Page 88 of Forged in Peril

Jaclyn let out a long sigh, rubbing at one of her temples.

“It’s a rather large bomb, and we’d like to destroy as much of FBS as we can, but this particular area is quite far from the garage. You and I might survive just fine. Of course, in the original plan, I wasn’t going to be inside the office when the truck blew.”

“You were booked for court all day on Friday,” Bristol said, remembering, her voice hardly above a whisper.

“Exactly,” Jaclyn said, nodding. “But thanks to you, the original plan didn’t quite work out. Now that I’m here, though, I find that I’m thankful.”

She must have seen the confusion on Bristol’s face, because she continued, “I’m kind of looking forward to dying. At least, if it happens, I’m ready for it. I don’t think it’ll be so bad, though I suppose it might not be the most pleasant if it isn’t quick.”

Her cold gaze made Bristol feel like a ghost.

Jaclyn stared straight at her, but it was as though her eyes had pierced right through the layers of her flesh and bone, seeing something else that lay behind her.

Bristol wanted to tell her that what was coming after death would be horrible, considering where she’d be spending eternity, but she decided to keep her mouth shut.

It was becoming more clear with each passing minute that the intelligent, competent lawyer might not be exactly sane. And if she’d learned anything from her own time in court, it was that insane people were never predictable.

“I just want to see him again,” Jaclyn said, her eyes settling on something invisible over their heads.

Bristol bit her lip before she could ask who she was talking about.

She had a horrible feeling that whatever happened with this bomb, Jaclyn wouldn’t be leaving the room alive.

And Bristol feared that she wouldn’t be, either.

CAMERON

Cam rushed toward the stairwell, his phone pressed to the side of his face as he took the steps two at a time.

Grace wasn’t answering.

She’d be able to confirm with certainty if there’d been a change of schedule with Grapas, but someone had had the brilliant idea to send her off to database training all day. She probably didn’t even have her ringer on.

He swore under his breath as he heaved open the heavy stairwell door that led out into the top floor of FBS.

It had been all he could do to keep going when he passed the fourth floor exit. Bristol was probably there, unless she’d been angry enough at him to leave early, and he couldn’t shake the feeling that she might be in trouble.

Still, common sense had won out. If something really was wrong, he’d do no good by rushing in on his own. He’d need backup, and the sooner he could get Gabe on board, the better.

He might only have minutes left before the truck downstairs made it into the basement of the building.

“I need to talk to you,” he said as he burst his way into Gabe’s corner office, not bothering to knock. “Now.”

“Hey, Paul, can I call you back? Something urgent came up,” Gabe said into the phone he was holding as he turned to glare at Cameron.

“This better be good.”

As quickly as he could, Cameron outlined the situation, and told him that security had already been stalling downstairs for at least the past ten minutes.

When he’d finished, Gabe sat back in his chair, raising his eyebrows.

“Cam, this doesn’t make any sense. We’ve worked with Grapas for years. I fail to see how an unexpected delivery warrants this level of suspicion.”

Cam opened his mouth to argue, but Gabe didn’t give him the chance.

“Please tell me you at least talked to Grace about this. Did it not occur to you that maybe they thought they had all of the order ready to go, considering that the actual deadlinefor us to order has already long passed?”

Cameron shook his head.

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