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“There!” One of the team saw Ed racing out the back of the house, heading for the car he’d left in the yard. The three men gave chase, shooting at the tires to stop him.
“No!” Suddenly Cooper realized what was going on. Shouting, he charged the house. He had to get to the boys.
Chapter 15
Hurling himself against the front door, Cooper felt the lock splinter and give. With another shove, the door crashed open.
He saw no dynamite. But that didn’t mean it wasn’t there—in a back room or hidden in a closet. Given the way Ed had gone racing out the back door, Cooper had to assume that the house was about to blow up. He had seconds, if that, to get the boys out.
The two boys were lashed to chairs, about ten feet apart. Both of them looked scared—clearly they knew about the danger. There was no time to untie them. He would have to carry—or drag—them out.
“Take him first.” Skip nodded toward Trevor. “He didn’t have to be here.”
“No,” Trevor said. “We’re not leaving you here, Skip.”
“I’ll take both of you.”If the house goes, we all go.Cooper didn’t voice the thought. He dragged the two chairs together, tilted them backward, and tried to take them using one hand for each. But the weight was awkward, the progress slow, too slow. He imagined the fuse burning its way to the detonator, the explosion that might or might not happen. He could take Trevor, who was lighter, then go back for Skip.
No, this is the only way.
Then, suddenly there was a voice, a pair of manicured hands pushing his away. “I’ve got Skip. You take your son.” It was Ruth, seizing Skip’s chair, dragging him toward the broken door. “It’s about time I put my boy first.”
Cooper shoved her out ahead of him, then snatched up Trevor’s chair and followed. They stumbled onto the porch and down the front steps, crashing into the front yard and rolling clear as the house exploded in a deafening roar of flame that rained debris around and on them.
Cooper had flung himself over his son’s body to protect him. When he raised his head, the explosion was over, but his ears were ringing. Trevor, now lying on his side, was moving beneath him but Cooper could hear only the lingering vibrations of the blast. Shingles, chunks of timber, broken glass, and sharp-edged slices of siding were scattered all around them. The air reeked of smoke and explosive residue.
Sitting up, Cooper felt wetness trickling down his temple over his cheekbone. He ignored it. His hands fumbled with the knotted cord that held Trevor to the chair.
A few feet away, Ruth was doing the same. Her elegant coiffure was flattened and coated with plaster dust. Her new outfit was smudged with dirt and spotted with blood from a cut on her cheek. But she gave him a smile and a thumbs-up. She and her son were alive.
Two figures were running across the yard, dodging their way through the scattered debris. Sam and Jess appeared to be shouting something likeAre you all right?But Cooper still couldn’t hear them. He nodded and pointed to his ear.
Seconds later, Jess was kneeling beside Trevor, her deft fingers untying the knots that Cooper’s shaking hands couldn’t manage. As she pressed a handkerchief to Cooper’s head wound, Trevor rolled free and sat up.
“Can you hear me, Trevor?” Cooper’s own hearing had started to return. Hopefully, when he’d covered Trevor with his body, he’d blocked the force of the sound from the boy’s ears.
“Yeah. I can hear fine.” As Trevor’s lips moved, the sound was slightly blurred, but Cooper could make out the words. His hearing was coming back.
Trevor turned to Jess, who was still putting pressure on Cooper’s head wound.
“That was cool, talking on the phone like you did. I knew you were some kind of cop. I bet you could tell a lot of stories.”
“Not anymore,” Jess said. “That part of my life is behind me—I know that now. Come on, Trevor. You and your dad need medical attention.”
Cooper noticed the paramedics’ van parked beyond the other vehicles. Buck must’ve called them. Skip and Ruth were on their feet. Sam was helping them in that direction.
“Where’s Ed?” Cooper asked. “I saw him run out of the house.”
“He’s under arrest,” Jess replied. “The SWAT team caught up with him in the backyard. Buck’s taking him to jail right now, to be held for trial. Charges of kidnapping and attempted murder are serious enough to warrant a long sentence. But my guess is that he’ll end up in a psychiatric facility. A sane man doesn’t do what Ed did today. I only wish that I could’ve talked him into freeing his hostages and surrendering to the police.”
“You did everything you could,” Cooper said. “But Ed wasn’t in his right mind. He’d planned that explosion ahead of time. Nobody could have stopped him.”
“As long as he never hits Skip’s mom again, I don’t care where he goes.” Trevor, who appeared unhurt, strode ahead to catch up with his friend. Leaving Cooper and Jess behind.
Cooper’s head wound still stung but the bleeding had stopped. He slowed his steps to let Trevor gain some distance from them.
Jess matched his pace, walking beside him in silence. This brush with death had made him even more aware of how much he loved her. But he’d betrayed a confidence that he’d promised to keep. Her past would be gossip fodder all over town.
Had he lost her? Was she about to tell him that she was leaving Branding Iron—and him—as soon as she could make the arrangements?
