by Jen Talty
She turned her head in the other direction, but there was no mistaking her tears. “You need to leave. It’s not safe.”
“I can’t leave.”
She pulled open her coat a little, showing off a harness laced with enough C4 to blow up the block.
“Well, that’s not good,” he said calmly as he pulled her trench coat over her shoulders. “Listen. My name is Cove. I’m a soldier with the Army. Specifically, I’m a combat engineer, and I deal with explosives all the time.” He pointed to Serenity, waving her over. “See the woman coming in our direction? She’s an FBI agent. We’re going to figure this out.”
“If I move, she said it would go off,” the woman said.
“Who?”
“I don’t know her name.”
“Okay, what’s your name?” Cove asked as he continued to remove what he could of the woman’s outer layer and checked out the device strapped to her body.
“Jessica,” she said with a shaky voice. “She told me if I stood up, it would go off. If I even shifted a little to the left or right, it would go off.”
“Did she say anything about a timer?” He stood and looked behind and under the bench, and then on the sides for the timer, since he couldn’t find one on her person.
“No,” Jessica said.
“Looks like you found it,” Serenity said, sitting on the bench and taking the woman’s hand. “Hi. I’m Serenity.”
“I’m Jessica.”
“So, Jessica, we’ve got a bomb tech on his way over here to help get you out of this contraption unharmed.”
“It will trigger if she moves or if we try to take the harness off her,” Cove said. “No timer.” He continued to examine the bomb, the connections, the C4, and all the contact points.
It wasn’t good at all. This fucker could take out an entire city block, easily.
“Well, at least we have time on our side,” Serenity said. “See that man over there suiting up into some funny-looking gear?”
“Yes,” Jessica said.
“He’s going to figure out how to make sure this bomb doesn’t go off at least until we can get you into a safe place,” Serenity said.
“Okay.” Jessica blinked out a few more tears.
“It’s going to be all right.” Cove sat down on the other side. “I’m not going to leave your side. I promise.”
That caught a sharp glare from Serenity. “I need to go talk to my people. I’ll be right back,” she said. “Cove, can I have a word?”
“I’m not going anywhere.” He patted Jessica’s hand. “Hang tight.” He stood and took the five steps required to be at Serenity’s side. “What?”
“You can’t sit with her. You might not be a civilian, but you have no business being here. My boss isn’t going to go for it. The NYPD isn’t going to allow it. I can’t risk your life.”
He laughed. “I risk my life every fucking day for you, for Jessica, and for this country. I’m not going to stop now. Go do what you have to, but you’re going to have to put a bullet in me to get me to leave that woman’s side.” Cove spun on his heels and double-timed it back to Jessica.
“She doesn’t look happy,” Jessica said.
“Well, whoever strapped this bomb to your body ruined our date.”
“She’s your girlfriend?”
“It was a first date. Actually, kind of a blind date. She’s friends with my sister. I haven’t seen her in since college. But I thought things were going well until this happened.”
“Sorry to have screwed it all up for you.” Jessica continued to remain still, not even raising her hand to her face as the wind kicked up, brushing a strand of her blond hair across her face.
If he had to guess, he’d say she was about forty-five based on the deep lines that had formed around the corners of her eyes and the few gray hairs that dotted her temples, but he could be wrong. It occasionally happened.
“It’s not your fault,” he said. “Are you married?”
“Fifteen years next week. My parents are coming into the city to take care of the kids so we can go on a cruise. We haven’t been on a vacation since I had the third kid two years ago.”
Cove took her hand just as the bomb tech approached. “We’re going to make sure you get that trip.”
“Hey, Jessica,” Serenity said. “This is Officer Hanson. He’s one of the best bomb diffusers New York City has to offer. Now, as protocol requires, Cove and I—”
“Speak for yourself,” Cove said.
Hanson went about his business, looking at all the wires, C4, and everything else associated with the barbaric contraption.
“I have faith in NYPD’s finest.” Cove arched a brow. It wasn’t that he was daring Serenity to stay put, because the reality was, he didn’t want her there, but he wouldn’t be a hypocrite. Her job might not be as dangerous as his, but it didn’t come without risk.
And the potential of life or death situations.
This was one of those times.
Serenity narrowed her eyes. If he wasn’t mistaken, she was mentally shooting daggers at him. He couldn’t blame her. If the tables were turned, he’d be doing the same thing.
Still, he wasn’t leaving Jessica’s side.
Not unless Hanson told him it was impossible.
Hopefully, the man was smart enough to figure out Cove didn’t have a death wish.
Serenity stood behind Cove, with her hands on his shoulders. “I have faith as well,” she said.
“I’m glad to hear it,” Hanson said. “I found the trip wire. I need to check a few more things, but the bomb is pretty basic. I’ll be able to diffuse the trigger, no problem.”
“See?” Cove patted Jessica’s hand. “Nothing to worry about.”
“I’ll stop freaking out once this shit is off my body and I’m home with my babies and husband.” Jessica held his gaze.
Cove didn’t blink. He didn’t bother to glance at what Hanson was doing. All he did was reach up with his free hand and take one of Serenity’s.
Five minutes ticked by while Hanson studied the bomb. It was the longest five minutes of Cove’s life, but it was worse for Jessica. He couldn’t imagine what emotions were swirling around in her heart and mind. He was trained to deal with this situation on a regular basis. Putting his life on the line was what he got paid to do. He didn’t think about it. He just did it.
So did Serenity, but in a different way.
People like Jessica shouldn’t have to think about it, much less live it.
“All right,” Hanson said. “Here’s the deal. The way this is wired, the moment the trigger lifts an eighth of an inch from the bench, the bomb goes off. But there’s a second trigger. So, I’m going to need help.”
“Just tell me what to do,” Cove said without hesitation.
“When I tell you to, place your hand on this mechanism.” Hanson pointed to a lever under Jessica’s thigh. “You’re going to need to put some weight on it.”
“I think I can manage that,” Cove said.
“Serenity?” Hanson asked.
She glanced over her shoulder and let out a puff of air. “I’m in hot water anyway. What do you want me to do?”
“I’ll need you to help me with the second switch and pull off the harness. We’ll need to keep holding the two pressure points after that while I diffuse the bomb. Once that is done. We can all breathe again.”
“Sounds like a plan.” Serenity moved to the other side of the bench.
Cove knelt in front of Jessica, his hand ready to put pressure on that lever.
“On three,” Hanson said. “One, two, three.”
Quickly, Cove slipped his fingers under Jessica’s leg and held the lever.
“Serenity, put your hand there,” Hanson said. “Cove, keep that steady.”
“You got it.” Cove glanced up. “We’re going to be okay,” he said softly.
Jessica had squeezed her eyes tight, and her chest didn’t move. She literally was holding her breath.
Co
ve couldn’t blame her. He’d probably do the same thing in her shoes.
“Okay. Serenity, you can take the bomb off Jessica and take her out of harm’s way. Cove, I need you to keep that pressure even until I can disarm this.”
“That’s what I’m doing.” Before Cove had been injured, he’d been in the best physical shape of his life. He was getting back to that place, but right now, his biceps trembled, and it took a great deal of concentration to do exactly what was necessary to keep everyone alive.
“Let’s get you out of here,” Serenity said, guiding Jessica across the street. “You two better diffuse that bomb because if it goes off, I’m going to kill you both.”
Cove laughed. “Today isn’t a good day to die.”
“Glad you agree.” Hanson flipped off his head gear.
“What the fuck are you doing, man?” Cove glared.
“Listen. I let you and Serenity stay here without protective gear with a bomb that, while not very sophisticated, could take out this entire block. That alone could get my sorry ass fired, and considering my boss thinks I’ve got a death wish—”
“You’re a bomb tech. Of course you like to dance with the devil.”
“That’s true.” Hanson chuckled. “So, I heard you’re a combat engineer for the Army.”
“And who told you that?”
“Thor knew I was taking this call and sent me a text. He said you can be a bit arrogant and that I should just roll with it and deal with the consequences later because you know our captain.”
“You work under Wilmont? You poor soul.” Cove’s father had gone to high school with Rick Wilmont, and to this day they played a friendly game of poker every week, and in the summer, they could be found on the golf course on a Saturday morning. Wilmont was a good man, and he allowed for bending of the rules, but he didn’t like it when lives were at stake.
And he wasn’t going to take too kindly to Cove risking his this way.
Nor would Cove’s family.
But no fucking way could Cove sit on the sidelines. Not when he’d been thrust in the middle of it.
“It could be worse.” Hanson fiddled with a few wires with his free hand. “You think you can handle both levers?”
“Sure can.” Cove slipped his hand over the metal plate. His ability to remain calm on the exterior, while his heart beat wildly out of control, had most believing he honestly had no regard for his own life.
Well, he did. He had no desire to die.
But that didn’t change the fact that he wouldn’t allow an innocent woman to be blown to pieces on his watch.
Or anyone’s watch for that matter.
He controlled his breathing, holding both arms steady while Hanson kept his focus on the wires. Hanson fingered the white wire, following through the harness and C4. He did the same with the blue and red wires.
“Cross your fingers I’m about to cut the right one,” Hanson said.
“I would, but that would trip the...”
Hanson snipped the wire, and both men froze for a few seconds. Cove’s heart pumped erratically until the light on the main trip blinked and then turned off.
Cove let the air escape his lungs, but he didn’t let up on the pressure. He counted to ten, just to make sure.
“Thanks for your help, man.” Hanson stood, stretching out his hand.
“My pleasure.”
The sound of heels clicking across the pavement caught Cove’s attention. He turned and watched as Serenity marched in his direction with Captain Wilmont on her right and a woman he didn’t recognize on her left.
“Looks like we’re about to get our asses chewed out,” Hanson said.
Cove was used to being lectured by his superiors, just not ones he was hoping to take to bed.
Serenity stood next to the ambulance with her arms folded across her middle. She couldn’t believe she let Cove stay behind.
Not that he was going to listen to her unless she drew her weapon, which she’d considered.
But she also trusted Hanson, and with no one else suited up, Cove was it.
“Thank you,” Jessica said with a slight quiver to her voice.
“What can you tell me about the woman who did this to you?”
“Not much,” Jessica said. “I was coming out of Central Park when this woman approached me asking for directions to some restaurant I’d never heard of. When I turned to leave, she put a gun in my back.”
“What did she look like?”
“She had long white hair. Stunningly white hair. I have to admit I was focused on how long, thick, and white it was. But she also wore big designer glasses. They were Maui Jims. I know because I bought a similar pair of knockoffs a few months ago. No way could I afford the real deal.”
“What else can you tell me?” Serenity had to admit she was impressed with Jessica’s composure, but she could tell by the slight tremble in the woman’s voice that she was on the verge of losing it at any moment. “Like how tall was she? Was she thin or heavyset? How old?”
“No idea her age. But she was maybe five eight and with an athletic build. She wore black leggings and a black running shirt with a black hat, but her hair was down. She had a thick Bronx accent.”
“That’s helpful,” Serenity said. “Did she say she’d be sticking around to watch?”
“No. All she said was that if I moved, the bomb would go off. She told me that if I was lucky, a woman, I take it that’s you, would be by, but she doubted you’d be able to save me. She didn’t say anything about tall, dark, and dreamy with the dark sunglasses.”
Serenity bit back a smile. That was about the best physical description anyone could come up with for Cove. “I’m not sure she anticipated him.”
“You’re a lucky woman, and I don’t just mean that because he’s sexy as hell. He seems like a real stand-up guy.”
“He’s one of the best.” Serenity placed her hand on Jessica’s forearm. “You’re going to be asked a lot of questions, by a lot of people. Don’t sweat it. We just want to catch this asshole.”
“You and me both,” Jessica said. “I’ve never been so scared in my life.”
Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Rachel Pickett heading in her direction.
Fuck. Not good when your boss shows up in the middle of a crisis, especially when she’d been smack-dab in the middle of a crap situation a few months ago. What happened hadn’t been her fault. Not even close.
But innocent people died in part because of Serenity’s actions.
Her boss didn’t blame her, but because she’d taken action outside of the normal FBI protocol, she was in some serious hot water.
“I’ll let the paramedics get back to checking you out. We’ll talk soon.”
“Thanks for everything,” Jessica said.
“My pleasure.” Serenity took ten steps in the opposite direction. She didn’t want Jessica hearing a conversation with her boss since it might not go well.
“What the fuck is going on?” Rachel asked. “Who the hell is that man with Hanson?”
“He’s an Army combat engineer,” Serenity said. “He happened to be in the area, and the bomb has two pressure levers that needed—”
“You just better hope he doesn’t die.”
Serenity sucked in a deep breath and let it out slowly. Rachel ran a tight ship. While the world would like to believe they treated women in power the same way they treated men, that wasn’t the case inside the Bureau. But that wasn’t the entire reason she was such a hard-ass. Her father happened to be the deputy assistant director of the FBI and considering Rachel was only thirty and in charge of one of the biggest field offices in the country, everyone figured she was given the assignment based on who her daddy was.
That wasn’t true, and Serenity knew it, but that didn’t stop people from talking, or treating Rachel as if she were the enemy.
“He’s the one who figured out where the bomb was,” Serenity said. “To be honest, I was focused on the bank and what happened when Nimitz
fucked up the hostage negotiation. There was no bomb, per se in that case. Just C4 used to blow up the vault, so I wouldn’t have thought to look across the street.”
“You just made him a suspect in my mind,” Rachel said, though her tone indicated a bit of tongue in cheek in her response. “How do you know him?”
“We grew up in the same neighborhood. We were out to dinner when I got the fake bomb with the note, which was meant to throw me off. Had he not tried to diffuse that one, our hostage would have been blown to bits before we got here.”
“Still not helping him look innocent. Should I be hauling him to our office for interrogation?”
“If he were behind the bombs, he wouldn’t be helping diffuse them,” Serenity said.
“Unless he was trying to impress his date?”
“Trust me. Spend five minutes with him. He doesn’t have to do anything other than smile to impress anyone.” Serenity clutched her necklace while she watched Hanson lift the wire cutters. “Here comes Captain Wilmont; he will vouch for him.”
“I’ll do what?” Outside of work, Wilmont would give Serenity a kiss on the cheek, but not on the job. He stretched out his arm and gave her a firm handshake.
“She says you’ll be okay with that moron helping out Hanson.” Rachel pointed toward Cove.
“Shit,” Wilmont said with a long breath. “Well, he likes to play with things that go boom.”
“So, you don’t care that your man—”
Wilmont interrupted Rachel. “Don’t mistake my sarcasm for being okay with the situation. That said, Cove is very good at what he does. He’d be an asset to any team.”
“Perhaps. But if this goes south, and he dies, we’re all fucked,” Rachel said.
Hanson set the bomb and harness on the bench while Cove stood and stretched out his arms.
“Let’s go.” Rachel took off across the street.
Serenity practically had to run to keep up. She could understand better than most Rachel’s need to be taken seriously in her job and not to be seen as just daddy’s little girl who climbed the ladder on her father’s coattails. That was the biggest reason Serenity refused to go to West Point or join the military. Thankfully, her parents understood, especially her father. He’d seen firsthand what women had to endure. It didn’t matter that most welcomed females into all aspects of military life; there was always the one asshole.
