Echoes of the Storm

Chapter 39

Costarossa was shaking her head. "Not sure I can pinpoint the location." She jabbed a new sequence on the keyboard, and leaned closer to study the data. The reddish glow lit the frustration on her face. She punched in another command. "Check Norse for a—"

"Remote detonator," Jack said, completing her sentence. "Hummel, grab a team. Sweep the office, the secret passage. The rest of you, check every inch of this space. Find the bomb."

Jack pushed his way through the mash of hustling spec operatives. Standing over Norse, his eyes swept from Norse's head, to his clothes, and down to his boots. "Where is it?" He tried to keep the outrage from his voice. "Just like you to plan for something like this if things didn't go your way. But you wouldn't kill yourself. No, not you. So I'd say we're all safe unless my team sets the bomb off trying to defuse it."

"You know me, love." Norse had to force the words out, but his expression was unreadable.

Equipment panels and cabinets clinked under inspection. The Riga threw bright lights on the ceiling to look for anything suspicious. Every seam and frame of the office window was scanned, every workstation, every piece of furniture.

"Where is the bomb?" Jack shook his head when Norse didn't reply. Sounds of Hummel's inspection floated from the office into Ops. "Even if you kill everyone in this room, or bring this building down, Galilei still loses."

Norse managed a shrug. "This time."

Jack swung around, shoulders tight. He tapped his comm. "Hummel, anything?"

"Not yet," Hummel shouted, his voice barely carrying over the clamor of chairs being upended and checked.

Readouts and visuals from Patriot and ODP-1 spilled across the monitors. Crusader blips continued to disappear one by one.

Jack turned away from the continued onslaught by the Riga. He stared at Norse. "A body scan will show us anything in Norse's clothes, or anything he swallowed." He smiled coolly and looked up.

The doctor met his eyes. "On it," he said, and keyed his comm. "Second unit has the scanner. It'll be here in less than five minutes."

Norse scoffed. "Swallowed? That is disgusting, Jack." His words were choked. "Do you really think—"

"Shut it, Norse, before I order a strip search," Jack said without a hint of emotion.

Costarossa shot Jack a wicked grin that faded in a flash. She fed a new sequence to the computer. "The device would have to be within range of the bomb," she said. "If it's not on Norse, then he has another contact in this building, or one nearby."

Something about that scenario didn't sit right with Jack. He glanced at their captives, and at Tic and Costarossa. Everyone should be scanned.

The doctor chimed in. "Prisoners confined in the holding area on the first floor and all civilians rounded up within a half-K of this building undergo a routine scan. If anyone has a detonator, we'll find it."

The commander shouted from the office doorway. "Got it!"

Jack's comm crackled with Hummel's voice. "One bomb in the passageway."

Norse flinched, and Jack could hear his own heart thudding. If anyone here could defuse a bomb, it would be Hummel.

"Working on it," Hummel said. "Give me..." There was a long, tense pause. "Threat removed."

Jack wanted to breathe easier, but Norse's reaction sent a sour taste to his mouth.

"Keep looking. There's probably more than one." He turned to the commander. "We need more men to check and map that passage. We have no idea how extensive it is. Norse may have rigged the entire network to blow."