"Your Honor, we can't stay in this building. That truck might be a dangerous hazard and we'll just be sitting ducks here!" Chris urged after the judge ordered everyone to stay inside of the courtroom
"You heard the deputy, captain. The exits are blocked." the judge scolded, annoyed
"Yes, which means we have to make an exit somewhere. Street and I have an idea. Just follow us." she said pointing at Street, who turned to her with a frown.
After a second or two of intense stares, the judge finally reacted. "Alright" he said skeptically.
Chris turned, grabbed Rubio by the hand and headed out the door. Street came closer to her and whispered, "We have a plan?"
"Yeah, follow my lead." she whispered
Street nodded once and placed an arm around her shoulders. The group exited the courtroom and went down the hall quietly.
They went past two doors, when they stop frozen as the third one opened slowly. A man in a gray suit stuck his head out and called, "Hey! Where are you going? We were told to stay here!"
"We're police officers, we're getting you out to safety!" Street answered
After checking everyone in that courtroom for injuries, they gathered the groups from both courthouses and headed downstairs. Chris explained that they needed to find an escape route. She remembered of a place in the basement of the building where she saw a big hole in the wall covered with a wood panel, where the old kitchen vent was located. She explained that one time she came in with her K9 to do a search of the building because of a bomb threat. They inspected the entire building, including the room that used to serve as a small kitchen where the judges and clerks would prepare their meals, for them not to lose time between cases and to not have to leave the building.
"Ok, so...we remove that panel and slowly we locate everyone on the parking lot next to the courthouse." Chris said to Street.
Neither adult noticed the teenager was paying close attention, admiring how well trained both were. They acted in complete sync as each contributed to the plan.
The huge group of guests lined up next to the opening as Street and a couple of others gathered tables and chairs and made an improvised set of stairs towards the hole. Meanwhile, Chris took a chair from the conference room and broke the legs off. Street climbed on the structure and with the help of one of the broken chair legs he broke off some of the studs holding the piece of wood in place.
"Ok, we got a hole!" Street called as the others cheered
Little by little the guests climbed up, grabbed Street's hand for support and climbed out of the widow. One guest. Two guests. Ten guests. Twenty guests.
After 15 minutes, only five remained: the family of three, the man in the gray suit, who they learned was one of the district prosecutors, Counselor Hunter Zabka, and judge Rogers. As Rogers placed a hand on the structure, a strong wing came in and moved part of the structure. This rattled the judge to a point where he absolutely lost his mind.
"OH MY GOD! AFTER SHOCK! HELP! HELP!" he yelled over and over again, grabbing his hair, tearing his gown, moving frantically.
The other four were stunned at the turn of events, as the man twirled and sobbed loudly. He began shaking violently, when Rubio approached him. The older gentleman was almost hyperventilating!
"Judge! Judge!" he called, grabbing him by the arms. He pulled the man, made him stand still, wildly staring at the boy. "It's ok, Your Honor." he said calmly, as the other three adults approached. Slowly, the judge came to his senses and began normalizing his breathing, as he looked around, trying to get a grasp of what was happening.
Chris stepped behind Rubio as the judge calmed down. The teenager removed both hands off the judge's arms. Chris continued, "Your Honor, it was just the breeze. You're ok." she said calmly, placing both hands on Rubio's shoulders, who stood face to face with the judge. What was impressive was that the young man was calm enough to look at the judge in the eyes!
"Oh my! I'm so...sorry" the judge mumbled, as he regained consciousness.
"You ready to go?" Street asked still standing in the tower of furniture.
"Yes, officer!" snapped the judge.
Chris went around Rubio, nodded to him and gave the teenager a quick hug. She couldn't be more proud of him! Street shout a quick grin, staring at them from the top.
Rogers began making his way to the top, then suddenly turned towards Rubio and Chris, who were still standing next to each other. "Thank you, young man." he said with a nod
Rubio was speechless, turning to Chris with his jaw almost touching his shoulder. He smiled at her and she nodded in approval. The judge quickly turned and headed out.
The prosecutor came next, then Rubio. Just as Chris grabbed Street's hand for balance...
GOOOOOOUUUUU
GOOOOOOUUUU
RRRRRRROOOOAAARRRR
The heavy shake made both officers lose their balance and fall backward. Street landed awkwardly, immediately letting out a loud groan.
"Ma! Pops!" Rubio called frantically from outside.
After a few seconds of shaking the structure finally calmed down and the officers relaxed. Chris landed hard of her left shoulder. Street landed awkwardly on his tailbone, right before a chair landed heavily on his right hand.
"AHHH" he yelled in pain as he grabbed his hand.
"Street, you ok?"Chris called, just a few feet from him
"My hand is throbbing real bad." he complained, holding on to it, grimacing in pain
"Hey!" she called, approaching him, "it's ok. Let's get out of here!" she said before turning and realizing the steps to reach the vent space tumbled. She rush over to Street and checked his injury.
"Street, don't move it so much. You might have fractures."
"What? Ow!" he grimaced, trying to close up his fist.
"Ma! Pops!" called Rubio, kneeling over the opened hole, desperate to help.
"Do not even try it, Rubio! No!" she said sternly, knowing his intentions of coming in. "Go with the judge and the group to safer ground!"
"I can't leave you!" he said between sobs
"Rubio, go!" she called, as she began placing the tables and chairs back
She stopped when she realized one of the tables was wobbly, the chair that landed on Street's hand broke a leg and the small step was messed up beneath the industrial sized table.
"Uh oh!" she exclaimed, realizing her predicament just got more complicated.
Outside, Rubio hung his head as he walked away from the opening. He didn't want to leave them because he knew Street was hurt. The judge and the others were already on the other side, in the next door parking lot. There, EMTs and other units met them and were checking to make sure everyone was ok.
Suddenly...
BOOOOOOOOM
A heavy explosion sent Rubio tumbling to the ground, covering his head with debris. The hot breeze felt like he had just dove into a volcano! He felt small cuts all over his arms and pants, as the glass windows of the side of the building had exploded. He turned his head to the front of the building and notice a huge smoke cloud coming from the intense fire in the street.
"FIRE! FIRE!" people yelled, as Rubio's ears kept ringing.
Wobbly, he rose to his feet and went back to the side hole. "Ma! Pa! Fire. A car explode in the street!" he yelled without actually hearing himself well. Between the noises and the deep deafening sensation, he couldn't hear well.
He took a look inside, but there was so much noise from outside that neither adult noticed him kneeled in the front of the space.
Desperately, Rubio turned around, looked to his right, then his left. He needed to help! He couldn't just leave them there! He shook his head from side to side, pushed himself to regain full consciousness. Then, he bit his lower lip, stood and headed towards the back of the dumpster site. He pushed aside pizza cartons, black bags, milk crates, wood pallets, carton boxes...until he saw something that caught his eye! It was a long piece of cloth, somewhat of a long curtain.
"Spencer dijo que se hace un nudo, después otros, después otro, hasta que se vuelva duro y fuerte. Ma y pa lo pueden usar como soga!" (Spencer said tie a knot, then another, then another, until it's strong and sturdy. Mom and pops can use it like a rope!) he thought excitingly.
He grabbed it and quickly made three knots. The cloth was extensively long, exceeding 9 feet, which meant it was long enough to throw part of it in and then tie it to something outside. The key was being able to focus, because his head was everywhere. Slowly, his ears stopped ringing and his hearing improved.
He carried it to the hole and yelled "MA, PA...USENLO! SE LO AMARRAN A LA CINTURA. YO LO AMARRO ACA!" (MOM, POP...USE IT! JUST STRAP IT TO YOUR WAIST. I'LL TIE IT HERE!) he turned and grabbed one end, threw it down the hole and then took the other end, pushed the dumpster with all his might and finally tied it the other end to it.
"What did he say?" Street asked Chris, both still dizzy because of the tremor and the explosion. Half of the ceiling in the room rattled and fell, which delayed their movements. When they heard his screams and saw the cloth rope, they understood where the kid was going.
"Just grab it and let's go!" Chris called as she swung the cloth over him
"What are you doing?" a patrol officer yelled at Rubio from the sidewalk, 25 feet away
"Help! My mom and pops are stuck down there!" Rubio called waving to officer
After an intense rescue, Street found himself in the receiving end of a big bear hug. He was surrounded by Rubio and Chris, who were very dirty and with scratches themselves, but glad to be together. Chris grabbed Rubio's head and laid a gentle kiss on it, as she wrapped her arm around Street's waist.
"I love you!" Street said to both
"Me too, pops. I'm sorry I don't follow orders, ma!" Rubio said pulling away slowly
"It's ok. We'll talk about that later. For now, I'm just happy I have my family back." she finished with a tired grin, laying her head on Street's chest.
"Hey! It's ok. You're ok and she's ok, that's what matters." Street said as he extended his arm for him to join in the hug, again. His hand was heavily wrapped in bandages after the paramedics determined he had fractured some bones in his hand. Rubio nodded and joined in.
The three were standing outside of a patrol car, since all the ambulances were filled up with severely injured civilians. Turns out the explosion had caused major chaos around the courthouse, including 10 injured. Thankfully no casualties were reported.
They heard footsteps. When they lifted their heads they noticed an angry judge facing them.
"What really matters is that this young man could've been terribly hurt after that explosion hit! Officer," the judge called staring at Street, crossing his arms on his chest, "look at the boy's arms, he has cuts! Captain," he said turning his head towards Chris, who had lifted her head off of Street's chest. "this child is dirty and probably still has his ears ringing." the judge lamented disappointed, shaking his head.
"But judge-!" Rubio began complaining angrily, as he stepped away from Street
"SHHH!"Chris called, holding him back.
The teen froze, shooting an angry look at her, then bowing his head. She took a deep breath, squeezed Street as if to prevent any response from him as well, and turned to the angry judge.
"Yes, Your Honor." she said, finishing by clinching her jaw shut. She had to control herself.
"Now what in the world were you thinking? Exposing yourself to that danger, boy!" the judge demanded sternly, in a high angry tone. The older man frowned angrily, staring at the boy.
Before the judge finished talking, Rubio turned to him with such a brutal frown, he could've killed the older man with his lazer eyes. In a flash, Chris grabbed Rubio's hand and squeezed. She felt Street make an attempt to take a step forward, but she grabbed his hand as well.
"Shhh" she whispered
She turned to the angry judge, took a very very deep breath and slowly said "My apologies, Your Honor."
"What do you have to say for yourself," the judge began again, "captain?" he finished with a high demanding tone.
"I love you no matter what" Street whispered, slouching down to her ear
She turned to him, then looked at Rubio who continued his death stared at the man in the robe. She then swallowed hard.
"Nothing, Your Honor. We will talk to him about this." she said calmly, tucking on Rubio's arm.
The teenager looked away, as he was visibly upset.
"Good!" the judge said sternly, as he uncrossed his arms and shot a triumphant smile. He placed both hands on his pocket. He turned around and began walking away nonchalantly.
"Ok, fam. Let's get this guy checked" a lady patrol officer rushed in, opening the door to the back seat, gesturing to Street.
"Wait, judge!" Rubio called going after the old man, making him stop and turn to him. "What about me?" the boy asked pointing at himself.
The judge looked up at the sky, grinned and took a deep breath. Chris and Street looked on, as now the spotlight was on the teenager.
"I'll send the paperwork!"