Page 99 of Fatal Mistake
“Get me a good look at the device,” he said to Frankie, who sat at the screen ready to move Anne Droid into range.
Once Sparky and Randall had cleared the area, the robot whirred down the street. At the mailbox, Frankie snapped an x-ray revealing a rudimentary bomb controlled with a remote timing device.
“Not much of a bomb,” Frankie said. “Would’ve destroyed the mailboxes and injured anyone standing nearby, but nothing catastrophic.”
“Pretty much a noisemaker is all,” Cal agreed. “Makes me wonder if there’s another device, too.”
Cal grabbed the Faraday bag holding Meer’s phone and slid his hands inside to check phone numbers programmed into the contacts app. He found three phone numbers, but they had no names attached. He checked the call and text history and didn’t see any outgoing calls or texts. Didn’t mean Meer hadn’t made calls on this phone. She could have deleted the history, but he thought it reason enough to believe that there could be three devices hidden in the area.
Cal grabbed a marker, jotted the numbers on the whiteboard, and turned on his phone to call Kaci for help. As he dialed, he noted five missed calls all from the same number, but he needed to text the numbers to Kaci before finding out who’d been trying to reach him.
I need owner information for three phone numbers, he tapped into his phone, then added the phone numbers.
I’ll get them to you ASAP came her reply.
Cal stowed his phone and turned to Frankie. “Has the containment truck arrived?”
“Boy, has it.” Frankie grinned. “You feds get all of the cool toys.”
Cal had to agree. “I know we’d normally detonate a puny device like this right here on scene, but the parts used in constructing this one could help in our investigation. So I want you to move it to the containment truck instead. I’ll step out to arrange that with the team, and we’ll get Sparky on the hunt again.”
Cal hopped down from the truck and caught sight of Max and Rick arriving at the barricade. They marched forward with a purpose Cal recognized in himself…and all of his teammates, for that matter.
Cal informed the containment truck driver of the plan before heading back to the command truck. “We’re good to go, Frankie.”
“On it.” Frankie maneuvered the bot forward, and with no errors or even hesitation, he soon had Anne Droid rolling and the package placed in the containment truck.
Cal clapped Frankie on the back. “You must be hard to beat in video games.”
He grinned up at Cal. “No one will play with me anymore, so I don’t know.”
Cal dug out his business card and handed it to the guy. “Call me next time you need a run for your money. I’d be glad to take you on.”
“Hey, thanks, man.” A big, goofy grin crossed his face.
Cal turned his attention to his radio to put Randall and Sparky back in action.
“A minute of your time,” Max called out from the open door.
“I’ll be right back,” Cal told Frankie, before jumping down from the truck and joining Rick and Max.
Cal assumed Max wanted an update, so Cal obliged without being asked. “We’re mopping things up here and—”
Max held up his hand. “It’s time we turn this over to the locals.”
“What? Why? After we get these bombs contained and transported, I’ll give them a good look, and they could give us something to go on.”
“That’s not happening.”
Cal had shown great patience in waiting to tear apart the necklace bomb, in hopes of finding a way to locate Keeler, but he’d held back to clear the area. Now Max wanted him to stand down? No way.
“It’s our best lead right now,” Cal argued.
A low growl of frustration sounded from Max’s throat. He was normally a serious man, but right now his intensity was off the charts. “Your attention is needed elsewhere.”
Cal glanced at Rick and saw something unsettling in his eyes, and if Rick looked unsettled, they had a problem. A big problem.
Cal sucked in a breath. “What’s going on?”
