Before Christian could respond, Jagger piped up with a casual sounding, “Guess it’s a good thing no one’s joking, asshole.”
Seeing he was sorely outnumbered, the man started to reach for his phone. “You all need to stay right here while I call my supervisor.”
“Good.” Raegan inserted herself into the ridiculous conversation. “While you’re at it, make sure they know we’re here under the orders of both Homeland Security and the FBI. Oh, and the evacuation that’s been ordered by the TSA? Yeah. That was us, too. So I suggest you do what he said”—she pointed to Christian—“and start moving these people as far away from this place as you can get.”
Shock reverberated through the other man, and as he looked around at the team again, his voice held a slight tremor when he asked, “W-who are you people?”
“With any luck?” Jagger gave the man’s shoulder a friendly slap. “We’re the people who are going to save your puckered ass.”
“Make that call to your supervisor if you need to,” Christian told him. “But we have a bomb to locate and disarm.”
With Liam in the lead, Raegan and the others raced in line behind him.
“Which way do we go?” Rocky practically had to shout over the noise of the bustling crowd.
Liam looked at his screen and pointed to an area up ahead and to the left. “That way!” A minute later, as they ran past people being ushered out of the nearby exit, Liam shook his head with confusion. “We should be right on top of it.”
He stopped, and the rest of them followed suit. With frantic movements, they moved their heads and bodies on swivels as they searched desperately for the life-ending device.
But there were so many people moving every-which-way, and between that and the structure itself?—
“There!” Rocky’s deep shout rose above all the other noise. “There’s a black duffel on the floor, stuffed between those two trash cans.”
Raegan’s gaze shot that way, her eyes almost immediately landing on the bag in question. She took off, running double-time to keep up with Rocky and the rest of Delta Team.
Their booted feet came to a stop as they positioned themselves around the suspicious bag. Rocky laid his own duffle onto the ground by his feet before squatting down to take a look.
He reached for the zipper, pausing long enough to draw in a steadying breath. With his next, the crazy, brave man began to pull the zipper free.
“Careful,” she whispered, dropping down beside him.
Rocky turned to her. Their eyes became fixed with one another’s, and for that one, brief moment in time, it was as if no one else in the world existed.
Dipping her chin in the slightest of nods, she told him without words that she was prepared for whatever happened next. And if what happened was the bomb went off, and they were all blown to smithereens, well…
At least one of the last things I see on this earth will be him.
Rocky began to pull on the zipper. With a slow, steady movement, he didn’t stop until the small metal slider reached the bottom stop.
His breaths came out in even intervals as he reached out with both hands and carefully pulled the two halves of the bag apart. Raegan’s lungs froze when she got her first glimpse at the metal box inside.
“Oh my god.”
Her whispered words went unnoticed as she and the others assessed what they were seeing. Simplistic in its design, the container’s lid appeared to be screwed shut, and there was a small, digital timer positioned on top.
Twelve minutes, twenty-three seconds…and counting.
That’s how long they had to live, unless Rocky could figure out how to disarm it.
Please, God. I’m not ready to die.
Memories flashed, and suddenly Raegan was pulled from the present and back to the past. Bullets were flying. HESH bombs were being hailed toward her. And her team?—
Damn it, Raegan, no! That team is gone, and they’re never coming back!
She sucked in a breath and shook the memories away. Her former team was gone. Chief Tupper. Val. Joe…they were all gone. And no, they were never, ever coming back.
But she had a new team to worry about now. The men surrounding her now as they risked their own lives for hundreds of strangers still trying to make their way to safety.