More, for your enjoyment!
"Remember team," Parker was saying as Team One pulled up to the shopping center, "this is never as simple as it appears. We've been called in to stop a robbery, but maybe there are things we've missed."
"Got it," chorused the rest of Team One. Parker smiled.
"You're just humoring me, aren't you?"
"Pretty much, Boss," said Spike.
Parker turned to look at Cassie, who was clenching her jaw as she stared out the window. "You okay?"
Cassie jerked her head towards Parker and Ed. "I'll be fine. The first call has got to be the worst, because you've never done something like this before."
Ed nodded. "That's true. But don't think it gets easier, Cassie. It only gets more bearable."
Once Spike had established his equipment, Parker ordered the rest of his team inside the building.
"It's the drug store on the second floor," he said. "One gunman, two pharmacists. Everyone else has been evacuated."
"Did anyone get a good look at the shooter?" asked Sam.
"No, but Spike is working on security camera footage, and we'll know as soon as he's got that up and running," Parker answered. "Get in there, but be safe. Cassie, this is your first day, let the others go first."
Cassie resisted the urge to roll her eyes. She knew what she was going into, she could handle herself. Sam smiled sympathetically.
"He did that my first day on the job," the sniper said to Cassie. "Don't worry, all you have to do is prove yourself."
Ed motioned for his team to follow him through the doors. There was no need to block the exits seeing as the gunman was focused on robbing the pharmacy-uniforms would watch them anyways. He and Wordy led the way through the hallways. Empty stores and abandoned shopping carts displayed the haste of the shoppers' evacuation.
This place is like a ghost town, Cassie thought nervously.
As they found the escalators, Cassie could hear sounds of shouting.
"I can hear voices from the second floor, near the escalators," she told Ed, who nodded and passed the news on to Parker and Spike.
"You're basically underneath the pharmacy right now," Spike told them. "If you go up the escalators and turn right, you'll find them."
"Thanks, Spike." Ed proceeded carefully up the escalators once Wordy had shut them down, motioning his teammates to follow when it was safe.
"I've got the security cameras up and running," Spike told them. "I'm sending you a visual of the layout."
Immediately, Wordy's PDA lit up and the team crowded around it to see that the drug store had two cashier lanes, six rows of shelving, and a pharmaceutical unit at the back, where the two employees were being held at gunpoint by a black-haired woman, dressed in a coat and white pants. When she turned around, Cassie gasped.
"Keely?"
Her team glanced in Cassie's direction.
"Do you know this woman, Cassie?" asked Ed.
Cassie blinked. "I… she was a good friend from high school, a really good friend… I haven't really talked to her much recently. But yeah… that's Keely Tzali." Cassie swallowed harshly. "I don't get it. Keely was always so nice… she'd never hurt a fly."
"Spike, look at the records of Keely Tzali, find out if she's been in any trouble recently," Parker said. "Ed… less lethal, if you can manage it."
"Got it Boss," Ed replied, and led the way to the pharmacy. Cassie was still struggling to comprehend the situation. Keely Tzali had been the nicest girl in school; she'd been on the Enviro-Club and deeply immersed herself in community work. Cassie couldn't believe she'd do something like this, not in a million years.
Ed kicked open the glass door of the pharmacy, and he and the others rushed in, yelling "Police! Drop your weapon!"
Startled, Keely grabbed the nearest pharmacist and held the gun up to his head. "Don't come any closer! I swear, I'll… I'll shoot!"
"Keely, it's me!" Cassie stepped out from behind Wordy, holding her hands up to show she was unarmed. "Keels… remember? It's me, Cassie."
"Careful," warned Ed as Keely froze.
"Cassie? Cassie Wellington? From Enviro-Club?"
"That's me," Cassie said, nodding vigorously. Keely relaxed slightly.
"The one who tackled an illegal deer hunter, about to shoot a fawn…"
"Wait-Cassie did what?" laughed Jules. Cassie blushed, hearing Spike chuckling in the background.
"In tenth grade," Keely expounded, her eyes warily fixated on Team One's weapons. "We heard about illegal hunting going on and Cassie… well, she saw him, and his target, and went for it. The guy was carrying a Sportsman Super Mag." Keely laughed. "You got two weeks in hospital from that. I remember now."
"You're a little spitfire, aren't you," Spike said half-admiringly to Cassie. "Also stupid, but I could tell that when you walked in the door this morning."
Ignoring her less-than-mature comrade, Cassie nodded to Keely. "That was me. Why are you doing this, Keely? You were the nicest girl I knew…"
Keely flushed, clenching the gun harder. "You remember Tasha? My younger sister?"
"She was in the grade below us, yeah," Cassie replied, hearing Parker give the order for Spike to search Tasha Tzali's records. "What about Tasha?"
Keely bit her lip. "She's sick… like, really sick. I had to do it, Cassie! I wouldn't have otherwise… but our parents are flat broke and Tasha needed the drugs!"
"Alright," Cassie nodded slowly while Ed and the others shifted nervously. "I understand, Keels. God forbid my brother get sick again… you remember Timothy?"
Keely nodded shakily.
"He had pneumonia, really bad," Cassie continued. She swallowed; she hated remembering this part of her life, but if it got the subject calmed down well… she was here as a crisis negotiator…
"Did you want me to talk to her?" Parker asked softly.
"No, Boss," Cassie muttered hoarsely. "I got this." She swallowed, but steeled herself to continue. "Dad had just been laid off work, remember? We had no money to pay for antibodies, but you and me, we did any job we could get our hands on, remember? We'd clean cars, wash windows, fetch groceries… there were times when I wanted to get money a more illegal way. It would be faster, easier, more profitable, I told you."
Cassie took a deep breath. "But you never let me go down that path," she said forcefully. "You said, it wasn't worth it. You told me, Timmy would pull through with what we managed to make, and we'd do it legally. The right way."
"And he pulled through," Keely said quietly. "Like I told you."
"Yes, and I'm here to tell you the same thing," Cassie pressed. "Keely, whatever your sister needs, you can get it to her the right way. She'll pull through, I promise. Keels, Tasha will be fine. Don't ruin your life like this."
Cassie took a step forward, and Keely, startled, pointed the gun at her instead of her hostage. Immediately Jules, Ed, Sam and Wordy reacted, firing at Keely, who ducked, pulling the pharmacist behind the counter.
"Stop!" Cassie yelled. "She wasn't going to shoot! Stop, please!"
"Hold your fire," Parker ordered.
Reluctantly, Ed and the others lowered their weapons. Cassie merely locked gazes with Keely, who'd poked the top of her head above the counter. When she saw she wasn't in line of fire, she slowly stood up.
"Don't come closer, Cassie," she sobbed. "I told you."
"I know, Keels, and I forgot," Cassie quickly agreed. "I'm sorry. Please… can't you-"
"Surrender?" Keely said tearfully. "No, Cassie. I can't. I have no choice; I have to do this. Or…"
"Or what? What is it?" Cassie asked.
Keely was shaking. "He'll blow the entire place up."
And she pulled back her coat, revealing a whole line of wires wrapped around her body. A bomb. Keely was a walking bomb.
As Parker rapidly shot orders to retreat, Cassie gave Keely an incredulous look. "Who did this to you?"
"Markus. Markus Fin. Tasha's boyfriend," Keely sobbed.
"Cassie, let's go," Jules said, tugging on her new friend's arm, forcing a shocked Cassie to retreat out of the drug store.
"Change of plans," Parker told them. "There's a bomb threat, so Spike's coming in. Jules, I need you to replace him on computers, if that's alright."
"Copy that, Boss," Jules said, leaving the group to run down the escalators.
"That slimy, son of a bitch!" Cassie hissed, glaring at the floor. "How could he use poor Keely like this?"
"If you're too emotionally involved in this, Cassie, I'm going to have to ask you to take Jules' place," Ed warned her. Cassie shook her head, taking a calming breath.
"I'm fine. It's just… I honestly should have seen it coming. Markus was a bad egg even in tenth grade."
"Looks like he's stepped it up to illegal smuggling," a voice continued. Spike joined them, holding out a portable console. On it was a picture of a sullen man and his bio. "He works for a smuggling ring that operates all around Canada and the United States."
"That's him, alright," Cassie said, giving Markus's picture a look of utter loathing. "High-school dropout, repeat offender for shoplifting, possession of marijuana… usual stuff. He's absolutely in love with Tasha, though, always has been. I can see him going to such lengths just to cure her."
"So he forces the sister to get the drugs, because he doesn't want more charges on his case if she gets caught," Jules mused. "Seems a little drastic to strap a bomb on Keely in case she fails."
"Keely and Markus hate each other," Cassie explained. "Keely always wanted her sister to do better, and Markus resented that. I have a feeling Tasha knows nothing about this."
"So if he can activate the bomb at any second," Wordy said, "that must mean he has eyes in the drug store. But where? As far as I know, we're the only one with access to the security footage."
Ed turned to Spike. "There's no other way into the pharmacy besides this entrance?"
Spike shook his head. "Nada. This is the only way. And the security footage is locked; Markus must be spying by some other means."
Jules came on again. "I'm curious about something… you know that necklace Keely was wearing? Seemed kind of shiny to me…"
Ed raised his eyebrows. "Some sort of camera?"
"Could be. I'll check it out right now… yep. Markus's little spy cam."
"I'm sending Team Three to apprehend Markus Fin," Parker told them. "After we've got that bomb disarmed, of course. We don't want to startle him and get Keely blown up."
A moment of silence fell. Then Parker came back again. "I want Cassie and Spike to get that bomb off Keely. Cassie's the only one capable of keeping Keely calm-"
"Tongue-twister right there," Spike muttered.
"-and Spike is our bomb defuser, he needs to be there for obvious reasons," Parker finished. "Sam, Wordy, get the hostages out of there while Cassie has Keely-and Markus-distracted. Ed, you cover them."
They all chorused their assent, and, quietly, Cassie opened the door to let her and Spike in.
"Make sure Keely's facing you," Spike murmured in Cassie's ear. "If Markus sees me creeping up to disarm his bomb, he'll detonate it."
"Right," Cassie muttered. "You have faith in the rookie to handle this?"
Spike gave Cassie a peering look, not like his usual mocking grins. "Actually, I do, Cassie. Your first call involving an old friend… those aren't easy. You're handling it very well."
Cassie blushed. She wasn't used to Spike talking like this. You know… being nice.
She softly punched her teammate's shoulder. "Thanks. Now, we'd best save Keely and the pharmacists before Markus wonders what's going on."
Spike grinned, and stealthily crept around a shelf carrying shampoo. Cassie stood up and walked towards the left side of the store, making sure to keep her hands up in the air.
"Keely? It's me, Cassie. I'm unarmed, and all I want is to talk."
"Stay there." Keely had her gun raised, standing in front of the counter. Cassie complied, halting just in front of the last row of shelving. Out of the corner of her eye, she could see Spike, Sam and Wordy crouched behind the shelves on the right side of the store. Cassie cleared her throat.
"I just want to know how Markus suckered you into this-should I address him directly?" she muttered to Parker.
"Perhaps. But for now, make him think we don't know about his 'eye'," Parker answered.
"It was for Tasha's sake," Keely replied, her tearstained face reflecting light from the overhead lamps. "That was the one thing we had in common when Tasha got sick. Markus tried everything, begged favors off of every single contact he had, but no one could help. Then his plans turned drastic."
Cassie understood. Normally, Keely would have stayed out of it, but with her sister's life in jeopardy, Keely would have gone along with anything. It was an older sibling's weakness.
"Why the bomb?" Cassie asked.
"It was in case a police officer disarmed me," Keely told her. "If that happened, I'd be able to say I had someone on the opposite end ready to press the button."
Unconsciously, Keely had begun to drift towards Cassie while she spoke, allowing just enough room for the two hostages to sneak past, which they did under Sam and Wordy's urgings. Once Cassie's teammates had gotten them out of the way, it was up to Spike. The man in question was currently cat-walking around the counter, eyes on the back of Keely's jacket, where the main bomb component lay.
"Keels…"
"It was a foolproof plan, Markus told me." Keely began to cry again. "And it was to save Tasha… it was always for Tasha…"
"It's okay, Keels," Cassie said soothingly. Spike was now almost behind the dark-skinned girl. "I promise, it's going to be-"
Everything went wrong at that moment. The dumbest of things, really. The stupidest of things.
Behind the counter, where a man had erroneously left it, a cell phone rang. Keely spun around to see where the noise was-and caught Spike, hand halfway to her jacket with wire cutters in hand.
"No!" cried Cassie in horror. Keely's eyes went wide as she looked towards the camera hanging around her neck.
"Team Three, get in there, now!" Parker barked. But it was too late. Harsh beeping had already begun to fill the room, signaling that the bomb had been set.
"Get it off!" cried Keely as Spike ripped the jacket away to get at the complicated device on her back. Cassie was there as well, fumbling with the wires, trying to loosen them so Keely could slip out of them.
"Going off in thirty seconds," Spike yelled. Both of them could hear Ed hurrying the pharmacists out of the building, along with Sam and Wordy.
"Cassie, get to safety!" Spike told her.
"No!" Cassie hissed, as the wires in her hands refused to budge. "I'm not leaving! She's my friend, and so are you!"
"Both of you, leave." Keely's soft voice cut off any protest Spike was about to make.
"Fifteen seconds, guys," Jules warned as Cassie gave her old friend an outraged look.
"Out of the question!"
"Look, it's not coming off." Keely was speaking rapidly, peeling Cassie's hands away from the wiring. "Don't get yourselves killed because of me." When Cassie refused to budge, she pulled out her gun, pointing it at both SRU members.
"Guys…" Parker's voice sounded weary. "It's no use. Just get out of there."
"Please," Keely said, looking Cassie in the eye. She turned to Spike. "Get her out of here, or I'll shoot you both."
"Keels…" Cassie felt tears pooling in her eyes as Spike wrapped an arm around her waist to drag her towards the door.
"Tell Tasha I'm sorry," Keely whispered. Then her eyes hardened. "Now GO!"
It took all of Cassie's willpower not to fight Spike and run back to help her friend as her comrade pulled them both towards the exit.
"Five seconds!" Jules sounded close to tears. Together, Spike and Cassie wrenched open the pharmacy doors, sprinting towards the escalators. Cassie's foot was on the top step when the bomb exploded. She dragged Spike to his stomach as shrapnels of glass-byproducts of the doors and display cases shattering-and other objects flew over their heads. When the shockwave hit, both Cassie and Spike were propelled down the stairs, falling into a tangled mess at the bottom. Cassie held tightly to the techie, who was shielding his comrade while debris rained down on them. When it was over, she opened her eyes to cloudy white smoke and a hallway littered with debris.
All those chemicals, Cassie thought with a dull ache, exploding when the blast reached them, causing more damage. Keely never had a chance.
Still, she had to see the disaster for herself. Untangling her body from Spike's, Cassie dizzily got to her feet and ran up the stairs, navigating her way clumsily around blocks of cement and sheets of drywall.
A crater, sitting where the pharmacy had once resided, mocked the crisis negotiator with her failure. Cassie felt her legs give out, before strong arms wrapped around her to keep her on her feet. The red-head was unable to prevent a low moan of despair from escaping her. She turned away from the mess and into Spike's chest, sobbing as the tech expert stroked her hair-fallen out of its bun-comfortingly.
"Spike? Cassie? Are you alright?" Parker asked.
"Yeah." Cassie could hear Spike swallowing a lump in his throat. "Yeah… we survived."
Because really, how could either of them be 'fine'?
Because it had been her first review-as well as the circumstances of the day-Parker had left Cassie alone while the rest of her team explained the events of the call in their own words. But when everyone (including Spike, who'd given Cassie an anxious look) had been ushered out of the room, the team leader sat down next to Team One's newest member, and patted her hand.
"You're a valuable part of this team," Parker said softly. Cassie angrily rubbed at her eyes.
"Am I? Seems all I did was get someone killed."
Parker shook his head. "That's not true, Cassie. You were doing exceptionally well, incredibly well, until the most unluckiest of things happened. You didn't press that button to activate Keely's bomb."
Cassie flinched at the dead girl's name. "I couldn't get it off though. I couldn't get it off of her."
"According to Spike, that bomb was incredibly complicated and of a model he rarely, if ever, encounters. There was no possible way he could have gotten it off Keely and disarmed before it blew, and Keely knew it. She saved your life, Cassie, yours and Spike's. She made sure that you would live to protect and serve thousands more."
With that, Parker stood up and left the room. Cassie took a deep breath.
Her Sarge was right; it would not do to dwell on the negative, not in this line of work. She had to congratulate herself on doing the best she could.
Standing up, Cassie headed towards the girl's change rooms.
When she came out, plaiting her long hair into a loose braid, she was surprised to see the rest of Team One standing there, everyone looking at her, in their own way supporting her.
Jules stepped out from her position beside Sam, and hugged her female teammate.
"I'm so glad to have you on this team," she said quietly, pulling back and looking Cassie in the eye. Behind her, Sam nodded his head.
Ed gave a tiny smile. "Keep up the good work."
Wordy gave Cassie a thumbs up. "Hey, I know you got my back." Then he, Ed and Parker left the room.
Spike threw Cassie's coat at her, giving her a lopsided grin. "We take care of each other on this team. Right now, food and good company sounds about right."
Jules nudged Cassie with her elbow. "Come on. If we don't hurry up, Sam and Spike will be gnawing at their clothing."
A small giggle burst forth from Cassie's mouth, and Jules shared a triumphant look with the two boys. When she and Jules walked over to join them, Spike slung an arm over her shoulders.
"Let's hit the road!" he said, licking his lips with anticipation. "I smell a four cheese, pepperoni and mushroom pizza calling my name!"
The other three laughed, Cassie's only slightly forced. Around Spike, nobody could be depressed for long. As if he'd heard her thoughts, the techie gave Cassie a subtle wink.
"So," Jules said as they said goodnight to Winnie, "what other daring feats did you accomplish during your time in the Enviro-Club?"
"Other than tackling hunters," Sam added with a smirk.
It only took Cassie a few seconds to reply. "I've climbed trees to rescue cats-"
"Been there, done that, it's not fun," Spike said with a shudder.
"That's because you screamed like a little girl once you realized you couldn't get down," Sam scoffed. "I remember."
"Enough about me," Spike said quickly, noticing the curious look on Cassie's face. "What else has our nature-lover done?"
"Well…"
So far, Cassie decided, being on Team One was proving… adventurous.
Oddly enough, she wouldn't have it any other way.
It's a little bit longer, but that's fine by me. Hopefully it's fine by you too.