5x08: The Collar

***

Hunter and Tim were sitting on the floor of Angela and Wesley's living room with Wesley and Jack, having joined the family for breakfast, Lexi meanwhile was apartment hunting for herself seeing as she was now an ADA not to mention twenty years old, she was more than ready to move out, although she wasn't sure how Tim and Hunter would feel about it which is why she hadn't told them.

That's when Angela walked out, she smiled seeing Jack sitting in between Tim and Hunter, he was more or less focused on his godfather and uncle than he was his aunt and father. Jack was basically climbing Tim like a monkey on a tree and ended up on his head, so Tim kept his arms up ready to catch him if he fell.

Hunter had already taken a multitude of videos and photos of all this, sending them to Lexi and making Tim and Jack her background on her phone, that's when Wesley looked up and saw Angela. "Any chance you're gonna make it to the pediatrician appointment today?" He asked her.

"I mean, if everyone just confesses to their crimes, sure, but I doubt it," Angela looked over at her son, switching to Spanish, most of the time she spoke English but would switch to Spanish if she felt like it. "Ahora Jack, tienes que bajarte del tío Tim, él tiene que venir a trabajar conmigo y con la tía Hunter./Now Jack, you gotta climb off of uncle Tim, he's gotta come to work with me and aunt Hunter." She said.

Angela and Hunter grew up speaking Spanish in their household and out of blue would start speaking Spanish for no apparent reason and Angela wanted her son to be able to speak Spanish so they spoke both languages in the household.

Jack hadn't moved off Tim's head so he just grabbed him and handed him off to Wesley before giving Hunter a hand up and the two walked out after saying bye to Jack and Wesley for the day, Angela followed a few moments later after speaking to Wesley.

***

"It turns out you're riding with Tim today." Grant said, wandering over to Hunter just as the morning briefing finished.

"Cool, I just gotta do this," Hunter showed Grant the pictures from the morning before and posted them on her social media page, tagging her sister, Tim, Wesley and Lexi in. "Jack climbed Tim like a tree and ended up on his head." She added.

"Hunter did you--" Grant was asking.

"Ask my sister and Tim permission first?" Grant nodded. "Of course I did, I wouldn't have posted them otherwise." Hunter said putting her phone away.

"Ready to go?" Tim asked, walking over to her.

"Yeah." Tim and Hunter walked to their shop.

***

Hunter and Tim were patrolling. "What was one thing that you hated Ashley for?" Hunter asked Tim out of the blue.

Tim looked at his girlfriend. "Where did this come from?" He questioned.

"Eh, it just came to mind that's all." Hunter shrugged.

"She hated when I'd stay inside and watch football all day on Sunday's." Tim said.

"Chris was the same, I just told him Sunday's are for football and football only." Hunter said.

"Right. Why are you and Lexi the only ones that understand that?" Tim huffed.

"Because most people suck." Hunter deadpanned, Tim chuckled.

"7-Adam-100, I have an in-progress vandalism on West 3rd south of Olympic." Dispatch says.

Hunter picks up the radio and flips on the shop's sirens. "Yeah. Show us responding."

***

They had arrived at the address which was a married couple's home. A disturbance and vandalism was the code for their stop. Hunter gets out of the shop and see's the woman holding a golf club aiming it at her partners Corvette.

The man, who's name was Krishna, waved his hands frantically. "No, no, no, no! Not the Corvette!" He shouts at her. His arms stretched out in attempts to stop her from going any further. 

The woman who's named was Uma rolls her eyes at him. "You should've thought of that before you flirted with that whore!" She yells at him.

Tim walks over and looks at the woman. "Ma'am put down the golf club." He tells her. 

Uma doesn't listen to Tim as she starts to swing at his car. "Baby No! Don't do it" her husbands pleads. 

Hunter looks over already becoming agitated at the scene in front of her and shares a look with Tim. "Our accountant? She's 60!" Krishna yelled at Uma.

"And a stone cold fox!" Uma yelled back and continued swinging at the car.

"Oh, yeah?" Krishan picked up the second golf club.

"Sir, no! Put the golf club down!" Hunter yelled.

"You wouldn't dare!" Uma yelled.

"Is this what you want?" Krishna asked and he starts smashing Uma's car.

"Enough! Weapons down. Now!" Hunter orders them.

The husband and wife both look over at Hunter as they stop smashing each other's cars up. "Weapon? It's a golf club." Uma said, scoffing.

"Now." Tim deadpanned.

Krishna and Uma place the golf clubs down. "Look officer, this is a misunderstanding. Who called you?" Uma asks Hunter. 

"That doesn't matter." Hunter deadpanned with her arms crossed.

Uma rolls her eyes. "It was the busybody across the street, wasn't it? I bet she's posting on Nextdoor!" She says. 

Krishna nods his head "Yeah, yeah, yeah, of course she is. You know, what else has she got in her sad little life?" Krishna tells them as he looks over at the house across the street.

"She needs to put down the phone and take in her garbage bins!" Uma yelled.

Krishan turned to the cops. "Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Actually, can you guys do something about that, huh? She just leaves them out there for days." He said.

"Not our jurisdiction." Tim deadpanned.

"Okay. Fine." Uma sighed.

Krishna and Uma both look at each other and forget about the fight they just had. "Mmh, so where do you want to go for brunch?" He asks his wife. 

Uma wraps her arms around Krishna lovingly. "In bed." she says with a smirk.

Hunter rolls her eyes. "Okay, so either of you want to make a report about the damage to your cars?" She asks. 

They shake their heads. "No, we have a body shop on speed dial" Krishan says and the two walk inside and close the door behind them.

Hunter sighed and turned to Tim. "Can we just get food?" She asked.

"Yep." Tim said and the two returned to their shop.

***

Hunter and Tim were sitting outside the station eating a sandwich when Grant walks over to them, Hunter narrowed her eyes at him. "You're moving in with Lucy, aren't you?" She asked.

Grant stared at her in shock and confusion. "I swear you're a telepath." He comments.

"Nah, I just heard you talking about it with Lucy and Tamara the other day at the shops while Lexi and I were there." Hunter said with a shrug.

"Whatever." Grant said shrugging and sitting down with his coffee, the poor man had barely started to drink it when Grey spoke over Tim's radio.

"7-Adam-100, we have a 10-79 in progress."

Tim, Hunter and Grant shared shocked looks, it was rare to get a call like that, the three stand up, Tim and Hunter returned to their shop and Grant walks over to his and Lucy's shop.

That's when the shop radio goes off, Grey speaks again. "7-Adam-100, 2331, stand by for victim information." Grey says through the radio. 

Hunter grabs the radio and answers. "Copy." She says before turning on the sirens and Tim starts speeding off.

***

A staging area was set as everyone waited for bomb squad to arrived. They had evacuated some kids who were skate boarding in the parking lot. A green SUV was seen to be parked in the middle of the lot, as cop cars were parked in a safe distance. Nolan continued to calm the woman over Face-Time as everyone waited for bomb squad to arrive.

None of them had any idea what to do, how to dispose of the bomb safely or even what kind of bomb it was. Which meant it was an anxiety filled situation for everyone. Hunter couldn't help becoming more and more anxious as she gets out of the shop with her vest fastened. Tim looks over at Grey. "We have to limit potential casualties." Tim said as the bomb squad arrive.

Tim gently grabs Hunter and the two stand behind the passenger door. His arm resting on her back, knowing no-one would think much of it if they'd seen. 

Grant and Lucy were at their own shop on scene but were both behind the drivers side door. They all watch as the agent in the safe suit walks up to Pam's window. And that's when it happened, the bomb around Pam's neck exploded.

The bomb agent was knocked back, Tim covered Hunter's body with his own as Grant did the same with Lucy, the sound of glass breaking, car alarms going off and the smell of smoke all filled the air.

Tim and Hunter carefully looked over at the scene. "Are you okay?" Tim asked.

"Yeah, but she's not." Hunter replied looking sadly at where Pam once was.

***

Turns out Angela was the investigating Detective with Nyla and Aaron who was riding with the two of them for the day and so now they were all conferring at the scene and Angela was leading it. "What'd the bomb squad say?" Hunter asked her sister.

"They confirmed what we already suspected. Device appears to be homemade using items you can find at any hardware store." Angela said to her.

"Do they know what triggered the explosion?" Lucy asked from beside Grant.

"Most likely, the device was on a timer, but they need to put the bomb back together to be sure." Tim spoke up.

"Ah, that's gonna be a hell of a jigsaw puzzle." Nolan comments.

"I'm sure videos are already popping up on social media." Celina said.

That's when they all looked up hearing helicopters. "And the news choppers are already here." Hunter deadpanned.

"Okay, well, if her car and her license plate get leaked online, it's not gonna be long till her name does, too." Nolan said.

"Ohh, I can't imagine finding out something about someone I love like this on ClipTalk." Lucy said.

That's when Tim takes over seeing as he's the Sergeant on scene. "We're not gonna let that happen. Nolan, I want you and Juarez to go to the victim's house." He said.

"Right." Nolan and Celina walked off.

"Who would do something like this?" Lucy asked hypothetically.

***

Tim and Hunter were patrolling. "That poor woman. The last moments of her life must have been agony, just wondering if the bomb was gonna go off, praying it wouldn't." Hunter said. "Reminds me of Iraq." She hums.

"I'm guessing that was the point. No way someone goes through that much trouble of building something like that unless they want to terrorize their victim." Tim deadpanned.

"Yeah, I know." Hunter hummed. That's when a car sped past Tim and Hunter's shop. "What was that?" Hunter asked.

Tim and Hunter pull up beside the car, Hunter's jaw dropped as Tim grabbed the shop radio and spoke into it. "Control, 7-Adam-100. There is a second bomb. Repeat. There's a second bomb." He said.

Hunter looked over at Tim and grabbed his phone, putting in his passcode and finding her own contact. "Get me as close as you can, okay?" Hunter asked him.

"Right." Tim said and started to match the other cars speed and get beside him.

"Hey," the man driving, Creighton Mitchell looks over and she holds Tim's phone out to him. "Reach out. Reach out. Reach out." She said.

The man managed to grab her phone and he looked at it on the face time. "Hi, I'm Hunter." she tells him. 

"I'm Creighton Mitchell. He told me to keep driving. I don't want to die" he says with a panicked tone.

"Okay. Creighton, we're gonna try and get you to drive somewhere safe. You think you can do that?" Hunter asked him.

"I can't breathe. I feel like I'm dying. I think I'm dying."

"Creighton, you're probably having a panic attack right now. I just need you to try and stay calm. Maybe turn on the radio for some music?" Hunter suggested.

Creighton nods his head and turns the radio on as he continues to drive. "A woman is dead today after an unknown assailant apparently strapped an explosive device to her neck." The voice through the radio says.

Creighton's eyes widen "Oh, my God! This happened to somebody else?! And she's dead?!" He shouts. 

Tim grabs the phone. "Creighton listen to me. That is not gonna be you, okay?" He says trying to calm down the situation.

Creighton scoffs. "You can bet your ass this isn't gonna be me!" He says before stopping in the middle of the road. He gets out of the car and see's a landscapers truck bed open with tools sticking out. 

Creighton goes to grab a pair of hedge trimmers. "Creighton!" Hunter yelled.

"Creighton, stop! You could detonate the device!" Tim yelled holding a hand out to stop him.

Creighton lines up the blades against the metal around his neck. "I'm not just gonna wait for this thing to blow my head off!" He shouts at the cops.

Tim looked at the people in the street watching was going on. "Everyone, back up!" Tim yelled at them.

"Get inside the house! There's a bomb!" Hunter yelled at a family who were watching from their front yard.

Hunter and Tim cleared the street before taking over behind the drivers door of their shop as Creighton reaches out and clips the metal around his neck breaking the bomb into two. "Ow! I'm alive!" He shouts holding his neck from the minor bleeding cut.

***

Later, the paramedics were treating the minor injury on Creighton. While the bomb squad was working on putting the bomb device back together. 

Hunter and Tim both walk over to Creighton who was sitting at the edge of the ambulance. Hunter had her notepad out as one of the bomb squad officers walked over. "So the bomb was on a timer. He had 3 minutes left. It's a good thing he bailed when he did. We would have never made it on time." Mike says.

Hunter nods and writes it down, Tim looks over and nods his head. Hunter looks at Creighton. "What time was the device activated?" She asks. 

Creighton shrugs. "Uh, I don't know. Uh, a while? He activated it right before he put me in the car." He says holding down the gauze against his neck.

Hunter nods her head. "We will get the GPS off of your car." She deadpanned at him. 

Tim looks over. "What exactly can you remember from this morning?" He asks.

Creighton looks over at the officers. "I getting ready to go to work. I heard a knock at the door and when I answered it, Richard was standing there with a collar and a gun." He explains. 

Hunter frowns in confusion. "Richard?" She asks.

"Dormer. Richard Dormer. I-I used to work with his sister at Sunvale." Creighton explained.

Tim and Hunter shared a look. "Sunvale Oil? Did you know Pam Winfield?" Tim questioned with a raised eyebrow.

"Yeah. Why?" Creighton asked.

Tim and Hunter both sighed. "The woman they were talking about on the radio this morning, that was Pam." Tim deadpanned.

"What?!" Creighton yelled in disbelief.

"Yeah. I'm sorry. Were you close?" Hunter asked.

"I-I-I mean, I-I worked with her. Wh-What is this? What's going on?" Creighton asked.

"That's what we're trying to figure out here. What did Richard say to you?" Hunter asked.

Creighton started to explain what happened to Hunter. "He told me if -- if I didn't put the collar on, he'd kill me."

"And he didn't give you any reason?" Hunter asked.

"It was all so fast. I-I-I don't know. I don't know." Creighton said.

"Uh, do you have his sister's number? She might be able to give us some insight." Hunter said.

"No, no. She's -- She's dead." Creighton admits.

"Do you know what happened?" Hunter asked.

"We... We sent her abroad to handle a deal, and she was kidnapped and...she was killed." Creighton explained.

Tim and Hunter shared a look. "How were you and Pam involved?" Tim asked.

"It was our call, whether or not to pay the ransom. I mean -- And we were going to, I-I swear. But, you know, you negotiate these things. You -- It's how you do it. They expect you to do it. But these guys, they panicked or -- I don't know. All I know is... she died over there."

Tim grabbed out his radio. "7-Adam-15, I need you to pick up Richard Dormer. Proceed with extreme caution. He might be our bomber." He said.

***

Tim and Hunter were back in their shop when Nyla spoke over the radio. "Apparently there were three people who signed off on negotiating rather than paying the ransom -- Pam, Creighton, and Henri Parsons, the company CEO."

Tim picked up the shop radio. "You have a phone number?" He asked.

"Yes, but he is not answering. Lopez is getting authorization to track it as we speak."

"All right, well, based on Creighton's GPS, he had 43 minutes from the time the bomb was activated until it was detonated." Tim said.

"Why 43 minutes?"

"You're the detective." Tim deadpanned.

Hunter was looking at the computer in the shop and took the radio off of Tim and spoke into it. "Okay. Henri drives a black BMW 5 Series, and he lives in Cheviot Hills. We could head up there, drive a grid." She said.

"It's a start."

Hunter placed the radio back down and looked at Tim. "Okay. I guess we should pick up a pair of garden shears." She said.

"Don't think we can rely on that working again." Tim said.

"Yeah." Hunter agreed.

***

Thankfully Nolan and Celina had managed to stop Richard Dormer and save Henri Parsons from a gruesome death. Tim was sitting outside the station looking at his phone, Hunter walked over to him and sat beside him. "What are you looking at?" She asked.

"Genny's house hunting, 'cause right now she's renting somewhere but she's got to go back to San Jose for the divorce hearing but it's pretty cut and dry," Tim said, Hunter looks confused. "Rob doesn't want to visit the boys or anything like that." He explained.

Hunter hummed. "Shame, the boys love their dad. Has Genny told them?" She asked.

Tim shakes his head and places his phone away. "She doesn't know how so now Tyler's blaming her." Tim said.

That's when Lexi walked over, she'd taken the day off work to apartment hunt. "Hey, how was your day?" She asked.

"Long story, we'll tell you over takeout dinner." Hunter replied.

Lexi smiled slightly and the three of them started walking to their respective cars to return to Tim's house.

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Some of what was written in this story is inspired by Woman-Tim Bradford, one of my favourite stories, written by Soccer_Cr7 which is why I'm giving them credit for the inspiration.

Anyone noticed that Tim's niece hasn't been mentioned since episode 10 of s3 it's like the writers forgot about her and just made it two nephews instead.

Hope you enjoy.