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The rain had settled into a fine mist, giving the group’s slickers and ponchos a wet sheen as they trudged into the woods. Less than twenty yards in, Barrett stopped and pointed to the ground.
Within minutes, a waterproof canopy had been erected over the spot, and the group circled around. Barrett was still staring at the ground.
One of the forensics officers stepped forward with his shovel. “About two feet down, right?”
“Yeah,” Barrett replied. He looked with uncertainty at the barren patch of earth. “But it looks…different.”
“It’s been over two years,” Strode said. “The ground’s probably settled.”
“Well, it was definitely here, right between that boulder and these two trees.”
Metcalf’s phone rang in his pocket. He pulled it out, looked at the screen, and stepped away to take the call.
One of the forensics specialists plunged his shovel into the soft earth and emptied the blade’s contents onto the wire mesh sifter. He swung the shovel down again, and it hit the ground with a metallic clang.
The digger looked up at Barrett. “Is there something metal down there?”
Barrett just stared at the ground. Before he could reply, the other digger swung his shovel down. There was another metallic clang, and…
BOOM!
A terrific explosion rocked the woods!
A fireball erupted from the earth. The shock wave threw Strode and the other officers back over a dozen feet as a deafening roar overtook them.
Her body crumpled at the base of a tree. Her face stung, and blood gushed over her eyes. Her eardrums were blown, and the odor of gunpowder was thick in her nasal cavity.
She tried to wipe the blood from her eyes and only then realized that most of her left arm was gone.
She could see, she realized, but just barely. Fire everywhere, all around her. And mangled bodies, some writhing in pain, but most just still.
Next to her, Barrett was bloody and wheezing, his orange prison uniform burned and tattered.
“You…son of a bitch,” she whispered.
He didn’t react. He was now dead, like the others.
As a dark fog crept over her, she realized she would soon be joining them.
Chapter
2
Sharp Grossmont Hospital
La Mesa, California
Kendra Michaels pulled open the stairwell door, took a glance to see if the coast was clear, and then ran down the surgical floor’s wide hallway.
“Ma’am…Ma’am?” The nurse ran after her.
“Where is he?”
“Ma’am, you can’t be back here.”
Kendra turned toward her. “Too late. Half the law-enforcement community of Southern California and their families are downstairs. No one is telling us anything. I need some answers.”
“I understand. And as soon as we have those answers, a doctor will be down to fill you in. Until then, I have to ask you to—”
