Page 56 of Jina

“Take my phone.” He pulled the device from his pocket, put it on silent, then handed it over to her. “I should have thought of this before, but my watch is linked to my phone. We can call or text if we run into trouble.”

She smiled, making him realize he’d do just about anything to make her happy. She gratefully accepted it. “Good idea. Thanks.”

“Anytime.” Stifling the urge to kiss her, he forced himself to move away, easing through the brush. He was in over his head with Jina and, not for the first time, found himself praying he wasn’t making a mistake in judgment.

After about ten yards, he turned, walking at an angle that should take him to the back side of the motel. Not too far, hopefully, from the spot where they’d left the rental SUV.

And the GPS tracker.

The trees provided some cover, but he still felt exposed. The only good thing about this location was that there weren’t private residences nearby. In the distance, he could see the inevitable gas station that seemed to be on every interstate exit known to man, but otherwise, he didn’t see anyone nearby.

Yet there was still the chance someone would come upon them and decide to call the local police to report something suspicious.

It took a solid ten minutes for him to get into a position where he could see the SUV through the trees. It was up against the back side of the building, but that meant there were three sides that could have been tampered with.

He paused and scanned the area for a moment. Seeing nothing suspicious, he slowly edged closer, knowing Jina would be approaching from his left.

She had more coverage, which was a good thing.

When he was within ten yards of the vehicle, he caught the pungent odor of gasoline. He froze, immediately thinking of the turpentine that the perp used to start the fire in Mr. Glen’s duplex. Mitch Callahan had said the perp had used it as fuel to start the fire.

Were they facing a similar situation here?

He wasn’t sure what to make of the gasoline smell, but it was not good. Lifting his arm to see his watch, he quickly found the text app. It was painstaking to use the small screen, but he managed to send a text. Smell gas.

It seemed to take an inordinate length of time for her to respond. Me 2. The perp?

Good question. The strong odor of gasoline could be because someone tried to siphon his tank. With gas prices on the rise, there had been more cases reported of gas theft.

Or it could be that the vehicle was wired to blow.

He carefully typed a response on the mini screen. I’ll check. Cover me.

Her reply was quicker this time. Will do.

Satisfied, he edged closer to the SUV. As he did so, the gasoline fumes grew stronger. He still had the key fob in his pocket, and the thought of the car blowing up at the click of the button gave him pause.

Could this perp be smart enough to have made and planted a bomb? If so, why the intense gasoline smell?

He didn’t like it but continued easing closer. Without his phone, it wouldn’t be easy to see beneath the vehicle. But that didn’t stop him.

Seeing motion to the left, he froze, then scowled when Jina emerged. She held up the phone without saying anything, as if reading his mind about how he’d need the light.

They were both close enough to the vehicle to know the shooter wasn’t in the immediate area. There had been no sign that anyone had come through the woods in the same place he had either. Plus, they’d stayed low enough that anyone watching from afar through a scope or binocs wouldn’t have spotted them.

He hoped.

He held out his hand for the phone, then stretched out on the ground. Flicking the flashlight app on, he aimed the beam beneath the vehicle’s frame.

To his shocked surprise, it only took him a few minutes to find what he was looking for. A crude pipe bomb that was located near the fuel tank. Sweeping the beam of light over the ground, he saw the gasoline spill had killed several weeds on the ground.

Explosives were not his area of expertise, but he surmised the idea was that they’d start the car, the bomb would blow, and the extra gasoline would make sure they went up in a ball of flames.

He turned to glance toward Jina. He mouthed the word bomb, then began to edge away from the car.

Silently praying the explosive device wasn’t on a timer or, worse, could be triggered to blow from afar.

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

---