Special Agent Bishop had seen many crime scenes and strange occurrences in her time in the agency, but nothing fit this. She blinked when Collimore said to get to work. "Hey Collimore..."
"Yeah, I know. Get to work. Do I need to micromanage you all in front of the cameras?" His voice dropped to a whisper, and he kept his face carefully neutral. "Remember media is watching. Now, go."
"On it." Bishop turned around and saw Dr. Demen holding up his FBI badge and crossing though the tape. He looked unusually flustered, his deep brown eyes looking wary, and his hair tussled.
"Hey Agent Bishop!" He paused as he took in the scene. "Wow." He smiled and cocked his head. "You look sick. Everything okay?"
Agent Bishop shook her head but said "I'm fine. I think that the bodies are over there." She turned and pointed at where agent Tuffin and a few officers were talking.
"Okay." The young doctor tapped his foot and fidgeted with his bag. "Thanks." He said, flatly, and headed towards the bodies. Bishop exhaled roughly, Demen always knows.
She turned to survey the road again. It was a mess. No, it was worse than that. The windows were mostly shattered, and glass littered the ground in piles. Yellow numbered triangles were placed around in almost random and erratic patterns. Police stood talking or preventing civilians from getting close to anything. The few cars that were on the road had shattered windshields and a range of holes. What was worse, however, was the toppled over light pole and the destroyed building. Bishop could see the bomb squad getting back into their vehicle, apparently finishing their routine search.
"It's quite the scene, isn't it?" Bishop jumped, having been unaware of Agent Collimore standing beside her.
She nodded.
"Let's go see what we're dealing with, yeah?" He led the way, heading to where Dr. Demen was crouching. His jacket hung loosely against his well-muscled form. Bishop could tell he was a little bit frazzled by the way he nervously ran a hand through his hair. He was muttering softly to himself.
"Finnegen," she said, grabbing his arm and pulling him around to face her. "Is everything alright? I hear you muttering, what's up?" She stared up into his eyes, concern written over her face.
He quirked an eyebrow, shaking his head. "I'm fine, Elinor. Just..." He flung his arm to point out the crime scene. His eyes were deeply troubled. She tapped a foot.
"Finn I know it isn't just that. You've been seeing stuff like this for years." She paused. "Is it something to do with your army experience?"
Collimore's eyes flickered. His face quickly changed from neutral to anger and back again. "No." He said flatly, turning away and continuing towards the medical examiner. "Just drop it. I'm fine."
Bishop knew that he was far from fine, but she decided to drop it anyways. For now. She followed him toward Dr. Demen.
"What do you g-" Collimore gasped. "Holy." His brow furrowed, his surprise easily detectable.
"Nice sight, yeah?" The doctor smiled and stood up from the body he was examining. The bodies were covered in glass shards and were mostly covered in dark blood. "Four dead over here. One on the other side. Five dead total, the injured are already at the emergency room." He paused. "What I can tell you about these bodies is that they were all shot twice in the head, mostly after being stabbed and covered in shards of glass. Whomever it was," said Demen. "was smart and shot and broke all these windows behind these men here."
Collimore kneeled beside one of the bodies, struck silent. He stared at the face of the man, his face a mix of horror, sorrow, and anguish. Bishop knelt beside him and immediately gasped in shock. She fell back from the body, her eyes scrunched in terror. "Who the hell would do this?!" Collimore was rigid, his eyes never leaving the man before him. He let out a shuddering breath, standing up and taking a step back. Bishop stood up next to him.
The mans eyes had been shot through, leaving a bloody, gummy mess. His mouth had been cut and a large piece of glass had been stuffed down his throat, causing him to have a gruesome appearance. Collimore, as soon as he could speak, demanded, "Are they all like this?" He looked up wildly at the medical examiner, who was watching them grimly.
"No," Demen responded. "Most of them are worse than this. they, quite literally, have been made into pincushions by this glass. Whomever it was that started this, they didn't want these men to have a single chance of survival." The doctor sighed. I'm afraid the one who got the worst of it was of course..." He stared at Collimore.
"Special Agent Warren Almond."
Demen nodded.
"Thank you, doctor." Bishop said, breaking the silence. She waved over an officer. "Please help our medical examiner to load all of these bodies."
The officer nodded and was very obviously, if not too obviously, checking the agent out. "Yes ma'am. Anything else?"
"Nope, thank you." Bishop turned away to face Collimore before the officer could say anything else.
They walked a short way before Collimore got a strange smirk on his face and stopped to look at Bishop. "Was that guy really just-"
"Yup. He really was." She laughed, grinning now. "Ugh, he wasn't even remotely close to my type." She shook her head, looking at Collimore now. I admit, she thought to herself, that I only have eyes for one person, Collimore. She smiled at him, his handsome face tipped down towards her in a grin.
Without warning he suddenly looked away from her. He sighed and whispered, "Oh, Ellie. You know we can't." His tone had turned somber, his eyes dark. His hand came up, softly resting on her shoulder a moment.
Someone near them cleared their throat. The footsteps stopped a few feet away. "So uh... Collimore." Bishop and Collimore stepped apart and turned towards Agent Scye. "I was gonna tell you that we have everything to start working on the case now. We have plenty of pictures and all the information we need. LEOs are sending over any of the info that they already collected. Tuffin and I also collected glass samples and anything else that might help. LEOs are going to finish it up and send it all over." Scye looked uncomfortable and rubbed his neck.
"Good work. Scye please go get agent Tuffin. Meet at the car." Collimore watched the young man go before turning for the car and walking out. The medias immediately crowded the two.
"Sir, are you and this agent together?" Said one, indicating Bishop.231Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPDnOlkuCAy
Another said, "hey! What can you tell us about the case?"231Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡw28VBg6VK8
"Would you mind letting us know basic details? How many bodies are there? Who took the first shot? Sir?"
Collimore looked lost, and he was getting bombarded. Bishop's face hardened. "Back off, please." She started pushing through the throng, Collimore striding protectively beside her. They stopped when they heard someone calling Collimore's name.
"Special agent Finnegen Collimore! Hey!" The voice was a low masculine sound. The man emerged from the media crews, talking quietly but not quietly enough. The cameras were now focused on them. "I have some more info. Someone got a call. Apparently the first shot came from that building there." The man pointed. He looked back at Collimore, waiting for a response, but the agent was lost in his own thoughts.
"That's great. Thank you. Now, who are you?" Bishop replied for him.
"Detective Hardon. MPD. You? I thought I was talking to Agent Collimore."
"Special agent Elinor Bishop. Agent Collimore's second-in-command." Bishop noticed the strained look on her leaders face. "Thank you for the information. Call us if you have anything else." She handed him one of her cards and led Collimore back to the car. "Hey. Collimore. Get your head in the game."
He seemed to snap up. "Sorry, Elinor. Let's get on with it." Agents Scye and Tuffin arrived at the car, followed by a few media crews who had heard what was going on. He popped the trunk and lifted it open. The four pulled their jackets off, folded them up and placed them neatly inside the trunk. Then they put on the much tighter fitting black one. Collimore distributed the four combat vests, each emblazoned with the yellow words 'FBI.' "Let's go. Tuffin, stay at the entrance and dissuade the media from attempting to follow us in. Bishop with me upstairs. Scye take the downstairs. Everyone understood?"
"Yes, sir." came the replies.
The four took out their SIGs and stood ready at the door. Collimore made three flicks with his hand before kicking the door in. The team moved in two-by-two, clearing the entryway and walking in. Bishop and Collimore advanced up the stairs, their guns trained on either side of the above hall. The two worked in perfect harmony as they cleared the rooms. When they came to the last door, they both trained their sidearms in before entering. The room was a large office, containing a closed off bathroom and a large table. Collimore went to clear the bathroom as Bishop continued through the room. She came around the main table and stopped.
"Bathroom is clear!" Collimore shouted.
"Office is clear!" She shouted back. "Hey Collimore you might want to see this." The two agents came shoulder-to-shoulder.
"Oh my," said Collimore.
Bishop nodded, putting her pistol away and pulling an evidence bag from her pocket. She picked up the letter and the black bag that had been laying on the floor. Quietly she read the letter out loud;
"Inside this bag is what you desire, agents.231Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkwz2oiATPu
I hope you have fun trying to solve this case.231Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡamCFNYwpVS
That is, of course, if you make it out of this building alive. Te-he. You now have about 100 seconds before I blow you to bits.
P.S. This letter is already dissolving. The moment you touched it you sealed its fate. This if fun, agents, it really is. Now toodles!"
She opened the bag slowly and immediately groaned in disgust. "Is that a...?"
"It is."
Suddenly, a ticking started, filling the office. The ticks got closer and closer together. Faster and faster. It got louder by each second that passed.
"Oh shit!" Shouted Collimore. "EVERYONE GET THE HELL OUT OF THIS BUILDING! NOW!" He grabbed the letter and the bag and started sprinting out of the office, skipping multiple steps of the stairs and flying through the semi-closed door. Bishop blew through on his heels just before the building exploded, the windows making a shattering screech, the wood splintering and blasting everywhere. Bishop just barely saw Scye and Tuffin pushing reporter crews back from the blast when she landed on the ground, half-covered by Collimore. She coughed and held her hands on her head. The bricks came next, falling from the old store building and landing in loud cracks and thuds all around the two huddled on the ground.
Collimore cried out in pain, having been hit and taking the majority of the momentum from the falling bricks that hit their tangled bodies. He stiffened above her. Bishop could feel the extra weight of bricks hitting against him and her. She found breathing to be getting more difficult. Bishop tried looking up but couldn't see anything. That's strange, isn't it just barely noon? Bricks littered her vision and Collimore lay dangling off her, his forehead bleeding and his eyes mostly closed. He was groaning, his chest flattened against her.
Bishop realized it then. We're trapped under literal tons of weight. Finnegen is injured, and we are going to run out of oxygen if we don't get out soon. Well this day just got so much better.
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