caused by Boyd Sullivan. And Oliver was one of the most determined people on the elite investigative team formed especially to hunt Sullivan down and bring him to justice. Truth was, they all wanted the killer caught and were working overtime in order to do that.
Nick belonged to the Explosive Ordnance Disposal unit and had gotten the call shortly after the explosion happened. He’d raced from his home and arrived to find the organized chaos he was now in the middle of. If the EOD unit had been called, then someone thought the damage to the building had been caused by a bomb—and they wanted to make sure there weren’t any more explosives waiting to go off. Which he would be happy to do just as soon as he could get close enough.
Security Forces with assault rifles flooded the area and stood ready should there be another attempt to attack, although Nick figured whoever was responsible was long gone. But Canyon Air Force Base had an action plan for this kind of thing and it had been put into place immediately.
From the corner of his eye, he caught sight of Heidi Jenks, one of the base reporters, talking to an OSI investigator.
He scoffed. Boy, she didn’t waste a second, did she? He sure hoped the investigator knew how to keep his mouth shut. The last thing they needed was for her to write a story before the facts were even determined.
She ran a hand over her wavy blond hair and rubbed her eyes. He frowned. Where was her ever-present notebook? And why did she look so disheveled?
Annie pulled on the leash and Nick let her lead him over to a large block of concrete. She sat. And he stiffened at her signal, which indicated a bomb. While he didn’t think the piece of concrete itself was going to explode, it obviously had explosives residue on it. She looked at him expectantly. “Good girl, Annie, good girl.” He took a treat from his pocket and she wolfed it down.
He set his backpack on the ground and pulled out the items he needed to take a sample of the cement. Once that was done, he placed the evidence back in his pack and scratched Annie’s ears.
“What was that?” a voice asked. A voice he recognized and sometimes heard in his dreams. Against his will.
He looked up and found himself staring at a pair of bandaged knees. The blood on the torn pants had a story to tell. Nick stood and looked down into Heidi Jenks’s blue eyes. Eyes he could drown in if he’d let himself. But she was so off-limits in the romance department that he banished the thought from his mind as soon as it popped in.
“No comment.”
“Come on, Nick.”
“Just something I want to take a closer look at.”
She turned away to look at the smoking building. Fire trucks still poured water onto it. It could take hours to put the fire out. “It was a bomb, wasn’t it?” she said when she turned back to him.
He pursed his lips. “Why do you jump to that conclusion?”
“What else could it be?” She shrugged. “Why else would you and Annie be here along with other members of EOD? You’re going to have to check to make sure there aren’t any more bombs, aren’t you?”
Nick knew Heidi because he’d read her newspaper articles and some of the stories she’d written. Most people would consider them to be fluff pieces, but the truth was, he could see her heart behind them. And whether he wanted to admit it or not, he liked it. He and Heidi had had a few conversations, and each time, he’d wanted to prolong them. Which was weird for him. He didn’t do conversations with people like Heidi. Users who just went after the story without worrying about the fallout. Even though his gut told him she wasn’t like that. But she had to be. Otherwise he could lose his heart to her. And that couldn’t happen. No way.
“Good deductive reasoning,” he told her. “But did you think it was possible that I just wanted to see what was going on?”
“No.”
“Hmm. You’re right. Annie and I’ll have to check for more bombs as soon as we get the green light. And that’s not confidential so I’m not worried about you saying anything.”
She sighed. “Look, I know with all the rumors circulating, no one wants to talk to me, but this...this is different.”
An anonymous blogger had been reporting on the Red Rose Killer, his targets and the investigation. Reporting on things that no one but those involved in the investigation could know. Rumor had it that Heidi was the blogger. As a result, she’d been mostly ostracized from anything considered newsworthy when it came to the Red Rose Killer. But Heidi was persistent. He’d give her that.
He nodded to the torn pants and bandaged knees.
“What happened to you?”
She glanced down. “I got knocked off my feet by the blast.”
He raised a brow. “You were here?”
“Yes.”
Well, that put a new light on things. “Did you see anything?”
“I don’t know. Maybe.”
“Either you did or you didn’t.”
A scowl pulled her brows down. “Then I think I did.”
“What did you see exactly?”
She drew in a deep breath. “Like I told the OSI agent, I think I may have seen the bomber.”
* * *
At Nick’s indrawn breath and instant flash of concern, Heidi felt slightly justified in her dramatic announcement. She shrugged, not nearly as nonchalant as she hoped she came across. “Honestly, I don’t know if he was the bomber or not, but I sure saw someone who looked like he was up to no good. He had on dark clothing and a hoodie—and a ski mask. Why wear a ski mask unless you don’t want anyone to know who you are? Anyway, he took that off right before he turned around and looked at me.”
“Tell me everything.”
As she talked about the man in the hoodie with the ice-cold blue eyes running from the scene, Nick’s frown deepened. “You might be fortunate he was in a hurry to get away.”
“I think that’s a reasonable assumption.” Just the thought of him sent fear skittering up her spine.
“So, he knows you saw him.”
“Oh, yes, he knows. OSI is rounding up a sketch artist for me to work with.” She shivered and crossed her arms at the memory of the man’s brief pause, as though he’d considered coming after her. Thankfully, he’d been in a hurry, more worried about getting away from the impending explosion. But she had seen his face. Well, some of it. The hoodie had hidden his hair color and some of his features, but she’d be able to identify those blue eyes anywhere and anytime.
“All right, stick close,” Nick said. “I’m going to let Annie keep working and we’ll see what she comes up with.”
For the next thirty minutes, Heidi did as instructed and stayed right with him. Not just so she could collect facts for the story, but because she was just plain rattled. Okay, scared. She’d admit it. She was afraid and feeling decidedly out of her depth.
But
