Page 101 of At Midnight Comes the Cry

“Go on.”

She sliced the ribbon. It spooled in shining loops on the tile floor. She pocketed the knife and delicately tugged the white flaps open.

No newspaper in this one. Instead, an ugly contraption of wires and metal, flanked by jars of nails and screws. She had known what she was going to find, but it still shocked her silent, as if she’d opened a gift to find a live cockroach hissing inside.

A cheap cell phone was wired into place on the front. “Okay.” Flynn sounded as if he were trying to calm himself. “It’s meant to go off by a signal, not a timer.” He took a breath. “I’m going to set it down. Move the other boxes in front of it when I do.”

Hadley did so. They stared at the awful thing for a second. Then Hadley fished out her phone.

Flynn grabbed her arm. “What are you doing?”

“Calling nine-one-one!”

“Not here. Your signal might set it off.”

“You have got to be kidding me!” She scanned the crowd gathered around the tables. “Everybody’s got a cell phone, Flynn.”

“And we don’t want them to use theirs, either. It’s notlikely,Hadley, but it is possible.”

She took a deep breath. “Okay. Okay. Let’s come up with a plan. What’s the first thing we should do?”

“Tell the chief.”

“Okay. Wait! The state police office. The one the chief mentioned? They’ll have a landline. We can loop in the officer on duty and call for backup.”

“Perfect.”

They headed past the exhibit case, past the diners and the musicians, through the small clumps of people chatting and laughing. Hadley thought she and Flynn were giving a convincing impression of casual, but apparently not. The synagogue security guards fell into step on either side of them. “What’s going on?” Khalil’s voice was very polite.

“We’re going to the state police office.” Flynn kept walking, so she did as well. “Where is it?”

The guards stayed flanking them. “Just before you get to the food court, on the right side.” Johnson gestured with her chin. “Mind telling us why?”

“Let’s wait until we have a chance to brief Chief Van Alstyne,” Hadley said.

Khalil barked a laugh. “I’ve seen people fleeing live fire who are less tense than you two. What’s going on? What did you find out?”

Hadley looked at Flynn. “Keep walking and we’ll tell you.”

Johnson rumbled disapprovingly, but the foursome continued down the concourse, Flynn and Hadley boxed in by the security guards.

“You realize we look like we’re being escorted off the premises,” Flynn said.

Khalil smiled. “That’s not going to set off any alarm bells with the civilians, my friend. Unlike your dash away, dash away.”

“Spill it,” Johnson ordered.

“We found an IED. It was hidden inside one of the fake boxes of presents. Like those.” Hadley gestured unobtrusively toward another decorative cluster set against a wall. “It’s wired with a cell phone. Flynn said we shouldn’t use our phones near it, so we’re going for the state police landline.”

Khalil’s mobile face became very still. “Flynn is right.”

Johnson made a noise. “Chances there’s only one?”

“Absolutely none.” Flynn was definitive. “This is it. This is what the militia’s been planning for. Honestly, I’m not sure why they haven’t gone off yet.”

“Publicity.” Johnson sounded as sure as Flynn had been. “Wait until the place is surrounded by law enforcement and lots of camera crews.”

They had already gone past the bank of glass doors leading to the outside. “You need to make sure the response comes in dark and silent.” Khalil pointed down the concourse, toward the blue sign marking the state police office. “No lighting up the whole plaza, nothing the media’s going to get wind of. Johnson and I will get our people to turn their phones off. Keep us in the loop.” The two security guards peeled away, headed back toward the Hanukkah celebrations.