Page 41 of Wild Oblivion

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Ihad slept in and gotten a decent night’s sleep. I fixed a fabulous breakfast, and we all chowed down on a smorgasbord of pancakes, waffles, French toast, hash browns, scrambled eggs, and crispy bacon. I made a little of everything.

Henrik had survived the night and was in good spirits. The morning had started off without incident, but that all changed with a phone call around 10:30 AM.

“Good morning, Deputy Wild,” the bomber said. “I trust you had a good night’s sleep?”

The sound of the scumbag’s voice sent a spike of adrenaline through my body.

“Did you have a good victory celebration last night?”

“What do you want?” I asked, tired of his nonsense.

“I want to continue our game.”

I had a feeling he was going to say that. "What’s your ultimate goal? What's your endgame?"

"In due time, Deputy. In due time."

I dreaded what was coming. This wasn’t a social call.

There was a long, awkward silence, and I suspected the bomber was playing it out for dramatic effect.

"I'm sure you can guess what's next,” he said.

"Where is it?" I asked in a dry tone, so over this nonsense.

"Why would I tell you that? There's no challenge in that. No fun." After a pause, he said, "I can tell youwhen. That's much more interesting, isn't it? Knowing that a devastating explosion will take place in 12 hours if you fail to deactivate the device."

"Same type of device?”

"Similar. But not the same. This one won't be so easy. The yield will be bigger. More damage. More devastation.”

"Some people create. Some people destroy."

"I choose to create.”

I scoffed. "How do you figure?”

"I'm creating a great many things. An opportunity for you to rise to the challenge, to say the least.”

I huffed again.

“You disagree?”

“You’re creating death and destruction.”

“No one has died yet. And if you do your job, no one will.”

“You’ve proven your point. You can build an advanced bomb. How about we stop there and call it a day? You’ve got the satisfaction of knowing what you can do. True power comes from withholding might. The discipline not to destroy.”

He laughed. “Nice try, Deputy. But you’re not going to be able to play to my ego like that. Besides, it’s out of my hands. The bomb has already been placed, and it is set to detonate. You’re wasting time.”

“How do I find it?”

“Maybe it will find you,” he said in an ominous tone. “Good luck.”

He ended the call before I could reply.