My Way
Ch. 2
Flashback
"5 George 31 copies, we got a Code 3 at Market and 2nd, we're on our way." Nash acknowledged the call from the dispatcher as he threw a quick glance over his left shoulder to make sure nobody was blocking the other lane, onto which he steered the car, while Joe was putting the police lights onto the dashboard.
It's been a pretty quiet afternoon, and they had just been on their way to meet Stacy for some late lunch, as they got the call. A guy with a bomb. So he didn't care about the several red street lights they flew past on their way to the location, not even noticing how Joe had to steady himself against the door frame a couple of times, in order to remain seated on the passenger seat right beneath him.
When the Cuda eventually came to a halt with screeching tires and Nash immediately got out of seat, walking over to the officer in charge, Joe could barely keep up with his partner. But since he figured that all Nash would wanna do for now was gathering all the facts he could get, he didn't mind trailing a few steps behind and only caught up with Nash just as the officer introduced himself.
"Inspector, I'm Jack Thomas, I was put in charge of this situation."
"Okay, then I guess you're probably someone who can tell me a little bit more about it, other than what we already know. What's going on in there?", Nash asked, as he walked with the man, and pointed his thumb over at the building across the street, which obviously seemed to be the one in which the bomb was located, since everybody was making it a point to stay away from it.
After giving the building another once over, Jack directed his attention back at Nash and Joe, who had now stopped beside him. When he spoke up, his voice was all business, yet with a hint of a tremble in it.
"The man has locked himself up in there, and it looks like he's got some kind of explosive with him. So far we haven't been able to speak to him, so we don't exactly know what he's got. But someone who saw him go in, said it looked like C4, and enough of it to blow the house "to hell and back" as he put it. Until we get him on the phone we'll treat it as a bomb threat, nobody goes in before we know more."
Nash nodded shortly, knowing the standard procedure well enough to realize that officer standing right here in front of him was in head over heels, a young guy and obviously more than eager to play it by the book, probably trying to earn himself a medal if it played out okay. And if it didn't, well then there was most likely somebody else to be found to blame for it. And he wouldn't be surprised if the guy even tried to pin it on them. Oh how he loved the inner departmental policies...
Having heard enough to know that he'd only feel more comfortable about this whole thing, once he was in on it, Nash decided to offer his help, and the best help right now was to put the pieces of the puzzle together, so that they would have a clear picture to look at. He knew from personal experience that it was always easier and also less risky if you knew what you were dealing with.
"Alright, how about the other people inside? Did you get everybody out?" he asked, since he was certain, that if they still had people in there, this could get even uglier than it already was, and fast.
"Almost. Those downstairs were out first, and we could get everybody out the backside from the third floor, now all that's left is the middle one, the one our man is on. There may be somebody still in there, but we don't know for sure." Jack paused for a second to take a quick breath, before he nervously exhaled, "but like I said, I won't sent anybody in there to look, it's too risky."
Too risky.
When Joe now remembered those words, they had an even more bitter taste than the salty tears that burned in his eyes as he walked back to his seat. And he couldn't help shivering at the thought, that whenever it had been too risky in the past, you could have bet your life that Nash was never too far away...