Eric’s stomach dropped. “That’s a dead man’s switch.”
John and Kelly took a halting step backward.
“That is correct. If I take my thumb off this trigger, it will be a bad day for you, indeed. Now, are you with the police? Or the FBI?”
Eric shook his head. “None of those. We don’t care about your white power group. We just need information. We can all leave here today.”
“White power, is that what you think we are? I founded the APR in hopes that we could stop the mixing of races in this great country. I’m not a racist. I’m a patriot. Like a patriot, I am willing to spill my blood to refresh the tree of liberty. The men above, however, were innocent.”
Eric saw John flinch. “I told you,” he repeated, “it didn’t have to go that way.”
“You killed without mercy, or due process under the law. You killed my men and now you wave your guns at me. Tell me, young man, do you love this country?”
“As a matter of fact, I do.” He wanted to put a bullet in the man, but he couldn’t rick killing the one man who might know the location of the caesium. “That’s why I serve it now.”
“Ah, spoken like a military man. Tell me, do you know what the single greatest threat to this country is, young man?” Before Eric could answer, Dyer continued, “The mixing of the races. Negros mixing with whites. Mexicans mixing with the Negros. When they befriend each other and share their cultures, it dilutes them. Look at the Japanese. They don’t encourage it. They have retained a racial and cultural purity that keeps them strong, yet we encourage everyone to come here. The great melting pot, we call it. What will become of the Negro culture? What will become of the white culture? I’m thinking of the children, you see.”
Eric nodded. “Mr. Dyer, I know who you are, and I have a good idea of what you’ve done. Don’t bullshit me.”
Dyer nodded his head. “I regret that I’ve done some distasteful things, but like all true patriots, I’m forced to do what is necessary.”
He was through humoring the old man. “We know the APR stole the caesium. Where is it?”
Dyer smiled. “An angel lifted his voice and cried, will you prove your love for the Lord?”
“Tell me what you did with the caesium,” Eric said. “You don’t have to die here.”
Dyer smiled sadly. “Did you kill Fletcher?”
Eric glanced at John, who nodded.
“A shame. He was a good man. He knew the risk when he acquired the caesium, yet he did it without complaint.”
“Is it still here?”
“The coming tide will lift up the white race. The chorus of angels will sing from the heavens and the end shall become the beginning.” Dyer nodded his head to an unseen choir. “You will never find it in time, I promise you. The angels have spoken, and it is for no man to undo the word of God.”
Dyer was never going to tell them anything. “I don’t want to shoot you, but I will if I have to.”
“I’m wearing a vest of C4 wired to this switch,” Dyer said calmly. “If I move my thumb, it will kill us all. I’m prepared to die for my cause. I ask you, are you prepared to die for yours?”
Eric slowly shook his head. “No, I don’t think so. I think you’re a smart man, and a smart man wouldn’t hold a dead man’s switch without some kind of safety.”
Dyer shook his weathered old head. “It is wired to the explosives, I promise you.”
“That I believe, but a smart man would build in a delay, say, half a second.” He turned and winked at John. “With a half second delay, you’d have time to put your thumb back on the trigger, just in case it slipped off.”
Dyer nodded. “Perhaps you are correct. What could you possibly do in that time?”
“Me? Nothing. John!”
Dyer lifted his thumb and smiled to the heavens. Eric saw the crazy glint in his eye and then the breath woofed out of him as John hit, practically folding him in half, driving him into Kelly. The three men went flying sideways out of the room and back into the basement as the C4 detonated, the blast filling the room with a bloody, smoke-filled haze.
He hit the cement floor, the impact slamming through his body and knocking his teeth together. He lay for a moment, ears ringing, then struggled to his feet.
John and Kelly rose as well. Kelly appeared woozy and John rubbed at his ears, eyes wide, looking into the remains of the room.
Martin and Clark were yelling in his ear-piece, but he couldn’t understand. He grabbed John by his arm and yelled, “Good job!”
John gaped at him. “What?”
“I said, good job!”
Kelly gave him a hound-dog stare and pointed at the devastation. “What do we do now?” he yelled.
Eric felt as if he had cotton in his ears, but he could finally understand Martin’s voice over the ear-piece. The news wasn’t good. “First responders are on their now,” Eric told Kelly and John. “Now we talk to the police.”
Nancy hung up her phone and turned to Deion. “Okay, they’ve got eyes on the drone data and they’ve tapped the cell phone towers in the area. Clark is working on overriding Rumple’s commands. As soon as the orders come in, Delta will be back on site, but it’s going to take time.”
“How good is the drone data?” he asked.
“Just video and night vision. It’s enough to let us know if we’re in trouble, but it’s not armed.”
He didn’t like it, but Jaabir offered their only lead. “If we want this guy, it’s all we’re going to get.”
She nodded. “I agree. He’s too valuable. We need him.”
He could tell she was pissed about Rumple, but at least she was focusing on the mission. “Let’s tell Val and Neil.”
He found them at the truck, checking their M4’s. “We’re on. Jaabir should be back anytime. We’ve got drone coverage and we’re getting the Delta callback orders rescinded, but they probably won’t make it back before the meeting time.”
“We understand,” Valerie said, concerned. “It’s just this is a little more cowboy than we’re used to.”
He grabbed her hand and gave it a quick squeeze. “It’ll be fine, Val. I wouldn’t let anything happen to you.”
Neil squinted at him, uncertain. “What about Nancy?” he asked, motioning to the house. “Can we count on her?”
He laughed. “She’s the most dangerous one here.”
Neil nodded, but the skepticism on his face suggested he did not share Deion’s opinion. The sun was almost below the horizon, and what little light it shed cast long red shadows down the street. They finished their weapons check and entered the house to wait for Jaabir.
He removed an ear-piece from a pouch on his belt and plugged it in to his PRC-148 and keyed the mic, “Clark? Do you read me?”
“Loud and clear, Deion,” came Clark’s voice seconds later. “We’re patched in to the MBITR network. Karen has your position on-screen. We’re combing the area for signs of suspicious activity.”
“Roger that. Keep us informed.”
Nancy pulled the heavy curtains aside over the front window to watch the front of the building. She motioned to him right before there was a soft knock on the door. He opened it and found Jaabir waiting, his AK slung low.
“We take your truck,” Jaabir said.
They piled in the Toyota, Neil driving with Jaabir in the passenger seat, Valerie, Nancy and Deion in the back, guns ready. Deion left his seat-belt unfastened, just in case someone threw in a bomb. It was easier to bail out, a lesson learned from his previous time in Afghanistan.
Jaabir guided them through back alleys and side streets, headlights off, navigating by the meager light cast from open windows. It took less than ten minutes before they came to a small house, a green bulb glowing in the front window.