Maren and Mariah exchange an odd look.
Trevor looks between them. “What?”
One of the security guards comes out of the server room, the set of his mouth grim. “We’ve got a dead body in here, boss. At least I think that’s what it is.”
Trevor’s brows climb his forehead as he stares at Maren. “You killed him?”
Maren scoffs. “Why are you looking at me?” Her pointing finger comes Mariah’s way. “She’s the one who dropped a fifty-pound box of paper on his head.”
“We don’t know that’s what killed him.” Mariah coughs, taking a few deep breaths before continuing. “I might have just knocked him down and he was exploded by his own bomb.”
Trevor’s eyes snap to my face. “Bomb?”
Mariah nods as a group of firefighters comes rushing toward us. “He had some little explosive thing he set against the wall. That’s what started the fire.”
“I don’t get it. Why the hell would he blow up the supply room?” Maren rubs her eyes. “Like, who cares about paper and pens?”
My gaze lifts to the open door leading into the server room. “I don’t think he was trying to take out the paper and pens.”
A few firefighters circle around us, crouching down as they start asking questions and checking us over. The rest of their team goes into the server room even though the smoke coming out through the door has lessened considerably since the security guards went in with fire extinguishers.
When the arrival of EMTs adds yet more people to the hall, I push to my feet, taking Mariah along with me. Carrying her to where they’re set up, I make sure someone checks her out.
I turn and look behind us at what could have been the second tragedy of my life. I don’t know what I would have done if I hadn’t gotten to Mariah in time.
If I’d lost my family once again.
“Hey.” Mariah’s hand grips mine as she tugs me closer, smiling behind the oxygen mask now strapped to her face. “It’s okay.”
I pull her against me, closing my eyes as I try to stay calm. “I could have lost you and the babies.”
“But you didn’t.” Mariah squeezes me tighter. “We’re all safeand healthy.” Her hand comes to my face, fingers stroking over the ridges of my skin. “Just breathe.”
Am I breathing? I don’t think I am.
Mariah’s eyes widen. “I think I need someone to help me catch him.”
The hall around me starts to narrow and spin. The last thing I hear before it all goes black is Trevor saying, “At least I don’t have to fire another assistant.”
37
Titus
“How extensive is the damage?” I stand next to Tucker in the smoke-stained hall, looking over what remains of the storage area and the wall separating it from our now-empty server room.
“Structurally it’s still sound, but the whole space has to be gutted and redone.” He jerks his chin to the room that used to house the kind of information lots of people would obviously do terrible shit to get their hands on. “Have you had the chance to see if you lost anything?”
“The whole system is set to back up every fifteen minutes. Anything we lost would have only been from a short span of time.” I scrub at my face, scratching at skin still irritated by ash, smoke, and memories. “Have we figured out how in the hell he was able to do this?”
“Not exactly, but I have my suspicions.” Trevor looks like he hasn’t slept in the week since the fire. He’s got bags under his eyes and his face is drawn and pale. “I guess he groped the supply girl a while back. The security team thinks it’s possible he used that as an opportunity to swipe her key card. Apparently there are machines that can duplicate the information onto a second card in a matter of seconds.
“In the minutes before the attack, her card was used to open the door three times. Once when she and Mariah entered initially. Once when they returned for the items they forgot. And then a third time we were able to confirm through security footage was him using what was likely a dupe card to enter.”
I’m not a violent person, but if that fucker hadn’t been killed in the blast, I would have made sure he never saw the light of day again. “And he just didn’t give a shit that there were two innocent women in the line of fire?”
“That’s a question someone else will have to answer, because I don’t fucking know.” Trevor rakes a hand through his messy hair. “I don’t know why he wanted to take our servers out. I don’t know if he was working alone or with someone else. I don’t even know if the name we have for him is legit because his remains were too damaged for fingerprints, and without a comparison, dental records are apparently useless.”
Bile climbs up my throat at the reminder of what happened to that fucker. Because it could have easily happened to Mariah. If she hadn’t thought so quickly to knock him down and retrieve the stolen key card. Hadn’t moved as fast as she did to get through that other door.
