Explosive Attraction - By Lena Diaz Page 0,54
He was a small-time thug. Had a juvie record, breaking and entering, grand theft for taking his unforgiving stepfather’s car out for a joyride. But nothing to indicate he was anything but minor league. No military or police background, no kind of formal training in explosives. We didn’t get any hits on him in the system when we first ran him because his juvie record was sealed. That explains why the fingerprint from the attack at the hospital didn’t yield any results. We had to subpoena a judge for more and they gave us his rap sheet.”
“A decoy. A fall guy, and we totally fell for it.”
“That about sums it up. We’re dealing with a sophisticated perp here. We can’t take anything for granted or assume anything. Be on the alert.”
Rafe nodded and headed to the door. He paused with his hand on the knob. “I assume you’re going back to the hospital?”
“Of course. I’ve got a man down. I’m heading over there right after I take care of a few more things. Why?”
“When you see Jake, tell him...” Rafe hesitated. Tell him I’m glad he survived? That he needs to quit being such an ass and get over himself? What was the point? Jake would never forgive him, and there was no way for Rafe to fix things between the two of them. “Never mind.” He yanked the door open and strode outside to Darby.
Keeping her alive until this mess was over was his primary concern now. That was what he needed to focus on.
He was just about to grab her hand when he remembered she hated being pulled along behind him. “Come on,” he said. “We’re going to a very fun place. Administration.”
She hurried to keep up with him. “Administration? Why?”
He held the door open for her. “So I can show you a magic trick.”
“A magic trick?”
“I’m going to make us both disappear.”
* * *
WHEN RAFE HAD SAID he was going to make her disappear, Darby thought it was a metaphor. But he’d done exactly that.
She stared at herself in the dressing room mirror, her hair cut in a short bob that barely brushed her shoulders, dyed a deep auburn color. Not a look she would have ever chosen for herself. Neither were the clothes she was wearing. Every time she expressed a preference for a particular style or color, Rafe chose something the exact opposite.
When she’d asked him why he bothered to ask her opinion if he wasn’t going to listen to her, he’d stared at her as if he thought she’d lost her mind. Then he’d calmly explained that he’d listened very well, that to make her disappear he needed to ensure she looked nothing like she normally did. So, he wanted her to wear clothes she wouldn’t normally wear.
She sighed and stepped out of the changing room.
Rafe was waiting for her, looking like an arrogant prince staring at one of his subjects, his head cocked to the side, his freshly cut hair giving him a regal look. “That’ll do. Keep that one on. We’ll take the rest with us.”
An hour later they were sitting in a beachside café south of town, eating cheeseburgers and fries, watching the local news playing on a TV over the bar. Grainy footage from someone’s cell phone showed the black smoke rising over the fort earlier today and the pandemonium that had ensued.
“You done?” Rafe asked.
Darby wiped her hands on a napkin. “Done. What’s next?”
“We’re going back into town.”
“Going back? After everything we did to disappear? You do realize I dyed and cut my hair, don’t you?”
He grinned. “Yeah, I’m surprised you went for that. It was way too easy.”
She threw a French fry at him.
He ducked and laughed, but his grin quickly faded. “No one is going to see us. We’ll be in and out in just a few minutes. Then we’ll lie low.”
“In and out of where?”
He didn’t answer until they reached his car in the parking lot. “We’re going to your office. I need to look at more of your files.” He’d already reviewed the ones she’d gotten earlier. Buresh had come through with the subpoena, so even though Darby felt guilty letting him invade her clients’ privacy, at least she could defend her actions by saying there was a court order.
“What else do you think you need from my office?”
“I want to expand the search, figure out which one of your patients is the lunatic trying to kill you.”
She gritted her teeth. “They aren’t patients, they’re