3B2Victoria

Casting a wary glance at Joe who was waiting across the street, Nash pushed his way into the building. He hesitated for a moment as his eyes adjusted to the pitch-black interior. Since the construction project was not yet complete many of the windows were still covered. Nash moved around piles of material on the main floor and headed for the stairs. The shrill ring of his cell phone penetrated the eerie silence.

"Nash."

"Any luck?"

"Not yet Joe. I'm on the way to the second floor now. Any word from Michelle or Evan?"

"Nothing so far."

"Tell Harvey to get..." Nash came to an abrupt halt on the second floor landing. He moved across the dusty floor towards the rear of the building. "Damn."

"Nash?" Joe waited for a few seconds but got no response. "Hey Nashman. What's going on?"

"I don't know. But this feels very henky." Several of the building's interior walls were gone, and in their place was a cavernous, empty space.

"How so?"

"This game's just been elevated to a whole new level. The base of the device is cemented into the building's structure. We couldn't move it out of here with a Mac truck. I'm not even sure I can get near the trigger to try and disarm it."

"What now?"

"I'm coming out."

~~~~~~~~

Harvey parked across the street from Nash's apartment building. The SIU's surveillance van was situated several blocks away. Ronnie and his team were ready to implement Plan B at a moment's notice. Hopefully they wouldn't need it. Harvey slammed the Ranchero's side door and crossed the street. Just then Nash emerged from the building and joined Joe and Harvey on the sidewalk near Nash's apartment.

"Bad news boss?"

"I'm afraid so. This thing is huge. And complex as hell. It'd take a PHD just to figure out how the thing works."

"Should I take a look? Maybe I can...?"

"No Harv. He said one person was allowed inside with the bomb. I don't think that means one person at a time."

"What's our next move?" Joe was anxious to get this ordeal over with. Too many people had been hurt already. At least the three o'clock deadline had enabled them to completely clear the area.

Nash looked at his watch. "I'm thinking we go with Plan B. Harv, is the bomb squad in position?"

"Just waiting for orders. We've got at least 30 minutes of tape prepared to loop. Activity on the Bay has been pretty light today so I doubt this guy will notice."

"Good." Nash moved towards the Cuda. "Joe and I are heading downtown. I have a pretty good idea as to where the next one is located. As soon the bomb squad's finished here I want them to hightail it to the Presideo. With any luck Michelle and Evan are way ahead of us and have found the third device."

Harvey nodded his head quickly and returned to his car. "Will do Nash." Pulling a walkie-talkie from his coat pocket, he put in a call to Ronnie. "Nash says go ahead with the loop. Let me know as soon as you've got it set up. We need to get the bomb squad into..."

Harvey felt the heat of the explosion before he heard it. Covering his head with his hands he fell to the ground behind the Ranchero. The sound seemed to go on forever. His clothing was showered with shards of glass and pieces of debris. Harvey silently prayed that Joe and Nash had been able to take cover in time.

Finally the dust began to settle and a deathly silence fell all around him. He picked himself off the sidewalk and headed back towards the Cuda. "Nash? Joe? You guys alright?" He breathed a sigh of relief as he saw the two men emerge from the entrance to Nash's apartment. They were ok.

Nash retrieved his cell phone from his suit jacket pocket. "Nash."

"Now what did I tell you about playing by the rules?"

Nash was livid. This guy had just made his final mistake. "Listen Bubba. I'm tired of this little..."

"No! YOU LISTEN CAPTAIN. Do you really think I'm that stupid?"

"I don't know. Why don't you tell me?" Nash looked at the puzzled look on Harvey's face. Something was up and from the looks of things it wasn't good.

"Two down and one to go."

"What do you mean two? I...?" Nash looked at his phone in disgust. He was getting increasingly pissed off with this guy hanging up on him all the time. He twisted his head and placed a hand on his detective's shoulder. "Hey Harvey. What's wrong?"

Harvey had been watching Nash and Joe intently for the past several minutes. He shook his head, trying to clear out the cobwebs.

"Harv?"

He saw Joe's lips move so he knew that the other man was speaking. Harvey lifted his palm and placed both hands over his ears. He closed his eyes and knew what it was to be truly alone. The explosion had left him deaf.

~~~~~~~~~