Heaven's On Fire

Sequel To: First Mistake & Nobody's Hero

Rating: M

Pairings: Jim/Khandi, Cosmo/Stacey & Sam/OC

Full Summary: The Cavalry's back and ready for more action. But they might get more than they bargained for. Plus someone new comes to town that could spell trouble for The Cavalry or be a change for the better. Or both!

Spoilers: Season 6 (Bang Bang & Way to Go - mostly)

Feedback: Please. It's always welcome and much appreciated.

Disclaimer: We own a majority of the plot. We don't own all the characters except for: Khandi Brass, Little Jimmy Brass, Sammy Brass, Katie Brass, Noah Renfro, Zoey Renfro, Stacey Renfro and Casandra Riggs.

Author's Note: If you are just reading this please read First Mistake and Nobody's Hero first to fully understand the characters and our concept with the series. Also, we used to be MidnightCrime & Brassfan24 but have decided to use one name, CrazyWriters, for the both of us. Thanks. Enjoy the reading... Ciao.

/6 Months Later - LVPD - Jim's Office/

With five screaming kids in the house always fighting with each other, work started to seem like a vacation for the Cavalry. Although, the last fifteen hours had been absolute madness. What had started out as a domestic violence call, had turned into a bloody massacre because now they had three bodies on their hands, plus a wounded victim/suspect, and no murderer.

Jim was sitting at his desk when the phone rang. "Brass." he answered.

"Jim? Willie Cutler was in the room when his wife was shot." Grissom said on the other end.

"So, that means Willie pulled the trigger or he's covering for his brother." Jim stated. "And that would explain why Sammy showed up at the Lucky Dragon, Willie lost quite a bit of money there."

"Right."

Jim hung up the phone and took off out of his office. He made his way down the hall looking for Khandi. He walked into her office and found her there with Sam and Cosmo. "Hey, I need you guys with me." Jim said.

"What's going on, honey?" Khandi asked getting up from behind her desk.

"We gotta get to the Lucky Dragon before Willie Cutler does something he's gonna regret."

Sam and Cosmo stood up and followed Jim and Khandi out of the office. "So, Willie was behind it the whole time?" Cosmo asked.

"I don't know. Either he is or he's covering for his brother Sammy." Jim said glancing back over his shoulder.

"Son of a bitch. I knew there was something off about him." Sam said as they walked out to the parking lot.

The Cavalry walked over to Jim's Charger and piled in. Jim got behind the wheel, Khandi took shotgun and they put the kids in the back. The kids being Sam and Cosmo. Jim started the engine and peeled out of the parking lot.

/Lucky Dragon Casino/

Jim pulled the Charger into the parking lot of the Lucky Dragon. He parked and the Cavalry piled out and made their way to the building. They walked into the lobby and met up with the SWAT team leader. "What's the situation?" Jim asked.

"He's holed up on the top floor with a hostage. This was after he shot a security guard."

"Where's the negotiator?" Khandi asked as they walked toward the elevator.

"About an hour out."

"Well, I'm here now." Jim said as they all got on and made their way up to the top floor.

"Jimmy, what are you planning on doing?" Khandi asked him concerned.

"Someone needs to talk Willie out. Now, I've talked to him before I think I have the best shot."

"Jim, think about it. Willie's unstable, you don't know what he's capable of doing." Sam said.

"Cosmo's unstable and we all know how to handle him." Jim said smirking at Cosmo.

"Why am I the one who gets picked on all the time?" Cosmo asked.

"Because you make it so easy for us, Cos." Khandi said smiling.

Just then the elevator opened and they made their way out and down the hall. The SWAT team started clearing out rooms trying to figure out what room Willie had shut himself up in.

They had all the rooms clear except for one. A SWAT guy took a swipe card and tried to open the door. Just then a shot blasted through the door and the four members of the Cavalry drew their weapons. "Guess this is the room." Jim stated.

"No shit, honey." Khandi said looking at Jim with a raised eyebrow.

/Lucky Dragon Casino - Hallway/

Ten minutes later the Cavalry were all in Kevlar vests. Jim was standing off to the side of the door and had his cell phone out. Khandi was on the other side of the door and Sam and Cosmo were on the other side of the hallway.

Jim clicked his cell phone on and gave his orders. "The kill word is 'Jim'."

Khandi didn't like the sound of that at all. She looked over at Jim. "You couldn't pick a different word?"

"It's easy to remember." Jim said. "Alright, I'm gonna call Willie now." He flipped open his cell phone and was connected to the room.

They heard the phone ringing in Willie's room and they waited for him to answer. Finally he picked up the phone. "Hello?"

"Willie? It's Jim Brass, remember me?" Khandi, Sam and Cosmo watched Jim carefully. Not knowing what Willie would do.

"If you don't leave, I will kill her." Willie screamed into the phone.

"Willie I want to come in and talk to you. Will you let me come in?" Jim asked.

"How do I know you won't trick me?"

"Look out the peep hole, Willie, I'm not armed." Khandi looked at Jim with more concern then she ever had in her life. Why the hell was he going into a room with a lunatic gunman and unarmed at that? After five years of marriage, she still hadn't figured Jim out. But then he could say the same thing about her.

Jim moved around to stand in front of the peep hole. When he was standing there he spoke to Willie again. "Okay, I'm gonna hang up so you can see me." Jim said and clicked his phone off. He waited until he noticed Willie looking out the peep hole. "See, Willie, no gun. I just want to talk to you."

They heard the lock on the door slide free and the door opened. Sam and Cosmo were about to move up with Jim, when he stopped them. They returned to their positions and Jim looked at Khandi. "It'll be okay, honey." he said to her and took a deep breath before he entered the room.

Jim reached his hand out and pushed the door opened. He entered the room and saw Willie with a gun to a woman's head. "Shut the door!" Willie ordered.

Jim shut the door and walked a few steps toward Willie and his hostage. "Willie, why don't you let her go?"

"Take one more step and she dies." Willie said pressing the gun to her temple.

"No one's gonna die, Willie, not you, not her, not me, not Sammy, not anyone." Jim said continuing to walk.

"You sure about that?"

"Yeah, I'm sure about that." Jim said confidently.

/Hallway/

Khandi, Sam and Cosmo were standing right outside the door and trying to listen to what was going on inside. "It's too quiet in there." Khandi said looking at Sam.

"Jimmy, knows what he's doing. He'll be okay." Sam said placing a hand on Khandi's arm.

"I'm starting to sound like a broken record here, but I don't want to lose Jimmy."

"You won't, Khan, Sam's right, he'll be okay." Cosmo stated.

/Hotel Room/

"I need you to do something for me. I need you to let this woman go and I'll dial up your brother downstairs." Jim said.

"Where is he?"

"He's in the holding room. Which is in the basement of the casino."

"He's just trying to help me."

"Look, I'm just trying to help you too, Willie. So point the gun at me and let this nice young woman go. Come on."

"No way."

"Point the gun at me Willie. I'm gonna call, hold on."

"I want to talk to him."

"Hold on." Jim said and dialed a number on his cell phone.

Willie pointed the gun at Jim. "Don't lie to me. You're lying."

"Hey, I wouldn't lie to you. You have the gun. Why would I lie to you?" Jim asked.

"You really have my brother?"

Jim continued dialing and Warrick picked up on the other end. "Brown."

"This is Brass. I need you to get Samuel Cutler on the line. I'm with his brother Willie and he'd like to talk to him. Go to the holding room and get Samuel Cutler on the line and call me back." Jim stated never taking his eyes off Willie.

"Is Willie with you now?"

"Yes, he's here with me and he'd really like to speak to his brother."

"We're still looking for him in surveillance. It could take some time.." Warrick said.

"How much time?" Jim asked.

Willie started to wave the gun around. "I don't see his face, she dies."

"I need you to get Samuel Cutler up here as soon as possible."

"Okay, Brass, were doing the best we can. You hang in there and take care of yourself. We're gonna find him."

"Thank you." Jim said and hung up the phone. He looked at Willie. "He'll be here. So I want you to point the gun at me." Willie raised it slowly. "That's good. Not at her. It's just you and me now. I'm the hostage, alright?" The woman climbed on the bed and Jim looked at her. "What's your name?"

"Jackie."

"Jackie. It's gonna be okay, Jackie." Jim said and then turned his attention back to Willie. "It's just you and me now. This is all gonna be over soon."

/Hallway/

Khandi moved away from the side of the door and joined Sam and Cosmo on the other side of the hallway. A SWAT member moved to where Khandi had just vacated and he was holding a battering ram.

Now all they could do was wait and hope this situation ended with no one getting hurt.

/Hotel Room/

Jim and Willie were now sitting. Jim seemed to be doing a good job of keeping Willie calm, by letting him talk. "Yesterday... I spent five thousand dollars on a hooker because I thought I was getting a fifteen thousand dollar promotion. When I went to work, I got the news that I'd been 'passed over'."

"So, now you're five large in the hole, huh?" Jim asked still looking at Willie.

"The way I saw it, I was fifteen in the hole. So, I went to a cash machine and I wired myself 50K. Every cent I own. For a second I was up, I was killing 'em. And they were serving me cocktails and calling me sir. And then the pit boss got involved. So I called Sammy."

"What happened when you got home?"

"Things got worse." Willie told Jim about Sammy killing his wife. "Sammy told me to stay put. And he said I should clean up the mess. He said he was going to take care of me." Tears were forming in Willie's eyes.

"Why didn't you call the cops?" Jim asked calmly.

"I can't turn him in. And I knew I'd get blamed."

All Jim did was stare at Willie.

/Hallway/

Khandi was going nuts out in the hallway. "What the fuck is going on in there?"

"Hey, Khandi, take it easy. Jim hasn't used the kill word yet. Let's look at that as a good sign. Maybe he'll be able to talk Willie out and no one will have to get hurt." Sam said trying to reassure her.

"Yeah, have faith in him. I know he'll get out of this." Cosmo added.

"I do have faith in Jimmy, Cosmo. It's what Willie will do that's worrying me." she said and leaned back against the wall and sighed.

/Hotel Room/

Jim was still letting Willie talk and trying to keep him as calm as he could. "I tried to find him myself. I figured I could get him to Mexico or something." Jim just nodded. "I drove around for hours. Nothing. Till I went back to my office and that's when I saw Cowboy Dan and Roger. And I knew what Sammy meant when he said he was gonna take care of me. He was gonna give me a clean slate. He was gonna kill everyone that wronged me."

Jim looked at Willie and then to a terrified Jackie, who was still trembling on the bed. "But she hasn't wronged you. Jackie hasn't done anything to hurt you. So why would you want to hurt her? Let's cut her loose." Jim prayed he was making some progress with Willie and hopefully would be able to get Jackie out of the room before anything bad happened.

"I don't want to hurt anybody." Willie said.

"That's right, Willie, you don't want to hurt anybody. You kill someone, even by accident, you can never take it back. People never look at you the same way again. You know what? You can't look at yourself the same way again either." At that moment Jim was starting to get tears in his eyes, just thinking about Officer Bell and the toll that whole situation had taken on his life.

/Hallway/

Khandi was still leaning against the wall, when suddenly she pushed herself away from it. "I'm going in there."

"No! Khandi, you can't. If you go in there now it could blow everything." Cosmo stated.

"I can't stand it. I hate being out here not knowing what's happening. I'm scared. I'm scared for Jimmy." she said and fought back the tears.

Sam pulled her into a hug. "Shhh. Everything's gonna be alright."

/Hotel Room/

"Me and Sammy, we used to be so tight." Willie said to Jim.

"Mmm." Was all Jim replied.

"And that stupid car. He always felt so guilty about dragging me into that. But it wasn't his fault."

"Well..." Jim started to say as his cell phone went off. Willie jumped up and pointed the gun at Jim. "Just the phone. Just the phone. Take it easy." Jim stood up and pulled the ringing phone from his pocket. He showed it to Willie and then answered it. "Yeah?"

"Jim?" Grissom's voice said on the other end. "Sammy Cutler's dead. He died in a car crash in Mexico two months ago. Willie had to know. He's been playing us."

Jim stared at Willie and knew at that point things were gonna get real ugly. "I got it. Yeah, thanks." Jim closed his cell phone and put it back in his pocket. "Hey Willie? Sammy's not coming up. But I guess we both know that, right?"

"Yeah." Willie said still pointing the gun at Jim. "It's a good thing I have the gun."

/Hallway/

Khandi pulled out of Sam's grasp and walked over to the door. "Why can't we hear anything?"

"The doors and walls in this joint are probably pretty thick." Cosmo stated.

Khandi turned and glared at Cosmo. "Now's not the time to be a fucking comedian, Cosmo. Jimmy's in there and could be in serious danger."

Just then at that moment they heard Jim yell.

/Hotel Room/

Jim was staring smugly at Willie. He knew what was about to happen. He just prayed that he came out of it in one piece. Just then he yelled the kill word. "JIM!"

Willie fired two shots at Jim. One hit him in the vest and the other entered just by his right armpit.

As Jim fell to his knees the SWAT man smashed the door opened with the battering ram and the Cavalry burst into the room. The first thing Khandi saw was Jim on his knees just before he collapsed onto his back.

Sam and Cosmo entered the room firing and both men took Willie down. He took six shots to the chest, hit the bed and fell to the floor.

Khandi was kneeling beside Jim, who was on his back and coughing up blood. Khandi didn't like the look of that. Bleeding from the mouth after being shot was never a good thing. It meant that a lung had been punctured. But Khandi did her best to try and get Jim to relax. "Jimmy! Jimmy, it's Khandi, honey. You're gonna be alright. Jimmy! Stay with me okay." Khandi looked out into the hallway. "Get the EMT's here, NOW!" she screamed.

TBC...