Page 4 of Deadly Rescue
Face flushing, Polly jerked her gaze away and stared at the table.
“Ooh, he’s a cutie,” Sophie murmured, nudging Polly with her elbow. “Looks like he thinks you are too. You should go say hi.”
“Yeah, I don’t think so. He looks like he has more brawn than brain.” Polly’s eyes rose to glance in his direction again. Done with his song and dance, he had a hip pressed against the bar as he lifted a beer to his mouth. Celina noticed that he kept sneaking glances at their favorite crime scene tech.
Roman caught the focus of their attention and leaned toward Polly. “That’s Dr. Leo Garand. He’s a well-known physician who left his family practice to work for the emergency response and recovery unit of the CDC.”
“I know who he is,” Polly said, gaze once more locked on the table. “I’ve read some of this articles.”
“So heisa brainy guy,” Celina surmised. “He must be here for the training session.”
“So?” Polly shrugged as if she didn’t care.
Celina wasn’t fooled in the least. Polly was definitely interested, even if she wouldn’t admit it out loud. Maybe all she needed was a little friendly push.
“So…” Sophie nudged her friend again. “Maybe you should invite him to join you some place more quiet—like your hotel room—to talk about the training session tomorrow.”
“Yeah, and get started on that baby making plan of yours,” Celina chimed in with a wide grin.
Roman looked slightly confused and went back to the boys’ discussion when Polly waved him off.
“No teasing allowed,” she sneered, but Celina could hear the lightness in her voice and tell the wheels were turning in her head. “At least not about my love life, or lack thereof, or about the baby thing. Especially around Roman or the others in the DTT. I’ll never hear the end of it.”
Sophie and Celina shared a grin, one that said nothing was off limits.
Polly hesitated for a second, then pulled out her trusty tablet and began typing, and Celina chuckled, amazed it had taken their friend this long to keep her tablet hidden. Her proclaimed security blanket, Polly rarely went anywhere without it, sometimes spending more time on the thing than she did in the real world.
While Polly searched for whatever escape she needed, Celina’s eyes wandered over the bar, landing on a rough looking guy alone in the corner. He wore a leather jacket, riding boots, and a baseball cap done in camo. His unkempt, scruffy beard hid the lower portion of his face. He definitely stood out in a room full of suits, and looked like he felt quite awkward.
As she watched, he shifted in his seat to glance around the room, eyeing each of the exits before letting his attention drift over the crowd. He took out a cell phone and started covertly snapping pictures, no one paying any attention to him.
Weird. What was that about?
Another man moseyed up to him and they exchanged words. Baseball Cap handed the man the phone.
She continued to watch as they talked, their faces slightly strained, until the second guy left with the phone. It didn’t sit well with her, but for all she knew, the two of them might be undercover agents. Baseball Cap stayed and drank more beer.
“Everything all right?” Cooper asked. Startled he’d moved to the seat next to her again, Celina jerked her gaze from the odd biker to him to smile and nod. when she glanced back, Baseball Cap was gone.
She leaned back in her seat, chewing it over. The worry in her stomach eased, and she suddenly felt silly for having been worried in the first place. Maybe she was just missing Via, but for some reason her overprotective instincts were on high alert.
“Hey, what is it?” Cooper asked, a frown creasing his forehead.
“Nothing, everything’s good,” she lied, not wanting Cooper to worry. This was stupid. In this light, it was hard to tell what anyone was doing, let alone a guy across the room. It wasn’t fair to judge a book by its cover, either, and she had done just that. She’d taken one look at his gruff appearance and instantly felt uneasy.
Cooper didn’t look convinced by her blasé answer, but thankfully he didn’t press for more. Celina slipped her hand beneath the table to find his and gave it a squeeze. She would tell him about it later. For now, she just wanted to enjoy the rest of their evening worry-free.
2
The wallsof the Aztec Sports Arena were used to the sounds of screaming fans as they cheered their teams on to victory. Today, they were filled with the sounds of crews who were busy turning the facility into a mock fallout shelter.
The large basketball court was acting as an operating base after a hypothetical six-point-five magnitude earthquake rocked downtown San Diego, injuring hundreds of people. Cots had been brought in for the displaced and injured citizens, and first responders and FEMA agents had set up medical triage areas and water stations around the perimeter.
Hidden somewhere in the northeast quadrant of the building where the food stands and retail shop enticed fans to part with their money, Cooper had been informed there was a backpack containing a fake dirty bomb. Today’s scenario included a terrorist sleeper cell taking advantage of the earthquake to inflict more chaos and harm first responders and federal personnel.
While the medics concentrated on helping those injured in the quake, the bomb was Cooper’s focus, and he was ready to get to it.
Broken up into multiple teams, members from each law enforcement agency present for the training would be hunting down the bomb and collecting evidence, while other experts observed the detonation and response times in an effort to formulate policies and procedures to better help victims. It was a large, well-orchestrated training session, and he was glad he and Nelson were participating. Everything they learned would be shared with the rest of the SCVC Taskforce.
