Chapter Sixteen
Vernon was thrown back against the concrete wall and left unconscious.
Panic-stricken over the many people she knew and loved in the building and her ears ringing from the blast, Sam forced herself to shake off the shock to tend to Vernon, who was bleeding from his forehead.
Malone came charging in through the morgue door from outside, while Lindsey, Byron and Amara emerged through the automatic doors.
“What the hell was that?” Malone asked, looking frantic.
“I don’t know.” Sam could barely hear over the ringing. “It sounded like a bomb.”
“Holy shit,” Malone said as he took off running toward the pit, with Byron following.
Sam desperately wanted to follow Malone to check on her team, but she needed Vernon to wake up. “Vernon. Vernon.”
His eyes fluttered open, followed by a couple of fast blinks. “Wh-what happened?”
“There was an explosion. Do you think you could sit up?”
“Yeah.”
She and Lindsey helped him up, and Sam hovered over him while he closed his eyes and took a couple of deep breaths.
“What the hell?” he asked.
“I don’t know anything yet.”
Lindsey asked Vernon a series of questions, trying to assess his condition.
“I’m okay.”
“You may have a concussion,” Lindsey said.
Agent Q came rushing through the morgue door a minute later, looking wild-eyed, and stopped short when he found Vernon on the floor and Sam crouched before him.
“Get her out of here,” Vernon said to Q. “I’m okay.”
“I can’t leave, so please don’t ask me to,” Sam said. “I’ll understand if you want to.”
“I’m staying with you,” Q said.
“I’ll send EMTs your way,” Sam said.
“Nah, I’m fine. They’ll be needed elsewhere.”
“I’ll be back.”
“I’ll be here,” Vernon said. “Q, stay close to her until we figure out what this is.”
“Yes, sir.”
“Lindsey, come with me,” Sam said. “You may be needed.”
“Amara, wait for me outside,” Lindsey said. “I’ll find you as soon as I can.”
With Lindsey and Q following, Sam ran toward the pit on wobbly legs as adrenaline chased through her system. The first person she saw as she approached the pit was Freddie, running toward the morgue.
“Oh, thank God,” he said. “You’re okay.”
Sam hugged him. “I was just going to say the same to you. How bad is it?”
“Pretty bad. Took out the lobby, Processing and part of the chief’s suite.”
“Are they…”
“I don’t know yet, but we’ve got three dead in the lobby.”
“Oh my God.”
Sam, Q and Lindsey followed Freddie into hell.
The lobby had been completely destroyed.
EMS was tending to multiple victims, and the corridor that led to the chief’s suite was blocked by debris.
Three bodies on the floor were covered with sheets.
She found Captain Malone in the chaos. “The chief, Jeannie, Helen…”
“Not answering phones,” he said tensely.
Q took hold of Sam’s arm. “We need to get you out of here in case it’s not over.”
She shook him off. “I have to stay and help. If you want to go, I wouldn’t blame you at all.”
“I’m not leaving you here.”
The BlackBerry in her back pocket began vibrating. Sam took the call from Nick. “I’m okay, but it’s bad.”
“What the hell, Sam? I’m losing it over here.”
“I don’t know.” Her voice wavered. “There’re multiple dead, Vernon is hurt, and we can’t get to the chief, Jeannie or Helen. Their part of the building is cut off.”
“Babe, listen to me. You need to get out of there in case it was directed at you. They might not be done.”
“Directed at me? What?”
“We don’t know anything yet, but just in case… There could be other explosive devices in the building.”
As he said that, Higgins from Explosives started yelling. “Get out of the building! Right now! Everyone out!”
Sam turned and ran toward the pit. “Everyone out,” she said to her team. “Head for the morgue.”
“What’s happening?” Nick asked.
“The Explosives lieutenant ordered everyone out. We’re headed for the exit. I’ll call you when we’re outside.”
Sam waited until each of her detectives had adhered to the instruction, and then she thought of Thelma, still in the interrogation room and the Patrol officer watching the door. “I’ve got to go back for two people,” she told Q.
“No, we need to get out.”
“I can’t leave them.” Sam ran toward the corridor that housed the conference and interrogation rooms. “Grab her and let’s go,” she said to the officer outside the door. “Hurry.”
Thelma came out, looking terrified. “What’s happening?”
“We believe it was a bomb.” Sam was still reeling from Nick saying that the bomb could’ve been directed at her. If that turned out to be true, this would be her last day on the job. “Let’s go.”
As they headed for the morgue exit, she noticed Vernon was no longer in the hallway and hoped he was being seen by EMTs.
They stepped outside into bright spring sunshine that was in stark contrast to the darkness that’d taken over her thoughts as she tried to process her workplace being bombed.
The parking lot was a chaotic scene, with ambulances and patients on the ground, being tended to by EMTs.
Patrol officers were holding back the reporters who wanted to shove cameras in the faces of the injured.
Had anyone heard from the chief, Jeannie or Helen? What about the officers who worked in Processing near the lobby and others who might’ve been in the area?
Archie came over to her, looking rattled and relieved to see her. “What the fuck, Sam? Are all your people accounted for?”
“I think so. Several were in the field. What about you?”
“Not yet. I’ve got one I can’t find.”
“I saw the lobby.” Sam tucked trembling hands under her arms. “The hallway to the chief’s office was completely knocked out. No one has heard from them.”
“Oh my God.”
“Ma’am,” Q said in a low tone meant only for her. “We need to relocate you.”
“I’m not going anywhere. These are my people, Q.”
“I understand, but until the building is swept for additional explosives, you can’t be here.”
She tried to stare him down, but the young agent never blinked.
“How do you expect me to leave when the people I work with, my friends, are injured or missing, when my workplace has been bombed?”
“This is coming from the administrator, ma’am. We’re under orders to remove you from the premises.”
“I’m not going. You can surround me with agents, but I’m staying until all our people are located and we know what happened and who did it.”
“We can’t endanger additional people by bringing in more agents, ma’am. Surely you understand the concern for our team, too.”
Sam glanced at Archie, who gave her a look that said he fully understood her agony at being told she needed to get out of there.
“How do I ever come back here if I leave when people are injured or dead?”
“You can come back as soon as we get an all clear that there’re no more explosives,” Q said.
“Go, Sam,” Archie said. “There’s nothing you can do here anyway. We’ll be in the parking lot until we can get back in.”
Sam tried to picture herself getting into a Secret Service SUV and leaving the scene while her colleagues tended to one another and tried to figure out who could’ve done this. She couldn’t reconcile those optics or the idea of being anywhere else when people she loved were missing or dead.
“If I leave, Q, I won’t be able to come back. Please don’t ask me to leave the people I love. I’m needed here. I’ll understand if you choose to leave. You certainly didn’t sign up for this when you joined my detail.”
“I… I understand, ma’am, but—”
“No buts. I’m not leaving. End of discussion. Where’s Vernon?”
“I saw him over that way with EMTs,” Archie said, pointing.
Sam took off in that direction with Q and Freddie following.
“You did the right thing refusing to leave,” he said.
“I know I did. I wouldn’t be able to live with myself if I left.”
“No, you wouldn’t. What do you think this is?”
“I have no freaking idea, but I’d really like to hear from the chief, Jeannie and Helen. I’m worried about them. Especially Jeannie and the baby…”
“I know. Me, too.”
Sam spotted Vernon, sitting on the tailgate of one of the ambulances, and walked toward him. “What’s the story?”
“Just a bump to the head. I’m okay.”
“You’re not just saying that?”
“No, I’m good. What about your team?”
“Everyone from my team who was in the building has been accounted for. We’re waiting to hear on the chief, deputy chief and their admin. The deputy chief is pregnant… I’d really like to hear something about them.”
“Are they looking for other explosives?”
“Yeah, the Explosives LT cleared the building so they could do that.”
“What do you think this is?”
“I have no idea.” Sam looked around at the chaotic scene that now included multiple news trucks with satellite dishes on top. “What happened to the Russians?”
Vernon looked around. “I don’t know.”
They glanced at one another.
“Was this their doing?” Sam asked.
“I mean… I wouldn’t put it past them, but to bomb the MPD headquarters… That could be considered an act of war.”
“Good God. Let me talk to Lindsey. I’ll be right back to check on you.”
“I’m fine, Sam. Do what you need to.”
Sam squeezed his arm. “Don’t scare me like that again, you hear?”
“I’ll try not to.”
Sam, Q and Freddie took off to find Lindsey, who stood out in the crowd thanks to her red ponytail.
“Linds…”
The medical examiner spun around to face Sam. “Oh, thank goodness. There you are. I was worried when I couldn’t find you after we got separated.”
Sam returned Lindsey’s embrace. “I’m here. Are you okay?”
“Yeah, all good.”
“Where’s Amara?”
Lindsey turned to look around. “I don’t know.”
“Ivanov,” Sam said.
Together, Lindsey, Sam, Freddie and Q ran for the door to the morgue, but they were stopped by Patrol officers guarding the door.
“Step aside,” Sam said. “We urgently need to get into the morgue.”
“We’ve been told that no one is allowed in.”
“I’m giving you a direct order to allow us through,” Sam said. “We’ll come right back out when we get information that might be pertinent to the bombing. I’ll take the blame for any trouble.”
The two young officers exchanged glances before one of them shrugged and stepped aside.