Blood & Thunder (10 page)

L
IKE
MOST
of the surrounding federal buildings, the CDC Therian registration office was a Greek revival style structure made of stone. Above all its center windows were depictions of Greek physicians, along with some Greek style ironwork on its front doors. The building had two entrances, one on Worth Street and the other on Centre Street, with more offices and windows than Sloane cared for.

Destructive Delta hurried to the building, and Sloane cursed under his breath. Goddamn revolving doors. He hated these things. He pounded on the glass on the exit door to the right of it. A confused-looking guard promptly opened it. The guy quickly jumped to one side as Sloane and his team flooded inside. Sloane motioned for Letty to lock up the front doors. The second security guard posted on the other side gave a start. Ash was right. Something was wrong. Normally when someone reported a bomb, people got gone. They didn’t linger about looking more confused by the agents coming to answer the call than at the thought of being blown up. The team spread out, investigating the lobby for any possible threats, with expert speed and precision. In less than five minutes, they came back to him.

“We’re all clear,” Ash stated. Sloane approached the large reception desk ahead of him, and the petite redhead sitting behind it, looking on with wide eyes.

“Can… can I help you?”

Sloane leaned over, taking note of the young woman’s nametag. “Ms. Beverly, I need you to listen carefully to me and remain calm. Can you do that?”

The young woman’s brown eyes widened even more, but she nodded fervently.

“Good. I need you to start an evacuation procedure immediately. There may be an explosive device in this facility.”

“Oh my God,” she gasped, snatching up the telephone and hitting a host of blinking buttons as well as one underneath her desk. Sloane turned to his team.

“Letty, Rosa, Dex, you start evacuating the building. Hobbs, Calvin, Ash, find that damned device. Give a shout when you do.” His team broke off, and Sloane turned to the numerous security guards flooding out from several directions. “Who’s in charge of security?” Sloane asked. A guard in a white and black uniform stepped up.

“I am.” He held his hand out to Sloane. “Allan Jeffrey. What’s going on?”

“Allan, my name is Agent Sloane Brodie with the THIRDS. We have reason to believe there may be an explosive device inside the building. I need your team to help my guys get everyone out. Also, you should have received a phone call from one of my agents, an Agent Cael Maddock. I want you to give him access to your security network, its feed, and any footage we may require.”

“Yes, of course.” Allan turned to one of his guards. “Javier, you heard him. Get everyone out, and get Agent Maddock his access.”

With Javier running off, Sloane turned his attention back to Allan. “Has anyone unscheduled come in or out of this facility?”

Allan shook his head. “All visitors either have an appointment or have to be cleared by someone in the building. There’s a log at the reception desk visitors and employees fill out when they come in or out.”

“I’d like to see that list.”

Allan gave him a nod and led him to the reception desk where he handed Sloane a tablet. The log had six columns, one for date, name, time, species, company name, and purpose of visit. The majority were registrations, the rest employees. “Allan, can these dates and times be doctored?”

Allan shook his head. “They’re automatically inserted by the system to prevent falsification. As soon as a name is submitted, the system logs the time.”

“Excellent.” One less thing to worry about. He scanned the list of names when one jumped out at him. A Therian registrant under the name Zeph Hyacinth. Why did that strike him as odd? He tapped his earpiece. “Cael?”

“Cael, here.”

“Can you search the National Therian Database for the name Zeph Hyacinth?”

“Sure.”

Sloane lifted his head in time to watch dozens of citizens come rushing out of the emergency stairwells, ushered by his team. Dex’s voice rang clear above the others.

“Please exit in an orderly fashion. We’re here with you, so no need to panic. That’s it, follow my colleague, she’ll guide you. Ma’am, please, you can come back for your belongings later, I promise, but right now your safety is far more important to me. Thank you, I appreciate your cooperation. Sir, just breathe. It’s okay. Take my arm. Old? Haven’t you heard? Seventy’s the new fifty. Do I? Well, your grandson must be a handsome devil, then.”

Sloane held back a smile. Rookie was a natural. Seconds later, Cael came back on the line. “No one under that name, no new registrants either. Themis did give me a different kind of hit on it, though. It’s weird.”

“What is it?”

“A Greek myth.”

“What?”

“Hyacinth was lover to the god Apollo. According to one version of the tale, the West Wind, Zephyr, was also in love with Hyacinth, and in his jealousy at having Hyacinth choose Apollo over him, he blew Apollo’s discus off course so it struck Hyacinth, and he died from his injuries. There’s more detail, but that’s the gist of it.”

“That son of a bitch.” Sloane gritted his teeth and took a deep breath. The bastard was taunting him.

“What does—” Cael gasped. “Oh. You’re Apollo.”

“Yes,” Sloane replied through his teeth. And Gabe was Hyacinth. He turned to Allan, pointing to the name on the tablet. “I want to see all the footage you have on this appointment here. We’re looking for a Caucasian Human male, midthirties, five-ten, one hundred and seventy pounds, light brown hair. The time beside his name is showing 2:13 p.m.”

“Follow me.”

Sloane stepped into a medium-sized security office behind and to the right of the reception area. It contained a wall-to-wall security console with an expansive flat screen monitor. As Allan accessed the security network searching for the footage they needed, Sloane tapped his earpiece. “Team, updates.”

Rosa’s voice came over his earpiece. “All top levels are clear. We’re emptying out the lobby now.”

“Copy that. Guys, how are we doing on that device?”

Calvin was the first to answer. “We’ve cleared the lobby and first floor. Ash cleared the second and third floors and is heading for the fourth. Hobbs and I are taking the stairs up to the sixth floor. There are a lot of places this thing can be. The closest substance we’ve gotten a read on is acetone, but that was from someone’s bottle of nail polish remover. We’ll let you know soon as we get something.”

“Okay.” Sloane turned to Allan who brought up the security footage from the timeframe they needed. The moment Sloane saw the bastard, his gut tightened. He’d lightened his hair and grown it out so it looked shaggy, the front almost falling over his eyes. He was dressed in tattered but fashionable jeans, expensive sneakers, a football hoodie, and carried a designer messenger bag. The whole ensemble had him resembling a college jock more than the maniac the THIRDS had put an APB out on, which Sloane suspected was Isaac’s intent. “That’s him right there. Let’s see where he goes.” He watched as Isaac signed in, smiling and flirting with the receptionist. She pointed to the elevator behind her on the right side of the lobby, and with a wink, he headed for it. Again, Sloane tapped his earpiece.

“It was Isaac. I’ve got eyes on him. He stepped into the elevator closest to the reception area, right side. I’m waiting to see what floor he gets off on.” A few minutes later, Isaac stepped off on the seventh. “He got off on the seventh floor. He’s carrying a messenger bag. My guess is the bomb’s in there.”

“We’re heading to the elevator. What room does he go into?” Calvin asked.

“Hold on.” Sloane watched the color screen as Isaac leisurely strolled down the hall as if he was in no kind of hurry. He opened his messenger bag, pulled out a tablet, and tapped away. Ten minutes later, he put the tablet away and headed for the end of the hall. Sloane tapped his earpiece, ready to give his team the location, when Isaac turned around and went back to the elevator. “What the hell?”

“What is it?” Calvin asked. “Sloane, we’re running out of time.”

“He turned around and went back down.” As Isaac walked through the lobby, he took out a cellphone, said a few words, smiled, and left. What in the living fuck? Why would he ride the elevator to the seventh floor just to ride it back down, and leave? Sloane wracked his brain. The guy was smart. He was also an ex-detective. “Dex?”

“Yeah?”

“I need you in here.”

Seconds later, Dex entered the room. “What happened?”

“If you were going to place a bomb inside a building knowing you were being watched. Where would you place it? He rode the elevator up to the seventh floor, walked around some, working on a tablet, then came back down, placed a phone call, and left.”

Dex worried his bottom lip in thought. “I’d put it somewhere the cameras couldn’t follow me.”

Allan pursed his lips. “Only places with no security are the bathrooms and the elevators.”

“The elevator,” Dex said immediately. “They all have access panels, right? For maintenance? It’s an oldie but goodie. Why try to reinvent the wheel?”

Sloane nodded. “Calvin—”

“We’re enabling the elevator and calling it up now.”

Sloane turned to Allan. “Can you get eyes on my team?”

“Sure thing.”

They watched Calvin and Hobbs enter the elevator, the position of the camera outside in the corridor giving them an angled view. It wasn’t perfect, but it was enough. Calvin hit the emergency stop, and the elevator’s alarm went off, its doors remaining open. As soon as he stepped inside, Calvin’s voice confirmed their fears.

“I got a read. It’s somewhere close.”

Allan thankfully terminated the shrilling beeping, and Sloane gave him a nod in thanks. He checked his watch. “Ten minutes. Come on, guys.”

Hobbs’s height allowed him to reach up, and he pushed open one of the access panels situated on the roof of the stainless steel elevator. He removed the Packbot and placed it on the floor to one side before he propped one booted foot on the railing. They all cringed along with Calvin. Sloane sure as hell hoped those things were strong enough to take the weight of Hobbs’s nearly 300-pound frame. Sometimes being a Therian of that size had its drawbacks. Like when it involved small spaces or climbing flimsy structures. Hobbs tested the rail’s strength before hauling himself up, his upper body disappearing through the opening in the roof and his other booted foot resting on the opposite handrail.

Calvin’s stern voice confirmed their fears. “Hobbs found it.”

“All right. Destructive Delta, fall back. Calvin, that includes you.” With Calvin and Hobbs up on the large screen, Sloane gave Allan a pat on the shoulder. “You’ve been a great help, Allan. I need you to get yourself and your team out. If you wouldn’t mind speaking to Agent Rosa Santiago outside; she’ll take your statement.”

“Sloane, the bomb’s been deactivated.”

“What?” Sloane turned to the screen. Hobbs was climbing back down. He held a thumb up to the camera. “Talk to me. That seemed too easy.”

“Because it was,” Calvin said, heading toward the stairwell with Hobbs close behind. “According to Hobbs, there were no antihandling devices, motion sensors, overrides, kill switches, or anything that might trigger the explosion, just the one wire to the power supply. None of this makes any sense.”

“Thanks, guys. Get the disposal team up here.” Giving his final thanks to Allan, Sloane headed out with Dex beside him. He tapped his earpiece. “Sarge?”

“Yeah, I heard. As soon as Disposal gets here, we’re heading back to HQ, to see if we can’t figure this shit out. I don’t know what the hell is going on, and I don’t like it. Lieutenant Sparks is going to like it even less.”

“Copy that.” Sloane removed his helmet, chucking it into the back of the truck in frustration before he climbed in, Dex behind him. “This asshole’s jerking us around.”

“Yeah, but the question is why?” Dex removed his helmet and dropped down onto the bench as the rest of the team climbed in. “He’s got to have something bigger up his sleeve.”

Sloane agreed. There was no telling what Isaac was up to and worse than not knowing was the fear of not being able to do anything about it.

“A
LL
RIGHT
,
let’s run through this again.”

Dex tapped files open on his desk’s interface, and Sloane had to hand it to the guy; his partner was determined.

They’d been at this for hours since returning from the CDC registration office, and they were no closer to figuring any of it out now than they had been at the time of the call, yet Dex persisted. Sloane admired his partner’s dedication, and went along with it. “Okay. Thanks to you and Simon, we figured out the base at College Point was a distraction to keep us busy, though at the time, we didn’t know from what. Now we do. While we were there, Isaac was carrying out his plan at the registration office.

“He came out of hiding to plant a bomb in that specific office. Why, we don’t know. He puts in a call, gives us enough time to get there and disarm it. The bomb itself was a quick job. Yes, it could have resulted in casualties had we not disarmed it in time, but he gave us plenty of it. He taunts me by using the name Zeph Hyacinth, knowing I’ll catch onto it and find out what it means. He knew we’d bring up the surveillance footage. So he signs in at reception, heads to the elevator, plants the bomb, walks around a bit, takes the elevator back down, and leaves. We’ve established the phone call he made on camera is the one placed to 911.”