'Ex-actly, rookie!' Rhyme scanned the boards. 'Location, location, location.'

Cooper said, 'But blow up what? And how?'

Rhyme scanned the crime scene photos again. Then: 'Sachs!'

She lifted an eyebrow.

'When we weren't sure where the hypochlorous acid came from we sent patrolmen to the scenes, remember? To see if there were chlorine distribution systems there.'

'Right. The boutique in SoHo and the restaurant. They didn't find any.'

'Yes, yes, yes, but it's not the acid I'm thinking of.' Rhyme wheeled closer to the monitor, studying the images. 'Look at those pictures you took, Sachs. The spotlights and batteries. Did you set them up?'

'No, the first responders did.' She was frowning. 'I assumed they did. They were there when I arrived. Both scenes.'

'And the officer who searched the tunnel for chlorine later said he was standing by the spotlights. They were still there. Why?' He frowned and said to Sachs, 'Find out who set them up.'

Sachs grabbed her phone and called the Crime Scene Unit in Queens. 'Joey, it's Amelia. When your people were running the Unsub Eleven-Five scenes, did you bring halogens to any of them? ... No.' She was nodding. 'Thanks.' Disconnected.

'They never set them up, Rhyme. They weren't our lights.' She then called a friend at the fire department and asked the same question. After a brief conversation she disconnected and reported, 'Uh-uh. They weren't the FD's either. And patrol doesn't carry around spots in their RMPs. Only Emergency Service does and they didn't respond until later.'

'And, hell,' Rhyme snapped, 'I'll bet there're lights in the tunnel under the Belvedere.'

Sachs: 'That's what the bombs're in, right? The batteries.'

Rhyme looked over the images. 'The batteries look like twelve-volt. You can run halogens on batteries that're a lot smaller. The rest of the casing's filled with gunpowder, I'm sure. It's brilliant. Nobody'd question spotlights and batteries sitting in a crime scene perimeter. Any other mysterious packages'd be reported and examined by the Bomb Squad.'

'But what's the target?' Cooper asked.

The brief silence was broken by Amelia Sachs. 'My God.'

'What, Sachs?'

'IFON.' She dug what seemed to be a business card out of her purse. And walked fast to the crime scene photos. 'Hell, I missed it, Rhyme. Missed it completely.'

'Go on.'

She tapped the screen. 'Those yellow boxes with IFON printed on the side? They're Internet cables, owned by International Fiber Optic Networks.' She held up the card. 'And the building directly over the Samantha Levine crime scene was IFON's headquarters. She worked for them. I interviewed the CEO just after she died.' Sachs then called up the photos of the Chloe Moore scene. 'There. The same boxes.'

And there was another box visible in the tunnel beneath the parking garage in the Belvedere Apartments.

Sachs said, 'In the hospital, in Marble Hill, where Harriet Stanton was attacked, I didn't go underground to look for any tunnels. But I'll bet there're IFON routers or whatever they are somewhere.'

Pulaski said, 'Somebody wants to blow up the boxes.' His face finally grew inscrutable. 'Hey - think about it - the Internet outages? The rumors of the traditional cable companies sabotaging the new fiber-optic systems? I'll bet that's it.'

Sachs said, 'Our Skin Collector may feel like he's the Bone Collector's heir but, bottom line? That's just a cover. He was hired to smuggle bombs underground to take out International Fiber Optic's routers.'

Pulaski asked, 'What would happen if they detonated?'

'Assume the entire Internet in Manhattan would go down,' Cooper said.

'Banks,' Rhyme muttered. 'And hospitals, police, national security, air traffic control. Call Dellray and have him alert Homeland Security. I'm guessing hundreds of deaths and billions of dollars in losses. Get our computer man, Rodney Szarnek, on the phone. Now.'

CHAPTER 57

Harriet Stanton was returning with her husband, Matthew, from Upper Manhattan Medical Center in Marble Hill.

They were in a cab, which was - so far - about seventeen dollars in fare.

Tags: Jeffery Deaver Lincoln Rhyme Mystery
Source: readsnovelonline.net