Nathan conducted a 360-degree sweep of his surroundings with the handheld thermal imager. The HHTI could pick up the heat signature from a vehicle at over 2,200 yards or a man-sized target at 800 yards. The HHTI used in tandem with night vision became an extremely effective combination. Although a person could hide from the night-vision scope, they couldn’t hide their thermal signature. The HHTI nailed them every time. Sure enough, it had no problem seeing through the light fog obscuring the area. The truck parking area shone extremely bright from all the heat signatures of the engines. In the open field behind Nathan it picked up eight to ten cattle lying several hundred yards distant. As he turned the device off, he keyed the radio.

“Harv, you on your way back?”

“Affirm.”

“Grangeland, what’s Sheldon doing? It looks like she’s just standing at the door.”

“She keeps looking at her watch, she seems irritated. Wait. She’s going back outside. You see her?”

“Affirm. Where the hell’s she going? Oh shit, she’s heading for the trash can at the island. Grangeland, Ferris, stop her. Don’t let her approach that island.”

* * *

Amber Sheldon was thoroughly pissed off, more at herself than anyone else. She felt like an idiot. Ernie Bridgestone would never give her any cash, let alone a 100,000 dollars as payment for setting up Nathan McBride. She must’ve been out of her mind to believe anything that jackass said. The lure of money had clearly blinded her. The one thing she did believe was Ernie’s desire to kill Nathan McBride. He’d made that quite clear. An image of the devastation in Sacramento flashed in her mind. She shivered. Coming anywhere near this damned place tonight was stupid. Stupid and crazy.

It was time to leave.

Ignoring the trash can, she marched across the gas-pump island on the way to her car, but suddenly remembered Janey was with her. She started back toward the restaurant, back across the island.

* * *

Grangeland stepped through the restaurant’s door at the same time Amber reached the island.

Nathan’s voice buzzed from her radio. “Grangeland. Get down! Now!”

She dropped to the concrete.

Amber Mills Sheldon disappeared in a bright flash.

For an instant, the air shimmered. Grangeland’s mind registered the explosion and something else. Something hideous. Charred and smoking, Sheldon’s upper torso smashed into the brick wall right next to her.

* * *

Every window along the storefront shattered inward, showering the occupants in a horizontal hail of glass. Car alarms sounded from every corner of the property. The SUV fueling at the northern part of the island was lifted into the air and flipped onto its roof. Its gas tank exploded two seconds later. A huge mushroom of burning gasoline roiled into the air.

* * *

“Son of a bitch,” Henning hissed as the Expedition’s windows shattered inward.

Then Nathan heard something chilling.

Children screaming.

The burning SUV had children in it.