Chapter 9 - AVERY'S SIGNAL
Crane left Mason with two armed guards.
That was his mistake.
Mason had dislocated his thumb during a training exercise years earlier. He did it again, slipped one hand free, and attacked before the guards realized what had happened.
He reached the courthouse through a service tunnel.
Chief Warren answered his radio.
“Daniel is inside. We lost camera coverage.”
“Crane has him in an explosive vest.”
“We evacuate.”
“No. Panic may trigger him.”
Mason entered the maintenance corridor.
Daniel stood at the far end.
The vest was strapped over his hospital gown.
A detonator was taped to his hand.
Emily and Avery were behind a locked courtroom door.
Daniel was crying.
“They said they’ll kill her if I stop.”
“Crane is lying.”
“He has people everywhere.”
“So do we.”
Daniel laughed bitterly.
“No. You have rules.”
A small hand appeared beneath the courtroom door.
Avery’s fingers.
She tapped the floor twice.
The same signal she used at the water plant.
Ready to move.
Mason kept his eyes on Daniel.
“Your daughter is behind that door.”
“I know.”
“She is still trying to save herself.”
Daniel’s breathing became ragged.
“She hates me.”
“She’s six. She wants the nightmare to end.”
Daniel looked toward the tiny hand beneath the door.
Avery tapped twice again.
Mason spoke slowly.
“Open your hand.”
“The detonator—”
“Open it.”
Daniel tried.
Tape held his fingers around the switch.
Mason moved closer.
“If Crane wanted you alive, he would not put a bomb on you.”
Daniel understood.
He lowered his arm.
Mason reached him and cut the wire leading from the vest to the detonator.
Nothing happened.
The vest was real.
But the trigger was fake.
Crane wanted police to shoot Daniel before he could testify.
The courtroom door opened.
Emily pulled Avery behind her.
Daniel looked at his daughter.
He took one step forward.
Avery recoiled.
That stopped him more completely than handcuffs ever had.
Police arrested him again.
Crane attempted to leave the capitol by helicopter.
State investigators stopped him on the roof.
The grand jury hearing resumed that afternoon.
Emily testified for three hours.
Daniel confirmed the financial network.
Voss provided names.
Hale finally broke when prosecutors showed him the attempted assassination order bearing Crane’s authorization code.
By nightfall, thirty-two officials had been suspended or arrested.
Mason returned to the courthouse hallway.
Avery sat on a bench holding her teddy bear.
“Is the snake gone?” she asked.
“Yes.”
“All of them?”
Mason looked through the window at officials being led away.
“Almost.”
Avery pointed to the teddy bear.
“There’s something else inside.”
Mason opened the restitched seam.
Beneath the stuffing was a tiny memory card.
May you like
The original evidence.
Avery had carried it the entire time.
