The Disbanded: Divided We Stand-Chapter 3
By MyNameIsCAB
--Max's POV--
"Max, you have to finish those reports by tomorrow," Captain Ramirez told me.
"Yea, I know Captain," I sighed. "They'll be on your desk in the morning."
He smiled. "Like always."
I nodded. "Sure, like always."
"Well, lock the doors before you go home," he said, throwing me the keys. "I trust you now."
I smiled at the captain and watched him leave before I went onto the database that had the information of every single US citizen. I knew Fang wasn't going to come up so first, I typed in Nick.
But of course, there was millions and millions of Nicks in the entire US. Even Nick Markakis was on there, Baltimore Orioles' outfielder that Fang talked about every once in a while. I wondered if Fang was still following baseball.
After three hours of looking at Nicks at the age of 17, I gave up. It was going to be impossible to find the Nick I wanted. I didn't even know if that was the name Fang was really using. He probably chose a different name. I guess I was hopeless.
So I finished my report and put it on the captain's desk before heading to my apartment. I crawled into bed, thinking about where my Fang could be.
My pager woke me up around five in the morning. I had only managed to get five hours of sleep, which was pretty normal for me these days. Captain Ramirez must have found where Dan "D-Man" Johnson was. He was one of our most wanted drug dealers around the Massachusetts area.
I arrived at our headquarters a few minutes later and Ramirez was briefing the team.
"Hey."
That was Ted Messina. Messina as everyone called him on the team. He was seventeen, the youngest on the team after me, only a year older.
"Hey, Ted," I smiled. Depending on my mood was what I called him. Sometimes it was random.
I liked Ted a lot. He was quiet and reminded me a lot of Fang, but he could never be the guy Fang was. Fang was the guy I had fallen in love with, the guy I madly wanted and needed to find.
"So he found Johnson?" I asked.
"Yep," he nodded. "He's just in a town a couple hours from Boston."
"All right, cool," I said, realizing what I said was probably sounded so stupid.
Messina nodded, and looked up at the map Captain Ramirez was pointing at.
We drove quietly into the town, towards an abandoned warehouse that was next to some kind of rehabilitation center that was part of a hospital. We were supposed to do our job under the radar. It wasn't supposed to be big like headline news for tomorrow's papers.
"Messina, pull over to the side there," Chuck said. He was our navigator and spent most of the time in our truck checking out the schematics of buildings and how to get in and out safely. Rarely would you see him out in the field with a gun.
"Okay," Messina cruised the car over to the side of the building. There were lights on inside. "Looks like D-Man is here."
"Let's go," I whispered.
Messina turned the engine off and handed the keys to Chuck.
"Hey, come back in one piece, kid," Chuck said with his heavy New York accent. "And you too Max."
Chuck always said that to us. Messina and I usually just smiled.
"Okay, enter through the door straight ahead," Chuck told us and the rest of the team.
"We ain't gonna go through the ceiling?" Carter joked.
"No, Carter," Chuck frowned.
"Yeah, Carter, shut up!" Will chimed in.
"Enough!" Barry was always fed up with Carter and Will. They were always arguing. I wondered if the captain would ever accept Chuck's request to have the assigned to different units.
"Let's go," I repeated.
Messina, the good listener, always followed me. It was funny how we were the youngest, yet the captain had put us in charge. Eventually, the others quieted down and we headed towards the door, our guns at the ready and our bullet proof vests snug around us.
"On my go," Messina whispered, winking at me. He used his fingers to count down and then uttered, "Go."
Will bust the door open, and he scanned the area. D-Man was piling bags of drugs into his car.
"Stay away!" D-Man shouted, pointed his gun at Will.
Messina and I moved in and we opened fire, getting D-Man in the leg. His gun fell out of his hands and slid across the floor and out of reach.
"Cuff him," Messina ordered Barry.
I moved in on the car, checking to make sure it wasn't wired with a bomb or anything.
"Shit..." There was a bomb planted, counting down to from thirty seconds. "Ted! BOMB!"
"Get outta here!" Messina shouted, running towards the door. I could here Chuck ask what was going on in my earpiece, but I didn't answer. I helped Barry drag D-Man out the door just as the building exploded.
"Everyone, check in!" I heard Messina scream.
"Barry here," Barry muttered into his com.
"Yea, Ted, I'm fine," I said next.
Will checked in, but I didn't hear anything from Carter.
"Where's Carter?" I heard Chuck ask through my ear piece.
Messina got to his feet and looked around. "Carter, do you copy?"
There was no response.
"There's no signal from his com," Chuck buzzed in our ears.
"MAX!"
I turned around, Carter staggered out of the blaze.
"Ted, call in back up!" I shouted, running over to Carter. "We gotta get him to the hospital."
"Max…" Carter let out another breath and then collapsed into my arms.
Carter was taken to the hospital. The rest of us loaded D-Man into the back of a truck that would take him back to headquarters for questioning and then his prosecution would happen.
"Captain Ramirez needs Will, Barry, and Chuck back at headquarters ASAP," Messina informed us as we stood around the back of our truck. "Max and I are on damage control. We've got to keep this whole thing on the down low."
"Why do you two get to stay?" Will protested.
"Because that's what the captain said," Messina snapped. "Now get into the truck and get out of here. It won't look good if D-Man Johnson gets to headquarters before you."
Chuck got into the drivers seat, gave a half hearted salute to me with a smile, and drove off as soon as Will and Barry closed the doors. I watched the car fade into the distance.
"Come on, we gotta go to the hospital," Messina said.
I nodded, and followed him to a car that was waiting for us.
