Page 96 of Target Acquired

“What?”

“Don’t do anything. McClane, you might want to stand down. I don’t know what will happen with the bomb. If it’s on a timer or if he has to actually detonate it. Cross, give me a sec to see what he’s up to.”

The team and other local law officers waited.

“Okay,” she said, “he’s got the vest off and is laying it on the desk next to the rifle.” She licked her lips. “McClane, do you have a shot?”

“Negative.”

“Detonator?” Cole asked. “Kill switch?”

“Still can’t see one. He’s got his phone. Badami, is there another exit out of there? Through the bathroom attached to the office? He’s headed that way. Bomb vest is still on the table. He’s got the rifle with him. McClane?”

“Negative. No shot.”

“Breach!” Cole said.

“No!” Kenzie had stopped panning the camera at the entry door to the office. “He’s got it wired. If you open it, it blows.”

“Stand down! Stand down!”

Kenzie released a slow breath. She turned the camera back toward the bathroom just in time to see the shooter’s feet disappear into the ceiling. The hostages couldn’t see him from where they sat, and if she hadn’t caught the glimpse of him climbing from the sink into the ceiling, it would have appeared that he’d just vanished. “He’s going up,” she said. “He has an escape route. Once he’s out, I can’t say a hundred percent, but I have a strong gut feeling he’s going to detonate the explosives. Where does the ceiling go? Badami?”

“Blueprints don’t show anything. Cross is asking.”

“Ask faster!”

“King,” James said, “the worker I’ve been dialoguing with says he doesn’t know anything that could be an escape route for the guy that could be in the ceiling, but if it’s Charlie Matthews, they suspect he’d been living in the warehouse for a while before he was fired. They could never prove it, though. Never found any real evidence of it. Just said that he was always there. First one in the building and last one to leave. If it’s him. No one can confirm his identity.”

She could see Cowboy outside the office door, trying to get a good look at the device. “I don’t think you’re coming through that door, Cowboy,” she said. “You’re going to have to disarm it from the inside.”

“I’m thinking the same thing. You guys work on catching him before he sets this thing off. We’re going to scan the ceiling and see if we can locate him.”

The chopper roared overhead, and Kenzie backed up, trying to figure out where Charlie planned to exit. Surely not the roof. If he’d been living in the place, he’d know every nook and cranny. He’d have hiding places, escape routes, a place to keep whatever things he might have. And all of that would be in the building.

Then again, he was prepared to blow it all up, and the only reason he hadn’t yet was because one hostage had gotten a 911 call in before he could execute his plan.

But he had a way out.

So where was it?

COLE’S WORK PHONE vibrated with a call, most likely Mariah and an emergency with Riley. But right now, family matters had to be on the back burner. His phone vibrated again with the voicemail.

“The guy is in the ceiling,” Kenzie said via the comms. “I’m coming to join you. Bomb squad needs to get into the office from this side of the building.”

“Bomb squad is on the way, King,” James said. “Everyone needs to get away from the building.”

“Cross, we’ve got to keep him in the building,” Kenzie said. “As soon as he escapes, he’s going to blow it. Like I said earlier, he doesn’t want to die. He’s not going to detonate those bombs until he’s well clear. He’s away from the hostages, so they’re no longer in danger of being shot, just blown up if he slips away.”

“In other words, the hostages can wait. Catching this guy can’t.”

“Exactly.”

“Then let’s get him. Explosives dog is here. Otis can sit this one out while the trained one does the rest of the work.”

It took Kenzie less than ten seconds to join them, and Cole motioned for the new handler and his dog to lead the way. They kept their thermal glasses locked on the ceiling, looking for anything that emitted heat while moving forward with the permission of the dog.

“There,” Butler said, pointing. “That could be him.”