The phone in Dylan’s pocket rang. He jerked and bumped his head on the truck’s manifold. He slid from under the vehicle and rubbed his head as he flipped open the phone. “What?” He sat up.
“Are you in the garage? What’s wrong? What’s taking you so long?” Alexis’s voice was filled with worry.
“We have a situation. Don’t come”—The elevator door slid open—“out.”
Reggie bolted out of the elevator with Alexis close behind.
“I said not to come out.” He flipped the phone shut. “This is not some silly fire drill in elementary school. Instead of getting detention for not following the rules, you could get dead.”
“What’s the problem?” Reggie propelled herself towards him and the truck.
He unfolded his long legs and stood. He held up a hand as if he was a crossing guard. “Please, don’t come any closer.”
Alexis nodded towards Reggie. “I tried to stop her, but she wouldn’t listen.”
Reggie stopped, but folded her arms, glaring at Alexis, then at Dylan. “I wasn’t waiting one second longer in that steel tomb. What could be so bad?”
“There’s a bomb under my truck. Now, both of you get back in the elevator.”
Eyes wide, Alexis retraced her steps backward towards the elevator while Reggie moved forward. “Are you sure it’s a bomb?”
“I was a bomb specialist in the Marines, among other things.”
“You were a what?” Reggie’s voice registered shock.
“Just get back.” Dylan pointed at the elevator. “If it blows you’ll be safe from the blast in the elevator..” Dylan stretched out next to the truck to get a closer look. Underneath the belly and near the tailpipe nestled a black metal box with eight wires. Four on each side curved up and out like spider legs. A beautiful, but deadly black widow spider, complete with a flashing red hourglass, awaiting its prey.
Warm air tickled his cheek and neck. He turned towards the warmth and found himself inches away from two enticing green eyes. He inhaled an arousing scent of lilac, feeling the heat of passion between them.
“What…do you see?” Her eyes traveled to his mouth. She licked her lips and took a deep breath.
He needed to concentrate. The bomb. He had to diffuse the bomb.
He jumped up, taking her with him. She trembled against his chest. Or was he the one trembling? His breath was heavy, a fire raging out of control. He wanted to press his lips against hers.
Her face dropped out of sight. She was down and peering under the truck.
Like a giant fishhook, his arm circled her waist, pulling her up, and setting her on her feet.
“I want to see it.” Reggie wobbled.
“Did you ever hear ‘curiosity killed the cat?’” He gently touched her shoulders to steady her.
“I’m not a cat.”
“My point exactly. You don’t have nine lives to play around with. Please go back into the elevator and let me take a look.” He went to the back of the truck and opened a tool box. He grabbed a flashlight and wire cutters.
“Maybe, we…we…should just call the cops?” Alexis said, rising up behind a Chevy Tahoe parked next to the elevator.
“The killer is probably outside waiting for us to leave, so he can make sure Reggie is inside before he detonates the bomb. If he sees the cops he may detonate it early, before I have a chance to diffuse it.”
“Are you nuts?” Alexis squeaked. “You can’t.”
“Sure I can.” He smiled and tried to look reassuring for the ladies. “It’s not my first rodeo with a bomb.”
“Alexis is right, Dylan. We should call the cops and let them handle this.” Reggie grabbed hold of his arm in an attempt to pull him towards the elevator.
He shook his head. “If the bad guys see police descending on us, we risk them detonating the bomb. A lot of people could get hurt.”
He watched Reggie’s demeanor change from scared to business-like. She stood straighter. It was as if she mentally accepted his decision and her responsibility. Admiration bloomed in his heart and mind.
“What can I do to help?” She asked, her voice firm.
“Wait with Alexis by the elevator…just in case.”
“I’m not going anywhere.” Reggie gave Dylan a hard stare.
“Do you have a death wish?” he asked between clenched teeth. Why wouldn’t she just let him keep her safe?
“Do you?” she yelled at him.
“Reggie, you need to listen to him.” Alexis called from inside the elevator.
Reggie turned and glared at her friend.
Alexis threw up her hands. “Fine, be a hero…but this Chicken Little is going to wait right here just in case the sky falls.”
The elevator door slid shut.
****
Reggie breathed a sigh of relief. No reason for Alexis to be hurt, but she refused to shirk her responsibility. She was the reason there was a bomb under Dylan’s truck. If Dylan insisted on doing this, she would be there to help.
Dylan lay down on the dirty concrete and crawled back under the truck. She stared at the floor, wondering how many bugs and spiders were crawling around. Taking a deep breath, she did the same. She scooted close to him.
“Reggie, please go to the elevator with Alexis.” His finger trailed down her cheek. “I don’t want anything to happen to you.”
She scooted closer. The heat of his body soothed her frayed nerves. “And I don’t want anything to happen to you. If you think you can do this, then I trust you.”
“Make yourself useful. Hold this.” He handed her the flashlight.
Without a word, she took the flashlight. Her heart raced and sweat oozed from her palms, but she didn’t dare move the light. Dylan needed it.
God…I’m not good at this praying thing. Please help us. Help Dylan. I don’t want him to die for me. Please keep him safe…
“What are you doing?”
“Why are you whispering? The bomb can’t hear you. I’m going to disarm it,” he said in his normal voice.
“Do you know how?” Incredulity colored her voice.
“I know you think I’m just a country hick, but I’ve done this a million times.”
“Really?”
“No, but I have done it a few times.” He took her hand and guided it. “Flash the light right there.”
She did as she was told. The light bobbed up and down from her shaking hand.
“Use both your hands, Reggie.”
She steadied the light and he moved the wire cutters towards the wires. Reggie noticed his hands shook as well. He separated the wires and snipped one of them. Nothing happened.
“It’s over.” He told her. He snipped more wires and slid the device off the muffler.
“What are you going to do with it?”
He looked around. He walked over to a trash can and put the device in it. “I’ll call the police and they can take care of it.”
“Are you sure it’s safe?”
“For the moment. Tell Alexis goodbye. We need to leave.” He handed her his cell.
The elevator door slid open and Alexis rushed back into the garage. The two friends hugged, Then Reggie climbed in the truck.
“You’ve got my cell phone number. If the police need to talk with me, give it to them.”
Reggie slid close to Dylan. She searched his face for fear, but a confident cowboy looked back.
“Ready?” he asked her.
For a moment, she thought of jumping out and running away. What if he was injured or even killed because of her? Could she live with that? She didn’t know how she’d ended up with this amazing man. She’d probably be dead right now if not for him. Blowing out stale air and her fear, she nodded.
They pulled out of the dimly lit garage into the darkness. Streetlights glared. It took a moment for her eyes to adjust. Her gaze jumped around the outside parking lot. She expected more gunfire or explosions, or some equally horrifying event, after the incident in the garage.
“There they are.” Dylan announced in a voice as calm as if he’d just ordered a hamburger through the drive-thru. How could he stay so calm? “In the black SUV over to your right by the second elm tree.”
“What makes you think so? I can’t see anything.”
“Exactly. The windows are so dark you can’t see them. As we drive past get the plate number. We’ll call it into the police.”
“Maybe, we shouldn’t drive past them.”
He reached over and patted her hand. “It’s OK, they aren’t going to do anything to us. They’ve got their ace in the hole, or so they think.”
Dylan and Reggie drove past the car. She squinted. “The plates have mud on them. I can’t see the numbers.”
“Very professional.”
At the stop sign, he glanced at Reggie. “Fasten your seatbelt. We’ve got to get out of here before they realize we aren’t going to explode.”
“You told me you were a farmer. You didn’t mention being a bomb expert, as well.”
“I didn’t know I’d be needing that skill any longer. Put on your seatbelt.”
She grinned. “You really are the seatbelt police.”
“And don’t forget it.”
She reached for her seatbelt. Dylan turned onto the road and then hit the gas. They surged forward with unexpected speed. Reggie turned around to watch the car. “They’re following us.”
“Tell me where to go. Cleveland’s your town, not mine.”
“Turn left on Chester. There’s an exit to the highway a few blocks away.”
His gaze flitted from one side of the road to the other, and then he ran through the red light. Shocked, she stared at him, then turned to the back window to watch the black SUV. “I see them.”
“Which way? East or West?”
She had no idea what to tell him, but finally said, “East.”
Instead of going east, he took the ramp marked west. Why had he asked if he wasn’t going to listen? As they sped down the ramp, she glanced at the speedometer, it showed seventy-three. She hoped traffic wouldn’t be too heavy, because it didn’t look as if he planned on stopping. He merged into the traffic without a problem.
“You went the wrong way.”
“I know. We don’t actually want them to know which way we’re going. Since they’re following us, they’ll see us going west-bound. When I lose them, they’ll keep heading west. I hope.”
Reggie felt dumb for even bringing it up. “Makes sense.”
“Can you see them?”
She twisted in her seat and stared at the traffic behind them. “I see a black SUV, but I don’t know if it’s them.”
Dylan switched lanes and hit the gas. The cars blurred as they passed. Reggie was amazed when the ever-cautious Dylan reached eighty-five miles-per-hour. After passing several exits, he changed lanes and at the last moment exited the highway.
“Can you get me to another exit?”
Within moments they were back on the highway going east. Reggie looked around. No sign of the black SUV.
Reggie let out her breath. “Did we lose them?”
“We’ll see. Keep an eye out to be sure.”
Neither of them spoke for the next several miles. Reggie’s mind swirled from the day’s events. Had it been just hours ago when they’d walked up to her condo with the only goal being to clean it up? Now her only goal was to stay alive.
A part of her wanted to curl up in a fetal position and cry, but the healthier part kept telling her she’d been through tough times before and survived. She would survive this, as well. Efforts to think of a worse experience failed.
There was the time a foster father had been so angry at her for sassing him he’d put her in a closet for two days, but it hadn’t been as bad as it could have been. The foster mother had given her food and insulin when he wasn’t looking, and given her a pot to use for a toilet.
“What are you doing?”
She jumped. She’d been locked in a closet. Taking a deep breath, she wished she were in that closet at the moment. “I was trying to think of a worse experience than this one.”
“Why?” He turned slightly towards her.
“When I’m going through a bad experience, I think about all the bad things I’ve been through. Then, I tell myself I’ve been through worse, and I will survive this, too.”
“Sounds depressing.”
“Problem is I’m having trouble thinking of something worse than this.” She bit her lip for a moment. “What do you do?”
“I pray.”
“Really? A big strong Marine like you?” It wasn’t the answer she expected. She thought back to her own prayer only minutes earlier. The first time she’d prayed in years. Why would God even listen to her?
“Yep.”
“I used to pray when I was young, but nothing ever changed, so I gave up on God.”
“That’s OK but God hasn’t given up on you.” He gave her a slow smile.
“How can you say that? Someone is trying to kill me and I don’t have the vaguest idea why. It doesn’t sound like God’s on my side.” The anger in her voice surprised her.
“Yeah, but he arranged for us to meet. And you might not know it, but meeting me was a good thing. Together with God’s help, we’re going to get to the bottom of this.”
“You don’t really believe all that stuff, do you?”
“Every bit of it. God’s kept me safe through many things, and he kept you safe today.”
“Have you ever been chased before by bad guys trying to kill a woman you barely know?”
“Can’t say that I have, until now.”