Split Second

Using her flashlight, she found King and Kate. "Sorry, I had a little problem, or I would've been backing you up sooner. Are you all right?"

He nodded. "Did you see Sidney Morse?"

"Sidney, he's behind this?" King nodded. She looked puzzled. "I thought it was Peter Morse."

"I just recently figured it all out myself. Do you have a knife?"

She handed him one. "I pulled it off Simmons along with this flashlight. What are you going to do?"

"Just wait for me outside the room. And take Kate with you."

Michelle and Kate headed to the door. King made his way over to the elevator where Joan was still strung up. He checked her pulse. She was alive. He cut her down, lifted her over his shoulder and met Michelle and Kate outside.

Suddenly he put Joan down, leaned over and sucked in long breaths. The effect of his risky face-off with Morse was now hitting him.

"What's the matter?" said Michelle.

"I think I'm going to be sick," he snapped. "That's what."

Kate spoke up. "You were bluffing about the gun, weren't you? It wasn't mine. You just had blanks."

"I was bluffing about the gun, yes," he said between gritted teeth.

Michelle put a hand on his back. "You'll be okay."

"I'm too old for this macho crap." He took a few last deep breaths and straightened up. "Do you smell smoke?" he asked.

They ran toward the exit and were met by a horrified-looking Bruno. He pointed down the hall where the flames were already impenetrable. Another wall of flames blocked the passageway to the upper floors.

Michelle spotted a black cable on the floor. She pointed it out to King.

"Is that what I think it is?"

He examined it. When he looked up, his face was pale. "He's wired the building with explosives." He glanced around. "Okay, wecan't go out and we can't go up." He eyed the other way down the hall. "And if I remember correctly, that goes to the basement. And there's no exit from there."

"Wait a minute," said Michelle. "We can get out through the basement."

75

They reached the lower level as smoke from the growing inferno followed them. The lights were on down here, so they could see reasonably well.

"Okay, now what?" said King as he looked at the long hallway that was blocked by debris about midway down. "I told you there were no exits down here. We checked that out when Ritter was here."

"No, over here," said Michelle. She opened the door on the large dumbwaiter. "We'll take this up to the third floor."

"The third floor!" exclaimed Bruno angrily. "And then what, we jump? That's brilliant, Agent Maxwell, just brilliant!"

Hands on hips, Michelle stood right in front of Bruno. "This time you're going to do exactly what I tell you, so just shut up and get in…sir." She pushed Bruno into the dumbwaiter and then turned to Kate.

King stepped forward. "You go up with Bruno, then send it back down. I'll follow with Joan and Kate."

Michelle nodded, then handed him her pistol. "Real bullets. Just watch yourself."

She climbed into the dumbwaiter, and she and Bruno started pulling on the ropes, propelling themselves upward.

As King tried to revive Joan, Kate slumped to the floor.

"You can just leave me. I don't want to live," she said.

He knelt beside her. "Morse played with your head and your heart,and that's a hard combo to beat. Still, with all that, you couldn't pull the trigger."

"I feel like such a fool. I just want to die."

"No, you don't. You have a long life ahead of you."

"Right. For what, prison?"

"What exactly have you done wrong? You haven't killed anybody. As far as I know, Morse kidnapped you too and held you here."

She looked at him. "Why are you doing this for me?"

He hesitated, then said, "Because I did take your father away from you. I was only doing my job, but when you take someone else's life, doing your job doesn't seem a good enough explanation." He paused. "And you did try to help us. You knew the story you told us about the 1974 war protest wouldn't wash, didn't you? You knew you were way in over your head in something really bad. I'm right, aren't I?"

"Yes," she said quietly.

They heard the dumbwaiter coming back down.

"Okay, let's get out of here," said King.

As he helped her up, Kate's scream made him whip around.

Coming at them out of the smoke was Sidney Morse. He swung his metal pole at King; however, King threw himself to the floor, and Morse missed.

King pulled Michelle's gun and pointed it at Morse.

"No more bluffs," Morse said with a sneer.

"No more bluffs," answered King.

The bullet hit Morse in the chest. Looking astonished, Morse dropped to his knees and let the pole fall from his hands. He glanced down, touched the blood streaming out of the wound, then stared dully back up at King.

King rose slowly, pointing his gun squarely at the man's heart. "The first shot was for me. This one's for Arnold Ramsey." King fired and Morse fell backward, dead.

"And you really should have had more respect for the Secret Service," said King quietly as he stood over the body.