The Serpent's Kiss

43

Inch by inch, Derek crawled across the floor toward the desk. As he moved, he gently ran his hands across the carpeting in front of him, feeling for any bump or irregularity in the floor. Nothing. Finally he made it to the desk. He slowly rolled over on his back so his head was in the foot well and he could look up at the metal canisters.

Jill crouched in the doorway. “Well?”

“It looks straightforward,” Derek said. “There’s a wire here that’s attached to a trigger switch. The wire goes into the desk. So it looks like if you pull at least the top drawer of the desk out, it’ll trigger the canisters.”

Derek continued to lay there studying the device.

“Do you want me to come over there?”

“Actually,” Derek said. “I want you to be here and me to be in another state.”

“That’s—”

”I know what you meant. No. Not yet. Stay right where you are.”

Derek scooted further into the foot well, using the flashlight to try and peer behind the desk.

“See anything?”

“Dust bunnies.”

Jill made a disgusted noise. “Anything important?”

“No.”

Derek edged out of the foot well and sat up. He looked around the room, taking everything in. He stared at the desk and frowned. “I’ve got a problem.”

“What?”

“I want to stand up and look at the stuff on top of the desk, but in order to stand up I’m going to have to use my cane or lean on the desk. And I really don’t want to lean on the desk.”

Jill held up the cane. “Here I come.”

Taking careful, small steps, she walked across the room until she was standing next to Derek. She held out her hands. Derek grasped her hands and allowed Jill to help him to his feet. He took the cane and leaned on it, studying the surface of the desk. It was a big, rectangular desk made out of highly polished oak. There was a computer on top, a desk lamp, a beer stein filled with assorted pens and pencils, a yellow legal pad, a pad of pink Post-It Notes, a diskette holder and a day planner.

Derek glanced at his watch. “I wonder if The Serpent called in another threat.”

“Want me to call in?”

He looked at her over his shoulder. “And Matt Gray will order you to put me in protective custody, right?”

She didn’t answer.

“Why don’t we concentrate on what we’ve got here,” Derek said. He raised an eyebrow. “If that’s all right with you?”

“That’s fine.”

Derek looked at the printer on an end table. “You suppose this guy is a one-trick pony?”

“Don’t move,” Jill said, and knelt on the floor. She slowly moved across the room the same way Derek had, testing the carpeting as she moved until she was next to the end table holding the printer. It was a Canon laser printer. She held out her hand and Derek dropped the flashlight into it. She popped it on and focused the beam on the tray where the printer paper fed in. “In his office, you triggered the explosion when you hit print, right?”

“Yes.”

“But we don’t know if it was the print command that set it off or the paper coming out that actually triggered the switch.”

“Or the roller moving. That would probably be the easiest way to set it up.”

Jill thought for a moment. “As simple as gluing a stick or rod to the roller so when it moved it moved the trigger. A simple mechanical switch.”

“Maybe.”

Jill leaned to the left and looked toward the wall, then leaned right and did the same thing.

“What?” Derek asked.

“I’m wondering if unplugging the printer would be a good idea or a bad idea.”

They stared at each other. Derek said, “I’ll do it. You leave the room.”

She shook her head. “No. You leave the room.”

“I’m not—”

Jill crouched down and said, “I’m counting to three.”

“Jesus,” Derek said, dropping to the floor. “A little fucking warning!”

“One. Two. Three.” Jill yanked the plug.