Two Blasts, Not One
point of view. Nick put his hands in his trouser pockets, inhaled deeply, and responded in a calm, level voice. “Okay, number one. The glass fragments inside the conference room. That tells me that there were two blasts, not one.” Nick’s statement had a definitive tone.
It wasn’t easy for Brendan to accept what Nick had to say. The theory that Nick was suggesting was different from the theory on which he had been working until now. Accepting Nick’s theory also meant accepting the fact that he wasn’t on the right track. That wouldn’t be an easy thing for Brendan.
“You say two blasts?” Brendan asked in a voice conveying surprise and ridicule. “And your proof is glass fragments. Okay, what else?”
Nick was a very different person today. All Brendan’s attempts to agitate him were proving futile. It was as if Nick’s main reason for the meeting was to share information with Brendan, nothing more. In a very composed voice, he replied, “Yeah, our man blew the window out first then jumped before the main blast made mincemeat out of the victims. He had planned it like this. My sources tell me that he is alive and out in the open.”
“Jumped? Alive? Are you nuts? We didn’t find a splatter on the sidewalk! I hope you remember the blast took place on the tenth floor.”
“Nor would you,” Nick replied in a haughty voice, “because he landed on the window washer’s platform and then rode it up to the roof. Our man is a pro, Brendan.”
Brendan’s eyes were wide now. “Window washer’s platform?” he echoed and followed that with a short, humorless chuckle. “You truly are a loony tune! You expect me to believe that a man could hit that little platform…and live? Ha!” This theory had never occurred to Brendan. Part of his mind had to admit that it did make sense, yet to the rest of his mind the theory was unacceptable because he had not seen any window washer’s platform and he had not found remnants of any kind of device in the rubble. Brendan looked at Nick and concluded the FBI agent had to be high on drugs if he believed all the things he was saying and was expecting Brendan to believe them, too. No one could have escaped alive from that tenth-floor conference room. This man is definitely under the influence of some drug, thought Brendan. Either that or he’s nuts. Literally out of his mind!