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“Did I hear you say ribs?” Carter came back into the room, eyebrows raised in question and one hand rubbing his belly. “I sure hope they’ll have some left by the time we get back.”
“I’ve already sent Susie a message, she’ll hold back a stack for us.” Kane chuckled. “She’s never let me down yet.”
Forty
Saturday, 1 a.m.
“Jenna, wake up.” Jo’s voice broke into a dream. “Jenna.”
Jenna slapped at the hand shaking her awake. She had been asleep for what felt like seconds and her head was still in slumber mode. Forcing her eyes open, she made out a shape in the light filtering in from the hallway and blinked at Jo’s shadowed face. “What’s wrong?”
“You awake?” Now Kane had walked into the room, fully dressed and armed.
Jenna sat up and stared at him. “It seems I’m the last one to the party. What the heck is going on here?”
“Kane will explain, I’ll go and get dressed.” Jo hurried from the room.
“I called you and then Jo.” Kane picked up her phone and stared at it. “Your phone is on silent.”
“Yeah.” Jenna pushed the hair from her eyes. “I’m not on call for the 911 emergency line, so after working a seventeen-hour day, I didn’t want to be disturbed by townsfolk complaining about a dog barking.” She glared at him. “What’s so important you’re in my bedroom in the middle of the night?”
“One of the deputies out of Blackwater called in an explosion at Sheriff Stuart’s house.” Kane switched on the light beside Jenna’s bed and looked down at her. His hair was damp from the shower and Jenna wondered if he’d slept at all. “At first, he figured it was a gas leak but the neighbors heard three explosions. After what happened in Louan, he called the FBI and they contacted Carter. Wolfe is heading out there as soon as he can get his team together. I figured you’d want us on scene too.”
A pool of acid formed in Jenna’s stomach. It was always difficult when bad things happened to folks she knew. She’d called on Sheriff Stuart many a time for assistance, and respected him. With effort, she pulled on her cloak of professionalism and nodded. “Survivors?”
“Not a hope in hell.” Kane shook his head. “It’s bad. The place was fully ablaze in seconds. Whoever was inside didn’t stand a chance.”
The shock of losing a fellow officer jolted her fully awake. She tried to shake off the wave of incredible sadness engulfing her and swallowed hard. In times of great stress and tragedy sticking to procedure lightened the burden. It was as if the way ahead had already been mapped out. No flustering or second thinking. All she had to do was move forward one step at a time down an imaginary list in her mind. “Is the local fire department on scene?” She slipped from the bed and dragged clothes from the closet and threw them on the bed.
“Yeah but they’re volunteers, so if there’s another unexploded device lying around, we don’t want them going inside. The local deputies have sealed the town, no one in or out accept essential services. We’ll need to move fast.” Kane frowned. “I’m concerned about this, Jenna.”
Jenna stood and stared at him. “Okay, so why are you worried? We’ve dealt with worse cases than this one? How do you know it wasn’t three propane tanks exploding? People often have more than one for the house.”
“Maybe but think about the surrounding circumstances.” Kane stared at the wall as if mulling over the problem. “Sheriff Stuart’s granddaughter goes missing and then his house is set on fire. It’s as if someone used the girl to clear the way to the sheriff. All his men would be out scouring the countryside for his granddaughter, and if he’d called for backup, it would have taken ages for anyone to respond.”
She noticed the tick in his cheek; he was angry, not concerned. “You figure it’s the Louan bomber, don’t you?”
“Yeah and if this is the bomber, we might be walking into a trap. He’d know for sure we’d be called in again.” Kane pulled out his weapon and checked the clip. “It could be three propane tanks exploding but until we’re sure, we should take all necessary precautions.”
“Yeah, my thoughts exactly.” Jenna shrugged off the concern, she had a team of professionals around her. “What about taking the chopper?”
“Yeah, I thought about that too but Carter said it will take longer to prepare the chopper than it will take me to drive, if we all ride in the Beast.” Kane met her gaze. “I’ll go and make sure we have everything we need packed in the truck. We’ll need Zorro, so I’ll leave Duke here to save room.” He turned and headed for the door.
Jenna glanced around at her team as they all climbed into the Beast. All wore liquid Kevlar vests, helmets, and com packs. Taking the extra precaution against an unknown threat might save a life, although if they tripped an IED they’d be toast. She turned to Carter. “Do you worry about sending Zorro in to look for explosives?”
“Of course, I do.” Carter attached his seatbelt and patted Kane on the shoulder. “Go, we need to be there yesterday.” He looked back at Jenna as Kane swung the Beast around and headed down the long driveway. “It’s not a case of, ‘the dog will get blown up first and protect us.’” He snorted. “We’re a highly trained team, but he smells what my eyes miss. I’ve seen him discover IEDs hidden in places many would have overlooked. He’s very smart, he won’t walk into a situation and he won’t allow me to do so either.”
Surprised by his passion, Jenna nodded. “Good to know.”
They went through the gates and Kane hit the winding blacktop. Once they’d blown through town, he took the on-ramp to the highway and punched the gas, throwing Jenna back in her seat with the force of acceleration. She relaxed the moment she caught sight of Kane’s determined grimace. His truck was like another limb and she had complete confidence in his ability to drive at hair-raising speeds. Lights flashing and siren wailing they sped along the highway leaving the tall pines of Stanton Forest far behind them. The Beast passed vehicles so fast, they became indistinguishable shapes with lights. They hit the long curving stretch through the lowlands and groups of industrial buildings loomed up like dark lumps in the distance. The mood inside the vehicle was somber, everyone deep in their own thoughts. It was as if they were all heading out on a combat mission and making plans on how to survive.
As they rounded a long curve in the road, Jenna tried to center her mind on anything else but blackened burned bodies and had a flashback to
the night in the middle of winter when she’d first met Kane. He’d appeared out of the freezing cold night to rescue her from an upturned cruiser on this very stretch of highway and she’d stuck her Glock in his face. She grinned into the night at the memory. He could have disarmed her and broken her neck in seconds but he’d called her ma’am, and then been so darn polite, she’d thought him too good to be true. Dealing with an overprotective ex-sniper with more baggage than a freight train had been an experience but she’d never regretted one single day.
As they left Black Rock Falls county, the ranches on the outskirts of Blackwater, some with lights blazing in the windows, came into view. They passed through a small forest and came out on a long straight stretch of highway. In the distance a red glow lit up the sky. “Oh, that doesn’t look good.”
“I think that’s Wolfe up ahead.” Kane lifted his chin but his eyes remained fixed on the road. “We’ve made good time, he left well before us.”
