“Even they can have asignature, something that the bomber will add to it to give it hisown special little twist of sadistic pleasure,” Aiden said.“Thedevice that detonated in Nick’s office was homemade, detonated bycell phone, and I am guessing that this next piece of informationthat Nick is about to confirm for me, is that the pipe had beenfilled with a specific type of bolt.”
Nick nodded his gaze unwavering.“Samebolts.Not purchased from the same hardware store, but the exactsame kind that he used.”
“The same kind who used?”Sam asked slowly.
“A man by the name ofMiles Duncan,” Aiden answered.“He also went by the name of thePlatform Bomber.”
ChapterTen
“Tell me,” Sam all butdemanded.
Aiden frowned as he retold a storythat had shaped his life.“Twenty-four years ago in Chicago, therewas a serial bomber.He was, for all intents and purposes, not asbad as he could have been, and the police department labeled himmore a nuisance than anything else.”
Sam scowled.“Why the hell would abomber be labeled as more of a nuisance than a wanted dangerouscriminal?”
“Because the departmentwas inept and led by a fucking douche,” Nick answered in a voicetight with anger.
“I think it had more to dowith the fact that the guy seemed to just like the big bangs, buthad no real intention of hurting anyone,” Aiden said dryly.“Yousee, Sam, he would put his little homemade bundles of joy into thetrash cans on train platforms, and it was the media that gave himthat catchy little nickname.The devices he used were connected toa cell phone, and he would simply dial it and watch it explode.TheCCTV cameras would catch nothing more than a shadow in a hoodedjacket near the bin, and then as soon as the platform was clear, hewould set the damn thing off.”
Sam nodded slowly.“I think I rememberreading something about that.Didn’t he up the ante at some stageand end up taking a couple of lives?”
Aiden’s heart clenched within hischest.“Yeah, three actually.Although I am not sure at what stagean unborn child would be considered a life to be lost in thatcircumstance.”
“It was definitely three,baby,” Nick said softly and held his hand out towardhim.
Aiden took a deep breath then movedthe table out of the way so he could sit down next to Nick, andlean on the large man for strength.“The couple of lives he tookwere those of my parents.Jayne and Howard George.The three of ushad been to a charity dinner my mother had organized, raising moneyfor a family that had lost everything in a fire.”He paused for amoment as he thought of his mom.She was always looking for someoneto help.Whenever she saw someone who needed a helping hand, shewas the first to reach out to them.“We were one of the last toleave, but it wasn’t too late because my mom was seven monthspregnant and I was only eight years old.My father wanted to makesure we made the train back home, but we didn’t quite make the onewe’d hoped for, ending up standing on that platform in the cold,waiting for the next one.”His mom had to use the bathroom, whichhad made them miss the ten o’clock train.
“You don’t have to keepgoing, Aiden,” Sam said gently as he walked to the other side ofNick’s hospital bed and sat down facing them, his hand reachingover Nick to gently cup Aiden’s face.“I can see that this ishurting you.I don’t need to know the whole story.”
Aiden looked up Sam and smiled at theconcern he saw in his warm chocolate eyes as he reached up to takeSam’s hand from his face and clasp it in his own.“No, you need tohear this.If the MO of the prick who put our man in the hospitalis the same as Duncan, then you need to know the story, and youneed to be careful.He has taken three of the five people who meanthe most to me in this world from me, and the last two are in thisroom with me now.I can’t lose either of you, not to him, not toanything.”
Aiden felt Nick’s hand tighten aroundhis shoulders, but he kept his gaze steady on Sam, silently prayingthat he would see how sincere Aiden was being.When he looked alittle shocked but nodded, Aiden thought perhaps Sam might just bestarting to get an idea of what he was coming to mean to him andNick.
“We had twenty minutes towait for the train,” Aiden continued, “and because it was cold, mydad stood with his arms wrapped around my mother, and I stoodbetween them.They were laughing because I was wrapped in theircoats, and my mom was laughing about her two little peas beingwrapped up warm between her and my dad.Dad leaned over to kiss mymom, and I turned my head because, well, I was eight and had nodesire to watch my parents make out.
“I saw this guy standing aways back from us, near the turnstiles to the platform.The lightfrom the watch he was looking at lit his face from beneath thislarge hooded poncho type jacket he wore.He looked up at me andseemed shocked when he saw that I was looking back at him.Heglanced down at the watch, shrugged, then looked back at me.Therewas no horror or urgency in his expression.It was more a look ofcuriosity, I guess.Like he was anxious to see what happened next.Then he mouthed the word ‘boom’.What seemed like a few secondslater, I was coming around in a hospital room, and my Aunt Deliaand my grandmother were standing over my bed crying.”Aidenswallowed hard at the memory.“They told me that I would be goingto live with them now and that my parents had been killed by anexplosion.Ironically, it was the way we were standing, with mebetween them, that saved my life.Thankfully, I remember nothing ofthat.”
Aiden would be thankful for the restof his life that much of that moment and that night remained ablank for him.
Sam squeezed his hand.“Please tell mehe was identified and arrested.”
Aiden sighed.“Yeah, he was.It wasthe testimony of an eight-year-old boy determined to see that manwho had taken his parents from him go to jail.”
“The fucker was releasedabout a month ago,” Nick growled, and Aiden absently leaned in alittle closer, and the tension that had built in Nick’s shouldersrelaxed a little.“As soon as I was able, I called his paroleofficer back in California.He hasn’t missed a fucking check in,and he’s been to his day job every damn morning.The package itselfwas couriered from an address in Rapid City.I can’t see how hecould make it all the way to South Dakota to get that package senthere to Redwood Falls then make it back to LA for work.It’s justnot possible.”
“So he had to have help,”Sam said.
Aiden thought about that for a moment.“But who?The guy has been incarcerated in a maximum securitypsychiatric facility in Southern California for almost a quarter ofa century.It’s not like he’s been out and about making friends andbuilding connections.”
Nick shrugged.“Who knows, maybe thefucker’s joined a Facebook group?Either way, he’s a person ofinterest, and the Feds will be keeping a very close eye on him.They’re even looking into any and all unsolved bombings since thento see if there is any connection.At this stage, they are sayingthat it is simply a case of uncanny coincidence.”
Aiden didn’t believe that.Not for oneminute.There was a reason he was one of the best in the country atwhat he did.He had this sixth sense when something was not as itseemed, or there was more to what lay before him than met the eye.In this instance, every instinct he had told him that there wasmore than coincidence that connected the Platform Bomber, his past,and the reason Nick was in this hospital.He would work it outeventually.He always did.And this time the stakes were higherthan ever.The two men he loved were standing right in the middleof the blast zone.
****
Sam felt like there was a currentrunning through his body.He was driving his truck back to the CFTafter leaving Nick in the hospital for the last night, and his eyeskeep looking into the rearview mirror, ensuring the lights ofAiden’s truck were still there.Ever since he had told Sam aboutthe Platform Bomber, he had been plagued with a feeling that thesands in the hourglass were beginning to move faster, and if Samlooked hard at how much sand was left in the damn thing he didn’tthink there would be much.
He turned into the farm, and pulledover by the security pad beside the drive, reaching out to presshis thumb to the glass pad to activate the gate.Sam waited therequired time for the gates to open, then drove through quickly,slowing down as Aiden drove through behind him.Sam’s eyes remainedon the open gate until the gate was completely closed.He took adeep breath as he filled with relief and continued up the drivetoward the main house.
