5x04: The Choice

***

Several police and fire vehicles arrive outside the house; Tim, Hunter, Grant, Lucy, Nolan, Aaron, and Celina run to meet up with Kayla, one of Bailey's colleagues, who is readying the injured firefighter for transport. Tim turned to Aaron. "Start a perimeter." Aaron nodded and peeled off.

"Are you sure it's Rosalind?" Hunter asked Nolan.

"I'm not sure of anything yet," Nolan said the cops all walked over to Kayla. "Is he all right?" He asked.

"Yeah, we got him stabilized, but he's got third-degree burns. Bailey's over here." Kayla said, pointing into the house.

"Has the house been cleared?" Tim questioned as he, Hunter, Nolan, Lucy, Grant and Kayla walked up the stairs.

"Yeah. 911 call was a setup. You don't want to touch the lid. There's at least 5,000 volts running through it." Kayla warned.

They enter the house and go to the room, where they peer down into the trap. "Hey. You all right?" Nolan asked Bailey.

"I'm okay. I twisted my ankle when I landed, but it's not too bad." Bailey said.

"Okay, we're gonna get you out of there." Nolan said to her.

"I know."

"Electrified or not, we can still cut through this grate so long as we're not grounded." Nolan said, looking around.

"No, I wouldn't do that. I don't think this is the only booby trap. Look." Bailey FaceTime's Nolan's cell phone and shows a live image of her surroundings, which he shares with his colleagues."

"What the hell are those?" Tim asked.

"It could be packed with explosives." Hunter suggested.

"Or spiders," the other five cops all looked at Celina with the same expression of confusion. "I mean, I'm not saying it's likely -- but yuck." She said.

Nolan and Bailey hung up. "Whatever it is, we can't tell what they are without examining them more closely, and we can't do that with this electrified grate in the way." Nolan starts to walk around, examining the rest of the room.

"Well, I'd offer to come up and help, but there's no way." Bailey comments.

"DWP's working on cutting the power to the house." Kayla said.

Nolan looked at Bailey. "Uh, all right, Bailey, I just need, uh, Tim and Hunter for a minute, and I'll be right back." Tim and Hunter looked at Nolan, slightly confused.

"Okay." Bailey said.

"I'll stay here with her." Lucy spoke up.

"Me too." Grant said.

"Yeah, me too." Celina added.

"Great." Bailey could be heard saying before Nolan, Tim and Hunter walked out the house.

***

Hunter slid into the backseat of Tim's shop as Tim and Nolan took the passenger seat and drivers seat respectively. "What are we doing?" Hunter asked.

"We have to assume the entire house is bugged with cameras, and anything we do to try to get her out will provoke a reaction. From what I can tell, there's some kind of steel tank under the floor of the living room." Nolan explained.

"I didn't see a basement door anywhere." Tim said.

Hunter nodded in agreement with that. "Neither did I." Hunter added.

"I bet she walled it off so we couldn't get down there." Nolan replied.

"We need to get access to that basement." Tim comments.

"Well, it should be simple enough to cut through the floor, but we have to be able to cover the cameras without letting on that we know that they're there." Nolan said.

That's when Nyla and Angela get into the shop and sit either side of Hunter, who was in the middle seat, each shutting the doors that were on their side. "Hi." Nyla said.

"Hey." Hunter answered.

"We're assuming Rosalind bugged the house?" Angela asked.

"We know that she likes to watch." Nolan answered.

"We're taking point on the investigation. W-What's going on? Is -- Is Bailey okay?" Nyla asked, worriedly.

"Yeah, for now. Look, Rosalind did not buy this trap at Home Depot. Way too much time, effort, and material went into the construction." Nolan said.

"She didn't do this alone. She doesn't have the skill set to pull off something this elaborate." Tim said.

"Another acolyte -- great." Hunter said sarcastically.

"It would be helpful if you could put together a list of building materials. If we can source them, we might have a shot at identifying who bought them." Angela said.

"Yeah, I can do that." Nolan said, nodding his head.

"We're gonna need to check out the scene and then head back to the station and start digging in -- see if we can find any other cases that have a similar M.O." Nyla said, gesturing to herself and Angela.

"Can we take Aaron to run down leads?" Angela asked Tim.

"Of course. I'll stay here and run point." Tim said.

"I'd like to stay, too, and make sure that Bailey's never down there by herself." Hunter replied.

"Thank you." Nolan said.

"Mm-hmm." Hunter hummed.

"Let's go." Everyone exited the shop.

***

Tim and Hunter walked back inside with Nolan. "All right. It's getting a little crowded in here. Authorized personnel only. And we need more light to work." Tim said.

"I'll be out front." Celina said to Nolan seeing as she wasn't needed.

"All right." Nolan agreed.

Angela and Nyla walked over to Bailey as they'd entered the house as well. "Having fun yet?" Nyla asked.

"I feel like an animal in a zoo." Bailey comments.

Angela turned to his sister. "You get blueprints for this house yet?" She asked.

"Yeah. Permits is pulling the plans right now." Hunter said.

That's when Nolan speaks up. "Well, a lot of this work wasn't permitted. It's not gonna be in the county records." He said.

That's when Nyla pipes up. "Unless we're needed here, we --"

"No, no, we're good," Tim interrupted. "You and Lopez have enough on your plate. Just find out who built this." He said.

"On it." Angela said.

"Bailey, hang in there, okay? Half the city is trying to get you out of there." Nyla said.

"All right. Thanks." Nyla and Angela walked out.

Nolan catches Kayla's eye, then walks over to turn the light stand to shine the very bright work lights toward a corner, apparently blinding whatever camera might be hidden there. "There. You got a 10-foot blind spot right there." Nolan said.

Nolan goes back to smile at Bailey as one of the firefighters starts using a circular saw to get through the floor... then Bailey hears another grinding noise. "Guys?!" Bailey yelled.

"What is it?" Nolan asked, walking over.

"I-I don't know. Something's happening," suddenly, spikes start slowly emerging from the floor of the trap, under Bailey's feet. "Spikes! There are spikes coming out of the ground!" Bailey yelled.

Nolan yelled at the firefighter cutting the wood. "Stop, stop! Stop cutting! Stop cutting!" Nolan walks back over to Bailey. "You okay?" He asked.

"Yeah, I'm great. Just...great." Bailey said sarcastically, the spikes have stopped rising; she takes off her turnout coat and covers some of the spikes with it to protect herself.

"Do you think Rosalind saw us cutting?" Tim asked.

"No, I think more than likely there's a motion sensor, probably under the floor." Nolan said.

"Where we can't get at it." Hunter deadpanned.

"No, we can. We can. We just have to take the floor apart more carefully." Nolan replied.

"You mean "slowly."" Grant corrected.

"Right." Nolan agreed.

That's when Celina walked in. "All right, guys. DWP is here. They're cutting the power."

"No. No, that could trigger something else." Nolan said.

Just then the power turns off, but the lights inside the trap are still working. "The lights are still on." Bailey said.

"There's got to be a generator, then." Nolan added.

"Guys. Something else is happening." Bailey called out.

"What is it?" Nolan asked.

"John, something else is happening!" Bailey yelled. Water begins to pour into the trap from a pipe in the wall. Bailey tries to stuff her trousers into the pipe, but there's too much pressure in the flow coming out.

"Can you block it?" Nolan asked.

"Water is filling up the tank. I can't stop it!" Bailey yelled.

"How long until the tank fills up?" Lucy asked.

"At this rate, a few hours, max." Nolan said.

"Ohh." Bailey huffed in annoyance.

Nolan's cell phone rings and he answers it. "Yeah." Nolan said, Hunter glances behind her and sees the colour drain from Nolan's face, she frowned wondering who was on the other end. "It's Grey. Bailey, I'll be right back." Nolan said before he walked out.

"Really?" Bailey asked, incredulously.

***

Later, Hunter had walked outside to speak with Kayla. "Hey. Any sign of the generator?" She asked her.

"No. DWP thinks it's buried somewhere. They're bringing in ground-penetrating radar." Kayla replied.

"Even if we find it, how can we be sure that shutting it off won't trigger some other booby trap?" Hunter wondered.

"We can't." Kayla deadpanned.

Celina comes to join them. "Have you seen Nolan?" She asked.

"No." Hunter said, shaking her head.

"He's not answering his phone or his radio." Celina said.

Hunter looked shocked at that. "W-- That's -- Nolan would never leave Bailey. Something's not right," Hunter speaks into her radio. "7-Adam-15, what's your status?" She asked.

That's when they hear a muffled echo. "7-Adam-15, what's your status?"

"7-Adam-15, please report." Hunter said.

They all pause to listen. "I think I hear his radio. Can you do that again?" Celina asked.

"7-Adam-15, are you there? 7-Adam-15, are you there? Nolan. 7-Adam-15. Nolan. 7-Adam-15. Hey, where are you? Hey, where are you? 7-Adam-15, report. 7-Adam-15, report."

Celina turns and raises her voice to the personnel milling around on the lawn. "Okay. Okay, hey, can you guys just please shut up and turn off your radios?!" Everyone turned their radios off, herself included.

"7-Adam-15, what's your status? 7-Adam-15, what's your status? 7-Adam-15. Nolan. 7-Adam-15. Nolan. Nolan, this is Hunter. Nolan, this is Hunter. We're trying to locate you. We're trying to locate you. Are you there? Are you there? Nolan, please answer. Nolan, please answer."

By now, Hunter, Celina, and Kayla have followed the echo to find Nolan's gear discarded in the curbside bins. "I don't understand. Why would he just leave all his gear?" Celina wondered.

***

Tim and Hunter get into their shop and shut the doors, followed by Celina, who gets in the back seat. "Nolan is on his way to see Rosalind. He took a call. It had to have been from her. She's using Bailey to get Nolan to go see her." Hunter said.

"How long has he been gone?" Tim questioned.

Celina checked her watch. "I mean, it can't be more than like 10, 15 minutes."

"All right. I'll alert Grey. Nolan's smart. He'll think of a way to signal us." Tim said and the three cops exited the shop.

***

Grant and Lucy were talking to Bailey as Hunter, Celina and Tim all walk back in, Bailey glances up hearing a noise. "Uh, guys, one of the boxes is opening." She said.

The water in the trap has reached the level of Bailey's armpits. One of the boxes high on the wall of the trap opens, spilling out a white powdery substance. Bailey takes a deep breath and submerges herself, just in time to avoid the fireworks that explode when the powder hits the water. After a few moments the fireworks die and Bailey gets her head above water again.

***

Later, there are firefighters carefully pulling up the floor in a corner. The water level in the trap is high enough now for Bailey to have to tread water. "You okay, Bailey?" Tim asked, walking over.

"Yeah. This isn't the first time I've singed my eyebrows," Tim smiled slightly amused. "They grow back. Is John there?" Hunter doesn't answer. "Hunter, where's John?" Bailey asked.

Hunter doesn't have an answer and looks at Tim. "He's outside with the engineers, looking for the generator. Putting that construction knowledge to good use." Tim lied smoothly.

"You held your breath for a long time." Celina comments.

"Well, death by fire is a great motivator. Plus, I did some competitive diving in my youth." Bailey added.

Grant chuckled. "Of course you did. I wish I could say that was the last time you were gonna need to use that skill." He said.

"Yeah. What's the longest anyone's ever held their breath?" Bailey asked.

"Yeah, let's check," Celina looks it up on her phone. "Uh, let's see. 24 minutes and 37 seconds. But he cheated. I mean, he took in pure oxygen before getting in the water." Celina said.

"Let's do a test to see how long I can hold my breath for, okay?" Bailey asked. Lucy starts her timer and Bailey takes a deep breath and ducks under the water.

***

A technician has guided a camera through a hole in the floor and found a sensor. "That's the motion sensor. I can freeze it, then we can finish cutting through." The technician explained to Tim and Hunter along with some firefighters.

"Do it." Tim said.

"2 minutes, 37 seconds." Lucy said from behind Hunter, causing the older woman to look at her.

"That's crazy impressive." Celina comments.

"I think that's the best I can do," Bailey pauses for a moment. "Hunter," The raven haired cop walked over to Bailey as she'd heard her name. "I know you're lying to me. Something's happened to John." She said.

"I'm sorry. Um... We haven't seen Nolan since he took a call an hour ago. We think -- We think he went to see Rosalind." Hunter explained.

Bailey sighed. "To save me. Well, you have to find him. She will kill him." She said to Hunter.

"We're trying." Hunter said.

"Okay. I'm gonna go back under. Time me." Lucy presses the timer on her watch.

Tim is looking down into the hole that's been cut into the floor. There's a basement, and he's preparing to be lowered into it. "Hunter."

Hunter walked over and looked into the hole. "I'll go down." She said.

"No. Uh -- There may be more traps. It's too dangerous. Just be ready to follow if it's clear." Tim said.

"Hmm, fine." Hunter reluctantly agreed.

Tim is slowly lowered into the room, he and Hunter lock eyes as he's lowered and once he down in the room he checks it for further threats. "All right, it's clear."

Hunter is lowered into the basement to back him up. The tank appears to be built of concrete, with one window in it so they can see Bailey underwater. "Okay. Now what?" She asked.

"I don't know. I was hoping the waterline would be above ground so we could cut it or cap it, but it's under solid cement." Tim said.

"We're losing time. At the rate that it's filling up, she's got an hour, tops." Hunter said.

***

Hunter and Tim are conferring as they watch Bailey through the window in the tank, Hunter checked a message on her phone from Angela. "They found the generator where Harper said it would be. They're digging it out now." She said.

"Great. And when they cut the power, those chemicals are gonna release, triggering an explosion and a flash fire." Tim said.

Hunter puts her phone away. "Well, meaning what? Don't cut the power?" Hunter asked.

"No, we have to. Otherwise Bailey floats to the top and the grate electrocutes her. Look, LAFD is standing by ready to cut the grate the second the chemical reaction finishes. Bailey just needs to hold her breath long enough to make it through. She's cold. She's exhausted. Everything has to go perfectly in order for us to save her." Tim explained.

***

Celina is keeping an eyes on Bailey when Hunter comes in. "Um, excuse me. Bailey." Celina said.

"Okay," Hunter said to Bailey. "They're about to take out the generator, so once the chemicals fall --"

"I won't be able to surface," Bailey interrupted. "I know. Okay, here we go. I'll see you on the other side." She takes a deep breath and ducks under the water. 

Hunter speaks into her cell phone. "Cut the power now." She said. The power goes off and the boxes open, dumping toxic chemicals into the water and setting off fire on the surface. Bailey is struggling to stay down. "Bailey!" Hunter yelled, she speaks to a firefighter. "Get in there."

The firefighter is using a power saw to cut through the grate, now that it's no longer electrified. Celina is trying to get her belt and shoes off, ready to jump into the tank once the grate is off. "Damn it." Celina huffed.

Bailey has stopped struggling and hangs limp in the water. "We're through." The firefighter said.

Celina goes into the tank and hauls Bailey up to the surface. "Grab her!"

Hunter starts performing CPR on Bailey. "Okay. Come on, Bailey. Come on, Bailey! Come on! Bailey! Come on. Oh, come on. -- Okay." Bailey gags, gasps, and regains consciousness.

"Oh, my God. Oh, my God." Celina said in pure relief.

"How long was that?" Bailey asked.

Grant checked his own watch. "Uh... 4 minutes and 20 seconds." He said. 

"New record," Bailey looks around. "Where's John?

***

Nolan is sitting at the foot of the stairs next to Rosalind's body, staring at the ground, the gun on the stairs next to him. Police cars start to pull up in the driveway and Bailey leaps out to run to Nolan. "John?! John?!"

"Bailey?" Nolan asked, standing up. They embrace fiercely as the police detail moves to secure the scene. 

Hunter, Grant, Lucy, Tim and Grey all look down at Rosalind's body, Grant carefully leads Lucy away after informing him that she needed to move away from the body. "Doesn't seem real." Hunter said.

"It is. She's done." Grey said, and then he starts texting Lexi telling her that Rosalind Dyer was finally gone.

"She only seemed larger than life." Tim said.

"Do you think she did this as a backup on purpose?" Hunter asked.

"Doesn't matter. All it means is that we can focus on catching her accomplice before he kills anyone else." Tim said.

"Here come the Feds to help." Grey comments, putting his phone away.

They turn to meet the FBI people. 

Just as Hunter's phone starts ringing, she answers it. "Is it true? What Grandpa Wade's saying, Rosalind's finally dead?" Lexi asked.

"Yes, she's dead." Hunter said, glancing back at Rosalind's body. "I'll see you tonight." She said before hanging up.

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The italics when Hunter's speaking into her radio looking for Nolan is the echo from his radio if that makes sense.

Also, should I wait until episode 10 for Hunter and Tim to go to a restaurant for a date or should I add one in and also episode 10's?

Hope you enjoy this episode.