Drag lifted her right off the ground and tossed her over his shoulder to stride toward the doorway, where Chelli had already cleared everyone out.
The door shut with a bang of finality.
Saber pointeda bright flashlight at the bomb. “Nice threads.”
“Yeah.” Aiden reached into his bag and pointed some device at the bomb, read it, and nodded. “All right.” He took out a small set of scissors and then looked at my face. “You’ve been doing a great job, Angel. Now I need you to hold on a little while longer, okay?”
Tears pricked the back of my eyes, and I tried to stop breathing. “Teddy is in the office. Barensky shot him three times, and then there was blood.”
Saber leaned over and looked into the office. “I see a body.”
“Need to concentrate on this,” Aiden said. His hands were shockingly steady as he moved over me and meticulously cut the bottom of the pocket.
“Wh-what about the coppery colored wires?” I whispered.
“The added pocket isn’t secure enough to have the wires throughout,” he murmured, cutting up both sides. Then he removed the cloth and tossed it over his shoulder.
I looked down at a round metal cylinder with a multitude of wires connecting it to the other side of the brace. “I don’t suppose you could cut those wires?”
“No,” Aiden said, angling his head down to see better. “Flash the light on the right quadrant.”
Saber moved his position.
“That’s good,” Aiden murmured.
“How much time is left?” I asked.
Aiden reached in his pack and drew out another light, but this one shone a red beam. “Approximately two minutes.”
I shut my eyes and swallowed. “You guys have to go. Get out of here.” The last act of my life wasn’t going to be watching Aiden Devlin die. “Tell my family I love them. But go.”
“I’m not leaving you, Angel.” He didn’t look up at me. “Be quiet for a second, would you?”
Saber leaned closer to the bomb. “Talk it out as we go.”
“Affirmative,” Aiden said, his voice a calm thread through the chaotic day. “The size of this is big enough to include enhancements. Based on a study of Barensky, it’d be colored glass fragments, most likely genuine depression ware glass.”
I didn’t care about glass. “If it blows, is there a chance I’ll survive? Maybe lose a leg?”
“No,” Aiden said. “We have a silver container housing the initiator, switch, and main charge.”
Saber nodded. “Can we get into it?”
Aiden stretched out flat on the ground with his face eye-level to the bomb. “I smell gunpowder and peroxide. The man does like a good fire.” He looked up, his blue eyes intense. “Hold still, Angel. We’re getting out of this.”
I couldn’t breathe. We probably had less than a minute left. “Please go, Aiden.”
He reached in his pack. “You ready, Saber?”
“Yep.” Saber set the flashlight on the ground. “Twenty seconds left. I pull, you cut?”
“Affirmative.” Aiden gently twisted the bottom of the cylinder.
Saber reached out and let Aiden set the metal barely on his hands. “I see the timer. Fifteen seconds.”
Aiden pulled something silver out of his bag. “Need to cut off the igniter. That’ll give us time.” He moved steadily, his hands sure.
“Seven seconds,” Saber said calmly.
