Relentless Pursuit (23 page)

Tammy shrugged and turned on the computer. As she sat back up, she knocked the Sanderson file to the ground. Notes spilled out and Tammy let out a puff of air in annoyance as she bent back over to pick it up. She gathered it up and then reached under her chair for the last piece of paper. That’s when she saw it. She was bent to the side and could see the red light coming from the bottom of her office chair. 

Tammy gulped. She didn’t know what it was, but it couldn’t be good. She straightened up as fear paralyzed her. The door opened and she looked in fear as a person entered. She swallowed hard, terrified to even say a word as she watched Bridget walk happily into the office.

“Hey, Tammy! I got you that pepper spray we talked about,” Bridget said as Marko’s head shot up sniffing the air. Marko pulled hard on the leash. Bridget let go, thinking he wanted to see Tammy. Marko sniffed some more and barked excitedly as he ran over to Tammy and sat down, his eyes never leaving the chair Tammy was sitting on. “Oh crap,” Bridget whispered as she called Marko off the positive indication for explosives.

“Is it a bomb?” Tammy whispered.

“Hold on and I’ll tell you. Just don’t move.” Bridget walked close to Tammy and then crawled under her chair on her back to take a look. “Um, yeah, it’s a bomb. A nasty one, too. It’s on a pressure sensor. If you stand up, it’ll go off.”

Tammy fought the instinct to run. She took a couple deep breaths and waited for Bridget to finish her inspection of the bomb. “Is it something you can turn off?”

“No. This is very intricate and there are even false leads here. It may look like the right wire to cut but could mean instant detonation. I have an Air Force buddy on the bomb squad. He’ll know who to call.” Bridget crawled back out and stood up. “Let me take Marko to the car and I’ll be right back.”

Tammy waited impatiently for Bridget and gave a sigh of relief when she heard the door open. Only it wasn’t Bridget, it was Miss Lily. “Miss Lily! You gotta leave, right now!” Tammy whispered. She knew the bomb wouldn’t go off, but she felt it didn’t need any surprises to scare it either.

“What, dear? I can’t hear you,” Miss Lily said with a happy smile on her face as she walked further into the office.

“You need to leave now! It’s not safe.” Tammy raised her voice and saw that Miss Lily finally heard her.

“Oh, pish-posh. Your men are right outside talking with Bridget. We’re perfectly safe. I can’t say the same about Jasmine, though.”

“Miss Lily, there is a bomb under my chair that could go off at any minute! You need to leave right now!” Tammy felt the tears start to roll down her face. She didn’t want to die and she certainly didn’t want to kill anyone else if she did go.

“A bomb! Goodness gracious!” Miss Lily was clearly shocked, but then she smiled. “Does John know? Of course he doesn’t. If he did, everyone in town would be here! I got the scoop and I'm going to feed it to that old goat!” Miss Lily pulled out her cell phone and placed the first call to the café, the second to her neighbor, Edna, and the last to Pam Gilbert.

“Miss Lily, there’s a good chance I'm going to die. Why don’t you just drop this act and admit you like Mr. Wolfe?”

“I can’t have him thinking I’m loose. He stole two kisses from me and I intend to make him work for the third.” Then Miss Lily just waved her hand in the air. “And you’re not going to die. You have the best of the best on their way. They’ll find a way to disarm it. Now, do you want to hear about Jasmine?”

Miss Lily clearly wasn’t afraid of the bomb. She pulled up a chair and took a seat as they waited for the rush of people to come. Tammy was guessing they had less than a minute before the first group arrived.

“Sure, why not? I’m not going anywhere.” Tammy exhaled and just hoped the bomb wasn’t set off by gossip.

“Well, Neely Grace and Mary Alice called a meeting of the Belles and they kicked Jasmine out! Now, we weren’t privy to all of what was said, but apparently it was very heated. Jasmine stormed out and rumor has it she was seen being dropped off at her house by one Detective Cowell last night. But, what else is interesting is that Neely Grace was elected president of the Belles and they've already started to change their ways. Why, it was announced just yesterday at church that they were holding a bake sale to raise money to send care packages to all the deployed soldiers from Keeneston.”

Before Tammy could tell Miss Lily how much she liked Neely Grace, they heard what sounded like a body hitting the door. Nabi was plastered against the door trying to keep out what looked to be the whole café.

“And, it seems that Neely Grace and Henry are going strong, although I don’t know if I'd want to be in a family with Martha. I mean, you know how much of a stickler she is at the D.A.’s office. Can you imagine Sunday dinner?” Miss Lily shuddered and ignored the mob of gossipers currently trying to pry Nabi from the door.

“Do you think you should go help him?” Tammy nodded to the door where Miss Violet was hitting Nabi with her wooden spoon.

“Nah. They’ll get in soon enough. So, did Pierce make up for yesterday?” Miss Lily continued completely indifferent to the near-riot occurring outdoors.

Because this could be the last conversation she might have, she might as well enjoy it. “Yes. He was really sweet and apologized. Then we had mind-blowing sex.” If Miss Lily could be so nonchalant, then so could she. However, she was really disappointed when Miss Lily didn’t flutter about in shock.

“I bet. Make-up sex is always the best,” she said with a nod of her white head.

“Miss Lily!”

“What? I was young once, too, you know,” Miss Lily said with a shrug.

“What are you talking about? You’re still young,” Henry said as he walked in from the back.

“Where did you come from?” Miss Lily asked as she looked from Henry to where Edna was pointing a huge gun at Nabi to try to force him to move.

“I used the back door. I guess no one thought of that. So, you’re sitting on a bomb? Don’t think you’re getting workers’ comp for this,” Henry joked as he pulled up another seat.

“Ha-ha. I could just cash in all my vacation time considering I’ve never taken more than a day here and there for five years. You owe me for almost a year by now.” Tammy took a breath and tried to stay light-hearted, but it wasn’t working. She was literally sitting on death. “I guess I can’t convince you and Miss Lily to leave.”

“Nope. Bridget, Marshall, Ahmed, and Annie have quietly left the deputies and Mo’s men out front and made their way to the back. They’re talking with bomb experts and I’m to tell you that some Air Force guy in the explosive ordinance disposal unit is flying in and will meet with the Lexington and Kentucky State Police bomb squads. Those guys all know each other and then they’ll come up with a plan of action.” Henry leaned back in his chair and calmly crossed his ankles as he stretched out his legs.

“How long will that take?” Tammy was trying not to get nervous. If it meant her life, then she’d sit here forever.

“Lexington Bomb Squad will be here in about ten minutes. State police in about twenty and the specialist was down at the 101st Airborne giving a talk. They’re flying up in a Blackhawk and landing at Mo’s farm in about…” Henry looked at his watch, “…twenty-five minutes. Hang in there. We’ll have you out in time for lunch.”

“Has anyone called Pierce?”

“We can’t get an answer. Marshall put an A.P.B. on him and he’ll be here soon,” Henry said with a smile she knew was fake. At least he wasn’t as unaffected as she thought. They were just really good actors and friends. While Tammy worried about their safety, she didn’t know what she would've done if she didn’t have Miss Lily there to get the scoop on Henry and his new girlfriend. She'd have to find some way to thank them, because they were the only reason she was able to remain calm.

Pierce sat in the passenger’s seat of Paige’s truck and knew something was wrong the instant they arrived in town. The streets were packed with people. No one was inside. They were all walking toward downtown, but a barricade stopped them as they tried to drive to Southern Charms. Noodle came racing out to them waving his arms and screaming into his radio.

“Thank goodness! Where have you been? Answer your phone, man!” Noodle yelled as Pierce jumped out of the truck. He pulled out his phone and saw he had twenty-three missed calls and his heart stopped beating.

“Tammy?” He barely got out.

“Alive for now. She’s sitting on a live bomb at the office. Bomb squads from all around the state are here. They’re just now setting up. You better hurry!”

Pierce took off at a dead run. The people in the streets saw him coming and moved out of the way as they headed to the troopers’ barricade to see what was happening. Pierce was stopped by a state trooper and thought he’d punch the guy as he explained who he was.

“Let him through!” Bridget yelled from the doorway of the office. Pierce sprinted the remaining fifty yards and stopped as Bridget, Miles, and Ahmed stepped forward to keep him out of the office.

“Is Tammy going to be okay?” he asked again as he tried to see her.

“She’s being briefed. Look, Pierce, the three of us have looked at the device before the bomb squads got here. If we’re right, then there’s a secondary trigger that will blow within seconds of the main wire being cut.” Miles put his hand on Pierce’s shoulder and made him look at him. “Do you understand what I'm saying?”

“That no matter what, it’s going to blow?” Pierce fought the urge to hyperventilate. He took a deep breath and tried not to break down.

“Is this him?” a man who looked like he belonged on Wall Street instead of in the large bomb suit asked as he came to stand next to Bridget.

“Yup. Pierce, this is Sergeant Webber from the Air Force EOD division. What did you find?” Bridget asked.

“It’s what you thought. But I think we may be able to fool it long enough to get her off,” Sergeant Webber said with a grin that exposed two dimples.

“What do you mean?” Pierce asked as he got a look of a white-faced Tammy talking to another member of the squad.

“Well, it appears the sensor is for a range of weight. Men don’t know how to guess women’s weight, so they usually use a range. It doesn’t hurt anything to add weight. It’s when you stand up that the lack of pressure triggers the bomb. So, we’re going to add weight as we bring her off of it. Bomb blankets are incredibly heavy and they may work to contain the blast some. I have a bomb suit I’m borrowing from the Lexington Bomb Squad and so does the state police. My idea is to move her to the parking lot. Her chair has wheels and it shouldn’t be a problem. It’ll reduce the risk of property damage and human casualty. Jamison there will get into the dumpster with two blankets and whatever else heavy we can find. He’ll lower those blankets onto the chair from the dumpster at the same time I pull her slowly off and behind the blast wall we’re setting up.”

“You’ve got to be joking! That’s the best you can do? Can’t you disarm it?” Pierce said in a state between absolute fear and anger.

“No. This is a very sophisticated bomb and sometimes it just takes a simple plan. One way or another, this bomb is detonating. I’m just hoping I can confuse it long enough to get her out of the way. Now she’s waiting for you.  Go see her while I work out the details.”

Pierce knew he was being dismissed, but he didn’t care. All he wanted was Tammy. Detective Basher stood by quietly as the Kentucky State Trooper Jamison finished explaining the game plan. He could tell that Tammy didn’t quite believe him as her eyes kept growing wider and wider as he talked to her.

Detective Basher was the first one to see him and gently put his hand on Tammy’s shoulder to draw her attention to Pierce while reminding her to keep seated. Tears started flowing the second she saw him and she had to bite her lip to keep from sobbing.

“Sweetheart, it’s okay. I’m here.” Pierce sat on his knees in front of her and grabbed her hands in his. He brought them up to his face and kissed them as he hung tight to her.

“Oh, Pierce! I’m so sorry,” she cried. Detective Basher and Jamison looked at each other and took a couple steps away to give them some privacy.

“Tammy, you don’t have anything to be sorry for. I’m the one who has regrets. I regret I didn’t say anything to those two evil women yesterday, and I regret I didn’t let myself fall in love with you two years ago. But I love you now so much and nothing is going to change that. These guys are going to save you. They have a great plan. You just need to listen to them and do exactly what they say. Then we can begin to live our lives with no regrets.”

Pierce had to choke back the tears that were threatening to come out. He took in every detail of her—the way her hair fell across her face, her cute nose, the softness of her hands—and prayed it wouldn’t be the last time he looked at her.

He turned his head to try to get himself under control and saw Jamison and Sergeant Webber coming toward them. His time was up. How could he tell her all he wanted to in mere seconds?

“It’s time, sweetheart. You’re the strongest woman I know. You’re a survivor and you will survive this, too. I will always love you. Always.” Pierce felt the tears come, but he didn’t care. He stood up and placed his lips on hers in one last gentle kiss. “I’ll see you in a couple minutes, okay?”

Tammy tried to smile. “Okay,” she said softly. Basher started to clear the area while Jamison and Webber put the rest of their suits on. “Pierce, I love you too.”

Detective Basher came and put his arm around Pierce’s shoulder and gently pulled him away. “Come on. They have a truck we can watch the live feed from. Both the guys have cameras on their heads. You’ll be with her every step of the way.”

Pierce nodded but stopped at the door. He had to have one last look at her. She was looking up at the two men in the bomb suits as they got ready to start pushing her outside. The tears had stopped and pure perseverance was etched across her beautiful face. He’d remember it always.

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

Tammy closed her eyes as Pierce walked out of the office. She didn’t think she could stand watching him leave. She was near panic as it was and to think that it was the last time she’d see him would send her over the edge. Sergeant Webber’s voice brought her back through.