Bombs. Anything but bombs. Sophie hated bombs, they took away someone whom made her childhood a fairy tale, her father. Ironically, he was part of the Bomb Deactivation Unit. He was well famed in his work, they usually said about him that if bombs want to scare themselves, they tell Joe Robins stories. After her mother died, her father was all she had left, and before her thirteenth birthday, he died while trying to save everyone from a bomb in a bus, he strapped the bomb on and ran away from the school bus where it was put, he saved lives, they called him a hero, the bomb detonated but no civilians were close to get killed, to Sophie her father was more of a martyr. Sophie thought it was as though he knew he'd die soon, because weeks before he always told her "when He says it's time, nothing can save you" .
"Evacuate the building immediately" Sophie barked at an officer close to the door " leave everything, they can be replaced" she shouted to the forensic scientists. Her and Peter made for the door running as fast as they could. Michael always hated running he just tried to walk faster than usual to him, there was no need to. Most civilians were far from the building already. The police and task force teams were also far waiting for the explosion, Michael entered the back seat of a police car which Sophie took the keys to from an officer and started racing down town. After ten minutes of driving she was already wondering why there had been no explosion "Michael how many minutes to detonation?" she asked looking in the rear view mirror. "Oh let me check" He replied casually, he removed his coat to reveal a series of wires strapped around him, he was wearing the bomb.
She slammed the brakes. Peter went white. She had her mouth agape. "ten seconds" he answered. "why... Why?" she couldn't think of anything. "that wouldn't be a good way to go now would it?" Michael said the tick which happens at the end of every count down silenced the car , Sophie and Peter bent their heads, as they braced for impact, this was the end.
The only sound they heard, was that of a camera shutter, Michael just took a picture of them, "I'd name this one, humanity in their last moments" he was chuckling "this is a range controlled bomb" Sophie raised her head "what does that mean?" she knew, but it was as though being close to death wiped her memory "it means.....the person to detonate it must be within a certain range for it to go off" Peter replied the colour was returning to his face. "50 kilometers Puffer" Michael added, "how did you know?, you haven't been to the military?" Sophie was still sweaty "i.....saw it in a movie, and read about it you see" Michael replied beaming with smiles "we should head to the control room, there's a CCTV on the electric pole in front of Johns house" John was the name of the victim, they were told in the house, they were too stressed at the moment to even ask how he knew.
The control room was a wing which became part of the CIU after Mackenzie took over, he urged the need for a watch room to monitor every street of the city. "detective Sophie and Peter, please this way, we have gotten the recording of the CCTV from the time range Mr Michael requested" an analyst said as the got in, they looked back at Michael, he shrugged. They stood at the system, Michael sat looking concentrated at the screen, suddenly he turned at Peter and told him "stop it" with an angry face, Peter was confused, he had been quiet the whole time,what could he be possibly talking about," you are still doing it, you are thinking" Michael continued. "what are we looking for" Sophie said stepping on Peters foot, he was one sentence from punching Michael in the face. "We?, I have found what i was looking for. I have been observing that guy selling hot dogs, on the other side, such dedication, such skill" he said pointing to the man he was talking about. "Michael!" Sophie was too tired for this unnecessary drama "okay, look at this" he moved the clip back and played it, people were moving in and out of the bungalow,most of them heading to work, "do you notice anything?" "no, no why?" Sophie said. Michael exhaled "this guy" he pointed, "he went into the bungalow,he was holding a bottle of water, he came out, the bottle is still at the same level, he stopped for some minutes outside and drove off" "he's too young to be the killer, and why he could have finished it inside" Peter said "your opinions, can lower the IQ of an entire nation" Michael replied, Peter laughed, one day he thought ,one day. "during the cold war, the CCTV cameras were introduced and meetings became more difficult, the Russians developed a way to send messages, it was very complex to decode for the Americans, till it was discovered that it was just basic binary, the code involves tapping for a one and pausing for a zero, which you can see he did while waiting outside" he played the footage again, they saw the man put the water in the floor and tap his lap. "but he's too fast, how can we.... " Sophie was interrupted by Michael "allow me, 1,0,0,1,0,0,1,1,0,0,1,1,0,0,1,0,0,1 and 1" "wow" Peter said quietly, he didn't want Michael to hear him. "okay we would give it to an analyst, maybe we have a programme to convert it to decimal" Sophie said, as she turned to motion to one, Michael said "89121219" they were stunned, "i didn't know you were good at mathematics " Sophie commented, "i didn't know you weren't" Michael replied "Touché" Sophie said nodding. "so what does it mean" Peter inquired "are they coordinates, or some sort of password" "no Pe...." Michael stopped "i mean, no Puffer, the oldest form of code, ascribing a letter to a number from 1-26, and doing that, we get the word, hills,we need a map" Sophie got a city map Michael pointed to a portion "this is probably where we are looking for,its the only part with hills" "there are over two hundred houses there, we can't search everyone of them" "242 houses to be more accurate Ms Robins" Michael said, something was bothering him about this "we actually know what we are looking for, look at the shirt the lad has on, " "that's a band shirt" Peter said "impressive Peter" Michael was smiling at him, like as though he were looking at his son taking his first step, "the name of the band is The Black Sheep" "so we are to look for a black painted house? " Peter asked "no...God no Puffer, black sheep means someone who isn't following the norm, look at the map, you'd see the house i speak of" "here!" Sophie said pointing to a house "all the other houses are within the range of each other, this is the only house outside that isn't close to any other one" "exactly Ms Robins exactly, call in the boys, this might get violent" the duo rushed to make the call, Michael stood back, something was off, something was really off "this is too easy" he muttered.
They surrounded the house, 12 police cars and a handful of armoured vehicles, the house was old, it had experienced a fire which probably killed the family in it, Michael thought. He told Sophie who was wearing a bullet proof vest and had herself armed to the teeth to make sure no one enters, only her, Peter and Michael entered the house, only a chair was inside on it sat the man in the video, Peter and Sophie trained their guns on him, Michael was behind them. He was indeed young, early twenties. But why? Why do such and be too easy? "Detective Sophie and Peter, please leave, i only have to talk to Mr Michael" he said calmly " i see you aren't one to comply to a a psychopath" he opened his shirt to reveal wires around him. Another bomb, why does it always have to be a bomb,why Sophie thought, she remembered how her father would lift her high and tell her she was his princess "you seem scared Sophie, or rather why are are you more scared than Peter? Could it be that.... " "you two should leave" Michael said touching Sophie's shoulder,turning to Peter, he said "take care of her" "but you could die" Sophie was getting desperate, her father's dead body flashed in her memory"if we all stay, we all would die" he was smiling "i have a plan,trust me. I would be back" she was turning towards the door,she held back the tears forming on her eyes,she refused to be weak, even though those are the same words her father said. He never came back.
When they left and close the door, Michael asked the man seated in front of him "so? " "my name is..... " Michael raised his hand "Tony Dwight, son of Felix Dwight, the victim, you killed your father because he took another wife" Tony clapped slowly "they said, you'd figure it out" Michael was silent, his head went blank. They? "oh you think i am the one who did all this?, come-on, i was the dull one, i couldn't think of doing all that, I had help" "from who" Tony stood,approaching Michael slowly, he replied "what's the use of telling a dead man?" he sprung at Michael. Michael had known this was what he would do, too slow he thought he stepped in on the running Tony and dealt a karate chop to his throat. Tony recoiled at the rock, he was on the floor gasping for air it took him minutes to recover. "they didn't say you could fight" "i detest violence, basic self defence" Michael replied hands in his coat pocket "do you want to continue or do you want to talk?" Tony broke out in tears "i.... I didn't do it on purpose, they said if i should not do as they say they'd kill my mother, and everyone close to me" he was now weeping uncontrollably "i hated dad but i couldn't do it to him,i couldn't do it to him, I didn't kill dad, I just had no choice. The bomb..... " Tony felt a sharp pain in his back, he felt it and looked at his hands ,blood, he had been shot. Michael dragged him to the wall, a sniper was taking aim, the bomb on Tonys body had started counting down, 58 seconds "tell me who they are" Michael held him up demanding,he sputtered blood, he was going to die soon and he was still crying "Asgard..... weeps for the black....... clouds have covered the nine realms"
40 seconds
"Mjonir...... has been broken, Thor's head is......on a spike"
31 seconds
"Lokis......... laugh is no longer........ heard"
24 seconds
"Odin .......butchered Hemidall burnt .....to ashes"
19 seconds
"he .........has come to stay"
Tony gave up the ghost, he couldn't say anything, he muttered something but Michael had dropped him and was on the bomb, too easy, he disabled it.
He made for the door, and his phone buzzed, a message, from a private number "Too Easy?"
No, no no, that's why it was too easy to disable, the bomb....was a fake. The real bomb, Michael looked frantically around. He heard the tick of the bomb when it hit zero, he followed the sound. It was on the ceiling. It was a motion sensory bomb, it started counting when they entered the building.
The explosion was deafening.
It was absolute.
