All disclaimers apply.

Out Cold

by Courtney Felix
 

"Oh come now, don’t tell me you haven’t put it all together yet. He was working for me, Mark."

Mark stood in silence as he recognized the voice on the other line as Carter Sweeny’s.


Steve lay on the ground. He still gasped for breath and the earth seemed to be spinning all around him. He tried to prop himself up on his elbows. He got about halfway up before a new wave of dizziness hit him like a ton of bricks. His head throbbed with pain. He listened for his father to come out of the building but heard nothing. The pattern of Sharp’s feet crunching against the leaves had faded away. He lay there for a few more minutes and was soon able to breathe regularly again. He closed his eyes and put a hand over them.

"I’m out, Mark. You have no defenses against me. You don’t know where I am, and I intend to keep it that way. Think you can figure this one out, Doc? I’d like to see you try." Mark stood there listening to Sweeny’s words. He couldn’t believe this was happening to him again and was only half-listening. Suddenly, he realized that Carter had hung up. He slowly replaced the phone in it’s cradle.

He started for the door to find where Steve had went. He quickly decided against it. If the place was under surveillance, he didn’t want to just step out of there without knowing anything. Instead he took a back door. He had to struggle with it for a few minutes. Finally, he thrust it open. The strong smell of trash greeted him. It was so strong that it gagged him. He coughed violently but walked until the smell was tolerable. His throat felt rough. He looked all around until he saw Steve lying on the ground. His heart seemed to skip a beat. He ran to him, calling his name. "Steve! Steve! Are you alright? Steve, answer me!"

Steve tried to prop himself up again. He still didn’t trust himself enough to open his eyes. "Dad?" he asked. He’d found his voice again.

Mark got to him and kneeled by Steve’s side. "Yeah, its me. What happened to you?" Mark reached out and brushed a few hairs off of Steve’s forehead. Steve flinched in pain. Mark withdrew his hand. Mark reached around to his back pocket and pulled out his cell phone. He punched in the numbers for the hospital wanting an ambulance.

"Dad, its not necessary," Steve argued while Mark was still on the phone. "Just let me lay here for a few minutes, I’ll be fine."
Mark flipped the phone shut. "You aren’t moving until the ambulance gets here." There was a finality in his voice that told Steve not to argue with him. Mark’s voice softened as he told Steve to lay back and keep his eyes closed.


Steve had been admitted to the hospital. It had taken the ambulance almost twenty minutes to find them. Mark hated to see his son in so much pain. The door quietly opened. Jesse stepped inside. He was holding Steve’s chart. Mark looked to him with a worried expression on his face. "You don’t have to worry," Jesse mouthed to Mark. He handed Mark the chart and sat down in a chair next to him. He was glad to see that Steve was asleep. Jesse watched as Mark’s expression changed from worry to relief. Jesse thought he almost saw a hint of a grin spread across Mark’s face. Mark handed the chart back and let out a sigh of relief. Jesse opened it again to go over it just one more time. "Thank goodness it was no more than a slight concussion," he thought to himself. He stood from his chair and clipped the chart on the end of the bed. He mouthed goodbye to Mark and left as quietly as he had entered.

Jesse entered the doctor’s lounge and found Amanda sitting there as well sipping from a mug full of coffee. Jesse also poured himself a cup of coffee. "So, how is he doing?" Amanda asked.

"Who? Steve or Mark?" Jesse asked playfully. He looked at Amanda who didn’t look too appreciative of the joke. "Come on Amanda, lighten up. Steve is going to be fine, and I think I just lowered Mark’s blood pressure," he smiled. This time, Jesse thought he saw the corners of her mouth turn up a little. "It was just a mild concussion," he went on. "He should be up and around again tomorrow. He’s not going to be too happy about having to wake up every two hours, though." Amanda nodded her head in agreement.

Mark opened the door to the lounge and stepped inside. Amanda stood up and embraced him. He returned her hug willingly. She let go of him first and pulled out a chair for him to sit in. "Would you like a cup of coffee?" she asked. Mark shook his head no. She sat back down and asked, "Are you doing ok?"

"Yeah," he replied. "I’m fine." He paused for a minute. The two younger doctors could tell he had something else to say. "You guys," he finally continued. "Carter Sweeny is out. He called me this afternoon. Sharp was working for him."

Amanda interrupted Mark, "Who is Sharp?"

Jesse answered her. "He was the one who was doing the Salvation Army Santa murders. Mark and I caught him this morning." Jesse suddenly looked at Mark. "He was working for Sweeny??" he asked in disbelief. "How can this be happening?"

"I wish I could answer you, Jesse. I think Carter has something big planned, but we have no way of finding him. There is no way he can be out already," he said to no one in particular. He then got back on track and started talking to Jesse and Amanda again. "Steve doesn’t know anything about Sweeny. I don’t want him to know until he feels back up to speed." They nodded.

"Where did Sharp go?" Jesse asked. "I’m assuming you two didn’t bring him back with you."

"No, he got away. Thats how Steve got the concussion. He told me while we were waiting for the ambulance. He said that Sharp had jumped down on top of him from a tree. They fought and Sharp hit Steve when he was down. He ran off. He could be who knows how many miles from here by now. The police have a warrant for his arrest. His picture is also all over town. Hopefully, someone will see him soon." The three sat in silence thinking about the new information that had presented itself.


"Look at this!!" Jesse shouted as he entered Steve’s hospital room carrying the morning’s newspaper. The sudden burst of noise made both father and son jump.

"Jesse!" Mark cried. "Don’t do that!"

"Oh! Sorry. Mark look," he said in a much calmer voice. He thrust the paper into Mark’s lap. There in bold print, was the headline: SANTA KILLER APPREHENDED. Under it, there was a three column story describing how he had been captured. Mark skimmed the story and handed the paper to Steve.

Steve took his time reading the story. When he was done, he commented, "Its about damn time." He gave the paper back to Jesse who set it on the table beside the bed. Jesse threw a glance at Mark. Mark knew Jesse wanted to say something about Sweeny. Mark still didn’t think it was the right time and gave Jesse a look that let him know it.

"I’m gonna get going. I’ll see you two later." He quickly left the room. He rounded a corner and bumped into Amanda. "I’m dying to tell Steve what we know!!" he said in an exasperated voice.

"I know what you mean," Amanda replied. "I was in his room this morning and had trouble keeping my mouth shut about the whole thing."

"I hope Mark tells him soon, or one of us might accidentally let it slip," he said puting emphasis on accidentally.

"Jesse!" Amanda exclaimed. "I can’t believe you would do that!"

"I’m not saying I would do it on purpose. If we have to keep it quiet much longer, though, he may be able to hear about it on the news, depending on what Carter Sweeny has planned," he left Amanda standing there in stunned silence. She knew Jesse’s comment could be true.


"When can I get out of here?" Steve asked impatiently. He lay in his hospital bed later that day and complained to his father.

"Jesse will be back to sign you out in a little bit. Uh, Steve," Mark began and paused to clear his throat. "Carter Sweeny called me yesterday, right before I found you. He’s the one who coordinated all of this."

"You’re saying Sharp was working for Sweeny the whole time? Do you know where Sweeny might be?" Steve asked, the anger and frustration building in his voice.

Mark shook his head. "I don’t want you to do anything, yet. I called down to the station and they’re working on it. I didn’t want to tell you, because I didn’t want you to make yourself worse by stressing out over it. I want you to take it easy. I don’t want you going to work tomorrow. No Bob’s either. Please," he finished.

"Dad, I can’t stay here and do nothing while Sweeny is out there possibly planning another bombing. We may not have that much time to do anything!" he paused and let himself calm down. "I’ll do what you say for a day, but that’ll be all. After that, I have to get on this case. I’m not going to just sit on this one, Dad."


The breeze was cold on Carter’s face. The ski mask he wore was worthless. He was still cold. He flung the mask to the ground and headed for his new place. He turned a corner and saw that his box was still in the same place he had left it that morning. The small pillow and blanket that he had the night before were gone, though. He shivered as he maneuvered himself into the box.

The ground was hard. The box provided little shelter, but it did its job for the time being. He curled up into a ball and lay there planning his next move against the Sloans. Carter hardly thought they would even be able to recognize him. Since Mark had seen him last, he had grown a thick beard and moustache. His clothes were worn and ripped. He looked like a completely different person. He hoped his appearance had changed enough to let him get away with his plans.


Steve stuck to his promise and took it easy the next day. He stayed in the house and watched TV. Mark had offered to stay with him and keep him company, but Steve wouldn’t let him. Jesse had promised Steve that he would be back over that afternoon to help put up the rest of the lights. He was actually enjoying his day of rest. He’d just stretched his long legs out on the couch for a short nap, when the doorbell rang. "It figures," he mumbled as he got up to answer the door.

He opened it and there stood Jesse and Amanda. "What are you guys doing here?" he asked wearily. "Aren’t you supposed to be somewhere else?" he directed his question to Amanda.

She shook her head no and walked through the door. "We just thought we would check on you."

"Did my dad put you up to this?" Steve asked.

"Well," Jesse began. "Yes, but we were going to come over as soon as our shifts ended anyway." Jesse came in the door as well and headed for the couch in the living room. He sat down and flipped the TV on. "So," he asked Steve. "When do you want to go back up on the roof? I have a few hours free now, if you want to do it."

"Will it get rid of you two?"

"Probably not." Amanda said.


Steve pulled a sweatshirt over his t-shirt and headed outside with Jesse. They set the ladder up and grabbed the lights they had set on the balcony and began to work. Within two hours they were done. The whole house was lined in lights. "I just hope they all still work," Jesse commented.

The house was warm when they went back inside. They found Amanda on the couch watching the news. It took her a moment to realize that they had come back in. She motioned for them to come sit next to her and watch. They came in right in the middle of a story about a homeless man being murdered. "He died sometime last night," said the reporter. "The officers on the scene said that it looked frighteningly similar to the Santa cases." That was all Steve had to hear before he was out of his seat and talking to the police station on his cell phone.

"Do we have a positive ID on the body?" he asked insistently. His head dropped when they told him no. They assured him that they were working on it, though. "Yeah, I know. Call me if you find anything new," he flipped his phone shut and sat back down. "Have you heard from my dad?" he asked Amanda.

"No, not lately. I think he had a late shift today," she replied.

"Hey Steve,"Jesse interjected. "I know what you’re thinking, copycat. Right?" Steve nodded. "But," he continued, "what if its not a copycat? What if it’s the person who originally planned everything, Carter Sweeny?"

"Jesse," Amanda began, "you’re intellegence is starting to frighten me." She grinned.

"We’re not sticking around. Come on," Steve commanded They all squeezed into his truck and headed for the murder site.

"Why couldn’t we have all gone in our own cars?" Jesse complained. When he got no response from Amanda or Steve he folded his arms across his chest and pouted. "One of you could at least answer me," he mumbled under his breath.

Steve approached the site slowly. What he saw didn’t surprise him. There were reporters and cops crawling all over the place. He found a place to park a block away. Steve hurriedly reapproached the scene. "Whats going on?" he asked the nearest police officer. The officer eyed him funny so Steve took out his badge and held it up. The officer nodded.

"He was killed last night about eleven o’clock. No one saw anything, which makes our job a hell of a lot harder."

"Have they identified the body yet?" Steve asked.

"No, not yet. Would you like to poke around and see if you can find anything we may have missed?"

Steve nodded. "Thank you." He then turned to Amanda and Jesse who were ready and willing to search with him. He pointed Jesse to the back of the alley. "You never know what could be back there," he said. Jesse jogged off while Amanda stuck with Steve. They looked around for a half an hour and found nothing that could help them.

Suddenly, Jesse yelled for Steve. "Steve!" he called. "Get over here quick!" Steve and Amanda raced to the end of the alley.

"What is it, Jesse?" Steve asked.

"Look," Jesse replied. He held out a piece of newspaper that had a picture of Mark on it. Underneath, someone had written: Back off, Sloan, or you could be next. Amanda gasped. Steve kept calm and fought hard not to show the fear that was building within him. He shoved the paper into his pocket.

"Come on, we have to find my dad," he said. The three of them took off for the truck. This time, Jesse squeezed in between them and didn’t say a word.


They pulled into the hospital parking lot about twenty minutes later. They checked Mark’s parking place and found that his car was still there. They rushed inside. It didn’t take them too long to find him. "Dad!" Steve called when they spotted him.

"Steve, what are you doing here?" Mark asked.

"We’ve got to get you out of here. Look. We found it at a murder scene. I think Carter Sweeny is behind it." Steve said and handed him the newspaper clipping.

Mark studied the clipping. "Don’t you think you guys are being a little presumptuous here?" Mark asked. "It’s probably nothing," he said and handed the paper back to Steve.

"Probably noth-," Jesse started. "Mark, don’t you think you should take this a little bit seriously? I mean it’s a threat on your life, Mark!"

"If it will make the three of you feel better, I’ll leave with you. I still think this is nothing. I’m driving my own car."

"I’m going with you," Jesse quickly volunteered. He looked to Steve who nodded.

When they got back to the beach house, Steve had already come up with a game plan. He began explaining almost as soon as they stepped inside the door. "Jesse, Amanda, I want you two to start going back over Sweeny’s files. I need anything you can find on anyone connected with him. Get the Sunnyview Bombings files back out as well."

"Great," Jesse mumbled. "Grub work."

"Dad, you’re staying here until we get this solved. I’m going to have security here around the clock," he said. Mark smiled at how professional he sounded.

"I still say this is completely unecessary," Mark commented.

"Please, Dad, work with me on this one." Steve pleaded. Mark threw his hands up in defeat.


The next day, Steve got up and was out of the house while Mark was still asleep. Jesse and Amanda were coming by later, and the three of them were going to go over the Sweeny files together. Amanda and Jesse had promised Steve that they would stick close to Mark.

The alarm buzzed in Mark’s ear. He opened his eyes and rolled over to hit the snooze button. "Whats the point in getting up, now?" he asked himself. He rolled back over and pulled the covers up to his chin. The next thing he heard was the door bell ringing downstairs. He dragged himself out of bed and put his robe and slippers on. He opened the door to find his two friends standing on the front step. They each held a large box full of files. "Steve told us to get anything connected to anyone that was connected to Sweeny," Jesse told Mark. "There’s another one out in the car," he finished. Mark took the large box that Jesse had while Jesse jogged out to the car to retrieve the other one. Mark and Amanda sat their boxes on the kitchen table.

"I don’t believe we have to look through all of these," Amanda stated. "It took the two of us hours just to find this stuff. We’ll be here all day looking through them." Jesse came in with his box and dropped it on the table along with the other two. Mark left the table and went to the kitchen. He returned with three mugs of coffee.

"Thanks, Mark," Jesse said as he took the mug from Mark’s hand. He took a sip and then said, "So, are we ready to start?"

"Remind me again why we are doing this. I could be in Illinios with my family putting decorations up right now," Jesse said. They had spent three hours looking through file after file after file. They had been through three pots of coffee and had still found nothing they thought could be of any use.

Jesse leaned back in his chair and sighed. "Hey, Mark," he said suddenly. "I thought Steve said that there was going to be security guys all over the place. I didn’t see anyone when we came in."

"Oh, he explained that to me. He said that I wouldn’t be able to tell who they were. That way it wouldn’t look too obvious. Don’t want to worry the neighbors, you know," he said with a smile. Jesse also nodded with a grin on his face.

The sound of the front door being opened diverted their attention. Mark stood up to go see who it was. He wasn’t surprised to see Steve walking up the steps. "Dad," Steve said looking at his father’s appearance, "you’re still in that?"

Mark looked down and realized that he had forgotten to get dressed. He still stood there in his pajamas, robe, and slippers. "Whoops, I guess I forgot when we started looking over the files. Be back in a bit!" he called to his friends.

"Sure!" Jesse called back. "Bail out on us now!"


Mark returned in a sweatshirt and a pair of jeans. He had showered, shaved and was now ready to get back to work. He returned to the table to find that he was all alone in the house. He called down to Steve’s apartment but got no answer. He looked out to the driveway but didn’t see the cars. He moved some of the files to his desk and put a Glenn Miller CD into the CD player. He continued looking over them there at his desk.

He spent the whole day sifting through files and photos. He recognized many of the people in the photos as being people who had helped the Sweenys kidnap him. He stood up; his eyes were tired from reading all day. He opened the balcony door and stepped outside into the sunlight. He pulled out his lounge chair, set it up, and fell asleep in the sun.


Steve pulled into the driveway about seven o’clock. It was beginning to get dark. He was expecting to see lights on inside the house, but when he didn’t he became worried. He raced up the front steps and into the house. He called for Mark, but got no reply. He looked in the kitchen to see if anything was cooking for dinner. He saw no pots, pans, or anything out on the counters. He saw that there were still a few file folders sitting on the table. He went into the living room. He noticed that the balcony light was off and flipped it on. When he did, he breathed a sigh of relief. He saw Mark still lying on his lounge chair asleep. He opened the glass doors and knelt down by his father’s side. "Dad?" he said, gently shaking Mark awake. "Dad? Come on get up."

Mark opened his eyes. He saw Steve kneeling beside him and smiled. He sat up and stretched his back. "What happened to you guys?" he asked Steve. "I came back from my shower and you were all gone."

"Oh, sorry about that," Steve said as he helped his father stand up. "Jess and Amanda were called to the hospital and my office called me to come down as well. I thought I left you a message or a note or something."

Mark laughed as they walked back to the door. "When have you ever left me a message? I couldn’t even get you to do it when you were a kid!" Steve smiled and gave his father a playful push inside. "Better watch it," Mark warned. "Pushing an old man like that can be dangerous."

"More than you might think," said a voice from behind them. The person was hidden in the shadows so so neither Steve or Mark could get a good look at him. Mark knew that the voice sounded familiar.

"Who are you?" Steve asked.

Steve began to take a step closer, but the voice warned against it. "You know, you never know what you could be stepping on. Agent Wagner learned that the hard way. I had him sweating for a long time didn’t I, Steve?"

"Carter Sweeny," Mark whispered to Steve.

"How did you get in here, Sweeny?" Steve asked angrily.

"You should really check your ‘security guards’ out, Sloan. They let anyone and anything past. Really not that much protection, Stevie," as Carter said this, he stepped out from behind the shadow, showing himself for the first time. Steve’s anger was growing by the minute, but he was determined not to let it show. Carter sensed it and played on it. "You want to hit me, Sloan?" he tempted Steve. "Go ahead. Maybe it will make you feel better. Would you do that with your Daddy standing right behind you? Could you?"

Steve started to take a step forward but decided against it. He knew he had to keep his cool. He couldn’t let Sweeny get under his skin. His training kicked in and he began to calm down a little bit. "Why did you come back, Carter?" Steve asked slowly.

Carter took a menacing step toward the Sloans. "I came back to give your father what he deserves," he answered through clenched teeth.

Steve stayed between his father and Carter. "You’ll have to come through me, first."

"Oh, very original, Sloan. Did you think that one up by yourself?" Carter mocked. "Besides," he continued. "How do you know I haven’t done something already? I’ve been here long enough to do plenty of damage without either of you knowing it," he walked around the room slowly. "You could be sitting here tonight and all of a sudden, BOOM!" he laughed. "Then again," he said. "It could be weeks or months from now, you have no way of knowing."

Carter began to head for the door. Steve decided to make his move. He took a running start and jumped Carter from behind. They fell hard to the floor. Carter struggled underneath Steve’s body. Somehow, Carter got himself situated so that he could throw punches at Steve. He was a lot stronger than Steve would have imagined. He threw a left that hit Steve hard across the face. That threw Steve off for a few seconds. Then his anger took over. He began to hit Carter wherever he could. He let all his anger and frustration of the past two weeks out on Carter. He continued to do so until Mark came back in the room a minute later. He rushed to Steve’s side and calmed him down. Steve got off of Carter, who didn’t move. He laid on the wooden floor watching the two of them until Steve pulled him to his feet.

"I called the police from the kitchen," Mark said. "They should be here any minute."

"Good," Steve said. "We’ll be waiting for them, won’t we, Carter?" Carter glared at Mark as Steve dragged him outside.

Steve and Mark watched from the doorway as the officers put Carter in the backseat of the car. The bomb squad had been called to search the beach house. They were finishing as Sweeny was being driven away. One of the men began talking to Steve and Mark. "So, how did you guys end up getting involved with him in the first place?" he asked them.

"It’s a very long story," Mark replied.


The next day, Mark was back at Community General. He stood at a nurses’ station looking over some charts. Jesse walked up beside him. "Hey, Mark," he said. Mark looked at him and nodded hello. "Are you doing anything for lunch today?"

"No, not that I know of. Were you thinking of doing something?"

"I was just going to go over to Bob’s. Would you like to join me?"

Mark clasped a hand on Jesse’s shoulder. "I’d be glad to. I just have to take care of Mrs. Foxworthy before we leave."

They arrived at BBQ Bob’s about a half an hour later. When they got there, they found Steve and Amanda already there. Steve was behind the counter serving drinks. Amanda had once again been drafted into waitressing. Mark and Jesse sat down at the counter. Amanda put down her tray and began talking to Mark. "I heard you two had a fun night, last night."

"Oh yeah," Steve replied sarcastically. "Wonderful."

Mark smiled at Steve who handed him an iced tea. "Well," said Mark taking a sip. "At least its over."

"That’s what we thought last time," Jesse reminded him.