What next, my friend? Have we finally come to the end of the line?
Julian Marsh spoke up. “I saw them arm it,” he said. “I can disarm it. This was never supposed to happen. Money was the only objective… not this millions die, end of the world crap.”
“Webb knew,” Lauren said. “Your boss. He knew all along.”
Marsh only coughed. “Just get me out of here.”
Drake didn’t move. To expose the bomb they would have to turn the human pile. They didn’t have time to snip off all the tape. But there was a faster way to disarm a bomb, always had been. They didn’t show it on TV because it hardly made for edge-of-the-seat viewing.
You didn’t cut the wire. You just pulled them all out.
But that was as risky as cutting the wrong wire. He knelt down so that his eyes were at the same level as Marsh’s.
“Julian. Do you want to die?”
“No!”
“I see no other way,” he breathed. “Guys, let’s move them around.”
Directing the team, he slowly, slowly, turned the body pile until Hayden’s stomach came off the floor and the backpack was revealed. Groans escaped from Zoe and Marsh and even Hayden as they all rolled on to their sides, and Kinimaka urged all of them to remain still. Despite Zoe’s claims no one knew how sensitive the motion detector actually was, although it seemed clear if it had lasted this long it wasn’t set on anything near a hair-trigger. Indeed, it had to have been programmed to be all but impervious to ensure Drake would arrive before it exploded.
It was necessary to unloop the wires from Marsh’s body and pick them from Zoe’s extremities, a dirty job but one the team barely noticed. The ones wrapped around Hayden’s frame came away easily, as they were hampered by her clothing. Now, under direction, and still held with duct tape, Marsh brought his hands up so that they passed around Hayden’s right side and hovered over the backpack. The Pythian flexed his fingers.
“Pins and needles.”
Mai placed her hands on the backpack, over the nuclear bomb. With deft fingers she undid the buckles and pulled the top flap away. Then, utilizing great and dexterous strength, she held the sides of the backpack and slid the bomb with its metal casing right out.
A black casing surrounded it. Mai threw the pack away and rotated the bomb very slowly, sweating now as the seconds ticked down. Hayden’s eyes were bright as she stared at the bomb, and Kinimaka was already kneeling at her side, clutching a hand.
The countdown panel came into view, attached by four screws to the outside of the bomb. Blue wires snaked under it and into the heart of utter disaster. Marsh stared at the wires, four of them, tangled and wrapped together.
“Take the panel off. I need to see which one is which.”
Drake bit his tongue as he eyed his watch.
Seconds left now.
Fifty nine, fifty eight…
Smyth fell to his knees beside them, the soldier already with his utility blade out. Taking everyone’s life into his hands he took the responsibility of removing the screws. One scrape, one stubborn thread, one lack of concentration and they would either lose time or cause a terrifying detonation. Drake closed his eyes for a moment as the man worked. Behind him, Dahl breathed heavily and even Kenzie fidgeted.
As Smyth worked on the last screw, Alicia suddenly screamed. The entire group jolted, hearts in their mouths.
Drake whirled around. “What is it?”
“A snake! I saw a snake! Big yellow bastard it was.”
Smyth growled angrily as he held up the plate and carefully removed the countdown panel with its flashing red clock face. “Which wire?”
They were down to thirty seven seconds.
Marsh crawled closer, eyes searching through the interwoven tangle of blue wires, seeking the point where he remembered seeing Gator arm the device.
“I don’t see it! I don’t fucking see it!”
“That’s it,” Drake threw him aside. “I’m pulling all the wires!”
“No,” Dahl landed heavily at his side. “If you do that this bomb will explode.”
“Then what do we do, Torsten? What do we do?”
Twenty nine… twenty eight… twenty seven…
CHAPTER FORTY
Drake’s memory snapped to the fore. Ramses had deliberately told him that Hayden was the bomb. But what the hell did that really mean?
Looking now, he saw the three wires wrapped around her. Which one led to the trigger? Dahl pulled a piece of paper from his pocket.
“The codes,” he said. “There is now no other way.”
“Let Marsh try again. Ramses made a point of mentioning Hayden.”
“We use the codes.”
“They could be bloody fake! Their own trigger!”
Marsh was already peering at Hayden’s body. Drake scrambled across and grabbed Kinimaka’s attention. “Roll her.”
Hayden helped as best she could, muscles and tendons no doubt screaming their agony, but receiving no relief. The clock ticked. The bomb neared fruition. And the world waited.
Marsh leaned in, following the wires around her body as Drake raised one arm, then a leg and finally unbuckled her belt where two wires crossed. When he saw the knotted pair passing again through her knees he pointed at Kinimaka. “There.”
Suffering a nightmare game of Twister, Hayden watched as Marsh followed the path of every wire back to the timer.
“For sure,” he said, squinting hard, one eye wide, the other closed. “It’s the one on the right.”
Drake glared at the suitcase nuke. Kenzie joined him and Dahl on the floor right beside it. “A specific configuration of parts and mechanisms is required to detonate this thing. It is… so delicate. Do we really trust the man who brought it into the country at this point?”
Drake drew the deepest breath of his life.
“No choice.”
He pulled the wire.
CHAPTER FORTY ONE
Drake yanked swiftly and the wire came away in his hand, coppery end exposed. On a knife edge, everyone present leaned forward to check the countdown.
Twelve… eleven… ten…
“It’s still armed!” Alicia cried.
Drake fell away onto his backside, stunned, still holding the wire up as if it might even now spark and kill the bomb. “It’s… it’s…”
“Still ticking!” Alicia wailed.
Dahl dived in, forehead-palming the Yorkshireman away. “My way,” he said. “We’ll be lucky if we have time now.”
Eight…
Zoe started to cry. Marsh blubbered, apologizing for every mistake he’d ever made. Hayden and Kinimaka stared without emotion as the team worked, hands white and locked together, accepting that they could do nothing. Smyth let the utility knife fall from his hands and looked for Lauren, reaching with shaking fingers to touch hers. Yorgi sank to the ground. Drake looked at Alicia and Alicia stared at Mai, unable to tear her eyes away. Beau stood between them, his expression clear as he watched Dahl work.
The Swede tapped the deactivation codes into the panel. Each one registered with a bleep. Only seconds remained as he entered the final number.
Five…
Dahl hit the “enter” button and stopped breathing.
But the clock still ticked down.
Three… two… one…
In the final second Torsten Dahl did not despair. He did not give up and turn away to die. He had a family to go back to — a wife and two children — and nothing would stop him from keeping them safe tonight.
There was always a Plan B. Drake had taught him that.
He was ready.
Crazy mode kicked in, calculated insanity fell over him, giving him strength beyond normal. For the last hour he had been listening to one person or another flout the perfection, the accurate and exact equipment that comprised a suitcase nuke. He had been hearing how precise it all was.