37. Skyhigh
37
SKYHIGH
In the movies, they make it look so fucking easy. Just cut the red wire. And you know that whatever wire they cut, it's all gonna work out in the end.
Yeah, they have no fucking idea what they're talking about.
Just looking at Tanner's work, it's obvious he's not an expert, but it's not an amateur job either. Everything's rigged to cause an explosion if anyone tries to take the harness apart. Wires are unlabeled, they're all black and cutting any of them could cause a short inside the receiver box. He must've been stealing from Chafik for a while to get this much high-end hardware together.
Poe's jammer box is still crackling and humming, but the battery's not gonna last forever. And if Tanner has access to a frequency it's not jamming, this could end real fast, real ugly.
So enough thinking. Just gotta do.
A little status LED screen on the receiver box reads 'ARMD' in bold red letters. Nice of it to tell me. Unless it's a decoy. Saw this a couple times back in the day, where bombs would be made to misrepresent things. Sometimes it was right, sometimes it was wrong and felt too obvious. If I didn't build it, I don't trust it, but that doesn't mean I won't keep an eye on it.
“Skyhigh?” Willow's voice is so fucking thin, so fucking terrified.
“Every day and twice on Sundays, babe. You're gonna be fine.” Fuck, these go all the way around her. If this goes up, it's gonna take out more than just us.
“Just… just in case.” A sob racks her, and I pull my knife back real quick so I don't accidentally bump anything. “I—When Tanner took me, I—I was on my way to you.”
“Baby girl, don't talk,” Blackout hisses, squeezing her hand harder. “You can tell us after, okay? We're not going anywhere. None of us fucking are.”
“No! Listen.”
Fuck, we don't have time for this. If Tanner gets control again…
“I was on my way to you guys. I needed to tell you that—that I want this to work. You, all of you, and me. That I—that I think I’m falling in love with you.”
“Baby,” Dragon growls. “When this is over, I'm gonna kiss you so fucking hard you'll forget your own damn name. Of course you do, even if you're the last one to figure it out.”
“What? But—” The fact that she can get indignant while in a fucking bomb harness says something about how caught off guard she is.
“We’re not going anywhere,” I say while checking the connections a third time. Pretty sure I've got it figured out. “You fucking had us that first night when you came charging into the club to file a fucking noise complaint. All fire and sweetness and sexy, wrapped up in one. If you think you're getting outta this by strapping on bombs and blowing us all to hell, then I got news for you, babe.” Drawing a breath and holding it tight, I catch the knife blade under one of the wires, and pull. The thin wire comes apart, split into two halves. The LED light goes from “ARMD” to just black. If anything's gonna happen, it's now. And when it doesn't, I let my breath back out. “You're not getting off the hook that fucking easy.”
“Is… is it done?”
I put a steadying hand on her thigh, squeezing it in comfort. “I think we’re golden. Don't move yet.”
“Not going to move a millimeter until you tell me,” she replies quickly.
The LED suddenly flips back on, the bright red color already giving me a sinking feeling. It doesn't say “ARMD” anymore though.
Just a number, 0060 .
Then 0059.
0058.
Fuck. Backup system? Tanner’s more sophisticated than I thought.
“Skyhigh?” The tremble in Willow's voice is uncertain. She knows something is wrong.
“Just hold on.”
Dragon leans in to see.
0049 .
His resigned sigh scares me more than the fucking numbers.
“Gonna be fine, Willow. Look at me.” Blackout risks kissing the top of her head while I try to figure out how to stop the backup timer.
It's just hit 0042 when a shot echoes and kicks up a chunk of asphalt right next to my knee. You gotta be fucking kidding me.
Dragon has his piece in his hand immediately, scanning the buildings across the street from the gates. His growl is low and deadly. “Must've figured out we jammed him.”
“He's desperate,” Willow whispers. “A little unhinged, and he’s freaked out that someone named Chafik's after him. I think he's just trying to do as much damage as possible. He wouldn't shut up about it the whole way here.”
“He's a fucking dead man walking,” Blackout snarls, his gun out too. He fires it, aiming high, not so much to hit, but to keep Tanner down. We don't know where he is yet, but he doesn't know that. “Keep working. We'll get him.”
A moment later, there's the rumble of an engine starting, and one of the vans we keep in the garage comes roaring our way. It screeches to a stop right between us and the gate. Savage jumps out through the passenger door so he's on our side of it. “Don't know shit about bombs, but the armored walls should keep the bullets off you while you work. Mobilizing the boys to find that fucker.” He sounds happy to have something that he can do instead of having to just watch us from cover.
“Keep him alive for me,” I grunt while I manage to work the cover off the receiver box by jamming my knife into it. It clatters to the ground, revealing a circuit board and more little wires.
0031.
“Now get the fuck outta the way.”
“Roger.” He runs off, bending low in case more bullets are coming. Other members already have their guns out and are laying down cover fire. This is the kind of shit that makes us unpopular with the neighbors, but I really couldn't give two shits right now.
“Skyhigh?” Willow can't see the timer, but obviously she knows things aren't going to plan. I'm gonna fucking murder Tanner. If Dragon and Blackout don't get him first. Can't see them with the van in the way, but I'm sure they're chasing him down.
“Shh, Willow. Babe. I've got this. You're gonna be fine.”
“Okay.” The trembling sob betrays that she might not be totally believing me. I get it. I wouldn't either, but what the fuck else can I say?
0016.
Fuck. There's a couple of possible configurations for a circuit board like this, and no way to tell which one's right. I don't exactly have time to go get my tools to trace the signals. And so I'm reduced to guessing, just like the fucking movies after all.
What are the odds that I guess right?
0009.
“Willow, I fucking love you.” I ready my knife, getting ready to knock out the connection I think is most likely. “If there's a last thing for you to hear, I want it to be that. Dragon and Blackout do too, and I'm gonna do my best to make sure they get to tell you in person.”
0005.
“Skyhigh…”
“I fucking love you.”
0001.
I break the connection.