Conard County Revenge by Rachel Lee

Author:Rachel Lee [Lee, Rachel]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 2017-12-08T17:45:41+00:00

Chapter 9

Jack’s excitement buoyed him over the next twenty miles of back roads, some unpaved. He figured he was keeping a safe distance, and when he could he turned off his headlights. Unfortunately, the night was moonless and he couldn’t travel very far that way.

But these roads led to a few ranches, so whomever he was following could easily assume he was headed to one of them.

Then he saw the truck turn into a driveway toward a ramshackle ranch. Figuring to be smart, Jack kept on driving. Who was it who owned that place? He couldn’t remember but felt he should.

Farther down, he pulled over behind some brush, then backtracked on foot, keeping a quiet, slow pace. He knew this place, vaguely. Some old guy who lived alone. So old and sick he hardly seemed likely to be a bomber. But Jack wasn’t prepared to give up yet. Each one he eliminated was one less to worry about.

When he reached the end of the drive, he could faintly pick out the truck parked beside the house. The guy was still there.

Deciding to stick to the edge of the drive, his figure blending in with the sage that had piled up in the ditches to either side, Jack headed toward the house.

Then his head exploded and everything went dark.

* * *

After a little more than an hour, the fire was out and smoldering ruins were all that could be seen under the floodlights. Darcy walked over to join the firefighters and connected with Wade and Charity. “What do you think?”

“Bigger bomb,” said Charity. “And plenty left inside the building to burn. If we hadn’t felt the concussion, I doubt there’d be much left of anything. Anyway, it’s too hot to walk yet, so hold your horses.”

“Fumes?”

“Your electronic sniffer is as good as mine.”

Taking the hint, Darcy went back to get her unit from the truck. Charity was probably exhausted from fighting the fire in over fifty pounds of turnout gear and needed a breather.

She carried the case back with her to the edge of the burned area and brought out the detector. Turning it on, she began to sweep the sensor around. At first it looked like an ordinary fire, but then other things began to show up. Cadmium. Heavy metals. Jeez, this plant hadn’t been cleaned up very well.

Then she got what she was looking for. “ANFO,” she said. The signature for ammonium hydroxide grew stronger in certain directions, and she was sure that it would get even stronger as she was able to approach the building.

So the bomber hadn’t tried a different type of bomb. He’d just built a bigger bomb and tried it on an empty building.

As she stood there, waiting to be able to move in and examine the blast area, she felt her stomach sink sickeningly.

This was just the beginning. This guy had no intention of stopping.

* * *

When Jack came to, his head throbbed as if a jackhammer worked on it. The room he was in was mostly dark so he couldn’t tell its size.

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