Page 24 of Sinner's Salvation

Brian frowned at her, then turned that frown on the door. Suddenly, both his eyebrows shot up toward his hairline. “He didn’t lock the door, did he?”

Anna smiled.

***

Evan followed the trailof smoke all the way back to the security office. The door was open wide and a handful of people were milling around outside it, doubled over and coughing. One of them was Ledger, and his two buddies were next to him.

“Sir,” Evan shouted, over the squawk of the alarm. “We need to evacuate the building.” He gestured in the direction he’d come from.

Ledger jerked his body up and shouted at Evan, “You set off a smoke bomb in there.”

Evan frowned. “There’s no fire? Just smoke?”

Ledger froze for a moment, confusion holding him in place. “Just smoke,” he confirmed.

“Sir, if you’re right,” Evan said, leaning closer so he wouldn’t have to shout so loud. “There could be a secondary device. You need to get out now.”

“You didn’t...” Ledger began.

Evan arched an eyebrow at him. “You’ve had eyes on me the entire time I’ve been here. I’ve had neither the time nor resources to plant any kind of bomb.”

He grabbed Ledger by the elbow and pulled him away from the room. The two politicians followed them.

“Wait,” Ledger said, ripping his arm out of Evan’s grasp after they’d gotten about fifty feet from the room. “I need to get the recordings from...”

“There’s no time,” Evan said, trying to grab Ledger again.

The man danced away. “Ineedthem.”

Evan stared at Ledger for a moment, then glanced in the direction of the security room. “I’ll get them. I’ll meet you, the congressman, and senator outside at Muster Point 3.”

He strode off, not waiting to see if Ledger followed his order or not.

The smoke was decidedly thicker the closer he got to the security room, hanging in the air like an impenetrable curtain. It seemed to swallow him whole as he reached the doorway...and spit him out as he passed it.

He checked his watch. Almost time.

He jogged until he reached the nearest doorway, then pressed his body into the recess.

A blast of air, heat, and sound smacked him in a concussive wave that rolled over and past him, casting debris and more smoke into the air.

That was no smoke bomb. That had been a genuine explosion. One small enough to cause disorder and disarray, but cost no lives.

As long as no one did anything stupid.

The ceiling around the security room began to collapse and Evan had to run to avoid getting hit by any of it.

Ledger wasn’t getting those recordings now.

At least something had gone right.

The only question he had on his mind now was, did the guards get Anna and the baby agent get out of their holding room? Did they use the fire to escape?

He raced for the nearest exit, the roar of the fire following him.

***

Anna almost laughedat the confused shock on Brian’s face. “No, he didn’t lock the door.”

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