Chapter Fifteen
Cassidy watched as the officers from various agencies filed back up the hill.
Colonel Aronson brought up the rear of the reluctant retreat.
She stroked Max’s soft fur as the dog lay panting over a collapsible bowl filled with fresh water.
As far as she was concerned, the golf cart was all his.
Bad knees and bunions were no longer a valid excuse; Bud would have to hoof it for a while.
“Colonel,” Jake said as the older man approached. “What’s the situation down there?”
“Fire department is coating the place in foam,” he said in a brusque tone. “On the upside, we have twelve devices accounted for. By my count, we have seven detonated, four located, one disarmed.”
She watched as Jake tallied the devices up in his head then nodded. “Yes.”
“You just had to throw backpack in there,” the colonel groused.
Jake grimaced and Cassidy felt compelled to rush into the fray. “It was my idea,” she said, but the claim sounded false even to her own ears. “I mean I agreed with Agent Donovan. The area was already torn up, so there was no point in carrying it to another location.”
Colonel Aronson shook his head in the affirmative. “You are correct. It means we’ll have to wait for our friend to set it off though.”
“Not if we find him first,” Jake said, rolling off the cart onto his feet. “We suspect he’s been holed up in the amusement company’s command post over in the RV park.”
“I doubt he’s still there,” Aronson said.
“If he isn’t, there may be clues as to where he would go,” Cassidy chimed in. “But I have a feeling he hasn’t bailed yet.”
Colonel Aronson turned to look at her, eyes narrowing. “Why do you say that?”
“Has he texted?” Jake demanded, speaking over his superior.
“What? No.” Cassidy wagged her head, but a pang of guilt shot through her. “I don’t know.”
She hadn’t even thought to check the mobile phones she’d retrieved from the rubble. The moment they’d seen Max was hurt, everything else had fallen by the wayside. She extracted the devices from the pocket of her rumpled blazer.
She had unread messages on both.
Cassidy’s hands shook as she opened her personal cell. The first message read simply:
You’d better be on that ride.
Then there was another sent two minutes after the first.
I mean it. You move, I blow this thing.
She handed Jake the phone, incredulous. “Does he really think I’ll continue to sit there with the whole thing falling down around me?” She waved an arm in the general direction of the midway. “You were right. There’s no way for us to salvage this.”
“But now we know he lost track of you. We also know he’s triggering the devices manually.” He surveyed their immediate vicinity. “We have four active IEDs on site,” Jake reminded her. “And a guy who has an ax to grind running loose around here.”
“Yeah, well, I’ve had enough,” Cassidy announced. She marched back to the cart.
“What are you going to do?” Jake asked.
“I’m going to start searching the RVs,” she said, plucking the heavy light from its holster. Dropping into the driver’s seat of the golf cart, she swiveled to look back at Jake and Max. “I’m taking the cart.”
The lines bracketing Jake’s mouth deepened when he frowned. “I don’t know if—”
But she cut him off by twisting the key. Reaching down, she switched the toggle to put it into Reverse. A high, hollow warning signal proclaimed her intention to back up. She quirked an eyebrow at Jake when he made no move to remove himself or take his dog from the rear deck.
“You guys coming with me?”
“Cass, you can’t go running off—”
“Watch me.”
She pressed the brake to the floorboard then released it. The cart began to roll without so much as a tap to the accelerator. The group assembled behind them scattered like chickens. She stomped the brake and the cart jerked to a halt.
“It could be dangerous,” he argued.
“All the bombs are up here,” she said, waving an arm out in front of her.
“I’m not talking about the bombs. I’m talking about the bomber,” he countered.
“You think he’s sitting around waiting for someone to come a-knocking?” she scoffed. When he made no move to get off the cart, she tried to reason with him. “It’s more likely we’d catch him roaming around the wreckage. I haven’t answered his texts. He’ll want to get a closer look.”
Jake swore softly under his breath, but she felt no triumph in winning this round. His jaw flexed, the little muscle in the corner twitching with tension, as he stared off in the direction of the east parking lots. At last, he blew out a gusty breath and said, “I’m coming with you.”
Cassidy blinked, surprised by his decision. “What about Max?”
“He’s coming, too.” Jake wrapped one hand around the canopy support, then hooked the other under Max’s harness.
“But he’s hurt,” she argued.
“Even hurt, he’ll be an asset to us.”
She glanced back, but Max only returned her stare, remarkably bright eyed. Darting a glance at Colonel Aronson, she asked, “Shouldn’t you check to see where they need you?”
He busied himself with checking Max’s bandage. “They have plenty of coverage for the three sites they can access. I’m thinking he’ll keep everyone away from the midway for now.”
“What if our guy is skulking around there?”
“I’m sure he’ll secure the perimeter and have the fire department continue to monitor for flare-ups.
” He flashed a wry smile. “But I tossed an undetonated device into the mess, remember? I’m not going to presume to tell the colonel how to handle his scene.
I’m probably not at the top of his list of favorite people right now. ”
She chanced another peek at the stern-faced commander. “Taking off might be a one-way ticket to the bottom.”
“Not if we find something to help us grab this guy.” His expression melted into a grim smirk. “I’m already in the doghouse, Cass. Maybe, if we can get a bead on this guy, I won’t be busted down to highway patrol when this is all over.”
Her heart squeezed. She could see genuine worry in his eyes, but also the steely glint of determination. Jake Donovan had worked his way up the ranks of his chosen profession, and he’d put it all on the line because some madman had decided he wanted to take her out.
She flipped the switch to put the cart into Drive. Then she handed him both of her mobile phones and said, “If you’re coming along for the ride, make yourself useful,” before punching the accelerator.
They zipped down the concrete path leading to the rear of the arena, then down the opposite side of the hill.
The east parking areas of the fairgrounds were reserved for exhibitor and vendor trailers and RVs.
They were crammed into the narrow lot bumper to bumper.
From this vantage point, Cass thought it looked as packed as a dealership lot.
She let off the pedal as they approached the end of the walkway.
“Bump,” she warned as she approached the transition from concrete to grass.
“Got it.” He let out an exaggerated grunt and held on to Max as they rolled over the uneven terrain.
“I’m gonna head to the south end and work my way north,” she said, shouting over her shoulder to be sure he heard her over the noise of the cart.
“I’ll keep an eye out for any out-of-state tags or vehicles that look like they may be a rental.”
“Good idea,” she shouted. “A lot of the local farms and operations will put their logos somewhere on the vehicle. It doesn’t sound like the amusement company bothered to take the time.”
“Agreed.” Jake leaned over the seat and pointed to a shiny new RV. “I’m guessing a rental will likely be a newer model.”
Cassidy let off the gas and turned to shoot him a smile. “You’re smarter than you look, Donovan.”
“You don’t think I look smart?”
“Seems unfair is all,” she said with a cavalier shrug.
“How so?”
“To be smart and pretty,” she said as they coasted to a halt beside the large RV.
There were no markers indicating it belonged to one of the local ranchers or any of the myriad other businesses that supplied the fair. When she glanced back over her shoulder, she found Jake staring at her intently. “What?”
“Sounds suspiciously like flirting, Cassidy Walker.”
“I’m not sure you’d know the flirting if you heard it, Donovan,” she answered and slid from the driver’s seat. “I’m going to go check this tag.”
Jake pulled his phone from his belt and slid off the rear deck of the cart. He gave Max a firm pat and a gentle command. “Stay.”
As he followed her around to the back of the bus, he said, “Did Bud ask them to send over the rental agreement?”
“I’m sure he did, but I don’t think we’ve seen it yet.”
“It should have the make, model and at least a VIN on it, if not a plate number.”
Cassidy pivoted in his direction and tapped her temple. “You’re getting smarter by the second, Donovan.”
“Does mean I’m getting prettier, too?”
Cassidy spotted an Arkansas plate as well as a bumper sticker with a rearing horse that read, “Hey! Ho! We’re Off to the Rodeo.”
She turned to return to the front of the vehicle and ran smack into Jake’s chest. “Oof!”
He caught her upper arms and held her steady, making sure her feet were planted beneath her before loosening his grip. “Okay there?”
“I’m fine. It’s hard to believe the earth is still spinning after being stuck on ride for so many hours. Hardly feels like it’s moving at all,” she said, attempting a weak smile.
“You’re going to have to get used to gravity again, and life without excessive g-forces. You might as well be an astronaut,” he added with a wry smile.
She took a quick step back. A chill raised over her arms the second the warmth of his hands was gone. Still feeling unsteady, she groped for better equilibrium. “Arkansas tags,” she blurted. “There’s also a rodeo bumper sticker. Looks like we have a bronc rider.”
He tipped his head in the direction at the door, “Should we give it a knock?”
“We evacuated most of the people staying on site.”
“Can’t hurt to try,” he said, striding too the door. He rapped on it sharply then stepped back, his hands coming to rest on his hips.