Years since hed blocked the images, which had often come too close to prescience for his comfort.
He rubbed the place on his arm that shed touched, where the contact had arced through the fabric of his shirt and punched him in the gut with the flash.
Or had that been nothing more than memory of their brief history?
She hadnt recognized him. He shouldnt have been surprised, given how much hed changed since his brief stint teaching at the High Top Bluff Police Academy. His hair had been long then, and hed been weak from the aftereffects of his captivity. Twitchy from the post-traumatic stress. Hed taken his first drink at ten each morning, and spaced five more whiskeys out through the day, staying sober enough to teach his classes, buzzed enough to avoid the memories. The visions.
He didnt remember much about the half year after his captivity, but he remembered her. The moment hed heard her name again after all these years, an image of her face had sprung into his mind full-blown.
Now, seeing her in person, he realized that she hadnt changed a bit. She was still tiny, with every piece of her perfectly proportioned, just as shed been when shed taken his Advanced Criminal Psych class. Her dark hair was styled differently, hanging to her shoulders now in soft waves, but the face below was the same as hed remembered, making him wonder whether the image in his mind had been memory or something born of another power, one hed fought to block for nearly five years now.
He shoved his hands in his pockets and turned to watch her make her way down to the parking lot, shoulders tense beneath her blue short-sleeved shirt.
How could she still look the same when he was so different?
A phone rang, startling him with its strident digital peal.
You take it. The chief tossed him Mayas cell.
Thorne caught it on the fly as it rang a second time. He struggled to refocus, to bring his wayward brain back from places it had no business being. His voice was gruff when he said, Wouldnt it be better to have one of the women answer and pretend to be Dr. Cooper?
Parry shook his head. Hell know. During the other cases, he spliced a line into the PD security cameras so he could watch us at headquarters. Same thing at the museum when Barnes was captured. Hell be watching somehow. You can bet on it.
Accepting that, Thorne flipped open the phone and punched it to speaker before he said, Hello?
There was a pausea long, thin stretch of silence with absolutely nothing on the other end.
Hello? Thorne prompted again, aware of the others watching him.
There was still no answer. Moments later, the call was disconnected.
Thorne muttered a curse. Nothing. He shook his head and returned the phone to Chief Parry, who had his own cell in his hand, perhaps to call in reinforcements at any hint of a break in the case.
Parry held Thornes eyes. Nothing at all?
Knowing what the chief was asking, Thorne shoved his hands in his pockets. Im a cop, not a magician.
Before the chief could respond, Sawyers voice crackled from a nearby radio. Weve done a quick scan and we havent found a thing.
Theres no bomb? the chief said quickly.
Sawyers transmitted voice responded, I cant be entirely certain until weve done a more thorough search. With explosives technology being what it is, a charge could be hidden anywhere. But the other devices this guy used were all pretty standardnone of the molded polymers or really high-power stuff. If hes sticking with the pattern, Id expect to find a fairly traditional device. But weve got nothing here. Nada.
Keep looking. But when the chief lowered the radio, his expression was pensive. He glanced over at Thorne. With what you know of him so far, would the Mastermind go to a more advanced explosive?
In my opinion? Thorne stressed the last word, trying to remind the Bear Claw chief that he didnt specialize in parlor tricks. I dont think so. Granted, part of his pattern is that he has very little pattern, but Id say he has an ego. He wants to be feared, wants to be seen as the best. If he had more advanced technological abilities, I think he wouldve used them already. That leaves us three possibilities.
The tall blond bombshell whod been introduced to him as the evidence specialist, Cassie Dumont, raised her eyebrows. Which are?
Her prickly tone indicated that she had no intention of liking him.
Thorne answered, Well, the first option is that our mastermind is playing with us again, that he phoned in a false threat just to watch us scramble. If so, we need to address the question of why he phoned Officer Cooper. It felt odd to use her title, but it would be equally awkward to use her name for the first time in five years, for the first time since hed woken up and found her gone after their one strange, disjointed night together.
Theyd meant nothing to each other, yet shed changed his life. A better man would thank her for it.
Instead, Thorne was lined up to take her job.
Hes targeted her because shes a woman, said the lean, rangy cop whod identified himself as Detective Tucker McDermott, Homicide, and because shes a member of the Forensics Department.
Maybe, Thorne said. Or maybe theres something else going on here. Option number two is thatregardless of the mechanized voice, which seems to indicate the Mastermindthis could be about a different case entirely.
Cassie scowled. Henkes.
Right, Thorne said. The chief had brought him up to speed on the case during the ride to the ranch. What if one of his supporters is trying to discredit her?
Then theyre a bunch of idiots, Cassie snapped. Mayas reputation is impeccable.
Except for the part where she was suspended for accosting a suspect without proper procedure or backup, Thorne thought, but didnt say it aloud because the psych specialists friends were going to like his third possibility even less.
The chief must have sensed his reluctance, because he said, And the third possibility?
Thorne tried not to feel a beat of empathy when he said, Maybe there was no bomb threat in the first place.
Hed expected Cassie to blast him, and was mildly surprised when it was Alissa who got in his face in a single smooth, nearly deadly move. She didnt raise her voice, but her tone was chilly when she said, What, precisely, are you implying? Are you saying that Mayalogical, grounded, patient Mayaphoned in a fake bomb threat?
He glanced down toward the parking area. Sawyers men must have cleared the vehicles to leave, because he saw a gaggle of kids being herded back onto a school bus. Unerringly, his eyes were drawn to the dainty, dark-haired figure of a woman standing near another woman, apparently deep in conversation.
Nobody knows precisely what happened that night. All we know for sure is that Henkes was shot with Officer Coopers weapon, he said, more to himself than to the others. What if
He trailed off as he saw her peel away from the others down in the parking lot and head toward the main park entrance.
What if? the chief prompted.
Never mind. Ill be right back. Without waiting for the chiefs okay, Thorne picked his way down to the main parking lot. He wasnt sure what prompted him to follow hercuriosity, maybe, or the memory of the strange flash hed experienced when shed brushed past him. But as he hopped over the turnstile and tried to figure out which way shed turned on the deserted main street, he felt an unfamiliar, unwanted prickling in his brain.
Never mind. Ill be right back. Without waiting for the chiefs okay, Thorne picked his way down to the main parking lot. He wasnt sure what prompted him to follow hercuriosity, maybe, or the memory of the strange flash hed experienced when shed brushed past him. But as he hopped over the turnstile and tried to figure out which way shed turned on the deserted main street, he felt an unfamiliar, unwanted prickling in his brain.
Danger.
HANNAH? SEEING NO SIGNS of the little girl who had slipped away from her mother out in the parking lot, Maya cursed under her breath and turned down a cross street toward the pony rides.
Shed promised to find the child, wanting to keep the mother outside, where it was supposedly safe.
Now she wondered whether she should have passed off the request to one of the uniforms, someone with a gun and backup, just in case.
She heard the bellows of agitated bison from the other side of the buildings. According to the ranch hands, the police sirens and unusual activity in the park had upset the animals, leaving them tense and edgy.
She was thankful that the creatures were safe behind the wood-and-electric-wire fencing.
The bomb techs were working somewhere in the park, sweeping each building for explosives, but Maya was alone when she reached the pony ride area and shouted, Hannah! Hannah, are you in here?
Smothering the unease, she scanned the scene. Eight shaggy, child-sized ponies were tied to a railing near the entrance to a small sand-covered riding ring. Their eyes rolled white at the edges and their feet moved quickly, tapping up clouds of restive dust. She heard a low rumbling noise, like a plane flying overhead, though there was no sign of a contrail in the blue sky.
Hannah? she called again. Your mother sent me to get you. Come on out, honey!
But there was no sign of the child. Check the pony rides, the girls mother had said, she loves animals.
Well, that hadnt panned out.
Maya reversed her direction and headed back toward Main Street. The girl couldnt have gone far. Maybe shed wandered into the livery building to see the baby goats.
Or else she didnt wander at all, instinct whispered. The Mastermind had kidnapped children before and used them to draw Bear Claw officers into danger. The entire bomb squad was in the theme park. The chief and the others were nearby.
A big detonation would wipe out a big chunk of the task force.
Maya nearly spun and ran, nearly shouted for Sawyer to get his people out of the park. The only thing stopping her was the look shed seen in the eyes of the other cops when her watch had run down and nothing happened. The look of disbelief.
They thought shed called in a false alarm, just as they thought she was wrong about Henkes. If she evacuated the park again and nothing happened, her credibility would be shot once and for all. Did she dare run that risk?
Did she dare chance the alternative?
Maya swallowed hard and called, Hannah? one last time, thinking it futile.
Then she heard a small voice call, Mommy?
Relief spiked and Maya zeroed in on the livery building. The airplane noise increased as she bolted into the building and stumbled to a halt at the sight of a small girl, maybe six or seven years old, strapped upright to one of the leaning columns.
The dark-haired child was wearing a pink shirt and denim shorts, with sandals on her feet and tears streaming down her face. Her lips trembled when she saw Maya and she quavered, I want my mommy!
She struggled against her bonds, flailing with her feet and head, but making no progress against the thick leather strap that had been lashed across her chest and buckled on the other side of the pillar.
Hold on, Hannah, Ive got you! Heart pounding, Maya crouched down beside the girl and went to work on her bonds, cursing the bastard who used innocents in his sick games. Are you hurt?
N-no. The girls voice cracked on the word and fresh tears streamed. The ranch man told me
Well talk about it later, Maya said as she yanked the buckle free and hurled the leather strap to one side. She wanted to hear about this ranch man, wanted to know if he looked like Henkes or one of his associates, but first things were first. Come on, weve got to get out of there.
The airplane noise increased to a ground-shaking roar, only it didnt sound like an airplane anymore. It sounded more like
Hoofbeats, Maya thought with a clarity born of terror.
The goats and sheep inside the petting zoo galloped in circles, becoming a bleating, milling mix of hooves and bodies. The lone bison in the far corner stomped, shook his head and reared partway up, as though he might jump out of his enclosure at any moment.
Mayas heart rabbited in her chest. Come on! She scooped the girl up and ran for the entrance, staggering beneath the weight of the child.
They were twenty feet from the door when a splintering crash sounded over the mind-blowing rumble that went on and on and on. Maya risked a look back, and nearly tripped and fell at what she saw.
Bison. Five, maybe ten of them, had broken through the back wall of the livery and were bearing down on her at a full-out gallop. Their small eyes were wide and scared, their nostrils flared with deep, sucking breaths, and their stubby horns cut the air as they charged. The penned animal bellowed and crashed through his fenced enclosure to join the others.
Maya turned and ran for her life.
Hannahs arms were wrapped around her neck in a chokehold that nearly cut off her breath, but Maya didnt care. She had to get the girl to safety. Had to get herself to safety.
But where was safe?
She burst through the petting zoo doors and skidded onto the main road. Thinking that the bison would follow the path of least resistance, she bolted for the ticketing area, hoping the buildings and the turnstiles would deflect them. She could jump over while the bison turned, like some mad reenactment of the running of the bulls.
She heard shouts and gunshots, saw figures running along the ridges on either side of the ranch, and felt the growing hoofbeats in the trembling of the ground.
But the noise wasnt coming from behind her anymore. It was in front of her.
Suddenly, dust gouted from beyond the snack bar, which was the last building in line before the ticketing area. The noise increased to unbelievable proportions, as though Maya was caught in a tunnel with trains bearing down on her from either side.
She ran for the turnstiles, legs weak, lungs burning, too aware of the dozen bison bearing down on her from behind.
Then the dust in front of her thickened to shadows. Legs. Horns. Mad, panicked eyes. Twenty bison burst around the corner and turned down Main Street. Forty more followed them. A hundred. A full, panicked stampede of thousand-pound animals galloping hell-bent
Directly at Maya and the little girl.
Chapter Three
Heart pounding a panicked rhythm in her ears, Maya bolted across the street, toward the snack bar, which had an ice cream booth on the flat-topped roof. She tightened her grip on Hannah and fixed her eyes on the stairs leading up to the snack area. Up. If she could just get up, she would be
A heavy, hairy weight slammed into her from behind, driving her to her knees. Hooves struck her in the side and she curled her body around Hannah in a futile effort to protect the girl.