Jack heard Mongo scream through the gag and saw the big man’s muscles bulge as he twisted and turned in an effort to get away.

Jack turned away as the smell of burned hair and flesh invaded his nostrils. Beside him he could feel Mongo lurch and twist his body as his muffled cries turned to whimpers.

Without warning, Rashard stabbed Mongo through the arm with the pitchfork, effectively pinning him to the beam. “This will hold the fucker still!”

The action caused the chain to tighten, jerking Jack back as a spray of blood shot out from an artery in Mongo’s arm, hitting Cocktail in the face.

“What have you done?” screamed Cocktail.

Chapter Forty-One

Laura checked her watch and realized only four minutes had passed since she last looked.

“I don’t see what we can do except wait,” replied Connie, watching her.

“You’ve been checking with OCTF? The monitors?”

“Everyone is up to speed. Nothing unusual on the wiretap. OCTF has a room bug someplace where Fateh’s guys are partying. Everything seems normal.”

“Do they normally party on a Sunday night?” asked Laura.

“I guess so. These guys don’t need to show up for work Monday morning.”

“Jack is right about one thing,” said Laura. “Waiting is —”

Connie’s phone rang and she grabbed it.

“Is it Jack?” asked Laura, hopefully, although reason told her that Jack would call her first.

“No, it’s Nicole Purney, one of the monitors,” replied Connie, putting her finger up to her mouth for Laura to be quiet.

Laura saw the blood drain from Connie’s face and her hand trembled as she passed the phone over to Laura. “You better hear what came over the room bug.”

“Play it back for me,” Laura asked into the receiver.

“As I told Connie when she called earlier,” said Nicole, “Fateh’s top guys are partying hard tonight. This just came in. I live monitored it. Here you go.”

Laura strained to hear every sound. She heard laughter and the sound of ice being dropped in glasses. A male voice said, “Our fuckin’ profit margin is gonna go up like a rocket.”

“Yeah, guess tonight we can consider all of the competition buried!” replied another male voice.

“Literally,” said a third person, followed by the sound of laughter.

Laura gasped and said, “I’m coming down there, Nicole,” and hung up.

Connie stared wide-eyed at Laura and said, “Do you think—”

“It was a trap,” replied Laura, getting to her feet. “Jack walked into an ambush.”

“What was said?” asked Sammy.

“Party talk,” mumbled Laura. “Sounds like Jack may already be dead and buried someplace.”

“Jesus, Laura!” replied Connie. “Don’t say that. What can we do?”

“All we can do is wait and listen,” she replied, making no effort to wipe the tears from her face.

“You damned imbecile,” screamed Cocktail leaping back and grabbing a tissue from his pocket to wipe the blood off his face. “What if he has AIDS?” he yelled at Rashard. “You ever think of that?” he continued.

Jack watched as Cocktail rubbed the tissue hard on his face, pausing to inspect it before continuing to rub some more. When he was satisfied he had removed all the blood, he carefully examined his clothing to look for blood.

“I thought you wanted these guys to get good and bloody,” said Rashard.

“Next time warn me so I can stand back,” said Cocktail tersely. He looked at Quang and said, “Enough barbecuing for the moment. Take his gag off and see if he has come to his senses.”

Quang ripped the gag from Mongo’s mouth and stood back as Mongo slumped forward and vomited.

“Enough,” said Jack. “I don’t want to go through this. I bet I’ve got more money than these three guys put together. It’s yours.”

“Interesting,” replied Cocktail. “Where is it?”

“It’s hidden and protected. I’d have to show you.”

“Bullshit! Tell us where it is!”

“It’s in a storage locker.”

“Where’s the key?” asked Cocktail.

“My girlfriend has it. I could call her.”

“That isn’t going to happen. No calls. Tell us which storage locker. You will remain here until we break into it. If you’re telling the truth, your death will be painless and quick. I will leave it to your imagination to figure out what will happen if you are lying.”

“I copied your idea of using an incendiary bomb on a shelf like you do in your labs. I rigged a more complicated and hidden triggering mechanism, though. I would need to show you the carboy to point out exactly how I have incorporated the device that would set it off.”

“He’s lying,” said Balvinder. “He would be afraid of burning his money.”

“Fireproof safe,” said Jack. “There are other documents … names … that I wanted destroyed rather than fall into the hands of certain enemies. The safe I could actually afford to lose, but not the names.”

“Your carboy and layout mimics the setup in the labs?”

“Yes, except I used a mercury switch so that motion will set off a blasting cap to trigger the contents of the carboy. I also installed two tripwires.”

“Mercury switch and two tripwires … I’m impressed,” replied Cocktail. “You are somewhat more sophisticated than your dysfunctional friends.”

Jack shrugged in response.

“So tell me, where exactly are these tripwires?”

“My carboy is in the middle of a shelf above the safe. There are loose boards scattered about that have to be moved to get to either the safe or the cardboard file folder containing my documents. One board has a tripwire to the left of the carboy, no … the right … maybe the left. The one on the floor by the safe is the opposite.”

“Which is it?” demanded Cocktail.

“He’s lyin’,” said Rashard.

“I’m not lying. I’ve seen what you would do to me if I was. Even worse if one of you got hurt getting it. The trouble is, I’m dyslexic. If I was in the room with the carboy I could describe it accurately, but to try and tell you by memory … I’m afraid I would make a mistake. Take me to the locker and I could tell you.”

“You’re not leaving here,” said Cocktail. “Not alive, at least. You said the layout mimics our labs.” He looked at Quang and said, “Take him over to your lab, but leave his hands tied behind his back.” Cocktail looked at Jack and said, “You can verbalize or gesture to us exactly how you have supposedly done this.”

Jack was released from the chain, but his hands remained tied behind his back with the zip-tie. Sy, Mongo, and Munch remained padlocked around the beam.

Quang headed for the locked room and Balvinder grabbed Jack by the arm as they followed.

Jack glanced behind him and saw Rashard aim a pistol at his head. Cocktail followed behind Rashard while Fateh remained with the other prisoners.

Jack stood quietly with his head slumped on his chest as Quang undid the lock and opened the door slightly, before reaching up to pull down the lever.

Jack reacted instantly by kicking Quang in the middle of his back, propelling him into the room, before tumbling to one side as a loud whoosh, accompanied by a huge fireball, engulfed the room.

Quang, a distorted image of a human fireball turned to run and slammed into Balvinder and Rashard. Jack was already on his feet, running to the nearest doorway, which led to the other side of the barn.

“Shoot him! Shoot him!” screamed Cocktail through a fog of smoke and fire.

Jack glanced back and saw Quang and Rashard both rolling on the floor while Balvinder jumped around them yelling for them to roll faster.

Jack burst through the doorway and saw a large sliding door in front of him. It was closed and with his hands tied behind his back, he knew he couldn’t open it in time. He looked at the empty stanchions and a gutter used to collect manure. At the far end of the barn, three planks nailed together made a ramp up to a door made of rough boards.