Page 119 of Contempt

Every bomb expert made a failsafe. The one wire to cut on a bomb, or the one piece to remove that would disengage the whole thing. They made sure to put a failsafe on because it was always possible during transport or creation that something could go wrong that would start the bomb’s timer before it should begin counting down.

Renzo couldn’t find the failsafe.

He didn’t know which wire to cut because there were too many—too many leads to be cut all at once. He didn’t have enough hands to cut every single power source at the same time. He didn’t have enough tools to use the hands of the other men in the warehouse to cut the wires, either.

“Anything?” John asked.

For the most part, Renzo had to give John credit. And all the other men in the warehouse. They stayed away from him—they stayed quiet. They let him work, and didn’t step in. They didn’t make demands, or bark at him to hurry the fuck up.

That’s what he needed.

It still wasn’t going to make a difference, it seemed.

Renzo swallowed hard—an idea trickling up his spine. “They’re all at the back, right?”

John nodded. “Yeah, that’s what I said.”

“And there’s no camera back there?”

“That’s why they huddled back there, yeah.”

“Is there a door?”

John cleared his throat. “There is … but—”

“It’s wired, I know.”

Renzo pulled his icepick-like tool away from the bomb with a careful hand, and rested his arms over his bent knees. Staring at the bomb, he ran through the only options he had. His chest felt tight because there was only one thing he could do—and even that wasn’t a total failsafe.

Christian still had a kill switch he could pull, but if he couldn’t see the men on the cameras escaping the warehouse, then would he pull it? If he didn’t have a reason to pull the kill switch, would he set it off?

Renzo didn’t think so …

But it was still a risk.

“What are you thinking?” John asked.

“I can get you all out. You’ll have—at most, John—two minutes. That’s it, all right. Two minutes, and you gotta run as far and as fast as you can. Get these guys in alleyways between buildings. Huddle down to the ground, and cover your heads. Even better if you can get inside something.”

“I don’t understand—”

Renzo pointed the tool at the wires on the bomb leading to just one battery source—it connected the Wi-Fi for the bomb, but was also a failsafe power source. “These wires that are twisted … unless I cut through the latex tubing around them, I can’t see which is which inside. One is leading to the Wi-Fi, and the other … to the power source for one of the batteries for the timer.” He gestured at the timer in question sitting at ten seconds. “There is a split second at which a wire is cut where power is still running through the wires. As long as I can see the exposed wires, I can hold together the wires leading to the timer to stop it from counting down.”

Tipping his head to the side, he sighed. “I can let the other wires hang—the ones that’ll override the tripped doors. It’ll allow you all to get the fuck out of here, but I gotta keep my hands on the other wires beneath the latex tubing to keep the timer from starting.”

“Ten seconds won’t be enough to get us all out of here,” John pointed out.

“I can hold the wires after I cut them to keep them connected, so the brain on the bomb won’t know the difference until I let them go.”

“You couldn’t twist them—”

“Not these types of wires. I have never been able to twist them in such a way that the brain couldn’t tell the difference. It isn’t a risk I am willing to take. So, while I hold it, you all can get out.”

John quieted above Renzo before he quietly said, “But you won’t get out. You have to hold the wires. That’s what you’re saying.”

Ah, so the fucker was finally getting it.

Renzo’s jaw ached from clenching his teeth. It ached like his heart, and his chest. His lungs beneath his ribs felt like they were expanding beyond the point that they should. It hurt. Like his mind, and his soul.