Page 79 of Gwen's Delta
As much as Merlin hated to fail, he wouldn’t risk his team, and they were almost out of time. Maybe he’d picked the wrong location. It seemed like the perfect option, but Rashad wasn’t a logical thinker. Merlin looked up. His breath caught in his throat when he saw the large, black box wired to the underside of the first balcony dead-center above the stage.
With only two zero mics left, Merlin charged up the marble stairs to the second level with the rest of the team chasing behind him. The bomb had been planted about two-thirds around the circular area above the dais.
None of them were bomb techs, but they’d all had basic training. Merlin gingerly pried open the cover. After carefully checking for trip wires, he pulled the cover off and revealed the device. The three-foot square box was full of plastic explosive and wired to a remote detonator.
“Son of a bitch. That’s why Rashad is here. He’ll push the button.” Woof said.
One seven mikes remained. Merlin imagined the seconds ticking down inside his head.
“Any ideas?” Merlin asked the team. Besides the remote detonator, there appeared to be a secondary device as a failsafe.
“I’d start with the primary. You know he will press that button no matter what,” Jangles said.
“You and Duff work on the second detonator and Woof and I will take the primary. We have one five mikes.”
Sweat beaded on Merlin’s forehead as he and Woof worked on the remote detonator. Duff’s face was a mask of calm. With only a few minutes to spare, they removed the remote detonator from the plastic explosives. However, two wires remained.
Jangles and Duff removed the other detonator. Relief was visible on their faces.
“Go, get out of here. No sense for all of us to blow up,” Merlin said through gritted teeth. They still had two wires attached. “Woof, you’ve got Nori, go. We’ve got this.”
“You always have to be the big hero. What the fuck? We’re not going anywhere,” Jangles said.
“Fine. But I tried. So which one do we cut? Red or Yellow?” Merlin moved the wire cutters back and forth between the two colors.
“Yellow,” Woof said.
“Red,” Duff answered.
“Well fuck, do you want to blow up? It’s been a hell of a run. I wouldn’t want to go out with anyone else. I’m cutting red.” Merlin closed his eyes and said a silent prayer, then slid the wire cutters over the red wire. Just as he was about to cut it, he jerked it away and cut the yellow wire with only fifty-eight seconds left. The timer stopped, and they pulled the detonator free of the device.
“Are you color blind?” Duff asked.
“You know I’m not.”
“But you cut the yellow wire. You said red.”
“I know, but something told me to go with the yellow.”
“Guess we owe another one to the wizard,” Jangles said with a relieved chuckle.
They all breathed a sigh of relief as they sat for a moment, realizing how lucky they’d been. This had been close—way too close.
* * *
When the palace didn’t explode at four, Gwen breathed a sigh of relief. They hadn’t heard from Luke or anyone else to know that they were okay, but somehow, she knew they were. Confirmation came a half hour later when the four Deltas boarded the plane.
The combination of relief and happiness at seeing Luke and the rest of the team almost overwhelmed Gwen. The tension that had been squeezing her lungs finally let go as he pulled her tightly against his chest. As she inhaled his scent, the edges of her lips tipped up in a smile. Touching him eased the fear she’d tried to ignore all day. Everything would be okay now that he was back. Then, he lifted her into his arms and kissed her, and her toes curled with pleasure.
It didn’t take them long to get their gear stowed and strapped in. Then they were finally airborne and headed back to Texas. As Gwen looked around at the group, she realized she wasn’t the only one bringing home a few souvenir cuts and bruises, but they were all on the plane and breathing. That was all that mattered.
“You okay, princess?” Luke asked gently as he slid his arm over her shoulders and pulled her closer.
“Yes, now that you’re all here. I can’t even imagine what it was like at that palace. But I am thanking God that you made it back to me.” Gwen snuggled her head against his chest.
“It was interesting.” Luke chuckled.
“That’s for fuck sure,” Jangles agreed.
