'Hit the Floor'~Bounce

Ride or Die

Jude knew that he'd screwed up. Of course, he wouldn't abandon Lionel to Oscar. She'd been there for him, through it all. But, he also knew that he should have been less passive and hesitant about Gideon and his future in his response. The man had come out in front of millions of people for him, and he'd just been traded. Jude knew the right answer would have been, 'We'll figure something out.' He called Gideon's cell and received the same message. 'Zero. You know what to do.' He'd tried to convince him ages ago to change it to something more professional. But, the baller protested that that was who he was, regardless of the many personas or disguises he'd had over the years. Jude couldn't argue. "Since you won't pick up. I'm coming over." This was not the time to give the other man space.

He was standing on the loading dock, about to get into the Porsche when suddenly he heard a gunshot. 'Christ!' He realized it had come from inside the arena. He immediately scanned his badge and headed back.

Once inside, he headed toward his office and saw Jelena's open door and that there was a light. He walked in and to his surprise and shock he saw a crying Sloane who was kneeling with a look of horror, over the lifeless body of Jelena on the office floor; shot and bleeding. 'Jesus.'

She turned to him "Jude!" through a sob.

A few minutes later there was a rush of security and paramedics through the door.

It was something of a blur, but Sloane ended up traveling in the ambulance with Jelena, while he followed. Maybe this fucking place was cursed. Mia. Olivia. Jelena. If you were a Devil Girl, anyway.
~~~

Once they arrived at the hospital, the medical staff whisked Jelena away. After both Sloane and he tried their damndest to answer questions about insurance, next of kin, etc., they were shown to a waiting area. Soon a L.A. County police detective confronted them. 'God, not again,' thought Jude. From what he gathered from looking at his phone, it was all over the Internet. The cops had swarmed Devils Arena, and it was now a crime scene.

Sloane and he stood together, as Ahsha ran into the waiting room.

"Mom!" She hugged Sloane, whose green dress was covered in Jelena's blood.

"Oh, God, I was the one that found her! I called 9-1-1."

Jude could see that she was still upset and visibly shaken. To the point that anyone would have thought that Jelena was her daughter who'd been shot.

"You were at the arena, too?" Ahsha ask her mother.

He was distracted when suddenly Gideon ran into the room.

"Jude!"

God, he was so happy to see him. He'd texted him about what was happening, no response. He assumed the other man had seen it on Google Alerts.

"I'm glad you're all here. I'm Detective Desario. I've got some questions for each of you."

Detective Joe Desario had already introduced himself to Sloane and Jude. It had initially come across as an interview of witnesses/information gathering. However, Jude had watched enough 'Law and Order'...and dealt enough with the police in the last year to keep cool and reveal nothing. Sloane apparently had gotten the same memo.

They all ended up going down to the police station to be questioned and give a statement. He couldn't help but think where the hell was Terrence, Oscar and just about anyone else who had recently been on the receiving end of Jelena's plot...

Jude sat nervously behind a large, grey table in an interrogation room. The detective sat across from him. The man's brown eyes peered intensely at him.

"Luckily, for whoever shot Ms. Howard, she is going to pull through."

As much as Jude didn't want to deal with Jelena, and her trading Gideon out of revenge was something he was still reeling from, he'd never forget seeing her lying there...it was pretty horrific.