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Aidyn laughed as he sat at the counter once again and ate his ham.
Tate strode to his end of the counter. “You okay Aid?”
“Yeah. Are you?”
“Yeah. Just checking. PTSD and all.”
He sat straighter and looked Tate in the eye. “I’m okay, Bud. I’ll admit to being rattled last night, but I’m good now. Any word on the explosives?”
“Spencer and Henry are there with an explosives team from Brookswood. I’m on my way there now.”
He stood. “I’ll go with you. I’ll take my truck though. I’ve got some errands to run afterwards.”
He wanted to see what they were up against. And he wanted to see if Elena had replaced the basket. As he strode passed Tate he said, “I’ll meet you out there. I’m grabbing my hoodie and gloves.”
“Roger.”
In his room he grabbed the notebook he’d purchased to write Elena notes and a pen. He’d find some time to write to her if she replaced the basket, and if she needed anything, he’d run to the store after he saw the explosives and heard what the experts thought about it.
As he drove to the construction site, he watched the mountain to see if he could catch sight of her. She moved like a ghost so he doubted she’d let herself be seen, but he hadn’t seen her in person in several weeks now. They’d been conversing strictly by basket and notes.
That likely wouldn’t change anytime soon. He was a wanted man up there and she wasn’t allowed to come down the mountain per Craig’s new mandate.
He parked next to Tate’s truck and strode across the dirt toward the far side where the explosion happened last night. There were four men with Tate, and they were looking at something at the base of the container.
Tate glanced at him as he neared. “This is Aidyn Dunbar, my teammate and the man who was with me last night. Aidyn, this is Dylan from Tech Labs in Brookswood.”
Aidyn shook Dylan’s hand. “Nice to meet you.”
“Please tell Aidyn what you just told me,” Tate said.
He swallowed as he listened to Dylan explain what they’d figured from last night, then turned to look at the explosives, or what was left of them on the ground.
“What did they use?”
“It was a regular pipe bomb. We found pieces of it and matched it up to the pipe being used here on the construction site to run the wires through.”
“Fucking pieces of shit not only stole the pipe but then tried to blow us up with it.”
Tate pointed to a pile of screws, nuts, and bolts lying on the ground near the edge of the container. “They also stole the shrapnel they used in it.”
Aidyn shook his head and huffed out a breath. “We don’t know how many more of these they have planned.”
Dylan neared the explosion site. “The bolster you threw on top forced most of the blast into the ground. It would have been catastrophic had you not tossed it on. The debris would have gone about eleven hundred feet. I suspect this was a five-pound bomb or so.”
“How was it detonated?”
Dylan scratched the side of his face but continued looking at the hole in the ground. It was at least five feet deep and at least six feet wide.
“I did find a lead wire.” He pointed to the wire, now laying on top of the brush. “But I think the bolster had a lot to do with detonation. That’s not necessarily a bad thing. If they were waiting for people to be around, this would easily have killed someone.”
Aidyn shook his head and tried to slow his breathing. Anger rushed through his body, and he felt the sweat drip down his back. He turned to Tate. “We’re all going to need to wear Kevlar until we know there won’t be more of this.”
Tate nodded. “Dylan and his crew are doing a sweep today, so we’ll know for today we’re good. I’m taking Henry or Spencer up to speak with Craig.”
“I’ll go with you.”
Tate shook his head. “I don’t think that will do anything but anger him right now. You need to stay down here.”
