“Or whoever it is planted a few more. No one would have noticed,” she said, glaring down at her phone. She tapped on the reply box and began typing.
“What are you doing?”
“We need to know what these people want.” Biting her lip, she tapped out a message.
What do you want? How do we stop this?
She showed the display to Jake, then shifted on the bench, trying to get comfortable without leaning back against the weighty pack. Gnawing her bottom lip, she gripped the phone tighter, willing the person on the other end to answer. Long minutes passed before Jake rose. When the message came through, it made her blood run cold.
I have a dozen reasons. Cooperate.
“Jake,” she said, her voice a little shakier than she’d like.
But he was already moving to leave. “I’m sending someone down to stay nearby while I talk to Aronson and find out what the plan—”
Whatever he was going to say next was lost in the void following a shattering explosion. Jake dropped to one knee in front of her, but Max stood his ground. Cassidy twisted on the bench, hindered by the bulk of the backpack as she cast about, trying to ascertain the location of the explosion.
Booted feet pounded the pavement. She caught sight of a group of firefighters beating a path toward the north gate. Her radio crackled to life. Bud Thompson’s voice came across, brusque and breathless. “North ticket booth blown to smithereens.”
She grabbed at her handset, nearly ripping the belt loop from her pants in her haste. “Is the area secured? Casualties?”
“Negative,” came the gruff, disembodied voice. “On our way.”
“Stay put,” Jake commanded, snapping her attention to him.
She glared at him. “I’m getting tired of people telling me to stay on this stupid ride.”
“Do it anyway,” he ordered. “We don’t know what this person’s plan or goal is. All we can do at this point is follow their orders as best we can.”
“But we can’t just let them—”
“We don’t know who ‘they’ are, or what ‘they’ want, Cass,” he cut in. “The safest thing you can do for any of us is to stay put, because right now, we only know exactly where one of these bombs is, and your number one priority should be to avoid getting blown sky high. Now, stay put.” He sucked in a breath, then let it go with a huffy, “Please.”
Chapter Three
Cassidy watched as the man who’d once been the boy she loved walked away from her. Again. She scowled as Jake and his four-legged partner leaped from the ride and took off at a jog. Refusing to give in to nostalgia, she turned her back resolutely on the action and slumped in her seat, clamping down on her lip to keep from sinking into a full-fledged sulk.
“Two minutes.”
The words echoed in her memories. It was the exact amount of time her grandmother had used to allow Cassidy to feel sorry for herself as a child. Two whole minutes to play “Oh, woe is me” before getting up and getting on with things.
But before she was even a minute into her pity party, her phone buzzed. Dread pooled in her stomach as she looked down at the notification on the screen. Another unknown number with an all-knowing message.
High noon. Glad you could never resist playing the hero.
Midnight’s going to be the real banger.
High noon. Midnight.
Twelve.
A dozen.
Cassidy sucked in a sharp breath and waited for the puzzle pieces to slot into place. She read the text twice more before pressing the button on her two-way. “Thompson, I need you and our guys to do everything you can to clear any extraneous personnel from the grounds. Tell the vendors to pack it in for the day. Cancel competition judging. Livestock and creative arts.” She rubbed her forehead between her thumb and forefinger. “We need to do something about evacuating the exhibitors camping on site.”
“On it,” came his response.
She waited a beat then called Bud again. “And if you see Colonel Aronson from the State Police, tell him I think we have a ticking clock situation here.”