Page 46 of Burning Truth

Severn thought Addie would absorb the comment and go on, like she normally did, but instead, her cheeks turned pink. Was she attracted to Dan? He was a handsome guy, and he was unattached.

Before he could even second think his motivation, Severn took her elbow in his hand. He’d already briefed Dan over the phone, so he handed him the keys to his truck. “Can you park it around in the back lot? Be sure it’s under the cameras.”

Dan nodded once. Winking at Addie, he turned and left the building.

“Well,” she said softly. “Isn’t he a charmer,” she laughed.

Severn wasn’t sure what to say to that, but he felt a little off-balance. Addie headed into the studio and he fell into step beside her. There was a jittery feeling in his gut that was driving him mad. She’d just told him he was important to her, and he felt the same way. Was he feeling threatened by Dan? Yeah, a little, he supposed.

Addie went into the newsroom and sat down at her cubicle. There were more than a dozen people working in here today, pulling news articles together or looking for new threads. Answering phone lines. Columbus was a huge city, and there was a lot going on every day, so there was always plenty to do.

Severn wandered the big room, nodding to a few friendly people that he’d gotten used to seeing. Avoiding the stares of a few others. And he watched Addie. Once she seemed absorbed in something, he called Gabbie.

“Anything new?”

“No,” she sighed. “I’m going through the messages they exchanged this morning. He really is baked in the head, isn’t he?”

“Yeah,” Severn sighed. “Unfortunately, that makes him unpredictable. And I think he’s getting more desperate. Something is going to happen today.”

No sooner had the words left his mouth when Addie stood up from her chair. She had her phone to her ear and her face had gone pale. Severn crossed the room to her in seconds. “What?”

She handed the phone to him. “It’s Jake.”

“Hello?”

“Hey, uh, Severn. I think I’m in trouble.” There was a quiver in the older man’s voice that didn’t bode well.

“Jake? What’s going on?”

“Well,” he stopped to clear his throat. “The van has been acting up again, and I brought it in to be looked at. They said it was done, so I came to pick it up at the lot. Well, when I climbedinto the seat, I heard a click that I don’t normally hear. And with that nerd being killed and stuff, I thought, maybe he’s going after me next...”

Fuck. He hadn’t even thought about Jake being in trouble. “Okay, dude, just take a breath and tell me where you are, exactly.”

He was already striding toward the door, Addie close on his heels. Dan met them in the hallway and turned to follow along. “What’s going on?”

Addie whispered to him, while Severn continued to talk to Jake. “You hang on, and don’t move. We’re heading to the truck now.”

“I was afraid to even call you, just in case it was triggered by cell signal, or something, you know. I mean, you see all the movies that talk about that, and the bombers in Afghanistan using phones for their IEDs. But I figure this is a ploy to get you here, and maybe it’s a trap for both of us, then Addie will be alone.”

Severn pursed his lips as he jogged around the building toward his truck. Dan handed off the key fob and he unlocked it from a distance. They all climbed in.

“I think you’re probably right, Jake. Unfortunately, I’m probably the best guy to take a look at whatever is under your seat. IEDs were my bread and butter in Afghanistan.”

Until they weren’t. Severn refused to acknowledge the quiver that went through his gut at the thought of getting near an explosive device again. He could talk about them, and diagram them. He’d done that for the Columbus Police Department several months ago, and he was on-call as a consultant. Parker had coerced him into talking to the bomb squad about his experience, and giving them some insight into their thinking. He’d even mocked up a dummy IED for training. Columbus hada good-sized bomb squad, but it took them a significant amount of time to deploy. Right now, Severn was Jake’s best bet.

The bluetooth picked up on the truck as they pulled out of the lot, but Severn hit a button, muting the console. He glanced back at Dan. “Call Gabbie. Get her on cameras near the garage. See what she can see.”

Then he glanced at Addie. “Text Detective Johnson. Tell her what’s going on.”

He unmuted the line to Jake. “Hey, buddy, we’re on our way. We’ll be there in five minutes, okay? Just try not to move.”

“Okay. I may be completely wrong about this. I can’t see under me. But I know this piece of shit, and I know what she sounds like. I just want to be sure.”

“Of course you do,” Severn said calmly. “I would want to be sure as well. It may be nothing, but let me determine that.”

“Yeah, I will. Hey, Addie,” Jake said.

“Yeah, Jake,” she said, leaning forward.

---