Deadly States (Seaforth Files by Nicholas P Clark Book 2) by Nicholas P Clark

step
back and look at a scene from a distance. He was told not to focus on
the main hub of activity as that was often little more than a distraction. It made sense—if a bomb went
off you were unlikely to find the
bomber standing yards from the
explosion admiring his
handiwork.
What was more likely was to find the bomber a short distance away so
that they could admire what they had done, yet at the same time stay
far enough away to avoid being caught.
On the other side of the street Jack began to take in the scene.
36
     
    “It is certainly a
bit
odd that
he took
off
    People had initially run away from the building, like a wave heading
out to sea, but as the dust settled, and against the demands of the police, the people were now rushing back towards the building to have a
look at what was going on. There were shootings everyday in the city,
and even the odd small yet deadly car bomb, but a blast
on this scale
was something that didn’t come along everyday and the people wanted
to be part of the story.
    There was an almost
morbid inevitability about what was about
to happen next
the
crowd was
but Jack feared that he could do nothing about it. If
    not
prepared to listen to the instructions issued to
them
by the police then there was little point
of Jack stepping up and
making a fool
of
himself.
As the crowd began to surge forwards a
second
explosion ripped through the underground. The blast hit Jack
but he was able to keep his feet, which was more than the majority
of
the encroaching crowd could manage. Those at the front
of the crowd
bore the brunt
of the explosion as bits of masonry tore through them.
The rows behind were slightly shielded by the sacrifice made by the
leading
edge
of
people,
but the
power
of the
blast at
such a
close
distance meant that the experience was far from pleasant.
    The wave of humanity was on the move once again as people clambered to their feet and they
began to rush away from the building.
Jack instinctively looked up—the first blast was the more powerful of
the two and it had really rattled the entire building,
but the second
blast
did not
have to be very
powerful to bring the building
down.
Jack looked for any
signs
of
movement
on the upper floors
of the
tower. There were none.
    Jack’s attention returned to the scene of terror and confusion. People were pushing each other out of the way as they tried to make their
escape. Some of the policemen and paramedics were also trying to clear
out
of the area, while those a little more dedicated,
or foolhardy, cautiously
made their way
back towards the smouldering building. Jack
scanned the area. If this was the work
of
one
of the Islamist groups
then there was no guarantee that more devices would not
explode; or
perhaps they would follow the explosions up with a gun attack—another favourite tactic that they
often used. Jack’s knowledge
of these
groups indicated that he should be looking for motorcycles,
especially
those carrying passengers. Therewere none, which was unusual in that
    37
    part of the city—the young rich of the city were often to be seen nipping around on bikes so powerful that they would have been better
suited to a racetrack.
    Everything about what Jack was looking at
made
perfect sense.
There was nothing
out
of
place. The emergency workers were doing
what they were supposed to be doing, at least the ones who were hanging around were doing what they were supposed to be doing, and the
frightened crowd was doing what it was supposed to be doing. Everything was as it should be, given the extreme circumstances. Jack’s eyes
moved up and down the street, and up and down, and up and down
again. Nothing. He was about to cross back to the building when he
noticed something
out
of the corner
of his eye.
At first it barely registered. It was almost imperceptible, but his eye caught it and his mind
gave it a context just in time, as a large crowd of people ran towards
one of the side streets about fifty yards from where Jack was