Incisions

by Barbara Winkes

  A quick check of the sweatshirt revealed some greasy stains. Eggs.

  “Let’s get this your lab so your guys can work their magic.”

  “When time is ticking, we’re everyone’s friend, aren’t we? Mr. Roth, I’m sorry, but we need to go to your office now. Agent Kramer is setting up a trace as we speak. If Daniel calls you, I want us to be able to find him.”

  “I will work with you, I promise,” the disillusioned father said. “God, I don’t want Danny to get himself into any more trouble.”

  Something he had said earlier, registered with Jordan, “the closest he could get,” and all of a sudden, the pieces fell into place. Roth thought he was doing his son a favor by giving him a job in the bar. To Daniel, his father had been dangling something in front of him that he wanted so badly, but couldn’t have. She wasn’t yet sure about his motive to set up Ward—other than secure an alibi for himself—but there wasn’t time to figure this out now.

  In fact, she was certain that time was ticking.

  “The C4. It must be here somewhere, in the bar. His job is a reminder, every night, that he is not one of us. He hates this place.”

  This time, Bethany didn’t question her instincts. “We’ll evacuate the place and get a bomb squad in here. Now!” she addressed Agent Russo who had followed their exchange.

  “Where’s your furnace?” Jordan asked Roth. He looked horrified.

  “What did I do? He had trouble holding a job, and I didn’t want him to end up like many of the young men I arrested…”

  “I know. Please show me now.”

  “I’ll come with you,” Bethany said.

  Chapter Eighteen

  Staring at her phone, Ellie shook her head. Of course, she could read between the lines. Jordan was obviously worried for her. The way she was taking charge—Ellie couldn’t deny she found it kind of hot, even when it was uncalled for.

  There wasn’t much left for her to do anyway, so she was going to head back to the department, risking that Jordan might think she indulged her. Ellie wondered if she’d make good on her promise and involve Sergeant Bristol—she hoped Jordan wouldn’t go that far.

  “Come on, she cares about you,” Casey said.

  “I know.”

  “Don’t worry. We’ll wrap this up and I’ll catch a ride with McCarthy later. You get there ASAP.”

  “I guess I have no choice.” With a sigh, Ellie turned to walk back to where they’d parked the squad car earlier. This was ridiculous. If Daniel Roth knew they were onto him, wouldn’t he lay low and try to get out of the city as soon as possible?

  She had her answer a moment later when a voice behind her spoke, “Officer Harding.”

  Ellie recognized the voice, and her hand was on her gun immediately.

  “Come on, Ellie, don’t do that. I don’t want to shoot you.”

  I don’t want to hurt you…She was good with voices. She had recognized the nasty threatening tone of Ward’s right away. Her only mistake was that she’d never paid attention to Daniel Roth at the bar.

  “No, don’t shoot. I’m sure we can solve this without any more bloodshed.” She turned around slowly to face a man she’d seen many times before he decided to abduct her.

  “Daniel. I finally can call you by your name.”

  “Yeah, whatever, it doesn’t matter anymore.”

  He waved the Glock around, making her flinch. Clearly he hadn’t had much practice, which could mean good or bad for her.

  “It does to me. They’re on to you now, but I can help you.”

  “It’s too late to help me, or any of you. Now open the door and get in the damn car.”

  “If I do that, what’s the next step? You’ve been hanging out with cops for most of your life, so you must have an idea of how this works. Right? You paid attention. You know there’ll be road blocks.”

  “Maybe, but no one’s going to suspect you. Now get in there, or I swear I’m going to shoot you!”

  “Okay. I get it. I’ll drive to where you tell me to, but I think you owe me an explanation, Daniel. Why did you pick me? What did I do to you?”

  The door slamming shut sounded like a final sentence. She had to keep him talking, find out what he was up to. There was still the matter of the explosives, after all.

  “Now drive.”

  “Where to?”

  “Just drive! It was never meant to be this way. You left me no choice. You shouldn’t have run away.”

  Ellie kept her gaze on the road and her hands on the wheel though she was very much aware of the weapon trained on her. Roth had an agenda, there was no doubt about it. So far he hadn’t killed anyone, and that was probably not his intention in the first place. She wanted to keep it that way.

  “How did you get involved with someone like Ward in the first place? Did he have something over you?”

  Roth laughed at her suggestion. “Really, you think he was smart enough to blackmail anyone? I needed him to take care of a few things for me. Obviously, he didn’t do a great job, but it’s not easy to find a criminal with connections who’s willing to do just about anything. I studied up on your cases. A friend of a friend of Tucker Branson’s came through, and here we are.”

  Ellie bit her lip to hold back the angry retort she would have liked to give. He felt so entitled to get his revenge he didn’t mind she got hurt in the process, or how badly.

  “Take care of what? He nearly killed me.”

  “That wasn’t the plan. I would have stopped him the first time, but Dad made me work. I’m sorry about that. I couldn’t be there on time.”

  “Oh. Wow.” What about that other time when she had only a tiny, but fortunately sharp object at her disposal—and for how long could she have fought off Ward, still cuffed to the wall? “I’m sorry, I still don’t understand. I mean…It sucks that you couldn’t finish at the academy, if that was your dream, but—”

  “Shut up!” His shout told Ellie without a doubt that she’d hit a nerve.

  “You have no idea. I would be a good cop. You wouldn’t have caught Ward if it wasn’t for me. But you were all too good to even talk to me. Most of you didn’t even bother to ask my name.”

  “I worked behind a bar for one summer. It’s not fun, I understand—”

  “You don’t understand,” he protested angrily. “You have everything. You just took what you wanted, always, and you had no shame about breaking up another relationship. You don’t understand anything.”

  This was still a sensitive subject. Even as she blushed, Ellie thought she wouldn’t sit here and let this self-important guy berate her for having a life. He had screwed up badly because one thing didn’t go his way.

  “More than you think, but you can still turn this around. I know Ward is the bad guy here. You weren’t the one who hurt me. I can testify to that.”

  “This might be, but it’s too late anyway.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “It wasn’t supposed to be this way! I was going to rescue you the first time. I would have been the one who stopped Ward, and help put him away for good. Now they know it’s me, and there’s nowhere I can go from here. That stupid bar, always in my way.” His voice dropped to a barely intelligible mumble.

  “Hold on, what are you talking about?”

  To her utter surprise, he laid the gun aside. “I told you, it’s too late. Man, I’ve always hated that place. It will finally be gone.”

  “What are you saying? That’s what you wanted the C4 for? The Code 7?”

  “It was beneath Dad, and it’s beneath me,” he said contemptuously.

  Ellie’s heart was pumping. This couldn’t be. She needed a way to warn everyone. Jordan was still there, Bethany and her team, many other cops, and civilians starting to arrive for happy hour, or just walking by.

  “You know what’s beneath you, Danny? Mass murder. You said you didn’t want to hurt me. How can I believe you when you tell me you’re going to kill all these people?”

  She could tell h
e was troubled. That might be an opening. She had to try.

  “What do you mean, these people? There’s no one there.”

  “Aren’t you listening? The cops are there right now, with your Dad—”

  “You’re lying! He’s not supposed to be there! He’s at the doctor’s!” he yelled.

  “I’m going make a call now. I won’t tell them you’re here with me, but I’ll make sure everyone gets the hell out of there. The bar will still be gone. It’s the place you hate, not the people, right?”

  No answer. She remembered how his silence had unnerved her in the dark apartment. Ellie wanted to shake him. But first she had to convince him.

  “You see this through, no one can help you. We both know you’re a better person than that. You stopped Ward. You’re a hero, Daniel, and you can still be. Tell me where you put the bomb.” It made her sick to say those words, but the means would serve the purpose.

  He looked at his watch. “You have ten minutes.”

  Ellie hit the brakes hard, startling him for a moment long enough to draw her gun.

  “Put down your weapon. This ends now.”

  With Roth disarmed and cuffed, Ellie typed the numbers with shaking hands. Jordan picked up right away.

  “You’re still at the Code 7? It’s going to blow in less than ten minutes. Get out of there now!”

  The tables had turned quickly. She was breathless with fear for Jordan, and all of their friends and colleagues in harms way.

  What if Roth had lied to her and he wanted his fifteen minutes of fame instead of saving anyone? Ellie had a hard time not to cry. She wouldn’t, not in front of him. There was somewhere they both needed to be right now.

  “How much?” she snapped at him. “Did you plan to destroy just the building, no matter who was inside, or did you want to take out the whole block?”

  She would have to bring him to the next precinct, as hers was likely to be in the evacuation radius, but there was somewhere else she needed to go first.

  “One bomb. Just the bar. Gone. That’s all I ever wanted.” There was a blank stare on Daniel Roth’s face. He was shutting down.

  A moment later, he mumbled something again that Ellie couldn’t quite understand. It sounded like “I’m so sorry, Dad.”

  * * * *

  Jordan was at the top of the stairs when Ellie reached her. There was a lot she would have liked to say, but there was no time.

  Ten minutes.

  Bethany was on the phone, calling in reinforcements.

  “Is there anyone in the apartment upstairs?” Jordan asked Roth who seemed in shock. He shook his head. “I use it for storage and some papers—”

  “We need everyone out right now.”

  He blanched even more, but the cop momentarily won over the troubled father. “Backup’s on the way?”

  “Yes,” she said as they were both hurrying towards the front of the building. “Dr. Roberts is taking care of that. We’re calling in all units, but for now, we need those people as far away from this place as possible.”

  On the street, passer-bys were urged to leave the area as uniformed cops taped off a wide perimeter around the Code 7. From what Jordan could see, the evacuation of the surrounding buildings was swift, though it had to look like an organized chaos to an observer. The police department was within the determined radius as well.

  “Bomb squad’s not going to make it in time.” Carl Roth wasn’t asking. “Damn it, Danny, why?” Jordan had no answer to him as she took him to an area outside the tape where crowds of people were already forming. She wanted to be in several places at once, here, do what she could to help. She wanted to be with Ellie who had apparently managed to arrest Roth. Jordan had been right about him—he had intended to go after Ellie one more time. It didn’t turn out the way he’d planned.

  Of the ten minutes, there were only two left, but there was no one in the immediate radius. The C4 Roth had gotten away with was likely enough to bring down the building, but everyone, colleagues and civilians, were out of the danger zone now.

  The wide perimeter of the taped area was hindering commuters, which was a small price to pay, considering. No one would get hurt today.

  “Have you seen Dr. Roberts?” she asked a female agent who had come with Bethany earlier. They had gone separate ways after Ellie’s call.

  “No. I thought she was with you—”

  The rest of her sentence was drowned out in the incredibly loud bang that seemed to make the ground vibrate under their feet. They could see the smoke in the distance where the Code 7 was going up in flames. Roth junior had high hopes, but all he’d managed in the end was to destroy his father’s work of decades.

  Bethany didn’t pick up her phone.

  They were lucky they’d been able to get everyone out before Roth’s self-made bomb blew, but that might not have been his plan. If he didn’t intend to murder anyone, he had at the very least casually accepted the potential outcome. Jordan thought with pride that it was Ellie who had convinced him to alert them as to how much time they had left. She couldn’t wait to tell her how proud she was of her, but first, she had to find Bethany.

  Chapter Nineteen

  Ellie’s first call after the explosion went unanswered. On the next try, the line was busy. On the third, finally, she heard Jordan’s voice.

  “It’s all good,” she said, understanding that her being okay was the most important thing for Ellie right now. She felt guilty for being so annoyed with Jordan earlier—for being worrying about her.

  “Well, considering,” Jordan continued. “The building came down, and a few windows were blown out all around. No injuries. Your timing was perfect.”

  “Thank you,” Ellie whispered, breathless with relief.

  “Where are you?”

  “Not far, I can see the yellow tape from here. I still have Roth with me. Is it safe to bring him in, or should I drive to the 9th?”

  “Everyone’s going back in. I’ll see you there.”

  Ellie lowered the phone. Everyone had made it out in time. Daniel Roth wasn’t going anywhere. The nightmare, the city’s and hers, was over.

  “The bomb went off,” she said to him. “No one was hurt.”

  “It wasn’t supposed to be this way,” he repeated. “God, you’re all so dense.”

  “You think so? Well, why don’t you enlighten me? You’re going to need a damn good story. You drugged and kidnapped a police officer, and blew up your dad’s business, because you couldn’t do the job you wanted? Talk about dense.” She was tired and frustrated, because there might have been a way to stop this sooner, if only she’d remembered she’d heard his voice before. With more time, she might have found a way to convince him to stop the whole idea…If she hadn’t managed to escape, he might not have gotten the idea to buy explosives, putting many lives at risk—including Jordan’s.

  “I was going to rescue you,” he said, his features tense with the pain. Ellie only now realized that he had hit his head in her abrupt braking maneuver. She couldn’t bring herself to feel sorry for him.

  “Yeah, so you told me before. You didn’t do such a great job.”

  “Ward was supposed to scare you, not try to break your skull on that pavement. Later, I told him not to touch you.”

  A shiver skittered down her spine as she remembered her interactions with Ward, both times. He didn’t need a reason, or someone like Roth to pay him.

  “Yeah, because it worked so well the first time, right? So that didn’t work out, and you went to find yourself some C4 instead. Well played.”

  “I could be someone,” he insisted. “I could be saving lives, if I was a cop.”

  “But you’re not,” Ellie said, sick of Roth feeling sorry for himself. “I am.”

  * * * *

  Jordan found Bethany conferring with the other agent on the other side of the taped area where a multitude of police vehicles were parked.

  “Where the hell have you been?” It wasn’t until the words were out
of her mouth and Bethany gave her a small amused smile that Jordan realized she’d been out of line. The female agent took her clue from the interaction and ended their conversation. “I’ll call you as soon as I know,” she said, and Bethany directed her attention back to Jordan.

  “Don’t tell me you were worried about me.”

  “A building we were in earlier blew up, and I hadn’t seen you since. Excuse me if I find that a little disconcerting.”

  “Disconcerting. Okay.” Bethany chuckled. “I appreciate your concern. I heard Roth is in custody. I’m curious about what he has to say.”

  “How about we find out?”

  When they sat in the car, she said, “That was quick thinking on Harding’s part. I’m not sure I’m happy about it, but I’m starting to like her. She’s a good cop. Have you talked to her yet?”

  “Not really, I’ll be sure to let her know—or you can do it yourself. She’s bringing him in as we speak. By the way, thank you for your help on this.”

  “Not a problem…I’m glad we got him. This is someone I’d like to see go away for a long time. Whiny boy had trouble accepting all the women graduating from the academy when he couldn’t. That’s pathetic.”

  Jordan didn’t argue.

  “For the record, I appreciate it that you care, I really do—so let me return the favor. How are you?”

  “You mean because of those ten minutes? I’m not thinking about it right now. We were lucky.”

  “No, I mean, everything. Dealing with what happened to Ellie…and you, earlier.”

  Jordan would have preferred if Bethany didn’t spell it out in so much detail. When they needed to work together, the results usually spoke for themselves. Private conversations were still tricky.

  “Look, I’m not trying to prod or fish for information, okay? So when I ask how you’re doing…that’s all I’m asking. I want you to be okay. Even if I’d prefer you could be okay with me, but apparently that’s not an option.”

  “How was your date?” Jordan asked.

  Bethany laughed, shaking her head. “None of your business.”

  “All right then. Here we are.”