Chapter 6
Lee took several shallow breaths as he tried to determine the exact configuration of the bomb as Francine immediately yelled out, "Clear this room. Get everyone out!" She scrambled to Billy's office, where she threw the door open, "Billy, you need to get out here!"
Billy scowled at her, "What now, Francine?"
"Sorenson sent Lee a little present, and right now, he is sitting at my desk with it," Francine tried to state calmly, although her eyes continued to dart back and forth between Lee and Billy's faces.
"He did what?" Billy roared. He moved around his desk and began ordering everyone, "Get out! Get the bomb squad up here, pronto. I want this entire section cleared!"
The agents in the room gathered what they could and immediately departed through the large glass doors into the hallway. Someone triggered the alarms, and soon, the floor was filled with red and white flashing lights, buzzing alerts, and an electronic voice announcing the commands to find the nearest exits.
Standing beside Lee, Billy now examined the device with him. "Looks like a mercury switch with a redundant backup. I must have snapped the seal when I opened the box. Any of these wires could set off the C-4," Lee exhaled.
"And that timer is set for four hours," Billy observed. "How the hell did this even make it through the door?"
"I don't know. Mrs. Marston said it was on her desk this morning with my name on it. I figured it was a gift for the girls, you know," Lee explained. He carefully lowered his elbows onto the desk to balance the box lid.
Francine lifted the phone, punched an extension, and immediately commanded, "Where is that damn bomb squad? We need them here now! Well, that's not good enough. Tell them to move faster!" She dropped the phone carefully back onto the cradle and nodded, "They're on their way. Jacobs is bringing the liquid nitrogen."
"Good, maybe we can freeze that mercury long enough to get Lee's hands off the box. Dammit! I should have told you to stay home!" Billy declared.
Lee looked up at his friend and mentor, "No, don't do that, Billy. This isn't your fault any more than it is mine or Francine's. Sorenson is the one responsible, and he knew exactly what he was doing."
"But how did he know to leave that package for you?" Billy demanded.
"He's got his ways. You know that. It's not like Amanda's pregnancy has been a secret for the last few months. We don't know how long he's been here, never mind keeping tabs on any of us," Lee reasoned. He exhaled slowly once more and looked around, "Where the hell are they?"
Francine opened her mouth to calm Lee when the phone rang beside her. She immediately recognized it was an outside line, so she lifted the phone and stated, "Francine Desmond."
"Francine!" Dotty's voice filtered through the phone. "Francine, it's Dotty. Amanda's mother. I need Lee. Do you know where he might be or how I can reach him right now?"
Francine looked at Lee and mouthed, "It's Amanda's mother." Lee shook his head, frantically. "You know, Dotty, as a matter of fact, his hands are a little full at the moment. Can I have him call you back in, oh, say an hour or so?"
Lee cringed when he heard Dotty's voice snap, "An hour?"
"Well, it could be sooner than that," Francine rushed out. "Can I give him a message?"
On the other end of the phone, Dotty was twisting the cord between her fingers nervously, "Yes. Please tell him that I'm worried about Amanda. She's not acting like herself… she doesn't want to eat, she's fidgety…" she paused. "I'm just worried something's going to happen, and Lee isn't going to be here." From somewhere in the background, Francine could hear Amanda yelling out, "I'm fine, Mother!" Dotty shuffled the phone slightly as she whispered loudly, "She was like this the day before she went into labor with Philip… irritable with no appetite."
"I'll make sure he gets the message, Dotty. Don't you worry. And as soon as he has a minute, I'll have him call you," Francine assured her with a pained expression as she watched Lee readjust his elbows on the desk.
"Well, I should hope so. But let him know, I have an appointment this morning, so I'll be gone for a bit. Joe already picked up the boys, and Amanda promised me she wasn't going to get off the couch while I was gone. I really hate leaving her, but you know how hard it is to get those doctor's appointments scheduled. If I cancel now, they're going to charge me for the visit and who knows how long it will be before I can get back in there to see him. You have to keep up with your health, Francine. It's very important," Dotty babbled.
Francine nodded slowly, "I will. And I'll let Lee know." She carefully dropped the receiver back onto the cradle.
"Well? What'd she have to say?" Lee demanded.
"Um… I don't really know. She's worried about Amanda going into labor because she has to go out to a doctor's appointment," Francine blinked. "She also said something like, Amanda was irritable and had no appetite the day before she went into labor with Philip, whatever that means."
Lee inhaled and exhaled slowly, "Okay, so it wasn't an emergency. Just Dotty being Dotty."
"See, nothing to worry about. Dotty being Dotty. Sounds like she's seeing signs that aren't really there," Billy assured Lee.
In the hall, they saw a small group of men wearing tactical bomb tech gear. "Look, the bomb squad is here. All right, Scarecrow, you just sit tight, and they'll have that bomb disarmed in no time. Then you are going right home. I don't need any more incidents today," Billy announced.
The small group of six men entered the bullpen. "Where is it?" one man asked.
"Right here," Lee called out. He was still studying the bomb, trying to visually trace each colored wire back to its source but was hindered by a section covered by C-4 explosive.
The group approached Lee tentatively. One man stepped forward and asked, "Scarecrow, what can you tell me about the device?"
"Um… mercury switch, redundant backup detonator from what I can see, C-4," Lee rattled off.
"Good," the heavily dressed man assured him. "Now, do you think you can shift the device around so we can get more access to it?"
Lee tried to turn the small package in his hands. The ribbon on the bottom of the box made it difficult to shift against the desktop. "No, it's sticking to the desk," he stated.
"Can you try to lift it and turn it?" the man directed.
Lee exhaled again. He tried to lift the package with shaky hands, but when the mercury slid slightly in the small tube, he lowered it again and shook his head. "No."
"All right then. We are going to use the liquid nitrogen to try to freeze the mercury long enough to rotate the package and get your hands off it," the tech explained. Lee nodded slowly and waited until the bomb tech retrieved the liquid nitrogen canister and wand from another member of his team. The tech looked at Billy and Francine and stated, "You folks should get out of here. Just in case anything goes wrong."
"No, I'm not leaving my man here, alone," Billy stated firmly.
Francine nodded her head in agreement, "Not in a million years."
Lee gave the two of them a weak smile as he muttered, "Thanks."
"Now, you may feel a cold blast on your hands for a few seconds, but don't worry. It's not going to hurt you. I'm going to direct the stream at the switch. Once you see frost forming around the tube, nod your head, and Agent Davis is going to step in and take the package from you," the tech explained. "Do you understand the directions?"
Lee exhaled nervously, "Yeah, yeah, yeah, I understand. Just get it over with!" Billy and Francine glanced over at each other and took two steps to get out of the way of Agent Davis's path to the desk.
"Ready? Here we go," the bomb tech stated. From the wand in his hand, a white mist appeared, directed at the small tube the mercury was contained in.
Lee held his breath as he watched frost begin to appear on the glass. Suddenly, something caught his attention. "Stop!" he commanded. The tech lifted the wand and stared at Lee, confused. "The timer just sped up. Now, we only have three hours left," he explained as he swallowed hard.