Page 23 of Hacker Salvation

“Where’s John?” I asked.

He ran his hand through his hair and ignored my question. “How are you doing, Gabriel?”

I wanted to launch myself at him in frustration. “Hello? I asked a question.”

“Good until a second ago when I cut the wrong wire,” Gabriel said. “Time’s going down a little faster. Might want to back up and get Daisy out of here.”

“How much time?” I asked. When he didn’t answer, I was tempted to kick him. “Time, Gabriel.”

Gabriel rolled out from under my seat and grabbed my hand. “We need to run now.” He yanked me out of the car, and I tried to keep up with him. He was running so fast, he was practically dragging me. Aaron and Daisy sprinted in front of us. We were twenty feet from the car when it exploded, and we flew forward. Gabriel grabbed me and tucked me under him as we hit the pavement and rolled. His back hit the asphalt with a thud. My knee skidded across the cement. Smoke billowed, and debris rained down around us.

I rolled off of Gabriel and onto my back. “I thought you could diffuse the bomb.”

He ran a hand over his face. “They put in a trip wire I didn’t see. When I cut the cord for the seat, the clock cut the time to one minute. It was easier to pull you out than to worry about saving the car.

Aaron and Daisy walked over and helped us stand up. Sirens blared down the street. The police would be there soon.

“Are you guys okay?” Aaron asked.

“Yes,” Gabriel and I both responded.

Aaron held Daisy close to him. “Daisy, I need you to take them to the hospital and get them both checked out. I’ll stay and wait for the police then take an Uber to the hospital. I don’t want them to know Annabella is here. Something is going on, and until we know what, I want to keep any information close to the vest.”

10

John

My head pounded like a set of drums. I heard voices, but I couldn’t make anything out. Taking a couple of deep breaths, I opened my eyes. Annabella was sitting next to my bed.Fuck, I’m in the hospital.That was the last place I wanted to be. I tried to sit up when another hand pushed me back down.

“John, you need to stay in bed,” Aaron said. “Let me get the doctor to come check you out.”

“How long have I been out?” The accident came back in one quick flash. The brakes hadn’t worked, and the car had hit the tree head-on. I reached up and touched the side of my head, feeling a large bump where I’d hit the window.

Neal leaned against the wall. “A couple hours. You scared the shit out of me when you wouldn’t wake up. After the crash, I called 911 and then Aaron.”

Annabella reached over and grabbed my hand. Her hand felt so warm, but my body went cold when I saw the bandage on her forehand and the scrape along her arm. “What happened?”

She bit her lip. The gesture stirred a desire I didn’t have time to deal with. “It was nothing.”

Neal and Jacob coughed on the other side of the room. Daisy turned her head so I couldn’t see her face.

“Tell me what happened.” When she tried to pull away, I gripped her hand.

She fidgeted for a moment before she answered. “Someone planted a bomb in Daisy’s SUV.”

I laid my head back and closed my eyes. The throbbing in my head got worse with each second.A bomb.And I wasn’t there to make sure she was okay. “I take it you weren’t able to disarm the bomb,” I said to Gabriel. I couldn’t hold back the coldness in my voice. He was one of the best bomb experts in the navy. He still went and helped teach the new cadets, and the local Ft. Lauderdale police used his expertise.

Gabriel ran his hand across his short-cropped hair. “When I disarmed the pressure switch to the seat, the time cut to one minute. Instead of trying to disarm it, I pulled her out of the car to make sure I could get her away. My main goal was to get Annabella out of danger, man. I’d seen the bomb configuration before. It shouldn’t have done what it did. I’ve been racking my brain, trying to figure out what went wrong, and the only thing I could think of was that they messed up building it. I’m glad I got her out of there when I did. Who knows if it would’ve counted down correctly?”

“Fuck! So someone messed with the car and put a bomb in the SUV. Was this done at Neal’s house?”

Neal planted himself in the chair by the window. One of his arms was in a sling, and the other hand flew across the keyboard. It looked like he was working just as fast as he did with two arms. “No. I checked the video. Somehow, the video feed from the sheriff’s office is gone. There was a glitch during the time we were talking to the sheriff. The video near the convenience store had the same issue.”

Annabella gasped next to me. When I looked over, she appeared worried. I wanted to pull her into my arms and promise her everything would be okay.

“Who could be doing this?” she asked.

I squeezed her hand before turning back to Gabriel. “Whose signature was on the bomb?”

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