Cal picked up the EOD suit’s cumbersome helmet that resembled a deep-sea diving helmet. He lifted it over his head and slipped it into a padded high-profile collar. He’d already turned off his phone to keep a wayward call from accidentally triggering the device, donned the suit pants and jacket, and now slipped on the gloves.
He gave Frankie a thumbs-up, then he stepped forward in the bulky suit that forced him to walk like a lumbering elephant down the road. Moving this slowly gave him plenty of time to think about the device x-rays taken by the robot. Keeler had used several switches including a collapsing circuit that would trigger the bomb if any wires were cut. To render it safe, Cal needed to know the safe arm, which he didn’t see on the x-ray. So right now Cal planned to only look inside the PVC before taking additional steps.
At the house, he climbed the stairs and entered the dining room.
“I’m here, Hadil,” he called out. “Can I call you Hadil?”
“Yes.” Her tiny voice came from the other side of the tent flap that Frankie had lowered when he’d backed Anne Droid out of the house.
“I’m coming in to join you now.” He bent low and lifted the flap.
Hadil blinked hard before her eyes widened and she gasped.
“Don’t be afraid,” he said. “Remember, I told you this suit is a precaution, so don’t let it freak you out.”
“But I…”
“I know this is hard.” He made sure to use a comforting tone. “But think about the fact that I’ll have you out of here soon.”
“Honestly?”
He nodded, though he still didn’t know if he could follow through on his word.
“I’m going to come closer and put down my tools.” He stepped ahead and set his bag on the floor next to her. “Next I’m going to bring in a chair and lower the flap over both of us.” He backed out to retrieve the chair and positioned it so he could face her. With thick gloves, he opened the bag, removed a light, and clamped it on the back of her chair before aiming it at the device.
“Now.” He sat. “It’s time to get to work.”
She swallowed. “And you’re sure you know what you’re doing?”
He nodded, but the padded collar held his helmet in place, so he had to move his entire upper body. “Besides being trained and certified, I’ve had years of experience with explosive devices. You ever heard of Navy SEALs?”
“Yes, yes, of course. They’re amazing.”
“I was a SEAL for many years and have been in far tighter spots than this one.”
“Oh…okay…good, then.”
He dug a cordless drill from his tool bag. “All I’m going to do right now is drill into the side of the pipe with a very small bit.” He displayed the bit so she could take comfort from the tiny size. “I need you to sit very still.”
“I haven’t moved since he programmed a number into my phone, and I pressed the dial button an hour after he left like he told me to.”
“Good job.” He bent closer. Her face was shiny with perspiration, her mouth and chin trembling. He felt her emotions to his core, but he couldn’t let it get in his way and display any concern or he might unsettle her, exposing them both to an explosion.
He put the drill against the PVC and pressed the switch. Shards of white plastic fell from the pipe like a heavy snowfall, but he ignored it and concentrated on feeling the way as the bit moved through the PVC. He had to make a complete hole in the plastic, but he couldn’t apply too much pressure and drill too deep into the space behind it.
When the movement changed, he released the switch on the drill before he did irreparable damage. The seam on the right side of the device suddenly released and the front popped open.
No! his mind shouted, and he cringed, preparing himself for the blast impact.
Nothing.
Silence. No explosion. No concussive wave.
He studied the device now hanging open.
“Can you take it off now?” Hadil begged.
Could he? Either he’d gotten very lucky and the device failed or this was a dummy device. But why would Keeler plant a dummy?
Had he meant this as a distraction? If so, he could have exploded the bomb to get the same effect. Cal would think this was a ploy to take him away from Tara, but again, why not blow up the bomb? That was guaranteed to bring him to the scene, too.
Why a hoax?
Unless it wasn’t a hoax. Perhaps there was a second bomb like in Oregon. One meant to take them all out once they’d let their guard down. Perhaps someone else who was helping Keeler had gone rogue and wanted to do more than kill one woman at a time, or maybe Keeler was escalating and wanted to take more lives, too.
“Is it over?” she asked more insistently now.
“Hold tight.” He flipped up the tent and stepped out. He raised his face shield and searched the room for anything suspicious but didn’t find any trip wire or other devices.
He lifted the tent flap again. “Did the man who put the bomb on you do anything but strap on the device while he was here?”
“No. He barged in with his gun and forced me to sit. He had a woman with him. She held the gun to my head while he put this thing on me. He programmed my phone and put it in my hand, then warned me not to move. Then they both walked out the door.”
Cal found this incident very odd, but he had the opportunity to separate Hadil from the bomb, and he wouldn’t miss the chance. He eased the collar from her neck and carefully set it on the empty chair. He took her arm and escorted her out of the house.
Hadil started crying and she sagged against his hand. “Thank you. Thank you.”
Cal nodded but didn’t say anything. They weren’t out of the woods yet.
Which is why the officers stood stoically by, their gazes rapt and searching the area. Until Cal proved the bomb was a dummy and gave the orders to stand down, they had to believe an unexploded bomb sat in the house, leaving them in a dangerous situation, and they were trained to act accordingly.
With each step, Hadil faltered more and more. If Cal wanted to get her to the medics without carrying her, he needed to redirect her thoughts.
He dug a picture of Keeler from the suit pocket and displayed it. “Is this the man who put the bomb on you?”
She nodded.
“Do you know him or have you ever seen him before today?”
She shook her head hard as if it felt good to move. “Should I know him?”
“Probably not,” he said as they reached the perimeter. “But take some time to think about him. He might have been in the periphery of your life. Maybe following you.”
She shot him a terrified look.
“Don’t worry, we’ll make sure you’re safe, and he’s not going to get anywhere near you again.” He gave her a comforting smile and kept her moving forward. At the ambulance, he handed her off to a medic and smiled. “I’ll check back later to see if you remembered anything.”
He turned and lumbered over to the sergeant.
Cal studied the area, his training warning him to pay attention to even the tiniest detail. “Something’s not right here.”
“Like what?”
“My gut says there’s another device. To be safe I want everyone to fall back to the outer perimeter.”
“You’re sure of this?”
“Sure enough that I want everyone to move. Get the command vehicle to a safe position and the people in harm’s way out of here. I’ll shed this suit so I can move more freely and go in search of another device. You get Frankie suited up to deal with any bomb we locate.”
Cal stripped out of the suit. Sure, he’d be safer wearing it, but eighty-plus pounds of Kevlar would slow him down on his search, and he wouldn’t risk others’ lives to save his.
Udall barked orders at his men. They instantly mobilized and started evacuating. Cal needed a better look at the area than he could get driving his SUV, so he left it parked and headed toward the outer perimeter. He kept his head on a swivel looking for anything out of the ordinary, but he reached the barricades without locating anything suspicious.
His mind racing, he let his gaze run over the crowd.
“C’mon, c’mon, c’mon,” he whispered. “Figure it out, man.”
Just then, his gaze caught on a slight male with a ball cap pulled low over his eyes. He stood in the middle of the crowd. Nothing about him drew Cal’s attention other than the way he kept looking up and furtively glancing away, like Sarra Yasin in Oregon. They had Sarra in custody, but could this puny guy standing before Cal be a woman? Perhaps Nabijah Meer, the woman Oren mentioned in the journals?
The next time the guy’s head popped up, Cal took a better look.
Yeah, he could be a she, and her bone structure matched the picture of Meer.
Cal turned away before he scared her. He crossed the road and resisted the urge to look back at the woman as he stepped into the parking lot of an apartment complex. If she had a remote for a bomb, it wouldn’t do to startle her. He had to play it cool and act like he was looking for something totally unrelated to her, then double back behind her and take her into custody.
Once out of sight, he radioed Udall and shared his plan. “I need you to get eyes on the woman and keep me updated on her movements.”
“I’ll radio my men.”
“No,” Cal said. “I can’t take any chances that one of your patrol guys will spook her. Make your way over there yourself, but keep it on the down low.” Cal described the woman and her exact location.
“Roger that,” Udall said.
Cal hurried through the complex and onto the street a block behind the location where he’d last spotted her.
“Got her in sight.” Udall’s voice came over the radio. “She’s holding steady.”
“Good. I’m about to cross over to the crowd.”
Cal employed every stalking skill he’d learned as a SEAL to slip in and out of onlookers until he stood directly behind the woman. She lifted a feminine hand to the back of a slender neck, confirming she was female.
It didn’t mean that she was Meer, and he’d cause the Bureau a world of hurt if he was wrong, but he couldn’t take a chance that she had a remote in her pocket. Inches behind her, he shot out his hands, sliding them under her arms and jerking up high to keep her hands away from her pockets.
She screamed, and fought him with surprising strength, but she was no match for him.
“Special Agent Cal Riggins, FBI,” Cal shouted, making sure his voice carried through the crowd to Udall, who leapt the barricade and joined Cal.
“Check her pockets,” Cal instructed.
Udall frisked her and came up with a gun and cell phone.
“Let’s get that phone into a Faraday bag.” Made of specially coated metallic shielding, Faraday bags were a much smaller version of the tent used in the house and prevented connectivity to cellular networks, Wi-Fi, and Bluetooth. If the cell was programmed to trigger a device, once in the bag, it would be worthless.
Udall passed the phone to a deputy. She hurried toward the truck as Udall cuffed the woman.
Cal removed her cap. Her face matched the photo to a T, and he couldn’t contain his victory smile. “Nabijah Meer. So nice of you to join us.”
She gaped at him for a moment, her shock further confirmation of her identity. She started spewing obscenities at Cal, but he ignored her and escorted her through the crowd to the nearest cruiser.
“She could do with a more thorough search,” Udall told a female deputy who stood nearby.
She patted Meer down. “No ID.”
“Not a problem,” Cal said. “I know all about Nabijah. She’s the coward too afraid to show herself, letting bombs do the dirty work for her.”
She spat at him.
He jumped back, and she missed the mark. He grinned over being able to rile her and having another suspect in custody, meaning they could pit them against each other and maybe convince one of them to turn on Keeler.
His mind traveled to the phone. “I know the first bomb was a decoy, and I suspect you were told to use the phone to set off a secondary device. We need to find it ASAP.”
A sly smile slid across her face. “I have no intention of helping you locate it.”
“Don’t worry,” Cal said. “I don’t need your help.”
“Time for the K-9s?” Udall asked with a smile of his own.
“Time for the K-9s,” Cal confirmed and had the pleasure of seeing Nabijah frown.
* * *
Tara glanced at June. Her aunt, the woman who’d been so instrumental in Tara’s upbringing. Memories came rushing back of their annual Thanksgiving celebration for all of the neighbors with a huge spread of food and games for children that June spent weeks arranging. Tara had dug for coins in mounds of sand and plunged her hands into big aluminum troughs of icy-cold sodas. Some years, she cupped hot chocolate in her hands. She’d loved the scavenger hunts, tag, and spoon races, all watched over by her precious smiling aunt. Even when Uncle Earl passed, June had thought of others, putting them first and quietly grieving his death.
And here Tara stood, planning to abandon her special, wonderful aunt, and they might not be together in November. There might not be a celebration.
Tara dropped onto the chair. “I can’t leave you.”
June smiled at Tara and despite the circumstances, her eyes were filled with love and encouragement. “I’m fine here. God is with me.”
“But I…” Tears Tara had barely kept at bay brimmed over. “What if Oren doesn’t follow through on his promise to let you go? What if he detonates the bomb?”
“Then we’ll see each other in heaven.” June didn’t flinch or seem the least bit worried. “I’ve had a full life. I know where I’ll go if I die, and I’m not afraid. Don’t be afraid for me.”
Tara thought about Cal and Oren’s claim that he planned to kill him. She was almost paralyzed by fear of his death. “I wish I had even a fraction of your faith.”
“Oh, you do, sweetheart. You do.” June took Tara’s hand and met her gaze with the same encouraging look she’d shared with Tara for years. “Remember. There is no problem that trusting God won’t fix. Nothing is bigger than He is.”
The stakes were so enormous, Tara doubted she could manage it.
“Just trust in your faith, honey.” June squeezed Tara’s hand. “I’d love to give you a big hug, but that’s impossible. So give me a kiss on the cheek and get going.”
Tara’s tears fell in earnest now, and she angrily swiped them away. “I love you, Aunt June.”
“I love you, too, sweetheart.”
Tara bent over and kissed her aunt’s smooth cheek, then stood and gazed down on her. “I can do this. I won’t let you down, and I’ll be back here with a way to remove this bomb and move you to safety.”
“That’s my girl.” June smiled again.
Tara turned and walked toward the door, taking the hardest steps of her life and fearing that Oren would make sure they became even more difficult before the night was over.
* * *
From the bomb control truck, Cal watched Sparky and his handler Deputy Randall work the area. Randall had the German shepherd on a thirty-foot leash, giving him free rein to sniff the area. Today wasn’t the first time nor would it be Cal’s last time seeing bomb-detecting dogs in action. In Afghanistan, dogs and their handlers walked out in front of soldiers, risking their lives to clear the path for others.
Cal would never forget heading outside the wire and feeling like every step he took could be his last, but with a dog going before them, he could rest easier. Unfortunately, dogs were so effective in bomb detection that terrorists were targeting them overseas before they even set their sights on soldiers.
Cal could also see the day when certified explosive detection dogs working for local police came under fire, too, as they were being used more than ever. Nothing was more effective at detecting hidden bombs than the nose of a working dog. Especially Vapor Wake dogs who could trail the scent of a bomb as a terrorist on the move carried the device through a crowd. Cal hated that this was the world we lived in, but at least man’s best friend could help in the fight to keep people safe.
Near a set of silver community mailboxes, Sparky stood on his hind legs, sniffed one of the larger boxes meant for packages, and then sat to look back at his handler.
“We’ve got something,” Randall said over the radio.
A bomb, just as Cal had expected to find. There might even be more of them, but Sparky and Randall would help them figure that out. Right now, Cal needed to get the squad to render this one safe.
“Get me a good look at the device,” he said to Frankie, who sat at the screen ready to move Anne Droid into range.
Once Sparky and Randall had cleared the area, the robot whirred down the street. At the mailbox, Frankie snapped an x-ray revealing a rudimentary bomb controlled with a remote timing device.
“Not much of a bomb,” Frankie said. “Would’ve destroyed the mailboxes and injured anyone standing nearby, but nothing catastrophic.”
“Pretty much a noisemaker is all,” Cal agreed. “Makes me wonder if there’s another device, too.”
Cal grabbed the Faraday bag holding Meer’s phone and slid his hands inside to check phone numbers programmed into the contacts app. He found three phone numbers, but they had no names attached. He checked the call and text history and didn’t see any outgoing calls or texts. Didn’t mean Meer hadn’t made calls on this phone. She could have deleted the history, but he thought it reason enough to believe that there could be three devices hidden in the area.
Cal grabbed a marker, jotted the numbers on the whiteboard, and turned on his phone to call Kaci for help. As he dialed, he noted five missed calls all from the same number, but he needed to text the numbers to Kaci before finding out who’d been trying to reach him.
I need owner information for three phone numbers, he tapped into his phone, then added the phone numbers.
I’ll get them to you ASAP came her reply.
Cal stowed his phone and turned to Frankie. “Has the containment truck arrived?”
“Boy, has it.” Frankie grinned. “You feds get all of the cool toys.”
Cal had to agree. “I know we’d normally detonate a puny device like this right here on scene, but the parts used in constructing this one could help in our investigation. So I want you to move it to the containment truck instead. I’ll step out to arrange that with the team, and we’ll get Sparky on the hunt again.”
Cal hopped down from the truck and caught sight of Max and Rick arriving at the barricade. They marched forward with a purpose Cal recognized in himself…and all of his teammates, for that matter.
Cal informed the containment truck driver of the plan before heading back to the command truck. “We’re good to go, Frankie.”
“On it.” Frankie maneuvered the bot forward, and with no errors or even hesitation, he soon had Anne Droid rolling and the package placed in the containment truck.
Cal clapped Frankie on the back. “You must be hard to beat in video games.”
He grinned up at Cal. “No one will play with me anymore, so I don’t know.”
Cal dug out his business card and handed it to the guy. “Call me next time you need a run for your money. I’d be glad to take you on.”
“Hey, thanks, man.” A big, goofy grin crossed his face.
Cal turned his attention to his radio to put Randall and Sparky back in action.
“A minute of your time,” Max called out from the open door.
“I’ll be right back,” Cal told Frankie, before jumping down from the truck and joining Rick and Max.
Cal assumed Max wanted an update, so Cal obliged without being asked. “We’re mopping things up here and—”
Max held up his hand. “It’s time we turn this over to the locals.”
“What? Why? After we get these bombs contained and transported, I’ll give them a good look, and they could give us something to go on.”
“That’s not happening.”
Cal had shown great patience in waiting to tear apart the necklace bomb, in hopes of finding a way to locate Keeler, but he’d held back to clear the area. Now Max wanted him to stand down? No way.
“It’s our best lead right now,” Cal argued.
A low growl of frustration sounded from Max’s throat. He was normally a serious man, but right now his intensity was off the charts. “Your attention is needed elsewhere.”
Cal glanced at Rick and saw something unsettling in his eyes, and if Rick looked unsettled, they had a problem. A big problem.
Cal sucked in a breath. “What’s going on?”
“It’s Tara,” Max said. “She’s gone.”
“Gone? What do you mean ‘gone’?”
“Agent Ward has been trying to call you, and when you didn’t answer, he called me.”
Cal remembered the five missed calls he’d spotted a few minutes ago, and his heart sank. “I turned off my phone to safely approach the bomb. What happened?”
“Tara claimed she heard a noise outside her bedroom window. Ward went out back to check it out. She grabbed his car keys and phone from the counter and took off. With no landline at the safe house, he hiked next door to use their phone.”
Cal’s thoughts jumbled into a tangled mess, each thought trying to find purchase, but nothing made sense. “Why would she take off?”
“That’s what we’re trying to figure out at the same time as trying to locate her,” Rick said.
Locate her.
The reality of the situation hit Cal. Tara was out there. Missing. On her own. Maybe in Keeler’s hands. Cal’s knees threatened to give out, and he thought he might drop to the ground.
No. He couldn’t afford to be weak. Tara needed him. She needed him now, and he had to find her.
Max eyed Cal for a long moment and pinched his lips together.
“You’ve got something else to add, so out with it,” Cal demanded.
“Tara left a message on the desk for you.”
“What did it say?”
“‘I’m sorry.’”
“Sorry. Sorry for what?” Cal’s mind went back to his last conversation with her.
She’d been acting odd, but he’d chalked it up to the fact that he was leaving her in someone else’s care again. But now it looked like her eagerness to be rid of him may have been planned.
“Does Ward have GPS on his car or his phone?” Cal asked, but didn’t manage to keep the panic from his voice.
“Doesn’t matter.” Max widened his stance. “We found his car a few miles from the safe house, and his phone and hers have been destroyed.”
Cal hissed out a breath. “So you don’t have a clue where she is.”
“Sorry, man,” Rick said. “But something made her run, and since you know her better than we do, we thought you might figure it out.”
Could he? Maybe if he could clear his brain and focus, but all he could think of right now was that the woman he’d come to care for was in the hands of a raving madman.
“Cal?” Max asked. “What would motivate Tara to leave the safe house?”
Cal curled his fingers into his palm and called up the precision focus BUD/S had taught him.
“June,” he said. “She’d leave if June was in danger.”
“I’ll call the agents on her detail.” Max dug out his phone and dialed.
Time ticked by in slow, excruciating seconds.
“First agent’s not answering. I’ll try the other one.” Max dialed again, then shook his head. “No answer.”
“Then something’s going down at June’s house,” Rick said. “And odds are, it involves Tara.”
Max sucked in a quick breath, and Cal would have done the same thing if he could draw even an ounce of air into his lungs, but he swore an armored tank had parked on his chest.
“Keep your focus, Cal,” Rick said. “Otherwise your head won’t be in the game, and we know what happens when we’re not in the game.”
Yeah. People die. People like the women Keeler’s been killing.
Something Cal would move heaven and earth to keep from happening to Tara.