Chapter seven –Double time
Thursday, 11th October, 2012
"Team one, gear up! Hot call. Possible bomb threat" Winnie's voice sounds over the loudspeakers and we rush to get to the cars.
"Security guards found a suspicious car parked down in the underground car park at a bank skyscraper, financial district" Winnie briefs us over radio as we go. I drive the car to the scene, Spike sitting on the front seat next to me. "They opened the trunk and saw lots of wires, called nine-one-one immediately" she continues. "One of the guards took a picture, check your PDAs."
"Ah, that's a classic one" Spike explains next to me, showing me the picture on his PDA as I drive. I see wires and cords and a timer showing a little more than forty-two minutes.
"Used classic TNT. Well-tried method, foolproof, but easily diffusible. If I get it right from the picture, you just gotta cut one cord and it's done." He excitedly smiles at me. "Simplest stuff ever."
"Okay then, we'll go in, take care of it, and go home early" Greg summarizes over the radio.
"Sam, you gotta go with Spike. Jules and Nick, you check the building. Security says it's all cleared, but we gotta make sure. The rest of us stay outside, clear the area and coordinate with fire services, just in case" Ed continues.
As we arrive at the scene, the area surrounding the building is neatly locked down. Police officers have blocked the access to the area, fire services and EMS standing by. We quickly get out of the cars, grab our equipment and jog up to the building. Spike and Sam get down to the underground garage while Jules and I quickly check the building floor by floor, searching for people that did not manage to leave the building yet.
"Security says they got everyone out. All employees are accounted for" Greg reports over radio. "Check the building nonetheless, make sure, but be quick about it" he repeats our orders and we obey. "Spike, status?"
"Found the package, working on diffusing it. There's twenty-seven minutes left on the timer" he reports. "Boss, this bomb is pretty huge. It's filling up the whole trunk compartment. Classic TNT based device. Searching for counter measures to be sure, but everything seems pretty basic. Wires are color coded, if there are no other counter measures, which I'm sure are not, it's no problem to diffuse it at all" We listen to the radio chatter as Jules and I go up and up, checking floor after floor.
"Any indication as to who the bomber is?" Greg asks.
"Nothing but the licence plate. Sam's searching the car" Spike replies.
"Winnie already run the licence plate, but it's a fake. Nothing gained from it." Greg sighs frustrated.
"Spike. Take a look at this" we hear Sam call out.
"What's up, Sam? What did you find?" Greg asks and adds after some moments of silence "Where'd you go, buddy? Talk to me."
"Boss. Sam found some blueprints in the car. Designs, construction plans" he takes a short break. "Boss. There's two bombs."
"Son of a bitch!" Greg replies colourfully. "Where?!"
"Not sure. That other one seems to be smaller. Like… like it could fit into a training bag, if I see this right… Could be anywhere…" Spike explains.
"So what's there to target? What's the second bomb for?"Ed asks, pondering.
"Down here's nothing. It's only three levels of underground parking" Spike describes. "I'm not really sure about this boss, but I've got the feeling the second bomb could be somewhere upstairs. Looks to me like a backup. Something to make sure the target's hit. Wouldn't make sense to plant a smaller bomb directly next to a huge one that's fit to bring down a whole building." He pauses. "Could mean the timers are synchronized."
"Agreed" Greg replies. "Jules, status."
"Running up the stairs to the, uh, fifteens floor now. Nothing suspicious, yet. We'll keep checking." Jules reports next to me.
"Copy that. Keep looking. Leah and I will start from the ground floor again, maybe we find something suspicious" Ed decides.
"Sam, go with Ed. Don't take too long, guys. You've got fifteen minutes tops, then you get the hell outta there" Greg commands.
We run up another set of stairs as we notice a training bag, lying suspiciously in front of an office.
"Sarge, we found the second bomb" Jules reports over the radio as I carefully open the zippers to reveal a bunch of colourful wires.
"What does the timer say?" Greg asks over radio.
"Five-thirty-six" I read the timer and take a picture with my phone, sending it to the team. "Just sent you a picture. Spike?"
"I'm almost done here. Seconds away from diffusing this one…" Spike replies. "There. Got it, device disabled. Where's the second one?"
"Eighteenth floor" Jules says next to me. "In front of the entrance to the CEO's office."
"Eighteenth floor…? Boss… I'm… I'm not gonna make it" Spike declares, breathless and clearly sounding shocked. "I'm almost on ground floor now, but the elevators are locked down and there's no time to override security. No way I'm able to run up eighteen floors in… just about four minutes." He hesitates a moment. "You have to get outta there, guys."
"He's right. Everybody, get out, now. Clear the area" Ed orders.
"Boss, maybe I can diffuse the bomb. Look at your PDAs, the layout seems to be the same as the last one, and Spike's got the plans. He just has to talk me through" I suggest, not moving anywhere.
"You sure?" Greg asks.
"Positive" I reply, despite being a little nervous.
"Jules, Ed, everybody get down here. One man down range!" Greg orders.
"Copy that, boss" Jules replies and with a last reassuring look at me she turns and runs down the corridor.
"Spike, start talking to him" Greg orders.
"I can't, boss. He needs to get out" Spike refuses. "Get outta there, Nicki. Get out. Get…" he breaks off.
"Spike, you told me yourself that it's not that big a deal, that there's just one wire you'd need to cut. 'Simplest stuff ever', you remember?" I try to persuade him. "Come on, buddy, talk to me."
"No. No, no, no. I can't" Spike desperately begs. "I can't. Please, Nicki, get outta there. Please… Please, Nicki, please… "
"Spike…" I try to convince him, but he interrupts me.
"Get OUT!" he screams, sounding panicked. I hesitate a bit, wondering what's wrong all of a sudden.
"Michelangelo! This is not about Lou! Start. Talking. Now!" Greg commands strictly.
"Boss…" Spike starts, but I cut him short, shaking my head, although nobody can see me.
"Spike, timer says one-fifty now. There's no time to argue… Talk me through!" I try again to persuade him, my heart racing fast by now.
"…you see the batteries?" he asks after a few seconds, giving up his resistance. "There's three of them, circular, size of a penny. You see it?"
I breathe out and kneel down, taking a good look at the device. There's TNT tightly bundled together, cords and wires sticking out of it everywhere, meeting on a board in front of the device. The board's equally full of colourful wires, with three coin cells and a small digital timer readout attached to it.
"I see it. Three batteries, one north, one west, one east" I describe what I am able to see.
"Good. Now, have a look at the wires. Each battery has one specific wire directly attached to it" Spike explains and I search the device for the wires he meant. "It's important you. Don't. Touch. Anything. You hear me?" he sternly insists. "Find out where those three wires go and have your knife ready."
I take out my knife, slightly panting and sweating a bit. "I'm ready."
"The wires join at one point to the south and become one. Do you see it?" he asks.
"Affirmative" I claim.
"Cut this cord. And only this one, you hear me? Don't touch anything else!"
I hold my breath and carefully reach out to the device to take the cord. I hesitate a moment and take my gloves off. I've got a better grip this way. Quickly wiping my forehead with the back of my wrist, I reach for the cord, take it and swiftly but carefully cut through it with my knife, still holding my breath until I see the timer die. I sit back, relieve flowing through my body as I inhale deeply.
"Bomb diffused."
As I emerge out of the staircase a few minutes later, I see Spike standing in the deserted main hall of the building, facing me. I notice his eyes seem to be a little red and puffy as I walk up to him, but he leaves me no time to think about it. He forcefully grabs me and swoops me up into a tight embrace, and suddenly my world only revolves around him holding me close. My heart skips a beat or two as he buries his head into my shoulder, but before I am able to fully comprehend what's going on, he lets go again, turns around and leaves, without so much as wasting any words on it.
I am left behind, totally stunned and dumbstruck. What the…? Did he cry? I wonder, my heart beating way too fast. Bewildered I just keep standing in the middle of the hall, staring at nothing in particular and needing another full two minutes until I am able to move again.
Back at the barn I take my time to shower and dress, not being in a hurry.
"We're grabbing a drink. You coming?" Ed asks me, indicating the door as he is about to leave. Everyone else already got out, so I am the last one left, except for Spike and Greg. Greg dragged Spike into the briefing room as soon as we got here, for a private conversation.
"Not today" I decline and shake my head. "I'm waiting" I explain to him and nod in the direction of the briefing room.
"Alright" Ed nods understandingly. "See you tomorrow then" he waves at me and leaves.
"Yeah, see you then" I wish him goodbye and sit down at a bench, waiting. Spike and Greg are still arguing privately inside the briefing room. I heard some shouting earlier, but Greg closed the door as they went in, so I could not make out any words. I sigh and hang my head. I am waiting for Spike, I want to speak to him, want to know what's up. I want to make sure he's ok.
Suddenly the door to the changing room swings open and Spike comes in, visibly stressed out and angry. He sees me sitting at the bench and stops.
"What?" he barks at me. "You wanna bitch me out, too?" He stomps over to his locker, forcefully yanking it open. "Don't waste your fucking breath!" He grabs his things, slams the door to his locker shut and storms off to the showers before I can think of anything to say at all.
Wondering, I stay behind, still sitting at the bench. What the hell was that about? Shaking my head I resume my waiting. He has to come out and speak to me sooner or later.
It takes Spike about half an hour to come out of the shower again, barefoot and with a bare chest, but already dressed in his jeans, working a towel through his short hair. He sees me still sitting at the bench, hesitates a moment and sits down next to me. I look at him, raising my eyebrows and crossing my arms on my chest as I sit back, waiting for him to speak.
"Look, I'm sorry" he begins talking after a few moments of uncomfortable silence. "I'm sorry I yelled at you." He looks miserable and I can't help but feel sorry for him. I want to hold him in my arms so badly right now, I almost can't resist. Instead I get up, holding my hand out to help him onto his feet.
"Come on. I'll buy you a drink and then you start talking. What do you say?" I suggest and Spike nods, taking my hand.
We arrive at the small Irish inn about ten minutes later. I get up to the bar to order our first round of drinks, while Spike is searching for a quiet place to sit down. Sitting down on the opposite side of the table, I put a beer in front of him.
"So" I start, sipping my own beer. The way here has been quiet. None of us knew what to say, so we just kept our mouths shut. "How're you holding up?" I finally ask.
"I'm fine" Spike briefly replies.
"Yeah?" I press the matter. "Not buying it, buddy." I shake my head a little and look at him.
"I know" he smiles lightly and combs his fingers through his short hair.
"Look" he resumes after a slight pause. "I'm sorry I yelled. I was… distressed after the uh, conversation I had with the boss." Spike takes a gulp of his beer before he continues. "Boss made it clear I am… 'Unfit for duty' and that I need to uh, 'take a break'." He puts his beer down and looks at me. "So, I'll be taking a few days off. Not coming in for work again until Monday" he concludes.
"But you know what?" Spike resumes after a moment and nods, sitting up in his seat. "You know what? He's right. I endangered my team today. I was not thinking clearly, I lost focus. I wasn't rational." He looks and me and pauses.
"What exactly happened today?" I inquire. Spike looks down at the table and plays with his beer glass, thinking deeply.
"I had a friend at the SRU" he finally begins, leaning forward to rest both of his forearms on the table, still playing with his beer glass. "Lou. Lewis Young. We were… we were close, Lou and I…" He takes a break, clearly not knowing where to begin, combing his fingers through his hair, visibly troubled. I let him think and patiently wait for him to continue.
"There was a bomb case, a few years back. Serial bombs, set by an Eco terrorist to prove… to prove a point. Three. There were three bombs. First one exploded on a construction side, no harm done. We could evacuate in time. We traced the components and located the second bomb, but the last one was still missing. And I was still busy with bomb number two when Lou found the last one… We were…" he took another break and I watch him closely. It obviously is hard for him to speak about the incident.
"We were running out of time" he continues. "And I was too far away, so I… I agreed that he went on, I was going to talk him through. Same as today, I had the plans, the designs. And that bomb wasn't a problem." Spike takes a long break, takes a sip of his beer and starts playing with a bracelet that's tied around his wrist. I reach out over the table and place my hand on his. He looks at me and gives me the tiniest of smiles, before he goes on.
"Lou… he… he managed to diffuse the bomb but… stepped on a landmine in the process." He stops dead, and I take in a sharp breath. Oh fuck. Spike looks down at our hands in front of him and twists his wrist around a bit, interlacing his fingers in mine, making my heart beat a tad faster.
"I could not save him, Nicki" he tells me with an unstable voice, still looking at our intertwined hands. "We diffused the bomb and got it out of the way, but… Lou… there was no way. I… I would have tried anything, but… but Lou, he did not want to endanger me. He was getting tired, and… When I was at the car, getting my equipment, he… he just stepped off it." Spike drops silent and we both just sit there for a while, thinking quietly for ourselves.
After a few minutes he looks up at me. "So, today was… well, I was reminded of Lou and… I couldn't bear to see you endangered." He hesitates. "I'd rather seen that building come down, you know?" He squeezes my hand tightly for a moment and smiles, then loses his grip, letting go of my hand. Sitting back in his seat again, he sighs, combing his fingers through his hair.
"I-I'm sorry." I don't know what else to say. There simply are no words left.
"Don't be" he tells me and shakes his head, smiling again. "It's ok. Really."
"So, forced holiday?" I ask after another few moments of silence, looking at him.
"Yep" he grins a little. "Sleeping in, staying up late, having time to do all the terrible housework… Not that bad if you stop to think about it." He takes a sip of his beer, still grinning. "Besides, I'll be back on the job in three days, so it could be worse."
I smile at his enthusiasm, being glad that he's back to his old joking self.
"You know what?" Not being sure if I should leave him alone tonight, I render an idea. "What about this. We finish our drinks, get out and buy a bottle of whiskey or whatever you like, order pizza and you crash at my place tonight." I look at him, smiling. "My sofa's pretty cozy."
"Yeah." Spike seems to be delighted by the idea. "Yeah, let's do that" he beams at me and quickly drains the rest of his beer.
Only two hours later, Spike and I are both sitting cross-legged at my couch, facing each other, slightly drunk and an empty pizza box lying on the coffee table in front of the couch. The TV is playing in the background, but we are not paying attention. Anne is already inside her room, getting to sleep timely today, as she's got to go to work early in the morning.
"Ok, another question" Spike says. "Why'd you study psychology?"
"That's a tough one" I explain, grabbing the bottle of booze we bought and refilling our glasses. "Well, I had an elder brother once" I start telling, sitting back in my seat, and taking a sip of my drink.
"He was ten years older than I. He was a bright one, the family's genius." I remember, smiling. "He always wanted to be a psychologist, wanted to help people. But when I was fourteen, he had… an accident. Died on the spot." I take a short break to take another sip, looking at Spike. He lounges on the sofa across from me, leaning slightly to the side and resting his left arm on the backrest, sympathetically listening to every word I say.
"Well, I'm not so sure why anymore, but somehow I decided to try and go for his dreams instead. To honour his memory, right? Turned out to be not quite the right thing for me to do, though. When I realised that his dreams are not my own, I dropped out and joined police academy."
"What was his name?" Spike asks.
"David" I answer him. "My turn." I take a moment to think about my next question.
"Let's see. Why did you decide to become a bomb specialist?" I ask, honestly interested.
"Yeah" he smiles. "I always was interested in fireworks when I was a kid. Roman candles, palomas, triangle bombs. Had a small chemistry set, constructed almost every possible kind of firework with it. Always blowing things up." He smiles and takes a sip of his drink, looking at me. "My dad was always so worried. One day when I was nine years old, he came home to find me in the garage, trying something new. But I got it wrong, and it blew up right in front of us. Burned myself pretty bad." He takes another sip.
"Did you stop making bombs after that?" I ask him.
"No" he shakes his head. "But I learned how to do it right. And then later on, I learned how to take them apart. Because I don't want to see people get hurt. I didn't want anyone to see the look I saw in my dad's eyes" he concludes, finishes his drink and smiles brightly as he holds out his glass to me. "My turn."
"Shoot" I tell him as I give him a refill.
"Right." He thinks about it for a moment. "That grudge you were talking about that one time. Between you and your father. What's that about?" He takes his glass from me, looking me in the eyes and waiting for my answer as I try to think about what to tell him.
"Um." I play with my hair, thinking. "Yeah, well." I hesitate and take a breath as I shift my position a bit, sitting up in the sofa a little, leaning forward to rest my elbows on my knees.
"We had a… some kind of argument." I begin, nervously combing my fingers through my hair. I can't tell Spike that my dad's not talking to me because I'm gay. I need to be careful of how much I reveal.
"It was years ago, when I was just starting college. I did some things, made some choices that he was not happy about. He found out about it, and we got into a big fight, resulting in him throwing me out of his house." I take a sip of my drink. Spike looks at me, puzzled, clearly wanting to ask questions, but waiting for me to finish my story nonetheless. I smile at him and he grins back. "That's when Anne and I decided to move in together. She wanted to have an apartment of her own but didn't have the money. I didn't know where to go, though…" I shrug and take a sip of my drink.
"You just started college? That must be, what, more 'n ten, twelve years ago" Spike does the math and whistles. "And you still holding up. Respect, buddy." He, too, takes a sip of his drink. "And you not once fancied her? Because you know, she's kinda hot." His comment about Anne hurts me a bit, but I keep smiling.
"I know. We're simply not made for one another, I guess" I wave the matter aside.
"So, what was that fight about? What were those choices and things you did?" he asks, eagerly interested in my story.
"Sorry buddy, but that story's not for today to be heard" I apologize. "Maybe next time."
"Mh. Right." He holds out his glass for another refill and I comply, filling my own glass as well. "What about your mother, then?"
"She took his side first, but made amends sometime after" I tell him, watching as he shifts his position, dangling his legs over the armrest of the sofa and turning to rest his back on the seat. He grunts as he drains his drink and places the empty glass on the table before lying down on the sofa, folding his arms behind his head. His head now rests straight in front of my feet and I look down directly into his big, brown eyes. His gaze is slightly cloudy, due to the alcohol, but he smiles up at me and my heart skips a beat.
"You tired?" I softly as him, bending down a bit and somewhat leaning forward, so he can see me better, wanting to caress his hair so much. I only need to reach down a bit, his head is only a few centimetres away from my hands, now. My heart starts beating double time upon the realisation of how close he is, and I am a tad afraid that Spike could be able to hear it. But he only looks at me and smiles, apparently very comfortable.
"Nah" he answers, still smiling up at me. "Just resting my head." But closes his eyes nonetheless.
I can't resist. I guess I maybe would have tried harder to, if I wouldn't have been a bit drunk, but as it is, I simply can't resist. Ever so slowly my right hand inches forward and I start cautiously playing with the tips of his hair, looking at his peaceful face. He smiles brightly at my first contact, still having his eyes closed and I enlace my hand into his hair more boldly, caressing his soft hair with tender and care. My heart is in my mouth by now, my face is hot and presumably beet-red, my palms are sweaty and my breath becomes somewhat shallow. Spike just lies there beneath me, looking the picture of peace, with his eyes still closed and a warm smile upon his lips as I fondle his hair.
I slowly lean down, bit by bit, looking at his lips, looking at his closed eyes, looking at his lips again, swallowing nervously and licking my own lips, slowly bending down more and more and more…
Stop! What the hell am I thinking? What am I doing? Am I out of my fucking mind? With a jolt I sit upright again, shocked by my own, empty-headed actions, mentally slapping myself over and over. Spike opens his eyes and looks at me a little puzzled, as I comb my right hand through my own hair now, nervously looking at him, not able to say a thing. Did he notice? Oh gods, please, please, please, let him not have noticed…
"Hey, uhm" I begin, suddenly feeling a little queasy. "I guess I'll better go to bed."
Spike sits up, still looking at me. "Guess that's a good idea" he tells me and nods.
So far, so good. I get up from the sofa a little too shakily and walk into my bedroom, quickly searching a blanket for Spike. I hear him passing outside my room, going to the bathroom to get ready for the night. We picked up a toothbrush for him at the store when we were walking home.
"Hey Nicki?" he calls, suddenly standing in my bedroom door. Startled, I spin around, looking at him.
"You have some sweat pants for me or something?" he asks, leaning on the doorframe.
"Of course." I take a pair of pants out of my wardrobe and hand them to him.
"Thanks" he smiles and walks back into the bathroom. I grab one of my pillows from my bed and the blankets I got for him and wander back into the living room, placing them on the couch. I turn off the TV and gather the almost empty bottle of booze, the glasses and the pizza box and take them to the kitchen counter. I take a clean glass and a bottle of water and walk back to the couch, placing the items on the coffee table for Spike. As I turn around I see him approaching from the bathroom, dressed only in my sweat pants now, his chest naked. I can only hardly prevent to stare as he comes up to me, smiling.
"Thank you" he sighs and let's himself fall down onto the couch.
"Goodnight, Spike. Sleep well" I wish and smile, turning to get into the bathroom myself.
"Nighty-night" he calls after me and goes to sleep.
The next morning comes too soon. The alarm clock goes off at five-thirty, as every morning, but I just cannot bring myself to move for another ten minutes or so, trying to bury my head under my pillow. Finally getting up and turning the damned thing off, I remember the last evening and therefore the reason why my head aches. Spike's here, he's sleeping on the couch, just outside my room! My heart beats a tad faster as I realize and I finally search for my training clothes and put them on. As I walk into the living room, I see Spike still soundly sleeping on the couch. He is lying halfway on his stomach, his feet dangling off to the side, one arm placed under the pillow, the other one clutching the blankets to his chest and being the reason why his back is left bare. I smile at the cute picture and stand in the middle of the room for a few seconds, wanting to memorize this image forever. I finally turn around, starting the coffee maker and leaving the apartment for my morning run. It's gotta be a short one today, I already lingered too long.
As I arrive back at the apartment, I hear Spike and Anne talking to each other as soon as I opened the door.
"Oh really? He never told me that!" I hear Spike saying and the both of them start laughing.
"I'm back" I call and walk into the kitchen. Spike is sitting at the counter, still with a bare chest, only dressed in my sweat pants and smiling his usual smile. He looks pretty tired, but beams at me as I enter, firmly holding a mug of coffee with both of his hands. Anne stands at the coffee maker, fully dressed for work, preparing another mug of coffee and holding it out for me as I approach.
"Good morning, sunshine" she greets me as I take the mug. "Need a painkiller, too?" she grins and I look at Spike, blowing my hot coffee to cool it down.
"Yeah, yeah. Had a hell of a headache when I woke up" he admits and guiltily grins at me. I smirk back and comb a lose strand of hair out of my face. My head hurts, too, but I'll have a shower first. Maybe I won't need the painkiller. I lean on the counter next to the fridge, facing Spike and watching Anne walking around the counter to resume her seating next to him.
"Who never told you what?" I ask and take a sip of my coffee. Ouch. Still too hot.
"That's our little secret" Anne winks at Spike and they both grin at each other.
"What, you gang up against me?" I ask, playfully sulking. "Okay, okay… I'm not going to trust you with a secret ever again." I stick out my tongue at Anne and Spike laughs heartily. Oh gods, how I love to hear him laugh.
"Okay, gotta go" Anne says, still grinning. Placing her mug back on the counter, she comes up to me and kisses me on the cheek. "See you tonight, babe." She turns around and waves at Spike. "Bye Spikey!" she calls and we both watch her leave.
"I like her" Spike states as she's out of the door, taking a sip of his coffee. "You certain she's not your girlfriend? Cause the two of you sure act like it."
"Yeah, I'm sure." I take a sip of my now drinkable coffee. "You wanna try?"
"Nah, I'm good" he replies, smiling up at me. "Not interested at the moment."
"So?" I try fishing for some more information, even though I know it won't do me much good. "Having someone else in mind?"
He just grins at me for a moment before he finally answers.
"Maybe" he casually states, making my heart beat double time again.
