028.1

3

'Nobody move,' he ordered, swallowing hard. 'It's facing the window, that means it probably hasn't detected us yet.'
'What, that?' the old lady ridiculed, pointing at the bear.
'Don't move!' Wallace hissed panicky. For a moment, he thought his worst nightmare had come true and the bear had noticed her, but nothing happened. Thank god!
She scoffed and rolled her eyes. 'That's just a teddy bear, you nitwits!'
'Did grandma just call us "nitwits"?' Jed wondered out loud.
'Yeah, I did. And I will do it again. That's just a plushy, nitwits. A soft and fluffy teddy bear my grandson forgot to take home with him last time he visited. It's not gonna bite.'
There was a ping behind Wallace, coming from Jean's scanner. 'Windowsill,' Jean told him, a frog in her throat.
'No, but it is going to explode,' Jed stated. 'Wally, what are we gonna do?'
'Sorry, what?' the lady burst out, her face turning from mocking to confused to horror-stricken in a remarkably short time. 'There's a bomb in the bear?'
'She's catching up quick,' Jean said surprised.
Wallace ignored their chatter, closing his eyes and blocking out the sounds while his mind was racing. They'd spent all of their morning and afternoon defusing bombs and none of those bombs had been nearly as close to exploding as this one right now. If they wanted to disable the bomb hidden inside that teddy bear, they had to move quick, but without being picked up by the optical sensors in the bear's eyes. Even so much as a movement in the window's reflection could set the bomb off and blow the whole building to smithereens.
'Okay, Jed, Jean, listen up. The bear will see us through the reflection in the window, so if you move, do it very carefully. Now, we only have about ten minutes to disarm this thing or the automated countdown will blow it-'
'Tell us something we don't know,' Jean snapped frustratedly, as she always did when the pressure got too high for her to handle. 'All I need to do, is get close to the bloody thing so I can defuse it for you. I'll be careful.' She made a move towards the bear, but Jed held her back.
'Woah, woah, woah, Ms. Clumsy, hold it right there,' he said calmly, fighting a struggling Jean. Wallace groaned. Didn't he just tell them to be careful? 'Have you literally forgotten what happened earlier today? If Wally hadn't caught you, you'd have blown us all up by approaching that first bear.'
Jean huffed and pushed him away, but she got the point. 'Fine. But then how do we disarm the bomb, smart-ass?'
'Guys, I have a plan, if you would just listen,' Wallace interfered and waited a second till he got his team's attention. 'Right, so. We're not gonna defuse the bomb right away-'
'Oh, this sounds like a good plan,' Jed remarked sarcastically.
'Shut it, Jed,' Wallace snapped. 'Guys, just listen to me for a sec. I have a plan. Okay, so, Jed's going to take out the bear's optical sensors with your guidance, Jean. Then, once it can't see us anymore, Jean, you do your thing and defuse it. Alright? It's that simple. No panic.' Wallace sighed internally and wished that sometimes his team wouldn't act like children. Or at least wait with that until they had the bomb disarmed.
Jean handed her defusing equipment over to Jed, who cautiously searched his way over to the bear without entering its field of vision.
'Is there anything I can do for you?' the elderly lady asked, sounding a little worried.
'Just try to stay calm and, please, don't move. We got this,' Wallace said, forcing his voice to sound reassuring. Anxiously, he glanced over at the rest of his team and hoped they were able to get the job done.
'It's quite ironic. I thought you were robbers first,' she told him. 'If there really is a bomb inside that bear, it's a good thing I didn't scare you out of my house. If you don't mind me asking, how did the bomb get in the bear in the first place?'
'You know those little build-a-bear shops?' Jed asked from the other side of the room. 'Well, apparently someone thought a build-a-bomb-into-your-bear shop was a good idea.'
'Jed, focus,' Wallace reprimanded strictly. To the elderly lady he explained, 'That bomb's been built into the bear. Someone just recently decided to activate it.'
'Okay, Jeanie, I'm at the bear. What do I do now?'
'For one, I told you to never call me "Jeanie" again,' Jean growled. 'For the other thing, you have to open the bears back, without touching it too much. Take the laser cutter from my equipment and set it to the lowest setting, then cut a vertical slit from its head to its lower back. That should open it up enough for you to mess with the wires.'
'Um, I'm no expert at this,' the old lady said and pointed towards the window, 'But I don't think that cat will do you any good.'
Wallace stared out of the window and a wave of panic struck him. There was a black and white cat approaching the window curiously, moving closer and closer to the bear's field of vision. 'Shit,' he cursed.
'You don't say. If that cat comes any closer, it's gonna blow us up,' Jean declared, panic taking over her voice. Wallace shot a glance at her and knew she was seconds away from a full on panic attack.