The Gun Runner(52)

But, as hard as it would be to do, I could walk away from Michael.

Convinced my life was once again a disaster, and further convinced I could do nothing to fix it, I relaxed and fell asleep.

At some point in time in the middle of the night, I awoke to the sound of doors opening and closing, which was something I had become immune to at my condo.

I sat up in bed, and it was immediately apparent I’d had more to drink than I originally thought. I rubbed my eyes and allowed them to adjust to the dimly lit room. A flash of light at my window and the sound of a car leaving sparked my curiosity. Figuring it was my father in the middle of something shady, I walked to the window and peered outside just in time to see a car pulling out of the driveway.

It was difficult to see very well through the tree branches outside my second-floor bedroom window, but as the car pulled away, it looked like the license plate said TRIPP.

I blinked my eyes.

Nothing.

I could hear my father talking to my mother. The faint sound of a third voice chimed in occasionally. It sounded like my mother was upset. Quite certain that my father was in the middle of one of his late-night business transactions, and that the car was simply one of his associates, I crawled back into bed and went to sleep.





Chapter Twenty-Two

Michael

The room smelled like feces, sweat and urine. It seemed the temperature had risen about fifty degrees in the last fifteen minutes. Snowman’s repeated demands for me to leave the room fell on deaf ears—this was my mission, and if things went to hell, I was going to be in the middle of it.

“Well?” I asked.

“Never seen anything like it. Son-of-a-bitch has six triggers, all wired in series. One’s a motion with a timer. The motion is a mercury switch, and it looks like it triggers a timer that can only be deactivated by going back to the original position in the allotted time,” Snowman said.

“English,” I said. “I need it in English.”

He turned around, wiped the sweat from his face and sighed. “It means you need to leave the room if you want any kind of assurance you’ll live through this. But, I’m going to need some help. I can’t do this one alone. So either you’re going to die, or one of your men is.”

I fought against my dry throat and swallowed.

He wiped his brow again. “And the price to defuse it just went up. Way up.”

The explosive device was constructed of aluminum, locked around Peter’s neck, and wired to a second device strapped to his upper body. Upon Snowman’s initial inspection, he said if it happened to detonate, the entire end of the building would be blown to dust.

“I’m not leaving,” I said.

“All right,” he said. “Come here, then. I need another set of hands.”

He motioned toward an open pouch of tools on the floor. “Clear your mind of everything, and grab two pairs of those small wire snips.”

I did as he asked.

He grabbed a flashlight and directed the light toward the mass of exposed wires. “See the red with white stripe and the yellow with green stripe wires?”

I studied the tangled mess of wires. “I think so.”

He picked up an awl from the tool pouch and pointed to the two wires. “Here, and here.”

I nodded. “Got it.”

“Okay, after the count of three, we’re going to cut through the wires. I’ve got two to cut, and you’ve got two. Don’t yank, don’t squeeze. Snip. Not slow. Not fast. Just snip the wire.”

“Okay.”

“Listen. I’m going to count just like this. One. Two. Three.”

His counting was sharp and quick.

“Just like that?” I asked.

“Just like that,” he said with a nod. “And when three comes out, you snip. Not when I start to say three, but when it’s done being spoken. One, two, three, snip. Both wires at the same time.”

My heart was racing, and I was drenched in sweat from head to toe. I wiped my brow. “Got it.”

“One, two, three, snip,” he said, counting just like he did the first time. “You comfortable with that?”

I wiped the sweat from my eyes. “As comfortable as I can be. What happens if they’re not cut at the same instant?”

“You won’t have to worry about paying me, that’s what.” He inhaled a deep breath and sighed heavily. “One, two, three, snip. Just like that. You ready?”

“Yeah,” I said. “I’m ready.”

“Which wires?” he asked.

“Yellow with green and red with white.”

He pointed the flashlight at the wires. “Okay. Position your snips on the wires and grip them carefully. Take up all the slack in your tool and just hold it there. Understand?”