Page 44 of Wild Oblivion

He stared at me for a moment, trying to read my mind. "Well, if you need my help, you know where to find me," he said before ambling toward the door.

Harlan may have been cantankerous at times, but he’d do anything for the people he cared about.

Slowly but surely, patrons finished their meals, paid their tabs, and left without much fanfare.

Sheriff Daniels arrived, along with the bomb squad, the FBI, and the ATF. Once the restaurant was empty, we turned thedogs loose and searched the place from top to bottom, including the loft above.

Nothing.

We searched the surrounding area, including the dumpster and the dock. A bomb could have been hidden in any of the dock boxes, most of which were padlocked. One by one, we got permission to search the boxes and cut the locks off the ones where we couldn’t get in touch with the owners.

Exigent circumstances.

The bomb techs went through everything, and the process was documented. Residents were evacuated in an abundance of caution. We also checked all the cars in the lot, looking underneath and inside the vehicles.

That took the better part of the day and turned up nothing.

I regrouped with the sheriff and the others on the dock. The place was a ghost town.

“Maybe this guy is pulling your chain,” Daniels said.

“I don’t think so.”

“If he’s watching, he’s getting good insight into our response protocol.”

A black SUV pulled into the parking lot. All eyes were on it as the driver found a place to park. It looked like a government vehicle.

Three men and a woman exited the SUV. They all wore navy suits and dark sunglasses.

The woman had sandy-blonde hair that hung in rings to hershoulders. She had olive skin and an athletic figure. Her eyes found me, and she marched in my direction.

She looked like trouble.

Out came the credentials. "Deputy Wild, I’m Intelligence Officer Novak. NSA. My colleagues, Fulton, Chen, and Mosley.”

I gave them all a brief lookover. "What can I do for you?”

She nodded for me to step aside. I left the crowd, and we took a short stroll. "It's my understanding you are taking care of Henrik Strauss. We’d like to speak to him."

"I'm sorry, but he's not here at the moment. As you can see, I'm a little busy.”

"I understand, but this is a matter of national security.”

"You know we’re dealing with an active bomb threat at the moment.”

She lifted a curious brow.

"I thought you guys knew everything."

"Where is Strauss?”

"Not here.”

Novak gave me an annoyed look.

"What's your interest?”

"That's top-secret.”