Seven Bridges_A DCI Ryan Mystery by LJ Ross

Author:LJ Ross [Ross, LJ]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: UNKNOWN
Published: 2018-05-24T04:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 20

As the paramedics rushed to save Ben Potter’s life, Ryan and his team stood in an exhausted line on the farthest edge of the platform to watch another bridge go up in flames. The blast had thrown the rails into the sky with a deafening twist of metal and asphalt, blowing a hole in the mezzanine structure of the bridge that separated the upper and lower levels, somewhere near the second or third carriage from the front of where the train stood. The wind carried with it the strong stench of smoke and burnt chemicals, and they held their hands across their mouths to stave off the worst of it.

“Exactly on time,” Phillips eventually broke the silence.

“No, it wasn’t,” Ryan replied, turning to face him. “The blast came three or four minutes after noon. I know, because I was thinking—”

He broke off. He didn’t need to tell them what they had all feared as they’d made their desperate run along the edge of the tracks.

Any second now, they’d thought. Any moment now, there’d be an explosion.

Wiping a hand across his dirty face, Ryan pulled himself together and turned to look at the men and women who had volunteered to come to the aid of others. A short way off, the EOD Unit were slumped on a metal bench, the team rallying around Sue Bannerman to praise her stoicism in getting through that first explosion and gathering her strength to help the evacuation effort. Even her captain could not find it in himself to denigrate the woman, for which Ryan was grateful. Not far off, officers from British Transport Police were talking to the train crew, who were clutching foil blankets around their shoulders to keep warm. Ryan would need to speak to them—to all of them—but first, he had something to say.

“I want to thank all of you, for what you did out there,” he said. “It went above and beyond.”

MacKenzie smiled.

“Beats going over Cold Cases, any day of the week,” she quipped.

“Aye, well, it’s tuna casserole in the staff canteen t’day,” Phillips reminded him. “That’s enough to get me out of the door, bomb scare or no bomb scare.”

“I’ve always said you were a man of refined tastes,” Ryan said, and then excused himself. He found a relatively sheltered corner and made an important phone call.

Anna answered after the first ring.

“Ryan? Oh, thank God. I was so worried—”

“I know,” he murmured. “I’m so sorry you had to go through that. But I wanted to call to let you know I’m safe. You’re still stuck with me for another fifty years or so, if you’ll have me.”

At the other end of the line, Anna’s lips curved into a smile, which dimmed as she thought of what might have been.

“It looked bad out there,” she said.

“It was,” he admitted, but decided against telling her just how close they’d been to the wire. It would serve no purpose other than to make himself feel better and would only cause her pain.

Instead, he lightened the mood.

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