Page 52 of Ground Zero (Lantern Beach Blackout: Detonation #3)

T ime slowed as Maverick processed the situation.

Kyle with his thumb pressed against a detonator’s trigger.

Eight hundred pounds of explosives.

The FBI minutes away but not close enough.

“You have ten minutes until they all detonate. You can’t disarm them in time.” Kyle smiled maliciously. “And if I release this trigger?” He waved the detonator around. “Time’s up ASAP.”

Maverick might not have enough time to disarm eight hundred pounds of explosives, but maybe there was enough time for something else.

He caught Sheridan’s eye, a silent communication passing between them. She gave an almost imperceptible nod.

“Kyle.” Maverick stepped closer, hands raised peacefully. “You don’t want to do this. Think about all the innocent people?—”

“I’ve thought about nothing else for months.” Kyle’s thumb trembled on the trigger.

“Why?” Maverick asked simply. “Why are you doing this? I heard Rebecca’s reason. Why could you possibly want this to happen? You put yourself in harm’s way.”

His gaze darkened. “I didn’t want to do it, but they made me.”

“What did they make you do?” Maverick asked the question through clenched teeth.

“The helicopter . . .”

His pulse quickened. “The one Sarah was on?”

His tight expression was all the response necessary. “They told me to put a box in the back. I had no idea what was in it.”

“Who is they?” Sheridan asked.

“Faceless people. They offered me a hundred thousand if I did. Said it wasn’t a big deal.

Just a little delivery.” Kyle’s nostrils flared.

“And I needed the money. My dad was in the hospital being treated for cancer. My mom was about to lose the house because of medical bills. How was that fair? It wasn’t. They deserved better.”

Anger coursed through Maverick. “So you did it? You put the box in the helicopter?”

His gaze darkened again. “I had no idea what they were planning. That whatever was in that box would bring the whole helicopter down.”

“And kill Sarah.” His stomach twisted as the words left his lips.

“I never meant to kill her. I had no idea.” Kyle’s voice cracked. “By then, I was in deep. They had me under their thumb, and I couldn’t say no to whatever they asked.”

“You don’t strike me as someone who’s being manipulated,” Sheridan said.

“I suppose that over time I began to see things their way,” Kyle said. “It doesn’t mean I don’t have some regrets.”

Maverick stepped closer. “So let me get this straight. First, you kill Sarah and somehow arrange for Brass to walk away, making everyone think he was dead. Then, as if that wasn’t bad enough, you try to frame me. Why? How?”

His voice barely contained his anger.

“They told me what to do. Said if I didn’t do it they would kill my parents. They even sent me pictures of them to let me know they were serious. I had no choice!”

“There’s always a choice!”

Sheridan moved. While Kyle’s attention was on Maverick, she struck fast—her hand clamping down on his wrist, forcing his thumb to stay pressed on the dead man’s switch while simultaneously driving her knee into his side.

Kyle grunted, trying to twist away, but Maverick was already there, helping to pin Kyle’s hand in place.

“Let go, and we all die!” Kyle gasped.

“Then don’t let go,” Maverick said.

Together, he and Sheridan forced Kyle to his knees, keeping his thumb pressed on the trigger.

“Sheridan, tape!”

She grabbed duct tape from a nearby crate, and they wrapped it around Kyle’s hand and the detonator, ensuring the trigger stayed depressed even without Kyle’s cooperation.

“There.” Maverick zip tied Kyle’s other hand to a pipe. “That’ll hold for a few minutes.”

Kyle let out a bitter laugh. “You’re just delaying the inevitable. The timer’s already running inside the devices. Ten minutes from when I activated them, remember?”

“Then we’d better move fast.” Maverick turned to Sheridan. “The boat. We load the explosives on the boat, get the bombs away from populated areas.”

“That’s suicide—” Sheridan started.

“It’s the only way. I don’t have time to defuse them all.” He already moved toward the crates. “Get the boat ready.”

Sheridan ran for the door while Maverick began dragging crates toward the loading dock. The boxes were heavy, and his ribs screamed with each movement. But adrenaline kept him going.

Outside, Sheridan had the boat ready to go. They began loading the crates, handling each carefully.

One wrong move . . .

He shook his head, knowing he couldn’t dwell on that right now.

“We’ve only got five minutes,” Sheridan said.

The last crate hit the deck.

Maverick jumped aboard, and Sheridan gunned the engines.

The boat lurched away from the dock.

“Four minutes!” Maverick shouted. “Get us as far from shore as possible!”

The boat screamed across the water, engines at full throttle.

Sheridan pushed harder, knowing the speed wouldn’t be enough.

They only had four minutes to get far enough from shore to save lives.

Four minutes before they all died.

“There!” Maverick pointed to a deep channel marker. “The shipping lane. Deepest water, farthest from populated areas. There are no bridges nearby. It’s our best option.”

Three minutes.

Sheridan was on the radio, warning all vessels to clear the area. Her voice was steady, professional, even knowing she was broadcasting her own death notice.

“Let me take over!” Maverick shouted. “You jump. Save yourself!”

“No way am I leaving you now!” Wind whipped through her hair, pushing it from her face as they sped across the water.

Two minutes.

They weren’t out far enough. The blast would still damage the shoreline, might still cause casualties.

Sheridan looked at Maverick.

His eyes met hers, and she saw everything she’d been too afraid to acknowledge. The connection that had grown despite impossible circumstances. The trust that had developed between them. The love that neither had spoken aloud.

“If things had been different . . .” she started.

“I know.” He placed his hand on her back, his words full of unspoken promises.

Sixty seconds.

“Sheridan, I?—”

“I care about you too.” She didn’t want to die without saying it.

Fifty seconds.

A roar filled the air—not the explosives but helicopters. Military helicopters, approaching fast.

Forty seconds.

Were they far enough away? Or had all of this been for nothing?

She prayed that wasn’t the case.