Falling(35)

Goosebumps spread up Bill’s arms and wrapped around the back of his neck with an icy prickle.

Sam resumed his typing. Seemingly finished, he laid the phone down with a smug smile. “Your refusal to cooperate has forced my hand. It’s time for Plan B.”

Bill could feel his heartbeat in his throat. He strained to listen to the sounds coming from the cabin, waiting for muffled screams. An explosion. Panic and chaos. Something. Anything.

But all he heard was the hum of the engines.

And then, there it was.

So loud he almost jumped.

The unmistakable cock of a single-action hammer.

Bill turned slowly toward his copilot.

“Sorry, boss,” Ben said, extending the barrel of the gun.





CHAPTER FOURTEEN


THEO AND THE OTHER AGENTS stood across from the Hoffman home, which was disintegrating into little more than a smoldering pile of rubble. Lone structural beams rose up from the foundation here and there. Embers glowed inside withering timbers. In the haze of the late-fall golden hour, the house took on an odd quality of aliveness. Like a felled beast, her wounded form exhaled its final breaths: black smoke rising and dissolving into the atmosphere.

A heavy crack sounded from somewhere in the rubble. Everyone turned to see the house shift, a charred piece of a wall crumbling into the foundation. Liu never moved.

“What about cars?” she asked the fire captain.

“Garage was empty.”

Liu chewed on the inside of her cheek. “Two-car family. One brought Bill to work. The other…” She cracked her knuckles. “Check the database and put out a citywide alert on their cars, priority on whatever seems like it would be the family car. A minivan or an SUV.”

The agent standing next to Theo nodded and walked away, punching buttons on a device.

“Did you find any cable equipment?” Liu asked, turning back to the fireman. “Or anything that seemed out of place in a family home?”

The fire captain looked at the house and back. “Ma’am, that fire was completely catastrophic. I don’t know what to tell you. That house is a dead end.”

Liu nodded her thanks as he walked off.

“Ma’am?” came a voice through Theo’s earpiece. “We’ve heard back from CalCom. There was no record of a service visit for the Hoffmans today. They also don’t have any male employees with a name that starts with the letter S. And all company service vehicles are accounted for.”

Watching Liu’s jaw clench, Theo wondered if the rest of the agents also felt the impulse to take a step back from her.

“Tell me you got something,” she said to the two agents walking up.

“Nothing,” one of them said. “Two neighbors have video surveillance, but none of the camera angles cover the Hoffmans’ property.”

“So,” she said, “we don’t have a name, location, or description of our suspect.”

No one challenged her.

“If the captain knows this guy blew up his house—and let’s assume he does—he’s got to be getting scared. This guy isn’t a hack. I mean…” She gestured toward the house. Turning back to the team, she said, “I want to know more about the captain. Who is he, and why should we trust him. Our priority is the family. But we got a whole plane full of people to think about as well, not to mention Washington, DC.”

Liu glanced down the street to where the media had assembled. Looking around the group of agents in full SWAT gear, her gaze landed on Theo. With a sinking feeling, he knew where this was headed.

“You,” she said to him with a nod at the reporters. “Deal with them.”



* * *



Five media vans lined the street on the other side of the yellow caution tape that surrounded the perimeter. The satellite dishes on top of the vans all angled the same way, the side doors opened to expose similar control panels.

This wasn’t Theo’s first time acting as spokesperson for an investigation—but it was his first time lying about one.

“Gas leak?” one of the reporters said, clearly skeptical. “Then why haven’t you evacuated the rest of the neighborhood?”

“OG&E is assuring us it was an isolated event,” Theo said, trying not to squint. The lights from the camera were a lot to handle with a concussion.

Another reporter didn’t wait to be called on. “But the FBI was already on scene when the explosion happened. Why?”

“We were responding to a report that a cable worker might have cut a gas line. We were here in an abundance of caution.”

“But SWAT? And—” The reporter pointed at Theo’s injured arm, tucked against his body in a sling.

“I’m feeling pretty lucky,” Theo said, glancing over his shoulder at the house.

“Was anyone else hurt? Was anyone home at the time of the explosion?”

Theo immediately flashed to the politician.

“The investigation is ongoing, and I’m not at liberty to comment on that,” he said, trying hard to keep emotion out of his voice. He spoke quickly before anyone could lob another question. “Ladies and gentlemen, thank you very much. I’m sorry we don’t have more information at this time. When I get something new, you’ll know.” Turning, he ducked under the yellow tape.