Lassiter put his foot on the break and the car came to a sudden halt, yanking everyone forward. He turned off the engine and pulled off his sunglasses.
"That it?" Henry asked. He peered out the window at the line of abandoned shop fronts, dusty cobwebbed windows and signs with cracked paint and missing letters told the group that no-one had been in the area for a while.
"Yeah," Lassiter replied.
"Which one?"
Lassiter pointed, "That one," The shop he was pointing at looking was no different from the others. It was dark inside the building and Henry wondered if his son was even there. The doubt inside him built as Gus spoke.
"How do we even know he's here? What if we're wrong?"
"We're not," Lassiter said firmly.
"What if-"
Lassiter cut him off, "We'll never know if we stay here, will we?" He grabbed the door handle and pushed the door open. He didn't wait for the rest as he strode towards the building, hand on his gun at his waist just in case. Juliet had rushed after him and Henry and Gus stayed back and watched. The detectives jogged to the front of the building, pressing their backs to the wall and pulling their guns. Lassiter slowly peered into the nearest window. He turned back and nodded to Juliet. Gus and Henry watched as Lassiter turned to face the door, lifted his leg up and kicked to the door hard. The old door splinted on impact and practically swung off its hinges. Lassiter and Juliet rushed through the opening and disappeared into the darkness.
"Fifty," Shawn whispered. His hope diminished as each minute disappeared. There was no reason to think that anyone would find him in time. "Fourty ni-," he didn't finish. A sudden loud bang had him whipping his head round trying to find the source of the noise. "He…Hello?" He called. "Hello?" He shouted a little louder.
"Spencer?" A voice called back.
Shawn felt a large weight lifted off his shoulders and he laughed, "Lassie!" A second later Lassiter and Juliet strode into the room.
"Oh god," Juliet spoke as she caught sight of Shawn. She ran towards him. "Are you okay?"
Shawn rolled his eyes. "Just peachy," he replied sarcastically, "get me out of here quick. I've got a bomb to disarm!"
"Carton, hand me a knife and then go get some help," she ordered. Any other time he would have ignored her bossiness, but he didn't hesitate as he handed over his pocket knife and left the room.
Juliet cut up the tape holding Shawn to the chair and caught him as his weak body fell forward. He hissed as his sore limbs were released, and the new movement caused pain to his ribs. "Come on," she helped him to his feet, struggling to keep the man upright. She put his arm over her shoulders and put her own arm around his waist. "You can do this. Your dad and Gus are waiting right outside for you."
"Really?" He smiled.
"Would I lie to you?" She asked. "We'll get you to the car and off to the hospital before you can say pineapple smoothie."
Shawn shook his head, immediately regretting it. "No," he said through gritted teeth.
"No? No what?"
"Don't have ..time," The pair shuffled forward, "Need to get to….El Paeso shopping…mall." He sucked in a deep breath. The short walk to the door had tired him quickly. The pair carried on slowly down the dark corridor and into the shop front. Shawn winced as the bright light from the open doorway hurt his eyes. It hadn't been long since he was outside but for some reason it felt like years. He smiled as Henry and Gus rushed to the entrance and took Shawn from Juliet. Shawn put an arm over each of their shoulders and let them pull him towards the car.
"How are you doing, kiddo?" Henry asked.
"I'll live…..just glad you found me." Juliet had rushed ahead and opened the car door. Gus and Henry car full placed Shawn in the back seat, each taking a place beside him. Juliet and Lassiter slid into the front seats and Lassiter started the car. "Call the bomb squad," Shawn ordered, "Tell them to get to El Paeso shopping mall, that's where the bomb is." Juliet pulled her phone out and began to dial. "Lassie, don't even think about taking me to a hospital."
"Shawn," Henry warned
"No, Dad."
"Two of your fingers are sticking out at funny angles. You're holding your ribs. You're face is covered in dried blood and you're face is so swollen that people might mistake you for the elephant man."
"Don't sugar coat it, Dad."
"I'm serious Shawn. You're going to the nearest hospital and that's final!"
"In forty minutes, the bomb will explode and I am the only one who can disarm it safely. Now…tell me again where we're going?" Shawn stood his ground.
Henry sighed, "Fine…fine but as soon as the bomb is disarmed, you are going straight to hospital young man."
Shawn rolled his eyes at his father, "Yes, Mom."
"Lassiter," Henry turned to the detective in the front, "You have lights and sirens for a reason."
"Right." He switched on the light and siren and zoomed down the road towards the shopping mall.
The car swerved into the mall's parking lot and pulled up to the entrance. A security guard was already heading their way, but a flash of Lassiter's badge made him back off. Henry helped Shawn out the car and wrapped his arm around his waist to hold his son up. The group entered the mall just in behind the bomb squad, who already had dogs out. The large dogs moved around the area sniffing bags and shoppers for any traces of the bomb.
"Detective." A man dressed up in full bomb gear walked up to Lassiter.
"Lieutenant," Lassiter nodded at the man.
"What do we have?"
"Ask him," Lassiter nodded his head towards Shawn.
Henry and Shawn stepped forward. "Reese's Jewelry store," Shawn informed the lieutenant. "There's a bag in the back room, inside is the bomb." The man nodded and began to walk away. "Wait!" Shawn shouted after him. The man stopped and turned back round, "I think..I mean..I can disarm it."
The man raised an eyebrow, "You think you can?" He asked skeptically.
"I know I can," Shawn answered firmly.
"Okay," the man nodded, "Let us check it out first and then we'll let you have a look at it." Shawn nodded back.
Henry, Shawn, Gus, Juliet and Lassiter followed the squad to the jewelry store. The detectives helped clear the area. Henry helped Shawn to the nearest bench and Shawn sat down, glad for the rest.
"How are you doing?" Henry asked, concerned.
"I'll be better once this is all over."
Henry laid a comforting hand on Shawn's back, the only place Shawn wasn't hurting. "You did good, kid."
"Not yet, I haven't." Shawn lifted himself to his feet and took a moment to stop his head from spinning.
"Shawn," Henry stood next to his son and tried to keep him steady. A determined Shawn pushed his dad away.
"I'll..I'll just stay here." Shawn turned to look at Gus.
"Coward," Shawn smirked.
Gus pointed at the shop, "There's a bomb in there, Shawn!"
"Okay, okay, wish me luck."
Gus snorted, "Please, you have more luck that a field of four leaf clovers." Shawn smiled at Gus and then slowly made his way towards the shop., Henry not far behind.
"So?" Shawn asked at the lieutenant came out from the back room.
"We've found it," he confirmed, "And it was well made too, we try anything and it explodes."
"How much time left?"
"Six minutes."
Shawn swallowed hard, "Okay…I can do this." His eyes traveled towards Juliet, then moved onto Lassiter. The senior detective caught his look and nodded. Lassiter and Juliet joined them as they walked through the doorway into the dark room. Cardboard boxes were stacked up against the walls up to the ceiling and the dirty floor was covered in old receipts and bits of scrap paper. Hung on the coat stand on the corner were two jackets, employee's jackets, Shawn noted. At the end of the room stood two officers in full bomb gear standing next to an open duffel bag. As Shawn moved forward, he caught site of wires and computers bits holding large blocks of explosives together. A digital clock, identical to the one on Danny's laptop, was counting down and there was a single number pad on the front to enter the code.
"No pressure," he said as he watched the clock count down. "No pressure at all."