Rough Neck-The Gang Buster!

Friday night in the city.  Cars’ lights beaming, building offices lit from within and the swarm of people ready to fill their souls with the promise of alcoholic relief.  The variety of people saturating the streets also includes the unsavory, though few in numbers, some of these people are the concrete jungle’s predators.
On his walk home, from an eleven hour shift at the metal shop, Henry Clarence Mann stops at the local grocery store to pick up the few items his wife needed to fix dinner.  Though physically opposing, his demeanor is gentle and thoughtful.  He grabs the few items that was requested and makes his way to the cashier.  At the counter he sees a child’s candy toy.  He smiles slightly to himself and thinks, “Kalee will like this”.  He put the items on the counter and digs in his pocket for money.  His knuckles chaffed and his fingers thick and tough from the work he does, barely make it into his pocket.  He pays for his goods and continues to make his way home.  As he reaches his apartment building, he spies a group of men on the side of the building arguing.  They are loud, but, that’s not unusual for the neighborhood.  He shakes his head and walks up the stairs to his doorway and uses his keys to enter.  Once inside he yells out, “Your man is home!”  From a side room comes a little girl running out with arms outstretched.  “Hi daddy!”, she yells out, “What did ya get me?”.  “Don’t I get a kiss first?” he asks.  He picks her up and makes a loud “mmmmwaw!” sound as he kisses her.  He looks up in time to see his wife walking towards him.  She has a svelte figure and moves directly to him, ”Did my man remember the groceries I wanted?”  He scoops her up in his other arm and says, “What is it with you women?  Doesn’t anybody say ‘Hi’ first before you say ‘gimme’?”  She smiles at him and kisses him, “Hi baby.  Good day at work?”  He says, “Work was alright, but, I live for the night”, as he grabs her butt and squeezes.  She smiles and pulls away, “Well if you didn’t get the groceries, you going to have to live off of love and not dinner”.  He produces his bags and says, “I am the ultimate hunter-gatherer.”  She gives him a quirky look and takes the bags to the kitchen, “Dinner will be ready in 15 minutes, why don’t you shower and change so we don’t have metal shavings in our plates”.  He sets his daughter down and says to his wife, “Hey, I bring home the iron too”.  She shakes her head and says, “Kalee, why don’t you come help me in the kitchen while daddy gets clean.”  The child runs off to be with her mother and he turns to the bathroom.  In the bathroom he can hear the men outside still yelling.  He turns on the water to the shower to drown out the sound.  He takes off his clothes and leaves them on the floor as he gets into the shower.  The water soothes his skin.  His eyes close as he begins to relax under the spray of the water.  Suddenly there is a sharp pain in his shoulder, his legs buckle from underneath him.  He reaches for something to steady his balance in vain.  The shower curtain he grabbed is useless as his 220lb frame falls to the floor.  He has felt this kind of pain before…in Afghanistan.  That’s when he realizes he’s been shot!
    As he fights for consciousness, his mind tries to ascertain how this happened, then in a moment of panic he thinks of his family.  Are they alright?  He crawls the floor to the bathroom door.  He opens the door and yells out, “Dani!...Dani!...Kalee!”.  There is no response.  He struggles to keep consciousness as his arms pulls him along the hallway towards the kitchen, where he believes his wife and daughter is.  He hears the water on the stove boiling.  The smells of dinner they were to have is in the air.  He blacks out for a moment.  He gets close to the kitchen and he sees a single shoe lying on the floor.  It’s Dani’s shoe.  He blacks out again for a moment.  He attempts to stand up…his legs do not respond to the demand.  He looks over the kitchen counter and sees his wife lying on the floor…blood surrounding her lifeless body.  He quickly looks for his daughter.  His eyes can’t focus…his head spins…he finally passes out. 

He opens his eyes to see a blinding light…he fades off again.  He opens his eyes to see all white…he fades off again.  His ears hear a myriad of sounds and noises; he can’t make out what’s going on.  His mind tells him he’s dead…no, not dead, he has to know what happened to his family.  Dani, his wife.  Kalee, his daughter.  He won’t leave them until he knows that they are alright.  Then darkness over takes him.
Two days later.
He opens his eyes and there is a man standing in front of him.  “Mr. Mann, can you understand me?” the man asks ”I’d like to ask you a few questions.”  He believes his mouths moves to respond when the man says, “Mr. Mann, I can’t understand you.  Could you speak up?”  He takes a breath and asks louder, “Where is my family?” The man looks at someone else who is with him.  Slowly Henry becomes to realize he is in a hospital room.  The man speaks to him again,” Mr. Mann, I’m Lieutenant Mitchell from the (get precinct number) precinct.  Homicide division.    This is David Collier from the D.A.’s office”,  as he points to another man standing by the door.  Lt. Mitchell pauses a moment and takes a deep breath,  “ Mr. Mann, your wife is dead and your daughter is critical.”  Henry Mann attempts to sit up quickly and says, ”Where is she?  What happened to them?  Why?”  Lieutenant Mitchell tries to hold him down to the bed with little success.  His companion helps him and they manage to keep Henry Mann down for now.  Henry’s hands comes up to his face and the Lieutenant can see tears stream from underneath his massive hands.  The lieutenant clears his throat and continues, “Mr. Mann, You and your family were victims of a gang shooting.  To be precise, your family was bystanders hit by stray gunfire.  We do not believe you were targeted”.    Lt. Mitchell looks at his companion and continues, “Mr. Mann , your apartment was hit with a series of stray bullets entering from the west side of your apartment.  The alley on the side of the building,  did you see anything?”.    Henry nods his head as he wipes his face clean of the tears, “Yea, I saw some guys arguing, but, I didn’t think nothing of it”.  Lt. Mitchell presses for additional information, his head up and an alert expression, “Can you describe them?..a car?..clothing?..anything?”  Henry shakes his head, “No, like I said, I didn’t think anything of it”.  Lt. Mitchell takes a deep sigh and his head sinks into his chest.  His companion leaves the room followed by Lt. Mitchell.  On the way out Lt. Mitchell turns to Henry and says, “Mr. Mann, we will do our best to find your family’s killers.  If you can think of anything, let me know”.  He closes the door to Henry’s room, leaving him to grieve by himself.
A few hours later on the children’s ward of the hospital, a hulking figure limps his way to the nurses’ station, “I’m looking for Kalee Mann”.  The nurse looks up from her computer and stands to assist Henry to his daughter’s room.  He approaches the room slowly and silently he opens the door to see his daughter’s small frame attached to wires, hoses and monitors.  He strokes her head gently as a tear escapes his eye.  She is unresponsive and all he hears is the sound of the machines breathing for her.  Slowly his quivering lips opens, “Kalee, it’s daddy.  I’m here baby…daddy’s here.  Don’t leave daddy, Kalee”.  The nurse comes into the room to adjust the medication on the tube.  He ignores the nurse and continues to stare at his daughter.  As the nurse exists the room, he bends down to his daughter’s ear and says, ”Daddy will find the men who did this to you.  I will.  And, I’ll make them pay”.

The story is continued and complete.