Judge, Jury, & Executioner

Chapter 24

"I'm sorry, Cooke. But everything pointed to you and we-we uh, were just trying to solve these murders," Drake said.

"I know. Thank you for finally believing me though-"

The entire room shook violently and then glass shattered as an explosion took out part of the right side of the building. Drake and Cooke were tossed to the other side of the room. He landed on the ground with a chair on top of him and then he saw Cooke pinned next to the table.

He tossed the chair off and crawled over to her. He uncuffed her and then helped push the table off.

"We need to get out of the building," Cooke said.

"Yeah no kidding," Drake replied.

He checked the door handle and felt it was cool. Then he opened it and saw chaos. Noah was being helped by Doyle. Drake looked around for Maddox and couldn't find her. He saw another officer walking towards them.

"Take her outside, do you know where Detective Maddox went?" Drake Asked.

"I saw her enter the elevator earlier. That's it," The officer replied before helping Cooke to the stairs.

The room was catching fire. Drake laughed before coughing as he blamed the paperwork. He saw Doyle and Noah heading for the stairs and then a secondary explosion caught everyone off guard. Gas pipes. He slammed against a wall and then forced himself to keep moving.

Once he got to the stairs the exits were being blocked off. There wasn't a clear exit. The stairs door was on fire. Drake looked at it and then sighed at himself for jumping against the door and knocking it down. He made an exit.

Then he ran down the stairs to the lobby, choking on smoke. Once he made it to the lobby he shoved the door open and saw the hallway where the holding cells are covered in flames. He covered his mouth as his lungs burned with smoke. His eyes were watering and everything was beginning to become harder to move.

He forced himself to keep moving until he came to the worst of it. A majority of the first floor had caved in. He coughed more and kept coughing. He couldn't hardly see anymore.

Then he saw a hand. No not a severed hand, a hand sticking out of the rubble. He crawled over and saw Maddox almost completely covered in debris. He started pulling some of it off and then another coughing fit came. And this time it didn't quit. He kept coughing.

He fell backwards and realized he couldn't breathe. As he laid there, unable to move, he saw Maddox's hand twitch. A bit of relief rushed over him as he sat, choking on the smoke. He became light headed and everything seemed to slow down.

Drake slowly blinked. Maddox's hand moved a little and then Drake smiled. All he could do was hope she'd make it.

***

Drake coughed and readjusted the oxygen mask. He saw a couple firefighters carrying Maddox out. She didn't look too good. Her leg had several cuts and tears. Some other wounds on her arms and head. A floor did fall on her though.

Drake took off the mask and coughed some more before forcing himself over to her. She was unconscious with an oxygen mask. She had one wound on her head that the medic was trying to clean up as they lifted her into an ambulance. Drake tried to get closer and the other medic stopped him.

"Only family sir," He said.

Drake nodded and then they closed the doors. The ambulance drove off and Drake saw Doyle, Cooke, and Noah standing next to an ambulance. Drake coughed and then walked over to them. They all stood watching the fire slowly die down.

"Any sign of Reaves?" Drake asked.

"None. He was at the epicenter. The uh, firefighters don't think he would've uh, made it. And he's got a daughter at home, and she may never see him again," Doyle said gritting his teeth.

Drake folded his arms and stared at the flames. Cooke was talking to Noah about computers.

"If Reaves is in there-"

"This case just got a whole lot worse," Drake said finishing Doyle's sentence.

"We got a body!" One of the responders yelled as two firefighters carried out someone.

Drake felt everything slow down as they ran up to it. A complete repeat of the car crash. Only this time, it was actually Reaves.

The body came up after Reaves had. Reaves had a nasty head wound but he was fine otherwise. Coughing a little more than usual.

"What happened?" Drake asked him.

Reaves coughed and tried to speak. He just kept coughing but managed to point at Noah who seemed just as confused as everyone else. Then Drake saw the body coming up. It was a first responder.

"She confess," Reaves managed before wheezing.

Drake pointed at Reaves before helping him to the ambulance for the oxygen mask. Reaves took it and started coughing.

"Why is he pointing at Noah?" Cooke asked.

Drake looked at Reaves who was coughing and trying to breathe in the oxygen. She confess. Drake looked at Noah and then he realized it.

"Emily Whelan is the executioner!" Drake exclaimed.

"What, no, that can't be!"

"Why else point at Noah and say She confess. Unless he was talking about Emily."

Reaves nodded at Drake and then coughed.

"Why would my sister blackmail me into doing this?" Noah asked mid sob.

Drake crosses his arms and shrugged. He didn't have an answer. And he wasn't sure he ever would.

Doyle rubbed his chin before looking at Noah, "I'm going to take him home. With me. You two head to hospital with Reaves and find out how Maddox is. She'll want an update as soon as-"

"She's awake?" Drake Asked.

"Pretty much."

Drake nodded and then coughed. The fire had finally died down and the firefighters were packing up.

Drake looked at Reaves who was breathing in pure oxygen. He looked a little funny. Drake squinted at him and then Reaves removed the mask.

"I really can't breathe this stuff in," Reaves said before coughing.

"Why?" Drake Asked.

"I see three of you."

Drake looked at Cooke and they both looked back at Reaves who slowly fell back on the stretcher.