The Edge of Armageddon

CHAPTER FORTY ONE

Drake yanked swiftly and the wire came away in his hand, coppery end exposed. On a knife edge, everyone present leaned forward to check the countdown.

Twelve… eleven… ten…

“It’s still armed!” Alicia cried.

Drake fell away onto his backside, stunned, still holding the wire up as if it might even now spark and kill the bomb. “It’s… it’s…”

“Still ticking!” Alicia wailed.

Dahl dived in, forehead-palming the Yorkshireman away. “My way,” he said. “We’ll be lucky if we have time now.”

Eight…

Zoe started to cry. Marsh blubbered, apologizing for every mistake he’d ever made. Hayden and Kinimaka stared without emotion as the team worked, hands white and locked together, accepting that they could do nothing. Smyth let the utility knife fall from his hands and looked for Lauren, reaching with shaking fingers to touch hers. Yorgi sank to the ground. Drake looked at Alicia and Alicia stared at Mai, unable to tear her eyes away. Beau stood between them, his expression clear as he watched Dahl work.

The Swede tapped the deactivation codes into the panel. Each one registered with a bleep. Only seconds remained as he entered the final number.

Five…

Dahl hit the “enter” button and stopped breathing.

But the clock still ticked down.

Three… two… one…

In the final second Torsten Dahl did not despair. He did not give up and turn away to die. He had a family to go back to — a wife and two children — and nothing would stop him from keeping them safe tonight.

There was always a Plan B. Drake had taught him that.

He was ready.

Crazy mode kicked in, calculated insanity fell over him, giving him strength beyond normal. For the last hour he had been listening to one person or another flout the perfection, the accurate and exact equipment that comprised a suitcase nuke. He had been hearing how precise it all was.

Well, what if it was subjected to a bit of Dahl madness. How would that work?

As the display showed one, the Swede already had the sledgehammer in hand. He brought it down with last-gasp, final-move strength, swinging with all his might. The sledgehammer smashed into the heart of the nuclear bomb and even in that endless second he saw Drake’s horror, Alicia’s acceptance. And then he saw no more.

The clock ticked

Zero.