Chapter 162: Back With A Bang
Maria laughs when suddenly a large explosion is heard and the entire building shakes…
Instinctually holding her arms out to try to steady herself, a look of worry appears on Maria's face "What was that?"
"Jamie." Eddie breathes out in fear as she bolts out of her chair and races out the office door with Maria now hot on her heels but a second later Eddie stops and looks out over the bullpen taking stock because with Jamie not there, she was in charge…
"Is everybody okay?"
"Yeah." "What was that?" people question.
"Don't know." Eddie admits "But we need to find out so here's what's gonna happen…"
….
1 minute earlier
"Don't go boom." Danny repeats as he and then Jamie walk into the stairwell to see it only dimly lit by the emergency light so they both pull out and click on their flashlights "What does she think this is?" he prompts his brother as they begin to walk down the stairs "The season finale of some TV show that needs a cliffhanger?"
"She's just trying to keep her mind off of Jessie." Jamie reasons "Where is this generator anyway?"
Danny glances back at his brother as they keep walking "Um the basement? I'm surprised you didn't know that. I thought for sure the second you were transferred here you would have memorized the entire schematics of the precinct."
"If you remember, I may have been too busy trying to keep my wife and brother from killing each other." Jamie sarcastically tosses back.
"Oh please…" Danny sneers in rejection "…it wasn't that bad."
At hearing that, Jamie lifts his flashlight off the floor and shines it on the back of Danny's head causing him to turn and look behind him and the second he does he immediately regrets his actions as he slams his eyes closed and a hand springs up to block the light out
"What are you trying to do?" Danny spits at his brother "Blind me and make me fall down the stairs!"
"You turned to look at the light." Jamie simply deflects as he drops the beam back down to the ground to again lead their path "Not me."
Suddenly an explosion is heard and the entire building shakes as both men on instinct reach out to the railing to grab on and steady themselves.
"What the hell was that?" Danny spits out.
"Eddie." Jamie breathes out as he is about to climb back up the stairs but Danny reaches a hand out to stop him "No." he rejects "It came from below us – and to the right. The bullpen is the other direction."
Jamie realizes his brother is right "Let's go." He prompts as both men then pick up their pace as they hurry down the stairs most likely running straight into danger…
They get to the bottom and Danny puts a hand on the door "Doesn't feel hot." He notes as he looks at Jamie and Jamie looks at him.
They nod at each other then take deep breathes to ready themselves before Danny slowly turns the knob and cracks the door open to peer inside. A second later he swings the door wide open and steps through with Jamie to see absolutely nothing out of the ordinary "Okay…" he breathes out confused as they both scan the entire perimeter of the space with their eyes "Explosion wasn't down here…"
"East exit." Jamie realizes so they turn and head back into the stairwell and start to climb back up but a second later they hear Eddie's voice repeatedly call "JAMIE! JAMIE!" from above them as Eddie and Maria rush into the stairwell pulling their own flashlights out and start to hurry down the steps.
"WE'RE OKAY!" Jamie calls back "IS EVERYONE OKAY UP THERE?"
"Yeah everyone is fine." Eddie replies in relief as the two pairs meet somewhere in the middle.
"Any idea what happened?" Maria inquires.
"No." Danny admits "Nothing in the basement."
"Sounded like maybe out the east exit." Jamie adds "We were about to check it out." He reveals when suddenly another explosion is heard and felt but this time coming from the opposite side of the building.
"Okay what hell is going on already?" Danny demands as once again everyone reaches out to steady themselves.
"This isn't a random accident." Jamie realizes as everyone looks at one another and fear plays in all their eyes.
"Terrorists?" Maria questions.
"That target a police precinct?" Danny rejects "1PP sure but not a run of the mill police precinct." He reiterates before pausing "At least I hope."
"Come on." Jamie prompts "We need to figure out what we are dealing with."
"And fast." Eddie adds when all four of their phones ding with emergency alert messages so they all pause to pull their devices out and look.
"Precinct evacuation protocols." Jamie reads "Let's go."
….
The foursome make their way outside the precinct to see organized chaos with not only all their coworkers exiting the building but prisoners in cuffs and the FDNY showing up on scene too.
They see the patrol sector of the precinct setting up a perimeter and the captain of the house talking to a group of department heads as the mobile command unit is being set up.
"Excuse me." Jamie states as he starts to move away from Eddie, Danny and Maria "Be right back - maybe." He adds as he heads over to join the group.
Eddie, Danny and Maria watch him leave then Danny shakes his head "Something doesn't add up here – I mean I'm not even sure what this is but I just have this feeling."
"Me too." Eddie slowly admits.
Maria turns to look at Eddie "Let me guess, you have that Reagan gut feeling now too?"
Eddie turns to look at Maria "And you don't?" She challenges.
Maria lifts her head thinking "Power goes out…" She narrates out loud "Then two explosions…" She adds before a silence over comes her "Yeah that's all I got."
Eddie lifts a hand and lightly pats Maria on the shoulder "We'll get you there." She promises when suddenly Danny leans slightly forward towards both women.
"Yeah well not for nothing but that's all I got too." He admits "Nothing."
Eddie turns to look at Danny "Really?" She challenges "That's it? Nothing?"
Danny nods.
"From you?" Eddie prods.
Danny shrugs.
"The best 1st grade Detective we have?" Eddie prompts before glancing at Maria "No offense."
Maria shrugs knowing what Eddie is trying to do so Eddie turns her attention back to Danny "Think harder if you want to keep that title." She instructs with a bit of a low growl really needing to give him that extra little push he needs to get those wheels turning in his brain to solve this one…
….
"Nice of you join us Reagan." The Captain remarks upon Jamie's arrival "Just diving up assignments as we wait for bomb squad."
…..
Deep in thought with his mind now working overtime, Danny stares at the building "We didn't actually check the generator." He realizes.
"What does that matter now?" Maria counters.
"To see if it was tampered with." Danny reasons.
Eddie studies her brother in law's face "Oh no." She rejects in realization "Sure I need you to solve this but you are not going back in there to check! There could be another bomb."
Danny tosses that around in his mind "Well I hadn't thought of going back in…" He admits as Jamie walks back up "Okay bomb squad is on the way." Jamie announces "Both explosions were actually just outside the building not inside, but until bomb squad does a full sweep no one is allowed back in."
Hearing this new information Danny looks up in yet more thought. He begins surveying the scene around him looking at things in a new light then without warning he just starts for the building entrance.
"HEY!" Jamie calls "Where are you going?"
"A hunch!" Danny calls back.
"Orders are to stay put Detective!" Jamie commands.
"So give me a RIP!" Danny defiantly returns.
"Honest to god." Jamie grumbles in pure annoyance as he moves to follow.
"Hey!" Eddie calls in unhappy protest to her husband "And just where do you think you're going?"
"With Danny." Jamie calls back.
"Well not without me you're not!" Eddie rejects as she moves to follow but Jamie abruptly stops walking at hearing that and whips around to face his wife causing her to stop walking too.
"Yes." He reiterates "Without you. We both can't go in there Eddie and you know why."
Eddie sucks in an unhappy breath of air knowing he means for Jessie's sake "UGH!" She grunts out in defeat before pointing a warning finger at her husband "Do NOT get yourselves blown up!"
"Please stop saying that." Maria mutters to her Sergeant next to her.
"We'll do our best." Jamie calls back before turning to jog after his brother "DANNY!" he calls "Wait up!"
"Honest to Pete." Eddie unhappily states as she turns to face Maria "I get Danny into the zone and then I have to stay on the sidelines?"
Maria sighs "Welcome to my world."
"HEY!" The Captain calls as he spots Danny and Jamie heading for the door of the building "WHERE ARE YOU GOING?"
But Danny and Jamie disappear inside without answering so The Captain turns his attention to Eddie and Maria "WHERE ARE THEY GOING?" He demands.
Eddie snaps her head in the direction of her ultimate precinct boss and gulps as she tries to come up with a way to answer that because as miffed as she might be at her husband and brother in law at the moment, she will always have their backs…
….
"What is the one thing these bombs going off accomplished?" Danny questions backward to his brother as he pushes the door open while Jamie hurries to catch up to him.
Jamie thinks about his brother's words "Emptied the building out."
"Exactly." Danny reasons as they both enter "Why?" Danny then questions as his eyes immediately begin scanning as he walks with a very specific destination in mind "What is in a police precinct that one can only get too when no one else is around?"
Jamie impatiently rolls his eyes as he follows "That list is endless Danny."
"Evidence Jamie." Danny states providing the answer to his own question "Evidence."
Jamie cringes in realization "And narcotics just had that big drug bust."
"Exactly." Danny confirms.
"But to set up and detonate bombs around a police precinct to do it?" Jamie challenges.
"It's ballsy." Danny admits but a second later they hear a noise up ahead so Danny's hand spring up in a fist as a signal to stop so heeding the warning Danny and Jamie stop talking and walking as they silently draw their weapons then cautiously move forward.
They peek around a corner to look towards the door to the evidence room to see the electronic lock and handle blown off.
"And that's why they needed the power out." Danny deduces in a whisper to his brother.
"Yup." Jamie agrees "Because doing that with the power on would set off the alarm. Okay so they got in the mayhem…" Jamie reasons as he starts to think this through "Now how do they plan to get out? They can't just walk out carrying bags of drugs - even with everything going on out there it's nothing but wall to wall cops – they'll get noticed."
Suddenly a guy wearing a FDNY fire protection suit comes into view through the window into the evidence room and the brother's see him begin to stuff bundles of drugs into the waist of his pants – the bulkiness of the bundles disappearing due to the design of the suits.
"That's how." Danny deduces with a sigh as he points forward.
A look of pure unhappiness appears on Jamie's face at seeing what his brother sees "Well not on my watch." Jamie rejects as he pulls out his phone and begins to dial "You know this would have been a lot easier with the coms."
"Well who knew we needed to wear them in our own house!" Danny tosses back as Jamie lifts his phone to his ear and waits for his call to be answered.
"I count six of them." Danny notes to his brother before pondering their options and ever the cowboy, he prompts "We could probably just take them ourselves."
"Two against six? Um no." Jamie rejects "Not when we have a whole house of cops outside waiting to help." He adds before talking into his phone "Hey Eddie listen up…"
….
"Okay got it." Eddie states into her phone as she makes a beeline for the captain "CAPTAIN!" she calls.
"Bit busy Sergeant." The Captain bites back.
"I have Lieutenant Reagan Sir." Eddie presses "And trust me, you're gonna want to talk to him."
Grunting in frustration, the Captain swipes the phone out of Eddie's hand and puts it to his ear "You better have a damn good reason for disobeying my orders!" but after listening a moment, The Captain begins to pay very close and serious attention...
"Okay let them exit the building…" The Captain instructs "We'll be ready." He adds before handing Eddie back her phone "Stay on point." He instructs her before looking up and out "Okay people, listen up!" he commands but as he starts barking orders and directions - back inside the building Jamie and Danny watch as one of the guys in the evidence room suddenly pulls out his phone to answer it.
"Talk to me!" the guy commands.
The guy listens a moment then "Shit!" comes out of his mouth before hanging up "Okay plan B people! The cops know we are here!" he reveals as Jamie and Danny's faces make surprised expressions at hearing that.
"How?" Another fake fire fighter inquires voicing the exact same question Jamie and Danny themselves have…
"Doesn't matter." The apparent would be leader of the group dismisses as he lifts his phone and begins to compose a text "Only thing that matters is that we are ready to move as soon as we get direction on our escape route so tic toc people!" he commands before hitting send and pocketing his phone.
Hearing that Jamie and Danny turn to look at one another and both narrow their eyes in the same thought so Jamie moves his still connected cell phone back to his ear "Eddie…" He whispers "Look around out there – they must have eyes outside in the crowd feeding them information because they know you'll be waiting for them and are switching to plan B."
"Plan B." Eddie repeats "What's Plan B?"
"I don't know yet…" Jamie "But we can't tip them off that we know one exists."
"Copy." Eddie states in understand "Standby." She requests as she moves to the Captain's side "Captain… She urgently prompts with a knock of her head to the side "A word?"
So Eddie and the Captain take a step to the side, have a private little exchange then the Captain nods at Eddie and Eddie nods back at him before they separate and Eddie lifts her phone back to her ear as she walks away talking while gesturing for Maria and other Detectives from the squad to gather together and when they do Eddie again lowers her phone.
"Okay…" Eddie begins to the group "Someone out here is feeding information via cell to the perps still inside so let's spread out, keep our eyes open, our intentions hidden and nab this bastard discretely because for all we know there is more then one of them, got it? Text me with anything suspicious."
"Copy that." "You got it Boss." "On it." Detectives return before everyone breaks apart and spreads out.
…..
With all the Detectives eyes scanning the crowd it doesn't take long before Maria spots someone suspicious looking so she sends a text to Eddie
M: Caucasian male. Blue ball cap, light gray tshirt blue jeans.
E: On way
But looking up right then, the guy spots Maria looking right at him. For a moment their eyes lock but then the guy turns and tries to nonchalantly but still a bit hurriedly disappear into the ever growing crowd of people when suddenly Eddie steps in front blocking his path "Don't even think about it." Eddie warns with a cocked head, a challenging look and a slide of her blazer jacket out of the way with her hand to reveal her Sergeant shield clipped to her waist.
The guy abruptly stops moving.
"Now…" Eddie begins as she reaches to snatch the guy's phone out of his hand "What do we have here?"
"Hey you can't look at that!" The guy protests while Maria approaches from behind and discreetly places the barrel of her gun on the guy's back causing him to immediately stiffen up and shift his attention away from Eddie in front of him to Maria behind him.
"Hi police." Maria greets "We need to see some ID." She politely requests before Eddie jumps back into the conversation once again shifting the guy's attention to her.
"Sure I can." Eddie counters as she lifts the phone to look at it.
"Now." Maria a bit more forcefully prompts as the guy's attention has no choice but to keep yo-yoing back and forth between the woman as they both keep talking to him one on top of the other.
"It's unlocked…" Eddie reasons as she begins reading.
"Slowly." Maria adds in reference to the speed at which the guy retrieves his wallet from his pocket so heeding her warning, the guy slowly pulls out his wallet.
"Oh and look what we have here!" Eddie suddenly exclaims as she reads through the text messages.
"Open it up." Maria instructs as she gestures to the wallet "Show me!"
"Confirmation you're communicating with some very bad people…" Eddie continues but then Eddie pauses and looks at Maria "What's his name?"
Maria leans slightly forward to read his driver's license "Ryan."
"Ryan." Eddie repeats "Well Ryan now is your chance to help us help you."
"Huh?"
"Guess he needs us to explain this to him." Maria tells Eddie.
"Looks like." Eddie agrees before looking back at Ryan "You help us and we put in a good word with the DA and help you get a deal."
"But if you don't..." Maria adds "...and your friends get away? Well, this whole thing falls on you."
"Yeah." Eddie agrees "Because this right here." She explains as she wiggles the phone "Confirms you are a part of it and…" she adds before sucking in a breath of air "…the DA's office is going to be looking to make an example out of you." Eddie warns "They'll come down hard."
"Real hard." Maria reiterates "So what's it going to be?"
The guy looks between the two women before him not sure what to do or what to believe…
….
Inside the building suddenly Jamie and Danny hear someone coming toward them from down the hall from the direction of the main entrance so they scramble to hide and watch a seventh person dressed in firefighter gear walk right into the evidence room.
"All set." He announces to the ring leader "Nobody is getting in that front door."
Jamie and Danny glance at one another.
"Perfect." The leader returns.
Danny turns his head to look at Jamie "How many of these guys are there?" he whispers in wonder as Jamie composes a text message.
Not having a concrete answer to give his brother, Jamie just shrugs in deflection "Good thing we didn't try to take them on our own huh?" he arrogantly reminds his brother.
"Yeah, yeah." Danny mumbles.
"These guys aren't stupid." Jamie points out "With command set up out front they know the front door isn't an option for their exit - period, so they've cut it off as a way back in too."
"You wanna go undo that?" Danny queries of his brother as the ring leader's phone dings with a text message "Give them a little surprise of our own?" he prompts but before Jamie can answer the ringer leader announces "Okay out the back! Let's go! Now people! Move, move, MOVE!"
So Jamie and Danny have no choice but to just stay right where they are and watch the group file out of the evidence room hurrying down the hall towards the back door. The group gets to the exit and slows their pace to act more like first responders simply exiting a building after a call. The leader opens the door and the seven people begin walking down the stairs and out into the open and once all seven of them are clear of the building, suddenly cop after cop after cop pops up out of nowhere from their hiding spots and aim their weapons at the group.
"POLICE!" "Stop right there!" "Hands up!" "Don't move!" they all demand one on top of the other.
Startled at the ambush, the group abruptly stops and slowly one by one, the members surrender and raise their hands in the air.
"Are you kidding me?" the leader whines as he watches multiple Detectives including Maria move forward to take them all into custody "How did you know?" the guy can't help but ask.
Stepping forward, Eddie wiggles their accomplice's cell phone in the air "You really should rely on talking to someone directly – anyone can send a text!"
The leader groans at being duped.
"Now let's go everyone!" Eddie prompts her Detectives "Let's all say it together now – you all have the right to remain silent…" she begins and just like Grace at the Reagan Family Dinner table all the Detective's escorting a perp away chime in with "…anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law…"
…..
"Nice work Sergeant." Jamie commends into his cellphone as he and Danny walk through the main halls of the precinct "Yeah we're just heading back towards the front doors to see what they did."
"What do you mean?" Eddie inquires.
"We heard one of them say they blocked the door." Jamie explains as he and Danny round the corner and get their first glimpse of the door to see a heavy duty chain wrapped around the handles and locked off "They wrapped a chain around it." Jamie tells his wife as he lifts his hand and points a finger towards a door off to the side to which Danny immediately heads too "So just give us a second, we'll get the bolt cutters out and cut that off…" Jamie states as Danny tries the door but finds it locked "…then people can start coming back in."
"Copy." Eddie accepts before hanging up as Danny states "It's locked." as he steps slightly aside and out of the way while gesturing to the security pad next to the door "And the power is out."
"Right." Jamie notes as he takes a step to head in the direction of the door but suddenly pauses...
"Danny." Jamie cautiously states.
Turning his head, Danny looks at his brother "What?"
"Listen." Jamie prompts so Danny tilts his head slightly and both brothers listen hard… "Is…" Jamie slowly begins…
Tick…
"Is that ticking?…" Jamie inquires.
Tick…
Both brothers begin looking around trying to pin point the sound…
Tick…
Jamie steps through the open door of the conference room they are next to…
Tick…
… but determines the sound is close but not coming from inside the room…
Tick…
Then looking down, Jamie's eyes zero in on a bag under a chair just outside the conference room door.
Tick…
A bag that shouldn't be there…
Tick…
"There!" Jamie calls as he points to the bag so hurrying over, Danny carefully lifts the chair up and out of the way being sure not to touch the bag then kneels down and leans towards the bag to listen
Tick…
"Yup." Danny confirms "That's ticking."
Tick…
"Plan B?" Jamie inquires in wonder.
Tick…
Danny nods in agreement that that is likely the case…
Tick…
...So Jamie immediately begins to compose a text Stop! Got another live 1 outside conference room east of main entrance
Tick…
Danny blows out a quick breath of air before moving his hands to the zipper...
Tick…
"What are you doing?" Jamie questions in alarm as he quickly pockets his phone and Danny begins to unzip…
Tick…
"Need to see how much time we have." Danny explains as he opens the bag just enough…
Tick…
"Crap." Danny breathes out as the timer comes into view "Six seconds."
For one second Jamie's eyes go wide before darting to the still inaccessible main doors…
Five: Jamie looks back at Danny still kneeling on the ground.
Four: In a second split second decision, Jamie reaches for the bag and swipes it up…
Three: Jamie throws the bag as far as he can inside the conference room with one hand…
Two: while using his other hand to grab the door pulling it shut…
One: before grabbing his brother up off his knees and hauling ass down the hall trying to get as far away as possible…
BOOM!
…and once again the enter building shakes...
...