Page 44 of Montana Manhunt

He called Ellis and reported the bomb. After a terse conversation, Noah ended the call and returned the phone to his cargo pocket.

“Got it.” Grant straightened and showed him the C-4. “How long until Ellis and his sidekick arrive?”

“Two minutes.”

“Wonder how long they’ll keep us tied up over this incident?”

“Can’t be long, my friend. Someone attached the bomb while we were with Mrs. White.”

He proved to be right. Less than ninety seconds later, the detectives rushed up the street along with another officer.

“Show me,” Ellis demanded.

Grant held out his hand, palm up.

Freeman glared at him. “You should have waited for us.” He motioned to the unknown officer. “Jones here is a member of the bomb squad.”

“You could have blown yourselves up by messing with something you don’t understand,” Jones snapped.

“Part of my training is in EOD.”

Freeman snorted. “Some podunk cop shop trained you?”

Grant smiled. “Nope. The Army.”

Jones gave a small nod. “My apologies for assuming the worst.”

“No harm done. If I didn’t know how to disarm the bomb, I would have left it for someone better trained to handle.”

“I’m glad the detectives didn’t need my services.” He glanced at Ellis. “You need me to stick around, sir?”

He handed Jones a bag and scribbled his initials on the tag. “If you’ll take the C-4 off our hands, you’re free to take this back to the station.”

“We can keep this for a while, but we need to dispose of this eventually, sir.”

A frown. “Why?”

“Not safe to keep it in the evidence locker long term. Things have a habit of going missing in there.”

Huh. Interesting.

Ellis glanced at Noah and Grant before returning his attention to Jones. “That will be all, Officer Jones.”

“Yes, sir.” Jones retraced his steps toward the apartment building, C-4 in hand.

“Well?” Freeman said. “Will you make us beg for information again?”

“Unfortunately for you, we have nothing to offer,” Noah said. “Whoever sabotaged our vehicle did the work while we were with Mrs. White. We didn’t see or hear anything.”

“Of course you didn’t.” He shook his head in disgust. “Do you mind if we examine your SUV?”

“Go for it.” The detectives wouldn’t like what they found. He saw the moment that Freeman spotted the bullet holes.

The detective pointed out the damage to his partner and glared at Noah. “So much for your theory that someone else might have been the target of the shooter. Your SUV has five bullet holes in the driver’s side.”

“And yet none of us were injured,” he reminded the detectives. “You haven’t disproved my theory. In fact, I remember glass breaking behind us, so the shooter hit the hospital windows and our SUV.”

“Not buying it, Mann.”

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