“Commander, ma’am,” a voice called out, making Tessa’s attention snap to the cop. “We’ve found two men hiding in the basement. They’re saying they work for Benson Security.”
With a shared look, Callum, Dimitri and Tessa headed into the building. Reception had been reduced to rubble. Julia’s precious whiteboards were firewood and the files from her desk were scattered over the floor. Dimitri’s boot trampled a photo of Rudi on his way to the basement stairs, a sight he delighted in. Fortunately, the blast had been small, contained to the front of the ground floor. It could have been a whole lot worse. As they jogged down the stairs to the training room Dimitri heard a familiar voice.
“Get your hands off me. I’m old. My bones are brittle. If you break any of them I’m suing you.”
“The Granger brothers,” Dimitri said.
Callum’s jaw clenched as he pushed open the door to the training room. “What the hell are they doing here on a Friday night?”
“No social life?” Dimitri’s comment was awarded a death glare.
“These men work for you?” Tessa asked as she strode in behind them.
Dimitri stopped dead at the sight before him. The two old men were dressed in white y-front underpants with white vests tucked into them. They still wore brown socks and brown loafers. They looked like the scrawny chickens you found hanging in windows in Chinatown.
“We found them locked in one of those rooms.” The taller of the two officers holding on to the Granger brothers pointed at the interrogation rooms.
“Those bleeding rooms only lock from the outside,” Bill grumbled. “Who the hell planned that?”
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Dimitri didn’t think it was the time to point out that if you were in those rooms, you weren’t meant to get out on your own.
“Callum, tell these idiots to release us.” Bob tugged at his arm where the officer held him in a tight grip.
“Where the hell are your clothes?” Callum barked.
The brothers at least had the decency to look embarrassed.
“We were fighting.” Bill pointed at the two long poles on the mat. “Ninja style.”
Dimitri turned away, becoming suddenly interested in, well, anything, while he fought the urge to laugh.
“Are these two with you?” Tessa sounded incredulous.
“Unfortunately.” Callum pinched the bridge of his nose. “They’re our contractors. Carpentry.”
“That doesn’t mean they weren’t working with the team that attacked our men,” Tessa pointed out, her focus completely on the brothers.
The Granger brothers took one look at Tessa’s terrifying demeanour and put their hands in the air.
“We didn’t do nothing,” Bill said.
“Idiot,” his brother snapped at him before looking at Callum and Tessa. “We just wanted to get away from our wives. They’re having a ladies night at the house. The bloody place is overrun with chattering women. We thought we’d come here and get some work done in peace. Without you lot under our feet.”
“Then we thought we’d have a tea break,” Bill added.
“And during tea, we got to thinking about all the workout equipment down here and how we should give it a go.” Bob pointed to the gym room.
“Only, once we were down here, we saw the wall of death.” Bill waved at the combat weapons used for training. “Next thing you know, it’s Rumble In The Jungle, Granger style.”
There was silence. The two young officers holding the men struggled to keep straight faces.
“I was winning until all hell broke loose,” Bob grumbled.
“Were not, you bloody liar.” Bill glared at his brother.
Callum put a hand up for silence while Tessa heaved out a sigh.