Chapter Twenty-Three
Wes took a deep breath before notifying Mike of the situation. “What the hell is going on?” He grabbed at his hair.
“I’ll check in with Kip and Troy too. Are all the families in the loop?” Mike asked.
Wes paced as he talked. The hand not holding the phone remained in a tight fist. “Yeah. I’m gonna do another walk-through. Mike, I was in the cabin that blew on Tuesday. There was no ANFO in there. Why didn’t I just bulldoze them?”
“Because you didn’t want to do anything to piss off the locals. I’ll be there as soon as it’s safe to travel. I have a call with Ian first thing. As far as I know, he’s still at the FBI, and Kieran joined him.”
“I haven’t had a chance to debrief Stone and Ganz. God.” Wes shook his head.
“Put a patrol on the last three cabins. Cover your exits. Lock down everything else and get some rest,” Mike said.
“Okay. See you tomorrow.” Wes had no plan to go to bed yet.
* * *
Troy joined Wes in his office. “You okay? How bad are the injured?” Troy asked.
“O’Mara is critical. He coded once, but they got him back. The rest are serious. This is a training facility. This shouldn’t happen here. How are the deputies? How are the kids?” Wes’s voice strained as he spoke.
“The kids are sleeping it off. I spoke with all the parents. They understand the seriousness of the situation. The deputies issued court appearance tickets and left. This storm is causing chaos in the area.”
“How is Thorn’s squad?” Wes sagged into his chair.
“Right move to send them in; they’re taking it hard. I’ll debrief them tomorrow. Wes, hang on. We will figure this out.”
“I hope so. I’ll see you when you get to the house.” Wes looked up as Pete Walter walked in holding a large container of coffee and a sandwich. “Sit rep?”
“You okay? Helluva night.” Pete raised a brow.
“I’m fine,” Wes said, rubbing his eyes.
“O’Mara is stable for the moment. We got his fluids balanced. Pain is controlled. We will watch his kidneys. I’ve assigned Tim Holland to him. North needs to be watched. I checked on her on my way here. She’s asleep in the guest room at the far end of your second floor. Tango Team’s medic is with her.
“As far as the rest, we stabilized nine fractures, one hundred or so stitches, and moderate and minor burns. We will be ready to transport them back to DC tomorrow. We will fly O’Mara and Hopper out as soon as we can. Tuck will fly in with more supplies when they come for the pick-up. Pilots, Ganz and Stone are all good. Ellie seems okay.”
“Seems?” Wes’s voice rose an octave.
“She refused a full exam. I sent her to bed. She visited all the injured and assigned a therapist to each. Brandon went up to see Thorn’s squad. Ellie was great with O’Mara, and after we tubed him, she spoke with his wife. She’s damn good.”
“Are you okay?” Wes asked.
“It’s what we do. Right?”
After Pete headed out, Kip came in, shaking off his coat, and asked Wes for an update. Then he said, “In spite of the weather, we confirmed the presence of ammonium nitrate and dynamite. We’re working on the theory that the dynamite was old and unstable. That may have triggered the explosion. We’re also cutting a trail to the other cabins. The helicopter is another story. It looks like something hit the tail.”
“Lightning? Bird?” Wes asked.
“Shell, bullet. There’s explosive residue. With the rain and the floods, all footprints or tire tracks are gone.” Kip shook his head.
“I know none of this was present after we found the body. What’s going on?” Wes asked.
“Someone wants us out of there. Or, with the attempt on the helicopter, someone wants Ellie dead. Why? I don’t know,” Kip said. “But in daylight, I’m going to supervise a ground survey of the entire property we bought. Bruce is flying in from Denver. We will get answers.” Kip looked down at his buzzing phone.
“What?” Troy said.
“It’s Tango Team’s leader. Wes, get ahold of the sheriff. They just found the remains of a baby.” Kip’s voice shook. He opened his phone. “Gator, go. You’re on speaker with Bremen and Crockett.”
