Page 76 of Fatal Mistake
When he stopped at the road, she laid a hand on his arm. “Now would be a good time to remember what you keep telling me. You didn’t set this bomb. Oren did, and you can’t take responsibility for it.”
“Yeah.” He cranked the wheel, her hand falling off before he gunned the car onto the road. “It’s a good idea in theory, but after all I’ve seen…all I’ve done…it doesn’t work for me.”
“Maybe talking to me about it would help.”
He shook his head. “Been there, done that.”
“But not with me.”
He shot her a quick look and then stared ahead at the road. She waited for him to speak. One minute. Two. Three minutes passed in silence.
He’d opened up with her a few times, but he had always held something back, giving her insight into his inner being only in dribs and drabs. But now? Now he’d closed down tight and had no intention of volunteering any information and letting her into his life.
Good. Just what she needed to happen.
If she was honest about her feelings, she’d been subconsciously thinking about a possible relationship with him once Oren was behind bars. Thankfully, Cal’s stubbornness, that part of him that he refused to share because he needed to be in control all the time, that part of him put an end to any hope of a relationship before she foolishly fell for him.
* * *
Dressed from her shower, Tara pulled back her hair into a ponytail and checked her appearance in the mirror one last time. Fortunately, Cal had arranged for the team to come to the safe house again instead of her and Cal having to go back into the city. If another life hadn’t been lost, if Cal hadn’t refused to open up to her, Tara would be grinning over his need to shower off the barn odor.
She stepped into the hallway, and at hearing Cal’s raised voice, she stopped to listen before walking into what sounded like a heated conversation.
“You don’t know that, Max,” Cal stated. “The bomb could be a trap. Keeler has to know we’ll hop a plane to Oregon and take Tara with us or leave her here unprotected. Either way, he could have a plan in place to harm her, and we can’t ensure her safety.” He paused for a moment. “And before you suggest it, I won’t take her to Oregon. There’s no way she needs to see the carnage at the fire tower.”
“We’ll compromise and split up the team,” Max said.
“What?” Rick’s voice boomed down the hallway. “We’ve never done that on a callout.”
“There’s a first time for everything,” Max answered. “I’ll go to Oregon with Cal and Brynn. The rest of you will remain here to continue working the leads.”
“I’d rather not go,” Cal said.
“Not negotiable,” Max replied. “We need our explosives expert on site.”
Cal didn’t respond, and Tara wished he’d fought harder to stay with her, but she fully understood that his skills were needed at the bomb scene.
“Kaci,” Max continued. “I want you to sit on your team until they find actionable information about the woman whose home Tara mapped yesterday. And you don’t look up from your computer until you’ve got something on the e-mail addresses Cal found.”
“Roger that,” Kaci said.
“Shane, since Brynn has confirmed Tannerite fueled the truck explosion, you need to step up your game to find Keeler’s source so when we hit Oregon soil we can run it to ground. And Rick, get back on the stakeout of Sarra Yasin, and for Pete’s sake, get me something we can use.”
“Can’t do that unless she shows up at her house,” Rick said. “I checked with our guy on her detail, and she’s still AWOL.”
Tara assumed Sarra Yasin was the woman connected with ISIS who was caught on film near the Dallas bomb site. If what Rick said was true, she hadn’t come home since the team had staked her place out.
“Then spend the time as you wait going back through the information we’ve gathered on Yasin. We have to figure out why Keeler would work with a Muslim woman at the same time as killing others.”
“His e-mail we read a few hours ago says he’s targeting women who turned their back on their faith,” Cal said. “Have you looked into Yasin’s faith?”
“Sure,” Rick said. “But maybe there’s something there. I’ll dig deeper.”
“Good,” Max said. “Then each of you have your assignment.”
“What about Tara?” Cal asked. “I won’t leave her here with just anyone.”
“I wouldn’t expect you to. Kaci and Shane, with your work predominately on the Internet and phone, you can work from here, right?”
