Holy crap you guys! I've probably lost most of you, but to those of you left, here's the new chapter… So sorry! Life happened. It's happened almost every chapter I've posted, and for that I'm gravely sorry. Please enjoy! Review kindly and inform me of mistakes. I'll have the new chapter up ASAP (By the way, I made up some bomb things. Don't worry they probably aren't legit).

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The Second Spencer

Chapter 14

The door slowly opened, letting a trickle of light enter the cold, dark room. Eliot looked up sharply, which was a mistake. The movement sent a wave of pain through his exhausted limbs. He felt the dried blood on his back crack open as new, warm, fresh blood gushed down his back. This was the result of the whipping that had taken place only a few hours ago. Or was it days…?

Eliot quickly tried to hide the new pain from the figure that confidently waltzed through the door.

"You know, I really thought that Ford guy was smarter than this," Jack said smugly.

"What- are you- talking about?" Eliot stammered through the cold and pain.

"Well, I sent them to the park where your phone is waiting." Jack stated, as if it was obvious. "Do you think they'll be able to get all those kiddies out before the park goes 'boom'?"

"You're sick... Nellis, you're sick…" Eliot muttered, energy gone.

"Oh yeah, did I mention you can watch from the comfort of your own-" Jack gestured to Eliot's current position- "post?" He snapped his fingers.

Two men, one of them a smug-looking Harry, rolled in an old TV set. They connected a laptop and soon a live tape of a park fizzled on screen. Eliot's rage immediately rose. There were more than 20 kids at that park.

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Parker looked on at the playground with sheer disappointment. It was only about seven feet high. What a bummer.

"Hey, at least the kids seem to be enjoying it," Hardison said, noticing her disappointment.

"Yeah, at least they are." She responded, still upset - but slightly less now.

The duo hopped out of Lucille and started towards the 'pathetic' playground.

"Just remember, tell us when you find the phone. Soph and I will get all those people out, don't worry," Nate called from the passenger seat of the van. Sophie had refused to let him drive on account of his drinking.

"Yeah, alright." Hardison said distantly, standing for a moment in a trance.

"Hardison, we're getting Eliot back." Sophie reassured.

"Yeah…" Hardison replied. He then seemed to snap back and straightened. "Yeah. Let's go." He said with more determination. He and Parker headed to the playground.

"They all look so miserable," Parker mumbled, looking upon the happily screaming children.

"Yeah. It's an awful sight…" Hardison remarked sarcastically. "Alright, let's do this." He said, pulling his phone out of his pocket. It beeped as it began tracking Eliot's phone.

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Eliot's rage rose to a boiling point as the back of two familiar figures walked on screen- a bald black one and a bouncy blonde's.

"If you so much as trips, I swear I'll-" Eliot growled, but Jack rode him over.

"You'll what? Glare at me?" Jack mocked, laughing, "Trust me, if anyone gets hurt, those kids will be in the smack middle of it all."

"You sick son of a-"

"Whoa!" Wouldn't want my clever trick to be sprung early, would we?"

Eliot shut his mouth at that, but didn't hold back a glare. He hoped his team could get those people and themselves out in time.

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The beeping from Hardison's phone became more persistent as they neared the small merry-go-round, which about five older kids had claimed.

"Nate, we're gonna have to find a way to get these people out of here. The signal's coming from under the merry-go-round." Hardison said, panicking slightly.

"We called in a favor. They'll be there soon, don't worry." Nate reassured over coms.

"They?" Hardison exclaimed.

Soon after, they saw a large bounce house pop up about 150 feet away. The sign at the top read 'Free Bounce House and Treats'.

"Very original name." Hardison mocked.

"It'll work. Trust me." Sophie said over coms, sounding slightly offended.

Pretty soon, the kids had all convinced their parents and raced over. The area was clear in less than five minutes.

"That's convenient," Parker said. "Your favor?"

"Yeah," Nate answered. "Okay, get whatever's under there out."

Hardison pulled out a flashlight, dropped to his stomach on the wood chips and gazed under the merry-go-round, fearing the worst.

Hardison cursed.

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Eliot watched in horror as they neared where he knew the trap was. The kids were still a present problem.

Suddenly, all the kids raced in the other direction happily. The area was clear. Eliot sighed with relief, while Nellis exclaimed, impressed, "They rented a circus?!"

Eliot then saw Hardison check under the merry-go-round.

Eliot cursed.

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"What is it?" Sophie asked, her voice laced with concern.

"It's a bomb," Hardison rose, trying to hide his panic. He pulled a bomb detector kit from his bag and examined the small package under the merry-go-round. "It's not looking good," he concluded, "I think it's password deactivated, but there are no second chances. I push a wrong button, I even move it the wrong way…"

"Yeah. We got it." Nate said, his voice growing concerned as well.

"I'm gonna go down there and see if anything will trigger if I move it. If there isn't, it's coming out." Hardison said.

He crawled under, moving wood chips. He looked around, deemed it safe, and very carefully pulled it out. The whole team cringed in anticipation as he did so.

"Got it." He said proudly, standing up and brushing himself off. "Okay, what do we have here?"

Hardison carefully unzipped the bag and revealed the device as much as possible. It was a little bigger than a breadbox and had a small panel with a keyboard and screen. The screen was blank.

Hardison ran a hand down his face. "Okay. It's not as bad as it could be… Password diffused. I have to figure the password out then cut the right wires." He sighed. "The problem is figuring out the password."

"Well, we really just have to think about it… If you were Nellis, what would you put?" Nate thought aloud over the coms.

"I don't know, something creepy." Hardison stated with distain.

"Okay… So… Nellis..." Nate thought aloud.

Suddenly, the screen of the bomb flickered to life. It stayed white for a moment then started counting down. 5:00… 4:59… 4:58…

Hardison swore.

"What's wrong?" Sophie exclaimed.

"It's counting down. We have four minutes and… 45 seconds." Hardison answered, feeling numb.