Chapter Five:
A loud ringing sounded. And when Theodora sat up blinking back the sunlight, blindly searching for the source, she didn't remember where she was. Until of course she did, and suddenly she was wide awake and the sound stopped.
"Malcolm?" She called, sliding off his bed. She raced into the living room, finding the couch empty. "Hello?"
Wait, why was she in his room?
The ringing sound began again, much louder than last time. She jumped, feeling her phone in her back pocket dance around. Theodora slipped it out and clicked answer, pressing it against her ear.
"I've been calling you all morning."
"I didn't realize I was that tired. To sleep past all your excessive phone calls."
He chuckled, "I'm working a case. With the team."
"The team?"
"Gil, Dani and Jerry."
Now it was her to turn to laugh, "JT?"
"Yeah, whatever— Anyways, I'll send you the address."
"The address for what?"
He huffed, mumbling something. She could hear Gil's voice in the background, ordering them out.
"We got a break in the case. We think we know a suspect. I'll send you the address, meet me there?"
"If I keep tagging along and you get fired from the NYPD, it's not my fault. Alright?"
She could feel his smile, "See you there."
Theodora hung up, shoving her phone back into her pocket. Something was digging into the front of her leg and she frowned, discovering Malcolm's keys still where she had put them last time.
She raced down the steps, tugging her shoes on and flying out the door. She locked it quickly before rushing down the streets.
Her phone buzzed once again, and she hastily grabbed it and read the text from her friend. It was the address, and it was on the other side of downtown.
It took her twenty minutes to find the correct apartment building, and she was trying to catch her breath when a hand patted her on the back.
"Ran a marathon?"
She looked up to see Malcolm, sending him a glare.
"I saw you running back there. Drove by you."
Theodora huffed, tossing him his keys and the finger.
"C'mon." JT brushed by her, "We need to catch him before he's gone."
Theodora nodded, following behind the two detectives and next to her friend. They were all silent until they reached the correct floor of the apartment building, JT was the first to speak as they approached a single green door.
"Nico Stavros. Each victim sent him a payment within the last month." Dani explained, "Hopefully he's home."
JT shrugged, banging on the door. "NYPD!" He leaned forward attempting to see trough the peep hole. "Lights are off."
"Gil said to wait. He's pulling up a warrant." Dani sighed, "Should be done soon."
"I see movement." JT exclaimed, both him and Dani pulled up their guns and had them up and loaded within seconds.
"You two stay behind us."
Theodora didn't argue as she walked behind Malcolm, listening as JT yelled who they worked for again.
"Clear."
The lights were in fact off, and Theodora couldn't help but notice the padded walls, also covered in plastic sheets.
Malcolm flipped out a flashlight, shining it in front of him.
"Clear!" JT yelled as the hall opened up into the main room.
A metal table was set up towards the centre of the room, a variety of medical instruments laid out perfectly organized.
"What is this?" Dani questioned, while JT opted for the usually, "What the hell is this, man?"
Malcolm pushed through the detectives and stared down the table, "He's building electronics. Compounding his own drugs. He's more than a copy cat." He paused, "Which means my profile was wrong."
Something shifted behind them, but it appeared that Theodora was the only one who heard. She slowly stepped towards it, the side of the room that had been divided by a foggy plastic sheet.
The groaning sounded again, just as she was about the part the sheet. This time, the others heard and were pointing their guns in her direction.
"Get out of the way!" JT shouted, to which she rolled her eyes and yanked back the sheet.
A man sat in a metal chair, bound to where he sat with a cloth covering his mouth. He wore nothing but boxers and was covered in a think coating of sweat.
"NYPD, don't worry." Dani charged at him, gently taking the cloth away from his mouth. "You're okay."
The man only looked in a different direction, just when Theodora heard a creak in floorboard off to her left.
"He's here." She whispered.
The flashlight shone where she was pointing, and a figure was standing off against the wall.
"NYPD!" Dani yelled, only for a gun to fire towards them.
They all dropped to the floor, Theodora landing with a string of curse words.
"We all good?" Dani asked, "Are we all good!"
"Yes!" They all said back, only for her to scramble towards the exit where the shooter had run out of. "I'll go after him, JT you stay with Bright and Fletcher."
Theodora pulled herself up, stumbling back to the man in the chair. She ripped the cloth away from his mouth, "You okay?"
"Why did Nico do this to you?" Malcom rushed next to her, staring at the man. "Were you one of his clients?"
"I'm not a client man! I'm Nico. He made me call them, set up dates." He rambled, fear pouring off of him. "He's a psycho man!"
"Who did this to you?"
"I didn't see his face! Please. Get me out of here, I've been in this chair for days!"
Both JT and Malcolm flopped onto the floor, noticing then he was locked to the chair by an arm. And the chair was attached to the ground by ways they couldn't see.
"Yo, he's locked in!" JT exclaimed.
"We got a little problem here."
"Well, that's not good."
Theodora dropped to the floor, shooing JT away. "What?"
She peeked under the chair, seeing the large green numbers of a timer.
The chair was rigged. This man wasn't meant to leave the apartment, he was meant to blow up with it when the killer decided.
"I can get him out."
"What?"
"Move!" She yelled, laying on her back, scouting her way under. "It's going off! It's going off!"
"You see that, Bright?" JT asked.
Malcolm shoved himself under the chair, his hair falling down onto her eyes from the angle he was at. "It's a bomb. And he's locked to it."
"What!"
"Don't say that stuff out loud!" Theodora yelled, "Malcolm, I can do this. Move!"
"He was gonna find out in 72 seconds!"
He pushed away, and Theodora started grabbing at the wires.
"We need to find a way to unlock it. Find a screwdriver or—"
"I'm working on it!"
She yelled, working around the kinks. If she just found the points of connection. She could stop the bomb and unlock him, all at once.
"There's not enough time!" Malcolm yelled.
"Less than a minute!" She yelled back, "I can do it, it's all good!"
"JT, Kitchen! Get ice. Lots of ice!"
The man in the chair, Nico, was pulling on the clamp. The chair kept shaking with his every movement and her grip kept falling from the correct wires. But could do it.
"What's happening!" Nico shouted.
To which Malcolm responded, "I'm gonna chop off your hand!"
Theodora's eyes widened as his footsteps rushed back to where they were.
"No! Wait—"
"Theo, move!"
"No— are you crazy—"
JT's hands found her arms and dragged her out from under the chair. Just as Malcolm's foot connected with Nico's chest and the chair came free from the ground, landing on its back with a thud.
"It's the only option." Malcolm nodded, "Besides, reattachment surgery has come a long way! So... deep breaths!"
"No! No, no, no—"
"How much time on the clock?" JT asked from the kitchen, collecting ice from the freezer.
"30 seconds!" Theodora shouted, kneeling, arms outstretched, back working on what she had started. "Wait— I got this."
"I'm willing to let go." Malcolm took a deep breath, "And trust myself. I am willing to let go—"
"Bright! Come on— we gotta go!"
"No- guys I just need a few more seconds!"
"We don't have anymore seconds!"
Theodora shook her head, she just needed to yank on the yellow wire. But she heard Malcolm's count down,
"Malcolm, no!" She yelled, "Wait— Wait!"
But then the axe came down, severing Nico's hand from his body.
"Malcolm!" She screamed, blood spraying her face. She scrambled away, staring wide eyed at the scene in front of her.
Within seconds JT had the hand in a cooler, shutting it with a snap and handing it to Malcolm. JT helped Nico up, screaming at them to get the hell out.
An arm wrapped around Theodora as she stood up, and was nudged along by Malcolm as they both ran out in a daze. JT practically pushed Nico down the stairs, while Theodora was holding her friend up from falling down.
Just as they all stumbled outside, the bomb went off. Glass shattered and people dropped to the ground, shouting in confusion and fear.
"Hey! Hey!" Dani came rushing towards them, "Bright! Fletcher! Are you guys alright?"
"I had it." She whispered, "I could've stopped the—"
"Not enough time." He replied.
Dani gave them both an odd look, "Are you sure you're alright?"
Theodora's eyes widened, her gaze falling on the cooler still gripped in his hands. She placed a hand on it, tapping it twice.
"Oh!" Malcolm exclaimed as Theodora already began walking forward, towards Gil and his car. Taking deep breaths, processing what her friend had just done. "I'm gonna go give them a hand."