Page 24 of The Tiger's Secret Baby (Savage Shifters Special Ops 4)

The bomb was pretty simple. Someone had likely looked up the instructions on how to make a bomb from the Internet.

It didn’t take long for Joshua to deactivate it. The sheriff said that he would need to take it for evidence. He would have one of his guys fly, on a private plane, to Washington DC, where the ATF would look at it. Sheriff Davenport said that he would make sure that we received a copy of any reports that he got from them.

This looked like it could become a federal case very quickly. The feds didn’t take it lightly when car bombings started occurring.

Whoever had attached the bomb had done it very quickly. They had about seven minutes from the time we received notice of the alarms until we were outside. The men were gone. This was not their first time. Most bombers created their weapons using the exact same steps each time. That was a signature that the ATF agents might be able to match with someone.

Plus, tool marks, the powder and the shrapnel and other items used might be traceable.

The car was dusted for prints and none were found. This was not surprising, since the black, ghost like figures seen on the security cameras appeared to be covered head to toe. This meant that there would’t be any usable touch DNA or fingerprints on the bomb as well.

Duggers and his men were very methodical and professional, if nothing else.

After the sheriff left, Gage set up for the patrols in the area be tripled. That still wouldn’t cover everything, but at least it would make it a lot more difficult for anyone to slip through. The men would also work in pairs, to decrease the chances that the guards would be attacked.

Andrew called and said that he had heard from the hospital. It seemed that our guard would survive. He just wouldn’t be singing in the shower any time soon, as his voice box had been nicked.

That greatly relieved Ember, but she hated the thought that someone would die because they were trying to protect her.

Gage was angry. No matter what we tried to do, Duggers somehow figured out how to get around it. I might have felt sorry for Duggers when Gage finally got a hold of him, except that I wanted to rip him apart as much as Gage did.

That afternoon, the kids went exploring in the woods. One of the pairs came back excitedly. They had found a small gold nugget in the river. It was likely runoff from some of the mines that had been plundered in the last couple hundred years. However, if there was one, there was likely a lot more. Now, Duggers drive to own the land made sense.

11

Ember

Iwas pacing back and forth in my bedroom, about to wear a path in my carpet. I was going to wrench my hands off my wrists if I kept twisting them and pulling on them. Alan Duggers was a monster. He wanted the land because he thinks that there are lodes of gold on it. There must have been some found in the river on other land more upstream. That would be the only reason he thought I had some on my land. Unless, of course, he and his men had been trespassing and found something.

Gold had destroyed more than one man, morally and physically. It seems that gold had already stolen Duggers morality, obviously. Otherwise, he would have been happy with what he had and left my kids alone.

Alan Duggers had more money than one man could spend in a lifetime. Yet, he was trying to hurt my kids because he wanted what belonged to them. I don’t care about the gold, although if there truly were more than just a few nuggets, it could be used to send my children to college or help them get started on their path in life.

What I do care about is that this monster is trying to chase them away from their home. Who knew what lengths he would go to in his quest to get me to leave? The kids always had an adult with them from the security agency. There were more assigned to patrol the area. There were four around the house.

I questioned myself about whether I was being smart. One of my fatal flaws has always been my pride. Is my pride keeping me from taking his offer and going somewhere else? Was the idea that I could be bought off or scared away so contrary to my belief system that I dug my heels into the dirt?

My pride was what got me into the other pickle I found myself in. If I had told Damian about Rose when he returned from the service, I wouldn’t be under such stress. I could have made an effort to keep track of him. I kept making excuses because I wanted him to come back into my life because he loved me, not because we had a child together.

That was very selfish of me, I know. I have always known it, and wrestled with the selfishness and the pride. Now, I realized that my selfishness had a greater impact. Rose had missed out on ten years of having an incredible daddy. I cheated Damian out of all of the wonderful experiences of having such an amazing child such as Rose.

Words, thoughts, conflicts, and feelings swirled around inside my head like a massive tornado. I felt alone and confused. I was terrified.

I sat on the bed, buried my face in my hands and cried. I cried because I felt like a horrible mother and person. I cried because I didn’t know whether my pride was putting my kids in danger. I cried because my crazy, but simple world had been turned upside down. I cried for lost love, refound love, and the likelihood that I would lose it again, especially when Damian found out the truth. I cried because I felt like all the stress had built up inside of me and my entire body was going to bust open and explode everywhere from the pressure of it all.

I crawled into bed and cried myself to sleep. It was the first time I had done that in ten years. When I finally found the sweet solace of unconsciousness, I was so deep under the power of Morpheus that I never heard Damian come in.

The next morning, the sun was shining and the birds were singing. A light breeze blew the curtains around in my bedroom. Damian was holding me tight against him, and the heat between our bodies had caused both of us to sweat profusely. My back was stuck to his belly, and when I moved it made a popping sound, like a suction cup coming loose.

Trying to be very quiet, I unwrapped myself from his arms.

“Going somewhere?” he asked?

“The shower,” I answered. “And then the linen closet. We have sweated so much that we created a small pond in my bed,” I said, wrinkling my nose.

“Well, if you weren’t so darn hot, maybe that wouldn’t happen,” he retorted.

“Aw shucks,” I said.

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