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Aaron rested his head back on the floor, maintaining his grip. Bobby’s dead body laid across him. “Never better.”
“Whatcha got there?”
“You mean besides Bobby Tyler? A detonator. You can let Clement know that I can now confirm there are explosives in this house. If you wouldn’t mind bringing in the bomb squad for me? I’d appreciate it. This is out of my area of expertise.”
“And here I was thinking you knew everything.”
“Funny. But can you save the lecture for later?”
“All right, guys, listen up.” Thomson addressed the others in the room. “I want everyone out of here and as much personnel as possible to push back one block from this point. Houston?” Thomson said to another agent. “Get the bomb techs in here now.”
“Yes, sir.”
“You should go too,” Aaron said.
“I’m fine. But you might want to get that bite looked at.”
Aaron glanced at his hand. “I’m up to date on my vaccinations. By the way, thanks for saving my life. That was a good shot.”
Thomson squatted down. “Compliments are not like you. Bobby must have hit you pretty hard.”
“Nah. I’m a big softy once you get to know me.”
Thomson wrapped his hand around Aaron’s. “I might just help you hold this. I think you have a concussion.”
Aaron smiled, then winced. He touched his tongue to his split lip.
Thomson angled his head to look into the small room beyond Aaron. “That’s a lot of explosives. We could all be dead right now.”
Aaron knew it was Thomson’s way of saying he’d done a good job despite the fact that he had disobeyed an order. There would be some sort of reprimand coming, but no one could deny that a lot of lives were saved tonight.
But Aaron wasn’t one to rub it in. “Yeah. He’s got a few.”
A lot of commotion and fuss ensued as the bomb techs moved in and Aaron was carefully released from his predicament.
“Once you confirm everyone is clear,” the man now holding the detonator said, “we’ll proceed.”
Aaron shook his arms out as he exited the basement.
By the time he’d gotten upstairs, Karly’s body had been loaded on a stretcher and she was being wheeled out.
Besides the ambulance crew, Clement was the only one left near the house.
“You should be out of range with the others,” Aaron said.
Clement stuffed his hands in his pockets. “I like to see my jobs through to the end. That was a pretty gutsy move you made there, Pritchard. Could have killed everyone, but still.”
Aaron shrugged. “The hostage was dead, so I couldn’t see any other reason to wait. You did your job to the best of your abilities, then I did mine and made sure we weren’t all blown up.”
“Too bad you couldn’t take Bobby alive.”
Aaron looked down at the dead girl. Her face was crusted with sores, evidence of her addictive lifestyle. “Too bad we didn’t getheralive.”
Clement shook his head. “I don’t know. Look at her. She wasn’t exactly a model citizen. The world’s better off without her.”
Aaron wasn’t sure exactly how it happened, but he found his fist connecting with Clement’s face before several agents had his arms restrained.
The hit knocked Clement to the ground. He blinked away the haze from the punch before spitting blood.
