EPISODE 23

At the PCPD --

Sal Morales is .. was your contact?!" Ric replied as Zander smiled at him. "Well, Sal had been and then Miguel took over the last few years ...."

"They came to Port Charles to see you ..."

"Unfortunately yes they did."

"Now I see why you wanted the immunity deal!"

"Yeah, and now you can uncuff me, I have a wife who needs me." Zander replied as he showed Ric the handcuffs that still wrapped his wrists.

Ric pushed himself away from the table and got up from his seat. He stormed out of the interrogation room and an officer came in to release Zander. Zander and Alexis walked back into the squad room and he noticed Thomas was still cuffed to the chair.

Zander cleared his throat and Ric glared in his direction.

"And Thomas? He was part of the deal, Ric." Zander said as he pointed towards Thomas.

Ric motioned for an officer to release Zander's man from the chair. Some of the officers in the squad room blocked the doorway and Zander from leaving.

"He's free to go ...." Ric said and shook his head for the officers to move out of Zander's way.

As Zander walked towards the door, he heard the loud bang of Ric's clenched fist hitting the top of the metal desk in frustration and disgust.

Zander stopped in his tracks but didn't turn around to look back at his brother, as Alexis walked up behind Zander and coaxed him thru the doors of the PCPD and out onto the front stoop.

Zander gave Alexis a warm thank you kiss on the cheek .... "If you need me, I'll be at the hospital with my wife."

Outside the PCPD --

Zander and Thomas walked down the front steps of the PCPD, leaving Alexis standing alone as she cracked a smile while watching him walk to the limo that was waiting for him. She thought it strange that the street was empty, the silence was deafening, but that was shattered when gunfire echoed through the desolate city street and Zander suddenly fell to the ground.

He laid lifeless underneath the lit streetlamp, Thomas lay with him. Alexis watched as the gunman ran towards a car that was waiting for him, Ric and other officers came running out of the police station when they heard the shots.

"Someone call an ambulance, we've got two men shot out here!" Ric yelled back as he raced down the cement stairs to his brother's side.

A few of the officers raced to their cars and gave chase to the car that sped away into the night. Sirens shrilled as the police cars took after the suspect, Alexis and Ric rushed to Zander.

Hoping Zander was still alive, Ric turned him over and checked for a pulse, there was one but it was faint. Alexis knelt down by Zander and laid his head in her lap, she caressed his face and smoothed back his hair as tears stained her cheeks.

"We gotta do something, Ric!" Alexis worried and in a panic.

"There is so much blood, this can't all be Zander's." Ric noticed as he went to Thomas, who was lying next to Zander.

"Is he ....." Alexis asked as she sat with Zander's head in her lap.

"No, he's alive, but barely. Where is that ambulance?!"

Officers began taping off the scene as they were instructed to do by Mac, who had come down the stairs to assess the situation.

Ric stood up and was met by Mac.

"Was it a hit?" Mac asked as he observed the two victims lying at his feet.

"Yeah I think so."

"The shots came from .... across the street." Alexis pointed. "He took off down the sidewalk to a car that was waiting for him at the end of the block." she explained as the ambulance sirens could be heard as it approached.

"Well we have officers in pursuit, we'll get him." Mac said and he saw the medics had arrived.

Alexis held onto Zander as the paramedics came onto the scene, their medical supplies in hand. One attended to Thomas as the other one knelt down beside Zander.

"Ma'am you're going to have to get out of the way, so we can work on him." the paramedic said to Alexis as the evaluated Zander's wounds.

"I'm not leaving him!" Alexis exclaimed tearfully as Ric came up behind her and tried to pull her back.

"Come on, Alexis, let the men do their jobs ..." he said as she looked up at him, tears could be seen on her cheeks.

Zander's blood stained Alexis's shirt and hands as Ric pulled her back from the scene, she focused still on Zander and watched as the paramedics worked feverishly on him. The officers around them treated the scene as a crime scene and one began to ask questions of her. She concentrating on Zander and not on anyone else, ignoring the officer who stood in front of her.

Ric wrapped his arm around her ...."Zander's going to be alright. He has to be." tears fell from Ric's eyes as he spoke.

Alexis turned into him and wrapped her arms around his neck tightly. Ric motioned for the officer to leave, that it was the wrong time to be asking questions from Alexis. The paramedics got Zander and Thomas both on gurneys and rushed them to the ambulance that was waiting. Alexis noticed and left Ric's arms to be with Zander.

"I'm going with him!" Alexis demanded as she approached the paramedics.

"I can't let you do that, ma'am ..."

"I said I'm going with him!" she shouted again and tried to get into the ambulance. Ric came up behind her and his hands grabbed onto her arms and pulled her back.

"Go! Go! We'll meet you at the hospital!" he ordered the paramedics.

Alexis turned into him, and glared. "Zander needs me! How could you let him go without me?!" she cried angrily, the ambulance's sirens could be heard as it pulled away.

"I know he does .. we'll meet them at the hospital. Come on, I'll drive."