Caught in the Middle

Chapter 22

"The red stuff is out on the B-side, Cap." Hughes rolls her eyes at Beckett and Jack as they kick around the last few pieces of charred plywood on the wet floor. I make a show of opening the hose to extinguish the last flame at Jack's feet. "It is now." Becks throws me with a melted pen holder when he hears my hushed whisper. "I'm pretty sure Bishop over here just offered to buy the first round tonight." The rest of our small team all slap me on the back as we walk outside together.

"C-side's clear and safe for cleanup." We all look behind us as Ruiz, Warren, Letham and Ridler come walking out in high spirits, seeing how our shift ends in forty-five seconds. "We'll take it from here, Captain Herrera." The ATF agent flips his notebook closed while walking away from the witness at the other side of the caution tape. "Lieutenant Bishop, it's nice to see you again." I ignore Beckett's smirk when the ATF agent bypasses Andy to shake my hand.

"Afternoon, Agent Tate. Little early for the arson squad to show up, isn't it?" He points his thumb over his shoulder towards the owner of the real estate agency. "Lady just closed a huge deal on, what used to be a community center, to some big business mogul who's been buying out the whole area. Sixth time this month she's been targeted by the same people she sold out. PD gave up around incident number four and handed off the case to us." I look around the large crowd that has gathered behind the yellow tape, all but pointing pitchforks at the owner.

When his team comes over with their huge black suitcases, Tate introduces us to them. "Sunshine over there says her new intern squirted a bottle of firelighter fluid over her office furniture before throwing a lit cigarette at her. She ran out and called 9-1-1." The ATF agents all raise their brows at us in question to collaborate her story. "Yeah, it tracks. Fire started downstairs in the office before it spread to the boxes of paperwork on the rest of the ground floor. We managed to stop the fire before it reached the second floor, but the basement has some water damage."

Andy waits until Tate finishes taking notes and sends Ruiz and Johnson back into the building with the other ATF agents. "All right, 19! We're out!" Andy slaps the side of the rig three times to get everyone's attention. Our captain steps away to talk to the owner and notify her to contact her insurance company who needs to call out the professional cleanup services, with Agent Tate watching her back. The rest of us tape off the building to deter the public from entering, for their own safety.

Agent Tate bumps me with his shoulder as he comes up behind me. "You think your CO will let you help me run through the scene to gather all the evidence?" I sigh loudly and start shaking my head at him, but the desperation in his voice gives me pause. The guy did take my statement, after I was held hostage, quickly when I just wanted to get out of the hospital, after all. Andy shrugs her shoulders, giving me the choice. This whole trying hard to be my friend again is seriously biting me in the ass. "Come on, Bishop. I've cancelled on my wife four times this week. I'm begging you." He points down at my black silicon band on my left hand.

I punch Beckett in the stomach when he walks past me, laughing at how easily I'm getting manipulated. "Fine." We watch as the rest of my team climb into the fire trucks and drive off, leaving the aid car behind for the rest of us that has to escort the agents through the debris. "I'm leaving your ass here if we're not done in an hour and taking your reservation for my own wife, understood?" Tate throws his arm over my shoulders, laughing all the way into the building before he tells me the name of the restaurant as a peace offering.

"Ruiz!?" I put my helmet back on and hand Tate a bright pink safety hat from the promotional display in the reception area. "Nice hat, dude." Ruiz comes out of the office to see what I want but bursts out laughing as soon as he sees the burly ATF agent pulling of the tiny hat. "The team left a rig for us. Don't leave without me, okay?" I throw him the keys while watching him disappear back into the office he just came out of. Tate hands me two pairs of surgical gloves which I slip on after stuffing my own into my pocket.