A few days later. At the Firehouse.
I walked over to Kelly annoyed "Severide"
He didn't even look at me as he was looking through the locker.
Me "would you mind moving car? your car is blocking my car "
Severide didn't say anything.
He just closed the locker and left.
I scoffed, shaking my head.
Suddenly the alarm went off "Engine 51, Truck 81."
At the scene.
Casey "All right, let's break it and go. Mouch. Otis. Primary search on one. Flo, Kidd, with me."
We walked to the cellar entrance of the building and Casey kicked in the door.
Then we walked inside.
It was so dark.
I yelled "Fire department, call out!"
no answer.
I walked into the backroom and saw fire there.
Casey " Fire department, call out!"
Hermann and his group walked in and started to spread water.
I walked over to a body on the ground "We got one!"
Casey "Truck 81 has an adult male, bringing him out the A-side."
Kidd "Is he breathing? "
Casey "I don't know. Let's turn him over."
We turned him over. his hand was missing and his face was burned.
Outside.
The ambo took him away.
My jaw dropped "What the hell happened to him?"
Casey shook his head "Those weren't thermal burns."
--
We walked back inside as the fire was killed.
Casey "Looks like something exploded in here."
I shook my head " Don't smell any gas."
Hermann "Should we get the monitor just in case?"
Casey shook his head "This wasn't gas. The appliances are all still intact. This looks like the blast point. V-pattern, upward and outward. Curtains caught fire
and then it spread from there. "
Hermann "Guy's hands were missing, which means that he could have been holding whatever exploded."
Casey picked something up from the ground " Could be a homemade pipe bomb. Yeah, these are charred on the inside. This was the bomb casing."
Hermann walked over to us holding a round little wire "Well, it looks like he tried to put the fire out. This is from the extinguisher. But, uh, where's the canister?"
Casey shook his head "That's not from a fire extinguisher. "
Me "That's from a grenade."
Hermann's eyes widened.
Outside.
Casey said into the radio "81 to Main requesting Bomb Squad and police response at 982 North Alfred."
Mouch asked confused "Bomb Squad?"
Casey "A grenade exploded. For all we know, there's more inside. Nobody goes back in."
Mouch nodded "You got it, Captain."
At the Firehouse. At the dinning table.
Capp "you talk to your little boyfriend yet?"
I shook my head "nope"
Capp leaned back "what's wrong?"
I shrugged "a lots been going on lately and... he lost his dad in the fire and then thought he almost lost me too. He just needs some time for himself"
Suddenly i saw Kelly walk in with a handsome dark - skinned guy .
Stella rushed to the guy and hugged him " Oh, you made it!"
The guy smiled " Yeah. It's good to see you."
Kidd nodded " Oh, you too. God, oh, and you two met!"
Kelly nodded "Yeah."
Kidd "I missed it. Ah, well. Everyone, this is Tyler. This is my best friend from high school."
I nodded "hey, Ty"
Tyler "So you're the ones keeping Stella Kidd in line these days, huh?"
Hermann shook my head "No way, that's a full-time job."
Tyler "Don't I know it. She is trouble with a capital T."
Kidd shoved him a little " Hey, come on, now. I got a reputation to maintain, all right?"
Tyler "No. You guys want to see some photos?"
Mouch jumped up " You don't have to ask twice. All right, good. I came prepared."
They all gathered around Tyler while he took his phone out and showed them some old pictures.
Tyler "This is us freshman year."
Stella was kinda being a little too touchy with him but i guess it's just because they were best friends.
Tyler "And this is at my parents' lake house."
Stella "Jeez. We look like babies."
I looked at Kelly who looked like he didn't care at all.
Tyler "I got a good one. This is Stella's prom photo."
Stella " Oh. I thought I looked so badass."
Capp " I dyed my hair green once for St. Paddy's day."
My jaw dropped "wait, there was a time where you actually had hair? like for real?"
Capp nodded while flipping me off.
Tyler nodded "Yeah, every guy in the school wanted to take Stella to the prom, including me. But she crushed my soul and went with Russell Collins."
Stella " Okay, shut up. You were dating Gina Gomez and you were whipped."
The alarm went off " Ambulance 61, person injured. 1723 North Lincoln Avenue."
Tyler "Wait, you don't gotta go, do you?"
Stella shook her head "No, that's just for ambo. But you can go ahead and give me that phone..."
Tyler shook his head "Oh, no, no, no."
Stella "'Cause this trip down memory lane is officially done."
-----
Cruz "Hey. What do you think of Kidd's friend?"
Kelly rolled his eyes "I think you should go clean the driver's side compartment."
Cruz stepped back amused.
The alarm went off " Truck 81, Ambulance 61, explosion, Union Park."
At the park.
Casey "You know what happened here?"
A guy "Couple of teenagers threw something that exploded and then took off."
Casey "What exploded?"
The guy " Whatever it was, my ears are still ringing. Lady over here got hit by something."
Casey "Brett, Foster."
Foster nodded "Yep"
We walked over to the woman.
Me "Guys, back up."
Foster "Okay, where does it hurt?Do you have any other injuries?"
The woman took her hand off the wound " Just my leg. Something hit it."
Brett " Keep pressure on it."
I looked around.
Casey "Said whatever exploded went off around here."
I froze "Captain. Come check this out."
Casey walked over to me and asked irritated "Another grenade?"
At the Firehouse. Chief's office.
Chief "Two grenades in the same area on the same day is not a coincidence. "
Me "What do you think's going on?"
Kim "It could be anything from terrorism to teenagers pulling YouTube pranks."
Chief "Well, it doesn't seem like the woman in the park was targeted, just unlucky. She got hit with some shrapnel."
Kevin " And for all we know, this morning could have been a suicide. The victim was holding onto the grenade. Maybe he wanted to go out with a bang. But we can't ask him. He's still in critical."
Kim" In the meantime, we sent fragments from both scenes to the lab. We'll see if the grenades are the same type. We might be able to ID them, get lucky. But it's a long shot."
Kevin "Yeah, did you get a chance to talk to anybody who got a good look at those teens?"
Casey shook his head " All we know is they were Caucasian males, around 15, 16 years old. Well, the city's covered in cameras. We'll see what we can find."
Kevin nodded" Yeah, we'll get the story out to the media, too. Maybe we'll get somebody on the tip line. Appreciate the info, Chief."
Chief nodded "Here if you need us."
In the garage.
A woman walked up the drive away "Excuse me, sir?"
Casey walked to her and i followed him "Yes? Can I help you, ma'am?"
The woman was holding a box "I didn't know where else to go. Maybe you'll know what to do with these? "
My eyes widened. grenades.
The woman " Here.""
Casey grabbed the box ""whoa, careful. Don't want to drop these."
The woman nodded "They're heavier than they look."
Me "Where'd you get them?"
The woman "They were my late husband's. I saw on the news that a grenade exploded."
Kelly walked over to us with Cruz.
The woman "Figured I should turn them in."
Kelly "What's going on?"
Cruz's eyes widened "Whoa."
Kelly "Cruz, clear everyone off the floor."
Cruz nodded " Yeah, no problem."
Then he left.
Kelly carefully grabbed the box "I'll keep an eye on these till the Bomb Squad gets here. These... look old. Could be unstable."
Casey "Shouldn't we evacuate?"
Kelly "Blast radius shrinks to a few feet with a Kevlar vest around it. I got this."
Casey "Ma'am, right this way."
They walked in.
Kelly walked over to the table and put the box down.
I walked over to him.
In the meeting room.
Chief " Okay, everyone, settle down. I'm sure you've heard by now there is another grenade in the neighborhood. CPD is on the case, but now 51 is going to help."
Casey "We're putting up fliers making phone calls, and posting on social media to warn people the grenade is real. But also to find the boy who has it."
Otis " Couldn't all this talk of a grenade cause a panic?"
Chief nodded "A little panic is in order."
Casey "The boy is around 11 or 12 years old. He arrived on foot alone, which means he most likely lives in the area."
Chief " Each unit will have a street to canvass along with some schools and playgrounds. Okay? Let's get a move on. Time is of the essence."
In the garage.
We ad managed to find the last grenade.
It's all taken care off.
I walked over to Kelly but then Tyler walked in.
Tyler "Hey, Kelly."
Kelly " What's up?"
Tyler "I'm just looking for Stella. Is she around?"
Kelly shook his head "No. Left a while ago. Thought you were heading to your buddy's party."
Tyler nodded "Yeah, I am. Just wanted to check in with her before I left. You know, funny thing is, at first she was supposed to join me. Seemed real excited about it too, then... out of the blue she just cancels."
Kelly shrugged "Maybe she changed her mind."
Tyler "Maybe. You know, I'd hate to think somebody changed it for her. "
I raised an eyebrow.
Tyler "Now, just so you know, Kelly, I might be leaving Chicago, but I'll never be out of her life."
Then he walked out.
Kelly looked around but then his eyes landed on me "you want something?"
Me "well, i want you to move you gad damned car, Kelly"
Kelly nodded "hey, you think i can talk to you for a sec?"
I shook my head "honestly, Kelly, i just want you to move that car away from mine so that i can back out without crashing your car"
Kelly nodded "okay, as you wish"
Outside.
I walked over to my car but then froze "are you fucking kidding me?"
I had a flat tire.
Kelly chuckled "wow"
I groaned out annoyed "oh my fucking god, how the hell did i get a flat tire?"
Kelly looked at the tire "looks like someone stabbed the tire"
Me "with a knife?"
Kelly nodded "yep. you know how to change a tire?"
I nodded "of course i know how to change damn tire, Kelly. i'm just too exhausted to change it now"
Kelly "need a ride?"
I scoffed, shaking my head "from you? nope"
Kelly "Well, we're the last ones here, so, you don't really have a choice"
Me "I'll walk"
Kelly "you too lazy to walk, Florence, i know you"
I just looked at him.
Kelly sighed "Florence, please"
Me "i have a boyfriend i can call, okay?"
Kelly nodded "go ahead, call him"
I sighed, took my phone out and called Jay.
He didn't answer.
I sighed and put my phone away.
Kelly asked amused "your boyfriend's not answering?"
I scoffed, nodding "okay, asshole, i'll drive with you"
Kelly nodded "okay"
In the car.
I got in and saw that the glove compartment was open.
A knife was in there.
I scoffed, amused "you asshole"
Kelly closed the glove compartment and started to drive off.
I shook my head "you know what, i'm not even gonna bother, arguing with you."
Kelly "I'll change the tire tomorrow morning"
I shook my head "i don't need you to change a tire, i can do that perfectly fine"
Kelly "i am offering you solving a problem that i caused and you don't want it? it's the least i could do after you nearly - "
I corrected him "after you rammed a knife through my tire. "
Kelly shook his head "that's not what i wanted to say. "
I nodded "i know what you wanted to say, and it doesn't matter anymore"
Kelly nodded "it does, Florence-"
I shook my head "no, Kelly, enough, okay? can we just drive silence? please"
Kelly nodded.
At my place.
Kelly pulled up "looks like your boyfriend is here"
I glared at him.
Kelly sighed "Sorry"
Me "Thanks for the drive"
Then i got out of the car and walked into the house.
Jay was sitting on the couch with a beer in his hand.
I smiled a little "hey, there you are. how are you doing?"
Jay looked at me, nodding "well, i'll survive "
I sighed.
Jay "Was that Severide driving you home?"
I shook my head, frustrated "oh no no no no, hell, no. why does everyone wanna start argument with me now? huh"
Jay shook his head, confused "what are you talking about? did he start an argument with you?"
I sighed, shaking my head "will you please let me take long, long, long and hot shower before you start questioning me? thank you"
Jay rolled his eyes as i walked into the bathroom.