Hey guys,
a little warning in advance: I want this story to focus on Spike and Ed, so I don't know how much I'll write about the actual case and the rest of Team One.
Here's the next chapter, enjoy!
People often say there is an oddly quiet and calm moment right before something happens. Before everything goes south. Greg Parker now understood exactly what they meant.
The force of the explosion blew out every single window from the first to the top floor on the right side of the building. Dust and shards of glass along with concrete flew in every direction, as the rest of Team One and the Metro Police covered their heads and ducked behind their cars.
It couldn't have been more than 30 seconds, before the dust began to settle and it was quiet again. Heads popped up, police officers were checking on each other and calling EMS.
There was a moment of shocked silence, where no member of Team One was able to say anything, except stare wide-eyed at the collapsed building where their friends were now buried under.
'Is everyone okay?', Greg asked after pulling himself out of his stupor. He looked around to check on his own team.
'No harm!', the others said almost synchronously.
Sam's hand already flew to his radio. 'Ed, Spike? Come in.' Silence was the only answer he got.
'We have to get the fire department here, every available person! I don't care whether they have a day off or a limb missing. We need everyone right here, to get our men out!', Greg shouted partly to Inspector Barts and partly into his headset addressing Peter.
'We want the perimeter secured and we need to find out how that bomb got there! Who planted it and for what purpose.', he turned to his team. They all looked understandably worried, but he knew they would keep it together for Ed's and Spike's sake.
They were professionals after all.
'Wordy, keep trying to raise them via headset. Sam and Lew, find out about their last known position and the structure of that building, if it's safe to start digging. Jules, find me everything on those gangs, the ongoing case about the murdered gang member and their relations with bombs.'
Team One quickly went to work just as three ambulances and the first fire department truck arrived.
Spike slowly came to the second time that day.
He didn't feel much of anything at first. Then there was an unpleasant tickle in the back of his throat and he involuntarily started coughing.
The contractions in his stomach and chest triggered a burning pain, as he lay in gray darkness hacking up half a lung. His head throbbed and he felt like he had gone five rounds in a tumbler on high speed.
When he was finally able to breathe normally again he groaned. Trying to remember what exactly happened he ignored the dizziness and fire in his stomach the best he could and instead focussed on his surroundings.
There was debris and dust everywhere. He lay between and on top of some rubble and hard concrete. Small stones were pricking his arms and back, but he hardly felt them as another thought suddenly had is mind in an iron grip.
He didn't come here alone. Ed was with him, when the building collapsed. His team was also on the scene. He hoped to God the rest of the them made it out in time.
He lifted his left arm to touch the spot on his ear, where his headset would normally sit, only to find it empty.
'Gone, must have been blown away in the explosion.', he took a deep breath to calm himself.
'I need to find Ed. Don't just lie around here, Scarlatti. Move it!'
Selfmotivation could do wonders. Or the thought of a friend in a potentially life-threatening condition.
He lay his left hand protectively over the gunshot wound in his stomach, as he moved his other arm behind him in an effort to prop himself up on his elbow. The wound was bleeding sluggishly and he grimaced in pain.
'Aaaargh, shit!'
He steered his thoughts away from the agony and instead focussed on finding Ed and making sure he wasn't hurt or worse, dead.
Propped up on his right elbow and leaning slightly to the right, he first got a good look at his lower half. Spike's right leg was buried under what looked like a ton of debris to him.
Without giving it much thought, he started pulling it out from under the rubble and regretted it instantly.
A blood-curdling scream tore from his throat and his eyes filled with tears, as he slumped back to the ground. This pain was very different from the one in his abdomen.
It was sharper and centered, whereas the ache from the gunshot wound felt diffuse and dull.
'Got a broken leg to top it all off. Today's my lucky day.', he thought sarcastically as he clenched his teeth and tried to control his breathing.
After a good minute or two he stopped shaking.
The weakness he felt after he was shot and before he and Ed were blown up was almost completely gone. Courtesy of the new adrenaline pumping through his veins.
'Great. So moving is not an option. Maybe I can see a little more with the lights on.'
He started moving his hand to the right upper pocket of his tac vest, only to find it gone.
'No, dammit! Ed must have removed it, to get a better look at the gunshot wound. What is actually wrong with today?', he thought to himself bitterly. He wanted to yell in frustration about his uselessness.
'I'm lying around here, totally incapable of doing anything good, while Ed along with the rest of the team might have been crushed to death.'
'Ed!', he called out. If he could neither move nor see, at least he could shout. Maybe that would get him a response. 'Ed, can you hear me?'
Silence was the only answer he got. Spike never felt so lost before in his life.
Bit of a mean cliffhanger, sorry guys. Please let me know what you think. :) Reviews make me very happy.