as he pointed it at the ground.
'Put on your condoms, gentlemen,' he said. 'We're going in.'
As he turned to move, a shoulder blocked his path, striking him in the ribs. His eyes still on the ground, Jade noticed an ankle loosely wrapped in a bandage.
Jesus Christ, he thought. She must've tried to run with her ankles cuffed together.
He raised his eyes to Travers's. 'If you don't get that thing looked at there'll be no more ballet lessons for you.'
She snapped his head all the way to the side with a right to the cheek. The pain compounded that of the earlier blow to his head, tearing through his temples and forehead. He clenched his teeth and shut his eyes to avoid showing how much it hurt. He made sure he loosened his features before he swung his head back to face her.
'It's too bad you don't-'
An explosion lit the house, sending glass and debris flying through the air. The agents flung themselves to the ground and ducked behind cars. Flames roared inside the first floor, quickly consuming the interior.
Jade fell to the ground near Travers. She covered her face and he rolled beside her, unwinding the bandage from around her ankle. As he ran for the front door, he yelled over his shoulder, 'Ambulances, fire engines, backup for roadblocks. Get 'em here now.'
Several agents had caught up with him by the time he'd reached the front doorway. He peered around the corner, backing quickly out of the way. Pressing Travers's bandage over his nose and mouth, he headed in.
When he entered the foyer, he realized that the blast hadn't reached far beyond the kitchen. He led the agents into the kitchen, shielding his face from the flames rising from the floor and table. A charred body sat at the table, completely engulfed in flames. The flesh was burning off the body, leaving only a darkened husk. The corpse was about Allander's size and build.
'Holy shit,' one of the agents yelled. He pointed to the pantry, where the door had been blown clear off the hinges. Three large metal drums sat dangerously near the flaming wall. GASOLINE was stenciled across them in red letters.
'Move 'em out,' Jade yelled. 'If they blow, they'll compromise the crime scene. Move 'em. Now!'
The agents ran forward and grabbed the barrels. They gasped for breath as they rolled them quickly out through the flaming kitchen.
'And tell the fire department it's a Class B,' Jade shouted after them.
He stepped forward and stared at the body, the flames singeing the collar of his shirt and curling the ends of the bandage he held across his face. The body seemed grotesquely casual, as if it had just finished eating breakfast. The flesh crackled beneath the flames.
Jade crouched and picked up a twisted piece of metal as Travers stumbled in.
She buried her face in her sleeve. 'Jade, let's go. Get out of here.'
Behind her, several firemen sprinted in with extinguishers. Clouds of smoke and Halon filled the air. One of the men doused the burning body with foam. There was no need for hoses.
Jade raised the piece of metal, looking at the flap of duct tape dangling from it. 'Basic microwave bomb. Open jug of gas, roll of aluminum foil, tape the door shut. Douse the kitchen and body, set the timer, and boom.'
'Looks like our boy went out with a bang,' Travers said.
Jade followed Travers outside, his eyes troubled. The front yard was clogged with agents, cops, and firemen. People sprinted back and forth, screaming into radios. The first few media vans had pulled up, and the reporters were putting the finishing touches on their makeup while their crews readied the cameras. Three ambulances pulled into the driveway, sirens screaming.
Jade approached Fredericks, seizing him by the shoulders. 'Get men throughout the house immediately to see what they can turn up. And I want the corpse to the lab to check dentals immediately.'
Fredericks pushed Jade's hands roughly aside. 'Relax, Marlow. We have the body.'
'We have a body.'
'If that's not Atlasia, you wanna tell me exactly how he slipped through the blast? Because I didn't see many gaps in our coverage here.'
Jade glanced over at the gasoline barrels at the edge of the woods. The agents had thrown them well clear of the burning house. 'We don't know that he didn't-' He noticed that the red lettering across one of the barrels was smeared. His stomach lurched as he remembered the red he'd seen on Allander's cuff-red that looked more like paint than blood.
The cluster of agents watched Jade as he took a few steps toward the barrels. 'They're decoys,' he said.
'What the hell are you talking about, Marlow?' Fredericks said. 'We've got the body.'
'The barrels are decoys.'
'No, sir,' one of the younger agents said. 'We rolled them out. He filled them only halfway, to leave room for the vapors and everything.'
'They're not full of gasoline,' Jade said.
'What do you mean? What else would be in there?'
'It doesn't matter, Marlow,' Fredericks said. 'We have the body.'
Jade pulled his Sig Sauer from the back of his jeans and aimed it at a gasoline barrel. A female reporter screamed and three of the agents nearby leaped for cover, diving across the hood of a car. Jade fired and the bullet entered the barrel with a ping, sending a stream of liquid shooting into the air. He shot the barrel beside it and another fountain of water sprang up. When he shot the third barrel, there was nothing, just a dark hole.
Jade glared at Fredericks. 'There's your fuckin' body,' he said.
Jade turned and looked across the front yard. There were over thirty vehicles parked haphazardly from the street to the driveway, and dozens of people were running around. He watched helplessly as an ambulance and two fire trucks backed out of the driveway and drove away. In the confusion, Allander had probably crept from the gasoline barrel and hidden in one of the vehicles. He would be long gone by now.
Jade turned to face Fredericks, but Fredericks was still crouching in anticipation of the gasoline explosion. Travers was standing behind him, so Jade addressed her, ticking off the points by bending back his fingers. 'Hold all these vehicles and search them. Send out an APB to SFPD ASAP, have them set up roadblocks on all streets leading out of here. Call the fire department, hospitals that dispatched ambulances, and news stations and have them radio any vehicles that we already missed and direct them back here or to the nearest police station. Call the police stations so they're expecting them. Call headquarters and have them alert the agents at the Atlasias' house. I'm guessing the body in there is Steve Francis's parachuting buddy, so get that missing-persons list we talked about, interview the closest relative-scratch that-interview the friends of all males matching the demographic profile. Find out if any of them parachuted or knew Steve Francis.' Jade and Travers both stared expectantly at his next finger, but he couldn't think of anything else. 'Got it?'
'Yes,' Travers said.
'Oh, and Travers?'
'Yeah?'
Jade touched his cheek gingerly. 'Nice right.' He turned and walked away.
Travers glanced down at the crouching agent. 'You can stand up now, Fredericks.'
When Jade reached the barrel lying on its side, he picked up the lid and saw that a handle had been soldered on the inside so that Allander could hold it shut while he was being rolled out to freedom. There was a small puddle on the ground beneath the lid; Allander had also put water inside his barrel so the agents would hear it sloshing around as they rolled him out.
Beside Jade, the other barrels still leaked water from the bullet holes. He cupped his hands in front of one of the streams, then brought them up to his face. No way Allander would have put explosive barrels on either side of himself.
Jade rose and hurled the lid at a nearby tree trunk. He had ordered them to move the barrels out. He had practically freed Allander himself.
Jade walked into the woods, cursing. Where would Allander go now? Back to Darby? After his failed attempt tonight, he'd know that security would be tighter. For the time being, Thomas and Darby were out of reach. Alex, the younger kid from the second house, was already safe, in witness protection.
Would Allander try to establish a new base? Leave the area? What were his aims? Jade rubbed his eyes with
