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We’re going to make it!
Linc backed out and started making his way through the sparsely populated streets of Bismil so that he could get them back onto the Diyarbakir Batman Hwy headed back to Batman.
“Linc, they haven’t seen you, so they shouldn’t make anything of it if you’re driving this SUV and pass them,” Kostya explained.
“Understood,” Linc said as he pulled onto the highway.
“This highway is a crapshoot,” Gideon told them. “According to what I’m reading, they don’t ticket on this highway for speeding violations, unless you’re going too slow and impeding traffic, so go ahead and break some land speed records,” Gideon advised.
“How about when I get closer to Batman?” Linc asked.
“There will be patrol cars, so watch your speed. But as soon as you’re out on the north side of the city on the Batman Bitlis Highway, same highway rules apply.”
“Sounds good.”
Ryker could hear the smile in Linc’s voice.
“Gideon, what’s our ETA?”
“Fifty-three minutes if traffic is good in Batman,” Gideon answered. “Now that’s based on you going the seventy-five-mile-an-hour speed limit on the highways. So I’m assuming you’ll beat that ETA, right?”
“Affirmative,” Linc answered.
Ryker handed his phone over to Kostya. “This is what a tool and die plant looks like in India. I figured that might be a good comparison of what this one would look like.”
They both looked over the pictures. Ryker’s stomach turned. He didn’t want to imagine how Frank would get his jollies with the punch press.
“Gideon, I’m assuming you’re working on getting us a satellite image of this plant, right?” Kostya asked.
“Yes. So far, like with Jase, nothing.”
Ryker felt his frustration level rising. He needed to tamp it down. They had the kid. If anyone would be able to get the bomb off the kid, it would be Nolan. They also had one hell of a hot lead as to where the Princeton kids were, and it was well within the allotted time. So what if they didn’t have the satellite images?
Linc turned the air conditioning on full blast, and Ryker sank back into the seat. Ryker thought back to the ransom video. There had been four guys plus a cameraman. If there really were only five guys plus the three kids to rescue, these were wonderful odds. But then there was the problem of tracking them down within the plant and getting them rescued before Frank and Freaks showed up. And if Nolan didn’t have the bomb disarmed before Frank came to harm…
“Okay,” Nolan said. Ryker opened his eyes and saw that Ryker and Linc were both sitting up straight in the SUV. “I’ve got the first level of the bomb disarmed.”
“What do you mean, the first level?” Kostya asked.
“The first level was just to blow up whoever fooled with the damn thing. These Kraken fucks need to die. They don’t care about the life of this kid.”
“Nolan, you knew that as soon as they killed his parents and his brother,” Kostya reminded him softly.
“Yeah…well…anyway. The first level of the bomb is now disarmed. Now the second part, the one that is remote controlled and tied in to Frank, it’s a little trickier.”
“We’ve been driving for twenty minutes, Nolan, this thing needs to be disarmed before we meet Sykes and his Psychos at the plant and something happens to Frank.”
“I know that,” Nolan said patiently. “You yammering about it doesn’t help anything, now does it?”
“Sykes and his Psychos, that could be a band,” Landon said with a chuckle.
“Thanks for the update, Nolan. You got anything for us yet, Gideon? Any word from Jase? Aren’t they almost to their lunch break?” Kostya asked as he ignored Landon.
“Yeah. I would expect to hear something during their lunch break. If nothing else, Jase should just let me know why we don’t have anything yet.”
“Keep us informed. Nolan, we’ll do everything we can on this end to make sure that psycho doesn’t press the remote, or so much as skin his knee until you’ve got this disarmed,” Kostya promised.
“Appreciate it, but I’ll have this thing figured out before you get to the plant,” Nolan assured him.
