Diamonds in the Rough

4.

"It is done" he was grinning at her, his shirt covered with a white powder that she really hoped was cement.

He followed her gaze, "that's cocaine."

"Funny" she grumbled before looking up at him, "you were kidding right?"

He winked at her, dusting off his shirt "you can plead ignorance."

"I think there's a technical term for that."

"Do you want to stand here and flip through a dictionary or get the hell out before the building goes up?"

"What?" she almost yelled, "you were only supposed to destroy the device."

"You didn't tell me that" he shot back, "you said, make sure the device never leaves the building."

"I thought you understood" she pulled the hoodie over her head and started walking towards the gate, "I'm sorry for expecting you to use a little bit of common sense."

"So, you're saying this is my fault?" he walked behind her, "maybe you should learn to communicate better, Boss."

She scoffed without turning around, "if I was your boss, I would have fired you a long time ago" she stopped, "did you make sure no one was in the building?"

"Yes" he gave her a dirty look, "I'm not a murderer, you know."

"Tell that to the guy you hit with your car yesterday"

"He's not dead"

"No thanks to you"

Ben made a face behind her back as she opened the car door and slipped inside. He got into the driver's seat, drumming his hands on the wheel.

Allison leaned back against the seat and closed her eyes, "why aren't we moving?"

Ben was looking out the window, "why isn't the building in flames yet?"

"Maybe you screwed it up."

He glared at her briefly before turning his attention back to the building "something's wrong."

Allison opened her eyes, "lets just go, we'll try again tomorrow."

He bit his lip, "no, if it malfunctioned, it might go off when someone is in the building."

He opened the door and got out but found Allison blocking his way, "get back in."

"You're not the boss of me" he said as she stared him down.

She held his gaze for ten seconds and then sighed, "come on Ben, this is stupid, what if it goes off while you're in there?"

"What if it goes off when there's a bunch of people in there?"

"We can get the bomb squad from the company on it."

He studied her "Allison, I am the bomb squad from the company"

"Well...I" she stopped, trying to figure out what to say, "we could you get your protective equipment and come back."

He gave her a grim smile, "its too risky to wait for so long and you know it."

"Ben" she sighed, "don't..."

His eyes widened as he caught sight of something behind her and instinctively Allison turned. There was nothing there and when she turned back Ben was gone.

She called him a few choice swear words under her breath before running to retrieve something from the trunk. Armed with a flashlight, she turned towards the building just as it exploded, showering her with pieces of cement.

*********************

When Ben woke up, he wasn't exactly sure where he was, except that everything hurt like a..., he stopped himself honoring his new year's resolution to swear less. There was still dust in the air which made him cough but also reminded him of what had happened. The bomb had gone off, but the timer had malfunctioned. Thankfully, he'd been able to find a table that had shielded him from the worst of the blast and though every cell of his body was screaming in pain, he was alive.

He pushed himself up, tentatively testing his ability to walk and found out that he could manage a limping walk that made the pain almost excruciating but would also get him out of the building before it collapsed completely.

He could hear a faint voice calling his name and he sincerely hoped it wasn't an angel telling him his time was up. He hadn't even had a chance to try pineapple on pizza yet. As he moved ahead, the voice became clearer and he chuckled to himself, that definitely wasn't an angel.

"Could you stop yelling?" he shouted, almost immediately regretting it as his lungs clenched.

The voice stopped and a shovel pushed through the jammed entrance door, making a big enough hole for Ben to be able to see her face. She looked terrified, her hair was plastered to her face with sweat and her eyes were wet. As soon as she caught sight of him, she schooled her expression into a neutral one. She shoved the last of the door aside, walked in and helped him out.

As soon as they were in the car, she pushed her hair away from her face, "what the hell were you thinking?"

"I didn't want anyone to die inside" he said, casually shifting to find a more comfortable position.

She stared at him, "Right now, I don't know if I want to kiss you or shove you off a bridge."

He grinned, "can I pick?"

"No" she started the car and put it into gear.

"Well at least now you know I'm not a murderer"

"Is that why you went back in?" she said, looking at him, "to prove something to me? Cause if that's it, I'm leaning more towards shoving you off a bridge"

"How did you get a shovel anyway?" he asked, trying to change the subject.

She looked straight ahead, clutching the wheel, her voice going soft, "Cause I'm the one who has to bury the bodies"

Prompt retrieved from thefakeredhead.com