Emily crouched down onto all fours and flashed her light under the chassis. Her phone's light illuminated the place where the spare wheel well would usually be.
Rolling onto her back, she wriggled underneath the car.
“Oh, hell.” Angling her head towards the other side of the carpark, she yelled out, “Schultz. I definitely have a problem.”
Chapter 48
“I’ll check the other one,” Schultz yelled as he ran up.
“Yep, quick. We don’t have long.” Emily stared at the red illuminated numbers above her. “We’ve got less than three minutes.”
“Plenty of time.”
“I don’t think so,” she muttered as she shook her head, her eyes on the timer. A cell phone and a series of colored wires linked the timer to a bundle of unidentifiable explosives.
“When was the last time you detonated a device?” Emily angled her head towards Schultz.
“Last week, and it was a piece of cake.”
“Right, and you’re going to tell me you’ve got wire cutters in your back pocket, too?”
“Sure do. As instructed, always prepared.”
“Seriously?”
There was no answer. She turned her head towards the other parked SUV and saw Schultz lying underneath.
“What’ve you got there?” she asked.
“This one appears to be all clear from the outside.” He scrambled out from underneath the car and stopped next to it. “I can’t see anything inside, not with this dark illegal window tint.”
“Well, I can see this one very clearly. Can you get here like, NOW? Before we blow up, preferably.” She turned back towards the underside of her car.
Gingerly holding the colored wires in her hand, she used her other hand to lightly tug the first wire.
“What are you doing?” Schultz asked.
Emily’s hands jolted a little. “Don’t do that to me again!”
“Do you know what you’re doing there?” Schultz wriggled on his back until he was alongside Emily.
“Not really, but I have found this loose wire.” She held one of the wires in her hand.
“You sure it was already unattached?”
“Yes. Which one do we need to cut?”
“Shimmy over a little and I’ll have a good look.”
Emily shuffled over and Schultz moved in.
“Light?” he asked.
“Shit.” She grabbed her hand.
“What happened?” Schultz asked, concerned.
“It’s all right. Just a cramp in my fingers. Pinched nerve, I think.”
“You still having troubles with that?”
“Let’s not go there.”
Emily activated the light with her good hand and shone it towards the timer.
“Good. Okay, what have we got here?” he asked to no one in particular.
Emily looked at the timer. It ticked down to double digits. “Less than a minute.”
“Shh, really don’t need to hear that.”
“You can see it, too.”
“Lee.” He turned towards her, his eyes narrowed.
“Just saying.” She shrugged her shoulders.
Schultz pressed a button behind his ear. “Xander?”
Silence. “I’ve got you,” Xander replied.
“I’m sending you a photo.” Schultz took a photo of the bomb and sent it through. “We need to know how to deactivate it.”
“Okay.” Xander paused, “Okay. I’ve got it. Holy mother. This is going to take some hunting.”
“You have 30 seconds,” Emily ground out through gritted teeth.
“Shine your light there.” Schultz pointed towards the rear of the car.
Emily shifted the light until the beam fell on the set of wires running along the chassis.
“Where do those wires go?”
“Along the floor and up the wall into the roof.”
“Into the roof?”
“Yes, freshly drilled.”
“Holy...” His voice trailed off before he continued. “There’s got to be more explosives in this building than just this one.”
“If we can defuse this one, will it stop the others?”
“Hoping so, but we’ll know shortly. Do the wires run anywhere else?”
“Why? What’s wrong?”
“There’s a set of wires running into the car.” He looked up and down the length of the SUV before continuing. “Into the trunk. These ones here.” Schultz placed a finger on a set of wires and Emily shifted the beam of light.
“I’ll go check.” Emily began to wriggle away.
“We don’t have time.” He pointed to the timer. It showed 20 seconds. “You should get outta here.”
“I’m not leaving. We’re going to do this together. Do you think Xander will find something in time?”
“I highly doubt it. Time for plan B.” Schultz pulled a pair of wire cutters from his rear pants pocket.
“You were serious!” Emily shook her head, chuckling to herself. “Unbelievable.”
Schultz’s phone vibrated. Pressing the device behind his ear, he answered, “Xander. That was quick. Tell me you have something for us.”
“Yes and no. This bomb was a direct hit from the gangs straight from Asia. We’ve just never seen one on our home turf yet. We don’t have any procedures on deactivating anything remotely like this.”
“How do we stop it?” Schultz snapped.
“We can’t. I mean... No one on our home soil has been able to successfully stop one yet.”
“What do you mean, no one?”
“Well, it hasn’t been attempted.”
“How far out is the squad?”
“Five minutes.”
“That’s five minutes too long. We’re going to have to do this old school. Xander, if I don’t get through this... It’s been nice working with you. Take good care.”
Schultz disconnected the call.
“You’ve done this before, haven’t you?” Lee looked between the bomb and Schultz.
“Only in training. Nothing like this.”
“Comforting.”
“You can always leave.”
“Not enough time.” Lee looked at the timer on her phone. “Ten seconds.”
“Okay, think. Which wires?” he whispered.
Lee looked on, keeping her light focused on the wires. “The red and black ones. To the side, there.”
“Why not the ones on this side?” Schultz moved the pliers to the opposite end.
“They’re Fu’s favorite colors. He does everything in red and black. When I was growing up, he used to give me and my sister electronic circuits to disarm. Every time, it was the same two wires, red and black.”
Schultz moved the pliers to where she was pointing.
“Please be right.” He closed his eyes and cut into the wires.
Nothing happened.
He peered one open. The green light was still lit.
“Shit.” He punched the cement flooring.
“I honestly-”
“Hang on a minute.”
Schultz placed his hand around the cell phone and wiggled it a little. There was some movement. He pulled a little more and it came free.
Emily grabbed the phone from Schultz, rolled out from under the car and shot two bullets through the screen.
“Lights turned red,” Schultz advised.
Looking at the smoking phone, she replied, “I think you might have done it.”
A rumble sounded nearby. Emily turned towards the sound. Dust sifted through the ceiling and lingered in the air for a moment before settling onto the floor.
“I thought you checked up there.” Schultz turned to Emily.
“No time. I only got this far.” She pointed to the black SUV.
“Stay here.” Schultz pointed his finger towards a spot between them.
“Yeah, not going to happen,” she muttered as he was halfway to the emergency exit door.
Walking around the vehicle, Emily felt for t
he trunk release. She pressed the button. Nothing. She tried it again. Still nothing. Taking aim, she fired a couple of shots into the lock.
“What was that?”
She peered around the rear of the car. Schultz was now standing by the emergency exit door.
“Trunk wouldn’t open.”
He shook his head and turned back to inspect the bulging door. Carefully feeling around the edge of the door and the exposed door frame, Schultz checked for wires. Content there weren’t any, he edged the door open.
And took a step back.
It sat there, in the center of the platform.
Waiting.
Another one. Only part of it had managed to explode. Looking over the contraption from where they stood, they couldn’t find any obvious triggering devices or LED lights.
What they did find were three tubes of bubbling liquid, full almost to the top.
Schultz carefully closed the door, grabbed Lee by the arm and sprinted towards the street.
“What’s going on?” Her legs were struggling to keep up.
“We’re getting out of here. Now.”
“I found... another one... in the trunk,” Emily said, gasping for breath. “Glass cylinders, bubbly liquid inside, just like the ones behind the exit door.”
“Great.”
The blinding sunlight of the setting sun blinded them as they ran clear of the carpark.
“Move. Get out.” They both waved their hands in the air.
“There’s two bombs about to go off.” Emily pulled an officer by his arm, running as fast as she could despite her dwindling stamina.
Ahead of them, the onlookers were now running either up or down the street opposite the building.
Sheltered behind the street corner opposite, her breathing rapid and shallow, Emily bent over to try and catch her breath.
“Will one of you tell me what on earth is going on here before I charge both of you?” The officer she’d dragged behind them looked first at Emily then Schultz.
Schultz, bent over, held up his badge.
“So sorry. I didn’t recognize you, Schultz. You must be Lee. You’ve had an eventful day.” He shook her hand.
Lee waved her hand, brushing the compliment off.
“What’s going on in there?” the officer asked.
In between shallow breaths, Schultz did his best to relay the situation. “There’s two black SUVs parked opposite each other, sequential number plates. One has the trunk popped open, the lock shot.”
The officer raised an eyebrow and looked between them both.
“I’ll explain later. The original bomb under the chassis has been defused. Lee, you got it?”
Emily handed over the beaten-up phone to the officer.
“That’s what we pulled from the one underneath the chassis.”
“There’s another one in the trunk of the same car,” Emily interrupted. “Clear cylinders with bubbly liquid inside.”
“How many cylinders?” the officer asked, his notepad and pen ready.
“Four.”
“Xander has relayed us a copy of the device, the one this was attached to.” The officer waved the phone. “But there was no mention of cylinders.”
“We’ve only just discovered them, literally moments before we ran out of there.” Emily waved her hand back towards the undercover carpark.
“At the far end of the carpark,” Schultz continued with his debrief. “There was a small explosion, not long after our timer clocked down to zero. It’s knocked a bulge in the emergency exit door, but it hasn’t fully exploded, and dust came down from all along the ceiling.”
The officer depressed the button on his handheld radio. “Okay, boys.”
“You’re our bomb squad.” Lee raised her eyebrow towards the officer.
“Time to suit up and send the AI in. We’ve got volatile liquids in there and a possible partially detonated device.”
Chapter 49
Emily sat side-on in one of the nearby patrol cars, her feet over the edge, resting on the asphalt, a blanket wrapped around her. Pulling the corner of the blanket up, she bit its edge as she watched one of the suited bomb squad team members guide a robotic device towards the entrance of the undercover carpark.
It wasn’t long until the robot disappeared, enveloped by the darkness. Emily lent back into the seat and closed her eyes.
Her father sat in front of her.
“Dad,” she screamed out but he didn’t respond.
Looking around, she noticed they were back in the warehouse.
Opposite her, her father was still shackled to the chair, slowly gaining consciousness. Uncle Fu stood behind him, the gun pressed against the back of her father’s head. She saw his mouth moving but couldn’t hear what he was saying.
Emily tried to run towards her father but her feet wouldn’t move; it was like they were shackled to the floor. Her father looked in her direction, his eyes pleading. “I’m sorry,” she read on his lips before his head slumped forward. A trail of blood traversed around his neck and down under his shirt.
Screaming, her arms outstretched towards her father, Emily fought to move closer to him as warm tears rolled down her cheeks.
“Lee. Lee.” In the distance, she thought she heard her name being called.
“Lee, wake up,” the voice came again, this time a little louder.
She felt her body shaking, slipping backwards.
“Lee.”
Her father faded in the distance. Crying, her hands waving wildly, Emily opened her eyes.
“What? What’s wrong?” She looked around, bewildered, unable to merge her dream with reality.
“Looked like you were having a nightmare.” Schultz placed his hand on her knee. “I should get you home. Get some rest.”
“Home? What’s that?”
“Fair call. My place then. You need some rest.”
“No. No.” Lee sat up. “I’m all good. I just closed my eyes for a second. I’ll be all right. Any news from in there?” She nodded towards the carpark.
“Nothing yet. They’re keeping tight-lipped.”
“Hmm. Okay. No explosion yet, then?”
“Dead quiet on that front.”
“I need to make a quick phone call.”
She received a strange look from Schultz but he didn’t question her as she stood up.
Keeping the blanket wrapped around her, she walked away from the car towards the opposite street corner, tapping a number into her cell phone. She’d just finished crossing the street when her call was answered.
“Hello?” a weary male’s voice answered.
“Harry?” Lee looked towards Schultz and the congregating officers. Everyone had their attention on the carpark entrance. Schultz turned around and smiled at her. She returned the smile and gave him a thumbs-up, letting him know she was all good.
“Yeah. Emily, is that you?”
“Yes, it is. I need you to hold tight for a little bit longer. Can you do that?”
“I thought you were killed in that explosion out along the foreshore, near some marina.”
“Explosion?”
“Yeah. I got a video message. Would’ve been less than five minutes ago.”
Emily could hear Sharon agreeing in the background.
“Did the message come through with a set of numbers, like a cell phone number?”
“Hang on a moment, I’ll check.”
She could hear him tapping and cursing as he navigated his phone.
“Okay. You still there?” Harry returned to Emily.
“Yes, I am.”
“Good. It does look like a cell phone number.”
“Great. Can you read the numbers to me?” Emily activated her phone speakers and pulled up her contact list.
Harry began to read out the numbers and Emily typed them into her phone. The automated search scrolled through her list of contacts, narrowing the list as she typed in each number.
Harry read out the last digit and only one name
remained on her list.
“Fu,” Emily whispered.
“Who’s that?”
“No one.” Lee took the call off her phone’s speakers before continuing. “Can you please send the video through to this number?”
“All right. But it doesn’t sound like no one to me. You sure you’re telling me the whole story?”
“Yes, I am.” Emily rubbed her forehead. “I just like knowing everyone who alleges I’m dead. Did the message say anything else?”
Emily could hear scrambling before Harry returned to the call. “It reads, ‘Tick tock. One problem down. You’re next.’”
“Can you please forward that to me, too?”
“You’re not telling me everything. Who is this Fu guy? He is a guy, right?”
“I don’t know him. I’ve only heard of him.”
“Then why do you know his cell phone number? You really aren’t good at this game. You think I’m stupid or something? How would you like to hear a murder?”
“I’m sorry. No, you’re not stupid. I’ve had a long day and I’m just exhausted. Fu is someone I’m investigating. I kept a record of his contact number.”
“Is this guy responsible for stealing my property?”
Emily closed her eyes and took a deep breath before replying. “It looks that way.”
“And you have all his contact information? You know where he lives?”
“I don’t have his address; that one has been withheld from public record.”
“Hmm. Sounds like a shady guy to me.”
“Yes, he is. Have you been able to send the message through to me?”
“You should...” He paused. She heard him tapping away at his phone. “You should get it in a moment. Any movement on getting my farm back?”
“It’s with the right people. After this is all over, I’m hoping you’ll be all set to get it back.”
“You’re hoping?”
Emily heard a metallic click followed by a shriek from Sharon.
“Hold up, hold up. I’m pulling everything I can to get it back to you. These things take time.”
“Time that we apparently don’t have, according to that video.”
The Analyst (Emily Lee Series Book 1) Page 17