For this chapter, I make some stuff up, but mostly I got my inspiration from the movie Chill Factor. So if some parts seemed a little out there, just go along with it, yeah?

Since this is the climax chapter, I would love it if I can get your feedback.

The next chapter will be the final one. Sigh...

Hope you enjoy this!

This was not happening.

I fumbled for the remote on the couch, and increased the volume of the television, wishing madly that I had listened incorrectly, or that my eyes were playing tricks on me. Everyone knows I'm half-blind most of the time anyway.

But my attempts were futile, because I had heard correctly about the armed man and hostages, and now that the camera had taken a wide angle view, the store's sign was as clear as day. There was no mistake. The supermarket was controlled by a madman, and Suze was in it.

Okay, David, there's nothing to worry about. Just think. Think, what would be the best thing to do right now?

I can't call Dad, because 1) he has no cell phone, and 2) what can he do anyway? I can't call Suze's mom because 1) she's working, and 2) also, what can she do anyway? Same with Jake…

Jesse. I can call Jesse. Only…how?

I could feel panic rising in my throat, so I took a deep breath and called out, "Jesse!"

My voice echoed around the empty room, and I paused for a moment. After 3 seconds, I called out his name again.

No answer.

Deep breath. Okay, think about it, there's nothing you can do. All the police officers are there, and the hostage negotiators, and everyone else that can help Suze and the other people. There's nothing you yourself can do except hope for the best.

But I just acquired the ability to see ghosts…and I told Suze that I would help her from now on. She obviously needs a help now, and I have to do something. I convinced myself that it was the right thing to do, and the best way I can help her is by going to Pezzini's.

Determination pushing away my worry, I turned to go to the garage and get my bicycle when a reddish glow formed at the corner of the living room. It was Sean, but I didn't have time to talk to him. In my haste, even his sudden appearance has lost its shock value.

"David, do you know where Su- where are you going?" Sean asked as he saw me hurried to the front door.

"I have to go do something. Suze is in trouble," I replied hurriedly, grabbing my coat and putting it on.

"Suze is in trouble? Whoa, slow down there. What's going on?" He hurried over to me.

I sighed, feeling that we were wasting time talking when another glow formed behind him, this time bluish in color. It was Jesse, and he looked troubled.

"Here you are. I was –"

"Jesse! Suze is in trouble!" I blurted out, unable to hide my anxiety any longer. "She's in that supermarket called Pezzini's Farm Fresh Produce and there is an armed man who is holding the people hostages and there is a bomb –"

"A bomb? Is this true?" Sean asked, looking between Jesse and me, his expression of disbelief.

Jesse nodded, his expression unreadable now. "That is why I came for you. Susannah…it seemed that the man had singled her out and placed a contraption on her. Susannah said only you can handle it, since you've had the experience."

I felt another surge of panic attack hit me, and I was pretty sure that I gawked at Jesse. Did I hear him say it right? The man placeda contraption on her? He placed a bomb on her? What –

"Of course," replied Sean, who had a serious look on his face now. "I just need to look at the bomb and the way it is built before I can decide on a way to dismantle it. Is she in the supermarket?"

"Yes, but she is in a cold locker room. That is why I didn't hear her calling me at first," Jesse said in a rush. "She was adamant that I shouldn't move her in case the device could go off. We should go now, I don't know how long she can stay in the cold room. David, stay here."

Sean dematerialized and Jesse had started to shimmer, when I grabbed his arm. He formed again, and I quickly said, "I want to go! Take me along, I want to see Suze."

Now he looked exasperated. "David, it isn't safe. It is bad enough that Susannah is caught in that terrible situation, I don't want you to be involved too."

"But I promised that I would help her!" I almost yelled in my apprehension, or excitement, or a combination of both. "Please, Jesse, I want to help her. I don't know how, but…I read a lot. I am supposed to be smart, maybe I can help in some way."

"David, I really don't have the time to discuss this. For the last time –"

"If you don't bring me there, I'm going to bike over to the supermarket and try to enter it on my own!" I said, taking even myself by surprise at the way I seemed to be threatening Jesse. I sure sounded braver than I felt.

He stared at me, looking torn. "Fine. But if anything goes wrong and I tell you to leave, you must leave. No questions asked."

I felt relieved and anxious at the same time. "Okay!"

Jesse took hold of my arm and started to shimmer. Suddenly I felt alarmed, not sure if an alive human can materialize without ending up as something awful. I do think the energy of a ghost and an alive human being is completely different. But the next second, I felt my body moving, as if every cell in my body was swimming and clashing and breaking away from each other, and the feeling was indescribable. It was like being on an anti-gravity floor and being sucked into a vacuum at the same time.

That was my last thought, before I knew no more.

-0-0-0-

When I opened my eyes, I found myself in a large meat locker, and the coldness stabbed at my body like needles. I hugged my jacket around my body tightly, before I realized that I was alone. I turned around at the sound of my name being called, and saw Jesse walking further back to the room.

I followed him, avoiding the meat hanging from the hooks around me, before I came upon a dreadful sight. One I never thought I would ever see.

Suze Simon, sitting down with a total lack of movement. Of course, the fact that there was a complicated looking device with wires sticking out strapped to her obviously contributed to it. It wasn't just a device though; the small box of what I assumed would be the bomb was stuck to what looked like black polyester vest encircling Suze's upper body. The box itself was unremarkable, black in color with a space allocated like the top of a calculator, for what I guess would be for displaying the time. I hoped we never have to see any numbers on that.

"Doc! What are you doing here?" Suze asked, looking shocked at my appearance out of nowhere.

"I came to help you," I said, regaining some composure after registering my surroundings. Suze was sitting close to the back wall of the locker room, although she made sure that her body wasn't touching anything. Some pieces of tape were on the floor, which I'm guessing was used to tie her up, before Jesse took them off. Sean was kneeling in front of her, looking at the small box and muttering to himself, fingering the wires every now and then. Jesse was standing over them beside me, looking as worried as I felt.

"Help me? That is very noble of you. Although I really don't know what you can do here…how did you know about me?" Suze asked, looking relatively calm despite being attached to a bomb.

I think she was trying to get her mind off it by talking to me, so I responded. I have read that talking to someone who is in a highly stressful situation can help calm the person down.

"I saw the news – your mom was reporting. I had read your note about coming here and when I saw the news about this supermarket, I knew you must be in trouble. Then Sean came, and Jesse came and after explaining everything, I decided that I should come. In case I could help," I explained, even as I felt that I was pretty much useless there. Sean obviously had everything under control.

"How are you feeling, querida?" Jesse asked, his voice sounding concerned.

Suze took a shallow breath. "I'm feeling pretty good, despite this thing on me. I still can't believe that he would pick me out of everyone there to put a bomb on. I mean, did he have a grudge on girls with motorcycle jackets or something? I am so kicking his ass when I get out of here. I am getting out of here, right?" She looked at Sean, something wavering in her green eyes.

Sean replied without looking up. "Of course. This is a simple C4 explosive, from what I can tell. It shouldn't take too long to find the right wire and once the main connector has been disconnected, even a remote trigger won't activate it again. I do think that someone should keep watch out front, just in case the perpetrator decides to come back here. "

Suze looked up to us, and said, "Jesse, can you be on the lookout? I don't think David here would be much use since he's not invisible and all. Besides, if that guy decides to do something stupid like shooting the other people or something, I'm sure you can prevent that from happening. Right?"

Jesse looked uncertain, as if he didn't want to leave Suze there. I didn't exactly blame him, I'm sure he felt close to Suze now, after knowing her since she first came here. He didn't exactly have anyone else to be friends with before this, I think.

"Are you sure you don't need me here?" he asked, frowning.

"Well, unless you can stop a bomb, no, I don't need you here right now. But before Sean can get this freaking thing off me, you have to stall that guy. If I need you, I'll call you. Okay?" Suze said, her voice starting to crack. I had a feeling that the pressure was finally getting to her, and I felt so bad that there wasn't anything I could do to make her feel better.

Jesse sighed, and materialized without saying anything. Then there was silence in the locker room, save from Sean's muttering. Suddenly, he took out a pen knife from his vest pocket, which made me wonder whether ghosts are allowed to carry stuff like that around. It could be dangerous, couldn't it?

"Wait, what are you doing?" Suze asked, eyeing the pen knife nervously.

"I'm cutting the main wire," Sean replied patiently. "Don't worry, I know what I'm doing."

"I sure hope so. I'd hate to spend my last minutes on Earth in a freaking meat locker before being blown to pieces. Of course, I might freeze to death before that," Suze complained, exhaling loudly.

I wanted to say something to comfort her, but my throat felt dry and my mind was blank. All I could do was watch like in slow motion, as Sean brought up the knife to a blue wire he was fingering amongst all the other colorful wires, and started to cut it. It must have taken only a few seconds, but I think all of us were holding our breath as we waited in dark anticipation of something to go wrong. It wasn't that I wanted for something wrong to happen, it just felt like that. I couldn't help it.

But after the wire was cut, and Sean sat back, we all breathed a sigh of relief. Suze asked it for all of us when she said in a voice so low I could barely hear her, "Is it done?"

Sean nodded, looking relieved as well. "It's done. The perpetrator won't be able to activate the bomb now, even with a secondary trigger."

"Great. Can we get this thing off of me now? I'm turning into ice."

Sean reached forward to take off the vest from Suze as I watched, feeling so relieved I could have jumped and danced even though I never danced, when all of a sudden something unexpected happened.

The blank space in front of the box displayed 104.00 in red digital numbers and with a dreadful ticking sound, changed to 103.00, then 102.00.

Counting down.

The three of us paused mid-action, and stared at the box in complete disbelief. Sean was the one to speak first, in a strangled sort of voice, "I don't understand, I've disconnected the main wire!"

My heart was racing, and Suze was freaking out, "Obviously you disconnected the wrong one! Quick, cut another one!"

"I can't just cut –"

"Is there another trigger? Another one that you missed?" I couldn't help interrupting, feeling curious, anxious, scared and a whole bunch of other emotions all jumbled up that I couldn't tell them apart.

Sean shook his head urgently. "I don't think so."

He looked over the bomb, and the vest around Suze, as the numbers ticked on. Suze watched him, perspiration forming on her forehead, her breathing accelerated as if she was having a fever, though from the bluish tinge to her lips, I knew that she was feeling cold. I didn't even want to know how I looked, only that I felt like throwing up.

But as I was standing there in paralyzing fear, one thing bothered me. The numbers looked strange. They weren't showing time in the normal minute-to-second mode and they were ticking too irregularly to be seconds. And then I realized what it was.

"Sean, that's not time. It's temperature!" I cried out.

Sean stopped, and stared at the black box in surprise. "You're right…it's not reacting to a time-pressure or a trigger, it reacts to a temperature. Once it reaches a certain degree, the bomb will go off."

I looked at him in incredulity. "Is that even possible?"

"Many types of bombs are possible, if only unusual. I have heard of bombs that go off once it reaches a certain higher temperature, but I'm guessing that this one works backward. Based on the way it started ticking when I touched the vest, I'm sure that it reacts to a low temperature. Being a ghost, my body temperature is lower than someone alive, am I correct?"

Suze nodded quickly. "Ghosts are usually cold. But can we save the explanation for later, when I don't actually have a ticking bomb on my body!"

"I'm going to have to cut open the vest –"

"Do whatever you want!"

Sean quickly but carefully made a slice of clean cut down Suze's left shoulder vest, and when he opened the flap, I quickly saw that he was right. There was a clear tube inside leading to the part of the vest that was wrapped around her back. Inside the tube was a light blue liquid that flowed behind the ticking black box, up her shoulder and presumably, behind her.

98.00. Body temperature.

I suddenly realized why the bad guy put Suze in a meat locker. His intention was not to negotiate, but to take out the supermarket. So even if every hostage was saved and he was arrested, or if he had gotten away, the bomb, once reaching its designated temperature, would have gone off anyway. And considering where it was placed, it would happen, sooner or later. Especially if no one noticed Suze trapped in the locker.

I was sure he didn't think that a couple of ghosts and a 12-year-old boy would come and interfere with his plans.

"The C4 was a decoy, possibly a duplicate placed to confuse a bomb technician. The box is not a timepiece, but most probably a thermoelectric mechanism." Sean said. "Did he mention anything about a certain temperature –"

"No, he didn't," Suze said desperately. "Can't you stop it?"

"I can't cut off the tube; it contains the chemical that is reacting to the temperature. The best way I can tell is to get this to a place of heat. So –" He was interrupted by a materialization besides us, which formed to be Jesse.

"He's been arrested by the police," said Jesse. "They are moving in th–"

Suze snapped, losing her nerves. "Who cares, I've got a bomb on–"

"Jesse, open the door, we need to get her out of here," Sean said firmly. "No time to explain. David, since neither Jesse nor I can touch the vest, you're going to have to help Suze to the door."

92.00. My stomach felt like it was somewhere between my chest and my throat.

The locker door slowly shifted open without Jesse even moving from beside us. I had my arm around Suze's, and intended to pull her up, when she cried out in pain, "I can't move! My leg's cramped."

"You have to, Suze! We have to get out of here," I said in panic, pulling her arm again. Jesse moved to help, but Sean stopped him.

"No, if you touch her, the temperature will drop even more. We don't want that," he said, before turning to me. "David, we don't have time. You're going to have to take the vest and run out of this room. When the liquid reached the outside temperature, it should heat up enough to suspend its action. Hurry!"

For the first time in my life, I didn't think. I just acted.

With Suze's help, I quickly took the lethal vest off her body, and holding it out in front of me like a dirty gym sock; I turned and headed for the locker door without even glancing at Sean and Jesse. My heart was pounding so hard I could hear each beat in my head, and my hands were shaking, not from the cold but from the terror.

The numbers showed 89.00. I almost fell as I collided against a meat hanging from the ceiling.

Then I felt, rather than hear, a presence besides me. When I dodged around the meat, I heard Jesse said, "Don't worry, David, I'm here."

And just like that, my fear lessened. I was actually near calm when I reached the door and ran out, bumping into someone. That someone turned out to be a police officer, dressed almost exactly like Sean.

"Are you –" He started to say, but I cut him off.

"This is a bomb! It's functioning by temperature, and we need to make it go up or it will go off!" I gasped, realizing that I wasn't making any sense. Then to my dismay, I saw that my glasses had fogged up, reacting due to transfer from a low to a high temperature.

But the police officer registered my words and promptly reached for his radio, talking into it as he cautiously took the vest from me. Then he hooked the radio back to his belt, and said to me, "Are you the only one in there?"

"No, my step-sister is also in there," I told him, taking off my glasses and rubbing them against my shirt. But his attention was somewhere behind me. I turned, putting on my glasses again and saw Suze coming out of the locker, walking with a slight limp on her left leg. Jesse caught her arm and held her as she limped forward, followed by Sean, but the police officer obviously only saw her.

"Alright, I need both of you to make your way to the main entrance. The bomb squad will handle this now," said the police officer as he gestured with one hand towards the entrance, while the other was still holding the vest. I wanted to warn him about the bomb, but Suze motioned for me to follow her as she walked away from there, and I followed.

Suze was walking quite normally now as we hurried down the aisles, passing more police officers who were heading the other way. The supermarket was quite empty, I'm guessing the hostages had been safely brought out. Then, not feeling any ghostly presence beside me, I glanced around to look for Jesse and Sean, when I saw Sean standing near the entrance, looking very happy.

"What's he doing?" I asked, and Suze looked over to where I was pointing. She slowed down, and I did the same, when something strange happened. Instead of breaking into red particles like he usually does whenever he dematerializes, Sean began to fade. But he doesn't look surprised or worried, he just smiled and waved at us, before he disappeared completely.

I turned to Suze, confused. "What just happened?"

Her expression was one of comprehension, and she smiled a little when she said, "He just moved on."

"Moved… but how?" I asked, still confused.

But she had started walking again, saying simply, "I'll tell you later."

So I decided to save my questions for later, especially when we reached the entrance and saw through the glass doors the crowd outside, with the police cars and ambulances at ready. I even spotted Suze's mom with her camera crew, no doubt she would be shocked once she sees us come out of the supermarket. I was even looking forward to seeing her reaction, knowing that both of us had escaped safely – even though unlike Suze, I had deliberately put myself in danger. To think that I was so close to certain death made me feel like throwing up again.

But when Suze pushed open the door letting the bright sunlight wash upon us, I looked up to the piercing white light of the sun and smiled, happy to be alive.