Crescendo, Hush 2 - Webnode

I was scared that this was it—I was going to be caught
—when the footsteps retreated. Less than a minute later, the
front door opened, closed. An eerie silence once again settled
over the apartment.
Slowly I brought myself back to standing. I stayed that way
another minute, and when I was certain the apartment was in
fact empty, I crawled back inside. Feeling suddenly
conspicuous and vulnerable, I strode down the hall. I needed to
go somewhere quiet, where I could sort through my thoughts.
What was I missing? Patch was clearly the Black Hand, but how
did he play into the Nephilim blood society? What was his role?
What the hell was going on? I threw my handbag over my
shoulder and headed for the exit.
I had my hand on the doorknob when a strange noise
penetrated my thoughts. A clock. The soft, rhythmic tick of a
clock. I frowned and turned back to the kitchen. The sound
hadn’t been there when I came in—at least, I didn’t think it had.
Listening intently, I followed the muffled tick across the room. I
crouched down in front of the cabinet below the kitchen sink.
With growing alarm, I opened the cabinet. Through all the
panic and confusion, I made sense of the contraption sitting
inches from my knees. Sticks of dynamite. Duct tape. White,
blue, and yellow wires.
I stumbled to my feet and ran out the front door. My feet
clattered down the stairs so fast I had to hold the handrail to
keep from falling. At the bottom, I shoved my way out to the
street and kept running. Flipping my head back once, I saw a
snap of light an instant before fire erupted from the windows of