Tolerance Book III

Chapter Eighty-Eight: Danger Zone

The Fifth Avenue Hotel

As Jay assessed the lamp base he noticed its' rim had been scratched in places. That told him the device placed within was compact. Although he had instructed the Writer to remain in the suite in case Billings had set some booby traps he doubted there were in fact any. He was faced with taking the risk of either the older man leaving and being confronted by the devious Killer or the Writer staying with him and being hurt or worse if the device went off before the Detective could disarm it. In the end he opted to keep the understandably nervous man in the Suite but he had taken precautions and instructed him to barricade himself in the bathroom. Jay had quickly established a safety zone and now the Author was actually sitting in the bath under the hastily shifted heavy mattress. To add further protection to his temporary Host the green eyed man had added a pile of pillows and cushions on top of the bedding. Rigby had the grace not to complain about the uncomfortable arrangements. Considering the alternative he was wise enough to accept what was necessary.  The Author had suggested calling for help but Jay had been adamant that time may be of the essence and insisted it was safer to have less people in the danger zone.

Now with the bathroom door securely shut down the short hall Jay resumed his inspection of the lamp and its' deadly package within. Crouching down to gain a better perspective he carefully lifted the heavy lamp off its' perch and gradually raised it to reveal the underneath. As he had suspected a device had been hidden within. Three pieces of semtex resembling thick cigars were surrounded by wires and a small timer was counting down the minutes. Jay wasn't about to depend on the timer being accurate. Ten minutes seemed a long time and it would be in keeping with the Killers' twisted mindset to leave him with false hope he could save the Author. No, he was going to disarm the device well before 10 minutes had elapsed.

Jay picked up the cell he had taken from Rigby before leaving him in his makeshift shelter and dialled a familiar number.

Homeland Security Headquarters

Voight moved away from the conference table as he eyed the Unknown Caller ID on his phone. Answering with his usual gruff greeting he was surprised to hear his missing Detective.

"Sarge I don't have long. I'm at The Fifth Avenue Hotel but don't send anyone I have ....,"
"Are you alright?" the Sergeant quickly put the call on Speaker after motioning for silence.
"I'm fine," Jay automatically replied, his attention on the lethal device before him,"I need Mouse to talk me through disarming a device."
"I'm on it," the IT Specialist sat with his fingers poised over his keyboard, "what type is it?"
"Three bars of semtex with three wires and a timer,"
"What colour are the wires?"
"That's the problem," Jay stated without any hint of stress, "they're all brown."
"Damn!" Kevin hissed.
"Any numbers on the semtex?" the former Ranger asked hopefully as several images appeared on his monitor.
"That would be too easy."
"Usually the earth wire is brown," Mouse muttered to himself as he punched keys, "but occasionally that can be a ruse."
"One has to be the right one to cut," Adam pointed out unnecessarily.
"According to the timer I have 6 minutes 40 seconds," Jay imparted casually before adding, "but I don't trust that. I have Jonathan Rigby, an Author, in the bathroom pretty secure. He's sixty so Billings is still going up in age," the green eyed man commented.
"Why not let him out?" Antonio frowned.
"Not sure if Billings is here. He might decide to finish the job if he sees him walking around."
"So let him be killed then," Al declared with blunt succinctness, drawing everyones' attention his way.
"Might he a good idea," Voight smiled without mirth.

The frowns and shocked expressions of the others were slowly replaced with understanding. They didn't have much time. Al, Antonio and Kevin were already out the door by the time the Sergeant had filled his youngest Detective in on what they intended.