"The red stuff is out on the B-side, Cap." Hughes rolls her eyes at Beckett and Jack as they kick around the last few pieces of charred plywood on the wet floor. I make a show of opening the hose to extinguish the last flame at Jack's feet. "It is now." Becks throws me with a melted pen holder when he hears my hushed whisper. "I'm pretty sure Bishop over here just offered to buy the first round tonight." The rest of our small team all slap me on the back as we walk outside together.
"C-side's clear and safe for cleanup." We all look behind us as Ruiz, Warren, Letham and Ridler come walking out in high spirits, seeing how our shift ends in forty-five seconds. "We'll take it from here, Captain Herrera." The ATF agent flips his notebook closed while walking away from the witness at the other side of the caution tape. "Lieutenant Bishop, it's nice to see you again." I ignore Beckett's smirk when the ATF agent bypasses Andy to shake my hand.
"Afternoon, Agent Tate. Little early for the arson squad to show up, isn't it?" He points his thumb over his shoulder towards the owner of the real estate agency. "Lady just closed a huge deal on, what used to be a community center, to some big business mogul who's been buying out the whole area. Sixth time this month she's been targeted by the same people she sold out. PD gave up around incident number four and handed off the case to us." I look around the large crowd that has gathered behind the yellow tape, all but pointing pitchforks at the owner.
When his team comes over with their huge black suitcases, Tate introduces us to them. "Sunshine over there says her new intern squirted a bottle of firelighter fluid over her office furniture before throwing a lit cigarette at her. She ran out and called 9-1-1." The ATF agents all raise their brows at us in question to collaborate her story. "Yeah, it tracks. Fire started downstairs in the office before it spread to the boxes of paperwork on the rest of the ground floor. We managed to stop the fire before it reached the second floor, but the basement has some water damage."
Andy waits until Tate finishes taking notes and sends Ruiz and Johnson back into the building with the other ATF agents. "All right, 19! We're out!" Andy slaps the side of the rig three times to get everyone's attention. Our captain steps away to talk to the owner and notify her to contact her insurance company who needs to call out the professional cleanup services, with Agent Tate watching her back. The rest of us tape off the building to deter the public from entering, for their own safety.
Agent Tate bumps me with his shoulder as he comes up behind me. "You think your CO will let you help me run through the scene to gather all the evidence?" I sigh loudly and start shaking my head at him, but the desperation in his voice gives me pause. The guy did take my statement, after I was held hostage, quickly when I just wanted to get out of the hospital, after all. Andy shrugs her shoulders, giving me the choice. This whole trying hard to be my friend again is seriously biting me in the ass. "Come on, Bishop. I've cancelled on my wife four times this week. I'm begging you." He points down at my black silicon band on my left hand.
I punch Beckett in the stomach when he walks past me, laughing at how easily I'm getting manipulated. "Fine." We watch as the rest of my team climb into the fire trucks and drive off, leaving the aid car behind for the rest of us that has to escort the agents through the debris. "I'm leaving your ass here if we're not done in an hour and taking your reservation for my own wife, understood?" Tate throws his arm over my shoulders, laughing all the way into the building before he tells me the name of the restaurant as a peace offering.
"Ruiz!?" I put my helmet back on and hand Tate a bright pink safety hat from the promotional display in the reception area. "Nice hat, dude." Ruiz comes out of the office to see what I want but bursts out laughing as soon as he sees the burly ATF agent pulling of the tiny hat. "The team left a rig for us. Don't leave without me, okay?" I throw him the keys while watching him disappear back into the office he just came out of. Tate hands me two pairs of surgical gloves which I slip on after stuffing my own into my pocket.
"You take the basement and I'll take upstairs? Swab samples and take pictures of anything that looks suspicious." He hands me a plastic envelope filled with everything I'll need. Bright yellow numbers, a pen, evidence bags, swabs and tubes. He takes my phone and changes the settings on my camera for raw images. "Number, photo, swab, seal and label. We've worked enough arson cases together when you were captain, so you should remember what to look out for. This woman's business has been egged, flooded, vandalized and now arson. Either she's the most hated woman here or there is more to the story."
I mock salute him and split up with him at the stairs, doing exactly as told until I come across something too suspicious for me to handle. Before I can open the lid on the metal briefcase, my RPM goes crazy. "Uhm, Tate!" I take a few steps back until the RPM flashes green again. "Agent Tate!" He comes running down the stairs, giving me a questioning look when I prevent him from walking deeper into the basement. "ATF know about any missing radioactive materials?"
His eyes go wide before he groans low in his throat while cursing. "My wife is going to kill me." I grin at how disappointed he sounds while he takes out his phone to first cancel his date and then call his agents to arrest the owner. "How long did your alarm go off?" I hand over my RPM to him to look at the radiation score, while he calls in the CSI team. "I called you after the first beep." He nods his head and walks closer to the desk with the suitcase until the RPM starts giving another warning.
"I think it's empty. Reading is too low with a casing like this. More like residual traces." He walks back to run the device over us to make sure we're both clean. He asks for my radio, calling in the details of everything he sees in the room. While he's busy with his own investigation, I swing the door between my hands. My brows furrow when I see three deadlocks on the outside and wall art above the metal cupboard. I ignore Tate's questioning gaze while I walk up and down the wall, knocking on the dry wall as I go.
A sinking feeling fills my limbs as a panel gives way to a small room with a desk taking up the whole wall. There are wires, switches and batteries thrown haphazardly on the floor and hanging from the desk. "Look familiar?" I kick the panel open wider for Tate to see, pointing out the picture of the man and baby that were held hostage during the pileup a few months ago. "Exactly like Joseph described his den." Tate punches his fist against the makeshift door, letting the curse words leave his mouth louder and louder until his fist burst through the panel.
"So, if this is where they held him, where is the bomb he made said he made?" He hands me another pair of gloves after taking pictures of every corner of the room. Tate runs the RPM device over the desk, showing me the screen to show that there are no traces of radioactive materials. I swipe my finger over the powdery substance. "Gun powder?" I smirk at him when he pulls my finger to his nose to smell it before nodding. The ATF agent asks me to tilt the table so he can look for evidence on the bottom.
"Son of a bitch." He whispers it under his breath as he lifts an empty bag with his pen, laying it out on the table. "Fertilizer?" He shakes the plastic bag until a few pearls falls out before he picks one up. "More like pure ammonium nitrate. I'm guessing you guys called this in?" We both startle and look behind us when a detective enters the room. We both protect the evidence behind us until the detective shows us his badge. Tate agrees with the detective's assessment and greets him with a nod of his head.
"Detective Yates. I was in the vicinity when the call came through dispatch. Owner is on her way to the precinct for questioning. I thought I'd come lend a hand and make nice with the other departments." I take off one of my gloves to shake the tall and slim detective's hand. He's not as cocky as the other detectives I've met from SPD, which mean he's fishing for information or he's new. I look at Tate to see if he knows him, but he follows suit with a handshake. "Nice to meet you, detective."
I leave the small space so Detective Yates can have his own look around, thanking me as he moves past me. "Do you know the whereabouts of Joseph Dobrow?" The detective spins around to look at us in surprise before he demands how we know the name. "Lieutenant Bishop was the firefighter his kidnappers held hostage and I'm the ATF agent that questioned him. It's exactly how he described where they kept him." Tate points out the locks on the basement door, the wall art, and the photo in the small room.
The detective runs his fingers through his hair while sighing loudly. "Look, I just transferred here from Chicago. According to the files on my desk, the Dobrow case is closed." Tate and I look at each other in complete surprise, indicating to the evidence we just found. "So, SPD arrested the kidnappers' boss? Why wasn't ATF notified that the bomb Joseph made had been located!?" The rubber glove snaps as Tate rips it from his hand, his anger clear in his voice.
Yates looks at me to back him up, but I'm just as curious over his answer as Tate is. When he sees I'm going to be no help, he cracks his knuckles to buy himself some time. "Okay, okay. I know with all the corruption claims that has been brought up since Chief Dixon got charged, that your trust in the police has taken a knock." He shrugs his shoulders when both Tate and I scoff at Dixon's name. Our trust in the police was shot long before he became the police chief, but the divide between FD and PD was never as large as when he got appointed.
"I can assure you; I did my due diligence when reviewing each case of the detectives involved in the scandal. Every single lead we got from Mr. Dobrow had been exhausted to its fullest, without any luck. They were following orders from their chief, like any good soldier would, but they are exceptional at their job." Tate starts spewing angry words at how ridiculous this is and storms out of the basement to find out from his superiors why they ATF aren't looking for the missing bomb if the police department closed the case.
Yates stops me from going after Tate and instructs me to send the photos I've taken, to his phone. When I offer my help, his demeanor quickly changes to what I'd expect from a detective. "You've done your job, Lieutenant. The building is safe for the CSI team to collect evidence. You are free to go." I smirk at the way he tries to intimidate me by taking a step closer to me with his arms crossed over his chest so he can look down on me.
"Just find these scumbags, alright Yates? My people are the first responders who will get called in if they decide to detonate that bomb. Due to Dixon, SPD already has innocent blood on their hands. You don't want any firefighters' blood on yours, trust me." He clenches his jaw as his hands fall limply to his side. "Are you threatening me, Lieutenant Bishop?" I slap his arm as I walk past him, meeting his eye out of my peripheral vision.
"I'm imploring you to do your job. Catch these sons of bitches. Joseph admitted to building a bomb for them. A bomb no one is out looking for, I might add. I don't know about you, detective, but I'm not okay with sending first responders to a potential terrorist attack, if I know I had the means to prevent it." His facial features turn somber when the seriousness of the situation finally hits him. The CSI team make their way down the stairs, which gives me the perfect opportunity to find Ruiz and the probie so we can go home.
__________________________________________________________________________________
"Lieutenant?" I take one of my EarPods out and place my feet on both sides of the treadmill, pressing a few buttons to stop the speeding belt. Walker opens the door to the gym fully, smirking when she hears how out of breath I am. Since finding Joseph's den yesterday, my nerves have been prickling under my skin and running is the only escape I know. The team from station 12 picked up on my mood and left me be, to deal with it on my own. "Relax, Lieutenant Walker. We're equals. There's no need to use a rank when addressing me in private."
She mentions some stories she's heard about me from my team at 19 during her rotations with them. "You still have the means to make me do non-stop drills for interrupting your workout. Forgive me for wanting to stay alive by being respectful." I jump off the treadmill while laughing at the lieutenant that hit the top of my captain exam's list after her last call. A blush creeps onto her cheeks when I catch her looking at my arms before deliberately touching my wedding ring.
"An ATF agent is here looking for you. Cap told him to wait in his office for you." I grab my towel to wipe the sweat from my face and neck before picking up my water bottle. After a few sips of water, I put a fresh shirt on over my sports bra. "Are you in some kind of trouble? You've got enough people who thinks the world of you to have your back." Walker falls into step with me as I walk out the door towards the gym, both of us inspecting the condition of the rigs as we pass them.
I bump her shoulder with mine, feeling a little rush from the respect she shows me. "I think it has to do with a call I was involved with in the past. No need to worry about me, but thanks anyway, Walker." She thumps me on the back, reminding me that I have friends in every station now. "Is Ross still here?" Her eyes widen when they meet mine, but she nods nonetheless without asking any more questions.
"Can you ask her to join us, please?" I watch her turn on her heels and run up the stairs towards the meeting room, Ross has been using as an office for the last week or so. I walk into the captain's office and close the door before greeting Agent Tate. "I'm guessing this is about what we found yesterday?" He asks for a glass of water when he sees me taking another sip of mine. I open the small mini fridge in the corner of the office and take two bottles of water out, before handing one to him.
"Lieutenant Bishop. Walker said you were looking for me?" I usher Chief Ross into the office, offering her a bottle of water as well. "Chief Ross, you remember Agent Tate from ATF. We worked together on the arson case yesterday." She nods her head and repeats everything I've mentioned in my report to make sure she didn't miss anything. "Is this a curtesy call to inform SFD to be on high alert?" Tate's lips turn down into an irritated frown before he sits down, groaning as he scratches the back of his neck.
"I've been instructed by my captain to drop the investigation." My mouth involuntarily drops open from disbelief. I shoot a hopeful look to Ross, hoping she'll do something. Her face also shows complete bewilderment. "There were traces of radioactive material in that building, Agent Tate. On what grounds did th-" Tate interrupts her while standing up, to the dismay of Ross. "Trust me, chief. I have used everything you're possibly thinking of right now when I tried to make my case." Ross scoffs as she angrily walks away.
"Look, off the record?" He waits silently for us to agree to keep the secret he's about to spill in confidence. Ross comes to stand next to me, looking at me to see if I'm in agreement before she gives her go ahead for both of us. "ATF and the Anti-Terrorism Unit across different states have entered a joint task force to investigate a string of communications between known terrorist groups who are planning the next 9/11. The bomb Joseph described assembling has been deemed too small for ATF to take the lead. We don't even know if these people are still in Seattle. The feds have been contacted but their handing it over to SPD until more information is made public."
Ross and I stare at Tate as he drops the bomb, so to speak, that we might be facing a bigger issue than what we found yesterday, in the near future. I was only a kid when 9/11 happened. I remember seeing it on the news, hearing my parents and teachers talking about it, but my biggest concern was winning track meets. I didn't know the importance of what happened until I joined the academy, and I didn't understand the pain caused by it until I lost my first co-worker.
Running into dangerous situations without worrying about our own lives are first nature to us. If there is another potential terrorist attack coming our way, every firefighter will run into that building again just like before. When I look up at Ross, I also understand why so many people joined the military afterwards. They felt helpless and wanted to prevent anything like this from happening again. Just like I'm desperate to save the world now from the people who kidnapped Joseph and his son and killed his wife.
Ross shakes her head, while she massages her temples. "This case is going to go cold again. SPD is too busy cleaning house and saving face after Dixon made a deal." Both Tate and I ask her to explain why no one knows about this deal. "He gave up all the names in SPD who was part of his corruption to get a lesser sentence for all his charges. The lead detective who had this case first, was named as one of his conspirators. Internal Affairs won't let them touch this. According to the rule book, this is an ATF investigation, and they need to do everything by the book from now on."
I crush the water bottle in my fist, ignoring the few drops of water running down my fingers. "So, they just get away with this? There's a bomb out there!" Ross tells me to lower my voice, glowering at me when I huff and puff in annoyance. "Can we get the feds involved in this? ATF can force SPD to investigate, can't they?" I look desperately between Tate and Ross, hoping one of them can offer a better solution than doing nothing.
"The feds will need proof that the bomb and bombers have crossed state lines. The problem is that the bomb is only a hypothetical from hearsay, and we have no idea who the mastermind is behind all of this. SWAT killed one kidnapper and the other one committed suicide in a holding cell before he could tell us who he worked for. Joseph only ever saw the two who held him hostage. There aren't any leads to follow and I can't afford to get suspended for insubordination. I'm sorry. It's out of my hands."
He at least looks regretful when he shakes our hands before we follow him out to his car. Ross stops me from entering the station again, with a hand on my shoulder. "You were a captain, Bishop. So, I don't have to tell you the importance of keeping this under wraps. No one can know what was disclosed in that office. No one, understood?" I glare at her hand which she hasn't moved from my arm yet, until she drops it. "Shut up and just let my people walk into unknown situations, knowing they can get blown up. Got it."
I start walking past her, but wince when she grabs my arm again. "You're a lieutenant, Bishop. Don't forget your place. I'm the fire chief here. Sending firefighters to a call like that is my job, which includes you. Don't let this project of yours go to your head. I heard about your little deal with the union. I will always outrank you. So yes, shut up and go where I tell you to go, when I tell you to go there. And you will treat every call as if Agent Tate never said a word." She bumps my shoulder with hers as she walks away.
I shake my head in helplessness while I watch Ross walk back into the station, through the rigs and up the stairs. I also force myself to remember that besides Ross's bad taste in men and her inability to reinstate me as captain, I have respected her since she started working with us. I admired her for fighting for our country for years before coming back to put her life on the line again as a firefighter.
She had to kick me down a notch because her job is to keep everyone safe, whilst following a thick rulebook in the process. I'm just thankful that I'm not the only one who's heart is going to drop every time a call comes in from now on. Ross understood the risk of an unknown threat more than anyone else. She joined the military with the notion that she'd be able to keep her home, her family, her people here safe from the dangers on the outside.
How can I just walk away from knowing that my home, my family, my people are at risk from a threat in Seattle. Especially knowing that no one cares about eliminating it. I'm not delusional enough to think that I can stop this myself, but I can try. If ATF needs proof of a bomb or a bomber to launch an investigation, then I will find it for them. Better yet, I'll look for the necessary evidence about them crossing state lines to get people involved that actually wants to help.
Joseph's bomb might not be big enough to take out a city block or skyscraper, but neither was the bomb that killed and maimed so many people in the Boston Marathon Bombing or the Manchester Arena Bombing. There's a reason they forced Joseph to build the bomb to begin with, I just wish I know what the target is. What if they target a hospital, a restaurant, a daycare center or a school? What if they hurt one of the people I want to protect? I'll never be able to forgive myself if I didn't at least try to stop it from happening.