Chapter 3: Explosion

Spike stood back, watching in shock, as Sam defied the order to stand down given by Greg. The subject not only had a grenade in his hand, but C4 strapped to his chest. If the grenade dropped, the C4 would blow, taking out the entire bridge, and the team with it.

"He's within 20 feet; even with body armor, he's way too close."

Spike was starting to get frustrated with Sam. Greg had given him a direct order to fall back and he was blatantly ignoring it. Sometimes Sam had too big of a head on his shoulders, that had nothing to do with ego. He was simply too stubborn and too willing to give people, especially soldiers or ex-soldiers, too many chances sometimes. He had a heart three sizes too big.

Spike knew that Sam would never forget the day Lou died; none of them who were there that day would. Losing a team member so violently was never something you just got over and went on from.

But he was still too close.

In the several moments that he was forced to watch Sam negotiate with the man, Spike flashed back to the day Lou had died. The day his brother-in-arms, his best friend, had sacrificed his own life to save so many others; not just the team.

After some negotiation, Sergeant Robert Gray had surrendered, handing the unpinned grenade to Sam. Despite the gesture, it wasn't Sergeant Gray Spike was mad at; it was Sam. Sam knew when to back down and when to stop talking. But he hadn't listened to Greg. He had put himself in a dangerous position, risking his life, and for what? To prove to the subject, man-to-man, that he, too, was a soldier and knew the feeling of guilt, of regret, of "what-if"?

Adele could see something was wrong, the moment Spike walked through the door. Sometimes he came home upset, sometimes he came home satisfied, sometimes he came home happy. He rarely came home angry.

To her alarm, he slammed the door, then kicked off his boots.

"Spike," Adele said, alarmed. She glanced behind herself briefly, listening for sounds from the twins upstairs in their nursery, listening to see if the noise had awoken them. But it was quiet. "What happened?"

Spike sank onto the couch. "It's Sam."

"Is he alright? Did something happen?" Adele asked.

"He's fine," Spike said irritably. "I'm just pissed at him."

"Why? What did he do?"

"He disobeyed a direct order to fall back."

Adele's eyes widened. She knew Sam was an ex-soldier, so for him to disobey a direct order was huge. Her mother had been an Army brat, so she knew you didn't disobey a direct order, ever.

"What did he do?" Adele repeated.

"The subject had a grenade with no pin in it in his hand," said Spike, "and C4 strapped to his chest. If that grenade had dropped, the C4 would have blown, taking the entire bridge, and all of us, down with it."

Adele, rendered speechless, simply shook her head.

"But you're all alright, right?" Adele asked. "And he will receive some sort of consequences for his actions?"

"Ed and Greg both talked to him and warned him that, if it ever happened again, he would get a permanent mark on his record. That got through that thick skull of his," Spike snapped.

Adele nodded. "But that's not what this comes down to, is it?"

Spike met her gaze, then, to her alarm, tears welled up his eyes and rolled down his face.

"Spike..." Adele whispered, alarmed. "Talk to me, babe."

"No," Spike choked through his tears. "I'm mad at Lew, Adele. Because he put his life on the line and lost his life to save others."

Adele nodded and waited patiently for Spike to say more.

"Sam told the sergeant to forgive himself for what happened to his wife, that it wasn't his fault she died. To forgive himself, not for the soldiers, not for his friends, but for him," said Spike.

Adele gently grasped his shoulders. "So forgive yourself, Spike, about Lew," she whispered. "Forgiving yourself doesn't mean you're going on and just forgetting about him. It means you're letting things turn out okay."

At these words, Spike let Adele cradle him, as he sobbed heartily. After a few minutes, his sobs quieted. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a letter.

"This just in," he said quietly, after taking a deep breath, "latest news from Italy."

Adele grinned. "Your mother is single-handedly keeping the post office in business."

"This time she waits till the third line before asking when I'm coming to visit," said Spike.

"Huh," Adele said, smiling.

Spike grinned coyly. "You wanna be my wingman?"

Adele smiled. "What's in it for me?" she teased him.

"All the homemade wine you can drink," Spike said.

"I'm listening," Adele said, eyeing him curiously.

"Oh yeah?"

"Yeah," Adele said, grinning enticingly.

Spike rolled over groggily when his alarm went off at 7am on June 8, 2012. Sam and Jules' wedding day had arrived. They were to tie the knot at 10am.

Spike kissed Adele's forehead, and she stirred.

"Mm, hey, good morning," she murmured sleepily.

"Good morning, bella," said Spike, smiling. "I love waking up to the sight of you every morning."

Adele smiled. "Me too. Can I ask why they picked today?"

"It's the only day Sam's dad could be here," Spike said, stroking her face. "I'm sorry you can't be there."

Adele shrugged. "Me too, but duty calls."

"As does mine, but at least I get to be in on all the fun stuff first," Spike teased her.

"Shut up. I hate that I'm missing it all," Adele whined. She laughed and hit him with a pillow. They got up and she watched him get dressed. She smiled as she laced up his bow-tie for him.

"You know, reception's at the Party Boat tonight," said Spike, looking down at her. "We could bring the twins, then you wouldn't have to miss all of it."

He leaned down and kissed her goodbye. "Take lots of pictures," said Adele. "I'll stop by and check them out on my coffee break."

"You got it," said Spike, smiling as he headed downstairs and out the door.

Adele breathed a sigh of relief as the clock turned to 11:30 a.m. and her lunch break arrived. She decided to stop by the barn and see Spike and check out the wedding photos he had promised to take.

After getting cleared through security, Adele made her way over to the barn. Winnie sat at the desk, answering incoming calls.

"Hey, Adele," Winnie said, smiling. "You have good timing. No hot calls yet. Team One's just hanging out."

Adele smiled. "How are you, Winnie?" she asked.

"I'm great," said Winnie. "Living the dream."

"Me too," said Adele, smiling. "I have a great husband, great kids, and I get to be with animals all day— even if they may not like me all the time."

"Which one?" Spike teased her, coming up and hugging her in greeting. Adele and Winnie laughed. "Hey, how are the animals today?"

"Well, I almost brought a case home with me," said Adele.

"Meaning she wants to take the animal home with her. Which, I might add, is a daily occurrence," Spike translated to the team, as hugs went around.

"His shelter name is Phil, he's five years old, purebred Chihuahua. His owner kept him locked up in a garage before finally surrendering him to us today," said Adele. "I don't understand how someone could just lock up such a sweet animal. He's shy, but sweet. I can't keep my hands off him."

Spike smiled. "Do I take it we are getting a dog?" he asked.

"Maybe," said Adele, smiling. "We'll see."

Winnie could tell Adele wanted a few minutes alone with Spike, so she excused herself to go get some more coffee.

"Spike, mind covering for me for a minute? Need a refill," said Winnie, holding up her coffee mug.

"Sure thing, Winnie," said Spike, as he sat down in the rolling chair at the desk. Adele pulled up another chair, as he pulled out his phone.

"Aw!" Adele gushed, looking at the photos. "Man, getting married, then going to work; that is... dedication. I wish I could have been there."

"Me too."

"Spike, you were there," Adele said, grinning.

"No, I mean I wish you could have been there, too, too," said Spike.

"Too, too?" Adele asked.

"Too, too, as in, too, also," Spike corrected himself, grinning.

"Gotcha," said Adele, grinning.

"Do you want to grab a bite with me?" Spike asked, as they concluded looking at the photos and Winnie returned with her coffee.

"No, sorry, babe, I can't," said Adele, giving Winnie back her chair. "I only have ten minutes to get back to work. I really just stopped by to say hi and see how it went. I gotta go check out a property. But I'll see you after shift, okay?"

Spike nodded.

"SRU. Hey, Nina, what's going on?" Winnie listened as someone spoke on the line. Then she turned to Team One. "911's got a problem." Adele paused, listening, as the rest of the team walked over to the desk. "Nina, I've got Team One here."

"It's some kind of device in a box, in our server room. It's got exposed wires and a blinking light," said Nina.

"Was it left in plain sight?" Ed asked.

"No. No, it was concealed in one of our server cabinets. We only found it when we went to do a reboot."

"Get any non-essential staff out of there," said Greg. "We're on our way."

Spike and Adele stood up together.

"Winnie, call Stainton, get him to see if there's a spike in terrorist chatter," said Ed.

"You got it," said Winnie.

Adele looked over at Spike. "Spike? Just... you know."

"I'm always careful," Spike assured her, before going to the gun cage.

The city had been receiving complaints for a few weeks about terrible smells coming from this property; it was making the neighbors sick. They had mentioned the smells of manure, animals, ammonia, and moldy, wet hay. Under probable cause of animal abuse, Adele had obtained a warrant to search the property and see what was going on. Maybe rescue some animals from potential harm and poor living conditions.

Halfway to the property, Adele realized she had forgotten her wallet on her desk.

"Dammit," she muttered, turning the car around.

Without it, even presenting the warrant, she couldn't show I.D. and proof of who she was, and that she had the right to search the premises. She shook her head; the threat of these bombs was really getting to her. Not that she could really help it; every day, her husband went out into the field, not knowing if he would live to see the sunset. Adele thought it was curious how it bothered her more than it bothered Spike.

Spike, meanwhile, had diffused the bomb at the hidden 911 call center and was posted there, helping Greg track down who the bomber was, while the rest of the team were helping the EMTs with the wounded, searching for survivors, and profiling.

As Adele parked in her slot at City Hall at 11:55a.m., she turned up the radio, overhearing news about a bomb exploding at the Health and Welfare Center. She listened to the report, then pulled out her cell phone from her purse and dialed Spike. It went straight to voicemail.

"Hey, you've reached me. Leave a message..."

She shook her head; she knew better. Of course it went straight to voicemail. The city was under threat of live bombs. He was in the field, doing his job. All she could do was get back to her job, focus on her work, and hope to hear back from him eventually.

She looked from her phone to her purse several times, before finally deciding to call SRU Headquarters.

Winnie answered. "SRU."

"Hey, Winnie, it's Adele. What's going on? The radio's talking about live bombs and Spike's not answering his phone," Adele said. Her clock read 12:01p.m. She knew she was late coming back from lunch to get to the property, but with what the radio was reporting, she was worried about Spike. Being a few minutes late would be worth being reassured by Winnie.

"He's alright, he's in the field," said Winnie. "Did you make it back to work?"

"Yeah, I just got here. Forgot my wallet," said Adele. She got out of her car and opened the door to take the stairs up to the main floor. "Could you please have him call me as soon as he can?"

"Will do."

"Thanks, Winnie," said Adele, before hanging up.

Just as she hung up, the earth shook as an explosion rocked the parking garage, burying Adele's car in concrete. Adele was thrown up the stairwell and landed hard, on her side, on the stairs. Groaning in pain, Adele began to get up, when a beam broke off the ceiling and fell, hitting her in the shoulder and knocking her to the ground. Her head made contact with the stairs, and everything went black.