Page 106 of Her Defiant Warrior

“Quiet. I need to think.”

Mateo peered down into the unit. It was too dark to see anything but the fan at the top. The grill and screens on the sides wouldn’t let him look into the unit either.

Mateo looked sideways at Lucy. “Are you sure about this?”

Again with her look of superiority.

Mateo looked down at his watch. They now had thirteen minutes and ten seconds on the bomb. He pulled his phone out of his back pocket and pressed in his voice recognition button and yelled at it to call Braxton.

“I’m on my way,” Braxton answered.

“What’s your ETA?”

“Eight minutes.”

“Make it three and bring your flashlight and wire cutters. I’m in the backyard. I’ll leave the gate open.”

Mateo rushed to the back gate, unlocked it, and flung it open. Then he yelled at his phone again, this time to call Gideon. Before the man had a chance to answer, he demanded to know where he kept his tools.

“In my garage. What kind of tools do you need?”

“I need a screwdriver. Phillips.”

“My electric tools are in the cupboard beside the red Stanley tool chest. You’ll find the cordless screwdriver in its black case. I have it labeled so you can tell which one it is.”

“Are you shitting me?” Mateo was already running back through the sliding glass door that he’d left open.

“You don’t have time to criticize, just get the job done.” Gideon hung up.

Mateo damn near skidded on the wet tile in the kitchen and grabbed the doorknob to the garage, shoving it open. He zeroed in on the red tool chest in the corner and saw the white cupboards beside it. He flung open the cupboard and was confronted with at least eight black cases of power tools.

Who in the hell needs this many?

As he read the labels and didn’t find what he was looking for, he tossed the case over his shoulder until he came up with the case with the cordless screwdriver. He followed Lucy’s barking to the backyard. Why was she barking if there was a bomb? That wasn’t protocol.

Hallelujah, Braxton must have arrived!

No such luck. Two dogs who looked just like Lucy were at the adjoining six-foot steel fence and were barking at her. A teenage girl came running out of the house yelling at the dogs. Shit, if a bomb did go off, she’d be hurt too. Mateo took out his phone again.

“Gideon, the girl next door is in her yard. Call the⁠—”

“On it.” The line went dead.

Shoving his cell back into his pocket, he dropped the case beside the air conditioner and opened it up. He pulled out the Phillips head he needed, then shoved it into the head of the battery-operated screwdriver and released the first screw, then did the next one and next one and next one. He was halfway through when he heard a man yelling for the dogs and the girl to come into the house next door.

At least that was taken care of.

For one brief moment he looked at his watch and his sphincter tightened when he saw he had ten minutes and twenty-four seconds on the clock.

“Mateo! Where do you need me?” Braxton shouted.

Thank fuck!

“Cinder block enclosure next to the pool,” Mateo yelled. “Bomb’s in the pool pump electrical panel. Do it fast, we have another one. I haven’t found it yet, but it’s in the HVAC unit.”

“Aye, aye.”

Braxton would be on that like flies on shit.