Smitty's arm had healed well and he was going to need two arms to get done what he needed to do. His healed arm would get a good workout. Ever since he can remember he had entered his Grand Prix into the classic car show on Staten Island and this year would be no different. But first, he needed to wax his beauty from bumper to bumper. He remembers when he helped his father wax his classic car when he was a kid it was a 1934 Ford Deluxe. This was the same type of car that Bonnie and Clyde had stolen from a home in Topeka Kansas for their crime and murdering spree. His father was proud of his car and could answer any questions about the car anyone cared to ask him.
He entered his garage and got into the Grand Prix. He inserted the key and turned it over. It started on the first try. He backed it out of the garage and pulled it into his work area outside where he could use the daylight to do a great job. There were a couple of other things he needed to do to his car and he wanted it to be ready for the show. First up was a quick oil change and filter. Then check all the fluid levels, grease every fitting on the car, check the rear differential and finally wash and wax it. He was finished with the oil change and the lubrication when he noticed there was a rear brake cable that was rubbing against the drive shaft. It would be a quick fix to reroute it away from the driveshaft so he did that as well. With that done, he took to the task of washing and waxing his baby.
Xx
Colin took in his target as he washed his dinosaur of a car. It was a boat on dry land because the car was huge. He knew that this was his chance and he's glad that he had not done anything to set up his surprise... yet. He watched intensely as Smitty removed the left rear wheel from the car. He wondered why he was doing this and after he had the wheel off, he understood. He was repairing something. This was a blessing for him because it gave him the advantage to see the frame of the car. He could dump his ball bearings into the tie-down holes that GM had put in the frame for transport. This was working out better than he planned. He sat in the bedroom of the foreclosed house across from Smitty's house peering at him through binoculars. He watched for about two hours and had everything he needed to carry out his plan. All he needed to do now is obtain three pounds of Semtex. He had an idea of where to get it but he needed to scope out the location before he made his move.
Xx
Rick loves the sounds of his grandsons and his daughter's crying at the same time because they're either hungry or need a diaper change. Ever since Alexis was discharged from the hospital, he had a company move her stuff from her apartment with Kyle back into the loft. He was sad that she had lost the love of her life and he would find out who this person was who took her husband away from her. He had a couple of leads but nothing panned out. He was studying the bomb vest that was obviously custom made and could not find any clue as to who it could be. There are certain telltale signs that people use when they build something specific. The stitching in the vest, the placement of the explosives, the charges that were used to set it off, and of course the material used in the construction of the vest. He could link anything with the way the vest was made.
Kyle was young so he had no will to speak of. Rick and Kate had taken care of the expenses for his funeral and there was one silver lining for Alexis. When he first took the promotion to district manager he had asked for and received a life insurance policy through Best Buy for a half a million dollars. Alexis was awarded a check two months after the investigation into his death was concluded by the insurance company. They sent a condolence card along with the check telling her that they were sorry for her loss.
Rick was almost finished with his physical therapy and he was glad. He would walk with a slight limp favoring his right leg for the rest of his life but he had passed the physical requirements to be reinstated back into his job as Captain. He had been in touch with Loto for the past couple of weeks and was itching to get back to work. It had him remembering what his wife and daughter had told him when he was in traction in the hospital. He had thought about retiring for a split second but he thought when the time is right, he will. But for now, he will ease back into taking over the BDU.
Xx
Lieutenant Kang was elected as the sacrificial lamb. It had come to the attention of the guys that while they lost Kyle, they also reviewed the video footage of his being abducted and eventually killed. Because he was murdered, they had dug deeper into the circumstances that involved his abduction. They had spent many hours all on their off-duty time to construct their theory. Herman Baez was the one exception to the rule. He had more experience involving these types of explosives and he proved it. Kang, Smitty, along with Dave had reviewed when Kyle was taken. The son of a bitch who took him had purposely stayed away from any camera vantage point. It wouldn't help either way because he was wearing a baseball cap and sunglass (at night no less) and his collar was up around his neck. So, identification was going to be next to impossible but they did notice that it was a male, he stood about 5' 10", he was in his late twenties to early thirties, and he had a tattoo in his left hand. The way he took Kyle was by knifepoint and not with a handgun. That alone had shown them that he was very good with the blade. Most people who are confronted by a man with a knife usually try to take the knife away from the suspect. And Kyle was a big dude.
Herman began digging and had narrowed down the type of explosive from how it was placed in the vest. It was not your common run of the mill C-4, it was a variation of C-4. It still had the explosive power behind it but this type of C-4 did not require a traditional blasting cap to detonate the explosive. A number 8 test blasting cap is one containing 2 grams of a mixture of 80 percent mercury fulminate and 20 percent potassium chlorate. An equivalent strength cap comprises 0.40-0.45 grams of PETN base charge pressed in an aluminum shell with bottom thickness not to exceed to 0.03 of an inch, to a specific gravity of not less than 1.4 g/cc, and primed with standard weights of primer depending on the manufacturer.
Baez had noticed that from the video he watched and rewatched of Kyle tied to the support column, he could tell that the C-4 that was strapped to him had no blasting caps pressed into the explosive. Instead, he did see that there was what appeared to be a bulge in the C-4 that held the number 8 test blasting cap. But what he could not figure out was how a mechanical primer was charged with no source of ignition. He researched almost every source that he could get and what he found was extremely terrifying. The C-4 was packed with an electronic way to activate the C-4. Electronic detonators are designed to provide the precise control necessary to produce accurate and consistent blasting results in a variety of blasting applications. However, wireless electronic detonators are beginning to be available and they are being used without being able to be traced. Encrypted radio signals are used to communicate the blast signal to each detonator at the correct time. While currently expensive, wireless detonators can enable new techniques as multiple blasts can be loaded at once and fired in sequence. This what Baez found in the video. It was a series of multiple blasts instead of one single detonation. For the life of him, he could not figure out why their bomber wanted to have separate blasts instead of just one.
He had been reading about miners in the US and abroad who set off many detonations in a mine without being present. This was good because they could set the charges in the mine and activate the blasts separately in a ten-second gap keeping the miners safe from the collapse of the mine. They used an encrypted radio signal and that had him thinking.
Xx
"Hey Rick how do you feel?" Loto asked as he stood up from behind Rick's desk.
"I'm doing good. PT will be finished soon next week and I can't wait to get back here."
"About that Rick… I will give you everything that we've been doing since you were hurt."
"Loto, it seems to me that you are a little apprehensive about my coming back. Please rest easy. You were you only following orders. So how has it been? Do you see yourself taking over on a permanent basis?"
"Wait… what? Are you leaving?"
No sooner did Loto finish his sentence when Smitty came in the office hearing the last part of their conversation.
"No! Don't tell me it's true! Rick Castle is going to retire?"
"Smitty just keep it down, will you. I'm not doing anything right away. I still have to finish my PT and then ease back into my job as Captain."
"Oh, okay. I bet Kate had a lot to tell you about giving up your spot and retiring didn't she."
"She might have but that's besides the point. I'm getting just a little too old for this. The younger set needs to take over."
"Well before we get into that we have some information for you about Kyle."
Rick stood there looking pale. He wondered what they had found out. He could only nod knowing he could not trust his voice.
"Come on Cap lets move this into the conference room," Loto said.
For the next hour Loto, Smitty, Herman and even Dave had something to contribute to their theory. But it was Herman who had given him the most to work from.
"Rick there is no way that this guy just threw these items together and pushed a button detonating that vest. This guy was showing you that he can strike at any time and at anybody he chooses. The vest was custom made and the C-4 he used was not your off the shelf C-4. This stuff was, dare I say it homemade. It takes a special kind of crazy to carry this out. You need to watch out for Alexis, Kate and your babies Rick." Herman warned.
"How crazy is this guy?" Smitty asked.
Herman thought about his answer for a minute or two before telling the group.
"Let's put it this way, I'd say that he started planning what he did to Kyle at least four months before he actually carried it out. He is methodical in his planning and he seems to have little regard for life including his own. I would not be that surprised if he had a small amount of explosive on his person to detonate if he was put in a position where he might be caught."
"Now that's borderline psychotic. How long before you think he'll strike again?"
"Now that's hard to say, boss. This guy is nuts and I don't have a clue. But I can tell you that he seems to be targeting either the BDU or you." Herman tells Rick.
"Yeah, I had a feeling that you were going to say that."
TBC
