Page 57 of Soar

“It’s a fucking messy homemade.” The voice sounded somewhat small and distant, as it came from a tablet showing the face of a haggard Black man in what looked to be a vehicle. This had to be the team leader for the bomb squad. He went on to describe what he saw and the six different possible ways to diffuse the bomb. The only problem was they needed more timeto study it, and he didn’t trust his view of the device through the tablet.

Gregori accepted a flashlight from one of the cops and shined it on the inner workings of the bomb as he inspected it. “Third green wire and the yellow striped and blue striped wires are fakes,” he called out. “Cutting them will detonate the bomb immediately. At first glance, the best options are red, yellow, and first green wires—cut in that order—or I’m thinking blue, first green, and red.”

“I’m sorry, but how the hell does a dragon know shit about bombs?”

Twisting around to look into the tablet again, Gregori grinned broadly. “I’ve been tinkering with bombs and explosives since black powder first appeared in Russia. Sooo…” He glanced up at the ceiling for a second as he did a bit of math before looking at the squad leader again. “About seven hundred years, give or take a few decades. I’m also the demolitions and bomb expert for the Valerii Clan.”

“Got it. Glad you’re here with us.”

Gregori nodded and turned his attention back to the bomb. “We need more time to study this before we start cutting wires willy-nilly. Can it be moved? Just drop it out in the middle of the parking lot? My dragon could easily carry something this size.”

“The case holding the bomb is welded to the bottom of the cabinet and the cabinet is welded to a support beam. There’s no moving either of them,” one of the other cops answered.

“How’s the evacuation going?” someone asked.

“Less than a quarter of the patients have been moved outside the hospital. The director says it will take an hour just to get out everyone in ICU.”

A cold ball of ice settled deep in the pit of Gregori’s stomach, and he scrubbed a hand over his face. There was no time to geteveryone out, which meant someone had to take a chance and snip wires.

“How far are you from the hospital?” Gregori inquired.

“About eight minutes.” The squad leader’s low voice only added to the weight in his stomach.

That was at least two minutes too late.

He’d never arrive in time to tackle the bomb personally.

“Okay.” Gregori stood from his squat and held out his hand for the tablet. “I want everyone out of here now. I’m going to diffuse the bomb.”

“Wait! We can’t let you do that. You’re a civilian,” a cop argued.

“I’m also the only person here with experience defusing bombs. Not to mention, I’ve got magic and I’m a dragon,” he added with a little wink.

“Can you defuse it with magic?”

Gregori shook his head. “No, but I can use my ice to protect the hospital some if the bomb does go off.” He also planned to shift into his dragon form at the last second and use his enormous body to shield the hospital from the blast, but he didn’t want to actually say those words out loud.

“The dragon is right,” the bomb squad leader barked. “Everyone out!We’ve got eight minutes left to evacuate as many people as we can. Get to fucking work!”

The cops didn’t linger another second, booking it for the entrance he’d used minutes earlier.

Before Ortiz could escape, Gregori caught his arm.

“If this doesn’t work out so great for me and you see Doctor Hunter, could you deliver a message for me?”

Ortiz blinked wide brown eyes at him for a second and then nodded.

“Tell him I have always been so proud to be his mate, and I love him with everything that I am.”

“Doctor Hunter. Got it. I’ll tell him, but you gotta not die here. The doc’s going to appreciate your message a hell of a lot more coming from you.”

He clapped Ortiz on the shoulder. “I’ll do my best.”

The cop tried to smile, but in the end, he said nothing as he ran for the exit with the others, closing the big doors behind him.

Gregori set the tablet aside, warning the squad leader that he needed a moment to prepare the room as best he could before they discussed which wire to snip.

After sucking in a deep breath, Gregori turned in the direction of the doors and summoned up all his magical power to cover the door area around the cabinet in a thick layer of ice. And just like with the kids and the apartment fire, nothing happened. Not a flake or a whisp of frost.

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