Every Second

59

Coyote Mountains, New York

Percy pressed the send button on his phone, but nothing happened.

No flash. No bang. No nothing.

He looked at the screen for an answer. He still had a signal, so he tried the number again.

Nothing happened. The blue patch was still there, tiny among the woods in the distance.

“What the hell?” Percy thumbed the send key repeatedly.

“What’d you think you’re doing?” Vic said, keeping his voice low as he arrived with Jerricko.

“I found them.” Percy indicated the colored square far off. “And I’m going to kill them.”

“Stop! You were ordered not to detonate the vests!”

“But you know it’s the best way to stop them.”

“She’s got all of our data-you could destroy everything!”

“What the hell’re you thinking? We killed the husband. We don’t need the data, we know what to do.”

“We need that laptop. You don’t know what’s on there.”

“We know the operation. I say we stop running around and finish the rest of them-now!” Percy held up his phone. “I got a signal here but the code’s not working. Why isn’t it working?”

Vic didn’t answer.

“I asked you a question!” Percy said.

Percy, Cutty and Jerricko stared at Vic as he considered the question, letting a long tense moment pass before he said, “The bombs aren’t real.”

“What do you mean they’re not real?” Percy asked.

“The C-4’s modeling clay, and the batteries just make the light flash. The wires are for show.”

Percy and Cutty glared at Vic.

“We needed the family to think they were real-especially Dan-to guarantee they’d cooperate. I needed you, the squad, to believe they were real, so that we could convince them.”

“Why the hell wouldn’t we use real bombs?”

“We didn’t have the time or resources to make them for this part of the mission. Look, this was the only way to protect the entire operation.” Vic looked at each of the men in turn. “Do you get that?”

One by one they nodded.

“Now, we need to get that laptop, dispose of those two, then make our contact so we can proceed to the next stage before it’s too late.”

“Look,” Jerricko pointed at the moving patch of blue.

“We can’t waste another second,” Vic said. “Jerricko, you swing north. I’ll go south. You-” Vic tapped Percy’s shoulder “-swing east.” He nodded to Cutty. “Take the west. We’ll box them in, then tighten the noose.”