. (An idea a reader had)

The Ray storyline's gonna be so fun to write with Hunter in it.

Hope you enjoy.