The two men were moving slowly through someone else’s house.
The older man was saying, “This’ll be just a quick in-and-out job. The boss wants the package delivered to him personally straight after the job, and what Mr Big says, goes. Just remember that. Straight after he said. It must be important.”
“What, tonight you mean?”
“That’s right.”
“Oh! I didn’t know that. Where does he live?”
“Don’t you fret now, he only lives five blocks from here.”
The younger man looked relieved. “That’s good then. I have choir practice tonight.”
“You’re kidding, of course.”
“Not at all. I’m the lead tenor,” he replied, with obvious pride.
The other sniffed and they moved into the study and switched the desk lamp on.
“Wow! What a beauty, look at the size of it! No wonder we have to blow it.”
“When you say blow it, you mean… he gave a nervous grin, it’s just that I thought you’d be using a stethoscope, crouched down listening to the tumblers… that sort of thing.”
In the dim light the younger man watched as the other began weighing something in his hand. He was also reading a label. “Let’s see, would that be ten or a hundred?” he mumbled.
“What’s that?”
“C4. Nothing to worry about. Stable until you prime it.” He continued doing calculations in his head. “Hundred then. Maybe a little more for this beauty. Yes, hundred and five, or even hundred and ten. I’ll go for a hundred and ten.”
The young man was looking nervous, but he was saying nothing.
“Any external damage would be minuscule,” the other murmured, pushing the detonator into what looked like a large ball of putty.
The young man could no longer keep quiet. “You’re saying minuscule.”
“Yes, extremely small.”
“Yes, I know what it means. I can’t help wondering whether you are underestimating the risk of this thing going wrong.”
“Stop worrying. The guy I got it from told me this is an LPD. It’ll give us plenty of time to move back through the house.”
“OK. LPD?”
“Long Period Delay detonator.”
“Are you sure?”
“Look, you’re just the driver, right? I only agreed to you coming in with me because you seemed so interested.”
He fiddled with it a little longer before saying, “OK. Let’s move back to the lounge room, just to be safe.”
They were huddled down at the back of the settee, when the older man said, “It might be a good idea to put your fingers in your ears.”
That never happened.
At that point, five blocks away, Mr Big heard the explosion.