Judgment call
I was standing talking to Jules at the main desk when a man came walking down the stairs and whistled to us, we both turned around and smiled widely as he walked up to us both at the desk and grinned as he smelled the home brew coffee we were drinking.
"Hey boss, wondering when you were due to come back!" Jules whispered getting a hug.
He grinned at her and I gave him a massive hug too, he was looking well rested and had courageously beaten off the dreaded pneumonia in under a month; I nearly killed him that day when he came into work obviously sick and refused to go home.
Five weeks ago
He had come in at 1pm for a 3pm start, he was stiff moving and I could hear the short breath sounds before he even got into the building, he looked worse twenty minutes later after getting changed into his gear and I had to step in for his own safety. I walked up to him and grabbed his arm, dragging him to the medical room and getting him to sit down, he tried getting up and I shoved him gently back onto the seat where he coughed – badly.
"Okay buster, open wide or do I need to do this the hard way?" I said showing him the thermometer.
He looked at me and then opened his mouth as I slid it under his tongue and took his arm to do blood pressure checks, just by feeling his arm I knew he had a high temp and he would be off duty today or very minimum duties in the truck; I checked his BP and pulse, a little steady, I looked at him and he stopped his sniper breathing – ooft!
"Alright Ed, two choices; home or truck duty?" I said marking his notes down.
He shook his head and flinched; I raised my brow at him and crossed my arms.
"You don't get to do this Ed, home or truck duty – that is your options!"
"I am fine, it's a stupid cold Clark gave everyone and I'm a little loaded with it – I swear I will be good and take it easy in the truck or perch as required!" he wheezed.
I looked at him, his big blue eyes pleading at me and I rolled my eyes at the wobbly lip.
"Okay, truck duty it is then, but right now you need some paracetamol and your restricted in the gym – should give you time to get up to date with all those files I have been asking for?" I replied stripping off the BP cuff.
Five minutes later I had him drinking some hot lemonade with paracetamol mixed in and he shuffled off to the briefing room to get on with the paperwork request he had been putting off for the last few days. I got cleaned up and headed to the boss who was coming along the corridor from doing some filing, I stepped into sync with him and showed him Ed's risk assessment – his eyebrows nearly hit the roof.
"He came in feeling like this?" he hissed.
"Yeah, and he refuses to go home so I have restricted his movements and placed him on basic duties in the truck, I'm monitoring it and if it's worse by lunchtime then he is away home or the hospital depending on his temp," I ordered.
"Copy that! Clark had a really bad cold, think this is the same thing?" he asked.
"I've got swabs and I'm going to run them now, could be walking pneumonia and if it is, he's going to hospital for treatment," I replied.
He nodded and I headed to the briefing room to catch up on paperwork myself and keep an eye on the walking, and coughing, team leader.
An hour later we were running to the locker to get organised for the hot call that had just been called over the PA system, wasn't a call code I was familiar with and I jumped into the SUV after loading up the back with our weapons.
"Boss, newbie questions…" I started as we pulled onto the main highway.
"It's a bomb call, possible landmine," whispered Wordy who was riding with me.
I closed my eyes for a second and thanked every deity I could think of that Spike wasn't on duty today, this would have been torture for him so close to Lew's anniversary. Wordy had caught my tension level rise and clipped off my headset; I looked at him and gave a quick smile as we took the off-ramp onto Yonge and Victoria.
"You alright?" he whispered.
"Being selfish and thankful Spike isn't here," I replied honestly.
I clicked my headset back on and followed the truck and other SUVs along the road to the barriers that had been set up by the fire units and the EOD guys who were already on scene; we climbed out and loaded our weapons out as I clicked in with the head EOD guy who was making his way over to me.
"Officer Fraser, good to see you again!" he called as I took his hand.
"Master Chief Harris, we really need to stop meeting like this!" I replied grinning.
The first time we had met was during EOD training with Spike about a month into joining the SRU, everyone had to have minimum training on every aspect of the job and its possible incidents – since IEDs were no stranger to me, and not either of our best friends, Spike and me had bonded over another job aspect and shared Intel. The MC had discovered I was military through the checks and discovered my 'personal history' with the working end of improvised explosive devices. I brought him over to the rest of my team and got them introduced so he could give us an update on what has been discovered so far.
"It was definitely a landmine, a frag chain to be exact! We've made it safe and removed the explosive component but we have another issue we need Fraser's help with."
"Mine, what can I do?" I asked surprised.
"The explosive contains a vial of what we think is HCN that will be sparked into the air once the pin is released on the trip wire. Since there is no explosive there to spread the chemical over large distances, we need to do it manually and we have been told to stand down by Hazmat. They are aware you have your training and experiences in the military means they want someone there to supervise the disbarment process, Hazmat and Decon are standing by with supplies ready for us, it's your call."
I stood there and groaned – why the hell did it have to be a frag chain?
"Who the hell builds a frag chain into a building?" Sam called angrily.
"What the hell is a frag chain?" demanded Wordy.
"A set of three mines connected by a single wire to a main trip, once that is broken the pins are released and, well it's not pretty!" Sam replied.
"Okay, so same question as before, who could and would build one in a building?"
"Someone who knows what they are doing; my guess would be a military background or black-market lone wolf with some serious postal issues!" Harris replied.
"Yeah, frag chain though, that's some serious skill; we even didn't see many of them in the field Sam! Has every other area been secured and are you sure it's HCN?" I replied.
"What's this HCN you keep talking about?" Parker inquired.
"Hydrogen Cyanide," I replied.
Everyone immediately groaned, we had watched Skyfall a few days ago and I explained to them the effects of cyanide as they didn't believe it could cause the bad guys face to basically melt!
"Yeah, smell of almonds in the place is overpowering, we evacuated shortly after disarment and one of my guys has been on oxygen since then to recover; that's why Hazmat wants someone with your experience to go in – you're the chemical weapon's expert on site!"
"No I'm the girl who knows bio-terrorism and the periodic table like the back of her hand, I know nothing about landmines and the HCN needs Micrafoam to be neutralized safely." I corrected.
"HCN is both chemical and biological in use, Hazmat requested you're assistance due to the danger involved to the public if these vials are released – it's an unofficial order!" Harris replied.
I stared up at him and mentally checked the list of what I would need, how to use it and what could possibly go wrong. Parker came back over with Ed after a short discussion with the leaders of Fire and Rescue, we got them up to speed and both of them were silent; seconds later they unleashed hell.
"No way in hell is she going up there if there are active bombs in the building, chemical or not; Hazmat have specialist teams to work with EOD, why are they not here?" Ed wheezed out.
"Training, they won't get here for another hour at least – I pulled out of it due to Spike needing the day off. Boss, the explosives have been removed and contained outside of the building, all I am required to do is use the neutralizer on the canisters then we walk out and let Hazmat do its thing – twenty minutes work at the maximum and the area is completely secure." I replied.
"Too risky, can't we send it robotic help?" Jules asked.
"No, the foam canister is thumb based, Babycakes couldn't control its spread and I would be dead if she got hurt!" I replied trying to make a small joke.
I got looked at by the team and I raised my hand up in apology for the joke. I was looking at the details the MC had brought on the pad and a colleague was showing me exactly what had been found and the chemical markers for the vials; it was HCN and I got Jules to go run me a trace on the chemical signature for the HCN batch.
"Sergeant Parker, I know this is not ideal, I'm pissed off too and would never ask anyone to do my job for me; but SOP for this scenario is one tech from EOD and another from HM and they are waiting for us to begin the process – it's your call." He said gently.
I looked at Parker and the rest of the team, I knew they were thinking about Lew and my heart went out to them; but this was different and there were no active explosives within that building to cause anyone any harm.
"Guys, I need you to snap out of this line of thinking and focus on me for a second! Good – now I know it's close to the anniversary, but I trust Harris with my life and all I need to do is spray some foam onto canisters. There are no active explosives within those building, no other landmines and no other IEDs – this is my job – this is what you hired me for!" I whispered to them in a small circle.
They all looked at me and then each other.
"Harris, you are positive there are NO active explosives?" Parker asked.
"Yes, all she needs to do is point and spray," he replied firmly.
He looked at me and nodded.
I ran to the truck and pulled out my gloves and mask from my HM bag, they were the ones I brought from the military and have saved my life many times when it came to chemical or biological contaminates. I secured my weapon in the back of the truck and grabbed the canisters of foam and headed back over to the group assembled.
"I'll get you secure onto the floor and provide cover in case this lunatic is still kicking about somewhere," wheezed out Ed.
"No chance boss, your lungs can barely work now and you want to come into contact with HCN and micrafoam?" I ordered back to Ed.
"That's the rules or you don't go, do I need gloves?" he demanded.
I handed him a spare mask and gloves, since he wasn't handling anything he was secure to wear minimum protection as long as he stayed away from us as we left the building. The MC came over to us again and nodded that we needed to go.
"Ed, you stay out of the room and keep to the stairs, if we tell you to leave, you leave – is that clearly understood?" I demanded as we crossed the road.
"Copied!" he replied.
It took us twenty minutes to climb all ten flights of stairs due to the wreckage the EOD guys had caused by pulling out walls and floorboards in their search, I could hear Ed progressively get worse and text Jules to get my test results from the barn from Winnie, she acknowledged it and told me that the beer was on her tonight!
"One more flight guys, Ed – stay!" I ordered.
He looked at me and I winced realising how that order sounded, I swear I could hear the pranks coming with dog leashes! We got to the top of the stairs and I could hear Ed coughing in the background and told him to put on his mask and relax his chest muscles. Harris took me over to the row of landmines that had been disabled from the explosives, three in a row, all connected on the left side to a trip wire that was ready for pulling once we removed it from the ground for spraying.
"Alright, what I am going to do is lift it up, pull the wire and five seconds later the vial will activate," he started.
"I then empty the canister onto the vials and once the HCN has been neutralized we can transport it in your little box!" I finished.
"Go careful guys," Parker said over the radio.
"Copy that boss!" we all replied.
On the count of three Harris picked up the first container and pulled the pin, I pulled the trigger and emptied the canister of micrafoam and heard the crackling of the HCN being destroyed – even through the masks we were wearing, our eyes were still tearing up and the smell of almonds was incredibly strong and making us gag.
"One down," I called through the radio.
"Copied" replied Wordy.
We completed the same manoeuvre once more and again the release of even the smallest amount of HCN into the enclosed room had us backing off and hacking up, since the risk of exposure was still too high until the HM unit came into the building, we couldn't smash any windows and get circulation going.
"Two down, one to go!" I stated as I pulled off my mask to clear my mouth.
I could hear the team pacing about outside as they heard us retching in the room, I could hear Parker talk to EMS and they were ready with active charcoal drinks if needed to help neutralize any containment. I cleared with Ed and Harris and we moved onto the last part of the frag chain and safely made in secure for transport; Harris contained the three IEDs and headed off down the corridor at speed with his unit and called up to me at the bottom of the stairs.
"MAC – GET DOWN HERE NOW!"
I shot out of the room like a banshee and saw him kneeling beside Ed who was struggling to breathe, I checked his pulse and respiration and they were really low, his temperature was sky high again and I knew immediately that it was pneumonia.
"I'll get EMS to the bottom of the cordon line, I need to get these secure!" he called as he lifted the bomb containment unit.
I nodded and shook Ed, I unzipped his vest and he took in a strangled gasp and sat up straighter before coughing again; he looked at me and I checked his reflexes before pulling him up on his knees – his breathing was too shallow and it sounded like fluid on the lungs.
"Mac – speak to me – what's going on?" a voice demanded.
"Ed just got a lot worse! Have EMS at the cordon with oxygen and barbs!" I replied.
"I'll send them up!" he replied.
"No – the HCN is too strong up here; I'll get Ed down and meet at the cordon!"
I gave Ed a gentle slap across the face and pulled him up to my level, thank god for those drills on pulling the heaviest member in the team. I grabbed his vest hook and slid his feet into some wrap I found and started to drag him down the stairs at the best speed I could manage without killing myself; these guys really needed to lay off the baking! I got to the fourth floor and needed to get Ed onto his feet so he could get over the mess and give his lungs a small workout to keep his oxygen levels going. I shook him awake and he mumbled as I pulled him to his feet, he managed a few steps and then got dragged down as he slipped on some wet tiles and we landed on the wood pile; I shoved him onto his unsteady knees and gasped as I saw my hand – great!
"Alright buddy, on your feet Edward Tucker Lane or I swear to god that you will be giving the sex education lecture to every female in a five mile radius and be the new poster boy for safe sex on the town!" I yelled at him.
He managed to snap out of the delirium he was in and got to his wobbly feet, I helped him over the piles of wood in the next three floors and we half fell down the last set of stairs onto the sandbags. I dragged him out of the building and along the alleyway and yelled EMS over who took charge of him under my medical orders and whisked him to the nearest hospital as I collapsed onto the ground and lay still for a few moments to catch my own breath.
"Mac, are you injured?" voices shouted in my ear.
I stuck my thumb out and closed my eyes as my lungs burned carrying him down the stairs and my knees were officially knocking together after the workout I just had. Two sets of hands pulled me up by the arms and I gasped as Wordy took my wrist and led me over to the ambulance so I could get checked out after the fall down ten marble stairs.