Page 28 of Fatal Mistake
“Don’t even think about going after him, Riggins.” A deeper authoritative voice came over the speaker. “I don’t need a dead hero. I need a living operator.”
“Max?” Tara asked Brynn.
She gave a clipped nod.
Tara stepped back until she could no longer see the screen. If the team leader didn’t want Cal to go after Oren, she didn’t want to see if Cal disobeyed and tried to apprehend Oren like she thought he would do. Gunfire sounded from the speakers again.
“Riggins!” Max yelled.
Even across the space she heard Cal’s heavy breathing and the continued gunshots. So he’d gone after Oren. A crazy thing to do, but not surprising in the least.
The monitor beckoned Tara, and yet she couldn’t make her feet move. She wanted to see the action but couldn’t bear to witness Cal being gunned down.
The gunfire escalated in quick bursts like a packet of firecrackers ignited at the same time. It could be the team laying down cover as Cal had described them doing earlier, or Oren firing at Cal. Above it all, she heard a rustle sounding like static.
“Stand down,” Cal called out, and the gunfire stopped.
The scratching sound grew louder, but she had no idea the origin of the noise. She couldn’t stand back any longer. She approached the monitor where a tree trunk, branches, and leaves holding the distinct shape of a maple leaf slipped past. Cal was climbing a tree. Likely headed for the shooter. For Oren.
Could the standoff be over? Yes! Her heart soared.
His movement stopped, and Tara’s breath caught. A gun that looked like the one Cal carried flashed past the camera and the focus of the lens moved up to a man’s feet in scraggly once-white sneakers perched on a branch.
“Freeze, Keeler,” Cal shouted.
“What the…” a male responded, the words muffled and barely recognizable.
“Hand down your rifle, butt first,” Cal commanded. “Nice and easy.”
A rifle stock slowly lowered in front of the camera.
“We’re secure,” Cal announced. “Keeler’s ours.”
A loud cheer went up.
Tara exhaled loudly, and she noted Brynn did the same thing.
“So,” Cal said. “You’re going to back yourself down the tree. You can manage that, right?”
“Yeah, I got myself up here.” The other man’s voice came through loud and clear now. “I can get down.”
“No, oh, no.” Tara took a step back, her gaze going to Brynn. “The voice. It’s wrong. You’ve got the wrong guy. Tell Cal. This man. The one he captured. It’s not Oren. So totally not Oren.”
Chapter 10
Cal punched his fist into the side of County’s command truck that they'd moved to the crime scene. He’d probably startled Brynn and Tara inside, but he didn’t care. He’d failed to arrest Keeler again, and Tara had gotten banged up.
Double fail. Triple fail if you counted his plan to have Tara safely in D.C. by now, not sitting in this truck in the Oregon boonies while he worked another bomb scene.
He looked at Tara’s pickup, now a mangled twist of metal with debris littering the road. Tara had almost lost her life, and it was all his fault.
How had he agreed to let her spend the night in the tower? Hadn’t he learned anything from losing countless women to Keeler’s bombs?
He should have forced Tara to leave the tower last night, even if he had to carry her out. But he’d let her get to him, and he’d acquiesced to her desire to make her own decision. That wouldn’t happen again. Not even if she thought him controlling and demanding.
He raised his fist again, but a redheaded deputy stepped from the command truck and fixed his focus on Cal.
Great, just what Cal needed. A pimple-faced, wet-behind-the-ears deputy giving him the stink eye. At least Max wasn’t here with a ready lecture about Cal climbing the tree.
