“Serious Crime Division. I believe one of my men is on site.”

Lieutenant Wong flashed his police ID to the police guard manning the cordon. The guard lifted the tape to allow him entry. The lieutenant adjusted coat and blew hot air to rub his palms together, steam billowing out from his mouth and through his fingers. He spent a minute to examine the scene.

Carnage.

The front of the hospital had two huge potholes in the ambulatory driveway. One cruiser was shot up, blood painted on the windows and front screen from the inside. The second became a new monument of the broken fountain, fire fighters putting out the last of the fire.

Police officers were all over the place. Cordoning the perimeter; asking questions from bystanders; calling in reports and searches; dragging the wounded or dead to paramedics; or laid among the dead.

Lt. Wong approached the line of the fallen. There weren’t enough blankets, so fellow officers opted to cover their bodies with their coats. The lieutenant tapped a holy cross over his head and shoulder, completely in the wrong order. A clap of his hand, a light bow, and he went back to work for their sake.

“...Oh wow.”

The hospital waiting room was ripped up. The automatic doors had all their windows shattered, even Lt. Wong didn’t know he walked through the wrong frame. The interior of the lobby was riddled with bullet holes, a nursing station decimated into twisted Swiss Cheese. Other than the glass shards that flooded the space, there was no one inside. No walk-in, no staff, not even a police officer.

Just a Captain Ford, curled up in a corner. Clutching onto a grenade with the pin missing. All he could do was lean his head against he wall, breath in...breath out...eyes on the grenade in his white knuckled hand.

Lt. Wong sucked in the acrid air, sighed, and walked over. “I thought you were on your sick leave?”

Ford looked up, spotting the lieutenant, tired. “Bad day for a check up. Cough.” A sniff, and he wiped his runny nose on the shoulder of her sleeve – carefully. “Three bandits. Desert Eagles. Thought they took a kid as hostage, but the brat smoked me in the face and ran off with them.”

Lt. Wong leaned back. He realized the space in between Ford’s brow was cut. He used his thumb to wipe off the blood from dripping down his eyes. “Want some water?”

Ford shook his head. “...I don’t want to go to the bathroom.”

“Fair enough. Has bomb disposal arrived yet?”

“Y...You didn’t call for them?”

“Oh sorry. I was in a rush to see you, I completely forgot.”

Ford stared at Lt. Wong...and the latter patted the former on the shoulder.

The lieutenant rubbed the tip of his nose of a second. “Do you have any kids? Wife?”

“Hell no. All Hell to the No.”

“Alright.” Lt. Wong then held out his hand, tapping it against Ford’s white knuckled ones. “I’ll take it”

“..........”

“I have a wife, so. Hand it over.”

“Are you crazy?” Ford snapped, then added, “...Sir.”

Lt. Wong shrugged, taking a moment to look around. “I used to be in bomb disposal before the old ball and chain dragged me to an office desk in Serious Crimes. So. Come on.”

“No. No-no. Absolutely not.”

“Okay then you have two choices.” Lt. Wong held up two fingers. “One, I call bomb disposal and you wait here for another hour. The bandits caused a huge traffic jam. Two, you give me the grenade. Regardless of your choice, they are just gonna blow it up in a pile of sandbags. The difference is, how long you want to wait?”

“......”

Ford rocked back and forth in his seat, hands quivering with frustration. And like a child to a needle, he turned away and held out his two arms.

“Don’t sneeze.” Lt. Wong answered and he began the process.

The officers outside all stayed a good distance from the two detectives, right outside of the automatic door. They watched, with hands over their mouths or peeking through their fingers, Lt. Wong making Ford release one pale finger at a time.

Every time the captain lifted one digit, the lieutenant slipped in his own. After three minutes of excruciating waiting, the grenade was successfully transferred to Lt. Wong’s hand. He shuffled back on his knees, pushing aside the glass shard. He stayed there and waited for Ford to get up.

“Cramp. Craaamp.” Ford muttered and yanked his body up against the broken nursing station. Once he was on his feet, he took a minute to just enjoy this newfound freedom from death. “...Right. Sandbags. Be right back. And, don’t sneeze.”

As the captain quickly hobbled away, Lt. Wong blinked at the grenade in his hand. A low whisper. “Hello beautiful, it’s been a while.”

Captain Ford quickly coordinated with all officers on site. They scrambled about to clear any civilians as fast as possible. They also used various methods to hijack any empty vehicles they could to clear a safe blast zone, from tow to contacting drivers or just smashing the window and hotwire. Soon, they started to make a pyramid of sandbags, with a hole in the center like a tent. They left a small gap on the top, like a chimney stack.

Lt. Wong walked out of the hospital, the automatic doors opening on the wrong side. The silence around him was so mute, the sounds of his shoes crunching on the glass deafened the ears. He took slow and steady steps, making sure nothing in his way could trip or make him stumble. One hand gripping the grenade, as gentle and as firm as a lover’s palm.

He stopped in front of the pyramid of sandbags. One look up at the sky, he could make out the faint stars waving at him, flashing their lights like tiny cameras. A sigh, the steam from his breath filling the air. “Oh Captain Ford.”

“Y-yeah?” Ford called out, standing behind a police van about...20 odd meters. Give or take “You want me to call you wife?”

“If this doesn’t work out, I want you to tell her: I should have married her sister.”

“...Want me to pass the message to her sister as well?”

“Nah. I already missed my chances.”

Lt. Wong let out an exhale and narrowed his eyes to focus. He turned on the spot and lowered his body into a semi-sprinter stance. One hand dipped into the sandbag, making sure the grenade was suspended inside. First, he eyed the finishing line that was the police van where Ford was––

––Then dropped the sucker and booked it!

DASHDASHDASHDASHDASHDASHDASHDASHDASHDASH!!!!!

BOOOOOOOOOOM!

5 seconds later, a huge explosion ripped through the pile of sandbags. Even when it caught every single shrapnel, the concussion was enough to knock a fleeing lieutenant off his feet, flying over the driveway to land face first into the pavement with a wet smack.

Ford flinched. He waited until the dust cleared before he ran over. The captain patted his commanding officer on the shoulder and shook him. “Sir! Sir!” It was after he touched his wrist-pulse did Lt. Wong finally breathed. Ford rubbed a hand over his face in relief. “That thing about your wife. Want me to cancel that order?”

“...” Lt. Wong lifted himself up, some blood on his cheek and pavement dirt on his face. He looked around, confused, and went “...WHAAAAT!? I-I CAN’T HEAR YOU!”