Tonight, though, the stress was getting to him and he was struggling. So much pressure. He closed his eyes to take calming breaths and pray.
“Three minutes to touch down,” the pilot announced.
Evan opened his eyes and tried to see through the pelting rain as they flew over the dam. Its wall was lit from below, and he watched as water spilled out over the lake. Bright lights lit the bridge as well. They were both far more magnificent in person than in the pictures he’d seen, but he had to admit the height of the bridge put a hitch in his heart. He would feel better if he had the time to inspect the equipment. Instead he had to trust the local bomb squad to have everything in tiptop shape.
The chopper lunged through the rain, started a wobbly descent, and touched down with a hard jolt in the parking lot across the road from the dam. The county command and bomb squad trucks were parked in the lot close to the dam entrance.
Kiley looked at him. “I’ll meet with the sheriff to give him a comms unit and get Cam and Sean access. You and Mack grab whatever gear you need from the bomb squad.”
“Roger that,” he said and wished he could give her a hug, maybe a kiss before heading out, but they’d agreed to focus on their jobs.
Mack whipped the door open, and rain cut a sideways path into the chopper, instantly wetting them. As they hopped down onto the pavement, Evan wished for some sort of protective clothing against the deluge. The downpour didn’t seem to bother Kiley, who marched straight for the sheriff with slicked-back hair and a poncho over his uniform. Sean and Cam followed her.
Evan nodded at Mack, and they jogged to the bomb squad’s vehicle. Lightning split the sky, briefly illuminating the areaaround the dam. Evan’s heart rate kicked up, and he had to breathe deeply to calm his nerves. He shook hands with the tall sergeant in charge of the team as a waterfall of rain poured from the man’s hat.
The sergeant led the way to the back of his truck and jerked open the doors. “Help yourself. I’ve already got the rigging on the bridge for you. When you’re ready, I’ll show you the way.”
Evan grabbed a tool belt and loaded it with a multipurpose tool, shears, mirror, screwdrivers, tape, and wire strippers. Not everything he might need, but for now it didn’t matter. He’d figure it out. When he was an EOD tech, he didn’t always have what he needed on hand, which was where the major part of the Navy’s stellar training came into play. It taught him to think outside of the box. And taught him to perform these skills when tired or cold, at night or during the day, no matter the environment. Worrying about the woman he loved or the thunderstorm raging around them didn’t matter either. He would handle it.
He grabbed a helmet and gave a firm nod to the sergeant, then took off across the road, his boots sloshing through deep puddles. He stopped in a soggy grassy area by the bridge. The rigging had been secured, just as he’d been told. Still, Evan checked it to be sure. Mack followed behind to confirm, beads of worry dotting his forehead.
Evan donned the rigging and secured the belt, noticing through the rain—now coming down in a sideways wave—that Sean and Cam were heading inside with the sheriff.
Kiley sprinted over to him. Her hair had come loose from its knot and now hung like limp spaghetti over her shoulders. Her clothes were plastered against her body, and she swiped rain from her face. Beautiful... Evan pulled his gaze free and fixed the tactical rope to the harness.
Kiley marched up to him, her eyes clouded, but she didn’t speak. He settled the helmet on his head, careful not to dislodge the team comms unit. They’d set the system to a differentfrequency to keep their signal from being jammed. It would be his only line of communication once he rappelled off the side.
Kiley moved closer to him, worry darkening the eyes he loved looking into. “Promise me, Evan, you won’t take any unnecessary risks.”
He wanted to talk more, but every second counted now. “You go do your thing, and I’ll do mine.”
She nodded and turned to head to the building. Her thing normally wasn’t dangerous, but if the dam blew, he had no idea what the explosion would do to the server room where she’d be directing operations with the team. He wanted to go with her. To be her bodyguard. Yet he couldn’t, not when others were counting on him. The thought didn’t sit well with him, and he offered another prayer as he double-checked his rope and tightened the tool belt around his waist. He gave a thumbs-up to Mack, who would manage Evan’s descent.
“I’d rather not go boom,” Mack said, his tone lighthearted, his expression troubled. “These are my best boots, and the rain’s already doing a number on them. Don’t want to ruin them completely.”
Evan chuckled and held out his hand for a fist bump. Evan appreciated the levity to help ease the tension, but after the bump he let the humor go and pinned his focus on the mission ahead.
He rappelled down the sandstone near the end of the bridge. Sharp flashes of lightning illuminated the stone of vivid red and orange striations. He swung away from the wall, hanging seven hundred feet over churning water. Most people would freak at the height, but after jumping from a plane, this distance wasn’t scary at all.
He got his body swinging and hooked a leg over a heavy steel girder.
“Hold there,” he said into the mic, telling Mack to tighten the slack.
Evan pulled up on the girder and searched the area around him. Ahead about six feet, he spotted the blinking red lights on a digital timer strapped to explosives.
“I have one,” he said, swallowing hard and offering a prayer as he inched over the slippery steel toward the device. “And it contains the white phosphorus.”
White phosphorus. Super dangerous.Kiley stared at the computer monitor and could barely breathe in the cool server room. Her hands were trembling as she reached for her mic to activate it. “Be careful, Evan. Please be careful.”
“Wish we had video on him.” Sean looked over his shoulder from his seat in front of a terminal.
She nodded, but she didn’t know which was better, seeing the man she loved working on a bomb in a lightning storm or living with the cold dread of not knowing what was happening. And her family? What about them? They were downstream from the dam, and she hadn’t called to warn them.
“Need some slack.” Evan’s voice came over the mic, and she heard him grunt with exertion. She could easily imagine him gripping the wet steel with his muscular legs.
“Okay,” he said, his voice steady and confident. “At the device now.”
Kiley offered an emotion-packed prayer. Surely God didn’t bring them together—with her coming to realize shedidneed a partner like Evan in her life—only to end it all, did He?
