Page 96 of Fatal Mistake
When the movement changed, he released the switch on the drill before he did irreparable damage. The seam on the right side of the device suddenly released and the front popped open.
No! his mind shouted, and he cringed, preparing himself for the blast impact.
Nothing.
Silence. No explosion. No concussive wave.
He studied the device now hanging open.
“Can you take it off now?” Hadil begged.
Could he? Either he’d gotten very lucky and the device failed or this was a dummy device. But why would Keeler plant a dummy?
Had he meant this as a distraction? If so, he could have exploded the bomb to get the same effect. Cal would think this was a ploy to take him away from Tara, but again, why not blow up the bomb? That was guaranteed to bring him to the scene, too.
Why a hoax?
Unless it wasn’t a hoax. Perhaps there was a second bomb like in Oregon. One meant to take them all out once they’d let their guard down. Perhaps someone else who was helping Keeler had gone rogue and wanted to do more than kill one woman at a time, or maybe Keeler was escalating and wanted to take more lives, too.
“Is it over?” she asked more insistently now.
“Hold tight.” He flipped up the tent and stepped out. He raised his face shield and searched the room for anything suspicious but didn’t find any trip wire or other devices.
He lifted the tent flap again. “Did the man who put the bomb on you do anything but strap on the device while he was here?”
“No. He barged in with his gun and forced me to sit. He had a woman with him. She held the gun to my head while he put this thing on me. He programmed my phone and put it in my hand, then warned me not to move. Then they both walked out the door.”
Cal found this incident very odd, but he had the opportunity to separate Hadil from the bomb, and he wouldn’t miss the chance. He eased the collar from her neck and carefully set it on the empty chair. He took her arm and escorted her out of the house.
Hadil started crying and she sagged against his hand. “Thank you. Thank you.”
Cal nodded but didn’t say anything. They weren’t out of the woods yet.
Which is why the officers stood stoically by, their gazes rapt and searching the area. Until Cal proved the bomb was a dummy and gave the orders to stand down, they had to believe an unexploded bomb sat in the house, leaving them in a dangerous situation, and they were trained to act accordingly.
With each step, Hadil faltered more and more. If Cal wanted to get her to the medics without carrying her, he needed to redirect her thoughts.
He dug a picture of Keeler from the suit pocket and displayed it. “Is this the man who put the bomb on you?”
She nodded.
“Do you know him or have you ever seen him before today?”
She shook her head hard as if it felt good to move. “Should I know him?”
“Probably not,” he said as they reached the perimeter. “But take some time to think about him. He might have been in the periphery of your life. Maybe following you.”
She shot him a terrified look.
“Don’t worry, we’ll make sure you’re safe, and he’s not going to get anywhere near you again.” He gave her a comforting smile and kept her moving forward. At the ambulance, he handed her off to a medic and smiled. “I’ll check back later to see if you remembered anything.”
He turned and lumbered over to the sergeant.
Cal studied the area, his training warning him to pay attention to even the tiniest detail. “Something’s not right here.”
“Like what?”
“My gut says there’s another device. To be safe I want everyone to fall back to the outer perimeter.”
