Chapter 505 Collapse

"Bong!" A moment earlier, the older African-American boy was happily chatting with a girl he liked at the apartment entrance; in the next instant, the blast wave flung him to the center of the street.

A silver Toyota had just parked in front of the building, and as the driver opened her door to exit, the shockwave hurled her out of the car. The street-facing shop windows across the road shattered, and distant bystanders began screaming as they witnessed the chaotic scene.

Jack shielded Alexis as they moved away from the dangerous street area. After shaking off the glass shards that covered him, he asked, "Are you okay?"

The girl looked toward the apartment building, shaken, her lips quivering before she finally managed to speak. "That... that little boy, he had just run inside."

"Yes," Jack replied heavily. Though he hadn't known them, watching a life vanish in front of him was hard to bear. And it was painfully obvious that more residents were still inside.

"Was it a gas explosion? We should help them," Alexis suggested, her legs still trembling, but her gaze locked onto the wounded bystanders outside the apartment.

"Probably not," Jack said, recognizing the smell of explosives. He had smelled it before—more than once, in fact.

He guided Alexis to sit at the street corner. "Stay here and don't go anywhere. Call 911. I'm reaching out to the FBI."

He turned toward the apartment while dialing a number Rosy had given him. 

"Director Morrell. Yes, this is Jack. I just arrived in New York… Sorry to interrupt. I'm in the Clinton area on XX Street. There was just an explosion here, and it doesn't look accidental. I'm getting a whiff of what I believe might be TNT… Apologies, I can't be certain, but it smells a lot like the aftermath of an RPG hit. I'll wait here as you instructed."

Jack knew the difference well, having experienced both the smell of TNT and the pungent sulfur odor left by a gas explosion. His small building had suffered an RPG hit, which triggered a subsequent gas explosion—both scents were etched into his memory.

Hanging up, he moved to where the boy had been thrown by the blast. In mere moments, the poor child had been torn from his younger brother and the girl he liked. The girl who'd been talking to him was hit directly in the temple by a falling brick, her lifeless body now lying on the curb. Across the street, another unlucky passerby was left covered in shards of glass and iron fragments, looking like a human pincushion.

Only the boy and the female driver who had been thrown from her car survived among those at the entrance. Both were unconscious. Jack quickly examined them, confirming there were no rib fractures penetrating internal organs, and then dragged them both to a safer location, waiting for the firefighters and ambulances to arrive.

The apartment building that had exploded was one of those typical old six-story red-brick structures you see all over New York. The explosion had clearly occurred on the ground floor, and now ominous cracks were creeping up the outer walls of the first and second floors. Jack knew that in this case, the rule against moving critically injured people didn't apply—they needed to be taken to safety before the whole building came down.

After about five minutes, two fire trucks and an ambulance arrived, with two police patrol cars following close behind. Seeing Jack crouched down beside the injured, a fire captain and two EMTs hurried over.

"Any idea what happened here?"

Jack flashed his badge. "FBI Special Agent Jack Tavore. I was just passing by. About five minutes ago, at 4:03, there was an explosion on the ground floor of the building. It doesn't seem like it was caused by gas. I suggest evacuating everyone inside immediately."

"Okay. I'll send someone in to check the structural damage and see if…"

Jack grabbed the captain's arm mid-sentence. "No, you don't get it. This wasn't a typical gas explosion. Start evacuating people now. Understand?"

The captain hesitated, then nodded and turned to direct his crew to begin knocking on doors throughout the building.

Watching as some of the ground-floor residents were gradually led out by firefighters, Jack helped the EMTs lift the injured onto stretchers. Just as he was about to look for Alexis, a flashing, siren-wailing Suburban arrived at the scene.

Glancing at his watch, Jack noted that it had been less than ten minutes since the explosion. The quick arrival of the additional FBI agents struck him as odd—was this the FBI's usual response time, or had they been nearby?

As two agents, a man and a woman in blue FBI jackets, approached the apartment's entrance and spoke with the fire captain who was assisting a resident, Jack considered introducing himself. But he felt awkward—he hadn't formally reported to the office yet, and his future supervisor, Director Morrell, had only asked him to wait at the scene.

These agents must have been on another assignment nearby. Now would be an inconvenient time for introductions.

Meanwhile, several NYPD officers had begun cordoning off the area, keeping onlookers with cameras from getting too close. Jack walked to the police line and waved to Alexis, who was watching him from the street corner, clutching her phone anxiously. Seeing him signal, she hurried over.

"Sorry, Alexis. I don't think I'll be able to take you home. My supervisor wants… damn."

Jack stopped mid-sentence, as a chilling sensation surged up from his heels, ran up his back, and jolted through his entire body. Instinctively, he tackled Alexis to the ground, shielding her with his body.

"Stay down!"

"BOOM!"

A blast even more powerful than the first one erupted behind him, sending a shockwave that filled the entire street with dust and thick, choking smoke.

The NYPD officers and onlookers around the police line were thrown to the ground as if hit by a minor earthquake.

Jack's head was buzzing, a high-pitched ringing filling his ears like static.

Acting on reflex, he cast a healing spell on himself and Alexis before turning to look at the building. Both FBI agents who had been at the entrance were now nowhere to be seen. Only the fire captain, distinguished by his bright green-striped uniform, was visible through the smoky haze as he lay on the sidewalk, shielding the resident he'd been helping.

"Oh! My leg!"

"Help!"

"I need assistance!"

Hearing the cries for help, Jack rose and helped the dusty Alexis to her feet. "Find a safe place to stay. I'll go assist."

A dreadful creaking noise came from behind them. Jack looked back to see the apartment building's dark entrance, now resembling the mouth of some hellish abyss, emitting an ominous groan.

Loose glass and bricks started to drop from the outer walls, clattering onto the sidewalk.

"It's collapsing!" someone in the crowd screamed in horror from further away.

"Damn it!" Jack, moving like a bolt of lightning, dashed to the fire captain's side, grabbing the man by his collar and the resident in his other hand. Mustering his strength, he lifted both from the ground.

"Jack! Watch out!" Alexis screamed as part of the fire escape ladder fell from the building's facade, narrowly missing him with a deafening crash.

With a person held in each arm, Jack sprinted, while behind him, the damaged six-story apartment building crumbled with a resounding crash. The cloud of dust blanketed the surrounding crowd, plunging the entire street into eerie silence.

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