Chapter 5
The black Ford RS200 raced through the streets of Chicago with practiced ease. The driver avoided the heavily populated streets, instead risking dead ends and one way streets to find his way.
Tej had given Vince the address for the house. Both Leon and Vince had GPS in their cars but the minute he had the address, Vince had taken off, tires screeching. He was still fuming that Dom seemed to automatically trust O'Connor. It just didn't make sense.
He hadn't bothered turning on his GPS yet. The annoying drone of the automated woman's voice would just annoy him further, to the point of causing damage to his own car. He hadn't seen any police besides the usual patrol car but the haunting sirens hadn't played through the air outside the sleek car.
Turning down a road labeled COOKE ST., he pressed on the gas to get passed a light that was changing colors. He growled as he missed the light and had to stop.
A light wind blew through the open window. In the distance, the sound of music and yelling. Vince figured it was the usual sound of Chicago night life. As if the city were trying to get his attention, the screech of tires slid from one ear to the next and a truck flashed through his vision.
The black truck hit a smaller car, flipping it on its side before it thankfully went back down to its tires.
"What the..." Vince started.
He turned his car off, got out, and locked it. Sprinting across the street, he approached the truck. It was smoking and Vince could hear a hiss from the engine.
"Hey man!" Vince called to the driver.
The man glanced around in a daze before chuckling and leaning his head on the head rest.
"Dude." he slurred.
Vince was cold hearted most of the time. Although he spent a lot of time as a part of Dominic Toretto's little family, he had always felt like a loner and didn't let anyone close to him.
But that didn't mean he didn't care about people dying.
And it certainly didn't mean that he had a blind side when it came to drunk drivers.
"Idiot." he spat, leaving the intoxicated man behind and went to the smashed car. In the distance, he could hear sirens. There was even more smoke and steam coming from this car.
"Hey can anyone hear me?" he called.
He got no response.
Behind him, an ambulance, two fire trucks, and the battalion chief's vehicle pulled up.
"Let's get these vehicles checked for fires or gas leaks Casey! Severide, start checking passengers!" the chief yelled.
"You got it Boden!" one of the firefighters yelled.
Vince looked to the firefighter who was looking over the engine of the flipped car. He deduced this was Casey.
"Hey fireman. The driver of your wrecked truck is smashed." he said.
Casey looked to him and then a facial haired firefighter.
"Severide, you may have some trouble with the truck driver." he said.
Severide nodded.
Out of the ambulance jumped two male paramedics. One was a taller African American and the other was a shorter blond haired medic.
"What do we have?" the blond asked.
"Mills I could use your help with the truck driver. This guy's been at the bar too long." Severide said.
The African American looked back to his partner.
"You okay to get the car Alex?" he asked.
Alex rolled his eyes and nodded.
"If I need help Peter, I've got plenty of muscle and this guy." Alex said, clapping Vince on the shoulder and smiling sardonically.
He moved to the flipped car and stopped next to Jeff Clarke who Severide had left to look at the car.
"I've got one person in here." Clarke told him.
Alex leaned down to look through the broken glass at the young man behind the wheel.
"Hello sir. Can you hear me?" he asked.
The man nodded shakily.
"My name is Alex. I'm a paramedic. Can you tell me your name?" as Alex talked, he began pulling out a C collar and put on some gloves.
"J-Jason." the driver stuttered.
Thankfully, his speech wasn't slurred.
"Nice to meet you Jason. We're going to get you out of here as soon as possible." as he said this, he glanced to where Mills and Severide were pulling the drunk driver out of his truck and to the curb. The man was spewing filth about anything and everything. On the other side of the car, Casey, Joe Cruz, and Christopher Herrmann were cribbing it, putting blocks alongside it to keep it steady. Clarke carefully brushed aside loose glass so neither Alex or Jason would get cut.
Alex leaned into the car.
"Okay Jason, I'm going to wrap this collar around your neck. Can you tell me where all you hurt?" he asked.
He glanced the man over, eying every limb and extension of the man. He had blood coming from a jagged cut on his forehead. Bruises were already forming where the door had smashed into him. The man was lucky. The truck had hit mostly to the read driver's door. It had caught the driver's door only halfway but it was still crushed enough that it wouldn't open.
"My left arm hurts and my head smarts." Jason told them.
"Alright just hang in there buddy." Clarke told the man.
They worked together to stabilize Jason. Severide and the rest of Squad 3 were able to get the crushed door away from the car.
Mills and Capp were still dealing with the intoxicated man who wouldn't lay down on the stretcher from the secondary ambulance. Clarke and Alex were able to get Jason on the stretcher before Alex sighed.
"Jeff you've got some good muscle. Go over and help them would you?" he asked.
Clarke rolled his eyes.
"Go on. I've got mister muscle here to help get Jason in the ambulance." Alex chipped, pointing at Vince with a false grin on his face.
Clarke waved him off and moved to help the others. Alex looked at Vince.
"Everyone's busy. I need help getting Jason into the ambulance. Let's go guy." he said.
"What makes you think I'm willing to help?" Vince asked.
Alex stopped by Jason and did a final check. He spoke while he worked.
"if you weren't willing to help, you wouldn't have stuck around or told Casey about the truck driver." he picked up his go bag and stared at Vince.
"Besides, I would hate to have wasted my one good goad at Clarke on you." he said.
Vince let out a sarcastic laugh but nevertheless moved forward to grab the side of the stretcher. He helped Alex get it to the side of the ambulance where he instructed Vince how to fold the stretcher so they could load it into the back of the vehicle.
Vince stepped back.
"Everything okay over here?" Mills asked as he made his way back from the now leaving secondary ambulance.
Alex nodded.
"Yeah. We're good. All packed up and ready to ship out. Aren't we Jason?" he asked.
Jason gave them a thumbs up. Mills nodded and went to the front of the ambulance. Alex glanced at Vince.
"Thanks for your help..."
"Vince."
Alex nodded, pulled the doors shut, and yelled to Mills that they could go.
The ambulance pulled away from the scene, its lights and sirens on.
"I appreciate your help." Boden said, walking up to Vince. He held out a hand. Vince hesitated before shaking it. He said nothing but nodded.
His car felt like home when he got back in sometime later after telling a waiting patrol car what he had seen.
The wrecked cars were being loaded by two trucks and things were moving quickly at the accident site. Vince revved his engine.
He still had more to see.
TBC
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