Until Noon (13 page)

Authors: Desiree Holt,Cerise DeLand

Carefully she laid everything out for him, making sure he understood the enormity

of the situation. Thoroughly shaken, he left to gather the other commissioners and alert them to the threat and its fallout.

“Tafoya is going to wet his pants when we tell him about this,” Raul said.

“His secretary was none too happy about dragging him from a very early morning

meeting,” Pilar noted.

“He’d be a lot unhappier if his employees got blown to hell,” Raul ground out.

“We need to get in there as soon as possible,” Pilar reminded them, then looked at

her watch. “He should be in his office in ten minutes.”

The head of Roca Oil was obviously not pleased to see them.

“I have been in a very important meeting since six o’clock this morning,” he

snapped. “The board is trying to devise a plan to deal with what’s happening and make sure Roca Oil is protected in all areas. Time is of the essence.”

“More than you know,” Raul growled. “We have information that is going to shock

the hell out of you.”

“Look at this.” Pilar held out the folder in her hand. “This is from both the

Maritimes and the
policia
. The evidence is plain. Tony Graham had discovered the Arsovs are behind the sabotage at your refinery. They have plotted the entire operation from that island that you see every day from your window.” She pointed at the view.

“They are there now, making plans to blow up your refinery completely. Destroy Roca

Oil. And you do nothing?”

“And exactly where did this evidence come from?” The fussy little man played with

a pen on his desk.

Until Noon

“Enrique uncovered proof that Tony Graham scuba dived out to that island,” Raul

said. “When they took his dive suit to the lab to analyze the sediment on it, they

discovered a tiny memory card glued in the toe of one of the flippers. His techs ran it through a computer and this is the result.”

“Tony used the scuba gear to get to that island where the Arsovs isolate

themselves,” Pilar went on, “and managed to plant bugs in the house. The
policia
are convinced that he was seen by someone, tracked down and killed, then thrown from the

cliffs at Montserrat. It was supposed to look like he was hiking and had an accident.”

“But Tony Graham would not be taking time out for tourist activities in the middle

of an investigation and with disaster looming,” Raul insisted. “When I spoke to Adam

Molloy at my home office this morning he agreed with me.”

“And you’re telling me they have somehow managed to plant bombs in my

refinery?” Tafoya arched his eyebrows. “Bombs that will go off today?”

“Yes,” Pilar said. She looked at her watch. “Raul and I took a launch around the

harbor. While you have that huge fence around the facility, there are still areas where it can be breached. According to what Tony learned, that’s exactly what happened. The

Arsovs hired people to plant explosives and we only have until noon to find them.”

“Are they also responsible for the death of
Senor
Graham? I would assume so.”

Pilar nodded. “One of their hired thugs, a man named Adolpho Boretsky who has

been following us around. He works for the Arsovs and is known as a stone-cold killer.

Petron is picking him up even as we speak.”

“Are you just going to sit here?” Raul couldn’t keep the edge of irritation from his

voice. “You need to evacuate your people so we can start looking for the bombs.”

“All right, all right, all right.” The Roca Oil president looked from one to the other.

“But we have less than three hours and a lot of area to search. Let me get the clearing of the facilities started. ”

“Evacuate. Yes,” Pilar told him. “At once.”

“I made arrangements with the Nemesis office,” Raul said. “Shortly Isabella

Sebastiani, their bomb expert, and her partner, Lane Hallowell, will arrive with the two Belgian Malinois dogs she uses for bomb detection.”

“They are the are ones the American SEALs use,” Pilar added. “You must have

heard of Isabella. She has an international reputation as a bomb expert.”

“She’s responsible for finding and defusing bombs in a number of critical

locations,” Raul added.

“Yes, yes, yes.” Tafoya pulled a handkerchief from his breast pocket and mopped

his brow. “She was the one involved in the museum bomb threats,
non?”

“That’s her,” Raul affirmed. “I told Nemesis how important it was to get her here at

once and they made it happen quickly. But she will need to get started right away.”

“All right. Okay. I agree.”

Desiree Holt & Cerise DeLand

Tafoya called his secretary on the intercom and requested his head of security in the office at once. Things moved quickly after that. Security herded everyone from the

offices and the refinery tanks, a process that took much longer than Raul and Pilar

would have liked.

“Standing there tapping your foot isn’t going to make them move faster,” Raul

warned Pilar. “They’re moving pretty quickly.”

“We have so little time,” she reminded him. She bit her lip, knowing he’d be upset

at the next piece of information she had for him. “You should know that Isabella and I have worked together before. I thought it important to tell you.”

“Because?”

“She texted me after she got the call and asked for my help today in locating the

explosives.” Tension vibrated from his body in waves and she could see his effort at

control. “I have to do this, Raul.”

He sucked in a breath. “And you are just now telling me? Is that more of the trust

issue,
cara?”

“No. Maybe.” She swallowed hard, seeing both hurt and anger in his eyes. “I don’t

know. But I’m telling you now.”

His entire body tensed beside her. “I don’t think—”

“My decision,” she told him firmly. “I’m not stupid. I will be very careful. If you try to block me on this, well, that’s just another indication of why this isn’t going to work with us.”

“I just don’t want anything to happen to you,” he insisted. “Especially now, when

we have unfinished business.”

Her heart gave a slight hitch. “Unfinished business?”

“You know what I mean. My feelings for you. And yours for me, I hope.” He

leaned to whisper in her ear. “We’re definitely going to discuss finding a way around these trust issues you have.”

Emotions welled up inside her like a tidal wave. This man cared for her and for

more than a bed partner. That much was finally obvious to her. But could she really

believe they had something lasting? That it wouldn’t all disappear when the next case came along?

He turned and grabbed her arms, fixing her with a hard look. “I don’t think I could

stand it if this went wrong and something happened to you.”

Her heart turned over at the caring and concern she saw in his eyes. “I will be fine.

I’ve done this before and know what to do.”

They were waiting on the docks when Lane Hallowell and Isabella Sebastiani

arrived via helicopter with the two Belgian Malinois dogs.

Pilar reached down to pat the head of one of the dogs pressed against her legs. “Oh,

look. She remembers me.”

Until Noon

“No kidding.” Lane gave a short laugh. “You must have something special going

on. Usually they only respond like that to Bella. I can hardly even get them to do that with me, and they’ve had plenty of time to get used to my presence.”

“That’s why I’ve had Pilar team with me before,” Isabella pointed out.

Pilar leaned down and kissed the top of the dog’s head. “She’s going to do a good

job for us today.”

Isabella handed something to Pilar. “Your wrist radio.” She looked at the others.

“We will report in regularly to Lane.”

“Let’s go,” Raul urged her. He was jumpy, the impending doom weighing him

down. “The place should be empty by now.”

One of the security guards called him over.

“You can start with the offices,” the man said. “We’re getting them out of the tanks

as fast as possible.”

Raul conveyed the information to the others and Isabella snapped the leads on the

dogs.

“Then that’s where we will begin.” She handed one lead to Pilar.

“According to what Petron told us,” Pilar said, “there are a total of ten bombs. All

scheduled to detonate at noon.”

“Then we’d better get moving.”

“Fuck.” Lane shoved his hands in his pockets as the women moved away. “I

wanted to go in with her but she insisted I stay here.”

Raul knew how his friend felt about the woman. The case they’d worked together

had given birth to a strong relationship between them.

“You know you’d only be in her way,” he pointed out, although he had to restrain

himself from insisting he accompany Pilar.

“Yeah, but waiting is damn hard.”

Raul nodded. It was hard on all of them. Security had herded all the Roca

employees to the parking lot, as far away from the facility as they could move them.

Raul stood with Lane on the dock, waiting tensely. Lane held a two-way radio in his

hand exactly like the ones strapped to Pilar’s and Isabella’s wrists. They would call out to him as each bomb was located and defused.

“She’ll get them all,” he assured her, even as tension vibrated through his body.

“Bella is good. Very good. And Pilar knows how to work with her.”

“The Arsovs won’t get away with this.” Petron’s voice was taut with anger. “You

know I sent a copy of the memory card to the EU. I got a text a few minutes ago that

they’re all over this. Interpol is on the case, plus a few agencies that supposedly don’t even exist.”

“Russians are a bitch to take down,” Raul reminded him.

Desiree Holt & Cerise DeLand

“But I promise you, Putin won’t want this kind of publicity. He may take care of

them for us.”

The crackle of the radio interrupted them.

“Go ahead,” Lane said into his little instrument.

“Three down, seven to go.” Though Isabella’s voice was distorted, her words came

through loud and sharp.

“Good work, babe.”

It was evident to those watching that Lane Hallowell was on edge but holding

himself together on this end for Isabella. Raul snuck a peek at his watch. Thirty minutes to go.

Jesus!

“Go,” Lane said again into his radio.

This time it was Pilar’s voice. “Three more down.”

The tension on the dock was palpable. The women had found and defused nine of

the bombs when the next check-in came, but they only had five minutes to go and one

was still hidden somewhere.

“Lane.” Isabella’s shout came through the radio.

“Right here, babe.”

“Got the last one but it’s a bitch to defuse. I got it loose and I’m carrying it out.”

“What?” He shook his head. “No, damn it. What if you miscalculate the time? No

refinery is worth your life. Leave it.”

“I can’t, I—Oh! God! Stop, Angel, You— God damn it. Lane. She knocked me down

and grabbed the bomb from me. She’s heading out. She’s—There she goes.”

Their eyes fixed on the entrance to the last tank. In seconds one of the Malinois

raced through it and onto the dock, Isabella hard on her heels, Pilar and the other dog with her.

“Stop, Angel,” Isabella shouted. “Don’t—”

With Isabella hanging on to the dog’s lead, Pilar tugged the other dog close to her

and tried to reach for the package in the dog’s mouth.

“Damn it, no!” Raul shouted. “Stop!”

“The dog!” Isabella screamed.

As Raul dragged Pilar and the dog she was directing away from the edge of the

pier, Lane raced to where Isabella was struggling to hold Angel back. Heading in from an angle, he managed to cut the dog off at the last minute. With one hand he grabbed

the dog’s collar and used the other to rip the bomb from the animal’s mouth. He tossed it into the water not a second too soon, the thunderous explosion shaking the dock.

Shock washed over everyone standing there. Raul wrapped his arms around Pilar,

the dog still tugging at the end of the lead. Isabella stood at the end of the dock, calming Angel, Lane beside her with his arm wrapped around her shoulders.

Until Noon

“Oh, god,” she sobbed, tears raining down her cheeks. “We almost lost her.”

“Oh, Jesus,” Raul whispered, hugging Pilar to his solid body. “You almost got

yourself killed.” He kissed her cheeks and stroked her hair, the dog sitting patiently now at her side.

“I think I’ll have nightmares about this one for a long time,” Pilar said, turning her face into Raul’s shoulder. “Thinking about what could have happened.”

“But everyone’s safe.
You’re
safe. That’s all I care about.”

“I know.” But inside she was still trembling.

“Here’s Enrique,” he went on, smiling to his friend as he surveyed the dock. “He’s

here for the cleanup. We need to stick around to help finish this up and make sure the Arsovs pay for this.”

She nodded silently and he gave her a hard squeeze.

“I cannot give you enough thanks.” Tafoya came up to them, his face ashen. “You

have saved not just the refinery but all my employees.”

Isabella and Lane walked up to where they stood. Lane took the dog’s lead from

Pilar.

“Thanks,” he told Pilar. “She couldn’t have done this one by herself. Not with the

time factor we had to work with.”

“Everything is clear now,” Isabella told Tafoya.