Chapter Forty Five: St Jude

The apartment building had once been a tall, redbricked house. Like many of the buildings on this block it had been a victim of gentrification. With the influx of people to the city rent needed to be affordable and Maggie could already see that these buildings gave way to a lot of space. The street was quiet for the time of day and she thanked God for small blessings, this guy already had a history for booby trapping buildings and it was clear at least to Maggie that he didn't give a crap about the causalities.

Maggie patted her fitted, black, bulletproof vest for the third time in as many minutes, her fingertips feeling for the etched sovereign of St Jude through material the tactical pocket on the right hand side. Her brother Gabriel had given the silver medallion of the Patron Saint of the CPD to her when she had graduated the academy and she always kept it in her vest for protection. Antonio had checked it's placement when he had helped strap her into her vest back at the station house.

"Look after her Jude." he had always said in the past when they were buckling up for trouble back in Vice. That aspect of their relationship was still the same years later and she liked the idea that there was some higher power up their watching out for her.

Ruzek was already ahead of her and Halstead as they marched towards the residence of Spencer York. He barely even glanced at her, despite the warm greeting he gave Jay. Maggie got it, she really did but his anger was missed place, if she had to bare the brunt of it she was fine with that so long as it didn't interfere with the job.

"York's got the second floor unit." Jay said, tilting his head up towards the line of windows there, scanning them for movement. "Everybody look sharp."

Maggie withdrew her Glock, her gaze taking in the detail of the red and black wooden steps in front of her. There were no immediate signs of entrapment but that didn't mean there weren't any. Back at the house Spencer York had set up a pressure switch under a bathroom tile so she was taking no chances this time.

Jay was in front, Maggie following closely behind him with Adam following up the rear, weapons drawn as they began that slow creep up the outdoor stair case. It was when Jay stepped upon the third step that the car behind them erupted with noise. They paused, all three of them turning to catch a glimpse of the shiny red Ford across the street with it's car alarm sounding and it's lights flashing. All of the windows were rolled down and the trunk was ajar as if begging someone to steal it.

"I'll check it out." Adam muttered, turning his attention towards the car.

Maggie's gut twisted at the possibilities as Adam took a step towards it, his gun raised as he reviewed it from all angles. Maggie turned her attention back to Jay as he removed his boot gingerly from the third step before placing his foot back down on the second.

"What is it?" she asked him as he crouched down, his fingertips running over the old wood.

"This step is loose." he told her before withdrawing a stiletto blade from one of the tactical pockets on his vest and hitting the button to release the blade. It turned out she wasn't the only one that Antonio had passed along the habit to. As gently as he could he pried away the red wooden slat off the third step allowing them access to the interior. There were wires there, they were connected to a circuit board that appeared to be fixed to the wooden support of the step.

"We need to call the bomb unit." Maggie told him, keeping her gun up high in order to cover Jay as he surveyed the bomber's handiwork. "This place could be wired to blow at any minute."

"There could be hostages inside." Jay argued, turning his baby blue eyes upon her.

It was ingrained in him, to leave no man behind but Maggie had seen the madness back in that house where Burgess had been shot. She knew instinctively that if they walked in there without the bomb squad they would not be walking back out. This guy did not take prisoners. She could see the cogs turning in Jay's head as he took in the details from the previous scene he had attended, the one where Voight had used the manual for the SUV to set off the vibration sensor. There was no gain from taking such a risk. In the end it was his call and she would back his play no matter what.

"I'm gonna call in the bomb squad." he decided, drawing away from the step.

Maggie holstered her weapon before turning to keep an eye on Ruzek, he was approaching the trunk of the car now, torch in one hand, gun in the other. The car alarm was still blaring, it vibrated in her ears piercing her brain in that way only shrill car alarms could. Ruzek was lifting up the lid of the trunk now and it was at that moment something clicked for Maggie. She lurched forward, yelling loudly, her voice carrying on the wind.

"Ruzek no..."

The explosion was instantaneous. Maggie felt the rush of heat hit her before she was hurled several feet through the air. A bellowing roar erupted in her ear drums as she brought her arms up to shield her face before she impacted on the road, skidding across the gravel. Her ears were ringing like crazy, the sound was stabbing through to her brain as she lay on her side, struggling to catch the breath that had just been smashed right out of her.

It hurt, the entire right of her body was aching in response from her contact with the ground. Her heart was beating a mile a minute in her chest, she could feel the palpations before closing her eyes against the mist of dust that was descending upon her. She didn't know how long she lay there in the aftermath of the explosion, it could only have been minutes but it felt like hours creeping by until her adrenaline finally kicked in and forced her to her feet.

Her cobalt eyes sought out Jay, who was unfurling from the crouch he had adopted during midst of the explosion. His baby blue eyes honed in on her as she stumbled to her feet, her palm coming to rest on the bonnet of Ruzek's car for support.

"You ok?" he yelled over the buzzing in her ears as Maggie's fingers once more sought out the St Jude medallion through the material of tactical vest and tapping it once in thanks.

"Yea." she responded, wincing in agony as she leaned against Ruzek's car for a moment trying to clear the spinning in her head. It was a white lie, every single muscle in her body was protesting against her movements but she could handle the pain, it reminded her that she was alive and that the blast could have turned out a whole lot differently.

"You ok?" she returned as Halstead rose to his full height before taking an inventory of himself and nodding.

They had been lucky, so damned lucky. She could see her thoughts reflected in Jay's eyes as the two of them stood there for a moment simply acknowledging the fact they were still here, living and breathing. Maggie followed Jay's gaze over her shoulder before it came to rest upon Ruzek who was hurrying towards them.

"Car was rigged." he informed them, his eyes coming to focus on the building that was now spewing flames and smoke. Already in the distance they could sirens wailing signalling the arrival of yet more emergency services.

"I know." Maggie responded, clutching her side as she peered at him darkly through her loose waves. "That's why I yelled 'No Ruzek'."

He rounded on her; she could see that bright fury in those intense coffee colored eyes of his. His body language was shifting; she could see that irate aggressive expression on his features as he paused inches away from her, getting in her face.

"So now you're Johnny on the spot?" he snarled jabbing his finger at her chest. "What happened last night?"

It was at that point Maggie snapped, she had been buckling under the weight of being Adam's target for over twelve hours now and she had decided enough was enough.

"You know what happened last night." she snapped, slapping his finger out of her face. That only seemed to infuriate Adam even more, his eyes were blazing right now as that grief and rage whipped up a storm inside of him.

"Why wasn't it you?" he barked at her, pointing at her once more. "Why weren't you the one lying in that hospital bed fighting for your life?"

"I was a step behind her Adam." Maggie echoed Atwater's words, smacking Ruzek's hand away again. "One step."

Halstead was forcing his way between the two of them. Maggie found herself staring at his lean back as he inserted himself into the small gap between her and Ruzek, forcing Maggie to take a step back.

"Take a walk Ruzek." Jay commanded, physically grasping the other man's shoulder and turning him in the opposite direction.

"It should have been you." Ruzek spat, thrusting his finger at Maggie once more.

"I said take a walk." Jay ordered, practically shoving the other man in the opposite direction. This time Ruzek complied, his steely gaze set straight ahead as a head paced to where the uniforms were setting up barriers to block traffic coming down the street.

"You need to get yourself checked out by the paramedics." Jay informed Maggie as he turned his attention back towards her, his eyes running over her body in an analytical manner.

"I'm fine." she responded, waving her hand dismissively.

"I saw how hard you hit the ground." Jay informed her, holding up his hand and signaling to the paramedics who were just exiting their ambulance before speaking more forcefully."This is not a request."