Page 84 of Hot Zone

“So they caught him?”

“They caught him. It’s over.”

“I should go to Samuel,” I said, looking around for Kismet’s carrier.

“Hold on. He’s tied up with the police right now and probably will be for a while.”

“Well, I can’t just sit here, now can I? Someone tried to kill Samuel. Shit, someone tried to kill Samuel.” I went light-headed and swayed a little as the full realization of what almost happened hit me.

Gator grabbed my arm to steady me. “Whoa, you okay?”

“Yeah.” I turned back to the store, my heart still racing. “I need to call Steven. I bet this is all over the news. Let’s go inside.”

As I turned and walked inside, I pulled out my phone and called Steven.

“Hey, Marsy, what’s up?” I could tell by the way he’d answered that he hadn’t heard anything about what had happened.

“Where are you?”

“I’m on the road. I had a client who’s looking to open a garden center out near Prairie Flats, so we were checking out the property.”

“So you haven’t heard any of the news?” I asked.

“No. Why?”

“Okay, first thing for you to know. Your dad’s okay.”

“But?”

“The arsonist showed up at the station wearing a bomb. It didn’t go off, and he’s been arrested. I don’t have any other details, but I wanted to tell you so if you heard about it, you wouldn’t be worried.”

“But he’s really okay?”

I glanced at Gator, and he gave me a reassuring nod. I appreciated it, but I knew I wouldn’t really feel better until I saw Samuel for myself.

“Yeah, he’s okay. He’s busy with the police right now, but I’m sure he’ll call you later.”

“Okay, I’ll call my mom and let her know. I know she still worries about him. But, Mars, thanks for calling me.”

I hung up and turned to Gator. “I don’t know what to do now.”

“Why don’t you head home? I’m sure he’ll want to go straight there when he’s done.”

“Home.” I nodded and took a deep breath. “Yeah, home is a good idea. Ziva, you have things here, or should we just close the shop?”

“I’m fine here by myself. You just go home and wait for your man.”

I rushed over to her and hugged her. “Thank you. I don’t know what I would do without you.” I looked over to Gator. “What about you?”

“I’m headed back to headquarters. You don’t need me here anymore.”

“I appreciated you being here.”

He bent down and scooped up Kismet. “I’ve had worse jobs, especially since you had your own personal guard most of the time.”

“He was worried,” I said.

“And as today proved, he was right to be. This guy was not in his right mind.” He handed Kismet over to me so I could put him in his carrier.

---