White Lightning by Steven Henry

Author:Steven Henry [Henry, Steven]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Clickworks Press
Published: 2023-06-15T22:00:00+00:00

Chapter 15

Erin and Vic saw the flashing lights well before they got to the courthouse. Traffic had backed up badly, and Erin saw at once that her own lights and sirens would do no good at all. Even if all the New York drivers tried to get out of her way, they had nowhere to go.

“Two blocks,” Vic said as Erin hopelessly scanned the gridlock for some way through.

“Looks like it,” she said.

“Quicker to pound pavement?” he suggested.

“Yeah,” she agreed. By alternating between her horn and short bursts on her siren, she managed to convince the cars in front of her to move just enough that she was able to squeeze the Charger into a police spot on the nearest corner.

Vic was out of the car almost before it stopped moving. Erin paused just long enough to pop Rolf’s compartment. Then all three of them were running toward the lights.

Erin couldn’t see any smoke, which was good as far as it went. But as she got closer, she recognized the big blue and white van of the Bomb Squad. Half a dozen Patrol cars completely blocked the street in front of the courthouse. A fire truck, an ambulance, and an ESU BearCat rounded out the emergency motor pool. She saw uniformed cops, firefighters, ESU guys, and a bunch of courthouse staff milling around outside. She also saw a couple of news vans, camera crews jockeying for the best position to shoot the scene.

“What is this, World War Three?” Vic wondered aloud as they reached the edge of the crowd.

Erin just shook her head. She didn’t know enough to even make a guess.

A Patrol officer intercepted them on the courthouse steps. “Hold it!” he said. “You can’t go in there!”

“Watch us,” Vic said, holding up his gold shield.

The uniform was unimpressed. “We got a bomb threat,” he said, not budging. “Until I get the all-clear, nobody goes in.”

“This is an explosives-detection K-9,” Erin said, twitching Rolf’s leash. “We’ve got orders to be here. Did anything blow up?”

“Not yet,” the cop said. “The bomb guys are in there right now. I’ve got no idea what’s going on.”

“Then maybe you should get out of the way and let us figure it out,” Vic suggested.

Erin decided not to force the issue. She held up a hand to Vic while she fished out her phone and called Webb.

“We’re here,” she announced when he answered. “What’s going on?”

“Come on in,” Webb said. “Taylor says it should be safe enough. We’re in one of the maintenance corridors, one floor down from the judge’s chambers. We’ve got a custodian here. I’ll ask him to show you the way.”

“One of our boys in blue is guarding the door,” Erin said. “What should I tell him?”

“Give him your phone.”

“Here,” Erin said, holding the phone out to the cop.

She didn’t hear what Webb said to the man, but the officer’s face flushed. He tried to say something, got interrupted, tried to say something else, then gave up. “Yes, sir,” he finally said.

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