Blessed are the cracked, for they let in the light!
23. Ham and eggs... a day's work for a chicken, a lifetime commitment for a pig.
Be gentle with yourself, you're doing the best you can.
The firemen gave Zuzana the all-clear to head into the security office where the bomb had been planted. She went in to gather all the fragments of the bomb that she could find so that she put it back together later.
"Need a hand?" Tommy asked from the doorway.
Zuzana looked over at the Irishman. "Thanks but I've got it." She stood up and brushed her hair out of her face. "It was a small bomb and I think I've almost got all the pieces. They certainly knew what they were doing. The bomb just took out the main power."
"I'll let the others know," Tommy said. "Watch yourself. There might be other bombs here."
"I cleared the room. I know what I'm doing," Zuzana said faintly insulted.
"I know," Tommy said smirking. Zuzana rolled her eyes grinning.
She found what she believed was the last few pieces and after telling the evidence techs to contact her if they found any other pieces, headed out to the terrace.
"I don't think they are smart enough for blame," Marianski said to his ex-wife as Zuzana and the rest of the team walked up.
Anne-Marie went to talk to Caroline and Captain Geroux walked up to the group.
"There was an explosion?" he asked.
"A small controlled blast in the security hub," Zuzana said. "A guard was injured. I've gathered the pieces for analysis. They might be able to tell us something about the kidnappers."
"And, the kidnappers?" Geroux asked.
"They called but…" Caroline said.
"We're waiting for a new contact," Anne-Marie said. "And it appears that they caused the explosion."
"Marianski's right about one thing," Tommy said. "That bomb means the kidnappers were inside your house, with time to plant it."
Marianski got a phone call from a blocked number. He answered it. "Yes? She wants it on speaker." He put the phone on speaker. "Hello, can you hear me?" Hello?"
"Okay," the voice said as Hickman joined them. "Do we have all you attention now?"
"You already had out attention," Hickman spoke up. "The bomb was unnecessary."
"What we heard was Mr. Marianski refusing to meet the demands," she said. "We answered his refusal. You now have until 2 p.m. We will contact you in two hours. Exactly. Via Skype or you will never see Maxim again." She hung up.
"Will you be able to get a computer running in two hours?" Caroline asked.
"I can set one up in 45 seconds, Madame," Sebastian said. "Time's not a factor."
"When you're set up, go through this," Major Daniel said handing Sebastian a laptop.
"Captain Geroux?" Hickman asked. "May we use your station in town?"
"Of course," the captain answered.
"We should go," Hickman said. "Right now."
Captain Geroux escorted Maxim's parents away. The team turned to Hickman for an explanation.
"Why?" Louis asked.
"That phone call," Hickman said. "She waited until I was in the group, until I could hear, even said 'okay' just as I got here. And then she asked if she had all our attention."
"Meaning?" the major asked.
"Meaning that I think she's watching us," Hickman said.
Zuzana shivered slightly at that idea. They gathered their things and headed into town.
"We've prepared a place for you to work," Geroux said as they walked into the station.
"I'll need the Wi-Fi password and details for logging in," Sebastian said.
"I have all that," Anne-Marie said.
"How do you know we haven't changed it?" Geroux asked.
"It's been the same since it was installed seven years ago, hasn't it?" Anne-Marie said smiling.
Captain Geroux led Zuzana to a room where she could assemble the fragments of the bomb. She thanked him and spread everything out. From her bag, she pulled out her kit she used to for bomb assembly.
Fifteen minutes later Tommy walked over there. He stood outside for a moment watching Zuzana steadily piece the bomb together with her hair thrown up in a messy half bun, half ponytail. He knocked on the door asking, "How's it going in here?"
"Almost done," Zuzana said barely glancing up.
"Wow," Tommy said walking over. "Any ideas on who built it?"
"A suspicion."
Tommy looked at the bomb, one hand on the table and the other on the back of Zuzana's chair. "It looks fairly simple. You've got a bit of ash one the side of your face."
Zuzana attacked the piece she was holding and looked at her teammate. "I do?"
"Yeah," Tommy chuckled gesturing to the smear.
"Oh I'll take care of it later." She turned to the last few pieces, fitting them into their places. She closed her eyes recognizing the symbol.
A young Zuzana clipped the last wire needed to diffuse the bomb sitting on the table in front of her. She looked up at the man watching. "Dokončeno, Kocourek." (Finished, Kocourek)
"Hezká práce Stín Sokol," he said. "Jít znovu, ale rychleji, tentokrát." (Nicely done Shadow Falcon. Go again but faster this time.)
"Something wrong?" Tommy asked putting his hand on Zuzana's shoulder, pulling her out of her memories.
"I recognize the symbol," Zuzana said sighing. "It belongs to Kocourek. He's a Czech bomb maker who works with the Sokol mob. He also sells bombs to the Russians. I've studied his works extensively."
"Another thing pointing to the kidnappers being Russian," Tommy said. "I was going to see how the guard is doing. Do you want to come with me?"
"Alright," Zuzana said. Once she'd stopped by the bathroom to clean up and told Major Daniel about the bomb, the two of them left.
On their way to and from the hospital Tommy gave Zuzana space, not bringing up her reaction to the symbol on the bomb. They pulled up to the station and met Hickman on the steps.
"Hey," Hickman said nodding at them.
"Guard's gonna make it," Tommy told him. "Marianski called them stupid for letting it happen."
"I don't know about stupid," Hickman said, "but a bomb planted in the security hub does scream operational flaw."
"Know what else it screams," Tommy asked.
"Inside job," Hickman answered.
"Not many people left on the inside," Zuzana said.
Marianski walked past them into the station. Just after that a car and an armored truck pulled up. A man got out of the car saying, "I have a delivery for Mr. Marianski."
The three police officers walked the people from the bank into the conference room. The guards set their cases on the table, uncuffing them form their wrists. Major Daniel closed the door and Tommy and Zuzana stood near the water cooler.
"Ten million," the official said. Marianski thanked him.
"You got it all?" Caroline asked.
"Of course I did," Marianski replied.
Everyone gathered around Sebastian's computer ready for the next Skype call at eleven. Sebastian accepted the call when it came through.
"Pay attention," the woman said.
"I want to see my son," Caroline said.
"Pay attention and watch carefully," the woman said ignoring Caroline. "Maxim's life will depend on it." The image changed to show a man with a mask and a hood to hide any distinguishing features.
"I want to show you something," he said gesturing for the camera to follow him. He knelt next to what looked like a deep freezer and two air tanks. "These are to standard air tanks. Each one has got 187 minutes of air. Remember that number. It will be very important to your son's future… or lack of. This tube… connects one of the tanks to a thing we call… 'The Box.' You can't breathe inside, unless one of the tanks is providing the air. See there's a little camera..." He gestured to a camera on the inside of the lid. "And here's how it works. Maxim goes into the box; we switch one of the tanks on. That gives him 187 minutes of air."
Zuzana tensed up, one of her hands balling into a fist. "The ransom drop will be in 180 minutes," the man continued, "exactly 2 p.m. at the Cannes Marina. That gives our courier seven minutes to get away and make the phone call to say he's okay. Then… we'll switch over the air tanks and tell you where to come and get him. Oh… and it doesn't matter who does the drop off – the cops, the lawyers… you can send an army. Because if that phone call is not made in that seven minutes after the drop… Well, I think you'll get it. Showtime."
The man grabbed Maxim, punched him in the stomach to get him down and put him in "The Box." The man padlocked "The Box" shut with Maxim inside.
Zuzana grimaced in sympathy for the boy. It was not nice being trapped in a small space with limited air.
"There," the man said. "187 minutes until switchover… or suffocation. Your choice." He walked to the side. "Oh. One more thing." He returned with a computer. "Remember the little camera? Just in case things do go bad…" He hooked the computer to the camera and turned it on revealing Maxim. "You can be with him all the way until the end." Caroline sobbed harder and the connection to the kidnappers cut out but Maxim remained.
A few minutes later another Skype call came in. Sebastian called Mr. Marianski over and said, "This could be another contact from the kidnappers." Hickman waved Major Daniel, tommy and Zuzana back over.
"Hello?" Eva asked from the screen.
"Eva? Where are you?" Sebastian asked confused.
"How did you get on this Skype?" Hickman asked.
"I'm in the flat of a woman named Katya," Eva said quietly. "She was the only witness in the Florence kidnapping, and she worked at the art school the victim attending.
"Art school?" Marianski asked sitting down.
"Do you know it?" Hickman asked.
"Didn't Maxim go to an art school in Italy for a while?" Marianski asked his ex-wife.
"Yes, the Centro Di-" she answered.
"Centro Di Restauro," Eva finished. "I just left there. It's a block from here."
"There's our connection," Zuzana said.
"Katya, she's a guidance counselor," Caroline said. "She handled Maxim's enrollment. Asked me a hundred questions about him, and about you." She directed the last part to Marianski.
"There are three screens here," Eva said. "One of them has Maxim in some kind of box, and another one is showing a fireplace and a brick wall? An empty room."
"Before we switched over to the box cam, there was a man on camera," Sebastian said.
"They left the connection open?" Tommy asked.
"With Katya," Anne-Marie said nodding.
"That image is coming from where they're holding him," Hickman said.
"Can we use this to find them?" Louis asked.
"Maybe," Sebastian said. "Eva. I'm going to tell you how to locate the IP address of those laptops. If they're acting as the communications server for the operation, then all the other computers should be routed through them, then we have a chance."
"Right," Eva said having put her hair up. "I'm ready. Okay."
"The other laptop with Maxim's feed, is it a Mac or PC?"
"What?" Eva asked confused.
"The symbol on the laptop," Sebastian explained. "Is it a Mac or a PC?"
"What symbol?" Eva asked bending down to look. Her movement revealed Katya behind her with a gun pointed at Eva's head.
"Eva! Turn around!" Hickman said.
Eva went for her gun but Katya stopped her. She ordered Eva to get up and Zuzana stared at the screen apprehensively. A fight ensued between the two women. Katya's gun was thrown to the other side of the room. The fight continued with both women giving hard blows. They neared the computers and then the Skype call cut out.