“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.
Chapter 28
Fear and anger erupted in tandem, and Cal slammed a fist into the barricade. He welcomed the splitting of his knuckles, the pain that followed.
“Calm down,” Max said. “Tara needs you levelheaded not a raving lunatic.”
Cal tried to banish the raging red tinting his vision and keeping him from doing his job.
Job? Right.
He’d always been the one who knew what to do in every situation. How to remain calm under pressure. Think on his feet. Well, he wasn’t thinking now. At least not anything good or helpful.
“C’mon, Cal,” Rick said. “Tara needs you.”
Yes, Tara. Forget Keeler for now and think only of Tara.
He took deep breaths, blew them out, and lost count of the number of times he inhaled before finding the control he so desperately needed. Finding the agent who could think logically and reason out his options.
Figuring only one option existed right now, he dug out his car keys. “I’m going to June’s house.”
Rick grabbed his arm. “You’re in no state to drive. We could dispatch locals to check it out first.”
Cal shrugged free. “I might be a bit on edge, but we’re not sending a local team to June’s house and risk them botching this. June deserves our best effort, as does Tara.”
“And our best means not letting you go in on your own.” Max held Cal’s gaze, warning Cal not to argue. “We have no idea what’s happening at June’s place. I shouldn’t let you go at all.”
Cal planted his feet on the concrete. “It’s not like you’re going to stop me.”
“I’ll go with him,” Rick volunteered.
“Guess that’s the best I can hope for.”
“Grab your gear while I retrieve my car,” Cal said to Rick.
Cal didn’t waste time waiting for Rick’s response or Max’s blessing, but ran across the inner perimeter and got his car going. He parked near the outside perimeter, engine idling as he waited for Rick. His mind went to Tara. She would do anything she could to protect June, and Keeler had to know that was Tara’s Achilles’ heel. As much as Cal would rather not believe Keeler enticed Tara from the house, Cal had to wonder what Keeler had done or said to get Tara to run from safety.
Rick jerked open the passenger door.
Cal jumped and chastised himself for being so jittery.
Rick eyed him as he dropped onto the passenger seat and settled his bag on his lap, but he didn’t say anything.
Cal wrapped his hand around the gearshift, the trembling in his fingers a foreign feeling for him.
Rick’s focus went to the shifter. “I’ve never seen you rattled like this.”
“Me either.” Admitting it aloud unsettled Cal even more.
“You’ve got a thing for her,” Rick said, an understatement for sure. “And you need to find a way to put it aside by the time we get to June’s place or let me take lead.”
“Not happening, man. I’m calling the shots.” Cal eyed Rick until he held up his hands in defeat.
Struggling for calm, Cal inched the SUV through the workers, honking when they didn’t yield the right of way. He’d faced down invading terrorists. Had knives and guns pointed at him. Bombs explode near him. But nerves like this? Tara missing? That was beyond him.
He needed help. Much more than Rick could provide. They were both just men. Skilled men, but men failed. Tara was too important for even a hint of failure.
Father, help us, please, he implored. He had to let go of his anger at God. Let go of his stubbornness and trust Him to save Tara. It was the only hope.
Please, he pleaded again before turning his attention to the perimeter ahead and honking at the officer moving the barricade at a snail’s speed.
Cal wanted to race through the opening, but reporters and looky-loos stared at him and failed to yield the right of way until he flipped on his lights and siren, and laid on his horn.
Ten minutes later, he finally reached the main access road leading to the highway and another hour passed before GPS announced their destination a mile ahead on the right. Cal eased the car onto the shoulder and flipped off his headlights. Rick rummaged through his bag, came out holding night-vision goggles, and strapped them on.
Cal killed the engine and peered ahead. The house sat in the dark, shadows cloaking both stories. A light shone through the living room window.
“Look for June’s protection detail,” Cal directed. “They should be blocking the drive before the house.”
Rick sat forward and stared out of the window. “No sign of them.”
Cal curled his fingers but held his anger in check, as he couldn’t risk damaging his hand when he might need it. “Let’s get suited up and hike in.”
Rick didn’t have to be told twice, and he exited the car with Cal. A cooling breeze rushed over Cal as he opened the back window to retrieve combat vests and fill pockets with extra ammo and tools.
The action felt so similar to suiting up for his days at war. A fitting sentiment in Cal’s mind. The entire country was at war with terror, and men like Keeler had to be stopped.
Cal tucked a backup gun behind his vest and settled his NVGs on his head. After a quick check of the thirty-round magazine for his assault rifle, he was ready to roll.
He nodded at Rick, then made a sweep of the area, the green tint from the goggles familiar and comforting as he scanned. Not seeing any threat, he signaled his intent to move and stepped off.
Despite darkness and heavy clouds obscuring the moon, Cal could see a clear path to the house. He tightened his hold on his rifle and moved silently down the drive. A single cow mooed in the distance, breaking the quiet. Despite the lack of noise, Cal didn’t have to look back to know that Rick was right on his heels. He was as silent and deadly as all of the Knights, and if Cal had heard Rick’s footsteps, something would be very wrong.
Cal eased off the drive and approached the house, pausing at the living room window. He signaled for Rick to hold. The light from inside cascaded into the night and illuminated the shrubbery below, forcing Cal to lift his goggles as he crept closer to the window.
He shot a quick look inside, then retreated, his heart plummeting. A brief glance told him that June sat in a chair, Keeler’s telltale white PVC circling her neck. Cal returned to the window again and held his breath as he ran his gaze over the room, looking for Tara in a similar situation. He determined June sat alone and confirmed that, other than the bomb, no additional danger presented itself.
He dropped to a squat and froze in place as he tried to figure out where Tara could be. Rick duckwalked closer and cast
a questioning look at Cal. He signaled to look inside. Rick took a long look and came to squat next to Cal.
“A bomb would definitely bring Tara out here.”
“No sign of her, though,” Cal whispered. “But she could be in another room.”
“We need to gain access to the house and not through a door,” Rick whispered back.
He was right. Keeler could have booby-trapped the doors and windows. Still, they could cut a hole in a window and insert a camera to determine if it was safe to open.
Cal signaled for Rick to follow him to the back of the house where, if Keeler was watching from the road, his finger perched over a remote, he couldn’t see them enter the house. Cal dug into the bag attached to his vest and located a glass-cutting tool. Rick stood at the corner keeping watch. Cal made the hole and inserted a snake camera through the opening. He swiveled the camera to capture every inch of the window frame.
“We’re clear,” he whispered, and unfastened the lock. “We’re good to go.”
Rick backed his way over to Cal. “We need to steer clear of the living room. If there’s a leveling device on the bomb, we don’t want to spook June.”
Cal nodded his agreement and silently climbed inside. He and Rick both knew the first-floor layout from prior visits, so Cal stepped straight ahead and gestured for Rick to move right. Together they crept through the first floor until they’d cleared all rooms save the living room and headed up the stairs.
Four bedrooms and a bathroom later, they hadn’t found Tara, and Cal’s worry for her safety almost had him running down the stairs and bursting in on June to question her.
Rick faced Cal. “Now what? We can’t go barreling down the stairs and scare June.”
Cal forced Tara from his mind and ran their options until a sound idea took hold. “I saw an answering machine on the kitchen counter. A ringing phone shouldn’t freak her out too badly. I’ll leave a message telling her that we’re in the house and coming down the stairs.”
Rick nodded his approval. Cal made the call. A ringer pealed from a bedroom down the hall and from the kitchen. On the sixth ring, June’s cheerful message played. Cal left a message after the beep.
Fatal Mistake--A Novel Page 26