BOOM!
A UC story by Deana Lisi
Disclaimer: I don't own Frank or anyone from the UC team.

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"HAPPY FOURTH OF JULY!"

Jake, Alex, and Monica all looked up when Cody came bursting into the Nest.

"Same to you, Cody," said Alex, wiping up the coffee she'd spilled. "Just don't give me a heart attack next time!"

"Sorry," Cody said. "Frank not here yet?"

Everyone shook their heads.

"Surprisingly, no," said Monica.

"I wish he'd get here," said Jake, sounding annoyed. "I want to know why he called us in on the 4th of July!"

"Because Chicago's fireworks display was stolen," they suddenly heard.

Everyone turned to see Frank walking towards the table.

"Stolen!" Cody exclaimed. "Who would wanna steal fireworks?"

"A lunatic," said Monica, looking alarmed. "They could be used to cause major damage and wreak havoc!"

"Nevermind killing people!" said Alex.

Frank nodded. "Exactly, that's the reason we were called in," he said, looking at Jake.

Jake nodded. "Do we have any idea who might've taken them?"

"Yes," Frank said. "And we know where they are."

"We do?" said Cody. "Then why don't the cops just go get them and arrest the guy?"

"He is a lunatic," Frank said. "Named Barry Daniels. He's a suicidal mental patient that escaped from an asylum yesterday. Half of Chicago PD is on vacation this week, including Chief Morgan, so the Governor asked me to handle it."

Everyone was silent, realizing that it was quite a compliment for the Governor to regard them higher then the local police force. With their superior training, they would probably be better able to handle this situation anyway.

"Are we doing this now?" Jake asked.

Frank nodded, and they all stood. "Don't let sympathy for this man come into play. If it comes to it, shoot—he's suicidal and probably would enjoy taking someone with him."

Everyone nodded, and they all headed outside.

"The heck!" Cody exclaimed.

Parked before them was a silver Hummer, in place of where Frank's Volvo should be.

"You traded in your Volvo!" Alex exclaimed, shocked; they all knew how much Frank loved his silver and black 2002 Volvo S80.

Frank shook his head. "No, it's being inspected today. My mechanic let me borrow this."

"Your mechanic is inspecting your car on a holiday?" Jake asked, as they got in.

"Today was supposed to be our day off," Frank said, starting it up. "He was doing me a favor."

"I wish I had as many connections as this guy!" Cody whispered to Jake.

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Frank pulled the Hummer into the woods, parking it about 500 feet away from the abandoned warehouse.

"It's always a warehouse!" said Cody. "If we had a dollar for how many times we grabbed a guy out of a warehouse, we'd be rich."

"You two be the lookouts," Frank told him and Monica, as he inserted his earpiece. "Do not come in unless you're called for."

They both nodded, as Frank, Jake, and Alex left the Hummer.

"They always have all the fun!" Cody whined to Monica.

The three agents quietly made their way to the building and snuck inside. It was dark, with no lighting. They came upon the stolen fireworks immediately; the warehouse seemed nearly full of them. Walking cautiously, knowing that Daniels could be hiding, they made their way further inside, not hearing a single sound within.

Suddenly, the quiet was shattered when a loud screech was heard, and something shot past them, exploding out the wall of the warehouse.

"He's setting them off!" Jake yelled.

The three of them scattered when another came towards them, exploding with a deafening boom.

"Be careful where you aim!" Frank exclaimed, rushing towards the location the fireworks were coming from. He heard a loud laugh, and saw Daniels on the second floor of the building, lighting rocket after rocket, all of which were pointed straight at them.

"FEDERAL AGENTS!" Frank yelled over the noise, pointing his gun.

Daniels laughed again, and Frank has to dash out of the way when he lit a rocket aimed straight for him.

"Jake!" he heard Alex exclaim.

"Here!" he heard Jake reply, through his earpiece.

Satisfied that his agents were both unharmed—so far—Frank stepped out from behind a floor-to-ceiling post, only to see Daniels waiting for him, his own gun aimed.

The sound of the gunshot was masked by the sound of the fireworks.

"FRANK!" Alex shouted, when she saw him fall. Dashing out from her hiding place, she grabbed her struggling-to-stand boss, pulling him to shelter.

"I'm fine," Frank told her.

"Bull!" she cried, seeing a bloodstain spreading over the sleeve on his upper arm. Looking around the post, she saw Daniels' attention focused elsewhere, and ran closer.

Frank muttered under his breath as he glanced at his wound, grateful that it wasn't bleeding from an artery.

"Jake!" Alex exclaimed. "Frank's been shot! Where are you?"

"Still near the door!" Jake said. "How bad is it?"

"His arm," she said. "I left him at the post near the boxes. Get him out of here!"

Jake looked around for the post, seeing it to his right. Standing, he ran over to it, narrowly missing another rocket that nearly took off his head. Finally making it to the post, he found nothing there but drops of blood.

Frank crept closer to the stairs leading to the second floor, watching as Daniels continued to let off the fireworks. Glancing behind himself, he saw the entire wall of the building blown out, and another loud boom made his ears ring more than they already were. He winced when a stab of pain laced through his arm, and he tried to ignore it as he climbed the stairs.

"Alex!" he heard through his earpiece. "Frank's gone!"

"I said I'm fine!" he answered.

Daniels heard his voice, and turned towards him, again aiming his gun.

Frank fired before the lunatic could, but the air was full of smoke from the fireworks, so he wasn't sure if he'd hit him. Flattening himself against the wall, he struggled to see through the smoke, trying to hold his breath to avoid inhaling it. Finally, enough of it cleared for him to see that Daniels was gone.

"Frank!" he heard. Now that no more fireworks were going off, he could hear all four members of his team calling him.

"I'm fine!" he exclaimed, his voice sounding funny to his ringing ears. "Daniels is on the second floor!"

Jake and Alex started talking to each other, but they were too soft for Frank's noise-damaged ears to pick up. Coming to a door, he threw it open, to see Daniels standing there waiting for him, gun raised, with a deranged smile on his face.

Frank fired before Daniels had the chance, and the man fell, his smile never fading.

Jake and Alex reached him a minute later, Alex grabbing him by his good arm, while Jake went to check the body.

"He's dead."

Frank nodded in relief, wincing when Alex wrapped her hands around his wound, trying to stop the bleeding. "Cody?"

"Yeah, boss?" he heard through his earpiece.

"Call the CPD, tell them that Daniels is no longer a threat, and to come and get these fireworks."

"Right!"

Leaving the room, they surveyed the warehouse's damage from the second floor. It looked like a war had taken place, and the three of them realized that they'd been very close to losing their lives.

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"Ow!"

"Wear the earplugs, Mr. Macho!"

The five of them were sitting on the Lake Michigan pier, watching the display of the previously-stolen fireworks. Frank, Jake, and Alex had all suffered temporary damage to their hearing, from being so close to the exploding fireworks in the warehouse, and Frank and Alex were wearing earplugs to prevent more pain while watching the display, but Jake had declined them.

"Fine…" Jake said, taking them from Alex.

Frank started to shake his head at Jake's stubbornness, before quickly stopping himself. The fireworks had given him a pounding headache along with the damaged hearing, but thankfully nothing was permanent.

Someone nudged his good arm, and he looked to see that Monica had been talking to him. "What?" he said, having not heard her through the earplugs.

"How are you doing?" she said a little louder, looking concerned.

"Fine," he told her. His left arm was in a sling, having had a chunk taken out of it from Daniels' bullet. He hadn't needed surgery to remove it, thankfully, as it hadn't become lodged in his arm. He'd suffered a big blood loss, but hadn't submitted to staying in the hospital. After they'd sewn him up, given him blood, and checked his hearing, he'd left, to the protests of the doctors and his team. He didn't deny that he felt like crap—weak and in more pain than he cared to admit—but Cody had wanted so badly to see what remained of the fireworks display, so everyone had gone with him, curious themselves.

The grand finale began, making Alex cover her ears despite the earplugs. When it ended, they were all surprised how long the display had been, in spite of Daniels having set off so many of them.

"YAY!" Cody yelled, clapping his hands, along with many other people.

Everyone stood, all four of them reaching out to help Frank, to his slight annoyance. As they walked to Jake's TrailBlazer, Frank took out his earplugs. "Stay home Monday," he said.

Everyone stopped, and looked at him.

"We can have Monday off?" Alex asked.

Frank nodded his head—carefully. "Yes. Today's events ruined the three-day weekend, plus I think we need more then two days for our ears to recover."

"And you need more than that for your arm," said Monica, as they got into the truck.

Frank pretended that he didn't hear her as Jake drove off, while Cody started whistling 'Yankee Doodle'.

THE END!

LOL just a silly little UC short to say Happy 4th of July to everyone! ;)