Brain Storm (US Edition) Read Online Free Page B

voices she had heard, strongly indicated to Sara that that was where the hostages were being held. But they could wait for now.
    She crossed the gap between the column and the barrels in a crouch with her attention focused on the CDM terrorists. She came to a halt behind the barrels and ducked out of sight. She slipped the pack off her back, the specially constructed material of her clothes that was designed to make no noise still sounded loud to her nervous ears but there was no sign that she had been noticed. The pockets to the pack did open silently and Sara removed a small pen-sized object from one of them. Nothing more than a thin cylinder with a rectangular display running most of its length and a thin needle to collect samples, the device had the chemical makeup of many of the most common types of explosives stored in its memory ready to be compared to a sample. After checking the lead for any type of anti-tampering booby trap she inserted the needle end of the analyzer through the hole in the top of the barrel.
    While she waited for the analysis to be completed Sara took a look at the initiation for the bomb. The detonator appeared to be a device that would send an electrical charge down the leads into each barrel. It would be initiated by a signal from a remote control device. There was no manual trigger on the bomb. The CDM operatives on this operation weren't willing to make themselves martyrs to their cause. At least not like that.
    Sara could defeat the remote trigger easily but she still needed to know if the explosives could be set off by the terrorists shooting or setting fire to the explosives or by detonating a smaller explosive like a grenade nearby. Sara took a look at the display on the analyzer but it had yet to come up with anything. She took another device out of another pocket of her pack. This time it was a small ring that would fit onto the palm of her hand. The ring was actually two rings stuck together facing each other. Sara used separate hands to grip each of the rings and rotated them a quarter turn. That would start the jamming device up putting out a field of just a couple of meters. Not enough to interfere with any other signals the terrorists might be using but enough to create a bubble around the bomb that would stop the detonation signal getting through. She slipped the thin jammer through the gap in the nearest barrels so that it would be hidden in the middle of them all.
    The analyzer had finally finished its work and Sara let out a metaphorical breath. The explosive was completely harmless unless triggered by a specific electrical charge. She had made the bomb safe. Half of her mission was complete, now she had to locate and safeguard the hostages.
    Sara slipped back inside the room she had left by and made her way through the adjoining rooms to the opposite side of the tourist gift shop. The door leading in to it on this side was not solid but it had been covered with the same type of dark cloth which blocked out the display windows. A thin sliver of light showed under the cloth creating a patch of light several centimeters long. She knew there to be at least one hostage and one terrorist inside that room and she had to find a way to at least get a look inside without being noticed.
    Sara lowered herself down and put her face sideways against the cold polished floor trying to get a look through the gap where the cloth ended just above the level of the floor. She could make out nothing more than brief movements of shadow interrupting the light. There was no way she could interpret that into anything she could use.
    Sara pushed herself off the floor and indulged herself with an almost silent sigh. She hadn't held out much hope that she would have seen anything useful but she had had good luck so far and was disappointed that it hadn't held out a little longer. But Sara had never trusted nor relied on luck before. She would find a way to take a look inside.
    While she was sitting in the