Loe raamatut: «Explosive Force»

ONE

First Lieutenant Heidi Jenks, news reporter for CAF News, blew a lock of hair out of her eyes and did her best to keep from muttering under her breath about the stories she was being assigned lately.

She didn’t mind the series of articles she was doing on the personnel who lived on the base—those were interesting and she was meeting new people. And besides, those had been her idea.

But some of the other stories were just plain boring. Like the stolen medals. Okay, maybe not boring, but definitely not as exciting as some she could be working on. Like finding Boyd Sullivan, the Red Rose Killer. A serial killer, he liked to torment his victims with the gift of a red rose and a note saying he was coming for them. And then he struck, leaving death and heartache in his wake with one last rose and a note tucked under the arm of the victim. Got you.

Heidi shut the door to the church where her interviewee had insisted on meeting and walked down the steps, pulling her voice-activated recorder from her pocket. She might as well get her thoughts down before they dissipated due to her complete disinterest. She shivered and glanced over her shoulder. For some reason she expected to see him, as if the fact that she was alone in the dark would automatically mean Sullivan was behind her.

After being chased by law enforcement last week, he’d fallen from a bluff and was thought to be dead. But when his body had never been found, that assumption had changed. He was alive. Somewhere. Possibly injured and in hiding while he healed. Reports had come in that he’d been spotted twice in central Texas. She supposed that was possible. But what if the reports were wrong? What if he’d made his way back here to the base so he could continue his reign of terror?

The thought quickened her steps. She’d feel better behind a locked door where she could concentrate on the story she was currently working on.

Someone on the base was breaking into homes and stealing war medals, jewelry and cash. Whatever small items they could get their hands on. But it was the medals that were being targeted. Medals of Valor especially. People were antsy enough about the whole serial killer thing. Having a thief on base wasn’t helping matters.

She spoke into the recorder. “Mrs. Wainwright stated she hadn’t been home at the time of the robbery. However, as soon as she pulled into her drive, she could see her open front door and knew something was wrong.”

Heidi’s steps took her past the base hospital. She was getting ready to turn onto the street that would take her home when a flash of movement from the K-9 training center caught her eye. Her steps slowed, and she heard a door slam.

A figure wearing a dark hoodie bolted down the steps and shot off toward the woods behind the center. He reached up, shoved the hoodie away and yanked something—a ski mask?—off his head, then pulled the hoodie back up. He stuffed the ski mask into his jacket pocket.

Very weird actions that set Heidi’s internal and journalistic alarm bells screaming. And while she wanted to see what the guy was going to do, she decided it might be more prudent to get out of sight while she watched.

Just as she moved to do so, the man spun.

And came to an abrupt halt as his eyes locked on hers.

Ice invaded her veins, sending shivers of fear dancing along her nerves. He took a step toward her, then shot a look back at the training center. Back to her. Then at his wristwatch. With no change in his granite ice-blue eyes as he gave her one last threatening glare, he whirled and raced toward the woods once again.

Like he wanted to put as much distance between him and the building as possible.

Foreboding filled her just as a side door to the training center opened. A young man stood there, his uniform identifying him as one of the trainers. His eyes met hers, just like the hooded man’s had only seconds earlier. But this time, she knew who the eyes belonged to. Bobby Stevens, a young airman who’d recently finished his tech training. He hesitated, glanced at her, then over his shoulder.

Her gut churned with a distinctly bad feeling. With everything that had happened on the base in the last few months, there was only one reason that the man in the hoodie would be so anxious to run when it looked like he would rather do her bodily harm.

She started backing away, her feet pedaling quickly. “Run, Bobby! Get away from the building. Something weird is going on!”

Bobby hesitated a fraction of a second, then took off toward her, looking determined to catch up with her. Her footsteps pounded as she put distance between her and the building and the man behind her.

Then an explosion rocked the ground beneath her and she fell to her knees, her palms scraping the concrete as she tried to catch herself.

Rolling, Heidi held on to her screams and looked back to see part of the building missing and fire spurting from the cavernous area.

And Bobby Stevens lying sprawled on the ground.

People spilled from the buildings close to her, many on their phones. No doubt calling for help.

Heidi managed to get her feet beneath her and scrambled to stand. She raced back to Bobby and dropped beside him, wincing as her knees hit the concrete.

Already, she could hear the sirens.

Calling on her past first aid training, Heidi pressed her fingers against his neck and felt a steady, if slow, pulse. He had a laceration on his forehead and his wrist hung at an odd angle.

His lids fluttered, then opened. His brows dipped and he winced.

“It’s all right, Bobby,” she said. “Help is on the way.”

“What happened?”

“The building exploded, but you’re going to be okay.”

“Exploded? Why?” His eyelids fluttered. “Hurts.” He tried to roll and groaned.

Heidi pressed her hands to his shoulders. “I know. Just be still.”

“Hold my hand, please,” he whispered. “I’m...cold.”

She slid her fingers gently around his uninjured hand. “I’m here,” she whispered. “Just hold on.” Bobby’s eyes closed, but he continued to breathe shallow, labored breaths. “You’re going to be all right. Just hang in there.”

In seconds, she felt hands pulling her away. First responders had arrived. Heidi backed up, keeping her eyes on the now-unconscious man who’d reached out to her as though she could save him.

“Are you all right?” the paramedic asked her.

She focused in on the figure in front of her. “Um...yes. I was farther away from the blast. It knocked me off my feet, but nothing else. I just ran back to check on Bobby.”

“Your knees are bleeding.”

She blinked and looked down. “Oh.” Blood seeped through her slacks. And now that her attention had been brought to them, her knees throbbed.

The paramedic led her to one of the four ambulances now lining the street. “Let me just check you out and get these knees bandaged for you.”

“Yes, okay. Thank you.” She drew in a deep breath and let her gaze wander past the crowd that had gathered.

Was the bomber watching the building burn? Could he see the firefighters fight against the raging flames?

She had a bad feeling about this. A feeling that this was only the beginning of something that might be bigger than any story she’d ever worked on.

And she had a feeling that the man who’d done this would be back.

Because she’d seen him.

* * *

First Lieutenant Nick Donovan itched to get his hands on the person who’d just blown up part of the training center. Thankfully, it was an area of the building that wasn’t being used at the moment and no animals had been harmed. Airman Bobby Stevens was reported to be in stable condition and was expected to make a full recovery. That was the only reason Nick’s anger wasn’t boiling over, even though his patience levels were maxed out.

Unfortunately, he and his bloodhound, Annie, would have to wait a little longer to do their part in figuring out exactly what had caused the explosion. Annie was trained in explosives detection, but right now, she couldn’t get near the training center, even wearing the protective booties. The area was still too hot, and firefighters were still fighting the blaze. However, Annie and he could examine parts of the building that had landed yards away.

Office of Special Investigations, OSI, had arrived and would be taking lead on the case under the supervision of Ian Steffen. Nick also spotted FBI special agent Oliver Davison, who’d been a frequent visitor to the base—not only because of his search for the Red Rose Killer, but also to see his fiancée, Senior Airman Ava Esposito.

Of course, he would show up. At this point, anything bad that happened on the base was suspected of being caused by Boyd Sullivan. And Oliver was one of the most determined people on the elite investigative team formed especially to hunt Sullivan down and bring him to justice. Truth was, they all wanted the killer caught and were working overtime in order to do that.

Nick belonged to the Explosive Ordnance Disposal unit and had gotten the call shortly after the explosion happened. He’d raced from his home and arrived to find the organized chaos he was now in the middle of. If the EOD unit had been called, then someone thought the damage to the building had been caused by a bomb—and they wanted to make sure there weren’t any more explosives waiting to go off. Which he would be happy to do just as soon as he could get close enough.

Security Forces with assault rifles flooded the area and stood ready should there be another attempt to attack, although Nick figured whoever was responsible was long gone. But Canyon Air Force Base had an action plan for this kind of thing and it had been put into place immediately.

From the corner of his eye, he caught sight of Heidi Jenks, one of the base reporters, talking to an OSI investigator.

He scoffed. Boy, she didn’t waste a second, did she? He sure hoped the investigator knew how to keep his mouth shut. The last thing they needed was for her to write a story before the facts were even determined.

She ran a hand over her wavy blond hair and rubbed her eyes. He frowned. Where was her ever-present notebook? And why did she look so disheveled?

Annie pulled on the leash and Nick let her lead him over to a large block of concrete. She sat. And he stiffened at her signal, which indicated a bomb. While he didn’t think the piece of concrete itself was going to explode, it obviously had explosives residue on it. She looked at him expectantly. “Good girl, Annie, good girl.” He took a treat from his pocket and she wolfed it down.

He set his backpack on the ground and pulled out the items he needed to take a sample of the cement. Once that was done, he placed the evidence back in his pack and scratched Annie’s ears.

“What was that?” a voice asked. A voice he recognized and sometimes heard in his dreams. Against his will.

He looked up and found himself staring at a pair of bandaged knees. The blood on the torn pants had a story to tell. Nick stood and looked down into Heidi Jenks’s blue eyes. Eyes he could drown in if he’d let himself. But she was so off-limits in the romance department that he banished the thought from his mind as soon as it popped in.

“No comment.”

“Come on, Nick.”

“Just something I want to take a closer look at.”

She turned away to look at the smoking building. Fire trucks still poured water onto it. It could take hours to put the fire out. “It was a bomb, wasn’t it?” she said when she turned back to him.

He pursed his lips. “Why do you jump to that conclusion?”

“What else could it be?” She shrugged. “Why else would you and Annie be here along with other members of EOD? You’re going to have to check to make sure there aren’t any more bombs, aren’t you?”

Nick knew Heidi because he’d read her newspaper articles and some of the stories she’d written. Most people would consider them to be fluff pieces, but the truth was, he could see her heart behind them. And whether he wanted to admit it or not, he liked it. He and Heidi had had a few conversations, and each time, he’d wanted to prolong them. Which was weird for him. He didn’t do conversations with people like Heidi. Users who just went after the story without worrying about the fallout. Even though his gut told him she wasn’t like that. But she had to be. Otherwise he could lose his heart to her. And that couldn’t happen. No way.

“Good deductive reasoning,” he told her. “But did you think it was possible that I just wanted to see what was going on?”

“No.”

“Hmm. You’re right. Annie and I’ll have to check for more bombs as soon as we get the green light. And that’s not confidential so I’m not worried about you saying anything.”

She sighed. “Look, I know with all the rumors circulating, no one wants to talk to me, but this...this is different.”

An anonymous blogger had been reporting on the Red Rose Killer, his targets and the investigation. Reporting on things that no one but those involved in the investigation could know. Rumor had it that Heidi was the blogger. As a result, she’d been mostly ostracized from anything considered newsworthy when it came to the Red Rose Killer. But Heidi was persistent. He’d give her that.

He nodded to the torn pants and bandaged knees.

“What happened to you?”

She glanced down. “I got knocked off my feet by the blast.”

He raised a brow. “You were here?”

“Yes.”

Well, that put a new light on things. “Did you see anything?”

“I don’t know. Maybe.”

“Either you did or you didn’t.”

A scowl pulled her brows down. “Then I think I did.”

“What did you see exactly?”

She drew in a deep breath. “Like I told the OSI agent, I think I may have seen the bomber.”

* * *

At Nick’s indrawn breath and instant flash of concern, Heidi felt slightly justified in her dramatic announcement. She shrugged, not nearly as nonchalant as she hoped she came across. “Honestly, I don’t know if he was the bomber or not, but I sure saw someone who looked like he was up to no good. He had on dark clothing and a hoodie—and a ski mask. Why wear a ski mask unless you don’t want anyone to know who you are? Anyway, he took that off right before he turned around and looked at me.”

“Tell me everything.”

As she talked about the man in the hoodie with the ice-cold blue eyes running from the scene, Nick’s frown deepened. “You might be fortunate he was in a hurry to get away.”

“I think that’s a reasonable assumption.” Just the thought of him sent fear skittering up her spine.

“So, he knows you saw him.”

“Oh, yes, he knows. OSI is rounding up a sketch artist for me to work with.” She shivered and crossed her arms at the memory of the man’s brief pause, as though he’d considered coming after her. Thankfully, he’d been in a hurry, more worried about getting away from the impending explosion. But she had seen his face. Well, some of it. The hoodie had hidden his hair color and some of his features, but she’d be able to identify those blue eyes anywhere and anytime.

“All right, stick close,” Nick said. “I’m going to let Annie keep working and we’ll see what she comes up with.”

For the next thirty minutes, Heidi did as instructed and stayed right with him. Not just so she could collect facts for the story, but because she was just plain rattled. Okay, scared. She’d admit it. She was afraid and feeling decidedly out of her depth.

But watching Nick and Annie work was a good distraction. She felt safe with Nick in a way she couldn’t explain, and she couldn’t help admiring his strength and confidence, the total focus and dedication he had to his job.

Her father had been like that.

Before he’d died.

A pang of grief hit her and she shook her head. It had been two years and she still missed him like crazy. But he’d been a wonderful example of the ethical reporter she strived to be. She was determined to follow in his footsteps, determined to make him proud. Thinking of her father naturally sent her thoughts to her mother. A strong woman who’d loved her husband, she’d nearly been shattered by his death. His murder. He’d been killed by the big corporation he’d exposed as a front for the mafia. Killed by his best friend, who’d been the CEO of that corporation.

A lump formed in her throat.

Her parents had argued late one night. She’d come over for dinner and fallen asleep on the couch. When she’d awakened, she’d heard the harsh whispers coming from the kitchen. She’d stayed still and listened, hearing her mother begging her father to stop looking, to “give it up.” Her father had been adamant. “I’m not looking the other way, Kate. I can’t.”

“I’m afraid, Richie,” she’d whispered. “I’m truly afraid something will happen to you.”

And it had. Not even two weeks later, a jogger had found his body washed up against the shore of a nearby lake. Her father had taken a bullet through the back of his skull. Executed. She lifted her chin. But his work would live on through her. The men who’d killed her father had been captured, tried and imprisoned—including the best friend who’d put the hit out on him. But it didn’t bring her father back. It was up to her to carry on his work.

Truth, baby girl. Nothing’s more important than exposing lies and bringing truth to light. Keep your focus where it should be. Don’t step on people to get to the top. Don’t excuse people who do wrong no matter who they are—and you’ll do just fine.

Her father’s words ringing in her mind, she watched as Nick finally stood from the last place Annie had alerted on and tucked a small bag into the larger one he carried. “All right,” he said. “I think I’m done here for now.”

“Did you find anything else?”

“I’ll have to let the lab decide that.” He dug a hand into his front pocket and rewarded Annie with a treat and a “Good job, girl.”

His gaze slid to her and he opened his mouth as if to say something, then snapped it shut and gave her a grim smile.

He wasn’t going to tell her anything. He didn’t trust her. She gave a mental sigh and shrugged off the hurt. What did she expect with everyone thinking she was the anonymous blogger, posting about everything going on in the investigation of the Red Rose Killer? Things no one but the investigative team should know. The blogger had everyone on edge and pointing fingers.

While it was true she was upset she hadn’t been assigned the story, that didn’t mean she was going around shooting off her mouth about things she shouldn’t. The fact was she didn’t know anything. Other than what was reported in the papers—and by the anonymous blogger.

But Nick didn’t know that. He didn’t know her other than from a short snippet of conversation here and there. They often ran into each other at the Winged Java café and he always made a point to speak to her—but he kept himself at a distance. Like he didn’t want to get too close. For some reason, she wanted to change that.

His eyes narrowed on a spot over her shoulder. She turned to look. “What is it?” she asked.

“I thought I saw something move.”

“Everything’s moving around here. What are you talking about?”

“In the reserve just beyond the tree line.” He strode toward it, Annie on his heels.

Heidi went after him, not about to miss out. Had the guy that set the bomb off stayed behind to watch the action?

But that wouldn’t be smart.

Then again, where was the rule that said bombers had to be smart? “You think it could be one of the missing dogs?” she called after him.

Several months ago, after killing two trainers in the Military Working Dog program, Boyd Sullivan had opened all two hundred and seven kennels and released the animals. While the more highly trained dogs had stayed put, one hundred ninety-six dogs, some PTSD therapy dogs—and dogs with PTSD themselves—had escaped. Most had been found and returned to safety, but there were still twenty-one missing.

Nick reached the tree line and stopped, planting his hands on his hips. Heidi caught up and he shook his head. “No, it wasn’t a dog. This shadow had two legs.”

“Okay. You see him?”

“No.” He sighed and rubbed a hand at the back of his neck. “Maybe I’m just imagining things. Like my nerves are so tight it’s causing hallucinations.”

“But you really don’t believe that, so you want to keep looking, right?”

He slid a sideways glance at her. “Yes.”

“Then I’m going with you.”

“It’s probably nothing.”

“I’ll just tag along and make that decision myself, okay?”

“No, not okay. Stay here.”

“The longer you argue with me, the less likely you are to find out if you saw something.”

He shot her a black look and turned on his heel to go after whatever it was he thought he saw.

She shrugged and fell into step beside him, doing her best to ignore the pain in her knees. They were going to be sore for a few days, so she might as well get used to it.

Usually Heidi didn’t notice how small she was in comparison to the men she worked with on a regular basis, but being next to Nick made her feel positively tiny. And feminine.

Which was stupid. Okay, not necessarily stupid, but seriously—why was she so hyperaware of him? Why did she notice every little thing about him? Like the way his blue eyes crinkled at the corners when he was amused. Or the way his jaw tightened and his lips flattened into a thin line when he was annoyed. Or how his dark hair was never allowed to grow too long. She shouldn’t notice those things. But she did.

Nick was no more attracted to her than he was to the tree they’d just walked past, so she really needed to get over whatever it was she felt for him. The last thing she needed was to set herself up for heartbreak.

“I think he went this way,” Nick said, pulling her from her thoughts.

She followed even though she didn’t see what he did.

The farther they got from the kennel and all of the action, the more she thought he’d seen a bird or something. She hoped so, anyway. The adrenaline crash was coming now that the danger was over. It was over, wasn’t it? “You see anything else?”

“No. I’ve lost sight of him.”

“So it was definitely a him?”

“Yes.”

Before she knew it, they were standing in front of her home. “Wait a minute, he came this way?” she asked.

“Yeah, that’s what it looked like.”

“This is my house, Nick.”

“I’d better check the area. Stay put.”

“You keep saying that.”

“And you keep ignoring me.”

This time she listened and let him do his job. With Annie at his heels, he walked around the left side of her home, then the right, which was next to the home that Staff Sergeant Felicity James shared with her husband, Master Sergeant Westley James. Felicity was still a target of the serial killer, but at least she had her husband to keep an eye out for her. Westley was part of the investigative team looking for Sullivan. A team Heidi really wanted to be a part of.