Page 38 of Playing For Keeps
“Yeah well at this range I’ll still lose half my body with this one.”
“Which would be a mighty shame,” he said making her smile.
“Don’t okay, my hand might slip,” she replied.
“You’re doing great,” he stated as they cleared the rest of the room first. “Not exactly the day you were planning huh?”
“I figured I’d be surrounded by a bunch of overgrown meatheads not being confronted by three psychos that I never even dated. Maybe I should move away from this place, I never had someone try to kill me twice back home.”
“Where’s home?”
“Georgia, I know what am I doing in Seattle huh?”
“Well it’s a bit of a jaunt. I bet your parents hate it.”
“My mom was the only parent I had and she’s now gone. Don’t worry it’s been ten years,” she told him when he began to apologize.
“Sorry, so you haven’t been enjoying your time with the football stars?”
“Nope, they’re either crude or too interested.”
“And that’s not what you’re looking for?”
“No. I want a normal life which for me doesn’t include bombs being left to murder or maim me,” she said the chatter keeping her calm her mind off the potential disaster about to hit.
“We’re clear,” another guy dressed in protective gear told them.
“Stacey we’re going to very gently remove this. Don’t shift your finger until we can see it better alright?”
She nodded and watched as they slid it out centimeter by centimeter until it was exposed.
They studied it, mapping the connections and she tried not to worry at their concerned looks.
“Stacey, Galen’s going to switch places with you. He’s going to slide his finger beside yours and you’ll slowly move yours off of it,” Jim told her.
“No, I’m not letting you all die because of me.”
“Stacey this isn’t your fault,” he said gently.
“I noticed you didn’t argue when I said you were going to die.”
“We’re going to do our best to make sure that doesn’t happen but there’s no guarantee.”
She shook her head looking down at the bomb and a memory floated back to her mind. “How quickly could you disarm this if I could tell you how?”
“What are you talking about Stacey?” he asked studying her.
“It’s not the first time I’ve seen this bomb, well in person it is but not the plans for it.”
“How’s that?”
“Nathaniel was a chemistry major in college. There was a party at the frat, and I went. The rooms were all being used and a few of us were hanging out, I saw the plans underneath a pile of schoolwork.”
“In other words, it could be much more dangerous than we thought?” Jim asked.
“Lethal in this proximity. So how quickly could you disarm it?”
“Even if you did see the plans for it, Stacey a glimpse of them isn’t enough to know how to stop it.”
