“Caroline? Is that you?” Father, thank You. Thank You. Thank You.
“Yes!” Her laughter rang through the phone. “Oh, sweetie, I’m so sorry. We’re all okay. We’re in the safe room down in the basement. The sensors picked up the incoming projectile in time for us to head downstairs. We barely made it. But listen, Jason, this is important. Heidi says it may have been a drone with a bomb attached.”
Jason tried to wrap his mind around what Caroline was saying. The pieces clicked into place. “I think it was, too. I heard something as I drove in. Thought it sounded like a low-flying plane.”
“He heard something that sounded like a low-flying plane,” Caroline said to someone near her. He could hear voices but couldn’t catch what they were saying.
“Max and Kyle are into drones, and they say it would be hard to fly one that accurately without being nearby. The technology exists to use GPS markers and stuff like that, but that’s only for really high-level stuff. Most drones the public can get their hands on require the pilot to be close.” There was a pause as someone, maybe Kyle, rattled off something he couldn’t catch.
“Kyle says either close or with a direct line of sight. There are only a few houses higher than mine, so look up.”
Close and high.
“Got it.” He scanned the area as the smoke slowly cleared. Where would he be if he’d been flying a drone intended to blow up a house?
His thoughts scattered as a scrap of a curtain floated to the ground beside him. He still couldn’t believe the house was gone. Almost everything Caroline owned had quite literally gone up in flames. Her heart would be so broken.
The weight of it all threatened to take him down.
Father, help me. Help me focus. Help me find him. Help me end this. And help me to trust that You will help us heal.
His phone rang again. “Drake,” he said.
“Jason? Honey, are you all right? What happened?”
Jason slapped his palm to his forehead. How could he be such a moron? “Mom, I’m sorry. I’m fine. I can’t go into details right now. Caroline’s house is destroyed.”
“Oh, sweet Father, help us.” His mother’s prayer pulled moisture to his eyes.
“It’s okay, everyone is fine—they realized what was happening in time to get to the safe room. We’re hunting the guy now.”
“How? Oh, never mind. Get that guy and then call me back.”
“I will. But, Mom, stay in the house and tell Dad to keep the rifle handy, okay? I’m going to send one of the officers over to stay with you two.”
“I don’t need a babysitter.”
“It’s more for my benefit than yours.”
She sighed. “Fine. I love you. Be careful.”
Blake and Michael were running up the driveway toward him, but Michael was the first one to arrive. He stared at the house in horror, then clapped his hand on Jason’s shoulder. “Dude, the dispatcher said Caroline Harrison called it in. She must be okay. But—”
“She is,” Jason said. “She called me. They’re in the safe room in the basement.”
Michael’s mouth dropped open in surprise. “Are you kidding me? Who has a safe room in their basement? Not that I’m complaining, but—”
Blake shrugged. “Heidi’s idea. We all have one.”
“Sure came in handy,” Michael said. “This guy just won’t quit, will he?”
How many lives had this idiot ended, endangered or damaged? It had to end. Now.
Firefighters arrived on the scene and started spraying everything down. The other police officers gathered around him, and they pulled out some topographical maps.
“What’s the plan?” Michael asked.
“We’re going on a hunch, but it’s a solid theory and it’s all we have to work with.” He looked into the faces of the men whom he’d come to appreciate so much over the past six months.
“What did this?” Dalton asked.
“We think it was a drone fitted with a bomb. An experienced pilot could land one on a roof, or fly one through a window, and detonate it. It’s a huge national security issue. Our prime suspect has a known fascination for drones, and the security system caught something incoming. They had time to get to the safe room but not time to see what it was. I heard something that sounded like a low-flying plane on my way in.”
“Sounds like a solid theory,” Michael said. Heads nodded all around.
“Some drones can fly with GPS, but it would be tricky to do in these mountains and requires more tech than regular consumers can get. It’s more likely he had to fly it in here by sight. Which means he’s close. He could be on this property, but it’s more likely he’s nearby at a higher elevation. If he has a line of sight to the house, then he might be able to see us coming.”
He made eye contact with each person. “This man has shown no hesitation to kill. He’s not a professional, but he’s determined—and callous enough to target a baby without hesitation or remorse. Use extreme caution.”
Somber faces looked at the destruction around them. Their faces hardened.
Jason’s phone rang. “Caroline, is everything okay?”
“We’re fine. Listen. Is Blake out there?”
“Yes.”
“Good. Ask him to point you to the Phillips’ house. They’re up on the next mountain. A little higher than mine. They’re snowbirds and they don’t usually come back to the mountains until May or June, but Sunday I thought I saw a light up there. In all the craziness, I dismissed it. Figured it was one of their kids checking on something for them before they came back. But it would be a good place to start.”
“Got it.” He slid the phone in his pocket.
“How do we get to the Phillips’ house?” he asked Blake.
“There’s an old dirt road behind the plant that will get you close and shouldn’t be easy to see.”
“Let’s go.”
Blake pulled Jason to the side. “I know how you feel about Caroline. I can see it on your face. And we had a long talk last night, so I know how she feels about you. I promise to keep her safe for both of us. You go get this guy so we can put all this behind us.”
Jason nodded.
Blake pointed out the road on the map, and they took off. The next fifteen minutes passed in a flurry of activity. Roads had been blocked. Photos had been sent out. Anyone suspicious was to be detained.
They flew up the gravel road. As Blake had indicated, it dumped them out at the backside of the Phillips’ property.
It was empty.
They could tell he’d been here from various bits of debris he’d left behind. Crime scene techs would scour the place, but they had enough evidence, and the line of sight was straight to the remains of Caroline’s smoking house. Landing a drone on her roof would have been an easy exercise for anyone with a reasonable amount of drone-flying experience.
But Liam was long gone.
Phones and radios started squawking. One of the roadblocks reported a late-model SUV had turned around and flown back up the road it had come from after seeing the barricade. Officers were in pursuit.
They left a few officers at the Phillips’ in case he returned, and everyone else took off down the main road.
“Black Escalade. 2016 model. Heavy mud on the tires. Didn’t see anyone else in the vehicle, but the windows are heavily tinted.”
“Officers in pursuit.”
“Headed up Dupont Road.”
Jason whipped his car around. If he could get there fast enough—
He floored it. Michael stayed with him.
Three minutes later he parked his Explorer smack in the middle of the road. Michael mirrored him.
“I had no idea this road even existed,” Michael said as he hopped out of his car. You had to love a friend who would follow you first and ask questions later.
Jason grinned. “Yeah. Helps to have grown up on this little section of mountain.”
“Officers still in pursuit,” the dispatcher’s voice squawked over the radio
.
“Got to be getting close,” Michael said as he dug around for something in the back of his car. He pulled out some spikes.
Jason raised a brow. “You drive around with those in your car?”
“I have for the past couple of days,” Michael said. “Want to be prepared for anything.”
They laid the spikes out thirty feet from their cars.
“Let’s get out of the road. No sense getting run over,” Michael said.
Jason looked at their cars but knew the vehicles were expendable. He and Michael took up positions on the sides of the road and waited.
One minute. Then two.
What if he’d been wrong?
Finally. Sirens screaming up the mountain. Tires squealing around curves.
He’d already confirmed with the dispatcher that there was no one else on the road who could get tripped up in their makeshift blockade.
“Here he comes,” Michael shouted.
Jason watched, his weapon out. Michael had a shotgun. Good choice for blowing holes in tires and vehicles without, hopefully, killing the driver.
Because despite everything, he didn’t want this guy dead.
He wanted him alive so he could answer for his crimes.
The vehicle sped up the mountain and hit the spikes at full speed. The fancy tires held up to the impact pretty well, but the Escalade still fishtailed on the narrow road. Time seemed to slow as the car swung widely and approached their roadblock. Jason recognized the face through the windshield, and he watched in horror as Liam Larrabie pulled hard on the wheel and the Escalade flipped.
Once. Twice. And over the side of the mountain.
TWENTY-THREE
Caroline paced the small room. It had seemed like such a ridiculous extravagance when Heidi had insisted on the construction of a safe room last year. Her house, her parents’ house and the bungalow Heidi shared with Blake and Maggie all now had their very own safe rooms.
She’d been sure Blake was just indulging his bride-to-be, but in this moment she was thankful she’d gone along with it.
Max leaned in one corner, bouncing Henry in his arms. Heidi and Sara conferred over something in another. Kyle kept grumbling about the reception and complaining about the now absent Wi-Fi signal.
What did he expect? Something had blown up her house. It seemed likely the modem was long gone. She leaned her head against the cool steel wall as her mind flitted from gratitude to terror, with maybe a little righteous anger thrown in.
She was alive. Henry was alive and would never remember the terror of the moment when Kyle told them all to run. But she would. She’d never forget the way her hand shook on the basement door. The way Kyle and Max waited until they were all inside before they closed the entrance.
The way the room shuddered violently four seconds later.
So close.
Too close.
But they were alive.
And whoever had done this was in big trouble.
Because the anguish in Jason’s voice had turned to cold hard fury once he realized she was okay.
Father, don’t let him kill anyone in anger.
Of course, she wanted Liam Larrabie caught. Wanted him arrested, tried and incarcerated for a very long time.
Righteous anger tried to take over. Her house had been destroyed. Yes, the room had worked, and Heidi did have a bit of a smug glow emanating from her at the moment, but it never should have been necessary. How could money make anyone so crazy? How could they get to a place where killing innocent people was acceptable?
The craziest and most ridiculous irony of it all was that the more she thought about it, the more she knew that when the time came, she would ask William Larrabie to keep the money. He could set some aside for Henry if he wanted to, maybe enough for college. But she’d much prefer he put the bulk of whatever Henry’s share would have been into charities that supported single mothers.
Money had its place and purpose, of course. She’d never known a time in her life when she didn’t have plenty, and she knew there were situations and choices she couldn’t fully grasp because of that. But too much money?
Sitting here in a safe room under the remains of her home, all she could see was that too much money made some people lose their minds. So, no, thank you. She didn’t want that for her. She certainly didn’t want it for Henry.
Would Jason agree?
That, she couldn’t be sure of.
She must have dozed off, because the sounds of voices and heavy equipment first reached through her dreams. It took her a few moments to clear her head.
Those sounds weren’t the sounds of a mountain slide. They were the sounds of her rescue. And apparently the only way she’d be rescued was if a crew dug her out.
“My house is completely gone, isn’t it?”
She looked around the room. Grave expressions answered her.
She’d known it, but somehow she’d hoped at least some of it had been spared.
Heidi and Sara exchanged a loaded look, which Heidi then passed on to Kyle. He cleared his throat and walked over to her, iPad in hand.
“I used my phone as a hotspot and managed to tap into a camera that wasn’t destroyed in the blast,” he said.
He pulled up the feed and handed her the tablet.
She stared at it, uncomprehending. What was that pile of dirt? Was that Kyle’s Camaro with—“Kyle, your car.”
“It’s just a car. I have insurance.”
Max snorted. “Can’t wait to see the claim on that one. I wonder if they’ll try to get out of paying it by saying you aren’t covered for drone strikes.”
“Very funny,” Kyle grumbled.
Caroline scanned the screen. A bulldozer of some kind pulled chunks of bricks and drywall over to a growing pile on the side of what used to be her house.
She stared at it. It was gone. Everything was gone. Her dishes, her souvenirs, her photographs. Everything she’d kept, from the candles on her sixteenth birthday cake to the bracelet her daddy gave her on her tenth birthday.
Gone.
She looked up, unable to hide the tears splashing onto the screen. Everyone was staring at the floor. Sara made eye contact first. Figured. She was used to walking through people’s grief with them.
Caroline had no words. No way to express the sense of loss and anger she felt at those who’d taken her home. Mixed in was the realization that they’d been unable to take the things that mattered. Her family was alive. Jason was alive. Henry was alive.
The rest of it was just stuff. She’d told Jason that all those years ago, that the only difference between his lifestyle and hers was just stuff and it didn’t matter to her.
Now she’d get the chance to prove it.
But boy, the loss of all that stuff?
It really hurt.
“Good thing none of us are claustrophobic,” Kyle said.
“Speak for yourself,” Sara said.
“What?” Max stared at her like he’d never seen her before.
She shrugged. “I don’t like small spaces.”
Max and Heidi shared a look. “She’d have hated—”
“That’s exactly what I was thinking!” They shared a low chuckle.
“So glad I can be the source of so much amusement.” Sara spoke with no trace of humor.
Heidi bumped Sara’s shoulder with her own. “Sorry, it’s—”
Four voices spoke at once. “Classified.”
Then they were all laughing.
Caroline laughed right along with them, and the vise grip around her heart loosened.
Sure, it hurt. It would hurt for a long time.
But they were all going to be okay.
*
Jason and Blake were standing there when the safe room door was opened. Both of them rushed in.
Jason threw his arms around her and buried his face against her neck. She felt the dampness of his tears, and she clung to him, her own tears falling freely.
“You’re okay
,” he whispered in her ear.
“So are you,” she whispered back.
When his lips found hers, she didn’t care they had an audience. She barely knew they were there.
This was all she needed.
All she would ever need.
This man, her son. Her family and friends by her side. This was what mattered.
The rest of it was just stuff she could live without.
TWENTY-FOUR
Three months later
Caroline looked up from her desk at Harrison Plastics International and scanned her calendar. For the first time in weeks, there were no court appointments to dread.
Liam Larrabie had survived his tumble down the mountain, but he had been in the hospital for over a month, during which time he’d proved to be an absolute pain to everyone who came near him. When he realized he was headed to prison for a long time, and that the gang would be able to get to him there, he’d agreed to testify against them in exchange for a new identity. His testimony had led to some high-profile gang arrests.
That was a story that would never be completely finished, but at least for now, there were no new pages being written.
Mr. Slater had brought William Larrabie to meet Henry and was helping sort through all the legal issues related to the estate and trust. Jason still didn’t completely trust Mr. Slater, but they could be in the same room together for several hours, and every now and then Jason would smile or even laugh.
Some kinds of forgiving were slow processes, but they were moving forward in a direction none of them could have anticipated. The Larrabies had not objected to Caroline keeping Henry and had been able to provide DNA evidence to prove the identity of Henry’s father, which had fully cleared the way for the adoption to go through. Henry was now 100 percent hers.
Everything had ended either well or as well as could be expected.
Caroline pulled her to-do list out and was trying to prioritize it when their office manager, Bridget, walked into her office carrying an enormous bouquet of candy bars.
“Looks like someone is trying to sweeten you up,” she said with a wink.
Caroline pulled out the card.
Play hooky with me today?
Today?
She glanced at her calendar. She didn’t have any meetings…
She jumped from her chair and ran into Blake’s office without knocking.
Hidden Legacy Page 18