Lassiter pulled up to the scene, stopping at the yellow tape the fire department had already set up. The perimeter was lined with fire trucks and police cruisers, all of which had their headlights aimed at the scene, illuminating the fallen building in a halo of smoky light against the black night sky.

"What the hell happened?" He murmured to himself, his eyes wide in disbelief as he surveyed the wreckage that only a few hours ago had been his workplace.

His sanctuary.

Now, it was a wasteland. The building had been completely leveled into an unrecognizable, nauseating pile of charred, filthy bricks.

He left his own headlights pointed at the scene when he spotted Chief Vick standing alongside the Fire Chief at the edge of the tape, both frantically directing the traffic of paramedics and firefighters. He quickly made his way over to them, but Vick had already seen him.

"It's going to be a long night, Detective." She sighed.

"Was there anyone in there?" Lassiter asked, ducking under the tape as he reached them.

The Fire Chief shook his head.

"We don't think so. We're looking and we have officers working on confirming the whereabouts of anyone who might have a reason to be in there…but so far, every cop has been accounted for as far as we can tell. They were all home in bed or on patrol. Now they're here or on patrol."

"What the hell happened?"

"We won't know for sure for a couple of hours." The Fire Chief told him. "Not until we get all the hot spots under control and start digging…but looking at it from out here, right now I can tell you someone knew what they were doing. The building collapsed in on itself perfectly. It wasn't an explosion…it was an implosion. A demolition. You just don't get a collapse like that by accident. Whoever did it knew the layout of the building…they knew where to set off the explosives to take out the supports, they knew how much to use of whatever they used…we might be looking for someone who works in construction or demolition."

"And someone who hates cops…" Lassiter murmured. "They probably have a record…probably arson…"

"This doesn't fit any M.O.'s for anything I've seen in the last few years." The Fire Chief shook his head. "At least, not from what I can tell out here. I won't know more until we start digging."

Before Lassiter could reply, Juliet came running up to them, looking pale in the headlight beams.

"Chief!" She gasped, shielding her eyes from the light. "We can't find Buzz!"

"McNab?" Lassiter raised an eyebrow. "He wasn't on patrol tonight?"
"No." Juliet shook her head, almost frantically. "And he didn't answer his radio or his cell when we called…but his wife answered their home phone. She said he left over an hour ago when he got a call from 'some psychic'…she thinks he was heading to the station. She assumed he had been called in on some case."

The Chief groaned, closing her eyes wearily.

"Did you tell her--?"
Juliet nodded, not waiting for the question to be finished.
"I had to ask if she was sure he was coming here. She hadn't heard about the explosion yet. She was sleeping...she's on her way over."

"Did you try Mr. Spencer?"

"He's not answering his phone, either."

"Is there any other psychic…?"

"Who would call Buzz in the middle of the night and ask to meet him at the station?" Juliet finished the question for her, already shaking her head. "No. No, way."

Vick nodded slowly, her jaw setting firmly.

"Then get a patrol over to Mr. Spencer's apartment and check it out." She ordered, turning back to the Fire Chief. "And we officially have a search and rescue on our hands until we confirm the whereabouts of an officer and a psychic."

The Fire Chief nodded.

"I'm on it."

"What the hell were they doing here?" Lassiter demanded. "Spencer's not on any cases."

"I don't know…" Vick sighed, staring resolutely at the rubble before them, as if she could see through the bricks and charred wood and locate the missing men if she just tried hard enough. "…but if the patrol doesn't find Mr. Spencer at his apartment, I sure as hell don't want to be the one to call Henry Spencer…"

He was choking.

Even before Buzz tried to open his eyes as he slowly regained consciousness…even before he became aware he was completely deaf in his left ear from the blast…he could feel himself choking.

The smoke and dust were in his lungs…in his mouth…and every breath he drew he coughed back out almost violently.

Finally, he managed to suppress the coughing long enough to slowly open his eyes. It didn't do him any good, however.

He couldn't see a thing in the pitch black.

He could feel himself being pinned against something hard and jagged…a broken board?…by the pile of debris that had collapsed on top of him, but he couldn't see any of it.

He couldn't move any of it.

He could feel the weight of it crushing his chest a little bit more with each breath he took, but he couldn't do a damn thing about it. He couldn't even lift his arm to brush the brick dust out of his eyes.

After only a few seconds of consciousness, his head was swimming again. His blurry, incoherent thoughts swirled around him like a morning mist…each of them snatched away from him almost as quickly as they came.

Somewhere…somewhere in the distant darkness…somewhere in his right ear…he could hear something overhead...something that sounded like a siren…

Or was it just the ringing in his left ear?

Was he just completely deaf?

"Shawn…" he groaned, trying to speak for the first time. His voice was nothing more than a hoarse, barely audible whisper. "Shawn…are you okay?"

He knew the psychic was somewhere in the dark…somewhere close by…

But he didn't answer.

"Shawn?"

Even as he slowly drifted back into unconsciousness, Buzz strained to hear something that told him Shawn was there…

A voice…

Breathing…

Movement…

But there wasn't anything except the distant sound of the sirens above them…

…Unless that was just the ringing in his ears…