Chapter 6
11:42 AM
"We need a pair of bolt cutters or a hacksaw," Annie observed.
"Unless you want to keep the lovely chair you have chained to your wrists," Auggie agreed dryly.
"Not so much."
"We need to get moving. If we sit here talking, they'll come find us any minute. What do you suppose the gunshot was?" Auggie whispered.
"I don't know. Did you know you're bleeding onto the floor?" Annie asked.
"Nothing I can do about it at the moment," Auggie answered cheerfully. "What's the game plan?"
"I didn't get a chance to finish telling you. But we need to get out of here first."
"Agreed. You don't happen to have a handcuff key handy, do you?" Auggie said.
"I have a paper clip," Annie offered. "Can you get it out of my pocket?"
"C'mere, baby, I'd looove to get in your pocket," Auggie said in a mock-sexy voice. He figured Annie rolled her eyes and he chuckled. With some awkward maneuvering, he fished the paperclip out of Annie's pocket and spent some time straightening it then bending it in half to have two prongs to use for lockpicking. Considering he couldn't use both hands together, he was impressed with himself for accomplishing it at all. He handed it off to Annie who went to work on his near cuff.
As she worked, looking backward over her shoulder toward her own tied hands, Auggie heard feet running down the corridors next to where they hid. He resisted the urge to tell Annie to hurry, knowing his whisper might give them away.
At last he felt the cuff give way and quickly turning his chair he used both hands to pick the lock on the other one, then went to work on Annie's cuffs. Soon they were both free. Auggie raised his sleeve to wipe the trickle of blood running down his left cheek where he'd grazed the leg of Annie's chair.
The running feet and shouts receded, their presence going undetected in the maze of booths on the convention floor. Rather than running, for the moment, Annie pulled Auggie deeper into a corner of the booth behind a desk.
"I found out what he's up to," she said in an undertone.
"Melkin?"
"Is that his name? Harry thought it was Melvin."
"The goon that grabbed me called him Melkin," Auggie said.
"Okay, Melkin. Apparently he set up a new hack and is coordinating with this terrorist group on the outside. While the satellite array is down, they'll use that window of blackout to strike."
"When is the blackout going to happen?" Auggie asked urgently.
"Today, 4PM."
"Do you know what the target is going to be?"
"I think I heard him say they're going to take out Langley!"
Langley! Hitting the CIA headquarters would leave agents all over the world unprotected, would screw up covert communications worldwide before the backup protocols could be put in place. This could have a major ripple-effect if other terrorist groups were ready to strike. Aloud he said, "Oh great. How in the heck do we stop this guy and get the whereabouts of the terrorists out to Joan? Do you have your phone?"
"No, they took it."
"Mine too," Auggie said ruefully.
They sat for a moment in silence and Auggie was suddenly aware of the ticking of his watch, every second hitting his ear like a slap. Here they sat huddled behind a desk in the huge convention center under a complete communications lock down. They needed to get moving. Now.