"Wait, you're saying Sullivan admitted to it?" Beckett turns on the bench of our table to face Jack in disbelief. Jack throws his leg over the bench to the other side, so they'd be able to face each other. It was the icing on the cake when I came home last night, to an email informing me that I've been requested to work a full nine shifts with Station 19, starting today. It became more of a slap in the face that the email came directly from Ross after knowing now that she probably had ulterior motives.
The order she gave me, felt more like it was her way of keeping me on a tight leash than anything else. "Who cares?" They both gape at me when I mumble it under my breath. Beckett gives me an amused look, with that lopsided grin of his. "The truth doesn't matter now?" I shrug at him before putting the paperwork for the captaincy exam in my briefcase. I rest my forearms on the black leather to give them my full attention and get this conversation over and done with.
When Beckett and I walked into the station this morning for our shift, we both had to pinch each other to make sure we weren't living in an alternative universe. The team were being abnormally nice. Greeting the two of us with broad smiles instead of the judgmental scowls as we'd come to expect. Vic asked us what we did during the weekend and Ruiz asked Beckett's opinion on the new car he wants to buy. Ben thanked me for Pru's present and showed me pictures of her playing with it. He even offered Beckett and me a piece of birthday cake.
I threw in the towel and made my escape to the roof when Andy apologized and asked if we could all go out for drinks after shift. Beckett and I gave each other one look and ran to the door, while Jack told them to turn it down a notch. He came up later, with breakfast, to fill us in on what happened at Pru's birthday party.
Carina's weird questions finally made sense. My head was still reeling over the abrupt turn our conversation took. I felt terrible over losing control and admitting to my own pain. Even though the guilt was gnawing at me, it also felt like a firework went off in my mind as soon as I said it. Like the last of the pressure I was under, finally exploded and it was weirdly freeing. I didn't realize how weighed down I became by keeping my own pain a secret from Carina, just so I could spare her from her own.
By letting it go, the world finally made sense. The secret was what has been keeping me here and cutting that cord from the hope of somehow fixing things, was like a breath of fresh air. I only had one last secret to share with Carina before I can let go of her too. It was time for me to move on. I deserve to be free.
"The truth is somewhat irrelevant when you're not planning on sticking around for the outcome of it." I bite my bottom lip and let it slip past my teeth before inhaling through my uncomfortable grin. I puff out a breath of air after blowing it into my cheek. "They feel like crap for not believing you." Jacks says while looking equally uncomfortable while Beckett and I both laugh.
"Tell them they can stop. It's what I've come to expect with this team but if they want my forgiveness, then I pardon them. I'm not allowing myself to get shunned again when I do something to offend Andy. This is her station and I've made peace that I'll never earn my place here with them." I shrug at Jack when he starts shaking his head. He takes my hand in his.
"You are our family, Bishop. This station is your home." I sigh in dejection because as much as I love Jack, he was as loyal as they come when it came to Andy. "I'm sorry, Gibson, but you went dark too and they didn't stop fighting for you until they managed to rescue you. Every time I make a mistake or go against their expectations, I become enemy number one. We're not the same." I look over at Beckett to back me up, which irritates him.
He groans with his head thrown back. "You're leaving Seattle because you don't feel at home. I'm too biased to have an opinion because I want you to stay. So, if making up with those idiots downstairs makes you feel like you belong here, then I'm going to help them." I glare at him and Jack when they share a smug look with each other. I pull my hand out of Jack's and slap at both of them when they try to pull me back to the table.
"Oh, fuck off. Both of you." I shake my head at them and grab the briefcase from the table to leave them to conspire against me. I almost get hit in the face when the door swings open just as I'm reaching for the handle. Vic widens her eyes when she sees me, with the boys chasing after me. "Chief Ross wants an audience." I squeeze my eyes shut and huff in annoyance.
I was this close to being free from this drama, can't they just let me leave in peace? "For fuck's sake. I don't have time for this." I push past her through the doorway and jog down the stairs, with the three of them following short on my heels. The rest of our team is already gathered in the kitchen with Chief Ross standing a few feet away from them.
"Good morning, Chief." I say politely before putting my things down on the counter and standing at attention like the rest of my team. Jack and Beckett follow suit. "At ease, please." No one relaxes like she asks, rather sharing glances amongst each other when the chief starts pacing in front of us. "I have been informed that a secret I've been keeping has come to light. I'm on my way to brief the union of the latest development, but wanted to hear what concerns you all had that I might need to bring up with them?"
She stops pacing to take a defensive stance with her feet, shoulder width apart, and her hands linked behind her back. Seriously! Did this woman think we were going to stone her to death? I roll my eyes at the absurdity of the whole situation. It was ridiculous that the chief of SFD's love life required a formal meeting with the union.
We all stand there with our mouths full of teeth while we wait for our captain to speak on our behalf. The betrayal and jealousy is evident in her crossed arms and the dimple on her chin from grinding down on her teeth. When she stays quiet, even Ross becomes restless. Everyone looks at Andy, trying to implore her to speak her mind.
"Bishop. How do you want us to handle this?" I pull my face in shock before I look at Beckett for confirmation that I wasn't hearing voices again. He looks equally taken aback, just like the rest of the members of 19. "I'm not the captain. You all have your own opinions." I wave my hand at the team and try to calm the bewilderment I know is clear in my movements.
"Okay, but our captain asked your opinion, not ours." Warren says with an annoyed sigh which earns him a fist to the arm from Ruiz. I stumble over my words a few times before I look at Ross pointedly. "I honestly couldn't care less. It's not going to change anything, so you do you, I guess." I give her a strained smile after shrugging at her.
Andy and the rest of the team looks at me with confused expressions when I ask if I can be excused. "Maya..." She hisses it through her teeth when she walks towards me, and I can't help dropping my head back in annoyance. "What will her confessing to the union actually achieve?" I start speaking while waving my hands around the room, before pointing directly at Sullivan and Ross.
"Look, I was the one in the wrong when I blackmailed you, but I have apologized enough. I saw an opportunity to get my job back when I found out, and I wanted to hurt the man who cost me my job to begin with. But if you go through with this, you will be the only one getting screwed over. You will get demoted or transferred. Your reputation will be ruined while he stays a lieutenant and will probably get promoted within the year."
Sullivan walks up behind her and gives me a death glare over her head. I ignore him and the shocked looks on my supposed friends' faces. "The union doesn't need to know about your bad taste in men." He puffs out his chest and starts calling me names under his breath. "Or you can marry him like he did Herrera and the only thread to your job will be your husband."
Andy stops me from leaving the room by grabbing my arm. She quickly drops it when I glare at her fingers wrapped around my bicep. "We're not risking our station by keeping their dirty little secret. If you want us to keep quiet, Robert leaves. And Bishop gets reinstated as captain when the next available position opens up." I drop and shake my head at her, mumbling under my breath to warn her that she just blackmailed the chief.
Sullivan and Andy start arguing about his place on this team which everyone seems to have an opinion on. Even Beckett and Jack throw a few punches, metaphorically speaking, by reminding him what his actions have cost everyone since he joined. I walk away from the drama to go stand next to Ross. "You don't owe them anything and I don't want anything from you. You don't need permission to live your life the way you want to."
ENGINE 19
LADDER 19
AID CAR 19
Multivehicle pile up on I-5
The alarm rings through the station and shuts everyone up. We all run down the stairs to get our turnout gear on and jump into the rigs. I get in the ladder truck with Jack, Ruiz and Johnson, while Warren and Beckett pull out of the garage in the aid car. The four of us share a grateful look when we see Sullivan, Andy, Ross and Vic yelling at each other before the doors close. "This is going to be a long ass day."
I flip the switch for the siren as soon as Jack puts his foot on the gas pedal and nod at Ruiz's sentiment. After a few minutes on the road, we start checking the cables of our headsets because our captain hasn't given us the rundown of what we'll be walking into. Everyone looks at me to do something. "Cowards." I say Andy's name a few times when she doesn't respond to being called captain, and after a while, her angry breathing comes through the headset.
"Dispatch reports ten cars involved. Additional companies have been deployed. No serious injuries reported yet. Seems we'll be first on scene." We all look at each other when she stops talking. I shrug at the guys because I don't know what's happening. Ross's voice takes over the phantom sound of Andy's.
"We'll be approaching from the south. Warren and Beckett, assess the scene and tag the severity of those injured. Ladder, secure the scene and the cars involved. The traffic is backed up and people are trapped. We can't risk a fuel leak. Engine will assist in freeing the critical patients from the wrecks." Finally, a definitive plan of action just as we near the scene through the traffic.
Jack, Ruiz and I play rock-paper-scissors to determine who will take the lead with the four of us and Jack's paper beats Ruiz's and my rocks. "Ruiz and I'll do the sweep while you and Johnson get foam on those flames." We nod as we jump out of the truck to get our designated equipment from the side and run into the chaos. "Start on clamping the fuel line on those two."
I point to the car beneath the one up in flames, and the car crashed into the other one's side with a massive greenish colored leak underneath it. I pull on the nozzle of the hose and extinguish the flames before spraying the spilled liquid with the specialized foam for fuel leaks. The occupants of all three cars have already been assessed by Warren and Beckett, so we move on to the next car to inspect it for any leaks.
"All leaks and hazards secured on the west side, making our way back on the east." Jack radios in the update on their side. "All patients assessed. Four DOA, we need the jaws on two cars, and additional aid car assistance to treat the less critical patients." I see Beckett's helmet when Sullivan and Andy start manipulating the metal of the vehicle to free the occupants.
I wait to give my report until Johnson stands up, from underneath the car we're inspecting, with the empty fuel tank in his hand. The liquid spill already running down the intersection into oncoming traffic. I lift my foot up to see the fuel drip from the soles of my boots.
The passenger in the car has been acting strange since we arrived to secure them. At first, I thought he might be more injured than the tag around his neck says so I decided to keep him talking and lucid while Johnson inspected their vehicle. The man's eyes never stop shifting and he keeps sharing nervous glances with the passenger in the back. All the occupants in the car are responsive and conscious, but I can't let them out of the car until we get the leak secured.
"You don't understand. We're in a hurry." The driver speaks up when the passenger in the back kicks his chair. "I'm sorry for the delay, sir. But the critical patients are our priority until additional units arrive." I take the necessary step to put myself between the front and back door of the car, so I can address both the passengers directly.
"Sir, the only occupant in your vehicle that we're allowed to remove from the scene, is the baby. I unfortunately don't have the authority to tell you when you can get out too. We need to wait for medical to assess you again and have an ambulance on standby for each of you. We will also need the required equipment currently being used to help save the most critical patients, to free your friends. I do apologize for the inconvenience."
Their car was the last vehicle in the pileup. The car that crashed into the back of them sent them into the barriers which caused the front console to dislodge and trap the people in the front underneath it. The guy in the back vigorously shakes his head when I reach my hands out to take the baby. "Engine 22 got held up in the traffic. ETA is another ten minutes." Vic walks over with another extinguisher, filled with the foam, and starts spraying the spilled liquid with it. "I don't think this is going to be enough."
I reach for my radio to request help when the passenger's behavior turns manic. I try to look into the trunk of the SUV while I wait for Ross to respond, but freeze when I hear the distinguishable sound of a gun cocking. I gulp down my fear and look back into the backseat to see the passenger put a pistol on his lap, pointing at me. He puts his forefinger over his lips when Ross's voice comes through the radio.
I reach for mine again with shaky hands and eyes glued to the gun. "East side is secure, Chief." He nods his head at me and rewards my good behavior with a sickening smile. Vic pops her head up over the roof of the car because she knows that the scene is not secure yet. I beg her with my eyes to keep quiet and sigh internally when she gives me a suspicious look.
"I'll secure the vehicle while you guys go assist with the silver truck on the south side. Ross has been on my ass about it for the last two hours, if you could do me a solid?" Vic opens her mouth to ask the question I pray she doesn't, and I tense every muscle in my body for the possible consequences of it. Just leave, Vic. Please.
Johnson knows I won't break protocol unless there is a good reason for it. "Hughes! Your lieutenant gave us an order. Let's go." He doesn't give her time to argue with him, because he pushes the empty fuel tank at her, and gives her a little shove to get moving. I try to convey how grateful I am to him with as subtlety as I can muster. I watch them walk away to where Ross is, about fifty yards away.
________________________________________________________________________________
The two firefighters hastily make their way to Ross, Herrera and the captain from 64. "There is no silver truck involved in this accident." Hughes growls it at Johnson, clearly irritated with the probie for forcing her hand to walk away from the scene. The probie ignores her and hastens his steps to interrupt his chief's conversation. When he goes to stand in front of his commanding officers, they look down at him like he's gum under their shoes.
"Johnson, aren't you partnered with Bishop? What part of stick to your lieutenant's ass and don't get separated did you not understand, probie?" Captain Herrera looks over his shoulder to spot Lieutenant Bishop in the distance talking to the occupants of a SUV instead of helping her team.
"I'm sorry, Captain. I think Lieutenant Bishop wanted me to get a message over to you. There's something weird going on in that car." He points behind him, just when Hughes joins him. "Kid's got a point. Bishop is acting strange. Like she was trying to get rid of us." This piques Chief Ross's and Captain Park's interest, and they move closer to get caught up.
"She was adamant that we come help with the silver truck, but there isn't one." Ross's head snaps up and she looks at Maya, sensing something amiss in her tense posture. "Tell me word for word what Bishop said." Ross instructs Johnson before she takes in the scene as a whole.
Engine 19 is still extracting the people from the first vehicle, while Engine 64 had just begun to work on the second vehicle. The EMTs of both stations are with the teams from the Engines to keep the patients stabilized, while the rest of the firefighters are treating the less critical patients and assessing them in their vehicles or next to it. The traffic is backed up for miles on both sides of the freeway. She pays attention to the words coming out of Hughes's mouth as she recites what lieutenant Bishop said to them.
She lets them say the words two more times before the world around her freezes and she shakily reaches for her radio. Silver truck. Two hours. On my ass. "Lieutenant Bishop. Are the occupants you're with all stable? Any injuries to note?' She holds her breath, hoping they'll let her play along. "Yes, Chief. All threemen are without serious injuries. Two of them are trapped and would appreciateif we could help set them free. The baby seems to be unharmed" Bishop looks over at the chief while she talks on her radio, and although she can't see her too clearly in the distance, she does note the faint click on her radio as lieutenant Bishop switches her radio to another channel.
"Dispatch. Please be advised that we have a code silver on our hands. One suspect, with three hostages. One infant, two adult. Requesting police assistance and additional units for evacuations." Johnson, Hughes, and Captain Herrera look up at her in shock, while Captain Parks already made the same connection as his chief.
He starts instructing his team to get their patients away from the red zone. Out of the line of fire. "All units be advised. Code silver at the I-5 intersection. Any available units, please respond. SWAT is on route. ETA six minutes." The 911 operator's voice rings through the chief's radio. She switches the channels until Lieutenant Bishop stops talking to the suspects when she hears her chief's voice. Channel 7.
"ETA on additional units are six minutes, Bishop." Her lieutenant confirms that she heard her but the tremor in her voice does not go unnoticed. "Get someone to your teams. Everyone is to turn their radios down and avoid channel 7 at all costs. Get on a universal channel to receive instructions. All patients are to be evacuated, and all efforts to be deployed to get those trapped out of the wreckages. Be as calm as possible. We can't risk the suspects getting spooked." The chief informs the two captains and let them handle things with their teams. Lieutenant Beckett and Lieutenant Gibson gets tagged out of their duties by Hughes and Johnson when they hear whose life is in danger.
The two of them, with Captain Parks and Captain Herrera slowly makes their way back to their chief, escorting patients and bystanders to safety. The chief moves a few yards closer, remaining out of sight from the suspect's vehicle's mirrors, to get a better visual on her lieutenant. "What is she trying to tell us?" Captain Parks and the rest of them slips in behind her, obscuring themselves with a delivery van. Lieutenant Bishop is trying to sign something to them, but the sun is reflecting on the windows of the cars surrounding her, making it impossible to read.
The team runs to the other side of the van to get a better vantage point and finally see Lieutenant Bishop's hands move. She has her left hand behind her back, with her hand in a crescent moon shape before stretching her fingers out to show four fingers facing down. She does this a few more times before it clicks. "C4?"
She has her elbow resting on the roof of the car and turns her body to look over the car at her team to see if they understood. The chief nods her head while her best friends look at her worriedly. "Dispatch, please be advised that the situation escalated to a code 10. I request that additional units please approach without sirens. The suspects are unaware of our knowledge of them."
Dispatch confirms the request and informs all units of the new development. Lieutenant Bishop startles when her radio cracks. "Did she just...?" In shock, her team watches her unplug the wire that connects to her radio, at the exact moment she takes a step back to put her hands up in a defensive stance. "Dispatch. One of my firefighters are being held at gunpoint."
________________________________________________________________________________
"Okay, sir. My team is gone. Can you please lower your weapon? Your window is open. You can just run for it. No one has to know about this." I gulp down on the little spit in my mouth, since the fear at seeing the gun pointing at me made my mouth dryer than the Sahara Desert. The guy in the back starts laughing a menacing laugh and kicks the chair in front of him again, making the driver moan in pain.
He lifts the gun and presses it into the back of the driver's head. "The problem is, darling. I can't leave without this one and his baby. Or I will be killed myself. So, be a good girl and set him free?" His accent makes my ears ring and I know that I've heard it before. I just can't get my mind to stop racing so I can figure out if it's a Boston or New York accent.
I use my Pulaski to try and dislodge the crooked door on the driver's side so I can get a better advantage to break him free from the center console. My hands are shaking, and I keep looking back to Hughes and Johnson as they inform Chief Ross of what happened. "Lieutenant Bishop. Are the occupants you're with all stable? Any injuries to note?" I sigh in relief to the undertones in her voice.
To anyone else, she probably sounds like a normal authoritative figure asking her lieutenant for a progress report, but the way she frames the question, gives me an open window to relay us much information as necessary without raising the suspicions of the kidnappers. I reach for my radio when the guy in the back ticks his tongue at me.
He turns the gun to the baby and when I glance away from the horrific sight, I see the passenger in the front, pull out a hunting knife. A ray of sunlight catches the blade at just the right angle to blind me from the reflection of it. "You're outnumbered, girly. I slice his throat here while my partner shoots the baby and you before you can even think of calling for help."
The guy at the front has the same accent as the one in the back and just to prove his point, he leans over and nicks the driver's collarbone with the tip of his knife. The guy at the back starts laughing at the menacing act. "Yes, Chief. All three men are without serious injuries. Two of them are trapped and would appreciate if we could help set them free. The baby seems to be unharmed."
The guy in the back presses the gun against the blankets covering the baby, making the small infant whelp. "Just had to bring the baby up, didn't you? You think we're stupid?" I use the distraction of him threating the baby to turn the nob on my radio to change the channel. If they get a whiff of Chief Ross's plan, then we're all dead. These people didn't seem too concerned about being caught or dying, if it meant they'd get to take the rest of us with them.
"The other members of my team saw the baby. It is protocol to check children under the age of five out in a hospital, because they aren't always able to communicate when something feels wrong in their bodies. They'll send an EMT over as soon as one is free from providing critical care. I just bought you time to plan your escape, so take that gun away from the baby or so help me I will chop your head off!"
I let the axe in my hands slip through my fingers until I'm holding it at the top, ready to swing it through the open window. The guy in the front starts laughing and his partner joins just before he turns the gun to point it back at the driver. "Firefighter barbie's got some anger issues. Boss would love her. Have you ever thought of joining the life of crime? You don't seem to have an issue with dying if you're brave enough to threaten the guy with a gun."
I smack the adze side of the Pulaski into the narrow opening between the door and the roof of the car, to try and pry it open. I ignore the laughter of the two kidnappers and focus all my energy in saving this man and his baby. The problem was that unlike a few months ago, I no longer had a death wish. I was just starting to enjoy being alive again and I was terrified of dying today.
"ETA on additional units are six minutes, Bishop." I startle when my radio goes off on my shoulder, which starts up a whole new set of giggles from the criminals. "Fucking commuters. It's not that hard to drive on a freeway, asshole! We were just cruising about, after picking up the exact formula we needed to make ..." This piques my interest and I reduce the effort and noise of my rescue effort. "Anyway!" The guy in the front shuts his partner up by giving him an accusing look.
He rolls his eyes back at him. "Right. So, we were playing 'I spy with my little eye' with Joseph over here and, bang. This fucking cunt in his convertible, who was riding on our asses the whole time, rams into us and this idiot," He thumps the barrel of the gun on top of the driver's head. "Loses control and crashes into the barriers like a nervous little tramp."
The driver winces with each smack on his head and looks up at me pleadingly. "If we didn't need you for our evil plan, I'd just love to pull the trigger now. Actually, can you go shoot the driver of the convertible for me real quick?" He flips the gun in his hand through the air and holds the back of it out to me. He taunts me when I shake my head and get back to work. I look to my side to see the man in the convertible with a black tag around his neck.
He was declared on arrival. "Guy is already dead. Can you show some respect." He flips the gun back and whistles low. "Karma is a real bitch, ain't she?" The guy in the back and his partner starts making crude jokes over the people who lost their lives in the accident, and I try my absolute best to not let my temper get the best of me at hearing them disrespecting the dead.
When they start singing a song and making a performance of it. Using the barrel of the gun and the hilt of the knife as microphones, singing with their eyes closed. The driver grabs my arm and draws something in the palm of my hand with his finger. First, the letter C, then the number four. I widen my eyes at him when he points to the back.
I frantically look around for Chief Ross before common sense reminds me to stay calm. My decisions could cost this man his life and that of his child. I lean my forearm and elbow on the roof of the car, to do some breathing exercises to calm my nerves and think of a way to get it across to Chief Ross. The whiff of gasoline hits my nose and I almost gag when I see the spilled liquid running across the entire intersection.
I won't know if there was a bomb in that trunk or if it was just explosive materials. Which one of the two had the detonator if there was a bomb? The guy in the front looked like the more levelheaded one of the two, but they both seem like the type to show off their toys. If there was a bomb, wouldn't they have threatened me with it, or were they waiting to use it as a bargaining chip to get out of here?
I can feel myself getting nauseous as flashes of Carina, Antonio and the Becketts keep popping up in my mind's eye. I grab onto the warmth brought on by those images to think of a way to get out of this alive. Movement on my side catches my eye and I'm delighted to see Chief Ross running closer and hiding behind a van a few feet yards away.
They're close enough that I can make out the names on their turnouts, so I send a little prayer up that they'd be able to see my hands behind my back. I start signing to them to indicate that there is C4 in the vehicle. The vehicle sitting atop two tanks of leaked fuel, with a pileup of ten cars behind them, two firefighter companies working on that pileup, and commuters stuck in traffic that stretches miles from the potential blast zone.
The fuel leak was enough to cause an explosion of a mile wide, should it ignite and run underneath the cars on the other side of the intersection. "Chief Ross, how wide do you want the evacuation parameter?" I jerk when the radio cracks to life on my shoulder and I quickly pull at the wires underneath my turnout jacket.
"Hands. Now! Let me see those hands!" I close my eyes before I take a step away from the car to lift my hands up next to my head. When I open them, I look directly into the muzzle of the gun before I meet the evil grin on the suspect's face. "You think you're smart? Got us caught? Why are they evacuating!?" He shakes the gun at me as spit flies from his mouth in his fit of rage.
"They're still extracting critical patients. If a helicopter is called for aerial transport to a hospital, an evacuation zone must be authorized for landing." I think on my feet and exhale small puffs of air through my mouth. The heavens must've heard my prayer because in the next second, a helicopter circles the I-5 and the guy in the back lowers his weapon. "Strike one."
________________________________________________________________________________
Sergeant Will Grant makes his way towards the four firefighters who are cowering behind a utility van, only a few yards from the suspects' motor vehicle. He shakes his head at their stupidity as he gets the update from dispatch that one of their own was now also a hostage. He crouches behind the group, who seems to have a good vantage point from their position to see the blond firefighter with her hands up, take a big breath before going back to getting the suspects free of the wreckage. "Sergeant Will Grant. Head of SPD's SWAT. Fill me in." The big muscular police officer puts the comms into his ear and indicate to the woman who's uniform reads Chief Ross to give an update.
She's precise with the information she provides, using specific times, words spoken and military codes. Sergeant Grant takes advantage of another military veteran to help defuse the situation. "Your woman on the inside. Can she handle herself long enough to get set up?" He lifts his head to indicate to the calm blond firefighter talking to the suspects.
"Bishop? Yeah, if you don't do something soon, she will." Sergeant Grant widens his eyes at Lieutenant Gibson's observation. "Ballsy?" He asks again. "Fearless." Captain Parks says. The sergeant and the captain shake hands, since they've worked together on previous calls. He asks him more about this Lieutenant Bishop's character and likes what he hears. They'll be able to use her in the plan he has formulating in his head.
"Is there a way to communicate with her?" The sergeant becomes frustrated when they tell him that she just cut off communication to her radio but smile when he realizes that she did it, so that they can use everyone to their disposal. "Alright team. We're going in blind here. Two suspects reported, infant and male hostage in the SUV with them. C-4 is a possibility, but we have no visual of it yet."
The sergeant speaks into his comms while looking behind him at the surrounding buildings. "Sniper one, how does your line of sight look in the chopper?" Everyone looks up as the helicopter makes another trip around the scene. "Eagle to base, we'll only be able to fire from this side. Only visual is of the driver's side. Will be shooting blind."
The sergeant looks underneath the van to the car in question. There is a liquid spill leaking from the SUV and convertible that crashed into them. "We need a direct hit. One spark and the car with the explosives goes boom." He looks back to see the blonde firefighter yelling at the suspect in the driver seat. "We only get one chance, and we need to move fast." The rest of the team informs him over his comms that they're making their way closer to the scene on foot.
There will be a window of fifteen seconds between the shot from the sniper to the members on foot reaching the hostages. Fifteen seconds where the other suspect can kill everyone in and around the vehicle, and put a hole in Seattle where the I-5 intersection is supposed to be. "On my mark. Use the laser to give an indication to Lieutenant Bishop of our plan. We'll need to use her to spot the suspects for us. Try not to get her killed in the process, copy?"