by Jen Talty
She took a quick glance at her watch. Only two minutes past the hour and she knew he was coming via train from his sister’s, so he could actually be up to a half hour late, depending.
And that was if he showed.
Little’s Steak House was packed, which was the usual for a Friday night. Both the downstairs and upstairs bars were three people deep, and the wait time for a table, if you didn’t have a reservation, was probably a good two hours, but people would gladly spend their time at the bar, getting trashed and eating apps.
A combination of seventies and eighties music echoed from the speakers, competing with the sounds of intensive conversations, horrible pickup lines, and laughter. The air conditioning kicked on, but it barely touched the heat rising with all the bodies filling the joint.
She hated crowds.
Another reason she didn’t date.
Places like this were ticking time bombs for bad shit to happen.
She raised her glass, taking a huge gulp of wine. Images of two innocent people getting shot a few dozen times in the middle of a hostage negotiation pelted her brain. She kept reminding herself that it hadn’t been her case. Not her responsibility.
Only, the second she made the recommendation to do something different, pissing off Nimitz, that decision sealed the fate of innocent people and Nimitz’s career.
But that latter she didn’t feel bad about at all.
She glanced up, and her lungs deflated like a balloon that had just been stabbed with an eight-inch knife.
Cove stood by the hostess station as he tucked his sunglasses into his breast pocket. He had a typical Army buzz cut, but it only served to show off his dark brown-green eyes, a color she’d never seen before. He wore a dark T-shirt and a pair of jeans with some kind of belt buckle that looked like it might have some kind of insignia etched in it.
Of course, she found herself staring at a region of his body she shouldn’t be.
She blinked, shifting her gaze back up to his handsome face. He smiled and waved as he strolled over toward the table.
Fucking A. The man gave new meaning to the military fitness calendar.
“Well, look at you all grown up,” he said, leaning over and kissing her on the cheek before making himself comfortable across the table. He glanced over both shoulders. “This is going to be a problem.”
“I’m not switching with you,” she said with a laugh. “You haven’t changed much, other than a few wrinkles and a couple of scars.” She touched the side of her arm in the same spot where a thick, pink mark stretched like a long finger down his skin.
“I got a lot more where that one came from,” he said as he held up his hand when a waiter walked by. He ordered himself a glass of red and her another white. The waiter immediately brought over one for him to sample and then poured him a nice size glass while refreshing hers.
Those few moments gave Serenity the opportunity to catch her breath. Lord knows she needed it sitting this close to such raw male sexuality.
“So, an FBI agent and a hostage negotiator. Impressive,” he said, holding up his wine.
“Thanks. But your career is nothing to sneeze at either,” she said. “Leah told me what happened. Well, she told me you were injured while trying to clear a road somewhere in the middle of nowhere doing something no one can talk about.”
He chuckled. “I bet my family thought they could come to you, and the FBI would be able to find out what the hell really happened.”
She nodded. “Or my connections at the CIA or even the Pentagon, not that I actually have any, mind you, because my dad’s the one with those, but Leah thought I might be able to find something while you were still in that hospital in Germany.”
“You actually tried?” He tapped his finger against his chest.
“I’d do just about anything for your sister.”
“Is that why you’re here?” he asked, losing his smile.
Her heart beat erratically. She knew she ran the risk he might not show or that she’d get the last-minute phone call that he wasn’t coming. She thought that if he hadn’t figured out who his sister had set him up with, he could take one look at her and walk out the door. But never in a million years did she expect him to start off defensive.
“No,” she said, stiffening her spine. “If that were the case, I would have done this a year ago when she asked me if I would go on a date with you the first time.”
He arched a brow and cocked his head. “I’ve only been in New York City four times in the last year and not for more than a week at a time. I’m never home.”
“I know. And every time you let her know you’re on your way, I get a text, and the games begin. I always say no.”
“So, why’d you cave this time?” A slight grin had returned.
However, she wasn’t sure if that made her feel any better about the situation or not. She shrugged. “Do you want me to be honest?”
“Will you be honest with me about why you came? Because you obviously knew who you were meeting.”
“Absolutely.”
“Ladies first,” he said.
“Mostly to get Leah off my back. She can be a pushy bitch.”
“You won’t hear me disagree with that statement.” Cove draped his arm over the back of the bench. “You said mostly. So, why else did you come?”
“Curiosity. I’ve known you my entire life, and yet you’ve always kept me at arm’s length. It was like you hated me or something.”
The waiter picked the worst time to show up and drop a basket of rolls. “Would you like to hear the specials?”
“I actually know what I want,” Serenity said.
“So do I, so go ahead and order.”
“I’ll take the six-ounce filet, medium rare, the garlic mashed potatoes, and can we substitute the mixed veggies for asparagus, please,” she said. “Oh, and I’m going to need to switch to a red wine. What he’s having is fine.”
“Sure thing,” the waiter said. “And you, sir?”
“I’ll have exactly what the beautiful lady ordered, only I’ll take the ten-ounce and might as well bring a bottle of the Pinot Noir I ordered.”
“Right away.” The waiter nodded and quickly turned on his heels and disappeared into the sea of people.
“For the record, I never hated you,” Cove said. “I always stayed away from my sister’s girlfriends. Especially the pretty ones. We had a pact about stuff like that.”
“She did tell everyone that walked into the house that if they wanted to fuck her brother to not let the door hit them on the way out.” She could certainly understand Leah’s pain. “If I had a dollar for every girl in high school that wanted to befriend me for the soul purpose of getting close to one of my brothers, I’d be a very rich woman by now.”
“The same works in reverse as well. I got into a shit ton of fights and was suspended more times than I can count on one hand because of assholes hitting on my sister or breaking her heart. But then she found Kirk. He’s a good guy. One of the few.”
“Do you always diss your own gender?”
He nodded. “We’re all a bunch of dicks.”
“I won’t argue that point,” she said. “So, why’d you come?”
“My sister and I are only fifteen months apart and one school year. Not being able to date her friends left the playing field for me pretty small. You were always the one that caught my eye, and not just because I thought you were gorgeous.” He winked.
“Why Cove Reddington, are you flirting with me?”
“I think I just might be.”
“Excuse me,” the waiter said, holding a pretty box wrapped in pink paper with a nice bow. “Are you Serenity Bale?”
“I am.” She glanced between the waiter and Cove, wondering what the hell he’d done. Cove had a reputation for being a bit of a player in high school, but that’s because of the group he hung out with. All a bunch of musclehead jocks who thought they were God’s gift to women. That said, Serenity had it on good authority that
when Cove did give his attention to a lady, he could be very sweet and romantic.
“This just came for you,” the waiter said.
“What did you do?” She took the package and stared at Cove with wide eyes.
He glanced around with a scowl. “That’s not from me. Pretty bold for another guy to send you a gift while on a date with someone else.”
“The only people who know I’m out with you are Leah and Kirk,” she said with her heartbeat slamming into her throat. She examined the box, looking for a card.
Nothing.
She lifted it high so she could see the bottom. A slight ticking noise caught her attention. She raised it to her ear. “Fuck,” she mumbled, setting the box as gently as she could on the table.
“What’s the matter?”
Quickly, but without nudging the contents, she lifted the top. Her heart fell to her toes. “We need to clear the restaurant as swiftly and calmly as possible.”
“Why?” He stood, peering into the package. “Shit. That looks like a bomb.”
2
Cove stood over the bomb with his hands on his hips and stared at the wires while Serenity continued to get everyone out of the restaurant. It wasn’t a sophisticated bomb, and the amount of C4 wouldn’t kill everyone in the building, but it certainly would do a great deal of damage.
Not to mention it probably would have put him and Serenity in body bags.
But the question that continued to nag at the back of his mind was why in God’s name did the bomber give them forty-five minutes to evacuate and defuse?
It made no sense.
Unless there was a different game plan.
He’d taken the top off and cut the sides of the box, not wanting to move the bomb any more than necessary. He got himself eye level to the bomb, and that’s when he saw the trigger. “Motherfucker,” he whispered. The damn thing could have gone off if she’d shaken the box or any time the bomb raised up more than maybe an eighth of an inch off the bottom of the container.
He took a quick glance at the timer. Twenty-two minutes left. Plenty of time.
“I’ve got two uniformed officers keeping things under control outside until the rest of my team and NYPD bomb squad can get here,” Serenity said as she made her way back to the table. “You should leave too.”
“Nope. I often blow things up for a living so—”
“What do you know about defusing a bomb?” she asked. “Besides, the bomb squad is on the way.”
He pulled out his cell and FaceTimed his buddy, Thor Conley. He set the cell on the table, putting it on speaker.
“Hey, man, I heard you were back stateside, what’s up?” Thor asked. “Oh. Well, fuck. That looks like something I might like to play with.”
Serenity rested her hands on his back and peered over his shoulder. “Hey, Thor, how they hanging?”
“Well, hot damn, if it ain’t Agent Bale,” Thor said.
“You two know each other?” Cove asked.
“Oh, our paths have crossed a time or two in a professional capacity,” Serenity said. “He’s a royal fucking pain in my ass.”
“Okay, well…fuck,” Cove muttered as he watched the timer jump from eighteen minutes down to two minutes. “Is that even possible?”
“In the digital age, anything is. Lift the phone and bring me closer,” Thor said.
“Looks like a pretty standard trigger bomb. From what I can see, it looks like the blue wire is the timer. You should be fine if you cut the that wire.”
“Should be?” Cove lifted a set of scissors the waiter had brought over earlier. “How far out is the bomb tech?” He glanced at Serenity.
“Six minutes, maybe five if we’re lucky, but by then we’d be dead.”
“Get out of here,” he said.
“Not on your life.”
The timer now read less than a minute.
“At least go hide behind the bar or something.”
“Sure thing.” She took a few steps back. “I’m having a really good hair day, and that doesn’t happen often when I wear it down.”
“It does look awesome, and I was hoping to run my fingers through it, giving it a good tug.”
“Get us out of here alive, and I might consider it.”
“Yo. I’m still on FaceTime,” Thor said. “You can talk about your future fucking later.”
Cove chuckled. “If you’re not right, man, I’m going to reach out from my grave and kick your ass.” With a steady hand he squeezed, pressing the two metal blades together over the blue wire. The bomb made a funny noise, and thankfully, the timer went blank.
Then it turned on again.
Fuck.
“It reset to two minutes,” Cove said.
“Quickly tell me what you think the other two wires are attached to,” Thor said.
“One’s definitely a trigger for the lever. But if I cut that one, it will prevent the lever from engaging, and I can haul ass to the back alley and drop this fucker in the dumpster.”
“Or it goes off,” Thor said. “And the other wire?”
“Can’t tell. It snakes through the C4. The good news, it’s only two bricks. About two pounds. Enough to blow me to shreds and a hole in the wall.”
“Hold the phone to the lever for me,” Thor said.
Cove brought it as close as he could, holding his breath as the timer continued to tick down.
“I can’t tell if you can cut the wire or not,” Thor admitted. “I’d take cover if the bomb squad isn’t going to make it in time.”
The timer ticked to thirty seconds. “Thanks, man.” He snagged his phone, turned on his heel, and raced to Serenity. They both jumped behind the bar as he counted in his head backward from sixty. “I knew this date would be hot; I just never thought it would be explosive hot.”
“That’s really not funny.”
He hovered behind the bar with his back to the bomb, holding Serenity in his arms. “I’m going to want a do-over. Tomorrow night. I know this great place in Soho.”
“I’ll think about it.” She pressed her hands over her ears.
He continued the countdown. Once he got to zero, he started it again, this time at one. Quickly, he glanced at his cell. “It should have gone off by now.”
“Maybe the fucker reset again.”
“Stay put while I go check on it.”
“I can’t let you do that,” Serenity said. “My boss is already going to rip me a new one for letting a civilian—”
“Don’t ever call me that again. I’m a United States Soldier, Combat Engineer. I’m sure no one is going to have a problem with me and my skill set being in this building.” He jumped to his feet and raced to the table, leaving her kneeling behind the bar to ponder his declaration.
He peered over the table, holding his breath. “The time stopped,” he said calmly. “I think the bomber left one of us—nope—just you a note.” He leaned closer. “It reads: Serenity. Sorry to have scared you, but not really. This isn’t the bomb. You’ve got until six-twenty-one to find it, or someone dies. Remember the bank.”
“God damn it.” Serenity was at his side in seconds.
“What does ‘remember the bank’ mean?”
“How much time do we have?”
“Fifteen minutes.”
She took him by the hand and raced toward the front door just as the bomb squad made their way in.
“No bomb in here.” She pointed over her shoulder. “It’s a decoy. I need to get to the Federal Bank on 54th Street and 5th Avenue in the next five to ten minutes. That’s where the bomb is, and it’s set to go off in about fourteen minutes.”
“That’s a tall order,” one of the police officers said, and he lifted his mic on his uniformed shirt.
“Make it happen.” Serenity stepped outside the restaurant. Everyone that had been inside was now behind a barricade. They all pointed at them as they stared on with wide eyes and scared expressions.
He glanced around. On a Friday night in the city, the traffi
c was at full force. On foot it would take them close to a half hour, but in a police car, it might take nine minutes.
“This way, Agent Bale,” the officer said.
Cove followed Serenity and the officer to a patrol car and slid into the back seat.
“Who the fuck is he?”
“My sidekick. Now get moving,” Serenity said.
That made Cove chuckle. He certainly enjoyed watching her in action; he just didn’t like that some fucking whack job was sending her fake bombs with messages.
“Why is this bank important?” Cove asked.
“A couple of months ago, there was a hostage situation that went really wrong. We lost the hostage and two other civilians.”
Cove wanted to know if she was the negotiator, but he knew better than to ask that in front of a cop or anyone else for that matter.
“Was a bomb involved?” he asked.
“Only with the bank vault,” she said flatly. “The incident did make the news, and I was a little bit at the center of the attention, and no, I wasn’t the negotiator, but I was there, and it wasn’t good.”
The vehicle swerved to the left and then sped through a light before skidding to a stop in front of the bank, where officers and an FBI team had already assembled.
Cove followed Serenity to a grouping of suits. He glanced around when he saw a woman sitting on a park bench across the street. She sat unnaturally still with a coat wrapped around her body.
It was close to seventy-five degrees out.
Even the homeless shed their outer layers.
Besides, her hair was perfectly styled.
“I’ll be right back,” he whispered against Serenity’s ear before kissing her cheek. Bad move in front of a bunch of her colleagues, but what was done was done. He jogged across the road. “Excuse me, ma’am. Are you okay?”
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.”
