Read Online Short Fuse: Elite Operators, Book 2 by Rebecca Crowley - Free Book Online Page B

that sort of thing. All I know is one minute I was standing outside the office talking to Alex and the next I was on the ground.”
    “Can Warren tell if it was an accident?”
    “How the hell should I know?” Roger huffed irritably. “He keeps nagging me to go find the key for the lock, like I’m his errand boy.”
    As if he had a sixth sense, Warren chose that minute to turn around.
    “Roger, any progress on that key?”
    The site manager muttered something in Afrikaans that didn’t sound at all complimentary, and as he barged back into the crowd Warren gestured for Nicola to join him. She walked to the edge of the crater, wrinkling her nose against the stench of scorched wood and metal.
    “See how the circumference of this hole is almost entirely outside the shed? And then there’s this big bite taken out of the wood here, at the top, which compromised the ceiling structure.”
    He talked her through various elements of the damage, pointing to jagged edges and burn marks, but he’d shoved the sleeves of the boiler suit up over his elbows and soon all she could think about were the sinewy muscles in his wrists, the dark hair on his forearms, the agile movements of his finger. The memory of the iron strength in his grip as he’d clutched her to his chest shot through her like a bolt of electricity, leaving tingling heat in its wake.
    “The explosion was deliberate,” he concluded, snapping her back to the present. “Someone was trying to blow the doors open without hurting whatever’s inside.”
    “Absolutely no chance it could’ve been an accident?”
    “None.”
    “Can you see what’s inside?”
    “It looks like construction equipment.”
    “There has to be something else,” she muttered. “No one would bother blowing into a shed to get a semi-functional earthmover. Where’s Roger?”
    They turned to discover that in the site manager’s absence, the semicircle of curious mineworkers had tightened and advanced. The sea of men in blue boiler suits had stretched to surround them on all sides, forcing the shift leaders to stumble backwards as their stay-away gestures went unheeded.
    Warren moved closer, raising his hand to her lower back. “Count to ten, then have a look at the man to your left. He has a shaved head and light eyes.”
    Seven, eight, nine… Nicola glanced over her shoulder and immediately knew who Warren meant. The man in question had hazel-green eyes that stood out arrestingly against his dark skin. His expression was neutral, but his stare was keen.
    Too keen.
    “I saw him at the settlement yesterday,” Warren murmured at her side. “He wasn’t dressed like a miner.”
    She allowed herself another ten seconds’ scrutiny before jerking her gaze away. Had he snuck onto the site using a false ID? Was he hanging around to confirm what he thought was in the shed? But why? What did he want? They should clear this crowd, get everyone away before they opened the lock and showed them all what was inside.
    “Hey, I’ve got the key!” Alex shoved his way through the throng, the thick iron object held above his head like a trophy. He was breathless when he reached them, his eyes bright with excitement.
    “Roger really didn’t want you guys to find this,” he explained. “He told Cedric to hide it, but Cedric gave it to me instead and told me to run it down here. He told Roger the key wasn’t in the drawer where it belonged and the two of them are back at the office, turning over chairs trying to find it.”
    “Hang on.” She turned to Warren, trying to cast a significant glance at the watching crowd. “Shouldn’t we—”
    But Alex crossed the crater in one stride and shoved the key in the padlock. The sound of the key turning seemed exceptionally loud, and with a rusty squeak and a cloud of ash, the padlock fell away and the doors hung open.
    A shaft of sunlight slanted across the hulking earthmover, its giant wheels caked in red dust, the yellow paint flaking off the body.