“Where?”
“I believe he wired the RV as a trap.”
“Return to base,” the colonel barked.
“On our way.” He turned to Cass and said, “Thirteen.”
She nodded, but rather than commenting, she pressed her lips together.
“Baker said a dozen, right?” he reminded her. “He said he planted a dozen explosive devices on the fairgrounds.”
She shook her head as they rounded the curve of the arena. “I can’t… I don’t remember exactly.”
He clenched his jaw, hating the shaky self-doubt creeping into her voice. He didn’t want her to question her memory or distrust her instincts. She was in this guy’s crosshairs precisely because she’d trusted her gut one afternoon long ago, and she had not been wrong. Baker was wrong if he thought he could terrorize her without repercussion.
He didn’t need to worry about the full force of the Arkansas State Police coming down on him, though they definitely would. Baker needed to be more concerned about Cassidy Walker snapping out of her shock and setting after him.
“Cass,” he said as she let the cart slow to a stop near the arena doors.
She didn’t answer him, but stared straight ahead, gripping the wheel so hard her knuckles glowed white.
“Cassidy,” he said, injecting a note of command into his voice as he slid Max off his lap to the ground.
“I don’t know what he said.”
“Cass, we have a record,” he reminded her gently. She turned to look at him, a line of puzzlement bisecting her brows. “We have the phone.”
She blinked at him, uncomprehending. Then the haze of panic cleared. “The phone?”
“Where is it?”
And almost instantly, the panic was back. “I don’t know,” she huffed as she groped around on the seat of the golf cart. She squeezed her jacket pockets. Her head whipped around. “It’s not here.”
“Check your back pocket,” he prompted.
Her hands flew to her backside and her shoulders dropped with relief. “Here,” she managed to say as she wrestled the device from the pocket of her pants.
But rather than take it from her, Jake caught hold of her arms, prompting her to look up into his eyes. “This is good, Cass. We’re safe. Everyone is safe,” he said, speaking in a firm tone. “We’re safe and we’ve figured it out because of you. We’re going to get him because you figured it out.”
“We figured it out.”
She looked up into his eyes and, for an instant, he was sixteen and standing on her front porch, gathering the courage to kiss her for the first time. Could he be brave now?
But before he could ponder the possibility a moment longer, Colonel Aronson came through the tinted-glass doors, the team leads from various agencies working the scene following close behind.
“What do you mean ‘wired’?” he demanded.
Jake slid off the cart and stood to face the senior officer. “Sir, the door to the recreational vehicle rented by Continental Attractions was left fully ajar. Ms. Walker and I checked the surrounding area, then I checked the interior to be certain no one was inside. It was clear, but he left it as he’d used it. Computer monitors focused on the carousel as well as several of the other sites where explosives were found, even those well off the midway and away from any area the company would have need to monitor.”
Aronson pursed his lips as he took it all in. “You think he knew you were closing in on him?”
Jake gave a short nod and crossed his arms over his chest. “I have no doubt. I think the stunt with Agent Parker was an attempt to throw suspicion onto his brother. The fact she went to question the brother at all told him they were on our radar.”
“‘I’ve planted explosive devices throughout the fairgrounds,’” Cassidy read, her voice flat.
The crowd turned to look at her, puzzled by the non sequitur, but she was frantically scrolling on the phone as she climbed down from the cart.
“Why did we think it was twelve?”
