A moment later, I heard the voice of one of the nurses I worked with a lot. "Dr. Jones? Is everything okay? We heard what happened and—"
"Karen, do you remember that multi-car pileup with had a few weeks back? We worked on that eight-year-old little girl who'd been riding with her grandmother?"
"Of course, Doctor."
"Do you remember what day that was?"
"Hold on, let me look."
I sent David a weak smile as I waited. I didn't understand what David meant by Lyn hacking into anything, but I had no doubt it could be done. I'd seen this team of men do things that defied logic on more than one occasion.
"It was the twelfth, Doctor."
"Thank you, Karen." I hung up before she could ask me any more questions I didn't have answers to. "It was the evening of the twelfth."
"Lyn," David said as he turned to look at the man, "I need you to hack into the security feed at Metro West on the twelfth and look for a man around fifty years old, balding, no glasses."
"He was wearing a three-piece dark navy suit with a white shirt and a royal blue tie with small white polka dots," I added in. "I remember because he had a speck of mustard on his tie and I thought it was really strange for a man who wore an expensive Armani suit to not care he had mustard on his tie."
David stared at me before looking at Lyn again. "Did you catch all of that?"
"Fifty-year-old man, balding, no glasses, fancy suit, mustard stain. Yep, got it."
I smiled when Lyn scooted up to the table and started tapping away on his laptop. I knew he was good. He used to be the tech guy on the SWAT team, and now he worked for the FBI's Cyber Crimes Division. I just hoped he was good enough to get us a picture of the man who said he was the district attorney.
"Sal," David called out, "you need to hear this."
Sal, Burke, and Clarke all walked over. "What's up?"
I got a sick feeling in my stomach when David began relaying what we'd just learned. They even stepped over and brought the real Jefferson Banks into the conversation.
I decided I needed coffee.
I headed over to the sideboard where someone—I assume it had been Mrs. Martinez—had set up a pot of coffee and several trays of fruit and pastries. I wasn't interested in the pastries. I doubted I could keep anything down right now, but I'd sell my soul for a cup of coffee.
Feeling kind of useless, and wanting a little space for myself, I headed for the large picture window that overlooked the river inlet.
"I would have loved to go to the zoo with my parents and the kids, but Sal wanted me here," Lany was saying. "I tried to tell him my father had his own security force, but he just wouldn't hear it. He doesn't want me anywhere near the elephants." Lany's eyes rolled. "Get crushed by one elephant and you’re banned from the zoo for life."
I hadn't been Lany's doctor when that catastrophe had happened, but I'd been there for a lot of the others. I would have kept Lany home, too.
I chuckled as I passed him and Eddie and went to look out the window. I lifted the cup to my lips but froze for a split second, the cup halfway to my mouth. Just as quickly as I had frozen, I dropped my cup and dove for Lany, Eddie, and Lyn, taking the three men to the floor.
"Everyone get down!" I shouted as I covered as much of the three men as I could manage with my larger body.
The explosion that rocked the dining room brought dust and bits of debris down on my head. I grabbed Lany by the back of his shirt and pushed him toward the dining room table and then did the same for Lyn and Eddie.
This wasn't an earthquake, but if the roof came down, we'd have a better chance under the table. When a second explosion rocked the dining room, I started rethinking that idea.
"Crawl to the other end," I shouted to Lany, Lyn, and Eddie. "We have to get out of here."
"There's a panic room in the hallway," Lany shouted as he started to crawl.
Lyn and Eddie began crawling right behind him.
Halfway down, we ran into Joe, who had a nasty gash on his head, but he was conscious.
That was a plus.
