Page 106 of Flint’s Strike

“For what?” I ask. I’ve seen Nate’s spreadsheets. Pretty sure NASA has launched missions with less documentation.

“Every inspection Apex has ever done,” he says. “I’ve been looking at this from the wrong angle. All my color coding. Wasted.”

His fingers fly over the keyboard, while Parker and AJ exchange a look.

“Is he gonna be okay?” AJ asks, his voice barely more than a whisper.

Parker shakes her head. “He’s in shock. Either that or Hell’s frozen over.”

Nate sits back, his hands shaking slightly. “I was hoping for twelve.”

AJ peers at the screen, eyes wide, and all the color draining from his cheeks. “Fuck. Two hundred and three?”

With a few clicks, Nate sends the results to the wall monitor. I scan the list—the first page of it, anyway—and see addresses across half a dozen counties. Homes. Businesses. Two hundred and three buildings where people are depending on an inspection that might not be worth the paper it’s printed on.

For a long moment, no one says a word. The HVAC system shudders, trying desperately to keep up with the June heat.

“Can you sort by occupancy?” I ask.

“Doing it now. Also adding filters for building age, stories, ownership, use type—schools, churches, hospitals, care homes, hotels…” With the speed of a man running on caffeine and spite, Nate adds filters in every color under the sun.

“You forgot fuchsia,” Parker says when he tries to pick a second green that’s too close to the first.

“And that’s why we work so well together.” Nate snaps his fingers, adds fuchsia, and sorts again. “Eliot, I’m putting two copies of this on a secure file share. Do whatever you want with the copy named SFMO. The other one’s my original. Don’t touch.”

“Got it.” I reach for my phone and pull up Chief Alvarez’s number. “We start with the buildings where evacuation’s a nightmare. Hospitals. Nursing homes. Anywhere the occupants can’t just walk out.”

Parker finally takes a sip of her Dr. Pepper. “If we’re lucky, some of these are vacant.”

“That’d be a hell of a turn.” Pinching the bridge of my nose, I try to work out how long it’s gonna take to inspect every one of those buildings. “Before I light this fuse, can you tell me which inspector signed off on each building?”

“The chartreuse button lets you sort by inspector,” Nate says.

“Am I supposed to know what color that is?”

“Yellow green.” With a shake of his head, he mutters, “No one appreciates me.”

I glance up at AJ. “This is the Ranger’s case, Stone. Your task force to run. But we’ve had four suspicious fires in ten days. There’s no way the half a dozen inspectors in my office can get through all these buildings before another one goes up. I gotta call Chief Alvarez. He’s the head of Major Investigations for SFMO out of Dallas. He can start pulling every competent inspector in the state.”

AJ nods. “Make the call. The task force might be run out of this office, Eliot, but you’re the fire guy. I ain’t about to tell you how to fight one.”

I hit dial, and Chief Alvarez answers on the second ring. “Eliot? How are things out there in Austin?”

“Not…great, sir. We’ve got an inspection problem. Or an inspector problem.” I spend the next few minutes summarizing the past ten days. When I finish, Alvarez clears his throat.

“So…what do you need?” he asks.

“Inspectors. As many as you can free up. We need rapid life-safety assessments. Exits. Suppression systems. Anything that presents an immediate danger to occupants. If a building looks unsafe, we coordinate with the local fire marshal and get people out until we know what we’re dealing with.”

His weary sigh says more than any words. “I’ll start making calls.”

Chapter Forty-Three

Parker

I snag another piece of pizza from the box in the center of the conference table. It’s gone cold—colder than the half-finished can of Dr. Pepper I’ve been nursing for the past hour—which somehow makes this entire day feel wrong.

Nate is muttering at his spreadsheet like the cells are out there committing felonies. He rearranges a column, changes its color from light blue to…a slightly lighter blue, then shakes his head and chooses an entirely different blue that still looks the same as the first one.