Explosive Alliance

by Susan Sleeman

  She took a good look at the room. At furniture turned over. At a vase shattered in a million pieces. The pool of blood.

  Panic threatened to take her down.

  Cash knelt by her side, placed a comforting hand on her shoulder.

  She peered at him. “There was a struggle. Do you think...?” Unable to put voice to her concern, she let her words fall off.

  “This was the work of the bomber and he took Opa?” Cash finished for her, his eyes somber and tortured. “Yes, that’s exactly what I think.”

  * * *

  Cash paced the floor in the firehouse family room, waiting for Skyler to arrive with evidence from Erwin’s house. Krista sat on the edge of the sofa, the knees of her khaki pants caked with dried blood. She kept running her hands over the bloodstains and staring at her hands.

  The front door opened and team members poured inside but no Skyler. Brady dropped onto the sofa next to Krista, his hands going for his pocketknife to whittle. Archer took one of the recliners, Jake the other.

  Darcie sat next to Krista and held her hand. “I checked with the hospital. Erwin has a concussion, but he’s awake and he’s going to be fine.”

  “Thank You, God,” Krista exclaimed.

  Cash settled on the arm of the sofa. “Has anyone taken Erwin’s statement?”

  Jake shook his head. “He’s still confused and putting things together. It might be some time before we get the details.”

  “I’m glad Erwin will be okay.” Krista freed her hand and threaded her fingers together. “I couldn’t stand the thought of someone getting hurt because of me.”

  “You’re assuming this is due to the bombing,” Archer said.

  Krista shot him a look. “What else could it be?”

  “A random home invasion.”

  “Odds are if it was a home invasion, they wouldn’t have taken Otto,” Cash argued. “Plus, there were valuables left behind.”

  “It’s a waste of time speculating when we don’t have the facts,” Jake said. “Let’s wait for Skyler’s evaluation.”

  Everyone fell silent and tension mounted in the room. Cash wished he could do something to reduce it, but his go-to stress reliever was a joke, and he couldn’t possibly joke with Otto missing.

  Krista sat forward on the sofa, letting her focus travel around the group. Jake met her gaze, but Brady and Archer looked away from her.

  “I suppose we should get the elephant in the room out of the way,” she said. “I didn’t murder my husband, no matter what the police and press claim.”

  A soft gasp escaped from Darcie’s mouth, but Krista ignored it and launched into an explanation of Toby’s death. Darcie appeared to buy Krista’s story, but Cash’s other teammates seemed skeptical. As they should be. As Cash should be, but he honestly believed in Krista. Something in his gut said she was the real deal and he hated seeing the doubt in his friends’ eyes.

  “I had nothing to do with Toby’s fraud scheme or the money,” Krista concluded and sat back.

  Seeing questions lingering on Brady’s face, Cash had to intervene before Brady could fire off one of his pointed questions.

  “Krista’s past isn’t related to our bombing incident at all,” Cash stated. “There’s no point in discussing it further. Instead, we should focus on the bombing.”

  “And please know.” Krista paused and smiled, but it was forced. “When Skyler’s team finishes talking to the people with access to the stadium, you’ll see that I have no connection to the bomber, either.”

  “Not true.” Skyler stepped into the room and all heads turned in her direction. She held a plastic bag containing a cell phone and piece of paper. “You have a connection now. We found this phone and note under Erwin’s body.”

  Cash couldn’t abide her keeping them in dark like this. He grabbed the bag and flipped it over to get a good look at big bold letters on white paper.

  “What does it say?” Krista asked, her face a mass of worry.

  “He says—” Cash adjusted the note so he could see the entire page “—‘I’ll call tomorrow at 10:00 a.m. to arrange a trade. The item that belongs to me for your grandfather. Don’t miss my call or the old man dies.’”

  NINETEEN

  “I don’t have anything,” Krista said, hoping to stop the FRS team from gawking at her. “If I did, I’d be pulling it out to save Opa. You have to believe that.”

  “She’s right, you know.” Cash returned to the arm of the sofa. “You have to agree that Krista wouldn’t do anything to hurt Otto, right?”

  The others nodded.

  “Then there’s no other choice but for us to believe she doesn’t possess what the bomber is looking for. Otherwise, she’d hand it over right now.”

  “Another option is that it’s not something she’s aware of possessing,” Skyler added.

  “Maybe he means the detonator,” Brady offered.

  Skyler shook her head. “That’s not worth abducting Otto to reclaim. We didn’t lift any prints from it and there’s no actual link to the bomb.”

  “At least this request confirms our theory that he’s been looking for something,” Cash offered.

  “If I can’t provide what he wants, he’ll...” Krista couldn’t say the words aloud.

  “Why don’t we grab some dinner?” Darcie suggested. “We’ve all had a long day and we’ll think more clearly after something to eat.”

  She received mumbled agreements, but Krista’s stomach was too upset to eat.

  “It’s my night to cook.” Skyler stood. “If anyone wants to help, we could bang it out faster.”

  “I will.” Krista jumped to her feet. “It’ll keep my mind off Opa.”

  After a clipped nod, Skyler headed for the kitchen. She set a recipe for garlic lemon chicken with green beans and red potatoes on the counter. “If you could slice the lemons, I’ll start on the potatoes.” She put out a cutting board and retrieved the lemons and vegetables.

  Krista took a knife from the block and started slicing while Skyler peeled potatoes.

  “I owe you an apology.” Skyler paused, her peeler in midair, as if she was thinking about how to continue.

  Krista looked at her. “For what?”

  “One of our new forensic techs told the press about the detonator.” She met Krista’s gaze head-on. “Rookies sometimes make mistakes. I assure you it won’t happen again.”

  “I appreciate the apology, but the damage is done. Just like before.”

  “Before?”

  “When Toby died, one of the detectives shared all the details—including his own speculations—with the press. He made it seem like there was no doubt that I had killed Toby, even when they had no proof.” Krista shook her head and went back to slicing, the tart lemon scenting the air.

  “I suspect if he keeps that up, he won’t be a detective for long.”

  Krista glanced at Skyler. “So it’s not standard practice to leak details to make someone look guilty and make their life a living nightmare?”

  “I don’t see what purpose that would serve in the investigation. Certainly wouldn’t help move it forward.”

  “I think he did it because he couldn’t prove my guilt. He wanted me tried in the media to wear me down and make me confess.”

  Skyler’s eyes narrowed as she seemed to think about it. “I suppose that could happen. Not something I’d condone, though. And it didn’t work, did it?”

  Krista shook her head. “I wouldn’t confess to something I didn’t do.”

  Skyler gave a quick nod and went back to her work. Maybe she was starting to believe in Krista’s innocence. Maybe she’d always believed it and was just doing her job by keeping Krista on the suspect list. Krista would like to think so as she was starting to like Skyler.

  They fin
ished dinner prep in a comfortable silence. When they returned to the family room, the others looked up expectantly. Perhaps they thought Skyler had wormed some information out of Krista in the kitchen.

  “Dinner’s in an hour.” Skyler sat and took out her phone.

  Krista started to sit, too, but everyone continued to stare at her. The same way people had gaped at her when Toby’s death filled the news. In stores. At work. In the neighborhood. Everyone, everywhere, their eyes filled with suspicion and blame. Everyone except Opa.

  Opa, oh, Opa, where are you?

  The walls felt as if they were closing in. She couldn’t breathe. Think. She needed time alone. She spotted her raincoat on a hook and knew what would help relieve her stress. She crossed over to Cash. “Would it be okay if I stepped outside for a minute?”

  “Sure,” he said. “Let me turn on the garden light.”

  The light illuminated the steady rain soaking the patio. She grabbed her coat and slipped it on.

  Cash opened the door for her. “I wouldn’t mind the fresh air, too.”

  “I need to be alone.”

  He stepped back but caught her hand and squeezed it. “We’ll figure this out and get Otto back. I promise.”

  “How can you promise that? No one can.”

  “You’re right. I can only promise that I’ll do everything within my power to get him back safely.”

  “Thank you.” She smiled. “I could never have survived all of this without you.” She stepped outside and the rain immediately wet her face. She tugged up her hood and stared over the garden. Wind whistled through tall ornamental grasses. Dark shadows clung to huge boulders holding back the earth in tiers.

  She thought of Opa. Wondered where he was. If he was hurt. Hungry. Cold. She’d brought danger to his doorstep. Put his life on the line.

  A sob tore from her throat. She swallowed it down as tears stung her eyes and blurred her vision.

  She dug through her pockets for a tissue. She felt something hard. Something that had fallen through a hole between the pocket and lining of her coat. She worked the lining with her fingers until she freed the item.

  Made of white plastic, it was the size of a credit card but thicker with a small raised section. She manipulated the compartment that seemed as if it should open, but it didn’t budge. She’d never seen anything like it and had no idea how it ended up in her coat. Didn’t belong to her, of that she was certain.

  Maybe someone at school dropped it in the wrong jacket in the lounge. Or maybe it had to do with the bombing. Could it be what the bomber was looking for?

  Excited by the possibility, she hurried inside, went straight to Cash and showed him the card. “This was in my jacket pocket. With our dry spell, I left the coat in the teacher lounge. I haven’t worn it since the morning after the bombing.”

  He took the card. “You think this has to do with the bombing?”

  “Maybe. Or another teacher could’ve put it in my pocket by mistake. I don’t know.”

  “Let’s assume it’s related to the bomb. How and when could it have ended up in your jacket?”

  Krista closed her eyes and flashed back to that night. She hated the memories, but she let them play in her mind, reliving each little detail. Her eyes flew open. “The bomber pushed me out of the way. He could have dropped it into my pocket then.” She grabbed Cash’s arm. “He planted it on me and now he wants it back. This is it. Don’t you see? The thing he’s looking for. He couldn’t find it when he searched the house because I’d left my jacket at school.”

  “But what is it?” Cash asked. “I’ve never seen anything like it.”

  “It’s a credit card drive,” Skyler said, coming into the room from the kitchen. She took the card and pressed the end of it. Up popped a tiny flash drive.

  “Cool,” Cash said. “But what’s the point of it? Why not just carry a flash drive?”

  “Flash drives can fall out of a pocket,” Skyler said. “This tucks safely inside a wallet.”

  “If the bomber had this in his wallet,” Brady commented, “it wouldn’t have been easy to transfer it to Krista’s pocket without her seeing him do it.”

  “Just because it fits in a wallet doesn’t mean he had it there,” Jake jumped in. “Might’ve been in his sweatshirt or pants pocket.”

  “We need to know what it contains.” Cash looked at Skyler. “Can you grab your computer to open it?”

  She shook her head. “Flash drives are notorious hack bombs. You put it in your computer and it kicks off a virus or runs malware. I won’t take that risk with my computer. And, if this really is connected to the investigation, we need to follow evidence recovery protocol.”

  Krista frowned at her. “Which means what exactly?”

  “We need to get a computer tech out here to image the drive and give us a copy of the files to look at.”

  “How long will that take?”

  “Depends if the tech on call is dealing with something pressing.” She dug out her phone. “I’ll make a call and see.”

  As Skyler talked on the phone Krista could hardly stand still to wait for the news, but Skyler soon hung up. “He’s on his way. We can have dinner while we wait.”

  “Eat?” Krista shouted. “How can anyone eat when we might have the very thing the bomber is looking for to free Opa?”

  * * *

  After dinner, Cash wanted to force Skyler to move faster, but all he could do was stand behind the computer as it slowly opened the first file. The tech had taken the flash drive but had left them a copy of the files. The window opened to reveal a spreadsheet holding a long list of numbers and formulas.

  Skyler scrolled down. “Any ideas on what we might be looking at here?”

  “Don’t ask me,” Cash grumbled. “I never was a math wizard.”

  “Let me take a closer look.” Archer changed places with Skyler. He clicked on a few of the cells to open long formulas far too complicated for Cash to figure out.

  Archer shook his head and stood. “It’s an algorithm of some sort, but I have no idea what for. We’ll need to get someone with the right training to look at it.”

  “Okay, so why would the bomber give something like this to Krista?” Brady asked.

  Krista scowled at him. Cash could tell she was getting tired of Brady always asking the hard question, but that was Brady through and through.

  “Let’s hold that thought until we look at the other files.” Skyler clicked on the next item.

  A schematic drawing opened.

  “It’s for a bomb.” Cash leaned in to study the diagram and whistled. “It’s more sophisticated than the stadium bomb. Open the other files.”

  Skyler clicked on them. They were all variations on the first diagram until she opened the last one.

  “Whoa!” Brady pointed at it. “Is that what I think it is?”

  Cash nodded. “A suicide vest with a handheld trigger remote. Question is, is it for the bomber or for someone else?”

  “Terrorist?” Jake asked.

  Krista paled. “What if he’s going to make Opa wear it?”

  Cash took her hand, not caring when the others stared at him. “He could be planning to use it as a security measure to make sure we hand over the right file.”

  Jake nodded. “If we screw it up...”

  Krista gasped and dropped Cash’s hand to clasp the back of a chair.

  Cash glared at Jake. “Way to couch your words.”

  “Sorry,” he said. “But it’s a good possibility.”

  “Is it?” Cash asked. “He knows we have the plans and I can easily figure a way to disarm the device.”

  Brady scowled. “If he is planning to make Otto wear it, he could’ve switched things up to throw you off.”

  “Then we can’t let that
happen.” Jake tapped the screen. “What about these website addresses on this file? Can you trace him that way?”

  Skyler shook her head. “There’s no date or time he downloaded these diagrams. He could have done it years ago. It would be a needle in a haystack search.”

  “Okay.” Jake leaned back. “So we have bomb schematics and a spreadsheet with algorithms. I don’t see any reason this guy would off-load the drive on Krista.” He looked around the group. “Anyone else?”

  “A setup,” Cash suggested. “After Krista told him about the backpack, he might have worried she would discover the bomb and report him. We’d question her involvement and find the card, making Krista look guilty.

  “Or he was afraid it would implicate him,” Archer said. “Think about it. Maybe he was afraid she’d report him before he got out of the stadium. He had no way of knowing the crowd would go wild, taking the attention of security officers. If he thought we’d detain him, the schematics would be enough to make him a suspect.”

  Cash nodded. “I’d buy that, but why not just throw it away? Why does he want this back? He could easily retrieve these schematics again.”

  Brady gestured at the computer. “Has to be the spreadsheet, then. Put this file in the right hands and we might be able to figure out the identity of our bomber.”

  Skyler closed the file. “I’ll do my best to find an expert to review it tonight.”

  Jake clenched his jaw and worked the muscles. “We have until 10:00 a.m. tomorrow to figure that out, or Krista will have to make the exchange.”

  Cash saw Krista shrink back. “You can’t really be thinking she should do the exchange? Especially not with these bomb schematics staring us in the face.”

  “We may not have a choice.” Archer met Cash’s gaze. “It’s not a stretch to think this will be a nonnegotiable point.”

  “Don’t worry,” Jake added. “We’ll surround the area with a team to keep her safe and, of course, apprehend the bomber after the exchange.”