Page 48 of Harris

Woodley turned to where Stryker was standing. He had opened a crate seemingly buried behind cases of beer and was holding what looked like an AK-47 assault rifle.

“There’s roughly twenty in here, along with ammunition,” he said. “This second box contains grenades and other ordinance.”

“Gator, we’ll need you to set explosives on those crates,” Brick stated. “We aren’t leaving anything behind they can salvage. Pull back once we sweep the room and let Gator and his team finish their work.”

“Roger.”

With any luck, destroying the bar would shake Soloman up, and he’d lead them to any possible secondary locations. If not, they’d gather him up along with their sweep of the others and hand them over to the boss’s contacts in the military. They weren’t taking him down immediately in order to ensure there weren’t more locations they hadn’t discovered yet.

“Found a stash of receipts,” Damon said. “Under a false bottom in a cupboard behind the bar. I’ll take them.”

“Good catch. Might lead to persons of interest,” Brick said.

“Roger.”

“Other than that, some baggies of white powder and bottles of alcohol, the front of the bar is clear,” Apollo stated.

“Okay, head out to the rendezvous point. We’ll meet you there when we’re done,” Brick ordered.

“Roger.”

The fewer people left in the building at one time, the fewer the odds of someone being seen or hurt. Get in, get out. This wasn’t a party.

Gator, Fletcher, and Shaw entered the back room and began setting more charges. The explosives expert was calculating the distance between charges down to the millimeter. There was no mistaking the concentration on his face as Fletcher handed him material from a duffel bag. Shaw weighed every ounce of the yellow substance or TNT to Gator’s specifications. He had explained that trinitrotoluene was very stable and hard toaccidentally set off, which was why he preferred to use it as opposed to dynamite, which packed a bigger punch but wasn’t as stable.

Like most laypersons, Woodley had never known there was a difference between TNT and dynamite, assuming they were identical. He couldn’t have been more wrong.

“We’ve got drugs over here,” Brick stated. “We’ll throw it in the crate with the guns.”

“Roger.”

They continued to work in silence for several more minutes before Brick decided to call it. “Okay, we’ve cleared the building. All those not setting explosives, head back to the rendezvous point.”

“Roger.”

Woodley and Harris went back out the secret door, down the hallway, and through the side door. It took them less than a minute to get to the rendezvous point where the SUVs and Apollo’s team were waiting. Jason and Jennifer sat behind the wheel, waiting for word from Brick.

Moments later, Gator, Fletcher, and Shaw joined them shortly after Brick and Stryker arrived. He’d heard Brick made sure he was always the last to leave. Woodley watched as Gator made some final adjustments to a control panel.

“All lit up, boss. Waiting on the go-ahead,” Gator said.

Brick looked back from the passenger seat.

“Spencer, alert the fire department to a building fire at this location,” he ordered.

That way, the fire department would be rolling and have a head start to be able to contain any outlying flames that might spark due to the explosion. They wanted to destroy the bar but leave the surrounding structures intact.

“Damon, would you like to do the honors?” Brick asked.

Apollo, Damon, and Hendrix were sitting in the third row. He looked shocked by the offer but leaned forward.

“Thank you,” Damon answered with a nod.

Gator held out the box. “All you have to do is flip this switch, and that place will be wiped off the map.” A very satisfying thought.

In the distance, they could hear sirens. The good guys were on their way. It was time to end this chapter of the Noah Group.

Damon took a deep breath. “This is for you, Robin.” And flipped the switch.

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