Page 68 of Chain Reaction

Jake didn’t recognize the symbol either. The mark looked like a square with a circle of Ss fanning out in the center.

Maybe they could trace this. Even as the thought raced through his head, he knew the person—or people—behind this were probably too smart to leave something that would be traceable.

So whyhadsomeone left something so traceable? Especially on the bomb in Emerald Isle, which hadn’t had explosives inside?

Maybe these peoplewantedto send a message.

Or maybe they wanted to be found. They wanted credit for their work.

There were so many details Jake needed to make sense of.

He mentally ran through what had happened so far.

Eleanor had found the first explosive. It had detonated inside her house, killing her.

Then someone had planted another bomb in the rubble of Eleanor’s home, which had also exploded.

While investigating that scene, someone had been watching from the brush and had run after being spotted.

Shortly after, Jake had found the phone in the sea oats with a message on it: You’re too late.

That night, someone had tried to break into Raven’s house.

Another ordnance had been found in Emerald Isle along with a message:Boom. The countdown is on.

Someone had also followed him and Raven onto the ferry and jumped into the water, not to be found—not that Jake had heard, at least.

Then there was the picture from Syria found at the first crime scene. And the picture of Raven found in the vehicle of the guy on the ferry.

Finally, there had been the pressure-sensitive bomb at the Blackout headquarters.

Jake was having a hard time making sense of how all this fit together.

Maybe if the picture from Syria and the picture of Raven hadn’t been found, things would make more sense.

Because he didn’t believe someone was doing this only to target Raven. After all, they couldn’t have known she’d step on that pressure sensitive bomb at the Blackout headquarters.

While someone might have been able to guess that Raven would be called in to help with this, that hadn’t been a guarantee either.

Jake’s temples began to throb. The pieces just weren’t falling into place, and he didn’t like it.

If he wanted to keep her safe, then he needed answers—and answers still seemed far away.

For now, he’d run this symbol past a few colleagues and see what popped up.

CHAPTER 32

Raven glanced at Jake as they both sat at the kitchen table with laptops and phones in front of them. They were researching as they finished their coffee.

“Anything on that insignia yet?” she asked him.

He frowned and shook his head as he stared at his laptop. “No, I’m still looking into it.”

“Nothing on my end either. I’ve asked some of my colleagues if they’ve ever seen anything similar. I wonder if maybe the person who created this bomb replicated something with historical significance. But no one has been able to confirm anything for me yet.”

Jake leaned back and sighed before taking another sip of coffee. “The whole situation is strange.”

She twisted her head wearily. “You can say that again.”