Page 50 of Chain Reaction

Jake crossed his arms and leaned against the back of the SUV as he waited for her to continue. “Go on.”

“I feel like someone knew you and I would end up down here examining this bomb, just like we ended up on Lantern Beach looking at the one there.”

“Okay . . .”

“But this one wasn’t a bomb at all. If someone really wanted to do damage here, they missed their opportunity.”

He squinted as he considered her words. “So, you’re saying this isn’t about the bomb itself, but rather it’s about you? Or me?”

“I’m not sure about that exactly,” she murmured, rubbing her arms. “Could be about both of us.”

“So what exactly are you thinking?” Jake rubbed a hand over his face.

She turned to him, her eyes wrinkled at the edges. “I feel like someone did this as a distraction.”

His breath caught. “You mean they’re planning something else, and they wanted to get the two of us away from whatever it is?”

She nodded grimly. “Exactly. I think someone wanted to draw us away from Lantern Beach for a specific reason.”

Jake’s pulse beat harder, and he grabbed his phone. “I think you’re right. I need to call Ty and warn him.”

He prayed that they weren’t too late.

CHAPTER 23

Raven waited by the SUV as Jake held the phone to his ear, trying to reach someone on Lantern Beach. Sheriff Williams also lingered nearby, answering questions and waiting to talk to them.

None of Jake’s calls were going through, however.

After several minutes, Jake sighed and jammed his phone back into his pocket, clearly unhappy.

Raven stepped toward him. “You’ve tried calling everyone? I don’t like this.”

“I don’t either.” He raked a hand through his hair. “Something’s going on. The fact I can’t get in touch with anyone says a lot.”

“I agree. What are we going to do?”

“We’ve got to get back. Now.” As soon as he said the words, Jake withdrew his keys from his pocket.

Sheriff Williams stepped toward them. He’d clearly heard the last part of their conversation at least. “What about the bomb and chain of custody? I can’t release it to you yet.”

“We’ll get back with you on that,” Jake said. “Right now, we need to go.”

He nodded. “I understand. Keep me apprised of the situation, if you don’t mind. Whatever’s going on, I don’t know if our little town is connected to it or not. But I want to make sure I can keep the people here safe.”

“Absolutely. We’ll be in touch.” Then Jake nodded toward Raven.

A moment later, they climbed into the SUV and took off down the road.

Raven’s thoughts continued to race. “Do you think it’s a signal jammer? Is there one that could cover the whole island?”

“That would be unlikely. At most, a really powerful one could cover a one-mile radius—enough to knock out Blackout headquarters.” He twisted his neck. “Actually, all the phone calls I’ve made have been localized to one area.”

“Even Cassidy?”

He shrugged. “There’s a good chance she’s at Blackout.”

Her breath caught. “So maybe everyone who’s close to the Blackout headquarters could be impacted?”