Chapter 7
“What’s happening?” Patterson asked through the comm mic, alarm in her voice.
“They took Tasha”, Weller said.
“Where is she?”
“We’re trying to find out. Stand by”, Weller said to Patterson, then tuned to Reade. “Where’d they take her?”
“I don’t know”, Reade said. “All I remember is entering this room, then taking a blow to the head and blacking out, and then you guys showed up.”
“Shit”, Weller said.
“Where is she?” Patterson came again, panic in her voice.
“We’re working on it”, Weller said.
“Please…” Patterson said in a pleading voice.
“We’ll find her, Patterson”, Weller said. He looked around the room and then was about to lead the team out when the comm mics went off.
“Tasha?” Weller said.
“Hello, coppers”, a woman’s voice with an Irish accent replied. Weller looked at Jane and Reade. Liz Wells.
“Wells?” Reade growled.
“There’s a door at the back of the conference room. Go out it and down one flight of stairs. It will take you to the room directly below the ballroom”, Liz said, then the radio went dead.
Weller untied Reade and then looked at the team. “Let’s move”, he said. They cautiously approached the door at the back of the room, then went down the flight of stairs. They opened another door and went through, and ended up in another empty room. They went in, guns drawn, and froze. In the room were Liz, Powell, Colleen and Tasha. Powell and Colleen were armed with machine guns. They were pointing them right at Tasha. Liz was holding Tasha, who was wearing a leather bondage style vest, arms bound behind her, to which was connected an explosive contraption with a timer. She had a ball gag in her mouth, and it looked like wires were connected to the gag and running down to the bomb. Liz was behind her, holding her from behind with one hand, a wicked-looking knife on the other.
“Wells!” Weller yelled.
“Like this contraption? It’s sexy, huh? I especially like the gag”, Liz said, running her finger over the ball. “It’s a nice touch, especially since I don’t like the way this one runs her mouth”. She paused and then said, “You know, I’m glad you guys showed up. I wasn’t quite sure where I was going to stash this bomb, but now, I have the perfect place.”
“Let her go”, Weller said.
“Nah, I don’t think so”, Liz said. Then she put her mouth near Tasha’s ear, “By the way, you hit me nice and proper earlier. I owe you one”, she said, and with that, she drew her knife down Tasha’s arm, opening up a nasty cut. Tasha screamed through the ball gag. “Don’t scream too loud, love. If you move your mouth too much the bomb will go off”, she taunted.
“Stop!” Reade yelled.
“Oh my God, what’s happening?” Patterson yelled into her comm mic.
“You like that?” Liz taunted Tasha who had tears in her eyes, gritting through pain.
“Let her go!” Weller yelled again at Liz, ignoring Patterson in his earpiece. “Drop your weapons now!”
“Ha!” Liz yelled. “You shoot us, we shoot her. Even if you get me, one of us will get her. And even if you get all three of us, she’ll die.” She paused and then asked, “Are you willing to risk her life, you bumbling FBI alpha male wanker?”
“Shit”, Weller swore under his breath. He knew Liz was right. They may be able to prevail in a firefight, but Tasha would be killed. He couldn’t risk it.
“Look, you don’t have to do this”, Jane said to Liz. “They’re here to talk peace. You’re going to get what you want. There’s no need to set off a bomb and kill everyone."
“But that’s what I want”, Liz said. “I want all of these motherfuckers to die. There will be no peace until all of these tossers are dead!”
“If you kill anyone, you will die”, Weller said again. “Let her go, put down your weapons, and you’ll walk out of here alive.”
Liz laughed. “I’m walking out alive anyway. You’ve got fifteen minutes. Maybe you can evacuate the building by then. Maybe you’ll even be able to save this one here too, although I doubt it. But regardless, we’ll be long gone, sailing away into the distance.”
“Last chance”, Weller said. “Let her go and put down your weapons.”
“C’mon, let’s go!” Powell said to Liz. They needed to get moving. The original plan had been for her to sell Liz the bomb, then Liz was going to carry out the bombing and then disappear somewhere, while Powell would carry on being an arms dealer. It should have been business as usual. However, now that the feds were on them she had to disappear too. “We need to move now!”
Liz glanced at Powell. They did need to move, but she wasn’t done taunting the FBI yet, especially this little shit she had in her grasp. She decided to throw a parting shot. “You know, its’ too bad your cute little blonde girlfriend isn’t here. Guess she’s not suited for field work huh? I can see that. She was all nerves when I was grabbing up on her”, Liz said with a smile, and Tasha growled through the gag. “You know, I wouldn’t mind having another go at her. Maybe I’ll pay her a visit in the future after this all blows over. Beat her proper as I take her for a real rough ride. Think she’d like that?” Liz laughed, as Tasha growled again.
“For the last time, let her go!” Weller yelled.
“C’mon, let’s move!” Powell yelled again.
Liz looked over at Powell again, then back at Weller, Reade and Jane. She sheathed her knife and pulled out her gun. “Well, I guess we’d better be off”, she said, then put her mouth to Tasha’s ear. “I’ll see your girlfriend at your funeral”, she said, then gave Tasha a kiss on the cheek. Tasha squirmed, and then Liz pushed a button on the timer panel on Tasha’s vest and then backed off, gun pointed at Tasha. Then she, Powell and Colleen backed out of the door behind them. As soon as they left, Reade ran up to Tasha.
“Wait, don’t touch her!” Weller said. He came up and inspected the rig. “I can’t get a handle on this”, he said.
“What’s going on?” Patterson came again through the comm mics.
“Liz wired Tasha to an explosive rig”, Weller said. “I can’t figure it out.”
“Oh my God”, Patterson said. She started breathing faster.
“Patterson, calm down”, Jane said. She could hear Patterson breathing. “Just, take it easy, and walk us through this.”
“Okay, okay, okay”, Patterson said, calming down. Reade pulled out his phone and activated an FBI app to give Patterson access to his camera. Patterson looked for a moment and then said, “I can’t tell from here.”
“What?” Weller said
“I can’t tell from here. I need to be there to disarm it.”
Weller thought for a moment, then said, “Alright. I’ll have the chopper take you over here. You’re five minutes away. Reade will meet you on the roof. Jane and I will start clearing the building. We’ve got fourteen minutes starting now until this bomb goes off.”
********
Patterson arrived eight minutes later. Reade met her on the roof, escorted her to the room where Tasha was, and then left to help Weller and Jane clear the building.
“Baby, look at me”, Patterson said. “We’re going to disarm this, okay?”
Tasha mumbled through the gag and nodded. She also noted that Patterson had called her “baby”.
“Okay, just hold still”, Patterson said, studying the rig. “IC8 explosive, timer detonator…this will destroy the entire floor, as well as the floor above it and below it”, she said. She looked for another moment and then said, “Okay, I think I got it. This is rigged with sequential wiring. As long as I disable the wires in the correct order the bomb should be neutralized.” She looked at Tasha and said, “We’re going to start with the gag first.” She took out her wire cutters and cut the wire on the left first, then the wire on the right, then she reached around and removed the ball gag from Tasha’s mouth. Tasha gasped, and Patterson cupped her cheeks and planted a kiss on her lips.
“Baby”, Tasha said, repeating what Patterson had called her.
“It’s okay, baby”, Patterson said, then looked at the timer. Six minutes left. “Just, hold still”, she said, then started cutting wires. She got through about half of them, when the next one she pulled made the timer speed up double.
“Oh no”, Patterson said.
“What?”
“The timer…just sped up double.
“Oh my God”, Tasha said.
“Okay, okay”, Patterson said, taking a couple deep breaths. She looked at Tasha, who looked defeated, and said, “Hey – I’m a gnome cleric, remember? I’ll cast a spell that will get us out of this”, she said, and smiled slightly at Tasha. Tasha, despite herself, smiled slightly back, and then Patterson said, “I won’t let my little rogue thief go.” Then she leaned in and gave Tasha a quick kiss, and then went back to studying the wires. She pulled a few more and then looked at the timer. Two minutes.
“Okay, there’s only four wires left, but the sequence now isn’t as obvious”, Patterson said. She exhaled and then looked at Tasha. “Ready?”
Tasha nodded nervously and then gave Patterson a kiss. “Good luck, my brave little gnome cleric”, she said.
Patterson smiled slightly and then pulled the first wire, but as she pulled the second, the timer started counting down in increments of ten seconds.
“Oh my God”, Patterson said.
“Baby – it’s just two more wires”, Tasha said. “You can do this.”
“Okay, here we go”, Patterson said. She took one last look at the wires and then pulled the second to last one. The timer continued to count down in increments of ten seconds. She pulled the last wire as they were two seconds from detonation.
“Oh my God”, Patterson said and exhaled.
“Baby, you did it”, Tasha breathed out. Patterson helped her out of the vest and then wrapped her in a tight hug.
“Thank you for saving me, my brave gnome cleric”, Tasha said, tears welling up in her eyes. She held Patterson in a tight embrace, then cupped Patterson’s face and planted a long kiss on her lips.
“I told, you, I would never let my beautiful brave rogue thief go”, Patterson said, as tears welled up in her eyes as well.