The Evasion by Adrienne Giordano Page A

on.” Reese said. “Right there…Okay…move it to your left and up. I gotta see where the wires lead. Don’t bump anything.”
    That’s all he’d need and— boom! —they’d both get blown away.
    “Who put this thing together?” Reese asked. “Amateur?”
    “Not sure. We’re chasing this Martinson guy. He’s into trafficking counterfeit goods. Bombs are new. Why?”
    “Because if he’s an amateur, chances are the trip wire isn’t spring-loaded. Amateurs don’t know what the hell they’re doing and won’t mess with unintentionally releasing the spring-loaded pin. They’re afraid they’ll blow themselves to shit. Problem is, he could have concealed the spring inside the pipe.”
    Gabe didn’t dare look at Jo. Not a chance. He lay on the floor, the muscles in his shoulders and neck coiling as that damned timer ticked down. Every muscle, every instinct honed from years of tactical maneuvers begged for action.
    “Tick, tock, Reese.”
    “With this setup, I don’t think it’s spring-loaded. That’s a guess though, bud.”
    Gabe wrapped his fingers around his forehead and squeezed, let the pressure build for a second while considering his options. “If it’s not spring-loaded, all I need to do is cut the trip wire, right? That’ll at least let me get her out of the chair.”
    “Yeah, but if there’s a pin against the cap and it’s spring-loaded, the pin will release and...”
    “Ka-pow,” Jo said.
    The room went quiet and Gabe gave Jo his best hard stare. Commentary he didn’t need. “Really?” he said to her.
    “Pretty much,” Reese said.
    Before he lost his shit on both of them, Gabe checked the timer. Thirty-three minutes. Crap .
    Not willing to waste any more time, he sat on the bed far enough from Jo that he wouldn’t accidentally bump her. She liked her bad news like a good shot of whiskey. Fast and furious.
    “Talk to me,” she said.
    He held his hand out, wanting that hand on her, massaging every inch, but he wouldn’t risk it. Not now. If they reached critical mass, and he couldn’t get her out of that chair, he’d do it, but they weren’t there yet. “You know where we’re at on this. If we get the cargo released, Martinson tells me how to deactivate this thing. If we don’t release the cargo…”
    “Do it,” Jo said.
    “What?”
    “Cut the wire. It’s not spring-loaded. Call it intuition, but I can feel it.”
    Gabe shook his head. “It’s not just us. This whole building could go and it might take the buildings on either side. Who knows?”
    Jo closed her eyes and sat for a few seconds. When she opened them, tears bullied their way free. Crying wasn’t part of her repertoire and he could count on a couple of fingers how many times he’d seen her well up. Tough stock, his girl.
    He ran his thumb under her eyes, wiped them dry for her. If this wasn’t some kind of bullshit situation, he didn’t know what was. At thirty-three years old, he finally finds a woman he wants to put in front of his folks to say, “Yes, she’s the one we’ve been waiting for,” and now they might both get blown away. Screw that. Neither one of them would die in this Podunk town. “I’ll get you out of here.”
    “I want you to cut the wire. Just do it. We’re wasting time.”
    Roger that . He got back on the floor. Now or never. “Reese, fuck it. Let’s just do this and hope to hell the thing isn’t spring-loaded.”
    “I’m guessing it’s not. Especially if he’s going to tell you how to deactivate it.”
    “What do I do?”
    “Just snip the wire, dude.”
    That simple. Gabe squeezed the wire cutter handles a few times to get the feel of the motion. Light rust coated the blades, jerking the movement. A f ew more tries . He needed to do this in one smooth motion, no hesitation. Got this.
    “Hey.”
    He glanced up and she mouthed, “I love you.”
    “Ditto,” he said.
    Slowly, he positioned the wire between the blades, hesitated long enough to throw out a prayer