Ch 360 - The Fifteenth Floor

Jessop was furious.

"Art has gone crazy!" he said. "He's angry with the Clifton family, and now he's determined to kill us all to get his revenge. We must deal with him once and for all."

When Debbie had returned to Baltimore, the Steadmans had publicly revealed her status as a Clifton, and Jessop would never forgive or forget that.

"Well, now that things have calmed down a little," he said. "Alex and I will go to the office to get a few things."

Jessop kept important papers in his office, and now that the building was unsafe, he wanted to collect them. He would work somewhere else in the future.

"Okay," Alex said, escorting Jessop to the stairway, knowing that the elevators wouldn't be safe to use. As they approached, he spotted Chelsea Wood next to the door to the stairs. Chelsea was in full uniform and accompanied by several other officers.

"Mr. Clifton, are you okay?" Chelsea asked.

"I'm fine," Jessop said, shrugging off her concern.

Next to Chelsea was Evan Bryce, the captain of the Northern District police station. The matter was so serious that he had felt the need to attend personally.

"I'm appalled by what has happened here," Evan said, scowling as he looked around.

"Captain Bryce, the man who pretended to be a police officer was not one of my employees," Jessop said. "Will you be able to find out who he was?"

"We'll discover his identity," Evan assured him. "I'm placing Officer Wood in charge of the investigation."

"Good," Jessop said, turning to look at Chelsea.

"Don't worry, Mr. Clifton," she said. "I'll get to the bottom of this."

She looked over at Alex and blushed a little, and then she strode away.

"Why don't you let someone else collect your documents?" Alex asked Jessop. "There's no need for you to do it."

"The documents contain some of the Clifton family's biggest trade secrets," Jessop said. "I can't entrust them to anyone else. We'll have to get them ourselves." He trusted Alex to go with him, considering him a son.

Chelsea took a team of officers to examine the body of the bomber, careful not to disturb anything. A forensics team worked the scene, carefully collecting fragments of the bomb and pieces of clothing.

"Have you found anything?" Chelsea asked.

"We've checked the surveillance footage and identified the bomber as a Frenchman called Pierre Dubois," reported one officer. "After contacting Interpol, we learned that Pierre appears to be an ordinary tourist. He has no criminal record, and there isn't even a suggestion of him being in any trouble."

"I see," Chelsea said, frowning. "So how did Pierre get into the building?"

"We don't know that yet," the officer replied.

"Check the rest of the surveillance footage," Chelsea ordered, looking down at the remains of the body. A thought occurred to her, and she frowned. "Why was Pierre wearing a police uniform? And why would he wish to do something like this?"

"Maybe he was coerced," the officer suggested, shrugging. "Or maybe he didn't know he had a bomb. And if that's true, then this might not be over. There could still be others around."

"And Mr. Clifton has gone upstairs!" Chelsea yelled. "Quick, send a team up there!"

Boom!

The room shook as another bomb exploded within the building.

"We have another explosion on the fifteen floor," someone reported on the police radio.

That's where Jessop's office is! Chelsea though, pulling out her gun and rushing to the stairway. And Alex is there too! Her heart was racing as adrenaline flooded her.

Several police officers arrived on the fifteenth floor and saw nothing but ruins and dust. A big hole had been blown in the ceiling, exposing several wires. This bomb had been more powerful than the last and had caused more structural damage. Steel bars could be seen sticking out of the walls.

The blood drained from Chelsea's face, and she dropped to her knees, wailing in anguish. She covered her mouth to muffle her cries as she rocked herself back and forward.

"Officer Wood? What's wrong?" an officer asked, keeping his voice low. As police officers, they had witnessed all kinds of disasters, and Chelsea's reaction seemed a little extreme.

"No!" Chelsea mumbled. "It can't be true. It just can't." Her eyes were unfocused, and she seemed unaware that her colleagues were staring at her. She stood up and walked over to the rubble, and then she started to dig through it with her bare hands. The bodies of Alex and Mr Clifton could be under there, so she needed to dig them out quickly. If they were still alive, there was no time to waste.

A piece of broken glass cut her hand, but Chelsea simply ignored it and kept going.

"What are you looking for?" came a voice from behind her.

She recognized the voice and froze in shock, telling herself she must be imagining it. After a moment to gather her courage, she turned around.

Alex stood behind her, looking at the debris. "Did you think I was under there?" he asked.

Chelsea gaped at him, speechless, and then she rushed into his arms, tears running down her cheeks.

Alex looked at the heavily armed police officers around them and shrugged. He had no idea what was going on with Chelsea either.

Chelsea realized she was making a scene, so she stepped back, giving Alex some space.

"Weren't you in the building when the bomb exploded?" she asked, unable to believe he was alive. "What about Mr. Clifton? Is he okay?" She blushed as she looked at him. Alex had now been her first hug, as well as her first kiss.

"When the bomb went off, I carried Mr. Clifton on my back, and we managed to escape," Alex explained. "I just came back to get something, and now I need to go." He picked up an undamaged briefcase.

Alex climbed onto the windowsill and disappeared. Chelsea gasped and rushed to the window. Had he just jumped out of a fifteenth-story window?

She looked out and saw Alex safely climbing down the fire escape.

"Officer Wood, is that your boyfriend?" someone asked. "Why didn't you tell us?"

Chelsea felt like she might die of embarrassment. She turned her head and looked at the police officer, who was called Jeremy Norris.

"Get back to work!" she ordered him, and then she walked away.

**

Jessop leaned heavily on Alex, who helped him into a car. They passed through heavy security checks before they could leave the scene, and other vehicles were driving before and behind them, adding extra protection.

"Take us home!" Jessop ordered.