Harlequin Romantic Suspense April 2021 by Karen Whiddon (good e books to read txt) 📗

“Someone set up the car to blow.” He shook his head, then winced. “If I hadn’t used the remote start, we would have been in that car.”

With dawning horror, the truth of his words hit her. They wouldn’t have had a chance for escape since the bomb had detonated the instant the engine started. They would have been killed. Even her dog.

Her dog.

“Bridget is missing,” she said. “The explosion must have terrified her.”

“I don’t blame her.” Moving with deliberate caution, Micha got up. Other than a tear in the shoulder of his T-shirt, he appeared all right. The cut on his arm appeared to be superficial and the bleeding had slowed to a trickle. “My ears are still ringing,” he commented.

“Mine, too.”

The sirens got louder. A moment later a fire truck and an ambulance turned onto her street, lights flashing. The small crowd of neighbors clustered closer together as the emergency vehicles pulled up and parked.

Micha swayed, looking for a moment as if he might lose his balance. Carly went to him, slipping her shoulder under his arm to offer support. Shooting her a grateful look, he allowed himself to lean on her.

While the fire department began working on getting the car fire put out, the EMTs came over to check on Carly and Micha. Though Micha tried to wave them away, it was clear he’d been hurt. Carly thought she was okay, even her ears weren’t ringing as badly, but also agreed to an exam. The EMTs led both of them over to their ambulance. By now the police had arrived and two uniformed officers were taking statements from neighbors.

“I need to find my dog,” Carly announced. “She was with us when the car exploded. I’ve got to make sure she’s okay.”

“In a minute, ma’am,” the EMT said. “Let me make sure you’re all right.”

Nodding, she allowed him to check her out, taking her temperature, shining a light into her eyes and asking numerous questions. No, she had no joint pain. No, she didn’t think any bones were broken. Thanks to Micha shielding her with his body, she had no cuts or burns, other than the scrapes on her elbows and knees. Yes, she knew she was lucky, but she really had to go look for her dog. It killed her to think Bridget was hiding somewhere terrified and alone.

“We’d like to take you to the hospital for observation,” the other EMT told Micha.

“No.” His emphatic reply left no doubt. “I’m fine. I’ve been banged up far worse in Afghanistan. I’m not leaving Carly alone.”

Though they argued, he refused to be swayed. And since they couldn’t force him to go to the hospital, they finally ended up passing him over to the police detective who’d arrived to take his statement.

Carly managed to slip away, determined to find Bridget. She went into her backyard, fairly certain she had a good idea where Bridget would have run to hide.

She found her dog exactly where she’d expected, in the shed, cowering in the corner. Immediately, Carly crouched down, speaking in a soothing low voice, determined to remain there as long as she had to until Bridget was willing to approach her.

To her surprise, once Carly started talking, Bridget crawled over to her, low to the ground, almost on her belly. She was panting heavily, but her long tail wagged as if to say she had hope that Carly could help her. Since her leash was still attached to her collar, Carly simply gathered it up, still crooning reassuring words. To her surprise, Bridget pressed right up against her legs, allowing Carly to touch her.

“You must have been terrified, weren’t you, girl?” Carly asked, gathering the dog close and holding her tight. “I was, too. Come on, let’s get you inside the house.”

Once she’d coaxed the still-shivering animal into the kitchen, Carly took a deep breath and hobbled back out front to check on Micha. A police officer, catching sight of her coming down the steps, hurried over to intercept her.

“Ma’am? We’ve been looking for you,” he said, his tone brisk. “Your husband has finished giving his statement and we need yours.”

Too exhausted to correct him, she simply nodded. “Lead the way.”

As he walked her over toward a small group of police officers, she spotted Micha’s friend Charlie. He caught sight of her at the same moment and hurried over.

“There you are,” he said, taking her arm. “I’ve got this, Trevor.”

Charlie waited until the other officer had walked away before leaning in close. “We’re waiting on the FBI,” he said, pitching his voice low. “We suspect a definite tie to whoever placed and removed the camera.”

She nodded. “I thought the same thing.”

“What we don’t know is who the explosive device was targeting. Since it was in Micha’s rental car, it most likely was him. But on the other hand...”

“Whoever did it might have hoped I’d go somewhere with him,” she finished.

“Yes. But they couldn’t have known for certain.”

Micha walked up, still moving carefully, but looking much better than he had before. “Hey,” he said, putting his arm around her shoulders. “Did you find Bridget?”

“I did.” She shifted her weight, aware he probably needed to lean on her for balance. “She’d run into the shed and was hiding there. I’ve moved her into the house. She doesn’t appear to have been hurt.”

“Good.” He let his gaze sweep over her. “What about you? Everything okay?”

She nodded. Before she could speak, one of the policemen came over with some questions.

By the time EMTs, the fire department and law enforcement left, most of the neighborhood spectators had wandered back home. Dusk had arrived and it would soon be dark. Micha had finally sat down on her bottom porch step, clearly too tired or hurt to stand any longer. Carly could definitely relate. She felt weird—a mixture of amped-up restlessness and exhaustion.

“Let’s go inside,” she told Micha, putting her hand out for him to use to help him get up.

He managed a grateful smile and allowed her to