The Last Second Read Online Free Page A

needed was a dog loose in a basement filled with explosives.
    He relaxed slightly when he discovered that the door at the bottom was closed tight. Max scratched at it, whining.
    “Guess we start there.”
    “Right behind you,” Sydney said.
    The stairwell wasn’t the brightest, but they weren’t about to see if there was any electrical power in the house. One did not turn on light switches or any other power source in proximity to explosive devices. When he reached the bottom, Max scratched at the door again, then looked up at Griffin.
    “Sit.”
    The dog obeyed.
    Griffin grabbed his collar, held tight, and after a cursory check of the door, turned the knob and opened it. He was glad to see that there was enough light from outside filtering in through the basement windows, and he took a look around before making a move. It appeared they were storing some of their building supplies down here, possibly doing some work. There was a stack of plywood sheets leaning against the wall to his left, and about an inch of sawdust on the ground in front of it.
    More importantly, there were four cases of military-­grade explosives stacked in the very center of the basement on the concrete floor, between two support beams. To Griffin, it seemed an odd choice for someone involved in illegal trafficking of any kind to store their explosives right where someone could see if they happened to look into any of the basement windows.
    “Sydney. Grab Max’s collar and don’t let him move from the doorway.”
    She took the dog and he stepped into the room, walked to his right, surveying the floor first, making sure there were no trip wires.
    Even though the outsides of the boxes indicated that they were military explosives, he wasn’t about to assume that’s what they contained. The first thing he looked for was signs of crystallization that would indicate any nitroglycerin had degraded.
    “Clearly they lied by reporting it as too unstable to move.”
    “And you’re surprised by this?” Sydney asked.
    “Just stating a fact,” he said, slowly walking the perimeter of the basement. The anticipated timer and detonation device was on the far side, and he stopped short at the sight of bright red coming from the timer. It took a moment before he realized that it was just the sun angling in from the window reflecting on the LED light.
    He knelt down. Used his cell phone to take a picture of it and the serial numbers on the closest box of explosives. The serial numbers could be traced back to where it originated, and as long as Griffin’s phone wasn’t blown to bits, and him with it, he’d have some proof of where it came from.
    “Can you disconnect it?”
    “Too soon to say. There’s a secondary wire on the timer and detonator, running straight down to the floor. It looks like it’s running back underneath all the boxes.”
    “Booby trap in case you move them?”
    “Maybe.” He got up, continued his path around the room, and realized the wire continued on past the boxes across the floor to the left of the stairwell, then straight underneath the sheets of plywood leaning against the wall. He hadn’t noticed the wire earlier, because of all the sawdust covering it, undoubtedly to conceal it from the casual observer.
    He knelt down beside the plywood, noting the space between the bottom of each sheet. No pressure device. “Where the hell is the wire running to?”
    “Can’t you just cut it?”
    “Not until I know its purpose.” He only hoped it was straightforward, a matter of simply disconnecting the wires, but this setup had him stumped. Careful not to disturb the wire, he lifted the sheets of plywood one by one and stacked them against the wall a few feet away. He moved the last piece and saw a wooden cupboard door about four feet high, barred from the outside and secured with a padlock. The wire ran beneath it. “I’d say something’s in there. The wire isn’t thrilling me, though.”
    Max whined quietly, and Sydney