CHAPTER TWENTY FOUR
The Bomber felt excited, breathless with tension, as he slunk into the basement parking lot below the main building.
This was going to be his biggest coup yet, and it had taken a long while and lots of planning, to reach this moment.
He'd dreamed of it ever since he'd been inspired to take his revenge. This was going to be a personal high point for him in his new career as the bringer of revenge.
Security was tight here. That was no surprise. Important business was done in this building.
Its gabled frontage spoke of its colonial origins. It was set among flower beds and topiary hedges.
But although the frontage was elegant and the interior was wood, polished and antique, it had modern cameras and surveillance; and visitors who wanted to proceed beyond the lobby had to sign in and be checked out.
But he'd gotten around it by dressing in the overalls of an electrical company that he'd seen the building managers use. And that also provided a good excuse for him to bring in the large backpack, in which his most powerful bombs yet were concealed.
Not just one. Oh, no. He wasn't stopping at one this time. He was going to make sure that some of the first responders went down, too.
But his main target was someone different. A key person in his life. The need for revenge surged inside him.
This woman had been pivotal in his father's case. If it had not been for her, his dad would never have been sentenced to life in prison for murder.
This woman had engineered his father's fate. Of course, nothing about it had been based on truth. Lies, lies all the way. He'd seen them. Those people had reveled in their lies.
The Bomber knew the truth about his dad.
His dad had been framed. Of course he had. He wasn't sure by whom, but he was sure it had all been unfair. At the time, the Bomber himself had been off the rails, drinking, running away from home, skipping school. He’d been arrested a couple of times. He hadn't known all the details of exactly how this had played out, but now those didn't matter. What mattered was the revenge he was taking on everyone who had been involved.
The schoolteacher who'd kept him in detention on the day of the murder for skipping class the day before. If it hadn't been for that, then he might have been able to see what had happened. As it was, he'd been stuck in a classroom when his dad had gone on this so-called killing spree.
The manager of the diner that had been opposite where the shooting occurred. That was where the victims had eaten before they got on the street and into the road rage incident with his dad, where he’d ended up killing them. Probably in self-defense. But in any case, the manager of the diner had been responsible. If it hadn’t been for her diner, those people would not have been in the area and gotten into that conflict.
And the rental agent who had kicked his dad out of their lodgings shortly before this apparent crime had taken place. His dad had been furious about that. Just because he'd defaulted on the rent for months, didn't mean he wasn't planning to pay. But that harsh, unfair woman had given them no chance and had sent them packing, to live in an apartment block that was almost ready to be condemned.
Of course, the lawyer was a key person and one that he'd enjoyed taking down. She hadn't gotten his dad off. She'd been useless.
The police - well, the more police that got killed, the better, but he was particularly pleased to have punished some police from the very same department that had arrested his dad. The Sunnybrook police department.
He couldn't go as far as making sure they were exactly the same officers, but he'd done his best. At least some had gone down. A representative sample.
And now, the Bomber was going to punish one of the people who had been key in deciding his father's fate. This was approaching the pinnacle of his plans.
The petite woman, with graying hair and a slim figure was now in her late fifties, he guessed.
She'd had a long and hard working career. A defender of women's rights, a leader in her field. She had one of the best reputations in the business, and there were rumors that she would soon move from her current role into a successful political career.
But she wouldn't. Those plans were never going to be realized, because the esteemed lady was going to be taken out in a ball of flame.
He was only sorry that he hadn't managed to get to her earlier.
The injustice of his father's treatment was the reason that he had spent the last few years finding out all he could about this wicked woman, and planning this day.
She had been responsible for bringing down his father. It was thanks to her input that the system had taken away his father's freedom, his dignity, his pride. She had taken away the Bomber's family, his future.
As he reached the steel door that led to the basement parking area, he smiled to himself, pleased with the elegance of his plan. He was so elated that it was hard to keep control of himself. He wanted to laugh out loud and pump the air with his fists.
But he had to control himself. Even though this was special. This was a moment to savor. He had to remain calm and focused, or he might make mistakes.
He had a master key that the building maintenance department had been happy to hand over.