J.M.J.

Author's note: Thank you so much for reading the entire story! My especial thanks to KayEn78 and Guest for your reviews throughout and to anyone who reviews in the future! I so appreciate your support and advice. Thank you also to those who have or who will follow or favorite this story! I hope to write for this fandom again, but of course inspiration and time to write must line up with one another so I won't try to make any guesses as to when it could happen. I hope it will be sooner than later. In any case, enjoy the conclusion! God bless!

Chapter 6

The suspect vehicle has TA'd.

The dispatcher's voice remained calm and even as she gave this update on the pursuit that Adam-26 had been in. But then she didn't have the same suspicion that Pete did as he listened to the update with a grim face while he and MacDonald drove to the scene.

"I hope you're wrong about this, Pete," MacDonald said in a tense voice.

"So do I."

They were still at least fifteen minutes out from the scene of the accident, and so Pete knew tat the next update he would get would have to come over the radio. He was practically straining his ears. There wasn't much likelihood of him missing anything that came over the air, but he almost felt as if he could hurry the update if he listened hard enough.

Of course, there was every chance that his hunch was wrong. There were a lot of stolen cars in a city the size of Los Angeles. The one Adam-26 had spotted didn't necessarily have to be the one that Jim's abductors had escaped in. For that matter, his abductors hadn't necessarily used a stolen car. They might have had one that they owned legally. Still, Pete wasn't above playing hunches and he had a feeling about this one. MacDonald had been willing to go along with it. The problem was that if the hunch was right, they might be too late to get to Jim already.

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Jim shook his head, almost unsure for the moment whether he was really alive or not. He could feel his lip and nose bleeding. His face must have slammed into the back of the seat in front of him. Otherwise, he thought he was okay.

Will wasn't so fortunate. He was sprawled over the steering wheel, unconscious if not worse. Nolan had managed to keep hold of his gun and not fire it, although his left shoulder must have been wrenched from the way it hung limply at his. He also had what looked like it would develop into an impressive bruise on his forehead. Unfortunately, the hit he had taken there wasn't enough to render him unconscious.

"Get out," he ordered Jim.

"What?" Jim replied, taken aback that Nolan apparently still wasn't giving up.

"I said, get out!" Nolan snarled. "Or so help me…"

"You're crazy, man! You've had it," Jim protested.

"Then so have you. Move!"

Nolan pressed his gun into Jim's side and this time, Jim had little doubt that he really would shoot if he wasn't obeyed immediately. Accordingly, Jim crawled out of the back seat. He was on the opposite side from where Adam-26 had parked. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see the two officers—Raymond and Hastings—crouching behind their car doors. Nolan darted behind Jim.

"You cops!" Nolan shouted. "You'd better not shoot! You know him? He's one of your cop buddies! You don't want to take a chance hitting him!"

Jim glanced toward the other officers, wondering what they were going to do. They didn't have a good angle. Chances were, they couldn't hit Nolan without hitting Jim. At the same time, Nolan was down to just one hand and he didn't have either Will or Dale to back him up. Apart from the gun, he didn't have anything in his favor.

"Come on," Nolan muttered to Jim.

"You don't have a chance," Jim retorted. "Give yourself up now before you dig yourself any deeper."

"You think I can get any deeper?"

Jim turned to look Nolan in the eyes. The man was desperate, but he didn't look crazy. Jim guessed his toughness thus far had been a front. He didn't want to get caught, naturally enough, and to keep from getting caught, he needed to cow Jim into doing anything he said.

"If you shoot me, you won't have any shield to keep those officers from shooting you," Jim pointed out. "Do you really want to die?"

"I'd rather be dead than go to jail," Nolan replied. "And if I'm going to die, I want to take you with me."

"Are you sure about that?" Jim asked. "Because that's the choice you've got right now: dying or jail. You can't get away. I'm not going with you. So you can either shoot me and get shot yourself or you can give up."

Nolan was already pale, but Jim thought he lost a shade more of his coloring when it was put out there so bluntly. "What kind of fool are you? Do you want to die?"

"No," Jim said evenly, "but I will anyway if I go with you."

Nolan cursed. He stood there a moment longer, trying to decide what to do. Then, unexpectedly, he moved his gun so it was no longer pointing at Jim. Instead, it was pointed toward Raymond and Hastings. He managed to fire off two shots before Jim reacted.

Jim grabbed his wrist and pulled his arm down so that the next shot hit the pavement and ricocheted dangerously away. Nolan tried to fight back despite his injured arm, but it was no use. The men lost their balance and fell to the ground. They each had one hand on the gun, while Jim was using his other hand to wrestle the man.

Suddenly, Nolan bobbed his head forward and bit Jim's wrist. Jim cried out, almost as much from sheer surprise as from pain, and lost his grip on the gun.

At the same time, there was a shout. Nolan looked up, but Jim didn't have to in order to know what had happened. Raymond and Hastings had used the diversion the struggle had given them to close in. They were only a few yards away, training their guns on Nolan. He looked from one to the other, the gun still in his hand. For an instant, Jim thought that he was still going to try to take one of them out.

Then they heard sirens approaching. Back-up was on its way. Even if Nolan could kill or evade the officers here, he'd never escape now. He had Jim pinned to the ground, and so for a few seconds, all Jim could do was watch him. Slowly, the fight seemed to go out of him and he stood up, holding his hands up and away from him as he did.

"Get back on the ground, spread-eagle," Hastings ordered him, and Nolan complied.

Meanwhile, Jim scrambled to his feet and recovered the gun that Nolan had been using. He let the other officers take care of Nolan, though. For his own part, he took a step back and glanced at the approaching police cars.

"What's going on, Reed?" Raymond asked, training his own gun on the suspect while Hastings frisked him.

"I was at the market with my son…" Jim started. He trailed off when he saw the first police car pull to a stop and Pete and MacDonald get out of it. Forgetting to answer Raymond's question, he trotted over to them.

"Are you all right?" Pete asked him, an incredulous look on his face.

"Yeah, but we've got to go back and find Jimmy. He's by himself…"

"He's fine," Pete interrupted him. "He's with Jean right now."

Jim closed his eyes and breathed in a sigh of relief. The relief didn't last long before he realized just how much his head was pounding. For a second, he felt dizzy and he staggered a step as he tried to keep his balance.

"Are you sure you're all right?" MacDonald asked him, instinctively reaching toward him.

Jim put a hand to his head. "I did get clocked in the head and I was unconscious for a little while," he admitted. He brushed his hand against his lip and was reminded that it was still bleeding. "Then I might have hit it again when the car TA'd."

MacDonald opened the rear door of his car and pointed inside. "Sit down. I'll call for an ambulance."

"You'll need one for the driver, too," Jim said, taking a seat as ordered. It was a relief to sit down.

While MacDonald called for the ambulance, Pete stood with his hand on the open car door, studying his partner as if to assure himself that there were no serious injuries.

"You gave us quite a scare," he said after a minute or so.

"You were scared," Jim scoffed, but instantly he looked up at Pete with a more serious expression. "Are you sure Jimmy is all right? I didn't want to send him off by himself, but I also couldn't let him stay in those criminals' hands if I could help it."

"Relax," Pete advised him. "I saw him. He seems okay. Scared, but not hurt."

Jim nodded. "Good. You said he's with Jean? Where are they? I'd like to see them."

"We'll have them meet you at the hospital."

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Holding Jimmy by one hand—she didn't feel like letting him go even for an instant—Jean pushed the door to the hospital room open. Jim was just buttoning his shirt and he looked up when the door opened. He had several bruises on his face, but he gave her a reassuring smile.

"Daddy!" Jimmy cried before either of his parents could say a word. He ran forward and let Jim pick him up and hug him.

Jean smiled at the sight, choking up at the same time, and then she rushed forward to hug both her fellows. "I'm so glad you're both safe," she murmured.

"Me, too," Jim replied.

Then Jean looked up at him. "Why are you getting dressed? Are they releasing you already?"

"That's right," Jim told her. "The doctor says I'll need to keep quiet for a couple of days, but I don't have to stay here."

"I'm glad," Jean said. "I wouldn't have wanted to be home alone with just Jimmy tonight. Oh, they did catch the third carjacker, though. He was the owner of the garage they took you to and he was in his own car, trying to escape."

Jim grinned slightly. "I thought that might happen."

"Daddy, I talked to a stranger," Jimmy said suddenly.

"I know," Jim told him. He had heard that part of the story by this time. "You did the right thing in this case."

"But you told me not to talk to strangers," Jimmy reminded him.

"I know. But if your mom or I tell you that it's okay, then it's okay that time." Jim smiled at him. "You were really brave. I'm proud of you."

Jimmy didn't try to hide his grin.

Jean still had her head resting against Jim's shoulder, looking up at him. There was a lot she felt she should say, but somehow, she couldn't find the words. Then Jim turned back to her and their eyes met. They lingered like that a few moments, gazing at one another, and their eyes said everything necessary.

"Let's see about getting out of here," Jim said.

Jean nodded, and so with Jim holding his son in his left arm and his right arm around Jean's shoulder, they walked out of the room.