Iris Johansen - Silent Thunder

Shit.

He stared across the parking lot at Kirov and Hannah. When they woke up that morning, they had no idea that every activity would be their last. Their last cup of coffee. Their last shower. Their last meal.

He hated this. It was better to pass the devices to someone else and let them do what they wanted. He was an artist, not a killer.

Christ.

He fingered the remote. If he didn't do it, Pavski's men would come down and finish them off anyway.

Fucking Pavski. The bastard didn't even bother to show up himself.

Get it over with. He spoke under his breath, "Three… two… one."

He pushed the button.

Whroom .

The explosion rocked the entire parking lot, blowing out the windows of the restaurant and dozens of nearby cars.

Hannah gasped at the sight of Niler's vehicle flipping over and landing on its roof, instantly transformed into half a dozen piles of burning, twisted metal.

She stared in shock at the spot where Niler had sat only seconds before. "My God…"

Kirov started the engine and peeled out of the parking space.

Hannah whirled toward him. "What are you doing?"

"Getting away while we still can."

"But Niler is…"

"Dead. Blown to smithereens."

She felt sick. She shook her head dazedly. "What the hell happened?"

"Niler made that bomb. He meant it for us."

"What?"

Kirov checked the rearview. "I found it fastened to the underside of our car last night. I merely put it back where it belonged. If Niler hadn't tried to detonate it, he'd be alive and well."

"He just tried to kill us?"

"Surprised?"

Before Hannah could answer, the rear window shattered.

"Get down!" Kirov pushed her head forward. He slouched in his seat and glanced at the side mirror. "Two men in a black Lexus behind us." He muttered a curse. "I don't think either them is Pavski. That would have been too lucky."

He fished into his pocket and produced a key-chain remote identical to the one Niler had brandished in his bar the other night. "Here, take this."

Hannah grabbed the remote. "What's this for?"

Two more bullets hit their car and punctured the trunk.

Kirov accelerated as they neared the parking lot's exit. "Right before we get to the road, we'll cross a small wooden bridge. I need you to watch behind us and press the red button just as that car crosses it. Understand?"

She couldn't answer.

"As soon as you see the Lexus's front two wheels on the bridge. And only if there's no one else nearby. Okay?"

Hannah stared at the remote. She understood perfectly, and it wasn't okay. Push the button, kill two men behind her.

"If you can't stomach it, let me know now."

Hannah took a deep breath. She grasped the remote. "No. Keep your eyes on the road."

"Are you sure?"

A bullet whistled between them and cracked the front windshield.

Hannah glanced at the entrance ahead. "Is that the bridge you're talking about?"

"Yes."

"Okay." She glanced behind her. "They're closing. Put some more distance between us."

Kirov accelerated, and Hannah's eyes searched on either side for any bystanders. All clear so far.

They roared across the tiny bridge, rattling its wood slats beneath their tires. Hannah watched her side-view mirror. A man leaned out of the passenger side of the Lexus, snapping together what appeared to be an Uzi.

Christ. Better not screw this up.

Kirov spun out of the parking lot and headed toward the main road. "Ready?"

Hannah concentrated on the mirror. As the Lexus approached the bridge, its passenger aimed the Uzi. The next moment the car was on the bridge.

Hannah pressed the button.

A violent explosion took out the bridge and car, spraying wood and metal in every direction.

"Perfect!" Kirov hit the steering wheel with his palm.

Hannah turned from the burning rubble and let her hands fall into her lap.

"It wasn't perfect. It was lousy." Hannah felt sick to her stomach, unsure what was bothering her more: killing those two men, seeing Niler die, or just knowing that such an amusing, personable man had been so willing to kill her and Kirov. Any way she cut it, it had been a rotten sixty seconds. She took a deep breath. "And you need to explain to me what just happened."

"Not now." His gaze raked her face. "You need a little time to absorb this before I hit you with anything else. I'll put a little distance between us and Panama City, then we'll talk."

"I don't need-" Maybe she did need the space he'd mentioned. She was still shaking, and her mind was in chaos from the shock. She leaned back in the seat and folded her hands tightly on her lap. "Thirty minutes," she said curtly. "No longer."

Twenty-five minutes later he pulled into the parking lot of a Radisson Suites Inn and got out of the car. "Wait here. I'll get us rooms, and then we'll talk."

"Why can't we talk-"

He'd disappeared into the hotel before she could complete the sentence.

He was back in five minutes and opening her door. "I'm over your deadline, but I figured you'd like a little privacy, with the security of walls around you."

"Will those walls do any good? Will there be more of Pavski's men coming after us? Are we safe here?"

"I wouldn't have stopped if I hadn't thought we'd be okay. The walls are a comfort factor. I think you need it." He unlocked the hotel room. "Go and sit down. I'll get you a cup of coffee."

"You will not. I'm not an invalid." She ignored the easy chair and sat down in the chair at the desk. She needed the firm, upright structure of the piece of furniture. She needed structure, period. "But I'm bewildered and scared and sick to my stomach. I need answers."

"And you'll get them." He sat down on the stool at the coffee bar. "All you have to do is ask."

"When did you find the explosives under our car?"

"Last night. Actually, I've been checking every day since we made contact with Niler. I never completely trusted him."

"What gave him away?"

"Nothing. Actually, I liked him. I've just learned it's best not to trust anyone completely. After you fell asleep last night, I went down and found that he'd planted it on the undercarriage of our car. I recognized his work and simply returned it to him."

"Under his car," Hannah said. "Weren't you worried it would go off while you were moving it around?"

"It was a concern, but any car bomb is designed to withstand a lot of jostling until it's detonated. I saw the radio receiver and knew that he built it to be triggered remotely."

"You didn't tell me. So when you say that you've learned not to trust anyone completely, that obviously includes me."

"That's not true."

"Of course it is. Why didn't you tell me any of this last night? Or this morning?"

"I thought you wouldn't approve of my method of dealing with the problem."

She looked at him in disbelief. "Dealing with the problem. You mean blowing Niler to bits?"

"I know you liked him. I knew if I kept you out of the loop, there would be less guilt for you later."

"How thoughtful."

"Look, Niler blew himself up. He literally engineered his own fate. I'm guessing that he called Pavski soon after we met. He probably extracted a tidy sum in exchange for handing us over."

"And those devices he told us he was making for Pavski?"

"They were probably for one of his drug clients."

A trap. A trap from the very beginning. "Why couldn't he have just blown us up before?"

"He could have. I think Pavski just wanted positive confirmation with his own people present. He thought he'd killed me on two previous occasions." He frowned. "Dammit, I'd hoped that Pavski would come himself."

"Maybe he had other fish to fry. The cradle?"

"I don't know. I don't like it. Last night's call from Pavski was pure radio theater. I actually would have been less suspicious if Pavski hadn't agreed to the phone call. As I've said, he likes to insulate himself."