Flanagan waved his crew out of the door so he could get inside. The order to leave

  their posts had produced an orderly abandonment. He waited until an opening showed

  itself so he could slip inside and start into the main floor while everyone was leaving.

  Where would he go to sabotage the factory? Would Rydell know that? Where would

  Rydell go to sabotage the factory?

  He waved stragglers out of his way as he walked the aisles. More than one stick of

  dynamite would be involved in this. Rydell wouldn’t have set things up to let the

  building go about its business if he wasn’t in charge.

  Flanagan paused when he reached the far end of the open space. He didn’t see anyone

  moving around on the floor. Someone smart could hide behind the machines. Should

  he check the offices, or the hall leading to his lab downstairs?

  He decided to take one more walk around the floor. Any bomb would have to be on

  the floor if it was supposed to wreck the machinery enough to cause a shutdown.

  Shanks might have already planted it and left.

  If he was waiting on the explosion outside, what would he think with all the

  employees leaving? Would he guess someone was looking for his bomb? Would he

  come back and try to prevent his bomb from being found? Would he stay out and

  hope the thing exploded and took the meddler with it?

  Flanagan put that aside. He couldn’t stop Shanks from coming back inside the

  building. His armor should protect him from gunfire. He had to worry about the

  bomb. He didn’t know how big it was, or if his suit would protect him from that.

  None of his employees had a suit, and didn’t stand a chance if the thing went off

  while they helped look for it.

  He found a box under a press during his second inspection. It was the only thing that

  looked out of place. He would feel guilty if he was dealing with someone’s lunch. He

  gently pulled the box from under the press so he could take a closer look at it.

  Flanagan used the edge of his shield to gently pry apart the tape holding the flaps of

  the box down. He didn’t want to make a wrong move if it was a bomb. He pulled the

  flaps apart while holding it in place on the concrete floor with his knee. He shook his

  head at the mass of wiring and what looked like dynamite in the container.

  So he had been right about Shanks leaving a bomb. He didn’t worry about how

  Shanks had got into the place to plant the bomb. He felt that Rydell had called to give

  Shanks a cover story to get him inside the factory.

  Then he just needed to leave the box accidentally on purpose next to a machine they

  used to flatten metal into sheets to be shipped out for use in construction jobs.

  If the press was blown up, it might survive the blast. Its operator would lose legs.

  He considered the angles and felt shrapnel from the blast would reach four other

  machines, and three of them were set up so that some other operator would get nailed

  by the blast.

  He didn’t have to worry about that now that he had it in front of him. All he had to

  do was take it apart so it didn’t explode in his face.

  Flanagan started by checking the wiring. He knew a little about electricity and how

  clocks worked. He didn’t see any switches to stop tampering. He noted the thing sat

  on a plate of some kind. It took up the bottom of the box. Maybe that was the backup

  system if the clock didn’t work.

  He didn’t like that. That plate might be some kind of explosive itself to trigger the

  bigger bomb if it was moved.

  Could his suit take two blasts if he messed up?

  He didn’t want to find out. Testing is where they used dummies instead of the

  inventor of the process.

  Too bad the mixture in his lab was solid by now. He could dip the bomb in that if he

  could scoot it along the ground without blowing himself up. What was his next best

  option?

  He could push it outside so only the outside of the building would be hurt. He would

  have to ask his employees to move out of the parking lot and find some place to use

  for cover so he could blow the thing up in an empty lot.

  The other consideration was somewhere walled in like the restrooms. If the bomb

  went off in there, he could repair the bathrooms faster than he could repair the

  machinery for his contracts. The plumbing would be a fixable disaster.

  The bathroom seemed the best for defusing everything. Then letting the bomber know

  that Rydell wasn’t going to pay him might get him to stop attacking.

  Or he might decide he didn’t have anything to lose and try to wreck the factory out

  of spite.

  Flanagan picked up the box. He scanned the walls until he saw the sign for the

  Stolen novel; please report.

  bathrooms. He started over slowly.

  Once he had things defused, he could retreat and let the Jersey State Police handle the

  rest. If the blame could be dumped on Rydell, that would be more charges of

  attempted murder on the docket.

  He reached the bathroom and was surprised by the sweat on his face. He paused

  before he took another step. He blinked at a drop almost touching his eye. Once he

  was done with this, he would be glad to hang up the armor for good.

  He pushed open the men’s room door. Once he got the bomb over to the sink, he

  could use that to soak the dynamite down to leech the nitro out of it. That could still

  cause problems but dumping the nitro should dilute it enough so it wasn’t dangerous.

  If he was wrong, he was blowing up the pipes underneath the factory. That would cost

  more than replacing one of the machines to fix.

  The main problem with this solution was the plate in the bottom of the box. What

  would happen if he added weight to it under the water.

  He started running the sink full of water. The worse he predicted happening was the

  bomb going off in the restroom and killing him despite his armor. At least Rydell

  wouldn’t get the company where he was going.

  Miss Rich would keep things straight. He had faith in her.

  He put the box on the edge of the sink. He worked the tape off the bottom as he

  watched the water fill the bowl. He turned the water off when it was to the brim.

  Did it have room for the bomb? He couldn’t tell. The plate was an additional worry.

  How much explosive was in that?

  He peeled the tape away from the bottom of the box while holding the flaps closed.

  He positioned it over the sink of water and moved his hand. The plate tilted in the

  sink. The dynamite went into the water. He stepped back behind his shield.

  He breathed a sigh of relief that nothing happened. He checked the plate and saw that

  it was tied to the bundle of dynamite. If he had tried to pull the sticks out, that would

  have set everything off.

  Now all he had to do was pull the clock off the bundle, and separate the wires. He

  needed a tool for that. He had a wire cutter and some other things in his lab. He could

  get them and get back in a couple minutes.

  Once he was done, he could hand the whole thing over to the state police and let them

  do what they could to find the bomber.

  He stepped out of the restroom. He spotted men standing around the staff door. He

  didn’t recognize them from the shift. He spotted the Tommy guns as they spotted him.

  Flanagan raised his shield as he backed up into the restroom. He couldn’t let them

  have the bomb. It could still be used if they pulled it out of the water before the nitro

  was pulled out.

  Bullets dug into the walls as the machine guns rattled. Flanagan didn’t feel any

  impact, so they had missed him, or the armor was doing its job. He had to hold the

  restroom until the police arrived.

  He slammed the door closed with his foot. He could hold the door closed until help

  arrived. Should he? His armor should allow him to fight back without worrying about

  getting hurt.

  He was trapped in a room with a bomb that could still go off. A small army of thugs

  could do anything to his factory while he waited for help. He had to decide. Was he

  going to do something about this mess, or let someone else handle it?

  He had the equipment, he had the ability, he had the determination. He couldn’t let

  someone else save the factory when he was right there. He might as well let them

  burn the place down if he wanted to stay in the bathroom.

  He flexed his hands as he stared at the door. He needed to attack and keep them from

  wrecking the factory. He couldn’t let Rydell win.

  He stepped back as he heard steps coming to the door. He raised his shield to protect

  his head. The glass shield on the welder’s visor wouldn’t stop a bullet as well as the

  rest of the suit. The door swung open. He charged behind the shield.

  He heard the roaring of the Tommy as he ran right at the door. He didn’t feel

  anything. He didn’t know if that was because the shield and armor was working better

  than he thought, or he was riddled with holes and couldn’t feel anything. He let the

  shield push the machine gun out of the way as he kept going with his shoulder. His

  enemy crashed into the opposite door to the ladies’ restroom.

  Another man appeared as Flanagan straightened. He started to raise his chopper to

  take care of the purple menace in front of him. A fist to the face sent him sprawling.

  A foot applied with more force took him out of the fight.

  Flanagan turned to the first man and made sure to kick him hard in the face. He didn’t

  need that guy getting up while he was dealing with the gunner’s friends.

  Flanagan took a look at the factory floor. He knew there should be three more men.

  His brief glimpse before he had ducked into the bathroom had told him that. He

  spotted them moving among the machinery. One was close to where the bomb had

  been hidden.

  He knelt and searched the man he had taken outside the bathroom. He found a pistol

  to add to his collection. He dragged the man into the ladies’ and tied him to his friend

  after making sure to take their wallets and drop their Thompsons and other pistol in

  the men’s.

  Now he had to deal with the other three before they caused too much trouble.

  Flanagan crept into the maze of machinery and beltways. He looked around as he

  went from one piece of equipment to the next. He caught sight of one of the three men

  looking around for him and ducked down.

  He knelt and looked under the beltways between him and the third man. He took aim

  and fired once. The man went down with an outraged cry.

  Apparently he had never been shot.

  Flanagan looked around for his two friends. He saw number four on the steps heading

  to the offices above the factory floor. He took aim and fired. The bullet hit the railing

  and bounced away. That was enough to send the gunman scrambling into the offices.

  Flanagan shook his head. He would have to go up there and flush the trouble maker

  out now.

  He scanned the factory floor. Where was the last man? If he could deal with him, then

  he could go up and deal with the one in the offices.

  Gentle taps struck him in the arm and chest. He went down. Now he knew where

  number five was.

  He saw feet coming toward him. He aimed the pistol and fired. One shoe blew up and

  he heard a scream. He jumped up and ran over. He kicked the man in the face to shut

  him up.

  He went to the stairs. He climbed up to the offices’ door. He ducked behind his shield

  as bullets blasted through the glass. He checked the scene when the bullets stopped

  flying. He pushed through shattered door and went over a desk as the last man tried

  to put another drum in the Tommy gun. A gloved fist sent the man against a desk.

  The gunman went for his pistol. Flanagan already had his in hand. He fired once in

  the man’s hand. The gun fell to the floor.

  “Hello, Shanks,” said Flanagan. “I’ve been looking for you.”

  One punch sent Ian Shanks down for the count.