Raiden (The Kent Brothers #2) - A.M. Hargrove Page 0,11

Elena. She screened all my calls.

“Yeah, Elena.”

“Raiden, you just had a box delivered, and so did Cruze. Did you order something?”

“Not that I recall.”

“It has urgent and keep refrigerated on it.”

“That’s weird. Maybe someone sent a gift, like those steaks or something.”

“My hope is cheesecake and that you’ll give it to me.”

“Right.”

I walked out to get it. “If it’s cheesecake, it’s yours.”

I carried it back inside my office where Scottie raised her brows.

“Sorry, this came for me and Elena hopes it’ll be a cheesecake. She has a thing for that.”

Scottie nodded and looked at the box. It was one of those Styrofoam coolers, and it did indeed have urgent on it.

Then she looked closer. “This is strange. There’s no return address on it.”

There was a mailing label with my name, and the company name, but she was right.

I shrugged. “Maybe it’s because whoever sent it used a standard label.”

“I don’t know. Even then you’d think they’d have a return address on it.”

“Well, let’s open it.”

Using the pocket knife I always carried, I slit the tape. Only Scottie grabbed my arm, pushing me back, but the movement caused the lid to pop off. When it did, the box exploded. We both landed on our asses. The side of one hand, my other wrist, along with my shirt sleeves were singed.

Elena ran in and Scottie yelled, “Call 911. A bomb just went off.”

Chapter Five

Scottie

Instinct had me shove Raiden back. It was a good thing I did. Whoever had created this bomb was an amateur, thank God. But the outcome could’ve been much worse. I ran to the bathroom and grabbed some towels, soaking them in cold water. Then I wrapped Raiden’s hand and wrist in them, holding back a cringe. Blisters covered them and skin peeled off in spots. I was afraid to do anything else for fear of damaging them further.

Cruze ran in and shouted, “What the fuck was that?”

“A bomb. But it was a dud, thank God.”

He ran over to Raiden, who was still on the floor holding his hand and wrist in the wrapped towels.

“Are you okay, bro?”

Raiden shook his head, as though he wanted to free the cobwebs from it. “My ears are ringing. Scottie, are yours?”

“Yeah. It’s because we were so close to the blast. It shouldn’t last much longer. I’m just happy the damn thing didn’t blow your hands off.”

Elena ran back in and asked if we needed anything.

“Water,” I yelled.

“Got it! Police and paramedics are en route,” she called, running out the door.

Then I told Cruze to call Wolfe Investigations. “Get Drex and Gemini here. They might be able to figure out where the bombs came from.”

Cruze jumped on the phone. Moments later, cops stormed through the door, followed by the paramedics. Then he said, “I got one of those boxes too. I’m glad I didn’t open it.”

Question after question rolled out of everyone until Raiden exploded.

“Can someone examine my hand and wrist, please?”

“Back up everyone. I can answer whatever you need,” I said.

One officer frowned. “Um miss, you’re bleeding.”

“What?”

“There.” He pointed to my hip and sure enough, a bloodstain was seeping through my pants.

“Aw, hell. I must’ve gotten hit with some shrapnel.” I’d been so busy trying to get Raiden taken care of, I hadn’t noticed. It didn’t hurt until he mentioned it either. I lifted my shirt to take a better look and found a piece of metal sticking out, but I knew better than to touch it.

A paramedic approached and had me sit. He took my blood pressure and said I needed to head to the ER.

“Can you please check Raiden too?”

“He’ll be riding along too, ma’am.”

As they were placing us on stretchers, Drex, Gem, Acer, and Isla arrived.

Drex and Gem came over to me while Acer and Isla headed to Raiden. Questions rushed out of everyone. The only thing I said was, “It was a bomb and not a good one, thank God. Get photos and pull some prints, if possible. It’s unlikely, since it went through a mail service. Hopefully, something will be left on the device itself. Cruze got the same box, but didn’t open it.”

“We’ll take care of it,” Drex answered, giving me a salute.

“Hey, the police may not want to share.”

“Not a problem. We have a great relationship with them. You okay?”

“Shrapnel, but Raiden could’ve lost his hands.”

“You two could have lost your lives.” His tone was grave.

Too true. I was beyond pissed. After they yanked this piece of metal out of me, the asshole who did