Free The Inner Circle by Robert Swartwood

 
    Somehow Ian hadn’t set it off when he sat down on the seat. It was possible there wasn’t as much mercury in there as I feared. But once he would start the car and back out of the space, that would give it enough movement to detonate.  
    “Ben?” Ian’s voice trembled on that one simple word.  
    “Quiet.”  
    “Just ... take the girl. Go on without me.”  
    “I said quiet.”  
    “But—”  
    “Ian,” I said. “You’re not going to die. I promise you that. Just sit still while I figure this out.”  
    He sat still. I glanced over my shoulder to check on the girl. She still stood there, watching me. I knew the best thing right now was to get the girl as far away from this car as possible. But I worried that if I did that Ian would freak and inadvertently set off the bomb. Carver had already died tonight; I wasn’t going to let Ian die too.  
    I climbed out of the back and stood up straight. Turned to the little girl and said, “Do you understand English?”  
    She just stared at me.  
    “I need you to go back to where we just left. Do you see that white SUV parked over there?”  
    No reply.  
    “I need you to go stand beside it. Okay?”  
    The girl blinked.  
    I turned back to Ian. He was staring back at me, his face pale. He looked like he was going to speak again but I held a finger to my lips.  
    “Stay quiet and don’t move,” I said. “I’ll be right back.”  
    I grabbed the girl’s shoulder and directed her back toward the Yukon. I expected there to be some resistance, maybe even more whimpering, but she complied without trouble. Once we reached the SUV, I opened the back door and had her climb in and buckled her to the seat. Then I hurried around the front to the driver’s side. I unclipped the dead driver and pulled him from the seat. He tilted over and fell to the ground. I grabbed his arms and pulled him a few feet away from the Yukon, then stepped back to the SUV and leaned in.  
    “Stay here,” I told the girl.  
    She just stared back at me.  
    I ran back to the Corolla. It didn’t look like Ian had taken a single breath the entire time I was gone. Tears stood in his eyes.  
    “Okay,” I said. “Here’s what we’re going to do. I’m going to stand here next to the car and hold my arm out. You’re going to use that as leverage as you slowly—and I mean slowly —lift yourself off the seat. Any sudden movement, no matter how slight, will get us both killed. Understood?”  
    He nodded slowly.  
    “Good. Now let’s do this.”  
    He grasped my arm and lifted his left leg and gently placed it on the ground. Next he slowly moved his right leg over as he turned slightly in the seat. He started to lift himself up as I leaned down and used my hand to press my weight onto the seat. Ian didn’t fully realize what I was doing until he had stood up completely out of the car.  
    “Ben, what are you doing?”  
    “Go.”  
    “But—”  
    “Take the girl. Make sure she’s safe.”  
    He just stood there, motionless.  
    “Now, Ian.”  
    He stood there for another second or two before turning and sprinting toward the Yukon. I watched him go. Then I started to release the pressure on the seat—slowly, so very slowly—until my hand came off the seat completely and I stepped back and away from the car.  
    I closed my eyes for a moment, took a deep breath, surprised I was still alive.  
    Then I turned and started running toward the Yukon.  
    I was halfway there when the world exploded.

 
     
     
    17

    I heard the blast an instant before I felt it.  
    Like a giant fist, it sent me flying into the nearest car. I hit its rear window so hard the glass spider-webbed. I lay crumpled on the ground, the majority of my body feeling like it had been shattered. I may have briefly passed out, I don’t know. All I know was my ears were ringing and I thought I was dying. The next thing I knew someone was shouting my name and I felt hands on me, trying to