Chapter 16

When Steve regained consciousness, his hands were tied behind his back and he was wearing an explosive vest. Breathing heavily, he closed his eyes and tried to calm down. He did not quite succeed, because he already suspected where it would go for him. He was still in the storage unit, but Theo was nowhere to be seen.

Steve looked around attentively. About a meter in front of him was an almost empty table, with only an old video camera lying on it, its lamp glowing red and apparently filming him. Steve didn't see any cables leading anywhere, so he assumed for the moment that the camera was not online.

Theo's work table stood at some distance. Tools were not within reach, they were apparently all locked away, but a glass water bottle stood among the materials. Steve felt over his bonds with his fingers to see if he could loosen them somehow, but the cable ties were pulled tightly together. His feet were also bound and he would be damned if he was going to hop through the storage unit with the explosives around his middle. Once again, Steve took a deep breath. His fingers were still groping around behind his back. Nothing. By now, beads of sweat stood on his forehead.

Steve looked around again. What if he did try to get to the table? Briefly, he closed his eyes and thought of his loved ones. Then he stood up carefully.

Feeling his way forward in mini-steps, he tapped his way gently toward the small table. It took him what felt like an eternity to finally reach the table. He turned around and felt with his fingers for the bottle, then smashed it on the table. Gingerly, his fingers fumbled for a shard and he began to cut the cable ties. Once it slipped and landed in his wrist, blood flowed warmly down his hand. Then he finally had the cable ties through.

He still freed his feet, took one of the shards and sat back down on his chair. He would much rather have just run away, but with the bomb around him, he was a danger to everyone. Since the detonator was on his back, he didn't even know if the bomb had a timer or remote detonator.

Steve bit his lips. He wasn't often at a loss, but right now he had no idea.

He jolted up from his musings when the door to the storage unit opened again and Theo returned.

"Ah, awake again. That's nice, then we can start right away."

Steve gulped. Theo came right up to him, but then went to the camera first, put his gun on the table, and apparently rewound. Presumably he then needed the footage for his video.

Without thinking twice, Steve jumped up, grabbed Theo's gun, took the safety off and pointed it at the assassin. But the assassin only grinned mildly.

"You're good, but what are you going to do? You have an explosive belt on and I have the trigger."

He pulled his cell phone out of his pocket and opened an app. Steve's gaze fell helplessly on Theo's hand. Then he saw the images of the pier and the hospital again. At that moment, Steve made a decision. He would not let himself be used to kill people. Keeping his eyes on the phone and the open app, he pulled the trigger.

Shocked, Abby, Chin and Danny were still looking at the picture of Steve. He was unconscious and had a fresh laceration on his temple. But what shocked them even more was the explosive belt that someone had put on him. Stunned, Danny kept stroking his hair. He had no idea what to do.

"Oh my God, is that Steve?"

"Catherine!"

Slowly she stepped up to the three, her eyes fixed steadfastly on the picture of her friend.

"What happened?" she asked quietly. Briefly, Chin summarized what had happened. Still she stared at the photo as if mesmerized. Then she frowned.

"What's that in the background?" Abby tried to enlarge the photo and minimize the noise of the background.

"Looks like a camp or something."

"And how long was Steve gone when the video went online?"

First Danny looked at Catherine in confusion, then he shifted gears.

"Okay, let's find all the storage units around the LAPD that are within half an hour." A few dots appeared on the map. Danny pointed to three that were roughly in the direction Steve had been walking.

"We should look at this one first. If it's still there, that is. Who knows where Theo is going with him." Promptly, Catherine looked at Chin, who got her a gun and holster from the closet without further comment.

"Catherine, this is not a ..." but she interrupted him rudely.

"I'm not going to sit here and wait for my friend to get blown up, Danny!"

Soon Chin, Danny and Catherine came out of the last storage room discouraged. None of the three had been able to find Steve or Theo. So they would probably have to expand their search to the other camps. Abby had stayed at HQ to keep an eye on the market to see if Theo might show up there with Steve. But they hadn't shown up there yet either. Danny looked at their next destination on the map. Concern was written all over his face. Where had Theo gone with Steve, and where was he going to put Steve? Was he perhaps already on the scene?

When Theo hit the ground and dropped his phone, Steve held his breath and closed his eyes. He waited for the releasing bang, but all he heard was the unnaturally loud clang as the device hit the ground and the smartphone screen shattered. He waited a few seconds and when nothing happened, he opened his eyes again and exhaled slowly.

At first, it seemed to have gone well. Theo lay shot in the head in a pool of blood that slowly grew larger. The cell phone had not survived the fall from Theo's hand and could no longer be turned on, so Steve could not use it to call for help.

Steve rifled through all of the dead man's pockets and found a large set of keys, which he took. He opened all the drawers and toolboxes in the storage unit hoping to find anything he could use to get help. Another cell phone or maybe even his cell phone, a radio or something. He didn't want to endanger anyone by running around somewhere with the explosive vest.

But all he found were tools and blueprints. He was searching through the last drawer when a sudden beep sounded behind him. Shocked, he closed his eyes. The timer on the vest had probably just activated.