“Ready.” She smiled at him, drawing him out of his musings.
He gave a clipped nod and stepped outside, letting the cool afternoon breeze wash over him. He made sure the area was clear then escorted her to the car. She plugged the rental property’s address in the GPS and he concentrated on driving, following directions to a small home in a well-kept neighborhood.
“Stay here while I make a quick security sweep.” He hopped out and alternated his search of the property with keeping an eye on her. When he had to move out of her sight he hurried but didn’t cut corners in confirming the house was secure.
Back at the car, he opened her door. “Straight up to the house and inside, okay?”
She nodded. Though there were no cars or people moving in the neighborhood, he kept his head on a swivel while they strolled up the walkway. A rare sun break beamed down on them, yet the chilly wind whipping off the ocean reinforced his apprehension about this trip.
He faced the road while she worked the lockbox. The snap as it popped free ricocheted though the quiet neighborhood. He heard the firm click of the key settling into the lock and the squeaky door groaned open. An odd clicking noise followed.
He spun around and took in a deep breath. Gas? The IED exploding and Mac catapulting through the air flashed into Cole’s brain. He grabbed Alyssa’s arm. “Run.”
“What?” she asked as he literally dragged her down the walkway.
“Gas explodes,” he said and sped up, tugging her at a speed she struggled to match.
“It’s okay. Sam’s absentminded. He probably forgot to turn off the gas on the fireplace.”
His mind screamed that it wasn’t Sam and if they didn’t get moving faster, they could die. He scooped her into his arms.
“But—” she said and he ignored her need to talk, pounding across the street toward the ditch.
“I’m sure this is just—” Her words disappeared in an ear-shattering explosion.
A flash of light brighter than any of the explosions he’d witnessed in the past spiraled into the air while a concussive wave pummeled his back. He dove into the ditch, landing on his side to keep from crushing Alyssa. Burning metal pierced his back. Pain screamed along his nerve endings, but he ignored it and completely covered her body. A sharp object sliced through his forehead and he lowered his head. He could feel the swift beat of Alyssa’s heart and hear her quick breaths mixed with the sounds of debris landing all around.
He flashed back to Iraq. To Mac. To that day. That horrible, horrible day. Digging out of the rubble. Scrambling back in to find Mac. His body lifeless, his eyes staring blankly ahead.
“Cole,” Alyssa said, the terror in her voice bringing him back.
“It’s okay,” he whispered and wondered if it really was.
Items kept hitting his back as regret over his decision to bring Alyssa here swamped him. The explosion wasn’t a case of Sam leaving the gas on. More likely, Nolan had tried to kill Alyssa. Gas needed a spark to ignite, and the click he’d heard when the door opened was likely for a timer. The timer would give them enough time to get into the house and then it would create a spark to trigger the explosion. They’d been lucky—the timer had also given them a few seconds to run for cover.
So odd, when Saunders’s warning was only a few hours old, but criminals acted unpredictably.
“Cole, can we get up now?” Alyssa’s voice broke into his thoughts, and he lifted his head to look around.
All that remained of the right half of the house were timbers, burning with bright flames. The left side stood intact, although fire spread rapidly toward it. His car was pinned under the garage door, but it hadn’t caught fire.
He pushed to a crouching position. Eyes wide with panic, Alyssa stared at him. She took deep breaths, but fear seemed to be winning out.
He took her hand. It was cold and clammy. “We took quite a tumble. Are you okay?”
“You blocked the fall. I’m fine, but you’re bleeding.” She reached for his forehead, her hand trembling, but then let her hand drop.
“It’s nothing.” He waved her off.
“It doesn’t look like nothing.” She took a shuddering breath and looked around as if she expected another attack.
He’d like to hold her until her fear subsided, but he had to arrange for backup in case Saunders planned to finish the job.
“Take a minute to catch your breath. I’m going to call this in.” After squeezing her hand, he stood and took a few steps away so she couldn’t hear his conversation with Derrick. Neighbors had stepped onto the street and he knew they would phone 911.
“We have an incident,” he said after Derrick answered. He told his brother about the explosion and gave him the address. “I need you to get over here. My car isn’t drivable and I don’t want Alyssa out in the open any longer than it takes to give her statement to the police. Plus, I definitely don’t trust the responding officers to take her home.”
“I’m on my way.”
“Come prepared,” Cole added. “Prepared” in their world meant ready to defend themselves with force if necessary. “Alert Dani to the increased threat and have her phone Carter at the DEA. I want an impartial investigator out here before Saunders tampers with any evidence that could incriminate him.”
Derrick agreed and Cole hung up. He picked his way through debris to Alyssa, who’d come to a sitting position. She still seemed dazed, and he hated to make it worse, but he had to warn her that Nolan would likely respond to the fire.
He squatted next to her. “You doing okay?”
“As much as I can be when I was almost blown up.” She dug into her pocket and her hand came out with a wad of tissues. “You, however, are bleeding.” She pressed the tissues on his forehead.
He winced at the pain, but having something to keep her mind off the blast would help with the shock so he let her continue. “Derrick’s on his way and as soon as the police take your statement we’ll get out of here. They should arrive any time.”
Her hand fell away. “What if Nolan responds?”
“There’s a good possibility that he will, so we need to be prepared with the same story.”
“Story? What story? We got here and the house blew up. What else can we say?”
“He’s going to ask if we have any idea how the house exploded. It’s best to stay with the story that you think Sam left the gas on.”
“But you don’t think that’s likely.”
“No,” he answered, but he didn’t go into his theory in case nerves made her slip up and tell Saunders. “When he questions you, he’ll be watching to see how you respond to him. Though we know he’s on to us, it’s still best to act like everything but the explosion is normal.”
“I don’t think I can do this, Cole.” She ran a hand over her face.
“Yes, you can. You’re one of the bravest women I know.”
“No, I’m not.”
He crooked a finger under her chin and lifted her head. “You have withstood things strong women falter under, yet you set an example for everyone in how to keep your faith and stay positive. This is just another one of those things you have to get through. You can do it.”
He saw the first police vehicle arrive and hoped Saunders wouldn’t follow standard police procedure and separate them until he could take their statements.
Alyssa must have been thinking the same thing. “You won’t leave me alone with him?”
“Never,” he responded and hoped he’d be able to keep his word.
* * *
Alyssa squared her shoulders and walked up to Nolan. He put his hands on her arms and it took iron willpower not to cringe as she lifted her chin to look him in the eye.
“Are you hurt?” he asked. If she didn’t know better, she’d believe he was actually concerned.
; “I’m fine. Just shaken up.” She offered a shaky smile.
He slid his hands down her arms and drew her into a hug. She forced muscles that wanted to stiffen to relax by pretending they were Cole’s arms wrapped around her.
“After what Alyssa’s been through, it would be good if I could take her home,” Cole said. His comment gave her the excuse she needed to back away. “If you could take our statements right away, that would be helpful.”
Nolan appraised him with a raised eyebrow. Cole simply stared back without an ounce of emotion on his face, but Alyssa could see the iron will in his expression.
Nolan turned his focus on her. “Go ahead and tell me what happened.”
“It’s simple, really. I came to check a fire sensor that was emitting a trouble warning. When we opened the door we smelled gas.”
“We decided not to go in the house. We headed across the street for safety and to call it in,” Cole added, and she had to admit his simple telling of the facts made the explosion seem far less terrifying.
And if Cole could be so calm and recite the events without any emotions, so could she. “I think Sam must have left the gas on for the fireplace. You know how absentminded he is.”
Nolan took a step closer. “Or he didn’t want the bank taking his house so he decided to destroy it.”
“Sam wouldn’t do that.”
“Everyone in town knows he was desperate, Alyssa. Desperate men do desperate things.”
You ought to know, she thought but kept it to herself.
“Not Sam. He wouldn’t do that.” She had to remain calm, but she hated that he was disparaging a good man to cover his murderous ways.
“Speculating on the cause of the explosion without any facts won’t do any good.” Cole put a hand on Alyssa’s shoulder. “Now if you don’t have any further questions, I’m taking Alyssa home.”
“Looks like your car is toast. I’ll give her a ride.”
“No need. I’m sure you have to process the scene and my brother is waiting right over there.” Cole pointed at Derrick, who leaned on the side of his SUV, his arms and feet crossed as if disinterested. But he was a Justice, and Alyssa knew his eyes behind the sunglasses would be darkly intense.
Nolan raised that brow again. “So is your whole family in town looking at houses?”
Cole lifted a shoulder. “Not all of them, but I have the feeling the rest will be here before nightfall.”
The threat in his tone was clear, and Alyssa was surprised after his warnings not to give away their suspicions that Cole would taunt Nolan this way.
A loud groan cut through the air, and the house shuddered. The roof collapsed and hit the ground, sending up a cloud of dust. Cole spun, turning his back to Alyssa. A shard of metal protruded through his shirt, dried blood circling the wound.
“Cole. Your back. We need the paramedics to look at it.”
“I’m fine. It’s just a scratch. We should go.” He held out his hand, motioning for her to go first.
His tone said he was more concerned for her safety than his injury. In this mood, she wouldn’t get him to cooperate so she held her tongue and hoped when they reached the car she could enlist his brother’s help.
At the car, she stopped in front of Derrick. “Cole has a piece of metal the size of a flag pole sticking out of his back and he’s refusing medical attention.”
“Alyssa,” Cole warned. “You’re exaggerating.”
“Let me see,” Derrick said, and though he was the younger brother, Alyssa could see Cole thought twice before ignoring him and opening the door for her.
She crossed her arms. “If you won’t listen to reason, then think about my kids. We can’t go to SuperMart looking this way, so we’ll have to change clothes. They’ll be home from school soon and that thing sticking out of your back will scare them to death.”
“Fine,” Cole grumbled. “As long as you agree to stay in the car while we wait for Carter to get here, I’ll make a stop at the E.R.”
“You’re not stalling so you won’t have to see a doctor, are you?” she asked, her eyebrows raised in suspicion.
He shook his head. “I don’t want to leave Saunders unsupervised. He could tamper with evidence.”
“Okay, but we’re out of here the minute Carter arrives.” She climbed in the backseat. Cole and Derrick got in the front. When she saw Cole had to sit sideways in his seat to keep from pressing on the metal, she felt vindicated in insisting on the E.R.
The three of them sat silently. Tension consumed the small space, making it feel like an eternity before Agent Carter arrived, though he drove up within five minutes.
As Carter walked past their car, Cole nodded his acknowledgment then faced his brother. “My mobility is limited. Keep your eyes out for a tail.”
“I hate to butt into your business, bro.” Derrick pulled onto the street. “But you aren’t invincible, you know. Sometimes you have to let people help you.”
Derrick’s pointed tone said he meant far more than Cole’s injury. Alyssa expected Cole to glare at his brother, but he simply gave a defeated nod. Maybe this meant he’d realized he couldn’t control everything around him. And maybe it also meant he was ready to talk about that incident in Iraq. When the opportunity to chat with him next presented itself, she’d encourage Cole to open up and make sure he knew she was there to listen.
THIRTEEN
Standing in the security office at SuperMart, Cole pointed at one of the six computer monitors and winced when the movement strained stitches he’d received in the E.R. “Rewind the video. That’s Saunders.”
“Are you sure?” Alyssa looked up at him from her chair beside the technician named Pete.
“Yes,” Cole answered. “I’m positive.”
Her face blanched, and Cole knew she was about to lose whatever hope she had left that Saunders wasn’t a murderer. She shouldn’t be here. Shouldn’t have to go through this. Cole wished he’d been able to convince her to stay at the house with his family, but her tenacity in bringing Saunders to justice had her insisting on coming.
The young technician rewound the video for cash register fifteen. The computer whirred and a fan hummed. Two suitcases matching the make and model they sought had been purchased the night of Arturo Cruz’s murder. The computer point of sale system recorded one sale paid by credit card at register twelve and one paid with cash at this register. As a cop, Saunders would know not to leave a trail with a credit card, so Cole had started with the cash transaction.
“Here you go,” Pete said.
Cole leaned forward to get a better look. Saunders approached the checkout counter, placed the suitcase on the belt, then moved toward the register. The camera caught a flash of his face before he turned to give the cashier a flirtatious smile.
Alyssa scooted back. “It is Nolan.”
“Want me to make a copy of the video?” Pete glanced back at Cole.
Cole nodded. “And cue up the second camera for the register to get a better shot of his face.”
“I can also bring up the cameras for the exit and parking lot. Might show you the vehicle he’s driving.”
“Good,” Cole said, though the car Saunders drove didn’t matter in this case. They had a positive ID and wouldn’t need to run DMV records.
As Pete found the right video feed, Cole turned his focus to Alyssa. Her eyes were glued to the screen, and she kept twisting the hem of her shirt between her fingers. He couldn’t imagine what she was going through. A man she’d cared for and trusted—had allowed near her children—had killed another person. Maybe more than one. That would shake anyone. Even someone as strong as he knew her to be.
Pete tapped a finger on the top monitor. “This is the second camera on this register.”
Saunders stood confident and strong, not a hint of une
ase over either having just killed a fellow human being or planning to do so in the next few minutes. It took a coldhearted man to stay calm and even flirt with the cashier in that situation.
“I’ll take a copy of that, too,” Cole told Pete.
“Okay, here’s the exit footage.” Pete pointed at another monitor.
Saunders calmly strolled toward the store’s exit, pulling the large green suitcase behind him. Cole couldn’t be sure, but it looked like Saunders’s lips were puckered and he was whistling.
Alyssa shook her head. “He’s acting so cocky, like he’ll never get caught. He’s not even trying to hide his face from the camera.”
“Sometimes dirty cops think they’re too smart to get caught.” Cole didn’t take his eyes off the video.
“Here’s the parking-lot camera,” Pete announced as the top monitor flashed with video of Saunders putting the suitcase in the back of his car.
“Unbelievable.” Alyssa’s head swung from side to side. “He’s driving his official Pacific Bay Police vehicle.”
“He’s a cop?” Pete exclaimed.
Cole stared down at Pete. “It’s crucial to our investigation that you keep quiet about this. Can I trust you to be one of us, Pete, and not tell anyone?”
Pete nodded vigorously.
“Good, I knew I could count on your discretion,” Cole said.
Pete puffed out his chest, and his eyes filled with pride. “Anything else you need?”
Cole nodded. “We should take a look at the video from register twelve to cover all of our bases.”
Pete went back to work and Alyssa swiveled to face Cole. “You’re not thinking this is some kind of coincidence and the other person is who we want, are you?”
“No, but if we want to have Saunders arrested, we have to be thorough.”
“Here you go.” Pete clicked his mouse. “The first camera’s footage.”
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