Page 109 of Strangers She Knows

Almost closed.

It wouldn’t pay to be too obvious. Mara was an exceptionally clever killer.

Kellen had this planned down to the second.

First, she shoved the battery charger close to the F-100, opened the hood and clipped the cables to the battery.

Next she opened the old refrigerator door and the creaky freezer compartment, grabbed an illumination star cluster flare and tucked it in her belt.

She pulled out a stick of dynamite, then retrieved a blasting cap and a coil of fuse wire from the vegetable crisper.

Was there an expiration date? Max had asked her.

She sure as hell hoped not.

She should test the fuse, see how long it took to burn down.

No time. She’d have to take her chances.

She placed the stick of dynamite on the work table. To attach the blasting cap to it, she needed both hands. She could do nothing about her right hand; it was clumsy, but uninjured, back to the same normal it had been before Mara had Tased her. The bruised and swollen fingers on her left hand were trapped in gauze. She hated to do it, but she had to remove that bandage.

Last night’s angel had tied a firm knot, impossible to free with one hand. Kellen scrabbled through the drawers, found gardening shears, and worked them under the knot.

Rust had dulled the shears.

The wound throbbed as she tugged and sawed at the gauze.

Tears ran down her cheeks.

Finally the gauze gave way, tearing rather than cutting, and she was free. She unwrapped her hand and glanced at the red, jagged wound where the needle had pierced her palm.

Awful. Awful.

So what? No time to mourn the loss of her good hand.

She set to work as best as she could, depending on her right hand to do what she asked of it and her left to hold and brace.

She uncoiled the wire and used the shears to cut an eight-foot length. That way, if it burned quickly, Mara would have plenty of time to get in here and Kellen would have plenty of time to get out.

Taking her time, the time she didn’t have, she attached it to the blasting cap.

The swollen fingers on her pierced left hand felt as if they’d been dipped in concrete, and served only to hold the dynamite. Her right hand…by God, it did the work her mind required of it. The wire was attached to the blasting cap, and the blasting cap was attached to the dynamite. She had a complete explosive device.

She wanted to laugh, to rejoice. But no amount of dexterity could compensate for the countdown of the timer.

No time.

She looked out the grubby window, expecting to see Mara smiling and skipping toward the garage, coming too soon for Kellen to complete her plan.

The horizon was empty.

Where was she? Sneaking up on the other side?

Kellen glanced out each window, searching for movement. But except for the flight of a sea gull screaming into the wind, she saw and heard nothing.

She didn’t relax. Mara was cruel and sly, and the pressure to succeed did not ease.

Kellen would win this battle for Rae, for Max, for their family and their peace.

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