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Oran gave hirunt

"Bet you’d like that tape off your et to it in a minute Just want tooff if you move too much"

Oran went co that led hier the explosion with a shift of his body weight, so he eased a corner of the tape up and ripped it off the asp of pain Oran gave hi on? How did I get here?" Oran asked

He cut the tape around Oran’s ar I re to talk to Lana My head’s kiling me Someone must have knockedto talk to Lana about He was pretty sure that whatever it ould only piss hiht now

"Can you walk?" asked Caleb

Oran nodded "I think so"

"Good Get the hel out so I can disarm this bomb"

"By yourself?" asked Oran, horrified

"You see anyone else standing around?"

"You should wait for the bo off in the et here, I’et out I don’t have tione before the echo of Caleb’s voice in the ee room settled

Caleb puled in a deep breath and went to work

CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE

The press arrived at the youth center within minutes of the evacuation, their ca Lana was inundated with questions, and microphones were thrust into her face

"Is it true there’s a bomb inside?" asked one reporter

"We have reports of a release of nerve toxin Can you confirm that?" asked another

"Have you received any threats before today?"

"Can you think of any reason why your foundation would be targeted?"

They kept co at her with questions, some of the same ones over and over Lana spent what see questions when al she wanted to do was find Caleb and ot fro, looking like he’d wet his pants Reporters swar Oran’s appearance in e up for the rest of Oran’s career, she was sure of it

The boone into the building, but minutes crawled by, and no one had come out yet

Some of the reporters left Oran to come back and attack Lana with more repetitive questions Lana finaly had to resort to "No co off the reporters He puled her beyond a line of police tape where the reporters couldn’t get to her "I got word fro the place for more, but with any luck the threat is over"

Lana kept her knees locked to prevent herself froripped her arm and steadied her "You okay?"

"I wil be if everyone gets out of this alive" Worry crushed her, er here She’d put the lives of so many people at risk

Whatever it took, she could never let this happen again If she had to go into protective custody, that’s what she’d do Her freedo compared to the lives of the kids at the youth center and their fa compared to Caleb’s safety

He had put hi in there alone She knew his job was dangerous, but knowing and witnessing it were two different things And this danger she’d brought down upon him herself If only she’d told him about Kara earlier, maybe they could have avoided this Maybe he would have been able to stop Kara, take her into custody before she could have planted the bomb

It was too late for that The mistakes she’d made were set in stone, but that didn’tto take responsibility for her role in this disaster Publicly She didn’t kno she would find the strength to do it, but she would Somehow

"We’re clear," said Grant

"Tel thes, just to be sure," ordered Caleb

"They’ve done two They’re sure Booing home until they’re sure the exterior is clear, too"

"Good You and I can folow a lead, then"

"What lead?" asked Grant

There were stil way too many ears around for Caleb’s peace of mind "Not here Outside"

Caleb and Grant slipped out through the croithout tipping off the press

When they were out of earshot, Caleb said, "Monroe traced the cel phone used to trigger the bomb to a man named Dennis Nelson"

"Not Kara?"

"No I’ve got his address"

"This is Kara’s boyfriend, or so we thought I’ue He was too glad Grant was here to lend a hand and et back to Lana in one piece

They geared up on the drive over, donning vests and headsets to keep them in constant coe as they neared the Nelson residence

The man’s house was a run-down little place that matched al the others on the block The cracker box had been built right after World War II and looked like it hadn’t been painted since A flower box ful of weeds graced the single front