028.1

7

Except it didn't. The only thing that went off, was the timer on his wristwatch, signaling the end of their time. No explosion. No boom. He turned off the beeping wristwatch and when he looked up he noticed that everyone was staring at him. They were all expecting something to happen, but nothing did.
Slowly, as if one sudden move could still set the bomb off, Jean reached for the bear and checked its countdown. Her eyes widened, but this time not with panic. 'Oh. My. God. I cannot believe that worked,' she said to the elderly lady, who was still holding on firmly to cane and parcel.
Wallace breathed out and realized he'd been holding his breath for those past few horrible seconds.
'It's just a normal bear now,' Jean huffed relieved and tossed it in the air, hopefully to prove her theory and not actually test it.
'A bear with its back violently slit open, its spine removed, and beaten to death with a stick,' Jed remarked dead serious, which was his way of showing relief, as Wallace had learned.
'But still just a bear,' Jean added, a triumphant grin appearing on her lips.
'Well done, Miss,' Wallace said to the elderly lady, astonished at how well her strategy had worked out. 'You just disarmed a bomb that could've taken out your whole house.'
She scoffed and put down cane and parcel to wipe away the sweat on her brow. 'I hardly did anything.'
'Well, for one, you didn't immediately kick us out of the house,' Jed stated bemusedly, 'As that does happen quite regularly.'
She smiled softly. 'I may be a little naive but I am usually quite good at judging character. However absurd your story sounded at first, I could tell you guys were telling the truth.'
Wallace's phone rang. He picked it up. 'Yeah?'
'Ah, good, Mr. Rowe, you're still alive then.'
"HQ" he mouthed at the rest of his team and headed over into an adjacent room to have some privacy.
'Did your team manage to defuse all the bombs?'
'Yes, we did,' Wallace informed, a surge of pride rushing through him. No matter how annoying his team behaved sometimes, he still couldn't wish for any better teammates or friends. 'Have you found the bomber yet?'
'One of our teams apprehended him all the way over in New York. He's currently being held at the NYPD, waiting for a trial that will lock him away for good.'
'Perfect.'
'Now, I realize this may have been a somewhat stressful start into your day, but I already have a next mission for you.'
Wallace groaned internally. Trying to not sound overly exhausted, he said, 'I'm listening?'
'You need to go undercover in a retirement home that's situated about a couple of miles north of you and catch a spy who has just hacked into the CIA. If the hacker's smart, he'll be out of there within an hour, so I need you to hurry. Understood?'
'Got it.'
'Good luck.' HQ hung up the phone.
'Oh, boy,' Wallace grunted and headed back to the living room where Jed ad Jean were busy cleaning up the ashy footprints they'd left all over the carpet. The old lady was back in her armchair, knitting.
'So, how'd it go?' Jed asked. 'Did we finally convince HQ of our brilliance and they will grant us a bigger apartment?'
'With better WiFi?' Jean added jokingly.
Wallace grimaced. That would've been nice, for a change. All they got recently were missions, missions, and missions. 'Not quite. But we got a new-'
'Mission. He's gonna say mission,' Jed said, pulling a disappointed face.
'-Mission,' Wallace finished.
'Ugh. I just want to go home,' Jean groaned exhaustedly and splayed out on the floor. '30 bombs is enough for one day.'
'Can I tag along on this new mission?' the old lady asked curiously. 'I've never had this much excitement in my life and now I feel like I've missed out on a lot. Plus, all I do around here is sit and knit. I don't even like knitting! It's just to pass time.'
Wallace frowned and thought about it for a moment. Actually, that wasn't a bad idea. They were going undercover at an old people's home... having an old woman join them would definitely boost their cover story. 'I think that would fit nicely,' he said and told them about the mission.