Part 2 - Evacuating MDPD.
Detective Frank Tripp stood in the hallway outside the lab, his weapon still in his hand. He had just walked out of the elevator onto the floor, when he'd heard the gunshot. He'd found Horatio already standing in the doorway, weapon drawn, trained on an assailant Frank couldn't see from where he was standing. He'd waited for Horatio's cue with his weapon pointed at the floor, but there'd been none. Instead, Horatio had informed him about a bomb inside the lab and had ordered him to evacuate the building. Next, his friend had bent down, placing his firearm on the floor and had just pushed it back, out into the hallway. Before Frank had been able to get a look in the room, Horatio had stepped inside and the door had been closed.
The shades for all the windows into the room were down, obscuring his view, leaving him cursing quietly to himself at not being able to see what was going on.
The officers and detectives who had responded to the situation were looking at him for direction, as he was the most senior ranking officer present.
After mumbling a few more inaudible curses about Horatio entering the lab Tripp slowly lowered his gun, setting the safety and placed it back in its holster. The waiting officers and detectives followed suite shortly after.
"Okay," the senior detective spoke up, while he bent down to carefully pick up the weapon Horatio had left on the floor. "Lieutenant Caine said there's a bomb in the lab. This means we're going to have to evacuate the building. I'm going to inform the Chief, he'll have to give the order for the evacuation. I want you to go ahead and inform the personnel closest to the lab. Remind them of the proper bomb threat instructions."
"Yes, sir," said one of the police officers standing next to Tripp. "Leave all open doors and windows open. No saving of computer documents, no use of cell phones, walkie-talkies…"
Tripp smiled thankfully. "Exactly. Everybody keeps his hands off all electrical appliances. Go. We'll meet outside at the assembly point."
With a final nod he left, confident his fellow police officers knew how to follow procedure. It was well-practiced after all.
Taking the stairs two steps at a time, he bounded up the two floors, quickly reaching the fourth. He knocked on the door of the Chief of Police, Captain Gerard Jackson.
"Come in," the low, somewhat dark voice of Jackson called.
Frank opened the door and stepped inside of the office, closing the door behind him. "Sir, we have a situation," he started to explain.
"What is it?" Jackson asked. He was a man of few words, always getting straight to the point and he expected others to do the same. He had an uncanny ability to read people and estimating their possibilities was one of his strongest qualities. He knew if they were being truthful or deceptive almost instantly. Years of experience in the field followed by his time as the head of internal affairs had taught him well.
"There was a shot fired in the fingerprint lab. Lt. Caine was first on the scene. He indicated that there is a bomb inside the lab and ordered me to start evacuating the building."
"All right," Jackson said, a worried frown etched on his face. "Do we know who is currently inside the lab?"
"Lt. Caine and an unknown suspect at the least. I can't say with any certainty who else may be inside. It could be detective Delko or Speedle, and probably detective Duquesne. We'll have to check the records."
"So we not only have a bomb threat, but a hostage situation on our hands as well," the Captain concluded. "Okay, I want you to take the lead as Operations Supervisor," Jackson decided quickly and got up, rolling his shoulders.
"Sir?" Tripp asked in surprise. "What about Philips?"
"He's out of town, Tripp. Can you handle it?" Jackson glanced questioningly at the detective.
"Yes, sir," Frank nodded without hesitation.
"Good," the Captain said. He reached for the phone on his desk. "Let's see how we handle a real-time evacuation. We did enough trial runs and drills, everyone could practically get out in their sleep." Punching in the number of his facility supervisor, Jackson waited for the man to answer the call. "D'Antoni, this is Captain Jackson. We have a situation here. There's a bomb located in the CSI fingerprint lab. I want you to start the evacuation procedure but don't, I repeat don't go near that lab… What?"
Jackson listened to what the other man was saying, then briefly rolled his eyes. "Yes, there are still people in that lab. I am aware of that. Listen, this is NOT a drill. Philips is out of town, so detective Tripp will be the Operations Supervisor. Got that? Now get started. Tripp will meet you in the main lobby." Slamming the receiver back on the hook, the Chief grabbed his jacket and slid it over his shoulders.
Tripp was looking outside the window, and pointed. "I suggest we set up our command center on the northeast quadrant of the parking lot, sir. That should give us enough clearance. We don't know how big the explosions are, so I also recommend clearing an immediate area of 2000 feet…"
Jackson quickly cut him off, giving him a nod. "Get to it, Tripp. I'll see you down there." He headed for the door. "I'm going to get you your command center and then I'll have to go and inform the mayor. When I get back, I want to know who our gunman is, who the hostages are and how the hell somebody managed to sneak a bomb into my building."
"Yes, sir," Tripp pulled the phone closer, watched the boss leave then dialed the bomb squad. "This is Detective Tripp from MDPD," he announced. "We have a bomb in the building… No, we don't have any information on that yet… Captain Jackson has implemented evacuation procedures. Lieutenant Philips is unavailable, so he has appointed me Operations Supervisor… All right. Yes, we also have a hostage situation… I know. So you're sending a team, can you also get me the Fire and Rescue units? Okay… Sergeant Orrick will be the senior bomb technician in charge? All right. I'll be expecting him. Thank you."
With the first necessary steps taken, Frank left the office and noticed the fourth floor was already empty except for the floor manager, who stood waiting for him. Together, they took the stairs down.
On the first floor, Tripp ran into D'Antoni. The facility manager was busy coordinating the evacuation of the remaining personnel, giving instructions to the floor managers and keeping an eye on things.
D'Antoni gave a thumb up to Tripp, indicating that the evacuation was going according plan.
"Marcus, we're going to set up a command center just behind the parking lots," Frank informed the man, pointing in the general direction. "The bomb squad is on its way, as are the paramedics and the fire unit. I need the blue-prints of the building…"
"You'll get them," D'Antoni said with a nod.
"Do we have surveillance tapes? Is the system still running?" Tripp asked. "We need to know how the explosives got into the building in the first place."
"I'll get you the finished tapes. If nobody has sabotaged it, the system should still be online. Depending on what the bomb technician says, we might be able to patch right into the system. Hopefully we can get into the security cameras and get a look at what's going on in the lab," D'Antoni told him.
"Good job," Frank complimented the man. "I'll see you outside. Oh, and I need to know who's in that lab, pronto."
"We're working on the personnel list, so I'm onto it," D'Antoni called over his shoulder, already rushing off to arrange everything.
Frank smiled, knowing he could count on the other man, then took the final steps downstairs and left the building.