Page 62 of On the Chase
As Hugh cautiously crouched by Grace again, her head cleared. Obviously taking Hugh’s movement as permission, Lexi resumed scrabbling at the vent. Hugh peered through the opening, and Grace pressed her face against the other side.
“Ah!” He jumped back slightly before his eyes widened. “Grace?”
She stared at him, making useless sounds in her throat.Get out! There’s a bomb!her brain was screaming, but he couldn’t hear her, couldn’t read her mind.
“Otto! Theo!” he shouted, standing.
No! Don’t call them!Her mental shouts were useless, though. All Grace could see of Hugh were his lower legs, but she heard him tapping and thumping on different parts of the fake water tank. She squeezed her eyes closed. He was trying to figure out how to get her out when he and Lexi should’ve been running away as fast as they could.
“What is it?” Otto asked, sticking his head inside the van.
“Grace is in here.” His voice was grim and frantic at the same time.
“What?”
There was a click. “Got it.” His voice was thick with satisfaction as the top swung open.
Grace stared at him, desperately saying, “Bomb!” over and over, but it came out as incomprehensible, muffled sounds.
“I’ve got you, Gracie,” Hugh crooned, his voice gentle although the look on his face was ferocious. He pulled out a pocketknife and cut through the tape rope hog-tying her. Her legs straightened, her muscles protesting, and she groaned. He carefully started slicing through the tape on her wrists, but Grace shook her head adamantly.
The gag! Take off the gag!
He was obviously a terrible mind reader, because he ignored her and continued separating her wrists. As soon as they loosened, Grace yanked hard, pulling her hands apart.
“Careful!” Hugh warned, pulling back the knife.
Ignoring him, she reached up for the tape covering her mouth, scratching her skin as she tried to peel up a corner.
Hugh frowned and reached out with the hand not holding his knife. “You’re hurting yourself.”
She didn’t care. A few scratches were nothing compared to what would happen to all of them if the bomb detonated. Finally,finally, she managed to get hold of the edge of the tape, and she yanked it off. It was painful…very painful. Despite her desperation and adrenaline, she still felt the sting, but she ignored it and spit out the wad of damp fabric.
“Bomb,” she croaked as soon as her mouth was clear.
“What?” Hugh and Otto said in unison.
Grace swallowed, trying to moisten her throat. It was so dry that she retched, but she forced herself to speak again, to get the words out. “Bomb!” Her voice was harsh and cracked, but at least it was understandable. “The vacuum is a bomb!”
There was barely a half second pause before the cops sprang into action as smoothly as if they’d rehearsed. As Otto grabbed Lexi’s leash, Hugh snatched up Grace, slinging her over his shoulder.
“Agent Barrett is Truman,” Grace gasped. “Is he here?”
“Yeah, and he’s on his phone.” Otto’s voice was grim as he leapt out of the van with Lexi.
“His phone?” Her words were shrill, but Grace couldn’t help it. Was Truman using his phone to remotely set off the bomb? They had to get out—now.
Hugh grabbed the vacuum in his right hand, and rushed toward the door behind Otto and Lexi.
“Are you crazy?” Every word tore at Grace’s throat, but she didn’t care about the pain. “That’s the bomb! The vacuum is the bomb!”
“Yeah, I got it,” Hugh grunted as he leapt out of the back. “Don’t want the van to be an even bigger one. Gas tank and nasty shrapnel and all.”
As he landed, Grace’s body thumped down hard where she was folded over his left shoulder, and he staggered before catching his balance. Lifting the vacuum, he hurled it, football style, into the air. Arching her back, Grace craned her neck to watch. It seemed to move in slow motion, arcing high with hose and cord fluttering behind like the tail of a funny-shaped kite. It tipped down, returning to the earth, dropping over the embankment and into Big Creek.
Hugh dove, bringing Grace to the ground, his body covering hers, just as the sky turned impossibly bright. Theboomcame later, seeming to go on and on until everything went quiet. The silence felt worse than the earlier cacophony.
Grace opened her eyes, blinking away the splashes of light that popped up, blocking her vision. When it finally cleared, she couldn’t see anything except for Hugh’s shoulder. He was on top of her, his body heavy. He wasn’t moving.
