The Hammer of God

“Over there in the brown jacket by the helicopter.”

Bridgestone looked and something clicked. Bill came over feigning relief, “Thanks, man. What are you guys shooting here?”

“He already told me. It’s an Iranian film. Being made by that guy there, Rashani.” Bridgestone turned back to the caterer. “Mind if we watch for a minute or two?”

“It’s fine by me. If the A.D.s hassle you, just tell them you are with me, Sammy. Here take my card. I also do weddings, bar mitzvahs, graduations….”

Bridgestone turned and concealed a laugh. Bar mitzvahs.

“That’s not Rashani,” Bridgestone said to Hiccock as they walked towards the set.

“No, its Jahim El Benhan, Alzir’s brother. His name was Dr. Brodenchy before he converted. He’s a nuclear scientist, or was.”

“No clicks from my counter. The bomb is not here.”

They both watched as the “producer” boarded the helicopter. One of the A.D.s announced, “This is a camera rehearsal! Everybody clear the copter.”

The blades turned and picked up speed.

“What do we do?”

Bridgestone grabbed a kid carrying a film magazine from one of the trucks. “What are they doing right now?”

“They’re doing a test to see how the blades look on camera. If they go too fast we won’t see them.”

“So they’re not taking off?”

“That thing? Nah, it don’t fly, it’s a prop. The action in this shot takes place after it has landed. The second unit will shoot a real helicopter landing from the air tomorrow.”

Then, to everyone’s surprise, the copter lifted off, tilted, and headed for Manhattan.

CHAPTER THIRTY

Hammer Of God

“Come on,” Bill said to Bridgestone. Bill ran to the cop car that was driven here by the now dead cops, got in, and drove over to Bridgestone’s car. “Throw your shit in here. This will get us through.”

The cop car fishtailed out of the parking lot and shuddered as Hiccock floored the accelerator up the ramp to the Whitestone Expressway. “Bridge, find the lights and sirens.”

From the driver’s side, Bill kept one eye on the copter, the other on the road. He took the BQE and jumped off at the LIE. Bridgestone was locked on the copter with his binoculars as they reached the peak of the rise of roadway right before the tunnel entrance. Hiccock took the exit for Van Dam Street in order to take the bridge rather than losing the visual as they went through the tunnel. They lost sight of the copter for a moment as they navigated the streets of this industrial part of Long Island City. Their red lights and sirens cleared the way for them to reach the bridge in record time. From the upper roadway, they re-acquired the copter as it hovered over a building on the edge of the river north of the bridge.

“What’s he doing?” Bill asked as he swerved through one of the separators to take the single outside lane. “Looks like he’s going to land on that white building.

“That’s a hospital. It’s an air med-evac landing pad.”

“Holy shit!”

“What?”

“There’s a flock of helicopters over that way and another over there!”

Bill looked left and saw what looked like a swarm of 20 or so helicopters circling and hovering over a part of midtown. To the right were another 15 or so. He flipped on the police radio. “Why didn’t I think of turning this on before?”

There was a non-stop chain of radio reports and squelching. “Something big must have happened,” Bridgestone said. “They are stepping all over their communications.”

Through all the static and partial sentences, they gleaned that something was happening at Penn Station. A momentary clear allowed the words “NEST team” to jut out of the radio traffic. Both men instinctively knew the acronym: Nuclear Emergency Search Team. Bill then thought he heard “47th and 8th hostage situation.” But it was quickly stepped on.

Joey Palumbo didn’t wait to confirm the information before him. He dialed up Bill’s cell. “Bill, Teva Radiological out of Israel had a Palestinian driver who met B amp;R’s truck driver in the desert. He loaded the suitcase nuke into a nuclear MRI machine in a container. Like you thought, the machine was delivered before we clamped down, so they just inspected the container and verified a hot machine inside and then with a police escort passed all our detectors to …”

“NYU Medical Center. I got it!”

Joey was speechless. Bill had hung up as Joey said, “How did you…”

The laundry hamper bumped and rumbled across the roof despite the efforts of the orderly not to disturb the case cushioned atop 10 dirty pillows and made snug by rolled-up heavy blankets on all sides. Once he landed, Number 1 ran to help him, ordering, “Lift; take the weight off the wheels to lessen the bumps.”