Tony checked his watch and readjusted the ear piece that sat in his left ear, currently giving off static. So far a third of the mall had been searched by a bomb team and sniffer dogs. So far, nothing. Tony didn't know if that was good or bad, but he knew the thing was here. The grids in the computer made it a possibility, but the feeling in his gut told him it was here, and he always followed his instincts. He patiently waited to hear the signal that they had the bomb, their was nothing else he could do. He had received a call earlier telling him that they had rescued the Bauers and taken some hostiles into custody. Tony couldn't help rub his hands together with excitement, despite the danger present, he couldn't help but smile as he realised that this was the final piece of the puzzle.
The crackling in his ear brought him back to reality as he realised a message was being submitted to him.
"Sir, do you copy?"
"Yeah I hear yah." Tony replied, anticipating the news.
"We have a location on the device. It is located in the lower north of the building, bomb squads have moved in, I repeat, we have a location on the device and the bomb squad is currently in control, over."
Tony rubbed his head, it was now or never. Either they disarmed it, or detonate it. Either way he had no control over either. He rang Chappelle and informed him of the progress. Chappelle didn't seem as happy as Tony was, he was still concerned with the process of disarming it; anything could go wrong. They were going to have to sit tight.
Tony had waited by the squad car over an hour, but he couldn't take any more. Checking his map with a quick glance he headed inside the mall, flipping his C.T.U i.d. open for the cops in front of the entrance cornered off with yellow tape, so they would let him through. He walked through the deserted shopping complex and had to admit to himself what a strange sight it was, seeing it completely deserted. It seemed weird as it was usually crammed full with people carrying hundreds of bulging carrier bags barging into you from every direction.
He made his way down the steps to the lower level, and after a brief memory check of which direction he needed to head in, he arrived. He could see the device clearly, it was hooked into the inside of a Coke machine and was quite large. Judging from the size of the device he was clear that it would have taken out a chunk of the L.A population, and would easily have reached C.T.U too.
He was silent as he watched the four men work with the wires. Finally plucking up the courage to speak, he asked, "What's the score here guys?"
"It depends." One man said. "Were as far through the route as we can get. Theirs only one thing left to do, and it will either cause detonation, or will disarm. Its been fitted with a altered design, which is why we've come to this ultimatum."
Tony watched him carefully, he could see how hard this was for the man.
"So what do we do?" He asked, dreading the answer.
"Theirs nothing we can do, its a fifty fifty chance, it depends if the trigger is in the root or not... and we have know way of knowing."
After a minutes silence nobody had spoken.
"Do it." Tony said.
"What?" The man asked.
"Do it. For all we know the thing could detonate any minute. If we don't try stop it, it will go off today at some point anyway. We have nothing to lose by trying, and if it does blow.... well... all we've done is speed up the process... at lease we managed to do a level one evac.... we have saved some lives."
The man watched as he spoke, determined. He didn't show an ounce of fear, yet the man was certain he would be scared, they all were inside, he thought.
The man nodded and looked at his team, all were white, afraid of the outcome.
"Were all agreed its the green which needs to be disconnected?"
The other three men nodded and Tony took a step back, giving the man space. He was about to take one huge risk by Tony's order, and the last thing he wanted to do was put him off by breathing down his neck.
The man had his fingertips lightly around the wire, but he turned around to Tony, for motivation more than anything.
Tony nodded his head briefly, before saying, "Its okay."
The men locked eyes, before the man turned and grabbed a delicate silver instrument from his tray. He took it and turned the blade so it was resting on the wire. Tony held his breath, his nerves getting to him. 'This could be it,' he thought to himself.
The man also took a deep breath, and then slit the wire through the middle, ripping it away from the core of the bomb.
Tony couldn't help but close his eyes as he herd the loud wail come from the device, immediately after the wire was cut. The noise got louder and Tony could only presume it was about to detonate. After a few more painstakingly slow seconds passed by he felt a hand on his shoulder.
He opened his eyes to see the main man from the team looking at him, tears in his eyes.
"We did it." He whispered, his emotions obviously overtaking him.
Tony nodded his head, he understood, he looked at the man and threw his arm around him in relief, before saying a very appreciative "thank you."
He left the four rejoicing men of the bomb squad and held the speak button of his radio.
"This is Almeida, the threat has been eliminated, I repeat, the threat has been eliminated."
Tony listened to the responses through his ear piece, laughing like a child on Christmas day. He could hear cheering, whooping, high five's, well done's, everything. He pulled out his cell and rang C.T.U, asking for Michelle, screw Ryan he thought, she can tell him.
"Hey baby." He greeted, the tension finally free from his voice.
"Hey." She said, waiting to hear what she had to say, no one at C.T.U yet knew if it was going to be good news or bad."
"Its over, sweetie." He whispered, trying not to break down. He was so relieved he could barely talk, this nightmare day was coming to a close.
He smiled to himself as he herd exasperated response, then he told her he had to go but he'd come in to pick her up. They were both having the rest of the day off, he had decided.
He hung up the phone and jogged over to the LAPD and other men form law enforcement. After emitting many "good job's" and "well done's" he slumped into his car. He started up the engine and headed towards C.T.U, where he planned to pick up Michelle and go straight home, to spend the evening in her company, without any tension or stress; and in a sense, to recover form the days exhausting toll on him. He knew they deserved it, everyone at C.T.U did. Jack didn't cross his mind once.
----------
Well, almost done here, shold be over in one or two more chapters!
As always review.... it makes me update faster y'know!!!