Down to the Wire

“I’m fine, but I’m anxious to see my brother.”

“First we need the EMTs to check you out...you said yourself that you blacked out for a minute.”

“I said I may have blacked out for a minute, or it could be that my brain simply shut down for a moment, from the shock of the explosion.” She didn’t appreciate his using her own words against her. “It’s not like I find myself in harm’s way like this very often.”

“I know, but you could have a concussion. Give me a little more time here, okay?”

As if she had a choice. The only reason she wasn’t pushing the issue right now was that Bobby was in school, surrounded by teachers and dozens of kids. He’d be fine there until she could get there to pick him up. At least she was fairly certain he’d be fine.

She winced at the shrillness of the siren as the ambulance pulled up. Within moments two EMTs had taken up residence on either side of her.

“Anyone else injured?” one of them asked.

“No, just Tess. She has a lump on the back of her head,” Declan said, removing the ice pack so they could examine her.

“We were both knocked off our feet,” Tess felt compelled to point out. “You should check him for injuries, too.”

“I’m not hurt,” Declan said firmly.

Stubborn man, she thought, as the EMTs poked and prodded at her. They took a set of vital signs and asked her dozens of questions to make sure her brain hadn’t been knocked off-kilter. She scowled, knowing there was a very good chance that Declan had a bump on the back of his head, too.

“We should take her to Trinity Medical Center to have a CT scan of her brain, just to make sure there’s no internal bleeding,” the EMT on her right said.

“Okay,” Declan agreed.

“No, I don’t want to go to the hospital.” She glared at Declan, trying to get him to drop the idea. “I’m sure I’ll be fine.”

“There’s no need to be nervous,” Declan told her. “CT scans don’t hurt and we’ll still have time afterward to pick up your brother.”

There was that commanding tone again, and just hearing it made the hairs on the back of her neck stand up. Why did so many men like to give orders? Why did everything have to be done their way? “Have you ever been to the E.R. at Trinity?” she asked in exasperation. “Getting cleared could take hours and be a complete waste of time. I’m not going, end of discussion.”

Declan wasn’t happy with her decision, and neither were the two EMTs.

“You’ll have to sign a release form,” the guy on her left informed her. He placed a metal clipboard in her lap and handed her a pen. “Sign here,” he instructed. “This means you can’t come after us if you suffer a massive head bleed later.”

She sensed he was trying to scare her with that comment, so she ignored it, signed her name and handed the clipboard back to him.

“Do you have another ice pack in there? This one is already getting warm,” Declan said. “I’d like to try to keep the swelling down.”

“Sure.” The EMT took a prefilled ice pack out of his kit and gave it to him. Once again, Declan applied it to the lump on the back of her head.

She was tempted to tell him to use the ice pack on himself, but held her tongue. No sense in antagonizing Declan now, not until they’d picked up Bobby from school.

And by then, she’d be glad to see the last of Declan Shaw for a while.

* * *

“Hey, Deck, you need to come over here and see this.”

Declan glanced over at Caleb and nodded. “Sure. Nate, will you keep an eye on Tess for a few minutes?”

“I don’t need a babysitter,” Tess muttered.

“No problem,” the other man said.

Declan wished there was a way to force Tess to go to the hospital, but since she signed herself out of the EMTs’ care, he didn’t think there was much more he could do. Her stubbornness might have been cute if it wasn’t so annoying.

He headed over to where Caleb waited. Together they canvassed the scene of the explosion. The fire had been doused by the members of his team, but the burned-out area looked awful, especially with the maple tree being uprooted by the force of the blast.

“I think the center of the explosion was in this area here,” Caleb said, pointing to the blackened area. “The perp must have covered it with leaves and branches or we would have seen it.”

Declan nodded thoughtfully, agreeing with Caleb’s assessment. “We went right past this area to chase the guy with the green baseball cap.”

“I know. It’s possible he set the bomb and then took off running,” Caleb mused. “But he took a chance...what if we had caught him and brought him back this way? He risked blowing himself up at that point.”

“I know, but we still need to find that guy, which would be much easier to do if we had a face shot.”

“Nate is going to work on enhancing the image, so maybe we’ll at least be able to get a hair color as an identifier.”

Declan scowled. Knowing the guy’s hair color wouldn’t help them much. “All right. Anything else here that might give us a clue?”

Caleb shook his head. “Not yet. We’ll keep looking, but right now it’s appearing to be more of a crime of opportunity than a planned attack.”

“Putting the bomb under Tess’s desk seems to have been a definite plan, but I’m not so sure that the custard stand or the minimart bombings were thought out the same way. Who is this creep and why does he like setting off bombs?”

“I don’t know, but we’ll find him.” Caleb’s tone radiated confidence.

Declan wished he could say the same. Oh, he knew they’d find the guy eventually, but how many other casualties would there be before that happened?

“I’m going to drive Tess over to the high school to pick up her brother,” he told Caleb. “I’ll be in touch later.”

“Sounds good.”

Declan crossed over to his boss and arranged for a different vehicle to use for a couple of hours. Griff handed over a set of keys and he took them gratefully before heading back over to Tess, happy to see she was standing up under her own power.

“Are you finally ready to go?” she asked.

“Yeah, the boss gave us his wheels to use. Right over here,” he said, heading toward one of the other SUVs on the scene.

“How on earth do you tell them apart?” she asked when he opened the door for her.

“No big secret, we go by the license plate numbers.” He closed the passenger door and then went around and slid into the driver’s seat. “We’ll pick up your brother and get you both settled into a hotel, okay?”

“Okay.” Tess seemed resigned to spending the next hour or so in his company, and if he was interested in some sort of relationship, his ego might have been bruised by her lack of enthusiasm.

But he had no intention of getting personally involved, especially not with a woman like Tess Collins. She was the type who would want a family, and that wasn’t for him. His father had been an angry drunk, lashing out with his fists if Declan didn’t move fast enough. He knew exactly what genes were in his DNA, and he wasn’t about to tempt fate.

Besides, ten years ago, after he’d rescued her from that jerk of a prom date, all he could think of was kissing her, but instead she’d told him she’d pray for him. Really? Not that he didn’t appreciate her intent, but still, what did he know about church and prayer?

Not one thing.

And he really had no interest in finding out. Caleb might have joined the church thanks to his wife Noelle’s influence, but Declan wasn’t about to follow along.

Tess didn’t say much as he drove into the parking lot of Greenland High, but he noticed she scanned the cars as if looking for someone. “What kind of car does Bobby drive?” he asked as he parked in the visitor lot.

“A used blue GMC truck. It’s about ten years old.”

Declan filed that information away for future reference. They walked up to the front entrance and stepped inside the school. Tess headed for the office and he followed, thinking about all the time he’d spent in the principal’s office back when he was a student. Not some of his fonder memories, that’s for sure.

“Hi, Mrs. Beckstrom, I need to see Bobby Collins,” Tess said.

“There’s a bit of a family emergency,” he added, when Mrs. Beckstrom frowned, obviously put out at taking a student out of class in the middle of the day.

The secretary took one look at his uniform and nodded her agreement. “Of course. I’ll see if I can find him.”

But when the secretary returned a few minutes later, she wasn’t smiling. “I’m sorry but Bobby isn’t in the cafeteria. He must have left the campus for lunch. I’m afraid you’ll have to wait until he returns.”

“All right, what time does his next class start?” Tess asked.

“Twelve-fifteen. He has the early lunch period.”

“Would you please call my cell number if he returns before we get back?” Declan asked. He took out one of his cards and handed it to her.

“All right,” the secretary agreed.

“Thank you,” Tess said before turning away.

They walked out of the office and headed back outside. Declan glanced at her. “Do you have any idea where Bobby spends his lunch hour?”

Tess shook her head. “Not really. I forgot that seniors were given the option of leaving the school grounds during lunch. So, as far as I know, he could be anywhere.”

“What about Greenland Park?” Declan asked.

Her spine went stiff, and he mentally smacked himself. Of course Tess wouldn’t want to go to Greenland Park considering that was where her idiot prom date had tried to assault her.

He was about to tell her never mind when she abruptly agreed. “All right, let’s check out the park.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yes. We have almost twenty minutes before Bobby is due back in class. We may as well see if we can find him on our own.”

Tess walked back to the truck, and the dejected stoop of her shoulders bothered him. The events of the morning were obviously catching up to her, especially if her head was pounding the way his was. But he knew she wasn’t going to be able to relax until she was reunited with her brother.

“It would be easier if I had my cell phone,” Tess muttered. “But it sounded as if your boss wasn’t letting anyone back inside the school yet.”

“Sorry, but we’ll get your personal items as soon as possible,” he assured her.

Greenland Park wasn’t very far from the high school, which was why the students liked to hang out there. He wound his way along the parkway, and when he saw a blue GMC truck parked along the side of the road, he gestured at it. “Is that Bobby’s?”

Tess slowly shook her head. “No, his is a much older model. I don’t remember the entire license plate number, but it starts with three letters UTS.”

He nodded, knowing that it was a long shot that they’d even find Bobby here. It took almost ten minutes to circle the park and then from there, he decided to take a quick drive past the local fast food joints that were close to the high school.

“I don’t see his truck anywhere,” Tess said, rubbing a spot along her temple. “Where could he be?”

He glanced at his watch. “It’s almost a quarter after twelve now. Maybe we missed him. Your brother is probably already back at the high school.”

“I sure hope you’re right.” Hearing the worry clearly evident in her tone, he frowned as he drove back toward the high school. Was there something more going on here? Was Bobby the type that might skip school, or who’d been hanging out with the wrong crowd? When the time was right, he planned to get more intel on her brother. By the time he’d parked the car, it was close to twelve twenty-five. His cell phone rang as he was about to open his door.

“Hello, is this Deputy Shaw?”

“Yes,” he said, recognizing the school secretary’s tone. “Do you have Bobby Collins there with you?”

“No, that’s why I’m calling. Bobby never returned to his fifth-hour English class.”

“I see. Will you please call me as soon as he does show up?” Declan asked, feeling Tess’s concerned gaze boring into him. “Thanks.”

“He’s not there?” she asked, her voice rising in panic.

“No, Bobby didn’t report to his English class. Tess, is it possible he skipped school?”

She stared at him. “I can’t say for absolute certainty that he didn’t skip on his own accord, but I don’t think it’s likely. Bobby knows he’s on probation this semester, and he promised me he wouldn’t ditch school. Believe it or not, he really wants to graduate.”

He couldn’t deny the sincerity of her tone. “Then where could he be?”

“I don’t know,” Tess whispered. “But, Declan, what if this crazy guy who’s after me somehow got to Bobby first? What if he plans to use my brother as a way to get to me?”

Declan wanted to reassure Tess that it wasn’t possible, but he couldn’t lie to her.

Obviously anyone who wanted to hurt Tess would know she had a younger brother, one she’d raised for the past few years.

Finding Bobby just might lead them to the mastermind behind the bombings. He could only hope and pray they wouldn’t be too late.

FOUR

Tess couldn’t bear to think of Bobby being in danger because of her. He was seventeen, old enough to take care of himself, but not if he trusted the wrong people.

And how could he protect himself from a bomb?

“I need to get home,” she said, straightening in her seat. “Right now.”

“Tess, it’s not safe for you to go home,” Declan pointed out. “There have been two attempts on your life already.”

“But that’s the first place Bobby will go,” she argued. Was he really going to just sit there and tell her what to do? She opened her passenger-side door. “Listen, I’m going home with or without your help. So what will it be? Should I get out and call a taxi? Or will you take me home?”

Declan blew out a heavy breath. “I’ll call the guys from the SWAT team to meet us out there. We need to make sure there aren’t any more surprises.”

The thought of a bomb being planted inside her home made her stomach churn. All the more reason to get home before Bobby did, she told herself. She closed her door with a swift thud. “Go ahead and call them, but hurry. We need to get there before anyone else.”

She listened as Declan called his fellow SWAT officers to arrange for them to search her property. She was surprised Declan still knew her address from the night he’d rescued her all those years ago and had taken her home in his beat-up truck, not unlike the one she’d purchased for Bobby. Declan finished his call and then put the truck in Reverse so he could back out of the parking spot.

“I really wish I had my cell phone,” Tess murmured. “It could be that Bobby is trying to call me right now.”

“Do you want to call him from my phone?” Declan offered.

She nodded and took his smart phone, quickly dialing Bobby’s number. Of course her brother didn’t answer, probably because he didn’t recognize the strange number. Still, she left him a message, instructing him to call her back on Declan’s phone.

Discouraged, she stared at the screen, trying to ignore the pounding headache she had, as Declan drove her home. He pulled up in front of her house and parked along the quiet, tree-lined street. When she moved to get out of the car, he caught her arm. “We have to wait for the SWAT team to clear your house first.”

After everything that had happened that morning, she knew he was smart to be cautious, and tried to find comfort in the fact that she didn’t see Bobby’s truck in the driveway.

However, she did notice her neighbor Allan Gray coming out of his house to stand on his front porch, openly staring at Declan’s police vehicle.

“Who’s that guy?” Declan asked with a frown.

Before she could answer, Allan came striding toward them. “Are you okay, Tess?” he asked, peering at her through the passenger window.

This time, Declan didn’t stop her when she pushed open her passenger side door. In fact, he climbed out of the vehicle, too, and came around to greet her neighbor.

“I’m fine, Allan,” she said, forcing a smile. “How are you doing today?”

He bobbed his head and glanced nervously over at Declan, who still wore his work uniform. “I’m fine, Tess, but why is there a police officer with you?”

“Hi, my name is Declan Shaw.” Greeting Allan causally, he stepped forward to shake the man’s hand. “I’m a friend of Tess’s.”

Tess wondered why Declan was using the friend routine instead of grilling Allan about where he was earlier that day. Allan Gray was a nice guy roughly about her age. As far as she knew he’d never been married, although he did have a full-time job working as a night-shift security guard for the local hospital. Today he was dressed in his usual baggy jeans and striped button-down shirt with a white T-shirt underneath. Allan was generally a nice guy, constantly offering to help Tess out, but she always felt as if she was walking a fine line around him. She wanted to be a nice friendly neighbor, but she also didn’t want to give Allan the impression she was interested in anything more than a platonic friendship. She couldn’t help thinking that he might not be emotionally stable, although he hadn’t done anything to truly make her uncomfortable.

“Allan, have you seen my brother, Bobby, today?” she asked in an effort to distract him from the fact that Declan had driven her home.

“Yes, I saw him this morning, Tess,” Allan said, always anxious to please. He bobbed his head again, a weird mannerism that tended to drive her a little crazy. “He left for school about fifteen minutes before you did.”

She tried to smile, even though the fact that Allan was clearly watching her way closer than she’d realized gave her the creeps. “But you haven’t seen him since then, right?”

“No, I haven’t seen him. Is there a problem, Tess?” Allan’s attention was centered on her, as if Declan weren’t standing right there beside her. “Do you need me to help you look for him?”

“There’s no problem at all,” Declan spoke up. “But thanks for your help, Allan. I’m glad you’re keeping an eye on things here. Have you seen anything out of the ordinary this morning?”

Allan frowned. “What do you mean?”

“You haven’t seen any strangers lurking around Tess’s house, have you?” Declan asked. “Or noticed any vehicles that don’t belong here?”

“Your vehicle doesn’t belong here,” Allan said in a blunt tone. “But other than that, no, I haven’t noticed anything unusual.”

“Okay, thanks. Here’s my card. You can call me day or night if you detect something strange.”

“I will.” Allan took Declan’s business card, looking a bit flustered. Tess knew Declan was trying to make a statement, basically warning Allan that he’d be nearby if anything happened. She only hoped Allan was savvy enough to understand Declan’s subtle message.

Their brief conversation was interrupted by the arrival of several SWAT vehicles. The way Allan’s jaw dropped in shock when he saw them made her grimace.

“What’s going on?” Allan asked anxiously.

“It’s nothing, really. They just want to go through my house to make sure it’s safe. Don’t worry, I’m sure they won’t find anything amiss.”

Declan walked over to meet with the other members of his team, leaving her with Allan. She tried not to compare the two, but Declan was so much taller and broader across the shoulders than Allan, it was difficult not to notice.

Not that she was interested in Declan on a personal level. He reminded her too much of her father, who had been the city mayor for almost twenty years. With her father, everything was about control and image. Serving the public was admirable, but the way her father used to yell, often made her wonder if he’d used her as a way to let off steam from the pressures of his job.

Her mother had never stood up to him, either.

She shook off the painful memories, focusing instead on Declan and his team, who’d entered her house.

“What are they looking for?” Allan asked.

She glanced at him in surprise. “Surely you’ve heard about the bomb that was discovered at the elementary school? I imagine it was all over the news.”

An odd expression filtered across his face, but then he nodded. “Oh, yes, it was. Terrible, just terrible.” Allan reached out to pat her arm awkwardly. “I’m glad you’re okay, Tess, that was a close call.”

A shiver of icy trepidation ran down her spine as she stared at her geeky neighbor. Close call? Did Allan know that her desk was the one where the bomb was planted? Declan had led her to believe that the details of the investigation would not be revealed to the press.

Had Allan been the guy she’d seen hanging around the parking lot? The man had seemed familiar but now that she was looking at Allan, she didn’t think so.

It could be that Allan was just making that statement because she’d been in the school, not because he knew that the bomb had been planted beneath her desk. Yet she couldn’t quite shake off the feeling of unease. Even though she knew it was highly unlikely that Allan had been involved, she was all too aware that she didn’t feel safe standing out here without Declan.

* * *

“First floor is clear,” Isaac said, meeting Declan in the kitchen.

“Agreed. Let’s split up between the basement and the second floor,” he directed.

“All right. Caleb and I will go down, leaving you and Nate to take the second level.”

Declan acknowledged the plan with a curt nod and headed upstairs. He automatically went to the left, leaving Nate to check the rooms on the right. There were three bedrooms and one office upstairs, and since Tess kept everything neat and orderly, it didn’t take them long to canvass the second level.

“Basement is clear!” Isaac shouted.

“Same goes for the second floor,” Nate added.

“Which just leaves the grounds,” Declan said. “Let’s sweep the yard, just to be sure.”

No one argued, and he suspected the bomb planted near the maple tree was fresh in their minds.

When Declan went out the front door, he noticed that Tess had made her way closer to the cluster of sheriff’s department vehicles parked in her driveway. Was it his imagination or was she trying to get away from Allan Gray?

He kept his gaze focused on doing his job, but as soon as the team had finished checking the yard, he hurried over to Tess. “Everything is fine,” he assured her.

“Good to know,” she said softly. “Can I go inside now?”

Declan nodded, unwilling to say too much in front of her weird neighbor.

“See you later, Allan,” Tess said, before turning away. Declan gave the guy a quick nod and then followed her inside.

“You can’t stay here, Tess,” he said the minute he’d shut the door behind him. “Just because we didn’t find a bomb doesn’t mean that you’ll be safe here.”

“You already said that, Declan,” she responded testily. “I just want to see if there’s any indication Bobby has been here since this morning, okay?”

Declan sensed he was skating on thin ice and tried to stay back, giving her plenty of room. Tess had been through a lot today, not to mention being worried about her missing brother. He knew better than to take her tense mood personally.

She disappeared upstairs and he stood in the living room, noticing how the side window gave a clear view of Allan’s house.

Did the guy watch Tess on a regular basis? Did he have a pair of binoculars that he used to spy on her? Declan couldn’t explain why he didn’t like him. After all, Gray hadn’t done anything overt, although he had admitted to watching Bobby and Tess leave earlier this morning.

Declan made a mental note to do a thorough background check on Allan Gray as soon as possible. Maybe he was overreacting, but it was clear to him that the guy was a bit obsessed with Tess.

But if the nosy neighbor was interested in Tess, why would he try to hurt her?

Declan didn’t have an answer to that question, but that didn’t mean the guy didn’t have something to hide, either. He glanced at his watch, realizing Tess had been upstairs for a long time. Despite promising himself he’d give her some space, he found himself taking the stairs two at a time, to get to the second floor.