Shattered Heart (Z series) Read online

  JT shook off the thought and stepped out of the pantry. Charlotte was rolling out the dough she’d been punishing earlier. “I’ll go out the back and stick around until I see Cara show up. I don’t want you to be alone. Maybe we can continue looking for what the key opens after you close tonight. What time do you lock the doors?”

  “All customers should be gone by seven. I’ll get Cara out of here early.”

  “Okay. I’ll see you around seven-thirty.” He leaned in and gave her a quick kiss on the lips.

  He walked out and closed the door behind him, feeling apprehension about leaving her, but he couldn’t allow anyone to see them together. If Terran got wind of it, he’d know something was up. JT couldn’t afford for that to happen.

  He ambled into the alley between the buildings to watch for Charlotte’s friend. Then he’d go to work. He had a list of things that needed to get done while Terran was away, and that would take up most of the day. Maybe he’d even do a little snooping around Terran’s office, though he knew that could be risky. The man wouldn’t leave himself open to a new employee. JT was sure there would be security at the office, even if Terran was gone, especially if he had any incriminating evidence lying around.

  Nope. Terran wasn’t stupid, and neither was he. Maybe leaving him to his own devices was some sort of test to JT’s honesty and no way was he going to fail. Not when getting in good with the boss might be the only way to find out what Terran was up to.

  Gravel crunching brought JT back to the cafe. Cara was exiting her car. With her here, he could now get going.

  He turned to get to the end of the alley where he’d parked his truck. Inside the cab, he started the engine and pulled away, on his way to the Terran Corporation. First thing, he’d get the list of things William wanted finished done, then he’d go out to the Gray Summit site to make sure their crew wasn’t wasting company time and money. JT had been taught work ethics in the service, but not everyone was like him. Without supervision, people tended to do as little as possible, and Terran would blame him if at least a portion of what was expected didn’t get completed.

  A ten minute drive and he pulled into the company’s parking lot. At the door, he was greeted by security.

  “Morning, Mr. Malone.”

  “Good morning.” JT wasn’t surprised Terran had made sure someone besides him was in the building.

  “Mr. Terran said you’d be in today.”

  “I have a few things to do here before I go out to the site.”

  The man nodded then allowed him to enter the building.

  Down the long hallway, he ran into William’s personal assistant.

  “Morning, Susan. I’m surprised William has you working today with everyone gone.”

  “I offered to come in and make a full calls. I’m on my way out right now.”

  “Have a good day.”

  She smiled. “I will, and you do the same.”

  JT went straight to his office, wondering why the woman always seemed to be lurking around. Usually when William was near. Not today though. He was glad she was leaving for the day. He didn’t want her spying on him.

  He walked to his desk and sat down, reaching for the list Terran had given him before he’d informed him he’d be leaving town and to make sure everything was taken care of while he was away.

  Item one on the paper was to make sure all materials were ordered from their suppliers for that week. He read over the list and the companies, and one in particular jumped out at him. Claymont AIG.

  Why would they need something from an agricultural company? Unless it was grass seed. On the list were a series of numbers—nothing to tell him what it was.

  Would the company become suspicious if he asked when he ordered them?

  Would they talk to Terran about it?

  JT booted up his computer. Maybe he could find out at the on-line site.

  He found Claymontaig.com and glanced at what the company carried, drawing in a strangled breath when he came across ammonium nitrate. He glanced at the series of numbers. They were the same.

  Why the hell would Terran need this shit? Was he even allowed to buy it? Apparently in small enough amounts. How many times could a company order it before being red-flagged by Homeland Security?

  What the hell was Terran buying it for?

  JT couldn’t think of one reason unless the man planned to build a bomb—the worst possible scenario for Z and the government at large if what he feared were true.

  * * *

  Charlotte finished placing the dishes into the washer and wiped her hands. What a day it’d been. Another crazy, busy one, but she couldn’t have been more pleased. Maybe she could go back to the bank and tell them that her business was making record profits and hope they’d extend her loan for a few more months—give them a little of what was owed to show them good faith. Would they at least consider the offer?

  “Do you want to go to Bailey’s for a drink?” Cara asked as she reached for her sweater.

  Charlotte shook her head. “I’m going home.”

  “All right. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

  “Okay.” Her friend left, and Charlotte’s heart started to flutter with anticipation of seeing JT again. He’d been on her mind all day, especially when she stepped into the pantry to get supplies.

  A knock had her heart rate ratcheting.

  She walked to the back, turned the lock on the door and opened it. She wasn’t at all surprised to find JT outside, but the grim look on his face wasn’t what she expected.

  He rushed into the cafe and relocked the door.

  “We need to get you home. I have to talk to Zack.”

  “What’s going on?”

  “I’ll tell you at the house. Get your stuff and we’ll get going.”

  Charlotte walked to the front and grabbed her purse, then came back to JT, worried about what he was going to say. This wasn’t about them. She knew that. This was about Terran.

  They left through the back door. Charlotte allowed him to clasp her hand once they were in the alley. The gesture helped to calm her nerves. But she knew JT had found something that was troubling him.

  At the house, they again entered through the back.

  Zack came into the kitchen, the smile on his face slipping. “What’s going on?”

  “When I went to the office today I had a number of things on a list that needed to get done, as per Terran’s request. First was ordering supplies. One of those suppliers was an AIG company. I did a check to see what he was ordering from them. Want to guess what it was?”

  Zack’s eyes narrowed.” What?”

  “Ammonium nitrate.”

  “Holy shit.”

  JT looked grim. “I also checked to see if this was the first time he’d ordered the stuff. It wasn’t. He’s got a shit ton stockpiled somewhere. Why the hell didn’t Homeland Security catch this?”

  “Wait,” Charlotte said, oblivious to what they were talking about. “What is ammonium nitrate?”

  “It’s what Timothy McVeigh used in the Oklahoma bombing.”

  She gasped. “But surely...”

  “I don’t know what the hell Terran plans to use it for, but he needs to be watched very closely. I mean, why is he in Portland? Is he scoping something out there?”

  Zack started to pace the kitchen floor. “I don’t like this one bit. We need to contact Homeland and let them know what’s going on. We don’t have the manpower to watch this guy’s every move like they do.”

  “You’re right. Contact Z and let them know what’s going on. Dalton can call Homeland’s director. Meanwhile, we need to find what Shaun had on Terran. This is getting more dire by the hour.”

  Zack nodded, then left the room.

  “You don’t think William would do anything this crazy, do you?” Charlotte stared at him, hoping he’d say no. Nothing could be more horrible than an attack on home soil. This was every American’s biggest fear since the Twin Towers went down—that anything even remotely close to
that event would happen again.

  “I wish I knew, Charlotte. I don’t know what the man is capable of. Those shipments they’d been watching came from a Middle-Eastern country. Does that make this terrorist related? I can’t say.”

  She couldn’t believe this was happening. Her whole life had been tipped sideways. First she learns that her husband’s death was a homicide not an accident, now she finds out that the man who killed him might be involved in terrorism.

  “I can’t see William again, JT. I won’t be able to hide my hatred for him.”

  JT pulled her into his arms. “Then we’ll have to find proof before he gets back. That gives us two days.”

  Zack stepped back into the room. “We have the team on this. Dalton said he’d call Homeland Security and let them know what you found. What we need to do is find where he has this stuff hidden. If we can get to it before he does, we can stop anything he’s planning. Any ideas?”

  Charlotte looked at JT.

  He rubbed at the stubble on his jaw. “Gray Summit maybe.”

  “So we need to go out there and take a look around tonight,” Zack said.

  JT nodded. “But what are we going to do with Charlotte?”

  She thrust her hands on her hips. “I’m going with you, and that’s that.”

  CHAPTER NINE

  The last thing JT wanted to do was take Charlotte into a dangerous situation but she refused to take no for an answer. Besides, he didn’t want to leave her alone at the house.

  “Make a left up there,” JT told Zack, who was driving.

  “When we get to the site, I insist you stay in the truck, Charlotte. Understand?”

  “All right.” She looked none too pleased but he knew she’d listen to him.

  “Cut the headlights. We don’t want to go in announced.”

  At a slow creep, the truck moved ahead up the gravel drive.

  JT tried to recall where everything was at the site, since he’d only been to the place a couple of times. There was the new construction itself, then according to the building plans, what was already on the property when Terran purchased the land.

  At the gate, Zack pulled the truck off the road and into a gully slightly hidden by trees, just in case someone showed up unexpectedly.

  “No one should be able to see you here, Charlotte. Lock the doors as soon as we get out. If you hear any kind of trouble, get the hell out of here.”

  When he opened his door, he caught a glimpse of how pale she’d become. “We’ll be all right. Now, lock up.” JT watched the knob on his side go down then took off around the truck where Zack waited.

  “Any ideas where to start?” his friend asked as they headed over the fence into the site.

  “Follow me.” JT took off at a sprint across the field that led to the new construction. There was one outer building that could house bags. That was where they’d start.

  When he reached the plywood wall, JT stopped and waited for Zack to catch up, then signaled for them to work their way to the corner. Before taking a right around the building, JT scanned the perimeter, unsure if Terran had security on-site in the evenings or not.

  A beam of light caught his attention, and he tipped his head to Zack, who nodded. Both backed flush against the wall, hoping whoever was around wouldn’t spot them.

  When the illumination disappeared, JT turned to Zack, then signaled for them to go.

  The two shot out and dashed to the small shed-type building JT hoped housed the fertilizer.

  On the door, they found a large-sized padlock. “You think you can pick it?” JT asked Zack. This was one skill JT never excelled at.

  Zack nodded, then squatted down and extracted a kit from his back pocket, pulling out a thin device. He tipped the lock up and inserted the probe into the keyhole.

  JT’s heart raced as he watched for trouble. If Zack didn’t hurry up, they were going to get caught and then his cover would be blown.

  A soft click and his friend pulled the lock down and removed the clip from the fastener. Zack tugged the door open. Inside were a half dozen bags.

  JT ducked in to examine them. It was ammonium nitrate, but this wasn’t even close to the number Terran had ordered in the past year and a half. So where was the rest?

  Maybe he was selling it to another source? But then what the hell were those shipments?

  “What should we do?” Zack whispered, looking squarely at him.

  “We need to keep looking. This can’t be all of it. Maybe he has more somewhere else.”

  They retraced their steps out of the building, then replaced the padlock.

  Headlights from the road had them on the move. Someone was coming to the site, and they needed to find a place to stay hidden until they got a look at who it was.

  JT pointed back toward the new building. The two raced to the side and again stood flush, JT glimpsing around when the bright lights were close. It was an SUV, but he didn’t recognize it as any of the crew who had been there when he stopped by that afternoon. The lights remained on, as if they were debating whether to get out or leave. That made JT nervous. What were they there for? The driver’s door came open, and the light in the cab allowed JT to see the man behind the wheel. The guard from earlier came to talk to the guy, nodding at something the stranger said. He wished he knew what.

  JT squinted to get a better look, but the door went closed again.

  Damn it all to hell.

  “Let’s get those bags and get out of here,” a man with a foreign accent said.

  JT turned to Zack, not sure what they should do. If they tried to stop them, he’d blow his cover and probably get shot at by the security guard. If they let them go, who the hell knew where those bags would end up?

  When JT was about to step out, Zack grasped his arm and shook his head, then signaled back toward the truck.

  His friend was right. No way could they let their presence be known.

  But what were they going to do?

  Zack dragged him down the side of the building, then dashed off, headed for the truck, in the opposite direction of the men in the SUV.

  Charlotte was waiting, her eyes filled with worry.

  Inside the cab, she wrapped her arms around JT. “I saw the truck and thought for sure they’d catch you.”

  “We’re okay.”

  Zack sat in the driver’s seat and flipped open his phone, punching a button. “I need you to run a plate number,” he said into the mouthpiece. Zack rattled off the state and plates number. Then I need you to call Oregon State Patrol and put a BOLO out on the vehicle. If it crosses the state line, the occupants need to be arrested for transporting hazardous material across state lines without authorization. If they don’t leave the state, we need to know where they end up.”

  JT smiled. Why hadn’t he thought of that? Thank God Zack was here and on the ball.

  They waited for the SUV to leave then started the engine, jumping the ditch, back onto the road headed into town. All they could do now was wait and see what happened, while still searching for the evidence that Charlotte’s husband had hidden somewhere.

  * * *

  Charlotte was relieved to be home. She had too much excitement for one day. She was exhausted and all she could think about was crawling into bed and going to sleep.

  She turned to JT. “Are you going back to the motel?”

  “I think it’s best if I stay here. This is turning into something bigger than we ever imagined.”

  “The chance that this guy could be involved in a terrorist plot is starting to take shape. If he is masterminding something, he wouldn’t hesitate to take down anyone who got in his way. He might just think that about you, Charlotte.” Zack looked to JT for confirmation.

  JT nodded.

  All of a sudden, Charlotte wasn’t so tired. Every nerve in her body seemed to jump at any sound, and her heart slammed into her ribcage as if it was trying to leave her chest. “Do you think Shaun knew about William buying this stuff?”

  “
I could only go back so far and with five or six different chemical companies. He certainly could have, though Terran seems to have ramped up his ordering in the past nine months. Just under an amount that would send eyes his way.”

  “So then what were those shipments that Shaun mentioned? What could they have possibly been? Something else needed to build one of these bombs?”

  Charlotte caught a look between the two men. That was exactly what they were thinking. But they didn’t want to come out and say it—because saying it made it all the more real.

  “Why don’t you go on to bed, Charlotte? There isn’t much we can do tonight.”

  “But...

  “Try to get some sleep. If we find anything out, I’ll wake you.”

  Charlotte didn’t want to, yet instead of arguing the point, she turned and headed for her room. She knew she wouldn’t be able to sleep. Not with all the possibilities spinning around in her head. What if William was about to build this bomb and cause a horrendous catastrophe? What if those crates were filled with something that could turn that bomb into something even more devastating—that could have years and years of consequences to come?

  She sucked in a ragged breath. Now, she wished she was oblivious to the whole thing. She didn’t want to know what could happen. There was something to be said about living in the dark, especially with anything of this magnitude.

  Then again, why would William get involved in something like this?

  Charlotte entered her room and closed the door. She couldn’t think of any reason he’d want to work with someone to blow up anything in the US. It made no sense unless he himself was being forced to do so.

  Could that be a possibility?

  Maybe he got involved with the wrong people. Looking for a way to make money. To save his business. Look what she’d thought about doing to save hers.

  Perhaps William had no idea what he was getting into until it was too late.

  She walked to the bathroom and turned on the cold water. She leaned over and splashed the cool liquid over her face. She couldn’t allow herself to feel sorry for him. Because everything was just speculation. The man might be in it up to his comb-over.