Page 133 of Tate
“You should leave, too, bro,” Ford said.
He got a look that might as well have been sign language.
Scarlett was relaying the information. “Nez is on the line. Says to describe the timer.”
Ford knelt and used a fork to turn the mechanism. “It’s a simple digital timer with a chip on the back. It has a number on it.”
“Read it.”
Scarlett repeated it to Nez.
Ford looked up. “Tate, really?—”
“This is my gig. If anyone is leaving, it’s you. I should’ve never gotten you into this in the first place.”
“Are you kidding? I’ve wanted to do superhero stuff with you ever since Dad told me about that time you fell off your horse and walked around the house for two days like you might be invincible. He said you had a hero streak a mile wide.”
Tate frowned. “He did?”
“Yeah. Dad told me that out of all his boys, you were too much like him. Stubborn and tough and didn’t know when to quit. Which was probably why he was so hard on you, I’d guess. But I got it in my head that I wanted to be like you—well, without some of the trouble.”
Tate smiled, still the frown in his eyes.
“Ford, I have an answer for you,” Scarlett said.
“Go ahead, Red.”
“That’s a common control system switch. It’s used for things like temperature control circuits to turn off or on an engine. When the clock reaches zero, the chip will send a signal to the remote detonator.”
Boom.
“So, we just have to cut power to the clock to deactivate the chip.”
Tate was crouching next to him.
“No, you have to cut the power to the chip. Because if you cut the power to the watch, the chip will think the timer is at zero?—”
“Andboom,” Tate said, listening in with his earpiece.
“I’ve got two cords. One is blue, one is white. Can’t I cut them both?”
“Not precisely. They would have to be cut at the same time down to the ten-thousandth of a second. Even if you put them in the cutter at the same time, one will be cut just prior to the other. There’s no physical way to make it happen at the exact same time.”
“Okay, so, which one is the power to the chip? Blue cord or white cord? Yes, we’re playingthatgame.”
Silence.
“Red, you got anything for me?”
“Don’t know, Ford. And neither does Nez.”
Perfect.
He picked up a steak knife from an uncleared table. Looked at Tate.
Then to Scarlett. She had her hand on the window, her eyes wide in his. And he heard her words.I want this. Just this, right now.
Him too. Maybe he didn’t have to be the guy who always had to figure out everything. And no, he wasn’t going to suddenly abandon everything he believed in, all his promises to himself, but maybe he could follow his gut a little.
