Page 86 of Heat of Justice

Okay…Kim nodded. Well.Shit!The lieutenant was taking a hell of a gamble, evacuating the entire zone just on the strength of her vision, and her belief in her.

“Thank you,” Kim told her in a voice raw with emotion.

“Yeah, well,” Quinn said grimly. ”I figure we’ll be sorrier if you’re correct, and we do nothing, than the other way around. So, what else can you tell me?”

“That’s it. I don’t—Oh…”

???

Ellie grabbed hold of Kim as a bit more color leached out of her already pale face, and she swayed. For a moment there, as she looked into her deep amber eyes, it was like gazing through a pane of clear glass; a little weird and spooky. Ellie glanced at her lieutenant to see what she made of it. Quinn’s frown seemed to be approaching critical levels of displeasure. Her jaw was set to near breaking point. And no wonder, actually. If Kim’s warning of impending doom proved inaccurate, Quinn would pay dearly for triggering a full-scale emergency response, and no doubt even more so when people found out she had done it on the word of a so-called psychic. Then again, as Quinn stated to her when she made the decision to shut down the station;‘She was spot-on once before. We can’t risk it.’

“Kim,” she grunted now. “Help me out here.”

The woman shuddered. Blinked. Bit on her lip.

“He wants to kill,” she murmured. “It’s heavy. Dark. I feel it. Hatred. Wrath.”

“Who is he?” Quinn prompted. “Can you describe him?”

Breathing hard, almost panting, Kim stared at the throngs of people coming out of the lower levels.

“I don’t know.” She spoke through clenched teeth, her tone loaded with frustration. “All I see is fire and people screaming. I see Cody in the middle of it...”

Ellie squeezed her hand in support when her voice broke, and also to keep her from rushing off. Kim’s fingers were like ice despite the air temperature around eighty. She was also shakingwith a huge amount of tension in her body. It was like holding onto a live wire. Quinn stopped her questions long enough to bark at the closest subway official.

“Why are so many people still coming through the gates? I told you to shut down all traffic down there!”

???

It would all come down to a matter of seconds. The guy with the swastika gave no sign he even heard the call about his suitcase. Cody pinned him with a suspicious stare as the doors closed again and the train rumbled to move on. As their eyes met and held for a moment when he realized that she was watching him, a mix of dark pleasure and malevolence glinted across his face. The man raised his fists, opened his hands wide, and mouthed the word:BOOM!

For only the second time in her life, time slowed down for Cody. The first occurrence had been on that New York street as she raced to her fallen partner. Hoping it was not too late, only to find that Emma was gone. Now, as in then, extra-sharp focus also accompanied the experience. She saw it all clearly. A train carriage full of people. The guy towards the back end of it, still holding the case with a baffled look on his face as to why its owner seemed so unbothered. He had yet to realize what he was in for, obviously. Cody assessed him. Tall, about six-two, with a jovial face, blue eyes, and short reddish-brown hair. In a pair of paint-stained trousers, heavy-duty work boots, and a black t-shirt, he looked like a construction worker. Behind him was a teenager with two younger kids in tow, an older man in a wheelchair, and more office workers... Everyone frozen in slow motion. Cody could hear her own breathing, in and out, and the rapid pounding of her heart.Don’t just stand there. Do something!The thought snapped her back to reality at the sametime as the train stopped again just off the end of the platform. The doors re-opened, allowing a gap between the carriage and the tunnel wall through which two people might just be able to squeeze at a time.

‘ATTENTION PLEASE, ALL SUBWAY TRAVELERS. DUE TO A REPORTED EMERGENCY, THIS STATION IS BEING EVACUATED. PLEASE LEAVE THE STATION IMMEDIATELY. ATTENTION PLEASE…’

As people immediately started to grumble, Cody whipped out her badge and held it up for everyone to see.

“I’m a detective with Lewiston P.D. Please remain calm as you exit the carriage and make your way out. You!” She locked eyes with the man holding the briefcase. “Don’t move. Give me the case.”

Perhaps because she had announced herself as a detective instead of a bomb squad specialist, he seemed amused at first.

“What’s in it?” he chuckled. “A million dollars in cash?”

“Just pass it to me and go.”

As the evacuation message was repeated, his smile slowly faded.

“Ah, come on. You don’t mean—”

“Give it to me. Slowly.”

Now as Cody reached him, the man could not fail to get her drift. She noted sweat rolling down his face, no longer just from the heat in the carriage. He did hand her the briefcase.Carefully.One hand around the handle, the other supporting the bottom. He looked a little green.

“Good man.” Cody nodded as their eyes met. “Now, make your way out. Help the others.”

But of course, she could not avoid her previous instructions being overheard, and the same kind of conclusion reached as the man had. The low-level grumble of disapproval at what seemed like a standard subway malfunction, a mild annoyanceat the start of the weekend, turned into a panicked whisper. Like wildfire, it rippled through the carriage.

It’s a bomb—it’s a bomb—it’s a bomb—

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