Page 6 of Ghost

The easy expression I used to keep everyone around me from borrowing trouble disappeared. My focus narrowed to the field, the displaced cases, and the trailer sitting beyond the damaged rack. Tamsin noticed the change before I uttered a word, angling her face toward mine as the anger in her eyes receded beneath understanding.

“This was planned,” I explained.

For a second, relief softened the tight line of her mouth. The guilt she’d been carrying since the rack moved eased just enough for me to see how heavily it had been sitting on her, but the reprieve didn’t last. Her gaze shifted past me toward the meadow, where parents held children and brothers moved families behind the farther perimeter, and the color drained from her face again. An equipment failure could destroy Bellamy Pyrotechnics. Deliberate sabotage meant someone had knowingly aimed that danger at hundreds of people.

“Someone used our equipment to do this.”

I turned her slightly toward me, keeping my hand firm at the small of her back. Her body came willingly beneath my palm, though her attention remained fixed on the field. I waited until she looked at me before correcting the blame she was heaping on herself.

“Someone used access to your equipment.”

Her eyes lifted to mine, searching my face as if the distinction mattered more because I had made it. I wanted to replace the fear hollowing her expression with something hotter and easier to handle. But that would have to wait until I’d cleared every inch of this field and found the person who had turned her work into a weapon.

I angled the diagram so Stryker could see the right-side battery without taking my attention off the staging area.

“Rack didn’t fail on its own. Somebody altered the support so the recoil would turn the tubes toward the meadow, bridged the firing sequence, and defeated the shutdown long enough to keep that second fuse alive.” I tipped my chin toward the trailer. “Then they planted a secondary device beside enough stock to turn this whole field into a crater.”

Stryker’s gaze followed mine, his jaw hardening as he took in the distance between the trailer and the nearest families still being pushed back. Tamsin’s shoulder pressed more firmly into my side, and I felt the exact moment she understood that the damaged rack had only been the opening move. Her breath shortened, but she stayed focused on the equipment instead of letting fear drag her under.

“Whoever set it knew Bellamy’s layout, knew the cue sequence, and how the crew would respond when the rack turned,” I continued. “Also exactly when the crowd would be largest. That wasn’t some asshole improvising after they got here.”

“Purpose?” Stryker asked.

“First launch forces an evacuation and drags every eye toward the meadow. Away from very expensive equipment. Could be the whole objective, or it could be cover for something else. Anyone who knew enough to build this failure may have left another surprise in the staging area.”

Stryker didn't waste time asking for certainty. The safety of every person there wasn’t something we would ever risk. He keyed his comm and ordered the remaining spectators cleared beyond the northern access road, then directed our guys to expand the equipment perimeter and hold every Bellamy employee outside it.

The response moved through the grounds immediately, black cuts and dark shirts shifting between families, vehicles, and the launch field with practiced purpose. Whoever had planned this had counted on confused mayhem. They’d seriously underestimated the Black Crowns. We’d quickly controlled the chaos.

Devastation sat plainly in the set of Tamsin’s mouth and the darkening of her eyes, but she kept her shoulders squared. Her family’s name was printed across the equipment, and she was being forced to see each familiar piece as a place someone might have hidden another threat.

“Some of that stuff has been part of my family’s company longer than I’ve been alive.”

I drew her a little closer with the hand at her back. Her body settled against my side, and I kept my voice low enough that the reassurance belonged only to her. “Then you’re the best person here to tell me what doesn’t belong.”

Her breath caught, and she looked up at me again. The fear remained, but so did the stubborn intelligence that had kept her giving orders with a live shell hissing in front of her. I held her gaze long enough to make sure she understood that I wasn’t sending her away from her own work.

Surprise danced across her face, then her eyes softened just a little, and the corners of her mouth turned up. “Thanks.”

I nodded, then turned toward the field while keeping her tucked safely against my side.

Stryker finished issuing orders and lowered his hand from his comm. “This is ours. Somebody brought explosives into our territory and aimed them at our people. We find every motherfucker involved.”

Brothers peeled away to lock down the fundraiser grounds, check vehicles and access routes, and pull footage from the compound gates, event cameras, and roads leading toward the canyon. Others headed for Bellamy Pyrotechnics’ warehouse and the remaining company properties. At the same time, prospects gathered names from employees, vendors, drivers, and anyone else with legitimate access to the equipment or the schedule.

Tamsin shifted beside me when one of her crew approached the inner line with a frightened question. She told him to stay with the other employees and make sure no one touched anything until she said otherwise. The man hesitated and looked at me for confirmation, his attention caught between the woman who ran his field crew and the EOD specialist who had just found a second device.

I kept my palm at Tamsin’s back and held his gaze until he understood exactly where it belonged. “Not my call. You heard her.”

The employee turned back to Tamsin, nodded, and hurried to carry out her instructions. Her eyes flicked up to mine, surprise and gratitude softening their vivid blue before she returned her attention to the field. Pride moved through me with enough force to feel ridiculous after knowing her less than two hours.

Stryker watched the exchange before turning and giving his full attention to Tamsin. “How many people knew the final layout?”

She drew a slow breath and mentally worked through the answer before speaking. “Everyone on tonight’s field crew saw parts of it, but only supervisors had the complete plan before setup. The venue schedule went to our office, the event coordinator, and your security team. Warehouse staff knew what was loaded, and the drivers knew when it left.”

Stryker gave one short nod, filing the weakness away. “Sweep the warehouse before anyone goes back inside.”

“On it.”