Repercussions

Part III

Inspector Bruce Gallanger always wakes up to news of homicides and rapes, but this is by far the worst to since that tragedy when he was a teenager. A bomb exploded at the Bayview Malls, decimating the entire compound and taking more than 600 Christmas mall-goers. He leaves his apartment where he spent much of his years recovering from his loss. He decides to end all ties with his mother, who divorced his father when he's still young. Now, scars have faded away.

He catches his best friend and fellow officer Tim Longwood examining evidence at the scene. Hundreds of personnel scour ground zero to get the injured help and dig the dead from the rubble.

"Our culprit's a bomb expert, perhaps an engineer too," says Tim. "He managed to plant a ton of TNT all over the building, like the ones we use. He must've used jammers to evade security scanners."

"He stole the bombs from us? Have they recovered the body?"

"I don't think he's dead. These bombs have to be detonated remotely from afar, for safety reasons. He's still at large."

"Are these from the cameras?" Gallanger says, pointing at the security tapes stacked on the table.

"Yeah, but they got messed-up pretty bad. It'll take me a while to fix them."

"Let me take care of them for you? I've got nothing to do today," says Bruce.

"No, no. I got this."

"You sure?" Gallanger insisted.

"Yeah, I can do it. Why you don't trust me?"

Bruce smiles. "Man, look at you, leading the Double Team now."

"Shut up... You know Claire asked me about you again."

 The picture of the woman's pale skin and tall legs creeps into Bruce's mind, but knowing their failed history, he drives them away from his head. "Keep working, Tim."

"You got a boat already?"

"It's still months away," says Bruce. "Don't worry about it."

It took a while before Longwood restores the tapes to their readable state, with the damage proving to be very skin-deep. Families and the city have mourned and moved on, but the instigator remained at large, placing the whole police squad in much public contempt. The two didn't see each other for some time as their cases took their time.

Several months later, Bruce receives a call that Tim successfully recovers the footages, and the chief of police wants everyone examining the tape. They reveal that the culprit, disguised as a maintenance worker, planted the bombs mostly at night on air shafts and the floor. Face recognition immediately identifies and traces the instigator – a restaurant janitor – and the entire force rushes to get him. The suspect's identity got them all wondering, but he must be working with an accomplice who had access to the bombs. Two tapes are still unread.

A few weeks later and Longwood fixes the remaining tapes. However, they reveal a devastating truth, the main culprit. He takes them to the chief before anyone could.

The two are supposed to board a boat and drink beer in the middle of the ocean while facing the Sun. Outside the station, Bruce calls his friend for it but fails to contact him. Gallanger finds himself in Tim's workshop, empty. He finds a tape, oddly marked with his name, in the garbage bin, which he watches. He couldn't believe what he's seeing. At the end of the footage, an image of his father and brother soaking in blood appears, and a writing. Bruce is devastated.

He calls Tim, who answers back. "Tim, where are you?"

"I just fixed the last tapes," he says calmly. "We know who he is."

"Yeah, me too."

"He's gonna be at the beach. Chief orders everybody there now."

Bruce takes his pistol as he leaves.