“Look who wanders over to the job site with only seconds to spare,” Hector scoffed.
“I’m on time, aren’t I?” Jayden dished back with a grin.
Ben noticed admiring eyes turn to watch someone approach, so he looked to see Chanel coming. He smiled at her. “Good morning, Chanel!”
“Good morning, Ben,” she said, ignoring the worker’s blatant stares. Ben passed his eyes over the group, and they suddenly found things to do.
“Hector Ramirez, this is Chanel Babineaux, my good friend and neighbor. Chanel, Hector is the site foreman for this crew.”
She flashed a brilliant smile at him. “Nice to meet you. I’m also here in my official capacity as a detective for the police department. I need to ensure your men are aware of this building’s role in an ongoing investigation.”
Hector nodded. “Yes, I was informed by Mr. Klein that we are to stop if we discover anything that falls outside the expected floor plan or evidence of violence.”
Ben’s expression was grim. “I sincerely hope that won’t be the case, but I’m grateful for your vigilance in this.”
Hector smiled and waved it off. “We’re doing salvage first thing, removing doors, fixtures, cabinets, and whatever seems salvageable. This is one of the reasons we love working with you, Ben. Nothing goes to waste if it can help someone else.” He looked to Chanel. “We’ll peel this place apart, and if anything surfaces, I have your number.”
“Most appreciated!” She looked at Ben. “You didn’t have too much trouble at the station yesterday with the death of that potential kidnapper?”
Ben squirmed uncomfortably as Hector and Jayden stared at him in shock. “Uh, no. They determined it was accidental and justified as he attempted to shoot my bodyguard. It’s over.”
Chanel grinned at his embarrassment. “You’re a good man to have at your back. Tatiana should be grateful.”
Ben frowned, and she waved to stop his response as she knew the truth. “I should leave for work. Thanks again,” she said with a smile.
Ben’s gaze was caught by her amazing ass for just a second, then he turned to Hector and Jayden, who also tried not to gawk at the woman when their curiosity about Ben’s involvement in a death grabbed their attention.
“Details!” Jayden insisted.
Ben rolled his eyes. Then he pulled a card from his wallet and handed it to Jayden. “This is where you should go to get that thing made.” The young man looked at the jeweler’s card and tucked it away. He returned to staring at Ben.
Sighing, Ben gave them a quick explanation of what had happened the day before.
“Killed him with one punch?” Hector gasped.
Ben shook his head. “It was likely the blow from Tatiana’s knife hilt that broke the bones in his skull. I had no idea punching him would drive pieces into his brain. It was just a stupid accident, but it kept Tatiana from being shot, so something good came out of it. The guy was there to kidnap the store owner, so stopping that was a bonus.”
He shook his head. “Anyway, it’s over, and I’d appreciate it if we could move on.” He glanced back at his place. “I should get back to work as well. Give me a call if anything comes up.”
“Will do, Ben,” Hector said, eager to tell the latest story to his team.
Ben went home and met with the Sergeant coming up from the office in the basement. “I just confirmed the lab space is ready. Are you ready to go?”
He grinned at her. “Yes!”
They went to his truck, then picked up Tatiana and Liliya.
The commercial district where the lab facility was located was on the other side of the city, so the Sergeant took them on the highway to bypass driving through the core. The morning traffic was heavy, but their GPS indicated this was the quickest route.
“Any news from Agent Russo?” Ben asked.
“Nothing yet, Ben,” Liliya answered.
Evelyn shook her head. “We’ve heard nothing from the CIA either, but the General is keeping on top of this.”
Ben frowned. He wasn’t happy about this potential hit squad as it could also put others around him in danger. He glanced back and shared a look with Tatiana and saw her frustration.
They finally pulled off the highway and, a short time later, parked next to a single-level industrial park.
“We’re in unit one-oh-three,” Evelyn said, pointing to the door up ahead. The building was just a long rectangle with doors at set intervals but no windows. There were maybe three other cars parked before the long building.
“I will check the perimeter,” Tatiana said as she stepped out of the truck. She walked away before they could respond.
The Sergeant led them to the door and punched in the code she was given to unlock it. The front of the unit had a small reception area with tables and chairs. Behind this was a small kitchenette with a fridge and coffee maker. The restrooms were next then the lab space. Liliya said she’d remain in the reception area.
Ben and Evelyn put on the supplied safety gear, which in this case was simply a white lab coat and safety goggles. They went into the lab area and saw the work benches were set up. Everything the original researcher had in his lab had been duplicated. All of the components required to build the energy cells as he originally had were in boxes on the floor before the benches. Ben had reviewed the man’s notes in excruciating detail, looking for clues as to what went wrong, but something was missing.
He looked at Evelyn and rubbed his hands together with a grin as today they were moving beyond theory and doing some hands-on research.
“Let’s see what we have in the boxes!” he said with a grin, and she smiled back at him.
They began unpacking the items, and Ben lined them up on the test bench in order of assembly based on the design docs. They needed to make space around the table, so he had Evelyn assist him in moving the blast shield to the side of the room where the breaker panels were. This would go back around the bench once they powered up the energy cell they’d build.
Each test bench had power outlets they could plug into, but they were currently unpowered as an extra safety precaution. The breakers for them would need to be flipped first.
Ben inspected each component to ensure it was exactly as the original designer specified. He examined the flat rectangular lithium cells and frowned as each had a thin blue plastic wrap around them.
“His documentation says nothing about this plastic coating. Is it new?”
Evelyn shook her head. “Let me contact the manufacturer.” She pulled out her cell and frowned. “I have no signal. Give me a moment.” She moved to the back door and stepped outside, leaving the door slightly ajar as there was no handle on the outside. Ben moved on to inspect the next component as Evelyn made a call. He was finished by the time she finally returned.
“It took some time to find someone in the manufacturing process who could address this, but they’ve been putting this plastic protective wrap on their cells before shipping them out since the beginning. I’m not sure why the designer didn’t mention it,” Evelyn said.
Ben pondered that. “Is it just a protective coating meant to be removed prior to use?”
“According to the technician I spoke to, yes,” Evelyn responded.
Ben looked at the assembly notes. “As there’s no reference to removing the film, our first test will have to leave it in place to see if that has any effect.”
They got to work.
A short time later, Liliya poked her head in the door. “Ben, the building construction is interfering with our radios. I need to go check on Tatiana. The front door will remain locked.”
He looked at her distractedly. “Huh? Oh! Sure.”
Evelyn smiled and shook her head as she knew Ben probably wouldn’t recall Liliya telling him, so she nodded to the woman.
They made quick work of the assembly and found packing the lithium cells into the outer metal shell to be the most difficult stage.
“It’s the extra thickness of the plastic,” Ben sighed. “Again, no reference to the shell being this tight, but we’ll have to try it.” He looked to the supplies they’d ordered, and they had plenty of spare lithium cells to run additional experiments.
He looked to the Sergeant, and she was frowning at her radio. Then she checked her cell. “What’s wrong?”
“The building is blocking the radio and cell signals,” she grumbled. “I didn’t expect that. I need to check on Liliya and Tatiana.”
Ben looked at her, his mind a million miles away. “Sure.”
She smirked and headed for the back door. Ben heard it close behind her.
He frowned at the battery unit on the test bench. It should be ready to go according to the docs. He looked toward the back door, but Evelyn hadn’t returned. He walked over to the blast shield to see if he could move it back to the work bench. The thick plastic sheets mounted in the frame proved too awkward for one person to move.
He was glaring at it when the door to the front area opened, and a stranger rushed inside. He moved to stand directly across the room from Ben with only the two work benches between them, ten feet away. As Ben stared at him, he lifted his arm and pointed a gun at Ben. The shot was deafening in the enclosed space.
Ben looked at the slug trapped in the blast shield between them. It would have gone straight through his head, killing him instantly. He would have missed his children growing up. The weddings for Karen and Penny. Growing old with the women he loved.
He touched the barrier that saved him and felt the bump where the bullet stopped.
Then his eyes focused on the surprised face of the killer across the room.
Ben reached behind himself and flipped the breakers without taking his eyes from the other man.
Nothing happened at first, and the man’s eyes flicked up to the overhead lights, which remained on. He smirked and began to circle the work bench lifting his gun once more.
The second boom was much louder and sharper. The blast shield once more protected Ben as the shrapnel from the battery bomb exploded in all directions.
The gunman wasn’t so lucky. He was a bloody mess on the floor… and on the wall behind him. The exposed bits of lithium burst into intense flames as they reacted with oxygen.
Ben flipped the breakers off once more. He looked up at the sprinklers, but they hadn’t triggered yet. He wasn’t sure how to extinguish a Lithium fire.