Handcuffed While the City Burned

The yellow police tape flickered in the wind, a thin plastic barrier between the world and the nightmare inside. I stepped toward the line, reaching for my badge, but the detective blocked my path.

Theres a suspected explosive device inside, he barked, hand hovering near his holster. Back away, civilian!

I was halfway through pulling my ID when Lexi, the intern Id been stuck with for three months, let out a choreographed gasp. She pressed a manicured hand to her mouth, her voice going high and breathlessthe sound of a woman playing a victim in a Lifetime movie.

"Officer! Oh my god, thank god youre here! He has detonators and timers in his bag! Its so scary!"

The air turned to ice. The bustling street, the sirens, the shoutingit all went silent. In the heartbeat that followed, three black muzzles were leveled directly at the bridge of my nose.

"Im Sam Mercer!" I yelled, my throat feeling like it was lined with sandpaper. "Im the lead tech from the Federal Bomb Disposal Unit! Everything in that bag is standard issue gear!"

"Drop the bag! Hands behind your head! Now!" the Captain roared.

I dropped it. They kicked it open. Insulated pliers, a blast blanket, and liquid nitrogen cooling canisters spilled across the pavement.

Before I could get another word out, Lexi was pointing a trembling finger at me, her eyes wide with a performative terror that made my stomach churn.

"Why are you acting so innocent now?" she shrieked. "You literally just told me you were going to blow this hotel to hell! What, youre losing your nerve now that the real cops are here? Youre a monster!"

The Captain didnt hesitate. He slammed me down onto the hood of the cruiser, my face grinding into the hot metal as he wrenched my arms behind my back.

"Take him in for interrogation," he snapped. "Level four priority."

My heart didn't just skip a beat; it stopped. Inside the Grand Regencys ballroom, a Ghost-7a sophisticated, multi-layered device capable of leveling half the blockwas ticking toward zero. I was the only man in the state who knew how to disarm it. And because Lexi had a grudge and a big mouth, I was in silver bracelets.

The clock was at twenty-nine minutes.

"Officer, this is a massive mistake!"

I was being hauled toward the command van, my wrists screaming as the cuffs bit into the bone. "Im Sam Mercer, Federal EOD! Badge number 079-527! Call the field office! Verify it!"

Captain Briggs flipped through my wallet, eyeing the ID. He looked at the gear scattered on the asphalt and then back at me.

"You can buy these badges at a flea market, kid," he said, tossing my lifes work into an evidence bag. "You say youre an expert, but your own colleague says youre carrying illegal detonators. How do you explain that?"

"There are no detonators! Those are pliers and nitrogen canisters!" I twisted my head, catching sight of Lexi three yards away.

She was leaning against another cruiser, scrolling through her phone, looking about as traumatized as someone waiting for a latte.

"Lexi! Tell them the truth! You know exactly whats in that kit!"

Lexi looked up, her face melting back into that mask of "innocent girl."

"Sam, how would I know?" she cooed, her voice so sweet it was sickening. "I just saw all those weird wires and things... and then you started talking about the building coming down. I was just so scared for my life."

"I never said that! We were talking about the blast radius!"

My temples were throbbing. Briggs held up a hand, cutting me off. "Threatening an act of terror at a high-profile target? Lock him in the van until we get a hit on his prints."

"Wait! Listen to me!" I dug my heels into the pavement, refusing to move. "There is a Ghost-7 in the basement. There are only three people in the country who can crack that fuse. One is in London, one died in the line of duty last month, and Im the third."

Briggs paused.

"I know your local EOD lead, Merlin," I pressed. "Hes a good man, but he cant handle a Ghost-7. The fuse is a triple-nested sequence. If he uses a standard bypass, itll trigger a secondary tremor. Give me twenty minutes. If I don't clear it, you can bury me under the prison."

Briggs looked at his comms officer. "Whats the status inside?"

The officer listened to his headset for a second, his face draining of color. "Sir, Merlin says... hes never seen this configuration. He tried a bypass and almost triggered a jump in the timer."

A flicker of hope sparked in my chest. "You see? Im telling you the truth! Let me in there!"

But Lexi chose that moment to saunter over.

"Officer, you really shouldn't believe a word he says," she whispered, leaning close to Briggs. "Hes a compulsive liar. At the office, he spends all day bragging about being 'number one,' but hes really just a washed-up hack on the verge of being fired."

She tilted her head, looking at me with feigned pity.

"The truth is, hes been having a mental breakdown. Our boss talked to him last month about a mandatory psych leave. Does that sound like the kind of man you want touching a bomb?"

Briggss eyes hardened. The hope Id felt vanished, replaced by a cold, leaden weight.

"Lexi, for the love of god!" I roared. "This isn't a game! There are hundreds of people in there!"

"See?" Lexi whispered, shrinking back. "The instability. He just snaps. Its honestly terrifying to work with him."

Briggs didn't wait. "Get him out of my sight. Throw him in the command van and wait for the feds to call back."

As they dragged me away, I looked over my shoulder at the hotel. In the lobby, I could see groups of kids in sequins and tuxedos being ushered toward the exits. It was the finals of the National Youth Piano Competition.

Three hundred kids. Their parents. Their dreams.

And twenty-six minutes left on the clock.

Inside the command van, I was cuffed to a metal rail. Briggs sat across from me, staring at my phone.

"Sam Mercer... Federal EOD..." he muttered into his radio. "Dispatch, I need a priority background check on a Sam Mercer, ID 079-527."

Static hissed back. No immediate answer.

"Captain, please," I said, my voice cracking. "The clock is ticking. At least let me talk to Merlin. I can walk him through it over a video call!"

Briggs hesitated, his hand moving toward the radio.

The van door slid open. Lexi poked her head in, holding her own phone like a trophy.

"Captain? Before you do anything, I have something you need to see."

Briggs frowned. "What now?"

Lexi stepped in, a small, triumphant smile playing on her lips. "I wanted to apologize. I was a little... dramatic outside. Sam is technically an expert. I shouldn't have lied about the detonators."

Briggss jaw tightened. Before he could explode, she kept going.

"But... I did it because I was afraid you wouldn't take me seriously. The truth is, Sam caused a massive accident during a training exercise three months ago. He nearly killed three teammates. Hes been on administrative leave, but hes been stalking the office, saying he was going to 'show them all' what a real explosion looks like."

I felt like the floor had dropped out from under me.

"Lexi, you lying bitch! You were the one who tripped the sensor during training! If I hadn't pushed those guys out of the way, theyd be in the ground!"

I lunged forward, the chair rattling against the floor as the cuffs jerked my arm back. Lexi flinched, her eyes instantly welling with tears.

"You see? The rage. Hes obsessed with blaming me for his failures. Captain, Im scared he brought me here today just so Id be at the center of the blast."

Briggs looked at me like I was a rabid dog. A disgraced, mentally unstable tech with a box of tools and a grudge. It was a perfect, terrifying narrative.

"Take him to the precinct," Briggs ordered.

"Captain! Shes lying!" I was screaming now. "Check my personnel file! There are no reprimands! I have a clean record!"

"Well check," Briggs said coldly. "But until we do, you aren't going anywhere."

I slumped back into the seat, the reality of it hitting me like a physical blow.

"Why?" I whispered, staring at Lexi. "Why are you doing this? There are kids in there, Lexi. Real people."

Lexi waited until Briggs turned his back to answer a radio call. The tears vanished. Her face went blank, then sharpened into something jagged and mean. She leaned in close, her voice a low venomous hiss.

"Why? You really have to ask?"

"You embarrassed me, Sam. You dressed me down in front of the whole unit for a 'minor mistake' during training. Do you have any idea how many people mocked me on the group chat after that? Even Ben from Tacticalhe actually liked me until you told everyone I was a 'liability.' You ruined my reputation. You ruined my chances with him. Now, Im going to make sure you never work in this town again."

It was so petty it was surreal. I had yelled at her because she was on her phone during a live-fire drill and nearly blew four people to pieces.

"Lexi, were talking about hundreds of lives."

She pulled out a lipstick and checked her reflection in her phone. "Don't get all high and mighty with me. Im just here for the three-month internship to get my credit and move to my uncles office at City Hall. I don't care about your 'duty.' Only a loser like you spends his life crawling toward bombs."

A frantic pounding on the van door interrupted her. A comms officer burst in, his face white.

"Captain! Merlin failed the second bypass! He says the fuse has an anti-tamper chip his gear can't read! The timer just jumped. We have twenty-one minutes!"

"Twenty-one minutes?" I surged up again, my wrist bleeding where the metal scraped the skin. "Let me in! I have the bypass codes for that chip! Theyre on my phone!"

Briggs looked at my phone, then at the chaos outside.

"Captain, send ten officers with me! Keep a gun to the back of my head if you want!" I pleaded. "But don't let those people die for a petty grudge!"

Briggs wavered. He looked at Lexi. "The codes hes talking aboutdo you know anything about them?"

Lexi shrugged. "Hes probably making it up. He just wants to get closer to the device to finish the job. Just wait for the official word from headquarters."

"Theres no time!" I roared. "The verification will take thirty minutes. The building will be a crater by then! Let me make one call! To my Chief! Hell tell you!"

Briggs stared at the blood on my wrist. Finally, he looked at his officer. "Unlock one of his hands. Let him call. But watch him."

I grabbed my phone. The screen lit up with thirty-plus missed messages from my boss, Chief Sullivan.

[Where the hell are you, Mercer?]

[Local EOD is drowning!]

[Youre the only one with Ghost-7 experience!]

[Pick up the damn phone!]

The last one was a voice note. I hit play on speaker. Sullivans gravelly, panicked voice filled the van.

"Sam! Where are you?! Merlins pulling his team outhe says the structure is unrecognizable! If you aren't there in twenty minutes, the whole east wing is coming down! Weve got kids still being evacuated! Youre the only one who can stop this! Ive talked to the Commissioners office, and theyre clearing your entry now! WHERE ARE YOU?!"

Silence fell over the van. Even Lexi looked momentarily stunned.

Briggs reached for the phone, his brow furrowed. "This Sullivan... hes Federal?"

"Yes! Chief of EOD! Call him back right now!"

Briggss thumb hovered over the call button.

"Wait," Lexi snapped. She stood up, pointing at the screen. "Captain, look at the contact photo. Its just a gray silhouette. No official verification. Anyone can change a contact name to 'Chief.' And that voice? There are AI apps that can mimic any voice for twenty bucks. Hes playing you."

Briggs froze.

"Just call the number!" I screamed. "Its one phone call!"

But Lexi grabbed Briggss arm. "Think about it. If hes such an expert, why did his own intern report him? Why was he acting so suspicious at the gate? Hes a prohe knows how to stage a cover story."

Briggs pulled his hand back.

"Keep him locked down. We wait for the official channel."

"No! We can't wait!" I lunged for the phone, the chain of the handcuffs snapping taut. "Let me talk to him! If you don't believe me, talk to him yourself! People are going to die!"

Briggs stood up and walked toward the door. "Sit down. When the feds confirm your story, youll be the first to know."

"It'll be too late!"

As the words left my mouth, a sound like the world cracking open shattered the air.

BOOM.