"Captain Hunter, Luther says he's never seen this type of detonator mechanism before. He failed in his first attempt and nearly triggered the sidearm."

Captain Hunter's brow furrowed into a tight knot.

A spark of hope ignited in my chest.

"See! I was telling the truth! Let me go in there!"

Just then, Christine sauntered over slowly.

"Officer, you really shouldn't believe him. He's always been a braggart. Back in our unit, he never stopped going on about being the best in the country. But really, he's just a slacker coasting by."

She leaned in closer to Captain Hunter and whispered, "Besides, he's not quite right in the head. Last month, our superior had a talk with him. He said if he caused any more trouble, he'd be fired.

"Don't you think it's suspicious that a guy like that shows up at a bomb site with a box full of tools?"

Captain Hunter's gaze toward me shifted instantly.

I opened my mouth, but all the blood in my body was rushing to my head.

"Christine, this is no time for jokes! You're treating the safety of hundreds of people inside like a game!"

Christine put on a wounded look. "See? He's getting worked up again. People with mental instability will fly off the handle at the slightest thing. Officer, you really need to keep an eye on him. I'm worried he might hurt someone."

Captain Hunter waved his hand without hesitation.

"Take him away! Lock him up in the command vehicle. We'll wait for confirmation from headquarters."

The two officers dragged me toward the command vehicle.

I twisted my head to look back at the hotel. Inside the lobby, children in performance costumes were being evacuated in batches by the staff.

Today was the finals of the state junior piano competition.

More than 300 children and their parents were still inside, and there were only 26 minutes left before the bomb beneath their feet was set to detonate.

Inside the command vehicle, my handcuffs were fastened to the crossbar at the back of the seat.

Captain Hunter sat across from me, flipping through my phone and credentials.

"Headquarters EOD Unit, Julius Kinney." He picked up the radio. "Command Center, verify an identity. Headquarters EOD Unit, Julius Kinney, badge number 079527."

The radio crackled with static for a few moments, but no immediate reply came.

My throat was parched with desperation.

"Captain Hunter, verification takes time, but the bomb isn't going to wait. Just let me talk to Luther—I can guide him remotely over video if I have to."

Captain Hunter hesitated and was about to speak when the door of the command vehicle slid open.

Christine leaned half her body in, holding up her phone.

"Officer, have you finished your verification? I have something important to report."

"What is it?" Captain Hunter asked with a frown.

Christine stepped inside, a mischievous grin spreading across her face.

"Captain Hunter, let me start by apologizing. I was just joking around out there. Julius really is a bomb disposal expert from the headquarters EOD unit, and all his tools are standard issue. He wasn't lying to you."

Captain Hunter furrowed his brow and was about to speak when Christine cut him off.

"But I had a reason for saying that. Three months ago, Julius made an operational error during a live-fire training exercise. He nearly got three team members blown up.

"The unit issued him a formal disciplinary penalty, and headquarters is already in the process of terminating him. But he's been refusing to sign the paperwork, and he's even vowed to get revenge on the unit."

I was dumbfounded. This was pure slander!

"Christine, you were the one who made that operational error and nearly got those three colleagues killed!"

I shot to my feet, the handcuffs yanking the chair with a loud clatter.

"If I hadn't caught it in time, those three would have been blown up by you!"

Christine flinched back at my outburst, her eyes reddening immediately.

"S-See how he gets?" she said in a trembling voice. "The moment the truth comes out, he flies into rage. He's even trying to turn it around and blame me."

"Captain Hunter, I'm really scared. Did Julius insist on bringing me to the scene today because he wanted to use the chaos to…"

Christine didn't finish her sentence, but everyone understood exactly what she was implying.

Captain Hunter's expression darkened.

No matter how one looked at it, a terminated bomb disposal expert with suspected mental instability showed up at a bomb scene with a bag full of tools and a young female intern in tow, which was downright unsettling.

"Put him back."

"Captain Hunter, she's lying!" I shook my head frantically, my voice already cracking. "There's no disciplinary record in my personnel file! All you need is to check it, and you'll see!"

"We will check," Captain Hunter replied coldly. "But until we do, you're not going anywhere."

I slumped back into the chair.

"Why…" I stared at Christine's tear-streaked face. "Christine, what did I ever do to you? Do you even know there are over 300 kids in there?"

Christine caught sight of Captain Hunter turning away to answer the radio, and the aggrieved look on her face vanished in an instant.

She leaned in close, her voice dropping to a whisper. "You have the nerve to ask? All I did was nearly blow up three competitors, and you had to dress me down in front of the whole unit. You couldn't even leave me an ounce of dignity.

"Do you know how many people posted about it on social media that night, laughing at me? And Instructor Tate from the SWAT team was really starting to like me, but because of you, he hasn't said a single word to me since.

"You ruined my reputation and my relationship. Now, I'm going to let you taste what it's like to be utterly destroyed."

After hearing that, all I felt was utter absurdity.

I'd reamed her out back then because she'd fallen asleep during live training and nearly gotten herself and three other team members killed.

"Christine, there are 300 lives in there. You're a police officer too. You swore an oath to your badge—we're supposed to protect people!"

Christine pulled out a tube of lipstick and started applying it in front of her phone's front camera.

"Don't try to shove that high-and-mighty stuff down my throat. I'm not like you. The only reason I came to this unit was to knock out a three-month internship and get my stamp.

"My uncle said he'll transfer me straight to a desk job at the municipal headquarters by the end of the year. Only an idiot like you runs toward bombs. Do it your whole life, and you'll still just be a grunt."

She pressed her lips together in front of the camera after applying her lipstick and gave a satisfied nod.

Urgent footsteps pounded outside the command vehicle.

A pale-faced communications officer yanked the door open.

"Captain Hunter, the EOD team inside just failed their second attempt. Luther reports that the bomb's detonator has an anti-tamper chip, and their equipment can't read it. We've got 21 minutes left on the timer."

"21 minutes?" I shot up from my chair, the handcuffs cutting into my wrists until they bled. "Let me go in there! I have the decryption key for that anti-tamper chip. It's on my phone!"

Captain Hunter held my phone, his gaze wavering between me and the communications officer at the door.

"Captain Hunter, you can send ten men to escort me in. Put a gun to the back of my head if you want! But you can't let 300 people die because of a few baseless rumors disguised as jokes!"

Captain Hunter gritted his teeth and turned to look at Christine.

"Do you know anything about this decryption key he's talking about?"

Christine shrugged. "You believe anything he says? That guy's full of crap. Don't let him fool you. Just wait for the headquarters to confirm."

"There's no time!" I roared. "Verifying my identity will take at least half an hour. By the time you finish the process, that bomb will have already gone off!"

"Just let me make one phone call! I'll call my unit commander, and he'll confirm it for you directly!" I added.

Captain Hunter fell silent and glanced at the bloodied marks on my wrists from the handcuffs.

"Unlock one of his hands. Keep him in sight, and don't let him make any sudden moves."

I powered on my phone. The moment the screen lit up, dozens of messages popped up. All of them were from my unit commander, Herman Baxter.

"Julius, where are you?"

"The EOD team at the hotel can't defuse the bomb!"

"You're the only one with practical experience on the Ghost-7!"

"Would you just answer your damn phone?"

The last one was a voice message.

I tapped it and put it on speaker.

Captain Baxter's furious voice exploded inside the command vehicle.

"Julius, where are you? The on-site EOD team has already pulled out. Luther says he's never seen anything like this bomb's structure in his entire life! If you don't get here in 20 minutes, half the building is going to collapse!

"There are still hundreds of kids being evacuated, and there's not enough time. You're the only person in the whole state who can disarm this thing! I've already reported this to the higher-ups, and they personally called the municipal bureau to coordinate. Where the hell are you?"

The message ended, and silence filled the command vehicle.

Captain Hunter's expression softened. He took my phone and scrolled through the chat log with Captain Baxter, his brow furrowing deeper by the second.

"Is this Captain Baxter from headquarters?"

"Yes! He's the commander of the headquarters EOD unit, Herman Baxter. You can call him back right now and verify!"

Captain Hunter was about to hit the call button when Christine suddenly spoke up.

"Wait." She rose from her seat and pointed at my phone screen. "Captain Hunter, don't let him fool you. Look at this chat log. The profile picture is the default gray one, and there's not even a real-name verification.

"It's so easy these days to just set up a WhatsApp account and pretend to be a superior. And that voice message? AI voice-cloning software costs 100 dollars and can generate ten thousand messages like that."

Captain Hunter's finger hovered over the call button.

I was on the verge of losing my mind. "Just call him, and you'll find out whether it's real! It's one phone call!"

But Christine moved first, pressing her hand firmly over Captain Hunter's.

"Captain Hunter, think about it. If he really were a bomb disposal expert, why would his own intern report him? If a normal specialist brings an intern to a scene, wouldn't the intern know what's in the bag?

"Unless he's no expert at all, and that's not a bomb disposal gear he's carrying."

When she finished, she made a point of looking back at me, a slight smile playing at her lips.

"And if he were really that urgent, why didn't he just show his credentials properly at the security checkpoint in the first place? Instead, he had to sneak around.

"And when he got stopped, he started putting on a show. Don't you think that means he's hiding something?"

Captain Hunter pulled his hand back.

"Keep him detained. We'll wait for headquarters to confirm."

"No! We can't wait anymore!"

I lunged desperately for the phone, the chain of the handcuffs straining to its limit.

"Let me make the call! Just one call! If you don't believe me, you can make the call yourself! I'll give you the number. If we don't call now, everyone is going to die!"

Captain Hunter stood up, turning his back to me as he walked toward the door.

"Sit tight. Once the verification comes through, we'll release you."

"It'll be too late!"

No sooner had the words left my mouth than a deafening roar tore through the sky.

The explosion ripped the night sky apart, and the shockwave sent the two police motorcycles outside the command vehicle flying. Hairline cracks instantly spiderwebbed across the blast-proof glass.

I was thrown from my chair by the force of it, the back of my skull slamming against the vehicle wall as my vision went black.