Page 44 (1/2)

Her eyes shot to the rearview mirror every two seconds, but no one else was there Not the CIA Not Marcus

A shard of grief stabbed through her at the thought If she hadn’t failed hione terribly wrong

This was al Lana’s fault Kara could torture her for lifetih to make up for what Marcus had done Never

NoIt was time for Lana to die

The art auction was at two The youth center would be packed Lana would be there So would her doting, supportive family One cal to the cel phone attached to the bomb Kara had planted and Lana would be shredded into so many bits they’d never find them al

It was better than she deserved

Caleb’s phone vibrated against his hip, and he had to dig through the grassy layers of a hula skirt to find it When he saw the caler ID list a private nu him as a mannequin and stepped out of the tent

"Stone here"

"We searched the place where Kara was living I think we’ve got a situation," said Monroe

"What kind?"

Monroe was silent for so long Caleb thought he wasn’t going to respond Finaly, he said, "The kind Miles Gentry ht cause"

A bomb Miles Gentry was an expert in explosives, which hy Caleb had taken the man’s place--he knew his way around a detonator

The sun beat down on Caleb’s black hair, but al he felt was cold

"What did you find?" asked Caleb

"Not much Tools But the place was so clean otherwise, they stood out We’ve got s on the way to help you sniff out any probleh what he needed to do to deal with the threat He wanted to find Lana, but there wasn’t tier as she was Al these kids were in danger "But on the way isn’t good enough I’"

"Be careful," said Monroe

"Yes, sir"

Caleb hung up the phone and ducked back into the tent, where Grant was being painted by a group of little girls

"Gotta go, Kent," he told Grant

Grant looked up, and Caleb could see that he knew this was business He didn’t ask any questions, just extracted hi a handful of ipes to clean his face

"We need to clear the entire area Round up the men Set up a perimeter Have everyone spread out, and disperse the crowd as quickly and quietly as possible I’l clear the youth center"

"I’

Caleb ran for the youth center and Lana

He entered the building and spotted her standing near the podiu God, he loved her He didn’t want to leave her even for a day

How the hel was he going to live a lifetime without her?

There was time to worry about that later, if he was lucky Now he needed to get everyone out of the building

As if sensing his gaze, she looked up, and al the color drained fro the center aisle of chairs that had been blocked off for the auction A crowd circled the outer edge of the seating, but they were separated froet

"What’s wrong?" she asked hi

"We need to clear the building There may be an explosive device in here"

"A boet them out of here It’s not saf--"

Caleb claan to turn and stare "Listen toto deal with this I need you to stay calm and do exactly what I say Do you understand?"

Lana gave a shaky nod

"Good Now, I need a microphone"

Lana ran to the podiu Caleb was right on her heels