That’s what they’d be in four minutes and forty-five seconds because the inner workings were a nightmare. Live and dummy wires twisting in every direction, a main receiver linked to Grieves’ dead-man switch, along with two mercury-tilt switches to prevent Buck from simply lifting Wade, carrying him out. Add in the timer and some tamper-proof relays, and it outshone anything he’d disarmed in the Marines.
At least, in under five minutes.
Buck placed a hand on Wade’s shoulder. “Wade. Buddy, I’m gonna need you to stay very still.”
Wade froze, just one boot still tapping a bit. He blew out a slow breath. “You can’t disarm it, can you?”
Buck snorted, already sorting through wires, isolating lines. “Haven’t found a bomb that’s bested me yet…” He chuckled. “Other than that damn car, but in my defense, I didn’t get a chance before it knocked me into next week, so… It doesn’t really count.”
Wade cocked his head, stared at Buck when he glanced Wade’s way. “It’s okay. I know he did some serious shit. He’s been bragging about it the whole time. Said even a MARSOC ordinance guy wouldn’t be able to unravel it, so… No dishonor in saving those you can.”
“Don’t give up on me, yet. I’m just getting started.”
He traced more lines, cutting through the mass of wires once he’d mapped half of them out. Each snip echoed in the vast room, the soft reverberations counting down the time.
Three minutes…
Boots clanging on metal grating rang in the distance, muffled grunts drifting along the air. A couple shadows flickered just out of sight along that platform. Voices teased the edges of his attention, but he couldn’t split his focus enough to understand what was being said without losing track of the wires.
Buck forced himself to concentrate. Tierney could handle herself. He had to put faith in that — believe they hadn’t finally found each other only to have it end before they discovered how perfect they could be together.
Before he could look her in the eyes, tell her he loved her without their lives hanging in the balance.
He worked through the labyrinth of wires, bypassing the switches, narrowing it down to the final relay fused to the timer.
Four wires.
One chance.
He looked at the time — fifty-three seconds.
Buck positioned the cutters, looked up at Wade. “One last cut.”
Wade nodded, lips pursed tight, skin blanched white. He closed his eyes, looked as if he’d braced for impact as Buck isolated the blue wire — cut it.
The timer blinked, reset to sixty seconds, then started racing backwards.
“Shit, there’s a secondary timer.”
Wade grunted. “Go! Now!”
“No fucking way.”
Buck lifted the vest, spied another wire snaking around to the back. He jumped up, rounded the chair, then shoved Wade forward, cutting through the outer part of the vest until he found the unit embedded in the fabric.
Ten seconds…
He tore off the material, exposed two more wires. Both equally good choices, and without the time to trace them back…
Five seconds…
Buck grabbed the red one and cut.
Tierney stood at the edge of the platform, staring at the man who’d stood outside her cage, priced her like a piece of meat. He looked the same, that unnatural calm oozing off him as he removed that matte-black Zippo, flicked it open.
Snick-clink.
The sound thundered around her, the rain hammering the roof with the same staccato beat. All that was missing was the booming crash of thunder, the blinding flashes of light.
