16 / Explosion
The chilly breeze whipped Saundra’s auburn hair about her face as she stood on the sidewalk. The sky above was clear, cloudless, and blue. Pedestrians jostled her as they hurried past on the busy sidewalk.
Still holding Henry McAllen’s cell phone in her hand, Saundra hailed a taxi. When the yellow vehicle pulled up, she tossed her digital audio recorder into the back seat and slid in.
“Where to?” asked the cab driver.
“Uh, Avenue of the Americas,” Saundra said. “1200 block.”
The distant wail of a police siren caught her attention. Already here, she thought. Turning to look through the back window of the cab, she thought she could see the flashing red and blue lights. Other cars were trying to move out of the way, but with the level of traffic, it would still take a minute for the police to get to the church.
Saundra focused on Henry’s cell phone. Pulling up the outgoing call log, she saw that the last phone call out had been made early Tuesday morning. It was now Wednesday afternoon. Strange, thought Saundra as she scrolled through the call log. Henry usually had a lot of cell phone activity — at least eight to ten calls each day before Tuesday. Something was definitely wrong. She decided to call his wife and then the university to see if they had any information on him.
Saundra scrolled through the call log again and noticed which number Henry called most frequently and which number called him most frequently. Probably his wife, she guessed. She pressed the ‘call’ button and put the phone up to her ear.
She expected to hear a familiar ringing noise, but didn’t. Instead the phone hissed and grew hot against the side of her face. Jerking it down from her ear, she looked at the screen which had gone black. White numbers pulsed on the display.
9… 8… 7… 6…
A countdown; a bomb. Someone had intended to take Henry’s life.
Saundra yelped and bit her lip as the phone suddenly seared her palm and started to smoke.
“Ma’am, are you alright?” the cab driver asked, glancing at her in the rear-view mirror.
5… 4…
Panicking, Saundra fumbled with the back door of the cab,
“Hey, what are you doing?” the cab driver yelled.
3… 2…
Shoving the back door open, Saundra threw the phone out into the street and silently prayed that no one would get hurt.
Half a second later, there was a loud bang. A blood-red fireball, followed by a plume of black smoke rose several feet into the air.
Pedestrians screamed and fled. Cars in the congested lanes swerved to get around the explosion. The cab driver suddenly swerved onto the sidewalk, barreling into a hot dog stand. Saundra lost her balance and bumped her head against the back of the front seat. As the cab driver struggled to get control of his vehicle and avoid hitting other cars and people, she could only think of how close she had come to dying.
17 / Intruders
Nehemiah Dunn quickly got back to work after his day-long trip to New Hampshire to see his dying father. Though his role as a sergeant usually kept him working long hours, he couldn’t stop thinking about the events that had taken place at Tongass. He also couldn’t stop looking over his shoulder, as Melanie had not gotten back to him on the identity of the men who had attacked them at the lighthouse.
