Hooked

Harry. Superman, Batman, and the Six-Million-Dollar Man all wrapped up in one package. Now I find out you’re none of those things. I never knew you at all.” He wiped a tear that crawled down his cheek, feeling no shame. “You’re no better than the people you’ve sworn an oath to protect us from.”
    Linc walked away, confused and conflicted. He avoided Clauson’s gaze while he fought for composure. The agent worked under Harry, and until Linc figured out what he was going to do about his mentor, he’d say nothing to anyone.
    “Any change in Russo?” Linc asked.
    “No. What’s going on between you two?”
    “Not now, Clauson. Talk to Harry. I’ve got something to do.” But when he turned to leave, Harry was already gone.
    “I’ll get in touch if Russo wakes up and they let me talk to him,” Harry said.
    Linc nodded. “I hope it won’t be too late.” He went outside to the parking lot, his insides shaking. His whole world had collapsed for the second time in his life, and it made no difference that he was a grown man rather than a child. He tried to put himself in Harry’s shoes, but every time he hypothetically slipped his feet into them, he felt the crush of reality. Harry had lived his professional life as a lie, carrying the heavy burden of a man’s death on his shoulders and in his heart. And now it had come full circle at the moment when he might regain his freedom from the bloodsucking bastard that held him hostage for thirty years. What bizarre irony.
    Linc tried to keep from checking, but he gave in and glanced at his watch. Did he really want to see how close it was to six o’clock? Five thirty. Thirty minutes left. What could happen at precisely six o’clock? Something timed. A bomb?
    Mike Russo was the younger of Mario’s sons and the less combative, if he hadn’t been awakened for the second time in one night.
    “What the fuck do you want now?” he asked sleepily.
    “You said you had no construction sites out of state right now,” Linc said.
    “Jesus,” he muttered. “Did you really need confirmation of that at five thirty in the morning?”
    Linc ignored the question. “Are you tearing anything down, detonating any buildings. Explosives, wrecking balls, anything. Something that will take place at six this morning?”
    “We don’t do demolition. We sub-contract to companies that specialize.”
    “Have you sub-contracted a job then? Come on, Russo. An innocent person’s life is at stake.”
    Silence on the other end of the line.
    “You’re asking me to incriminate my father.”
    “Your father is at Downstate Medical Center . He ran his car off the road. Doctors don’t know whether he had a heart attack, a stroke, or whether it’s the cancer, but he might not make it.”
    “I…I didn’t know. No one’s called. Gotta go, Walsh. Gotta call my brother.”
    “Wait. Where? I need to know, Russo.”
    Another long silence. “ Kearney . They’re taking down an old hotel and surrounding buildings to make way for a new hotel and large scale mall.” He mentioned the exit. “You know where I’m talking about?”
    “Yeah, I think so. Are they using explosives?”
    “I don’t think so. They’ll use bulldozers and either a high-reach excavator or a wrecking ball for the old hotel.”
    “Any way to stop them, delay the thing for a few hours until we can make sure no one’s inside?”
    “You can try, but I doubt you’ll get anyone at the office to answer at this time of the morning, and the men are probably on the job already. I don’t have a cell number.” He gave Linc the name of the company and the owner’s name.
    “Mike?”
    “What.”
    “Thanks.”
    “You know, Walsh. My father may be all the things people say, but he kept us away from his other business and, most important, he was a damn good father.”
    Linc knew better than most what he meant, especially now with Harry’s betrayal. “I believe you.” Mike gave him more specific directions, and he hung up. Five forty. He speed-dialed Dennis, waking him from a deep sleep. Linc explained where he was going and why.
    “Get someone to call the Kearney police while you try to find whoever’s in charge to stop the demolition. I’m on my way. Meet me there. It’s a whole city block, and she’s somewhere inside.”

Chapter Forty-Three
    An Inevitable Conclusion

    T awny slipped in and out of sleep, her nightmares an unlikely respite that kept her from acknowledging her hopeless situation. A booming