"Darcy! get out of there!" I screamed, but he wasn't listening, wasn't even looking at me. He was staring at the digital readout. I didn't know why. All I could see was a bunch of numbers. I called the bomb squad, then checked on the backup that was supposed to be coming. Neither one would arrive in time.
"Darcy! Get out!"
Esther shook her head. "I told you. He can't."
"We'll see about that." I pulled my gun out of its holster. I could probably shoot the lock off the door, but that would take longer. "Darcy! Get down!" Careful to aim away from the bomb, I fired two shots into the window.
Glass flew everywhere. Darcy crawled under the table, trying to get away from the noise and the flying shards. I grabbed Esther by the throat.
"Is there any way to shut that bomb down?" I shouted at her.
"Of course. But he won't figure it out. Not in time. The math is much too complex. The fractions just continue."
I whipped out my cuffs and locked Esther to the doorknob. "If that bomb goes off, you'll die." I paused, looking her square in the eye. "You and your baby girl."
Her face twitched, ever so slightly. "You won't go through with it."
"Watch me!"
"Fine. Then we both die. Better to die in flames than be subjected to the torment of being born unloved. Shuttled from one cruel home to another. Tortured and abused and-"
I didn't have time to relive her tragic life story. I shoved her down onto the floor. "Darcy! Crawl through the window."
He didn't answer. He was doing something, punching the numbers on a keypad beneath the readout. I would've been afraid that would trigger a premature explosion, but it didn't, thank God.
"Darcy! What are you doing?"
"I think-I, maybe if-" He was concentrating; obviously, I was a distraction. "I think it is a puzzle."
"A puzzle? Like what?"
"Like if I can solve this equation she wrote on the metal part, maybe it will stop the timer."
I turned back to Esther. "Is that true?"
She looked up at me but didn't answer. I was certain that meant the answer was yes.
"But there are so many different ways to solve it," Darcy continued, more to himself than to me. "I do not know which way is right."
"Darcy, there's no time. If you don't crawl out of there, I'm coming in after you."
"I want to solve the puzzle."
"Darcy, if you don't get out in time, you'll die."
For the first time, he looked up. "But there has not been time to evacuate the building, has there?"
Of course there hadn't. I wasn't going to lie to him.
"So if I do not solve the puzzle, everyone in this section of the building will die, right?"
Goddamn that stupid big heart of his! "Darcy, I'm ordering you-"
"Shhh! I am thinking. Maybe I can get this. Maybe."
"You can't. I mean, if anyone ever could, it would be you, Darcy. But no one can. Esther told me. Certainly not in"-I glanced at my watch-"less than three minutes. She said that no matter what you do, it just keeps continuing."
He tilted his head to one side, then his eyes brightened. "Continuing fractions? Like what the Math Lady had in her classroom?" He hunched over the keypad and punched the keys, rapid-fire.
Esther laughed. "When he was in my classroom, it took him an hour to solve three equations. Has he studied them since?"
I answered, even though my lips were dry and tremulous. "I don't think so."
"Then he doesn't have a chance."
I checked my watch. Barely more than two minutes till four. Assuming my watch was accurate. "Darcy! Give it up! We have to get out of here!"
He was still punching madly at the keypad. "I think that maybe I can get it." Long pause. "But there are so many equations. Each one leads to another."
"Darcy! There just isn't time!" I didn't know what to do. I could go in there and try to drag him out, but he would resist. I couldn't carry him out and get far enough away in time. "Darcy! It's going to detonate!"
"Did you know that thirty-seven percent of all detonators fail?"
I felt a hollow aching in my chest. "Hers won't." I climbed through the window. While he worked, I examined the bomb over his shoulder. I saw the clock that worked as the timer-less than a minute away from four o'clock. Two wires were attached to the minute hand-one leading to the power source and the other to the detonator-and there was a pin soldered in precisely at the four. I imagined there was a relay that cut off the triggering signal by stopping the clock, if the puzzle was solved in time, something that separated the power source from the detonator. I could see that the plugs and wires could not be pulled out-they'd been soldered into place, too. I didn't think my odds of snipping the right wire to defuse the bomb were high; it might not even be possible. Either Darcy solved this puzzle or a lot of people were going to die. Including Darcy.
And me. Because I wasn't leaving him here alone.
"Darcy," I murmured quietly. Beads of sweat were dripping down the sides of my face. My heart was pounding against the walls of my chest. "If there's anything I can do for you, please let me know."
He didn't. And what the hell could I do, anyway? Check his math? I just waited and watched the human calculator in motion. The Mozart of Math. Each time he solved an equation, a little beeping noise told him that he'd gotten it correct, but then another one appeared. I saw the target number-seven-scribbled just above the LED readout. This problem wouldn't be solved until that number turned up as a solution-a final solution. And there was no telling how long that might take.
Thirty seconds to go. Twenty.
"Darcy," I said quietly, "I don't want to distract you. I don't even want you to listen to me. But I have to say-I have to tell you-" I drew in my breath. "You're a good boy, Darcy. A very good boy." Pause. Ten seconds to go. "I'd be lucky to adopt a kid as great as you. And you'd make a hell of a good policeman."
Darcy's eyes widened. He let out a scream He stopped the clock with four seconds left to go. I don't really know what happened after that-Granger showed up with some of his men and they took control of the situation. Which was okay with me, because my legs had totally turned to Jell-O and I was lying on the carpet laughing and crying my eyes out.