The moment the car reached the ground floor and the doors opened, I was out and running. There were a few cleaners and other service staff making their way to the main exit, and outside more were mustering at evacuation points.
I ran out of the main entrance onto the street and looked in all directions, trying to spot the fleeing gunman. To my surprise he wasn’t running anymore. He stood on the corner of Kaiyuan Street, beside a stationary black Mercedes E-Class. The same one that had spirited him away earlier. He smiled when he was sure I’d seen him and showed me something small and metallic in his hand.
There was no mistaking what it was.
“Bomb!” I yelled, urging the last stragglers forward to the nearest evacuation point.
I looked over their shoulders to see the gunman press the button on the detonator.
High above us, multiple explosive devices detonated. Huge fireballs tore through the building, bursting from its sides like dragon’s breath.
I looked round to see the Mercedes E-Class speed away as the first slivers of glass and debris rained down on the sidewalk yards away from us. The ground shook and rumbled and finally settled as high above us a firestorm raged in what had once been the Private office.
Someone had struck another blow at my organization. Someone who, for whatever reason, wanted me alive to witness the carnage. I would make sure that decision proved to be a huge mistake.
Chapter 21
Justine was carrying the Cobb salad she’d bought from Upland, a bright diner a block away, when she took the elevator back to her office. She had spent the morning finalizing her profile of Lewis’s killer, and everything about him pointed to a highly motivated professional. Sci and Mo-bot were checking cameras for more footage of the man, but once he went through that gate he seemed to vanish into the ether.
Justine hadn’t spoken to Jack in a while, so as the elevator car rose, she pulled her phone from her purse and was surprised to see she had missed a call from him forty minutes before, a little after she’d set out to buy lunch. She must not have heard the phone above the Manhattan traffic.
She called Jack as she stepped out into the Private lobby. She could tell something was wrong the moment he answered.
“Justine, are you okay?” he asked.
“Of course,” she replied, suddenly on edge. “Why wouldn’t I be? What’s going on?”
She could hear sirens and the noise of multiple vehicles in the background at his end. Where was he? What had happened?
“There’s been an explosion at Private Beijing. Zhang Daiyu was injured earlier today. One of the men who attacked us planted high explosives in the office. It’s gone, it’s all gone.”
Jack sounded agitated and distressed. She suddenly felt sick with worry.
“Are you OK? Where are you now?”
“I was at the office when the bombs were planted — I tried to capture the attacker. I was there checking Zhang Daiyu’s background — I thought someone might be targeting her for some reason — but it’s clear now they’re out to get Private. I want you to alert all our offices around the world. Ask them to sweep the buildings.”
“Okay, I will,” Justine replied. “Are you sure you’re alright? You weren’t injured?”
“Nothing major. Don’t worry about me. We need to stay focused.” He sounded almost frantic. “After what happened to our surveillance team, it would be fair to assume the New York office might be the next target.”
“I agree,” Justine replied. “I’ll get the building searched immediately and put out an alert to all our other offices.”
She went through the lobby doors into the office and hurried toward the computer lab.
“What’s your next move?” she asked.
“I’m on my way back to Zhang Daiyu. I left her somewhere safe. I’ll lay low until she’s back on her feet.”
“Jack, please be careful.”
“Of course, but I should tell you — something weird is going on. The guy who attacked us earlier had a clear shot on me and didn’t take it. And when I showed up at the office, he was shocked but waited until I had left the building before he detonated the bombs. I don’t think these people want me dead, though I can’t figure out why.”
“Well, that’s something, at least,” Justine said as she entered the computer lab. “I still want you to be careful though.”
“I will be,” he replied. “Get the offices swept ASAP.”
“I’m on it. Love you.”
“Love you too,” he echoed before hanging up.
Sci and Mo-bot were seated by one of the terminals. There were five tech specialists dotted around the room, all of whom had their headphones on and were rapt in concentration.
“What’s up?” Mo-bot asked as Justine approached. “You look like someone dumped the weight of the world on your shoulders.”
“Private Beijing was just blown up. Jack wants us to notify all offices and have them searched,” Justine revealed.
“You’re kidding,” Sci remarked. “Is he okay?”
Justine nodded. “He’s fine, but he thinks this could all be part of a coordinated attack on the organization.”
“It’s looking increasingly likely,” Sci observed.
“I’m messaging every head of country now,” Mo-bot said, typing on her computer.
“I guess we better evacuate,” Sci said, getting to his feet. “Everyone out,” he yelled at the tech specialists. “Someone pull the fire alarm.”
Justine followed him out, silently praying Jack’s suspicions were wrong.
Chapter 22
Justine, Mo-bot, and Sci conferred in Madison Square Park across the street from the Private building. Sci and Mo-bot were talking about the investigation and what they would do next, but Justine wasn’t really following their conversation, too distracted by what had happened. They’d evacuated the office and notified the other businesses in the three floors immediately below their top-floor premises, who’d also taken the decision to ask their staff to vacate the building. So far over two hundred people had congregated in small groups around them, all trying to avoid the punishing July sunshine by crowding together under the shade of some overhanging trees.
Twenty minutes after they’d evacuated the office, building security had located three suspicious packages during their sweep and called the New York Police Department Bomb Squad, who’d instructed them to evacuate the rest of the building, adding to the crowds in the park and surrounding streets.
If those packages proved to be bombs, Private’s sanctuary would have been violated, and Justine could hardly bring herself to think about what might have happened if Jack hadn’t warned them.
Sci abruptly stopped talking and his eyes shifted across the busy street.
“Well, I’ll be... Susan Evermont. She’s an old buddy of mine. NYPD forensics.”
He pointed to a smartly suited woman in her early forties who was talking to some detectives just inside the police cordon that had been established around the building.
“Come on,” Sci suggested. “Let’s go see what we can find out.”
He didn’t wait for a reply but headed out of the park. Mo-bot and Justine followed. They crossed the intersection, but as they approached the cordon a uniformed police officer moved to intercept them.
“Hey, Susan,” Sci yelled over the young officer’s shoulder.
She glanced up and smiled the moment she caught saw sight of Sci. He had that effect on people, charming and disarming.
“It’s okay,” she said, walking over. “Let them through.”
The uniformed cop stood aside, and Sci ducked beneath the police tape. Mo-bot and Justine followed.
“How the heck have you been, Sci?” Susan asked him.
“Still breathing,” he replied. “This is Justine Smith and Maureen Roth.”