The Burning Wire

mentioned the president and CEO. The name’s Jessen. Andy Jessen. Everybody seemed a little afraid of him.”
    Rhyme kept his eyes on the charts for a moment and then said, “Sachs, how’d you like to go for a drive in your fancy new wheels?”
    “You bet.” She called, and arranged with the CEO’s assistant for a meeting in a half hour.
    It was then that Sellitto’s cell rang. He pulled it out and took a look at caller ID. “Algonquin.” He hit a button. “Detective Sellitto.” Rhyme noticed his face went still as he listened. Then he said, “You’re sure? . . . Okay. Who’d have access? . . . Thanks.” He disconnected. “Son of a bitch.”
    “What?”
    “That was the supply division supervisor. He said one of the Algonquin warehouses in Harlem was burglarized last week. Hundred and eighteen Street. They thought it was an employee pilfering. Perp used a key. It wasn’t broken into.”
    Pulaski asked, “And whoever it was stole the cable?”
    Sellitto nodded. “And those split bolts.”
    But Rhyme could see another message in the detective’s round face. “How much?” he asked, his voice a whisper. “How much wire did he steal?”
    “You got it, Linc. Seventy-five feet of cable and a dozen bolts. What the hell was McDaniel talking about, a onetime thing? That’s bullshit. This UNSUB’s going to keep right on going.”
    CRIME SCENE: ALGONQUIN
SUBSTATION MANHATTAN-10,
WEST 57TH STREET
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    —Victim (deceased): Luis Martin, assistant manager in music store.
    —No friction ridge prints on any surface.
    —Shrapnel from molten metal, as a result of the arc flash.
    —0-gauge insulated aluminum strand cable.
    —Bennington Electrical Manufacturing, AM-MV-60, rated up to 60,000v.
    —Cut by hand with hacksaw, new blade, broken tooth.
    —Two “split bolts,” 3 / 4 -inch holes in them.
    —Untraceable.
    —Distinctive tool marks on bolts.
    —Brass “bus” bar, fixed to cable with two 1 / 4 -inch bolts.
    —All untraceable.
    —Boot prints.
    —Albertson-Fenwick Model E-20 for electrical work, size 11.
    —Metal grating cut to allow access to substation, distinctive tool marks from bolt cutter.
    —Access door and frame from basement.
    —DNA obtained. Sent out for testing.
    —Greek food, taramasalata.
    —Blond hair, 1 inch long, natural, from someone 50 or under, discovered in coffee shop across the street from substation.
    —Sent out for tox-chem screening.
    —Mineral trace: volcanic ash.
    —Not naturally found in New York area.
    —Exhibits, museums, geology schools?
    —Algonquin Control Center software accessed by internal codes, not outside hackers.
    UNSUB PROFILE
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    —Male.
    —40’s.
    —Probably white.
    —Possibly glasses and cap.
    —Possibly with short, blond hair.
    —Dark blue overalls, similar to those worn by Algonquin workers.
    —Knows electrical systems very well.
    —Boot print suggests no physical condition affecting posture or gait.
    —Possibly same person who stole 75 feet of similar Bennington cable and 12 split bolts. More attacks in mind? Access to Algonquin warehouse where theft occurred with key.
    —Likely he is Algonquin employee or has contact with one.
    —Terrorist connection? Relation to Justice For [unknown]? Terror group? Individual named Rahman involved? Coded references to monetary disbursements, personnel movements and something “big.”

Chapter 16
    LOOMING .
    That was the word that came to mind as Amelia Sachs climbed out of her Torino Cobra in the parking lot of Algonquin Consolidated Power and Light in Astoria, Queens. The facility covered a number of blocks but it was anchored by a complicated, soaring building made of grim red and gray panels that rose two hundred feet into the air. The massive edifice dwarfed the employees now leaving at the end of the day, walking through dollhouse doorways in the panoramic sheets of the walls.
    Pipes evacuated the building in dozens of places and, as she’d expected, there were wires everywhere, only “wires” didn’t quite suit. These were thick and inflexible cables, some insulated, some silver gray bare metal glistening under security lights. They must have carried hundreds of thousands of volts from the guts of thebuilding through a series of metallic and, she supposed, ceramic or other insulated fittings, into even more complicated scaffoldings and supports and towers. They divided and ran in different courses, like bones extending from the arm to the hand to the fingers.
    Tilting