Falling(44)

“This store and one other are the only open properties in this entire lot,” she said. “Only one has a surveillance system, and it hasn’t worked in months.”

Theo hung his head.

If the family wasn’t in the SUV, they needed to move on. They were running out of time and wasting what little they had by just sitting there.

The suspect set the stakes with the explosion at the first site. Following FBI protocol in situations like this was vital to ensuring the second location didn’t hold any more surprises. The bomb squad needed to perform a complete sweep before they could even approach the vehicle.

But FBI protocol didn’t take into account the aircraft’s ETA. Every second the plane got closer to its destination. Every minute counted. Theo checked his watch at the same time Liu did.

They locked eyes. He knew they were thinking the same thing.

“Comms, how long until the bomb squad’s here?” Liu asked into her radio.

“Seven minutes, ma’am,” said a voice.

“And once they’re here, how long to set up, sweep, and clear the car?”

“Probably half an hour.”

The agents looked at each other.

“How long?” Liu asked Theo, meaning until the flight was scheduled to land.

He glanced at his watch again. “About an hour twenty. But the captain will have to gas the cabin before that.”

Liu seemed to measure his words as she stared at the Hoffmans’ SUV. She spit a piece of fingernail out and moved on to another.

“If we wait for clearance and then find out they’re not in the car?” Theo said. “We’ll still have to find them.” Left unsaid was that they’d have no time to do so.

Theo knew he was right. He knew the agents knew he was right. And he knew Liu knew he was right.

She grabbed a helmet.

“No one’s to follow until I say, is that clear?” Liu buckled the chin strap. “I want it on record that I made this decision on my own and I accept full responsibility for whatever happens.”

Theo warmed with fear. It was one thing to be reckless with his life. This was someone else’s life. Theo thought of the politician nodding his head, trusting him.

Since the explosion, excruciating pain had radiated out of his injured left arm, up and down his body, nearly nonstop. He’d blocked it out, a well-honed mental toughness he’d developed over many years of his coaches preaching mind-over-body. But as he watched Liu suit up, the pain seemed to pulse more intensely, as though it were a warning. Doubt crept into Theo’s mind in places it didn’t usually have access to.

“I thought you told me acting like this was a bad idea,” he said, lifting his slung arm.

“It is,” she said, taking her gun from its holster.

Cocking the weapon, she opened the car door and hopped out.

Stunned, they all watched Liu dart across the parking lot, gun drawn, open and exposed, nothing but asphalt between her and the Hoffmans’ vehicle. The sunshade in the windshield would have blocked anyone inside from seeing her head-on advance.

Nearing the vehicle, her gait slowed before she ducked into a squat by the hood of the car, which remained motionless and dark. As she tilted her ear slightly toward the vehicle, Theo became aware of the distant sound of traffic as though his body were taking commands from hers.

Dropping to her hands and knees, Liu peered under the vehicle. Moments later, she popped up, apparently satisfied that the car’s undercarriage was clear.

Brushing off her palms, she crouched and slowly made her way around the driver’s side of the vehicle, keeping the top of her head below the window line. At each door, she inspected the handle for trip wires. She didn’t stop, so Theo assumed the handles were clear as well. Rounding the back bumper, she dropped out of sight.

“Alpha unit lost visual,” the agent in the driver’s seat said.

“We got her,” a voice in Theo’s ear replied. He knew there were snipers locked onto the situation from three different vantage points, triggers ready.

The anticipation in the car was palpable, the enclosed air becoming thick and warm. Theo bit his lip until he thought it might bleed.

“Standby…” one of the agents with a visual on Liu said in their ears. Then there was a scratching sound followed by a string of very loud, very angry, expletives.

“Clear,” Liu’s voice said. “No one touches the car until the bomb squad sweeps. But the family’s not here.” Reappearing around the back of the car, Liu jammed her gun into its holster and checked her watch.

Theo checked his watch too. They’d have to wait for the techs to clear the car before they could search for evidence, but the chances that the suspect left anything useful behind were slim. Fingerprints, DNA; he wouldn’t be that careless. There wasn’t time to run it anyway.

Theo climbed out of the car wondering where the terrorist would have taken the family. And in what? Liu was looking up at the night sky beyond the gnats that swarmed in the plaza’s streetlights. Theo looked up and saw a plane, miles above, its lights flashing on and off as it flew by.

Liu pressed the palms of her hands into her eyes for a moment before sighing loud enough for Theo to hear. Reaching into her pocket, she took out her phone.

Theo strode over the dirty parking lot asphalt, and with each step he reminded himself to focus. Lay out the evidence for review. Assemble the clues.