“Peterson! Leave them alone, unless you know how to dismantle them,” John had called, his voice strained as he unscrewed the final panel.
“No,” he’d said, voice as tense as John felt. “Just wanted to verify the explosives.”
Good idea. John continued to work on Tess’s bomb, relieved that the failsafe was standard. Ninety seconds. Then they’d run.
Only he planned to run after Rowan.
A few seconds later, Peterson swore loudly. “He has an arsenal of explosives in here! It’s set on a remote detonator only.”
“No time delay?” John asked.
“None.”
“He never was going to give us the ten minutes,” Tess said, trying to control her sobs. “I told you. Please, John.”
“Shush. I’m almost done. Then run as fast as you can.”
Two minutes left. John asked Collins to count down every ten seconds. Each interval seemed to go by so slowly he wondered if time had somehow stood still, locking him in this hell of risking Tess’s life and fearing Rowan would be shot on sight.
“Ten.”
Snip. Five more wires to go. What order? Right, right. Standard. Snip. Four more wires. Separate. Unscrew the switch. Snip. Three more wires.
“Twenty.”
Rowan, please be careful. Stay far back. As soon as the three minutes are up, get away. He’s going to blow it. No matter what, he’s going to blow it and you need to run fast. I know you can do it, John willed.
“Thirty.”
Snip. Snip. One more to go, but this was tricky. If he cut the wrong one-no, he knew. It had to be the white one. It was connected-shit, double-check. White, beige, black. Black? No, definitely white. Connected there. Don’t snip too close to the switch.
“Forty.” Collins called to Peterson. “Quinn! Get back here.”
John braced himself. Snip.
Nothing.
“Got it,” he said, under his breath. He quickly helped Tess out of the rigged vest and gently dropped it to the ground.
“Fifty,” Collins said.
“Peterson!” John yelled. “We’re clear. Run.” He grabbed Tess. They had one minute, ten seconds, and John sensed Bobby MacIntosh wouldn’t give them a second more.
Two hundred yards? No, they wouldn’t make two football fields. He hoped a hundred would get them in the clear.
The explosion shook the earth and threw Tess away from him. John felt his feet leave the ground and he was flying. Then everything went black.
He now cleared his mind of the nightmare they’d just lived through and checked his watch, which was surprisingly undamaged. It wasn’t even seven.
“I’m going to find Rowan,” he said.
“Flynn, be careful. Every available team is looking for her.” Roger Collins then talked into his transmitter. “Agent Thorne, are you available?”
“Yes, sir.”
“How’s Francie? Is she-” Roger swallowed, glanced at John.
“The vest saved her life. She’s being looked at by medics and will need minor surgery, but she’ll pull through.”
“Thank God.” Roger drew in a breath. “Thorne, bring a car out here and pick Flynn up. Help him any way you can.”
“ETA two minutes. Out.”
“Thanks,” John said, and meant it.
“Find her. Before Bobby-before he kills her.”
“I will.”
But he had no idea where to start.
Father Peter O’Brien landed at Burbank Airport after eight that night, having traveled more than ten hours. He hadn’t had much opportunity to sleep. On the leg from Boston to Chicago, he sat next to a ninety-year-old widow who asked him to pray the Rosary with her-all twenty decades. Each ten prayers, he asked for Rowan’s safety and Bobby’s soul.
In Chicago they were delayed three hours because of a security problem. He ate in a café in the airport and was subjected to the ridicule of a young couple who found his Church lacking in many ways. On the connecting flight he sat next to a woman diagnosed with stage-three breast cancer and was humbled by her strength of character and quiet confidence that God would use her doctors to make her well. She wasn’t Catholic, but her faith was strong and gave Peter hope.
It was a long trip, and he dozed maybe forty minutes before landing in Burbank. He attempted to contact Roger Collins in Chicago to tell him of the delay, but without success. Once he’d landed, he tried Roger again. Still no answer.
Roger had made it clear that if Peter couldn’t reach him, something had gone wrong.
He took out the note he’d jotted down after his conversation with the assistant FBI director last night.
John Flynn, 818-555-0708.
Flynn was protecting Rowan. But since Roger couldn’t be reached, Peter feared Rowan was in danger.
He dialed the number. After the third ring he became more worried; then someone picked up the phone.
“Flynn.”
“John, it’s Peter O’Brien.”
“What’s wrong?”
“I’m at the Burbank Airport. Roger was supposed to pick me up, but I can’t reach him.”
There was a pause. “Roger’s in the hospital with a broken back. Why are you here?”
Peter crossed himself. “Roger felt I might be helpful in negotiating with Bobby if it came down to that. Bobby doesn’t know I’m alive.”
“He has Rowan.”
“Dear God,” Peter said, grabbing the side of the phone booth. “Where?”
“Hell if I know. I’m heading down to FBI headquarters now, but I’ll swing by and pick you up. I think Roger may be right. Throw MacIntosh off balance. If we can find him. Meet me outside of the terminal.”
Black. Cold. Very, very cold.
Rowan tried to open her eyes but they felt weighted down with wet sand. Even the smallest effort resulted in a massive headache. She tried to take a deep breath, but her chest was constricted. Her numb fingers and toes began to tingle as she tried to move, and the tingle turned to pain.
It was then that she realized she was trussed up like a pig, her arms and legs pulled behind her and tied together. No wonder she ached.
It smelled like vomit. Very likely, she thought, as she remembered the sting of being shot with the tranquilizer dart. Heavy-duty narcotics could make anyone sick. At first she thought the cold was an aftereffect of the tranquilizer, but the floor was cold. The faint hum of an air conditioner ran behind the walls. Someone had turned it on full blast. She involuntarily shivered.
Her mouth was dry and foul tasting, her body racked with pain as she slowly wriggled, trying to loosen the binds. As sensation returned to her fingers, she felt nylon rope. The more she tugged, the tighter the rope became, so she stopped moving.
At least she was alive. Alive and thinking.
Bobby.
When she’d first seen him holding the shotgun, she’d frozen. This was her brother, whom she hadn’t seen in over twenty years. He looked completely different. She doubted she’d have recognized him on the street. He was forty-one now, a man. His hair was short, cropped. His face fuller, his body broader. He even seemed taller, which wasn’t unusual. Many boys grew well into their late teens and early twenties.
But it was him.
Then he’d pressed a button and her entire life blew up.
John had to be dead. There was no way he could have gotten away so fast. She’d felt the explosion nearly a quarter-mile away.
The guilt hit her first, then a deep, physical sadness that started in her chest and spread out, making her feel more tired, her limbs heavier, her heart weaker.
She hadn’t told John she loved him. But she did.
And he went to his grave not knowing how important he’d become to her in such a short time. How she didn’t want to say goodbye, that he was now an irrevocable part of her life. Her soul.
Bobby had stolen John from her. Her future, however tentative, was shattered without a thought by the one person who knew how to destroy mercilessly.
She choked out an uncontrolled sob, grief causing her to shake, her heart pounding painfully in her chest. What did she have to live for? The memories of everyone Bobby had killed? Her mother? Her sisters? Michael and Tess?