Alex nodded. He hoped it didn’t sound that impossible when Danny told Callahan.
“That’s where the Barton Electric truck comes in,” he said. “That truck was carrying an experimental electric motor that Barton developed to pull trains.”
Danny didn’t seem sure what to make of that.
“So,” he said after a long silence. “You think the thieves are using the Lightning Lord’s motor to turn the boring bits to dig a tunnel.”
“Think about it,” Alex said. “Electric motors are quiet and they don’t have exhaust. Whoever stole all that stuff has everything they need to tunnel from the basement of one building into a bank vault. Even one across a street.”
Danny hesitated, flipping to his notes on the things that had been stolen.
“It’s crazy,” he said after a moment. “But you’re right, whoever stole the trucks has everything they’d need to dig a tunnel. Callahan is not going to like this.”
Alex knew Danny was right, but he pressed on anyway.
“He’s going to like a Manhattan bank getting robbed a whole lot less,” he pointed out.
“True,” Danny said, flipping his notebook closed.
“So, are you with me on this?” Alex asked with a smile.
Danny rolled his eyes and shook his head.
“I must be out of my mind.”
“Are you out of your mind?” Callahan roared at Alex. The usual look of casual disdain he wore when Alex was around had been replaced by something perilously close to naked hatred. “It’s bad enough you’re sneaking around behind Detweiler’s back and feeding information to the tabloids, but now you drag my detective in here to sell me some cock and bull story about a bunch of penny-ante gangsters tunneling into a bank? Get out of my office.”
“Lieutenant,” Danny began but Callahan silenced him with a look.
“If you keep listening to this guy, he’s going to drag you down with him. I’m not going to let that happen to me.”
Alex forced himself not to blush under Callahan’s tirade. Truth be told, he did worry that sooner or later he’d steer Danny wrong and cost his friend his job. Or worse, his life.
“Lieutenant!” Danny interrupted. “I know how this sounds, but you should know by now, I wouldn’t have brought this to you if I didn’t think there was something to it.”
Callahan swelled up with fury and Alex wondered if he’d pop his collar button. After a long, pregnant moment, however, he sat back in his chair and folded his hands in front of him.
“Do you have any idea what bank these guys are planning to hit?” he asked, his voice calm and even.
“No,” Danny admitted.
Alex just shook his head when Callahan looked at him.
“Do you know how many banks there are in Manhattan?”
“No,” Danny was forced to admit.
“Do you know?” Alex asked, speaking before he thought better of it.
Callahan glared at him.
“I know it’s more than fifty,” he said. “And since you don’t know which bank is the target of this master plan, you’re asking me to send out officers to look in the basement of every adjacent building for some lowlifes digging a tunnel.”
Alex had to admit, it sounded crazy when put like that.
“Forget the fact that the Captain will never go for this,” Callahan said. “Just tell me how, in your little scenario, these bank robbers are going to power that electric train motor?”
“Most of the banks worth all this trouble are in the Inner and Mid-rings,” Danny said. “Power shouldn’t be a problem.”
“Except when you dig a tunnel, you do it underground,” Callahan said. “Radiated power doesn’t do well underground, that’s why magelights have to be wired to the building in most basements.”
“Very good, Lieutenant,” Alex said. “The field generated by Empire Tower is based on magic and magic doesn’t penetrate the ground well.”
“I don’t care how big Barton’s missing motor is,” Callahan said. “It’s not going to drill anything without power.”
Alex turned to Danny.
“Can I borrow your notebook?” he asked. “I think I can narrow down the search for your boss.”
Callahan ground his teeth loud enough for Alex to hear as Danny passed over the notebook. Alex flipped to the page where Danny had catalogued all the stolen items that were missing from the recovered trucks.
“See here, Lieutenant,” he said, putting the notebook down on Callahan’s desk. “Three one-hundred-foot spools of heavy copper wire were stolen.”
“So?”
“So,” Danny said, picking up on Alex’s train of thought. “All the robbers have to do is patch the wire into the building’s etherium receiver and run it to the motor.”
Callahan looked like he wanted to object but couldn’t find a flaw in that argument.
“And,” Alex jumped in, eager to maintain what little momentum he’d garnered. “The only buildings you need to search are ones adjacent to banks with underground vaults.”
Callahan jumped up out of his chair and got right in Alex’s face.
“It doesn’t matter how many banks have underground vaults,” he growled. “What matters is that if I manage to convince the Captain that there’s something to this and it turns out to be a bust, I’m going to be jackass of the century around here. And that’s if they let me stay on as janitor or something.”
“What happens if it’s not a bust but you don’t look?” Alex pointed out, locking eyes with Callahan. “These guys have spent too much time planning and digging to waste that effort on some little, no-name bank. They’re going to hit the biggest, fattest target they can find, and what happens when they do?” Alex picked up a newspaper from the Lieutenant’s desk with an article about the ghost killer. The headline declared that the city was in panic.
“You think people are panicking now,” he said. “Wait until there’s a run on a major bank because all their money’s gone.”
“He’s right, Lieutenant,” Danny said. “One run is likely to cause others. They’ll be rioting in the streets before it’s done.”
Callahan swore and flopped down in his chair. Alex could tell that the Lieutenant was facing the reality that he really didn’t have any choice. Alex’s evidence was circumstantial, but it fit, and Callahan couldn’t afford to let a major bank get cleaned out. Alex resisted the urge to smile out of sheer relief.
“You told me you became a cop to protect people,” Alex reminded him. “Now’s your chance.”
Callahan chuckled and shook his head.
“If this blows back on me, Lockerby, then you’re done,” he said in a cold, even voice. “You’d better leave the state, because if I catch you, I’ll make sure you get twenty years breaking rocks, you got me?”
Alex nodded.
“That’s fair,” he said. “One more thing, though. When you have your boys search for our tunnel diggers, tell them that one of them is a hostage. A guy named Leroy Cunningham.”
“Hostage?”
“Yeah, they grabbed him because he used to work in a mine and they think he knows how to shore up a tunnel.”
“Does he?” Callahan asked.
Alex shrugged.
“Maybe,” he said. “In any case, tell your men it’s probably best if they stay out of any tunnels they might find.”
“That’s just great,” Callahan sighed. He stood up and put on his suit coat.
“You’re with me, Pak,” he said to Danny. “You,” he said, waving his finger in Alex’s face. “Get lost, and don’t come back till this is over, got me?”
“Loud and clear, Lieutenant.”