Chapter 12 - HOME
“Bomb squad. Now!”
Pike was already moving.
Elena grabbed the kids.
Daniel kept the phone pressed to his ear.
“You touch my family—”
Richard laughed.
“Your family is with you.”
“What did you do?”
“You’ll find out.”
The line disconnected.
Daniel called back.
Dead number.
Pike shouted into his radio.
“Evacuate 1178 Monroe Avenue and adjacent residences. Possible explosive device.”
Elena went pale.
“That’s Mrs. Alvarez’s building.”
Daniel’s heart dropped.
Their upstairs neighbor was seventy-eight.
Hard of hearing.
Walked with a cane.
“She might not hear anyone.”
Pike pointed at Daniel.
“You are not going there.”
Daniel was already heading for the exit.
“Try stopping me.”
Twenty minutes later, police blocked both ends of Monroe Avenue.
Daniel jumped from an unmarked car before it fully stopped.
His apartment building stood exactly as he had left it three months earlier.
Old brick.
Crooked balcony.
Mateo’s faded basketball under the stairwell.
A bomb technician intercepted them.
“Building is clear except one resident.”
Daniel knew.
“Second floor?”
“Yes.”
“Mrs. Alvarez.”
“You know her?”
“She won’t open the door for strangers.”
The technician shook his head.
“You’re not going inside.”
Daniel saw smoke.
Thin.
Gray.
Coming from a second-floor window.
“That’s not a bomb.”
Someone shouted, “Fire!”
Smoke thickened immediately.
Daniel ran.
Pike grabbed for him and missed.
“Daniel!”
He hit the front door.
Locked.
He kicked it.
Nothing.
Again.
Wood cracked.
Third kick.
The door burst open.
Smoke rolled down the stairs.
“Mrs. Alvarez!”
No answer.
Daniel pulled his shirt over his nose and climbed.
Heat pressed against him.
He reached her apartment.
Pounded.
“Mrs. Alvarez!”
A weak voice answered.
“Daniel?”
“I’m coming in!”
He shouldered the door.
Once.
Twice.
It opened.
Mrs. Alvarez sat on the floor beside her couch.
Her cane lay several feet away.
“Oh, sweetheart,” she coughed. “You came home.”
Daniel nearly cried.
“Yeah. Bad timing.”
He lifted her.
She weighed almost nothing.
Downstairs, firefighters rushed past them.
Outside, Elena ran over.
Mrs. Alvarez touched Daniel’s cheek.
“They said you did something terrible.”
Daniel swallowed.
“I didn’t.”
“I know.”
“How?”
She shrugged weakly.
“You fixed my sink for free.”
Despite everything, Daniel laughed.
Then an explosion shook the building.
Windows shattered.
Elena screamed.
Daniel dropped to the ground over Mrs. Alvarez.
Fire blasted from the rear of the apartment.
Pike dragged Daniel backward.
“The device!”
Daniel looked at his home.
Flames poured from the window.
Everything they owned was inside.
Photos.
Children’s drawings.
His father’s watch.
Elena’s wedding dress.
Gone.
Sofia began sobbing.
Mateo stood frozen.
Daniel wrapped both kids in his arms.
Then he saw something across the street.
A black SUV.
Idling.
Driver watching.
Daniel stood.
“Pike.”
“What?”
“That car.”
The SUV accelerated.
Daniel ran toward the police cruiser.
Pike shouted, “Don’t!”
Daniel jumped into the passenger side as Collins slid behind the wheel.
She looked at him.
“You’re technically a civilian.”
Daniel snapped the seat belt.
“Drive.”
Collins smiled once.
“Good enough.”
They tore after the SUV.
Two blocks later, it turned onto the highway.
Daniel leaned forward.
“Don’t lose him.”
“I don’t plan to.”
The SUV swerved through traffic.
Then its rear window lowered.
Daniel saw an arm.
A handgun.
“Down!”
Gunshots cracked.
The windshield spiderwebbed.
Collins jerked the wheel.
The cruiser slammed against the guardrail.
Metal screamed.
Daniel looked up just in time to see the black SUV disappear around a curve.
But before it vanished, something flew from its window.
A small black object hit the pavement.
Daniel stared.
“My God.”
“What?”
He knew that object.
He had seen it every day at work.
May you like
Richard Wallace’s company phone.
And it was still recording.
