“Detective, that much Semtex has at least a fifteen-foot lethal blast radius. I think you know as well as I that none of you would survive detonation.” Snider brought his hand closer to his chest, enjoying the exchange.

Ten stalemated seconds passed, before Cohen’s arms buckled and then his hand dropped to his side.

“Drop the gun in front of you, Sergeant,” Snider said.

Lopez looked over to him. “Seth, don’t!”

“He knows what to do, Dr. Lopez,” Snider said and then turned to Cohen. “Don’t you?”

Cohen let the gun drop on the hard floor. It landed with a metallic clatter by his foot.

“Where’s Martineau?” Kilburn snarled. “We heard him calling.”

With his left hand, Snider dug behind his back and pulled out his gun, a Glock 9mm. Aiming the gun at Cohen, he gently placed the remote control to the explosive down on the counter beside him. Finally, he reached into his jacket and pulled out the mini-recorder. He hit the PLAY button and Martineau’s voice called out: “Lina, Graham, Seth, I’m here in the lab.”

Snider fought off another smile. “Dr. Martineau could’t make it, but he did send me ahead with this recording.”

“You son of a bitch,” Kilburn muttered.

Snider shrugged indifferently and then took three steps closer to them. He pointed the gun at Kilburn’s head. “Dr. Kilburn, please move in beside the others.”

Snider had full faith in the Semtex, but he wanted to herd them closer to the center of the countertop where the plastique was attached.

Kilburn didn’t move. “How will you explain away this one?” he asked.

“That’s not my job. But from what I understand, industrial espionage is a growing problem among major corporations. Even the drug companies aren’t immune to it.”

“You’re not serious,” Lopez spat.

“I am. And I’m running out of time.” He steadied his aim directly at Lopez’s face. “Dr. Kilburn, you have three seconds to join them or I will put a bullet between Dr. Lopez’s eyes,” he hissed. “One … two …”

Defeat clouding his features, Kilburn began to shuffle toward the others and out of the way of the opaque glass door.

Snider caught the blur of gray moving behind it.

64 - Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

64

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Cohen heard a deafening crash. For a moment, he thought the bomb had detonated. Then he realized that the etched glass door behind him had erupted from Snider’s single gun blast.

Two shots from outside the lab answered back.

Cohen saw Snider duck to his left behind the cover of a waist-high enclosed workspace in the far corner of the lab. Cohen glanced over his shoulder and saw his partner diving in through the door and sliding through the shattered glass. Leetch rolled awkwardly to his left and almost slammed into Kilburn.