Hellcat

Chapter Twenty-Five

Foggy told us to meet him at the Precinct. Karen and I got Grotto there before either he or Matt arrived. Brett put us into an interrogation room, where Karen was filling out paper work, sitting across the table from Grotto. I stood near the door, leaning against the wall. "That window bulletproof?" Grotto asked, still terrified. Karen glanced back at the window of the room. "Twenty cops outside that door. You're safe," she tried to assure him. "Where the hell are your boys?" he asked again. "On their way," she replied with a heavy sigh.

"Place of birth?" she asked him. "Queens," was Grotto's response. "Relatives? Anyone we should place into Witness Protection with you?" she continued to ask questions so she could fill out Grotto's form. "No. I got no one," he responded before silence filled the room – but only for a few seconds. "You don't seem rattled, either of you. Guy tries to blow your head off, you ain't scared?" he asked, gaze flickering between me and Karen. "I'm terrified," Karen muttered. "I've been shot at too many times to care," I added with a shrug.

Just then the door swung open. Instantly, I shoved off of the wall, into a fighting position only to be face-to-face with a surprised and concerned Foggy. "Sorry. Are you okay?" he asked, glancing around at the three of us. Something I noticed instantly – Matt wasn't with him. "Yeah, yeah," Karen assured him, standing to hug him. "The paperwork's almost done and Brett's gonna be in in a minute," she said, pulling back from him.

Foggy turned to me and I let him hug me. I even hugged him back. "Where's Matt?" I whispered as we embraced. "He's... you can kill him later," he whispered back. My stomach turned at his words. Why was I going to hypothetically kill Matt? It only meant one thing – Matt did something stupid and got himself hurt.

"Where's Murdock?" Grotto snapped. "He took a sick day," Foggy replied simply before he moved to hover over Grotto. "You told us the Irish were attacked by a whole gang of guys. I'm pretty sure the word you used was "army". You wanna tell me why I'm now hearing this is all being done by one man?" he growled at his client, more out of fear for me and Karen than concern for Grotto. "Look, I didn't know you guys were –" Grotto started but Foggy wouldn't let him speak. "Who does he work for?" he asked. "I got no idea," Grotto replied.

"Well, what do you know?" I asked him. The gathered group of people looked at me, including a hesitant Grotto. "Look, I got no problem with being shot at myself, but when people I care about are in danger, I tend to get terrifying," I growled at Grotto. Placing my hands on the table top, I leaned towards him, a menacing glare on my features. "The kind of scary you won't find hot," I hissed, remembering his comments from the hospital.

"So, what do you know?" I asked. "I know he's a sociopath, that's what. I mean, yeah, fine. I heard the rumors, okay, but I didn't think..." Grotto trailed off with a sigh. "I thought it was ridiculous, okay? Ten, twenty guys getting mowed down at a time. And with precision? You know, tactically? Every hit was like some kind of SEAL Team 6," Grotto explained. "Met those guys. They're not bad," I said, standing to my full height and crossing my arms as I shrugged my shoulders. "Then people started saying it was one guy doing all that. One man? I thought it was a ghost story. Some... campfire shit you tell freshies to make 'em crap their pants. But now... you saw," Grotto said, turning his attention onto Karen. "That guy was the Grim Reaper," Grotto added.

The door opened then and I glanced back to see it was Brett. "Mr. Grote, I'm Sergeant Mahoney. Got some clothes here for you," Brett said, holding out an orange prison jumpsuit. "What? Am I arrested?" Grotto asked in confusion. "Just protective custody until we can figure out WITSEC," Foggy explained. "Why the peel?" Grotto asked, obviously not into the idea of looking like a prisoner. "Or stay in the gown with your ass hanging out. I don't care," Brett responded. "Yeah," Grotto muttered.

Then Brett turned to me and Karen. "We pulled the security footage from the hospital. I got ten men going over it right now," he told us. "Any leads?" Foggy questioned. "I was hoping you had something. Let's let him change. You three wanna step outside with me for a sec?" Brett asked, gesturing to the door while his eyes scanned from Foggy, to Karen, and then landed on me. We did as Brett suggested. He led us out into the bull pen where there were some tables and a coffee maker.