by Lara Lacombe
Wayne nodded. “I did some research on ANFO bombs. They don’t happen by accident. Usually.”
“Not unless we’re talking about a fertilizer plant. So nobody uses anhydrous ammonia around here?”
“Not that I know of,” Wayne replied. “Alex?”
“Me neither. But I don’t need to tell you how hard it would be to know for sure. Once those tanks are delivered, all identifying information is removed so no one should know it’s there. Basic safety precaution. Heck, even when it gets to construction sites where it’s in heavy use, they take all identifiers off it. It should be recorded somewhere safe but...” He paused and shook his head, smiling faintly. “I’m preaching to the choir. I’m sure you know better than I do. You guys write a lot of the rules.”
“Interstate Commerce does mostly. Hazardous cargo. But I read you.” Liquid anhydrous ammonia made it much easier to build a bomb, so its presence was concealed as much as possible. All labeling was reserved for when it was being transported. On farms all over this country, tanks full of it resided without even a single marking to identify it as hazardous. “Where would it be recorded if someone had it?” She knew what the answer should be, but she wanted to know the procedure here.
“With the fire department,” Wayne answered promptly. “We’d be the first responders in case of a breach. I have my assistant looking back through logs for the last ten years. Lots of stuff comes into this county that we track in case, but so far no anhydrous ammonia.”
Very professional, keeping the record of hazardous materials with the first responders. She felt a prickle of annoyance with herself that somewhere inside she must have expected something different. What did she anticipate? Moth-eaten records in some damp, moldy basement? “Well, the storage tanks can be distinctive,” she remarked. “They have to endure such high pressures, you can sometimes pick them out if you know what you’re looking for. But say this guy didn’t have access to the liquefied stuff.”
Two men exchanged looks. “Then we’re in trouble,” Alex said. “Hundreds and hundreds of square miles out there where fertilizer could be stashed. But, Darcy, you know it’s close to impossible to use ammonium nitrate fertilizer for an explosive.”
“Close to, but not impossible. Oklahoma City.”
The words fell into a dead silence among them. After a few moments, Darcy spoke again. “Nothing’s impossible, gentlemen, when it comes to explosives. Some of it is just more difficult. Using bags of ammonium nitrate fertilizer has worked, as we all saw. As a result, these days we keep a record of large purchases, but you don’t need enough to blow up a big building to make a bomb. Or you can acquire smaller quantities over time that wouldn’t draw any attention.”
* * *
Alex watched Darcy eat with a healthy appetite. Clearly she wasn’t a rabbit-food-only woman. He liked that. Judging by her nice build, at least as much of it as he could see through her gray suit, she kept in great shape. So naturally, she had to eat decently.
She was also pretty, but he wasn’t exactly prepared to notice that, not her bright green eyes or dark auburn hair caught in a businesslike knot on the back of her head. She was a Fed. He’d been a Fed. He wanted nothing to do with that world ever again.
Although the bombing early Sunday morning at the school had kind of dragged him back in. He was sure the first suspects would be his students, especially given the location of the blast, but he was equally certain none of them would have put a bomb in the school. Some were adventurous enough to try it out in the barren areas around here, he supposed, but none of them were the kind of stupid that would put it in the school in an area that would draw attention their way.
There was going to be some push and pull here, he thought, bending his gaze once again to his sandwich. Skills he had tried to bury were already springing to life. He wanted to protect the students in his shop classes. He wanted to get the real bomber. And he was quite sure he didn’t want to fight with this Darcy Eccles all the way.
“The timing creates a problem,” he said a while later. “Two in the morning on a Sunday? Nobody in the building, not even a janitor? Property damage only? No point to it unless you hate band saws.”
He was pleased to see a smile tug at the corner of Darcy’s mouth. Okay, then, she wasn’t that uptight.
She answered, “It does seem like an extreme way to drop a class.”
While he and Wayne both smiled, Alex felt his innards coiling. She could joke about it, but he was quite sure every single one of his students was going to be put on trial in this woman’s mind.
Fairly, he acknowledged that was part of her job, to regard everyone who might be involved as a potential suspect. But he’d left that world behind and he had come to understand since the bombing just how protective he felt of his students. They were the bright and shiny future he’d once sought only to lose it in the bowels of criminal minds. Especially that last case. He closed his eyes momentarily and shoved the memories aside.
Anyway, because of those students he had a bright and shiny present, and he wanted to keep it that way, mostly for them. The microscope of suspicion could cause a lot of damage, and by the nature of her job, Darcy brought suspicion. Much as he didn’t want to get involved with the work again, it appeared he would have to. Who else could ride herd on her? Or even guide her to a reasonable list of suspects? Therein lay a great deal of his training.
It wasn’t as if he would start rustling up his training now that she arrived, though. Hell, no. He’d begun gathering evidence from the moment he learned what had happened. Some things never turned off.
But that didn’t mean he wanted to dive in full strength.
Wayne’s elbow brushed his. “About ready?”
Alex looked down at his plate. Two mouthfuls remaining. “When are we meeting Charity?”
“Twenty minutes.”
“Then give me a minute to finish. I can’t bear to waste any of this sandwich.”
Wayne laughed. “Have at it.” Across the table, Darcy had stopped eating. Slightly more than half her sandwich was gone. “Need a container?”
“Please.”
Wayne waved and moments later Maude stomped over with a foam container. “More coffee?” she asked as she put the container down on the table.
“The latte was great,” Darcy said pleasantly. “I’ll be back for another later.”
Alex took the last bite of sandwich because it was a great way to stifle his grin as Darcy watched Maude stomp away without the merest acknowledgment of the compliment. Darcy shook her head a little and put her sandwich in the container. “My truck’s just outside the sheriff’s office. I can follow you.”
“It’s not that far,” Alex said. “Down the street out there toward the north of town. No turns. You can’t miss it.”
She nodded and rose, lifting her box. “I’ll meet you at the school then.”
Alex watched her walk over to the register and pay for her lunch. Per diem, he thought. She’d come with cash to cover her expenses, maybe a credit card for the motel, and she wouldn’t allow anyone to pick up her tab. He was familiar with the protocol.
Wayne stood a moment later. “You coming?”
“Of course.” His gaze followed Darcy through the door.
Wayne laughed, drawing his attention. “Watch it, man. I was a fool to fall for Charity when I thought she’d be leaving in a week or two. But I was lucky.”
Alex gave him a crooked grin. “I’m that obvious?”
“I’d be looking, too, if I weren’t happily married. She’s a stunner, all right.”
“As long as she doesn’t catch me drooling, we’ll be fine.”
Wayne laughed again as they went over to the register. “I thought you were done with the Feebs.”
“I sure thought so.”
“Funny how circumstances can change things.”
Copyright © 2018 by Susan Civil
Brown
Keep reading for a special preview of
FATAL CHAOS by Marie Force,
available now from HQN Books.
When a series of fatal drive-by shootings sets the city of Washington, D.C. on edge, Metro Police Lieutenant Samantha Holland must beat the clock to stop the ruthless killers. But with her husband, Vice President Nick Cappuano, facing a challenge that could impact both their lives, will the mounting pressure deepen or damage their bond?
Fatal Chaos
by Marie Force
In the kitchen, Sam found Nick leaning against the counter, drinking a beer. His face lit up with pleasure at the sight of her.
“This is a nice surprise,” he said, reaching for her. “I didn’t expect to see you until much later.”
Sam snuggled into his embrace and brought him up-to-date on the latest with the case. “We’ve done all we could today. Now we wait for the lab and to see if the shooters will strike again.”
“I heard about the warning to citizens. Pretty hard-core.”
“Had to be done.”
“You like the gangbanger for the shootings?”
“I don’t know. It doesn’t add up. If he was intent on getting Tamara back, killing her brother would put a damper on the romance. Plus, there’s nothing to indicate he has above-average skills with a gun.”
“True.” Nick’s hand made a soothing circle on her back.
“What’ve you done with the boy child?”
“I sent him to take a shower and get his backpack ready for tomorrow.”
“How’d he take that directive?”
“As you might imagine.”
Sam laughed.
“I used to love the first day of school,” Nick said.
“You were one of the dorks who ruined the curve for the rest of us, weren’t you?”
“Maybe.”
“How many times did you make the honor roll?”
“May I decline to answer out of fear of being mocked for the rest of my life?”
She looked up at him. “How. Many. Times?”
“All the times?” he said with a weak smile.
“Oh my God! How did I not know this before I said, ‘I do’?”
“You knew I got an academic scholarship to Harvard. How do you think that happened?”
“I’ve honestly never thought about how, but now that I know, this may be grounds for an annulment.”
“Nice try, babe,” he said with a laugh. “As if I’d ever let you go for any reason, and besides, I think you can only get an annulment before the marriage is consummated. Since we’ve consummated ours about six thousand times, I’d say you’re screwed in more ways than one.”
Sam laughed. “You think you’re so smart.”
“I know I’m smart, and now you know it too.” Looking down at her, he said, “By the way, that’s twice you’ve mentioned leaving me in one twenty-four-hour period. Should I be worried?”
“Not even kinda.” She closed her eyes, laid her head on his chest and let out a deep breath, relieved to be back in his arms after a hellish day. He always made her feel better, even when boasting about his impressive academic record. “If we ever have biological kids, do you think they’ll get my school brains or yours?”
Only because she was pressed so tightly against him did she feel his entire body go rigid over the fraught subject of babies.
“I don’t know,” he said. “Hopefully, we’ll get the chance to find out.”
“What if we have a kid who’s just like me? A classic underachiever in school. Wouldn’t that make you crazy?”
“Not at all. I’d be so in love with any kid of ours that I’d be more afraid of spoiling him or her rotten than what kind of grades they get.”
As usual, he said the perfect thing. “That’s good to know.”
“Anything you want to tell me, babe?”
* * *
SAM’S INCLINATION WAS to keep it from him until she knew for sure, but wrapped up in his arms, she couldn’t do that to him. “I’ve been feeling weird lately. I asked Shelby to get me a test, and she said she’d leave it under the sink in our bathroom.”
With his hands now on her shoulders, he held her back from him so he could see her face. “For real?”
“I don’t know.” Her throat closed around a lump of emotion that made her crazy for being so emotional over this issue, even after all this time.
“Let’s go take the test.”
“Right now?”
“This very minute.”
“Nick... I have other stuff I need to talk to you about.”
“We’ll get to that.” He took her hand and gave a gentle tug. “This first.”
Don’t miss FATAL CHAOS by Marie Force,
available now from HQN Books
Copyright © 2018 by HTJB, Inc.
ISBN-13: 9781488092923
Colton K-9 Bodyguard
Copyright © 2018 by Harlequin Books S.A.
All rights reserved. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, nontransferable right to access and read the text of this ebook on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereafter invented, without the express written permission of publisher, Harlequin Enterprises Limited, 22 Adelaide St. West, 40th Floor, Toronto, Ontario M5H 4E3, Canada.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events or locales is entirely coincidental. This edition published by arrangement with Harlequin Books S.A.
® and ™ are trademarks of the publisher. Trademarks indicated with ® are registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office, the Canadian Intellectual Property Office and in other countries.
www.Harlequin.com