Boston Blues - BLACKBIRD book 2

4. field test

While part of the team spread all over the North End, Brock sat alone in the meeting room to read the first files that Tanya printed for him before going back to her desk. Despite the hour, all of them worked as if it were noon. Even Gillian's son—it was so illegal, having an underage civilian working in what could be a terrorist attack. But looking at the bright side, Brock knew the boy was one of those hire-him-or-bust-him hackers, so it was good to have him working with them. And this way, he could tell the boy was too busy to make Andrea giggle, or tell her how they were trying to find bombs in the middle of the winter night. On second thought, he had to be wrong. Surely the boy could multitask like an octopus.

Just like the other times he'd worked with them, the team had turned their punk mode off and were seriously focused working. Well, Kurt was playing his horrible music, as usual, but Brock knew he couldn't expect them to act like any other law enforcement officer would at a terrorist threat.

Then he heard Connor's voice on the radio: "Found'im!"

He hurried out of the meeting room and went to Gillian's desk, to stand behind Connor and Fred. The boy showed them the same man from the café—the same hoodie at least—crouching down by a car, his face still hidden.

"Look," Fred said. "He seems to be tying his shoes, but he's leaving something under that car."

"I'm running the partial. A model would help," said Kurt from his desk.

Brock grimaced. There wasn't much to make out from the image. "Ford, silver, sedan, four doors..."

Fred called the rest of the team.

"What is it, hot shot?" asked Gillian right away.

It was Brock who answered. Had it been anyone else, the whole team would've teased Gillian, and she would've laughed out loud with them at finding out the mistake. Being Brock, all of them flashed a silent mocking grimace—ouch—and held their peace. He didn't even blink.

"We have an image of the subject, possibly tampering with a car earlier today at...?"

"Sudbury and Merrimac," Tanya completed. "Right outside the Café Metro."

"I'm closer," said Hank, turning left at the first corner.

Gillian had pulled over to check a map on her tablet. "Al, didn't you scan that block?"

"Five minutes ago. No readings."

"Hank, keep your route. Ron, you're on. Thanks, Agent Brockner."

"Coming," said Ron, stepping on the gas of the SCU van.

Gillian resumed her way, one of Ron's small scanners on the passenger seat by her tablet. It was the first time they used them on the field, and even though Ron had tested them a thousand times, Gillian could only hope they actually worked. As to answer her, not a minute later her scanner started beeping.

"Lads, I got something."

"Twenty?" asked Russell right away.

"Cooper and Salem."

"Coming."

Gillian stopped again. She got out of her car, scanning the vehicles parked on the right side of the street. The beeping grew faster and she paused to study the ground around one of the cars. She turned the scanner off and kneeled by the car to look under it. She stood up again in a moment.

"It's a small device," she whispered on the radio, drawing her gun as she stepped slowly backwards away from the car, looking down the street. "He needs to be near to detonate it."

The other SCU vehicles turned around to converge there, and at the office, everybody held their breath.

Brock clenched his teeth, feeling a fleeting prick of cold burning his chest. It had to be her who found the bomb.

Russell's car skidded out of Parmenter Street onto Salem, and his headlights fell on the back of a man hiding right at the corner of Salem and Cooper. The man glanced over his shoulder and sprinted away across Cooper Street. Russell stepped on the gas, chasing him.

"I got'im!"

Gillian spotted the man running by the corner, heard Russell, and ran toward them.

Fifty yards ahead, the man ran into Jerusalem Place. Russell saw him change direction and brought his SUV to a screeching stop a few yards past the corner. He jumped to the street and sprinted into the alley. At the same time, Gillian ran around the corner, catching up.

But the man reached the end of the alley and simply vanished. Russell halted to look around and jumped over a fence into a parking lot. Gillian stayed behind, Glock ready, searching the alley in case the man was still hiding there.

Russell looked around the parking lot: not a soul, not a shadow, so he ran to the exit opening to Margin Street. Gillian hurried back to Salem, but she came out of the alley to an empty street. Just like Russell, when he ran out of the parking lot. They looked down the deserted streets, knowing they'd lost the subject for less than a blink, and grunted at the same time, "Dammit!"