On The Run

Chapter Twenty-Seven - "Ready, Set, Glitter"

Jake

Two years ago

They said we’d find it in a warehouse, and we’d searched nearly every one in the city, having no particular leads. I had no idea who these people were, but we were doing what the FBI told us to do.

I wasn’t, because my partner was missing. And that threw all the rules out the window.

Sarah had gone in to get a suspect a few hours earlier, and she’d never come back. That was how we even had an idea who might be suspected of the supposed bombings.

And they didn’t seem to be done.

I stepped into the empty warehouse, a trip completely unauthorized. Peter Holland, a junior detective, was behind me, peering around the corner, gun raised.

The other detectives were following a promising suspect lead, but I was more concerned with finding Sarah than about anything else.

“You take the second floor. I’ll take this one,” I said. I barely took note of my pounding heart in my ears. The place was practically empty, except for the hundreds of empty crates piled on top of each other, giving me a very poor view of possible threats.

I heard some kind of shuffling through a large door. With my gun held up, I eased the door open slowly, and stepped into the empty room with large frosted windows. As I took in the wires, TNT and guns spread across a table, I knew I had found their lair. I was starting to realize how stupid it was to do this with only Peter as my backup.

There was the shuffling again.

Slowly, I walked along the wall, and suddenly turned the corner, gun in the air.

It nearly clattered to the floor when I saw the figure tied up in the chair, with a bomb strapped to her chest.

She looked up slowly, “Fancy meeting you here,” she croaked.

My eyes widened as I managed to take heavy steps towards her. “Oh my God, Sarah. Oh God,” I said, taking in the convoluted wiring. “No no no,” I muttered, scanning the entire thing trying to find a way out.

“Jake, stop,” she said quietly, “It’s okay.”

I crouched in front of her, as I took in her tear-filled eyes.

“I’m going to get you out of here. I just . . . I can’t figure out where it begins,” I said, taking in the vest and the wiring again.

She could not die. I wasn’t going to let her die.

“I need you to do something for me,” she said.

“Sarah, I’m going to get you out,” I said, trying to convince myself more than her, as my heart rammed violently against my chest.

“Under my bed, there’s a box marked ‘Dad’, I need you to send it to the address on the front. Or you can go there if that works better. Also—”

I interrupted her, “You’re going to be fine,” I said, but my feigned smile was faltering and I could feel my rising fear setting in.

She sighed, “It’s a setup, Jake. I’m not going to be fine. In ten minutes they’ll be back, they’ll kill you and then they’re going to drop me off at the FBI headquarters so that they can detonate the bomb and kill everyone in it. It’s a setup. I’m just the patsy. There was never any nuclear bomb.”