Page 63 of Hot For You

Chapter 24

The urgency Cody felt was so intense that he couldn’t explain it. He had to get to Carilyn. Had to.

He started to reach for his cell phone to call Carilyn when something caught his eye on top of a stack of crates. He frowned. It looked like it was probably nothing. But his gut told him to check it out.

Cody jogged to where he thought he saw the unusual object while Reese followed him. Cody went to the pile of old wooden crates. He peered on top of a crate and froze.

A cell phone detonator was strapped to enough C-4 to take out the entire warehouse.

“Clear out!” Cody shouted. “Bomb!”

Reese backed up. “Shit.”

Cody and Reese shouted and waved everyone out of the building. Cody’s heart pounded harder and harder and his throat went dry.

The moment the place was clear, Reese and Cody ran from the building.

Cody had just made it to the opposite side of a police cruiser, Reese close behind, when the world exploded.

Heat and noise filled the air as the warehouse went up. Reese gave a shout of pain, and when he landed on the ground beside Cody, he was cradling his hand to his belly, blood soaking his white shirt, his face contorted with pain.

“Reese.” Cody tore off his T-shirt as fire boiled up into the sky. “Where are you hurt?”

“My hand.” Reese grimaced then raised his hand. The last two fingers on his hand had been sheared off. “At least it’s my left.”

“Damn.” Cody wrapped his T-shirt around Reese’s hand. “Are you hurt anywhere else?”

“Don’t think so.” Reese gritted his teeth. “We’re going to get that sonofabitch.”

“You’re damned right we are.” Cody squeezed his cousin’s shoulder. “Stay here while I check to see if anyone else needs help.”

Reese waved him off. “Don’t worry about me.”

Two police officers were seriously wounded and Reese’s partner, Detective Petrova, had been knocked unconscious, but she was coming around. One of the injured officers had taken a piece of shrapnel to his shoulder where it had lodged. Another had a deep cut across his face. A couple of others had minor wounds, but overall they’d made it through relatively unscathed. Thank God he’d taken notice of the bomb.

“Is everyone accounted for?” Reese asked John as he came to stand beside Cody.

John gave a grim nod. “We’re all lucky to be here.” He focused on Cody. “Thank God you were with us.”

Reese clapped his good hand on Cody’s shoulder, as the sound of sirens grew louder in the distance. “Thank you,” Reese said.

“Damned lucky was it,” Cody said, his expression grim. “I need to get back to Carilyn. I’ve got a bad feeling and I want to make sure she’s all right.”

“Go on.” Reese gave a nod. “I’ll catch up with you later.”

Still shirtless, Cody turned and hurried to his truck, pulling out his cell phone and dialing Carilyn’s number as he ran.

The phone rang several times and the call went to voice mail. He tried again then jammed the phone back into its holster. The drive to the hotel took too long as far as he was concerned. He couldn’t get there fast enough. When he arrived, he brought the truck to a hard stop, parking haphazardly near the front entrance of the hotel and bolted inside. Instead of waiting for the elevator, he took the stairs two at a time to the second floor where their room was.

When he reached their room, he pounded on the door with one hand while digging in his pocket for the keycard. “Carilyn, it’s me,” he shouted. He pulled the keycard out of his pocket and swiped it in the card reader.

A loud click and the door unlocked, and Cody shoved the door open. He didn’t see her. He shouted her name and went into the bathroom. She wasn’t there. His heart pounded and he tried to calm his breathing. She could have gone down to the coffee shop and he just hadn’t seen her as he tore through the lobby.

Her purse and wallet were lying on the bed. He checked her wallet and saw that there wasn’t any cash in her wallet. Everything else looked undisturbed.

The new laptop she’d been working on when he’d left was open. He went to it and saw that a program was open and lines of code were rolling by. He wasn’t a computer techie so he wasn’t sure exactly what it was doing. It was probably the tracking program she’d said she’d be working with.

He’d worry about the program later. Right now he needed to find Carilyn. As he pulled on a clean T-shirt, he dialed her number again. He rushed out of the room and skipped the elevator again. He hurried down the stairs, burst out into the lobby and practically ran to the coffee shop.

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