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“That’ll be great!” the same girl yelled again.
“That’ll be fun,” a young boy piped up.
Seeing that Bonnie had everything in hand, Mateo headed back to the mudroom, taking his phone out of his pocket on the way.
“Status?” Gideon asked when he picked up.
“The kids are being rounded up to go out to the cars right now. I don’t want to add chaos to the mix. Where’s Lucy’s leash?”
“She doesn’t need one. She’ll head straight to the patio door.”
Mateo eased open the door to the mudroom, and Lucy tried to lunge past him. Mateo shoved her back as he looked behind him.
“Down, girl. You head straight for the door, got it?” He opened the door wider, and Lucy bounded out of the room. Mateo ran after her. She skidded to a stop in front of the sliding glass door, then clawed at the glass. Mateo unlocked and opened the door and Lucy shot onto the patio like a bullet from a gun, then ran toward the pool as lightning flashed.
“What’s your ETA?” he asked Gideon.
“We were already getting ready to head home. Now we’re heading east on the expressway, but there’s a wreck that has traffic stopped. I’d say we’re fucked…”
“But?”
Mateo looked over his shoulder and didn’t see anyone in the great room, dining room, or kitchen, which was good.
“I’ve already put an SOS out to the rest of the team to head to my house to help you figure out what’s going on. I sent out a text to Kane McNamara of Night Storm to get the word out and see if anyone can head west on the expressway two miles west of Rosemont. But Mateo, unless one of the team members gets to you fast, you’re on your own. I’ll have them text you when they’re close. Are the women and kids safe?”
“Bonnie took care of that.”
“Good.”
“What should I do with Lucy?”
“Trust her. If she’s fired up, then she saw someone or something. Let her take the lead, just like we have with our mission dogs.”
“Gotcha.”
2
The prickle was gone. Now fire ants had decided to build a colony on Mateo’s neck. After all the barking and lunging, Lucy was dead still in front of a three-foot-high cinder block enclosure close to the pool. Mateo ignored the rain and the roar of thunder as he stepped over the wall and found that it housed the pool pump and heating unit.
He looked over at Lucy. He’d gotten the same look before from dogs in the field. It was the “hurry up, dumbfuck, we don’t have all day” look.
“I’m hurrying, I’m hurrying,” he assured the big dog.
Lucy growled.
Great. Now he had ants on the back of his neck and low-pitched grumbles in his ear. He shut his eyes, wiped the rain away, and took a moment to block out everything. Then he opened them to concentrate on the machinery in front of him.
It had to be a bomb.
He eyed what he figured was the pump and looked all around it, then carefully ran his fingers around the bottom.
Nothing.
He did the same with the heater.
Nothing.
Now for the electrical panel. There was a simple latch on it and he hesitated before opening it. Trying to think like whatever asshole might have planted a bomb.
