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Note: Hi all,
There's a lot going on in my life right now. That's why I haven't been able to
update my stories this past week. The company that I work for is in big financial trouble
and the owner has informed us that a bunch of us might be out of the job within a few months.
Sighs... I'm very stressed out about it, and I'm trying to keep it together. :(
Updates will be slow, I think. Sorry. I'll post whenever I can, ok?
My apologies.
Get the hell out of there!
Chapter 6
...
.
The sun had set almost three hours ago, making Ana very anxious. Fortunately, Detective Sawyer was thrown of their trail by Christian.
And now he had changed into his usual black clothing, the ones he wore whenever he fought crime, and was on his way to THE building.
72 hours earlier, Christian received the message with the clues from Leila. He showed it to Ana, so with her expertise, they were able to figure out where the bomb was planted. It was in an office building right in the middle of Seattle. The place was full of people at the moment, because the CEO was giving a party, celebrating the company's 30 years existence.
Ros was busy with an undercover case on the other side of the world, but she wanted to help and had sent a retired member of Seattle's bomb squad. Jared was his name and he was paid by Christian not to ask questions.
Within a few hours, Ana and him had changed her apartment into a mini-secret command center.
While Christian was on his way to the building to disarm the bomb, Jared was already in her apartment, on stand by.
He was ready, and had his ear buds on, and so had Ana.
"Hey, Christian. How ya doing?" She asked, nervously tapping at her desk.
"Relax, Ana." He told her in a calm manner, as if he had nothing to worry about.
In response, she rolled her eyes and was also searching like crazy via her laptop, where the bomb could be. Ana had found out that Leila, and her partner had placed the 1st bomb in the office on the 15th floor, but not exactly where. The security of the building was tight, and the security system was one of the best she had ever encountered.
It wasn't going to be easy for Christian to get into the building, and disarm the bomb without people, especially the security guards noticing. However, with her help, it was possible.
Christian was at the rooftop right now, waiting for Ana to hack into the security system, so she could deactivate the alarm system. He only needed her to disarm it for a few minutes, so he could slip inside.
"Now, Christian" She told him, after she had disarmed the alarm system.
"OK, I'm inside, Ana... I'm in the elevator now, on the 25th floor." he said.
In response, Ana immediately armed the alarm system again.
As Christian waited, while he went down with the elevator, he felt himself getting very anxious, and had only one thing on his mind: Disarming the bomb.
He sighed deeply, and concentrated on the task at hand, waiting to get on the 15th floor of the building. The moment he had reached it, Ana guided Christian to get inside that office. She had successfully hacked into the security system, and was able to open the automatic doors for him, while tapping away at her laptop. The last door was the most difficult one. It took her a lot of sweat, and cursing to get the code of that particular door right. When it finally opened, she and Christian both sighed in relief.
"Thank you, Ana" He whispered.
"You're welcome, Christian" She replied.
However, when he walked inside the office, and his eyes landed on the timer of the bomb, he almost had a heart attack...
FUCK.
"There's not enough time! That bitch," Ana heard him say via her ear bud.
"Fuck! Shit..." he muttered under his breath, while carefully walking towards the explosives." Leila is such an evil bitch"
"Christian, what's the matter?! What do you see?" Ana asked, her brows furrowed.
"Forty-five minutes, we only have 45 minutes to disarm it." he answered, while showing the bomb to McNeal and Ana by turning on the small camera.
As those words reached her ears, her eyes fluttered shut, while attempting to process that information, her heart thumping wildly inside her chest.
Fortunately, there was someone there with a lot of experience. As Jared McNeal observed the bomb for a minute, the wheels in his head started to turn.
"OK, we don't have a lot of time, Miss Steele. Right now what you have to do is warn the people inside the building. You have to do something, call and say that there's a bomb threat or fire. Whatever it takes." Jared McNeal advised, his eyes on hers." The people have to be evacuated right now"
Ana nodded at that." I'm doing it now" she said.
"Good," McNeal said, and then he focused on helping Christian with the bomb." OK, Mr. Grey, what do you wanna do? Stay and do this together? Or should we call the real bomb squad?"
"I cannot afford to call the Police... I have to do this without their help," Christian insisted." I can't call the bomb squad, because if I do, two people I care about a lot WILL die. So, Mr. McNeal, I'll go with option number one... Just please, tell me what to do?"
"OK, let's do this then," McNeal said with a stern look on his face.
While Christian described the bomb, he made a picture ( a close-up) of it, and sent it to McNeal's phone.
"This one's familiar" he said, and told Christian that he knew exactly how to deal with this particular bomb.
In the meantime, Ana tapped away at the keyboard of her laptop, and was able to hack into the mainframe. She made sure that the fire alarm blared loudly through the whole place. Ana even used a burner phone, and called in the bomb threat.
"McNeal told me to warn the people... He didn't say that I have to pick one over the other." She mumbled.
"What?" McNeal asked, brows furrowed.
"Huh?! No nothing, you weren't supposed to hear that." She said in one breath, while avoiding his gaze.
McNeal shook his head in response, and sighed. "Can you enhance the picture Miss Steele?" he asked.
They really didn't have much time left...
Ana nodded, and immediately connected his phone with the laptop.
"OK, that's better. My eyes aren't what they used to be, you know." McNeal pointed out.
From this point, McNeal guided Christian... He told him exactly what to do, what not to do and how to do it.
Sweat trickled down Christian's forehead, as he followed the bomb expert's instructions.
"15 minutes." Ana uttered, while nervously fidgeting in her seat.
At one point she had trouble breathing. God, help us!
"13 minutes left." Ana said, voice trembling heavily.
At the moment Christian and McNeal worked together on disarming the bomb, as if they used to be co-workers for a long time.
"Christian, you only have 11 minutes left," Ana uttered, while tears spilled from her eyes.
He just had to do one last thing! However, he had trouble with it, his hands shaking heavily, but he carried on, while his heart rammed against his chest!
"Gently, very gently Mr. Grey... DO NOT touch the core." McNeal told him.
"9 minutes… 9 minutes! Christian, get the hell out of there, now!" Ana shouted, her hands gripping the desk so tightly that her knuckles turned white.
"I can't Ana, I have to do this. I cannot leave, and let this bomb explode. If that happens, I will lose my mom and Taylor" he whispered, his voice breaking." I can't have their blood on my hands."
"6 minutes." McNeal said, as he watched Ana sink onto her chair, while endless tears flowed down her face.
At one point, the room started to spin before her very eyes, feeling as if she wanted to throw up right there.
Ana felt like she was experiencing a Déjà vu. This is EXACTLY how she felt, when Christian got shot not so long ago.
"4 minutes." Ana heard McNeal say from afar, as she tumbled into darkness.
.
Ana slowly opened her eyes, and felt like her head wanted to explode! As she sat up, she saw that she was lying on her couch.
'How did I end up here again?' she thought right then, brows furrowed.
And then her eyes landed on the rest of her living room, so messy with paper here and there on her tables, the computers and cables on the floor.
Then, realization hit her like a ton of bricks... Oh, God! Christian!
She immediately jumped up from the couch, and searched frantically for a sign from Christian.
'Where the heck is McNeal?'
"McNeal! McNeal, where are you?!" she shouted, and looked everywhere in her apartment for him.
"He's gone, Ana... and I'm sure we won't be hearing from him till Leila gives us the clues to the 2nd bomb." Ana heard a very familiar voice say from behind her.
In response, her hands started to tremble heavily, while tears streamed down her face, afraid to turn around to see him.
"Ana?" he whispered.
She slowly turned around, and saw Christian still in his all-black clothing. He had taken off of his mask, and smiled lovingly at her." Are you alright, Ana?"
As it dawned on her that she almost had lost him, she shook her head in response." That was a close call. Don't EVER do that again, Christian" She ordered, lips trembling.
He let out a deep breath in response." I can't promise you that, Ana. I can't let them die" Christian said with a sad expression on his face." As you know, I cannot ask the Police for help, because if I do, my mom and Taylor will die"
Ana shook her head furiously, as she walked towards him. When she stood right in front of him, all she craved was to feel his arms around her.
"I was so afraid, Christian! I thought you were gonna die! Can't you see how…" Ana began, but stopped mid-sentence.
As he observed her, his heart ached tremendously. Christian also thought that he was about to die, and that he was never going to see the woman he loved again.
Yes, the woman he loved...
"I'm sorry, Ana... I'm so sorry that you're hurting." he said." I'm sorry for causing you all the pain. But please understand that I have to do it."
As he noticed that her whole body trembled, Christian desperately wanted to pull her in a tight embrace. And God, it hurt him so badly to know that he was the reason of Ana being in this state.
"If all of this is getting too much for you, you can uhumm go, you know." he whispered, and lovingly cupped her face with one hand." I'll finish the job together with McNeal."
Ana threw him a deadly glare in response." Over my dead body."
He knew that she wasn't joking. Ana would rather go through all of this again, than let him do the 'job' without her.
As he looked into her beautiful, blue eyes, his heart started to flutter inside his chest.
"Hold me?" he heard her ask, and that's exactly what he did...
Note: Thanks a lot for reading my work and the feedback.
J