Too Close to Home (22 page)

She stormed from the kitchen, leaving Connor blinking, stunned . . . and thinking. Was he trying to avoid dealing with Jenna? Maybe, but his priority was to keep her safe, and this killer had made things personal. He’d killed Andrew. Who was to say he wouldn’t come after him or Jenna? Or the rest of his family?

He went cold.

No, it was best if Jenna were gone. And he’d ask his parents to take her. Then once he had this killer behind bars, he could take some leave from the department and try to put his family back together. Build his relationship back with Jenna. Because he wanted to. Needed to.

Desperately.

His phone rang and he sighed. A glance at caller ID made him smile and grimace at the same time. Samantha.

“Hello?”

Her frantic voice came through. “I need a bomb squad ASAP.”

Sam sat in her sister’s driveway, not daring to move. If Tom was right and she’d planted herself on top of a bomb, they were all in big trouble. She’d been in tight spots before, some dangerous situations, but this one went straight to the top of the list for most dangerous.

She didn’t like it.

About four minutes later, she heard sirens coming toward her, growing louder with each second.

Tom looked at her. “Don’t blow us up, okay?”

“That’s the plan, partner.” Sweat slicked her palms, ran down her back. She even thought she felt her feet sweating.
Please,
Jesus.

Dare she reach under the seat and see if she could feel it? Right, Sam, brilliant idea. And flip the switch to detonate the thing. Actually, if it was the kind of bomb Tom thought it was, she’d already activated the switch, the initiator as it was called in bomb squad school. When she removed her weight, she’d trigger the explosion. And there was no way she could get out fast enough. She’d be blown right out of the seat.

“What do we do, Tom? You’re the partner who went through the bomb squad training. I missed that class, remember?” She’d been sitting up nights with Jamie during one of her nightmare stints and had basically slept through the class. Somehow, she’d passed. Right now, she wished she could remember something from it. Anything.

“Sit tight. Just don’t move, okay? Don’t shift your weight. Don’t. Do. Anything. Okay?”

“What if I start hyperventilating?”

“You’ll probably blow us up.”

Samantha closed her eyes, breathing in through her nose and out through her mouth. And praying hard. She wasn’t afraid to die. She knew where she was going, but the crazy thought that kept going through her mind was that Connor would never be able to deal with it.
He doesn’t know you yet, Lord. At least not like
he needs to. If I die, I don’t think he’ll ever have anything to do with
you again. Of course you know that better than I do, but . . . just please,
get us out of this?

And Tom . . . he wasn’t a believer either, even though he tolerated her talking about God with him.

She opened her eyes and nearly screamed. Then realized the monster outside her window was a fully protected bomb squad member. He motioned for her to open her door.

Slowly, painstakingly, she eased it open, pushing, pausing, pushing some more until it stood wide open. She breathed a sigh when nothing went kaboom. Absently, she registered Tom’s groan of relief.

Looking up into the bomb guy’s alien eyes, she raised a brow. “Isn’t there a robot for this kind of thing?”

“Yeah, with cameras and X-rays and everything. But sometimes it’s just easier to do things the old-fashioned way. I don’t know if I could position him like we need to in this situation without causing more trouble than we want. I’m going to take a look under your seat. See what kind of bomb we’ve got here.”

“If there is a bomb.”

He bent down, moved her feet carefully out of the way. She let him do the shifting, keeping her rear planted securely, not wanting to lift a bit of her weight from the seat.

Alien eyes looked back up. “There’s a bomb.”

The air left her lungs. Terror set in. “My sister’s in the house.”

“We’ve already gotten her out and are evacuating the neighborhood. My name’s Calvin and I’ll be getting you two out of this safely. I’ve got to check the rest of the car to make sure I don’t set off any little booby traps and I’ll be back, all right?” He tapped the door lightly. “My daughter’s birthday party’s tonight and I don’t plan to miss it.”

His complete confidence eased her nerves—a little. “How old will she be?” Somehow, talking kept her mind from screaming, kept her from panicking.

Calvin paused. “Ten.”

“What does she like? Her favorite food?”

“Animals and pizza—in that order.”

She met his eyes—or where his eyes would be if she could see through the protective mask. “Thanks.”

Tom spoke up. “How many of you are there?”

“Four. We’ve got our team leader, communications tech, equipment dude, and me. I’m the downrange tech, and like I said, I’m going to take care of this. Your job is to sit tight and do exactly what I say, got it?”

“Right. Got it.”

He spoke into a microphone, but the words didn’t register for Samantha. Now that the good guys were here, she was too busy praying to pay much attention.

Connor’s brakes squealed as he pulled onto the right street. He’d had to flash his badge at the entrance to gain access to the neighborhood, but Samantha was in there, sitting on top of a bomb. Nothing would keep him away.

The intensity of his feelings shocked him, the fear crowding his throat choked him, but he didn’t have time to even consider what it meant.

He stopped at the barricade. His phone rang. “Yeah.”

“Connor, it’s Dakota. Jamie’s with me. Keep us up on what’s going on with Samantha. I know there’s a bomb in her car, but that’s all I was able to pry out of the squad guy.”

“As soon as I know anything, you’ll know it.”

“Thanks, I’ll let Jamie know.”

Connor hung up and climbed out of his car. Flashed his badge again and made his way over to the bomb squad van. He knew he couldn’t go right up to the car like he wanted to in order to see for himself that she was still in one piece, but he’d be as close as they’d allow.

Connor entered the van, found the team leader, recited his credentials, and asked, “What do you have?”

“Looks like a couple of blocks of C-4. Standard military issue. You know anyone with access to that?”

“Easy enough to get that on the black market.” Connor shuddered. “How big is it?”

“Looks like two one-and-a-quarter-pound blocks hooked together with wires.”

“Holy . . .” His legs went weak. “If that blows . . .”

The leader’s grim look told Connor his assessment was correct. If that bomb blew, it would be enough to blow the car and surrounding area sky-high.

Connor’s hands shook. “So cut the wires and get it out of there.”

“That’s the plan.”

19

Samantha waited, teeth clamped down on her lower lip. Hours seemed to have passed, but in reality it had only been about forty minutes since she’d hit the redial button to reach Connor. He’d been the last person she’d called and all she had to do was press the little green phone button to redial his number.

Calvin moved to the passenger side and repeated his assessment of Tom’s situation. Carefully maneuvering his mirror out from under Tom’s seat, he said, “All right, sir, you can get out. There’s nothing under this seat.”

“Will my moving set off her side? Because there’s no way I’m doing that.”

Sam appreciated Tom’s willingness to put his neck on the line for her, but she insisted. “Get out while you can, Tom.”

He hesitated, then nodded. “Right. But I’m not going far, got it?”

“Just stay safe.” She looked at Calvin. “I’m beyond ready when you are.”

“Coming your way.”

Tom eased his way from the car, hand on the hood, pulling himself out. Everyone gave a collective sigh of relief as he moved to safety.

Sam closed her eyes, feeling the tension knot her shoulders into hard bricks. She heard Calvin back at her side of the vehicle.

“Okay,” he breathed, “let’s get you out of here.”

“I’m good with that.”

The Agent watched all the commotion going on, and while he was careful to keep an outward expression of concern, deep inside, he laughed silently to himself. They thought they were so smart.

If they only knew what was under their noses. His fingers tingled in remembrance of placing the bomb just so, watching the door to the house, knowing that he could be caught at any moment. And knowing he wouldn’t be. He was too smart, too good at what he did. It had been a simple explosive device, very basic. Easy to rig, easy to disarm. He’d done it that way on purpose.

He glanced at his watch, then moved a hand to his pocket. He could just detonate the thing and watch the fireworks. But that would be counterproductive. Not the way the plan was supposed to go. So he’d wait, be patient, and see how it all went down. After all, the car might explode in spite of the bomb squad. Wouldn’t that be a sight to see?

But then Boss would be upset with him if he did that. No, he’d wait. Be patient and let the bomb do its job. If the bomb squad tech was able to dismantle it, and The Agent had no doubt the man would, there’d be another time. Another place. Another opportunity.

It was as simple as that.

Tom was safe. Her sister was out of the house. Everyone she loved was fine. She was ready to join their ranks. “Any luck?” She couldn’t resist asking.

“Yep. I didn’t bother to tell you I was going to cut the wires. But I just finished.” Calvin stood, hand pressed to the small of his back. “I’m getting too old for this.”

“You already cut them?”

“Yep, you’re good to go. Come on, let me help you out and I’ll get that nasty little thing from under your seat. The rest of the car is clean.”

Samantha pulled in some much needed air. She’d been afraid to breathe anything more than slow, shallow breaths.

“Come on,” Calvin reassured her, “you’re fine.”

“You’re sure?” It never hurt to double-check things.

“As sure as I’ll ever be,” Calvin assured her.

Samantha looked at him in assessment. “I guess since you’re still here working in the profession, you must have a pretty good track record.” She tried to move and found herself stuck. Shocked, she gave a gasping laugh. “I don’t think I can move. My muscles feel frozen.” And they did. Like
they
didn’t believe it was safe.

“A natural reaction. Here, let me give you a hand.”

“I’ve got her.”

Connor. He was here. Gladness filled her.
Oh, thank you, Lord.
Thank you for another day, another chance, more time to bring Connor
to you.

She practically fell into his arms. And he pulled her close, burying his face in her sweat-drenched hair, not seeming to care that she desperately needed a shower.

After about thirty seconds, he helped her to the bomb squad van and with a grateful sigh, she sank into the back of it and took notice of the emergency personnel. Ambulance, police, fire trucks. All waiting in case they were needed.

Thank God they weren’t.

Tom approached and gripped her hand. “Are you all right?”

“Yes, I’m fine. Or I will be. I need to let Jamie know everything’s okay.”

Connor squeezed her shoulder. “I’ve already taken care of it. The moment Calvin gave the all clear.”

“Thank you.” She leaned her head on his bicep for a brief moment, then stood. Anger flushed her cheeks. “I want this guy. I want to know why he’s after me. Why me? Why Andrew?” A thought occurred to her. “Do you think he knows the members of the task force and has decided to take them out one by one?”

Connor shook his head. “Who knows?” He heaved a huge sigh. “I do know one thing. I’m going to have to stay away from my family for a while, I think. I can’t take a chance on this nut job following me to my parents’ house from work. I’ve been staying there almost constantly lately trying to be there for Jenna, but . . .”

He trailed off as a tall, athletically built black man approached them. “Told you I’d get you out of there.” He smiled and Samantha stepped forward to give him a hug.

“Thank you, Calvin.”

“Just doing my job, ma’am.” He patted her back and turned to Tom who’d been sitting on the curb near the van. “Glad to see you in one piece.” Tom stood, shook Calvin’s hand, and expressed his thanks.

Calvin turned to go, but swung back to ask Samantha, “Just curious. What tipped you off there was a bomb under your seat?”

She answered, “Tom heard the click when I sat down. And after everything that’s been going on lately, he decided to be a little paranoid.”

Calvin looked at Tom and gave a little laugh. “Yeah. Guess paranoia can be a good thing when someone’s after you.”

Tom gave a short nod and turned to Samantha. “Hey, I’m going to pass on lunch today, if that’s all right. I just want to go home and . . . process.”

She gave him a sympathetic smile. “Sure, I understand.”

Tom and Calvin left together.

Connor wrapped an arm around her and pulled her to him. She felt him press a kiss to the top of her head.

She shivered. “I need to see Jamie.”

“Look behind you.”

Samantha turned to see Jamie and Dakota heading toward her. She caught Jamie’s eyes and saw the worry and fear there, but a new strength that caught her by surprise. Gladly, she flung her arms around her sister and hugged her close.

Jamie clutched her and whispered, “I was so scared for you.”

“Trust me, I was scared too. But I’m fine. We’re all fine. And not a word of this to Mom and Dad, deal?”

Jamie gave a choked laugh. “Sure. Deal. They’re getting ready to go on their annual two-week vacation. We wouldn’t want to ruin it or anything. If we tell them about this, they might feel obligated to stay home . . . or something.”

It was Samantha’s turn to sputter a teary chuckle. “You’re so bad.” But she appreciated the attempt at levity. Now it was back to the real world.

She pulled away and looked at Connor who was deep in conversation with Dakota. They looked serious enough to cause her to wonder what they were up to.