'Stand down!' I yelled into my mike. 'Clear out the houses on both sides and call the FDP! It's all wired to burn!'
The word spread quickly. Panic. Evacuation. Herb came over the air, begging me to pull out. I ignored him.
Only McGlade and I remained.
'You can't get away, Charles. There's nowhere to go.'
'You're wrong there. You're the one who can't get away. Once I light this, the whole place goes up. You won't have time to piss your pants.'
'I'm shooting him,' Harry said.
'Both of you drop your guns. Now, or I light it.'
I took a step closer. 'It's over, Charles. Give up. Maybe you can do a Trainter show from your cell, let him interview you live.'
Charles Kork grinned, pure malice, pure evil.
'Good-bye, Jack. I'm sorry we never got to know each other. I guess I'll just have to look up your mother after you're dead.'
He lit the fuse, and then dragged Diane backward, retreating to the other side of the basement. Next to the furnace was a back door. Charles yanked his wife through it and disappeared into the night.
But Harry and I had our own problems.
'Uh-oh,' McGlade said.
I dove for the fuse, which was burning at about three inches a second. I grabbed and just missed, watching the fuse separate into six different flames, each one heading for its own full barrel.
Enough gas to burn the whole neighborhood.
I yanked at the nearest fuse, searing my hand but pulling it free of its gasoline tank. It harmlessly burned itself out.
Scrambling on all fours, I hunted down a second flame and pulled that out as well.
'It won't go out! It won't go out!' Harry stomped up and down on a lit fuse with both feet. He looked a lot like Daffy Duck throwing a fit.
'Yank it!'
I turned my attention to a barrel several feet away, the lethal flame streaking toward it. I took two quick steps, pain searing through my leg, and I launched myself into the air, ramming into the barrel, pulling out the fuse and watching the last six inches burn away in my hands.
I looked at Harry, who was standing on the far end of the room, tossing two burning fuses aside. His eyes tracked the floor, following the last flame as it snaked its way to the final barrel.
It was less than two feet from its target, and too far away for either of us to get to in time.
I drew my gun and aimed.
'Jesus, Jackie, ricochet!' Harry crouched down and covered his face.
I fired three times at the flickering spark, my .38 slugs bouncing off concrete and turning the basement into a deadly pachinko game. Cement chips peppered my feet. Harry howled with fright. I exhaled slowly and fired once more, my fourth bullet neatly severing the advancing flame from the rest of the fuse.
Stillness. I took a deep breath.
McGlade peeked through his fingers. 'Are we dead?'
Herb's voice in my ear. 'Jack, are you okay? Suspect on foot, in the backyard. Has a woman with him.'
'Move in!'
McGlade walked over to the last barrel, examining it. He pulled out the remaining fuse, about the length of a cigarette.
'Nice shooting, Wyatt.'
I limped past him, pushing through the back door. The backyard was cool and dark, and I couldn't spot any movement. Red and blue lights swirled from a few houses away, washing over the lawn in waves.
'The bomb is defused, Herb, close the perimeter. Perp ran out the back door. He has a hostage. Do you have a visual? Over.'
'Negative, Jack. We were falling back. We're coming in now.'
A hand on my shoulder. I spun, bringing around my gun.
McGlade.
'Don't tell me you lost him.'
I walked away before I did something I'd regret, like shoot him. The important thing was finding Charles.
I couldn't allow him to kill his wife.
In my ear, Benedict and his men swept the block, while I took a walk across the backyard lawn. I gripped the .38 in both hands, holding it at an angle away from my body, ready to point and shoot at anything that grabbed my attention.
