He had barely finished when Miguel rushed up to them, followed by Madeline and Nicholas. He knelt by her and placed an arm across her back to offer support.

  “How bad?” he asked the agent who had been guarding her.

  “Not too deep, I think. I haven’t had a chance to check out anything else,” the agent explained.

  “We’ll get on it,” Madeline said and quickly directed Nicholas, the agent guarding her and the other agents who’d streamed out of the building to safeguard the area and any evidence.

  The blast had taken out part of a pillar on the building housing the BAU offices and the force of the blast had shattered all the glass along the one side of the building as well as a few stories above the pillar.

  The sound of an ambulance pulling up drew Miguel’s attention. “Let’s get you over to the EMT,” he said and helped her to her feet. Her knees were wobbly, and she needed his support to walk over to the ambulance. But seconds later she was seated in the ambulance and an EMT was working on her arm.

  “Not very deep. She won’t need stitches,” he said as he tenderly cleaned the wound.

  She winced at the bite of the antiseptic and he apologized. “Sorry.”

  “No worries,” she answered, but at Miguel’s muttered curse, she met his worried gaze. “I’m okay. Really,” she said to reassure him.

  “You could have been killed,” he said and dragged a hand through his hair in frustration.

  “I’m okay, but the Crusader was here. We saw him right before the blast.”

  * * *

  I SHOULD HAVE been here, Miguel thought, concern for her overriding all his thoughts.

  This is what it’s like to care for someone. To think of nothing but them even when the world around you is on fire, he thought.

  But he didn’t have the luxury of that in his life. He couldn’t care for someone as deeply as he cared for Maisy because his focus had to be on the bigger picture. On his responsibilities for others.

  “We’ll find him. Right now, I need to get you safely inside the BAU office, but I have to oversee my team. Are you up for it?” he asked as he glanced at the EMT, who signaled he was done with Maisy.

  “I am. You go. I know you have responsibilities.”

  He was about to respond when Dashiell raced over, Liam and David tagging behind him, which was perfect.

  “Dashiell, I need you to take Maisy back up to the office and get her interview while her memories are fresh. She also indicated that they’d seen the Crusader right before the blast, so please check CCTV cameras and find out what you can.”

  “Got it, Miguel,” Dashiell said and held his hand out to Maisy. She slipped her hand into his and Miguel’s gut tightened.

  With jealousy? Over Dash, who had no interest in her, especially since he’d found his own special someone just a short time ago? Miguel thought and once again had to tell himself to focus on what was important at the moment, namely finding the bomber who was terrorizing Seattle.

  “I’ll be up as soon as I can,” he said and ran his hand down her back in a gesture meant to reassure.

  “I know you will,” she said with such trust, his heart constricted.

  He’d already failed her, but he wouldn’t do it again. As they headed toward the door to the BAU’s office building, he marched over to the side of the structure where the explosion had taken out part of one of the support pillars for the building. Luckily, it seemed like minor damage at the blast site. An ATF agent and Mack from Seattle ABS were already there, examining the pillar. Police tape had already been set up around the perimeter of their crime scene, and he eased under it and headed toward the men, mindful of not stepping on any possible evidence.

  Like before, he noticed bits of paper and hints of blue wire. At the blast site, Mack and the ATF agent were examining the damage.

  As he approached, Mack rose, shook his hand and introduced the ATF agent. “Special Agent Cummings.”

  “SSA Peters. Good to work with you. What have we got?” he asked the two bomb experts.

  “Dynamite again. Enough to make a substantial blast, but not do major damage,” ATF Agent Cummings said.

  “The blast created a lot of shrapnel from the glass of the building and the concrete of the pillar, but it’s surface damage,” Mack added in explanation.

  “Maybe because he was here and didn’t want to get hurt himself,” Miguel said.

  “The Crusader was here? In the area?” Mack asked and searched the surrounding area, not that the Crusader would be stupid enough to hang around.

  “Maisy said she and the agent guarding her saw him right before the blast. I have Dash and his team checking out the CCTV footage to see what we have.”

  “Keep us posted,” Special Agent Cummings said and sank back down onto his haunches to review the blast site again.

  With a nod, Miguel left the two men to their investigation and headed upstairs, eager to hear what his team might have found and to see Maisy and make sure she was okay.

  Maisy, Maisy, Maisy. She’d been on his brain the entire morning as they’d run down their prospective leads, speaking to two of the licensed blasters. Neither had raised alarms with him and they still had another four to go, but that would have to wait now while they processed any new evidence from this blast.

  It was another explosion that would have likely not injured anyone, although there were never any guarantees. People could have heart attacks from the shock, like in the Olympic Park Bomber case. The shrapnel that had cut Maisy’s arm could have easily slashed her neck and a vital artery.

  His heart sunk to somewhere in the middle of his gut as he imagined Maisy gone from his life. Taken by a terrorist the way his mother had been, way too soon.

  Way, way too soon because he hadn’t really had a chance to get to know her.

  Which is how it has to stay, he reminded himself.

  Rushing into the building, he hurried to the elevator, hands jammed into his pants pockets, feet tapping as he waited for it to arrive. As the ding announced the elevator had arrived, he barely contained himself to allow the sole passenger to exit and marched on, impatient to reach the BAU offices.

  As soon as the door opened on the floor, he dashed out and into their offices. A quick look confirmed that Dashiell had likely taken Maisy to the interrogation room and he pushed on to that space. Inside, his team was sitting with Maisy as she told them what she had seen before the blast.

  All heads turned in his direction as he entered. He forced a smile and went straight to Maisy’s side, passing a hand across her back to offer support.

  “How’s it going?” he asked.

  Maisy glanced up at him and said, “The bomber was there with us when the bomb went off.”

  He nodded. “How close was he?”

  “Maybe twenty feet away. By the edges of the park next to the building,” she said.

  He faced Dash. “Would our cameras capture that area?”

  Dash shook his head. “Probably not, but we might have caught him when he placed the bomb by the pillar. I have Liam and David reviewing the CCTV tapes to confirm that.”

  He nodded. “Good. Mack and ATF Special Agent Cummings will send what they have, but after an initial examination, it looks like our man again. Dynamite and blue wires. The bomb was placed and constructed in a way to make a statement.”

  “But possibly not hurt anyone again?” Nicholas said.

  Anger surged through him. “Maisy and our agent were hurt. Maisy could have been killed if that shrapnel had been a few inches higher.”

  Beneath his hand, Maisy shook, and he smoothed his hand across her back again to gentle her.

  “We need to push. Harder. Faster before his next bomb kills someone,” Miguel said, but before he could continue, a knock came at the door.

  “Come in,” he called out sharply, irritated at the interruption.

  Liam opened the door cautiously, obviously sensing Miguel’s impatience.

  “We have something. I’ve cued it up on the computer for you to see,” Liam said and gestured outside to their work area.

  Miguel squashed his irritation and nodded. “Good work, Liam. We’ll be there in a second.” He turned to his team and said, “I’m sorry if I was abrupt, but leaving a bomb at our door is a challenge. He thinks he’s smarter than us. That he can keep on terrorizing the city, but we will stop him.”

  “No doubt about that, Miguel. We will stop him,” Madeline said, rose from the table and was followed by Nicholas and Dash, leaving Miguel alone with Maisy.

  He leaned against the table so he could examine her better. A few bits of debris were tangled in the thick strands of her caramel hair and he brushed them away as he asked, “Are you okay? Really okay?”

  Her gaze shimmered with unshed tears, but she stiffened her lips and nodded. “A little sore. Arm hurts like crazy, but okay. Alive,” she said with a rough breath.

  “He won’t get to you again. I promise you that. I won’t let you out of my sight again,” he said, but her smile turned rueful and she shook your head.

  “You will because you have to get to work. Like now,” she said and jerked her head in the direction of the door.

  He hated that she was right. The job had to come first before anything else, including Maisy.

  “Let’s go,” he said and quickly added, “please.”

  * * *

  HE WAS RATTLED and Maisy understood why. Hell, she was absolutely terrified, but she knew that for the good of the investigation and for them—if there was a “them”—she had to stay calm.

  They walked to the workspace where Madeline, Dashiell and Nicholas were already seated at the table. Liam stood off to the side at one of the computers and as Miguel and Maisy settled themselves at the table, he said, “About an hour before the blast, a group of what looks like homeless people walked by the building. Watch the man in the center of the group.”

  The projection monitor snapped to life and a video played showing a group of about half a dozen people approaching the building. They were coming from a nearby highway area and Maisy supposed that like at many other underpasses on the edges of the city, the homeless group had set up an encampment.

  The video jumped to another angle, probably from another camera, Maisy thought.

  This angle showed the same group, who strolled toward the column, surrounding one man as Liam had mentioned. His hood was up and there was something familiar about him. She pointed to him and said, “The one in the middle. That’s his hoodie.”

  No sooner had she said that than the man slipped to the edge of the group with a black knapsack and placed it next to the pillar. As he did so, the hood fell back to reveal his face before he quickly jerked it back up.

  “That’s him! I know that’s him!” she shouted and pointed to the picture as Liam froze the video.

  “That’s our man and quite young. Early twenties,” Miguel said.

  “Like the Austin Serial and Smiley Face Bombers,” Nicholas said.

  “We’re already working on cleaning up the video and will start running it against the various databases,” Liam said just as David walked over, a smile on his face.

  Dash glanced at his intern and said, “I hope there’s a reason for that smile.”

  Chapter Fifteen

  “We didn’t get a hit on CODIS, but we got a hit at the DNA testing service we can access. Not an exact match, but the individual in the database is likely a cousin,” David said.

  Miguel dipped his head and said, “Excellent work. Please get us whatever information you can on that individual so we can interview them.”

  “Will do,” David said and headed back to his computer to work.

  Miguel turned his attention to the team. “Nicholas, I need you to get back on the street to interview the other licensed blasters on our list. Madeline, please work with Dash and Liam on that list of possible suspects. Hopefully with the new photos of the unsub, we’ll be able to at least limit the list. In the meantime, I’m going to take Maisy home so she can rest. I’ll be back later.”

  “That’s not necessary, Miguel,” Maisy said, a stain of color on her cheeks, as if she was embarrassed by his concern.

  “But it is. I want to make sure that you’re safe, not like before,” he said and skipped his gaze across his team members to see if anyone disagreed.

  “This latest bomb could have been specifically set because the Crusader knew that Maisy would be here,” Nicholas said.

  Miguel appreciated his support. “Anything happens, call, text or email. I’ll be working at my place.”

  He glanced at Maisy, almost daring her to contradict him in front of his team again, but she remained silent. Slowly she rose, wincing as she did so, making him slip his arm around her waist to offer support.

  She shrugged off his assistance, obviously upset with him.

  He got it, but that wasn’t going to make him change his mind. Together they walked out of the BAU offices, to the elevator and down to his condo. No words were exchanged. In fact, she avoided his gaze, clearly still annoyed with him.

  They had no sooner stepped inside his condo when she whirled on him. “I appreciate your concern, but you have a job to do.”

  He blew out an exasperated sigh and dragged a hand through his hair. “My job is to protect you.”

  She jabbed him in the chest with a very pointy index finger. “Your job is to catch the Seattle Crusader. That’s how you’ll keep me and tons of others safe.”

  He couldn’t argue with her, but he did. “And do you think I can keep my mind on this investigation if I don’t know that you’re safe? The entire time I was with Nicholas earlier, all I could think about was whether you were okay.”

  His revelation obviously surprised her. “You were thinking about me?”

  With a heavy sigh, he looked away and said, “I was.”

  She cradled his cheek and gently urged him back to face her. “I was thinking about you, too, but I don’t think that’s a good thing for either of us, is it?”

  “No, it isn’t. We both want different things from life,” he admitted.

  “We do, but if we want to get on with our lives, you need to trap this terrorist. You can’t do that holed up with me here.”

  He hated that she was right. Worse, he hated that even though she was right, he was still worried about the prospect of leaving her here alone. After all, the Crusader had struck right on their doorstep, almost as if to taunt them that both Maisy and the FBI weren’t safe.

  But he had to leave her, as much as he might not like it.

  “Why don’t you take a shower to relax? You’re probably sore from being tossed around.”

  “I am. Again,” she said with a wry smile and a short chuff of a laugh.

  “I’ll have another agent at the door until I come back,” he said and before he could stop himself, he dropped a quick kiss on her lips.

  * * *

  MAISY WAS SURPRISED by his show of affection, and worse, she wanted more than just that brief touch. But that would only complicate things even more as they had both said.

  They wanted different things from life and yet...

  She wouldn’t think about how tempting it was to imagine having a life with Miguel. To share it and bring him the peace he was missing. The life he was missing by living here at work.

  “¡Cuídate!” she said and rushed off to shower and ease some of the pains in her body from being thrown by the blast.

  The heat of the water helped ease some of the soreness and the waterproof bandage protected the gash on her arm. But as she swept her soapy hands across her body, she noted the assorted bruises from the first blast that were only just turning purplish and yellow as well as a few newer bruises.

  She finished showering, wrapped a towel around her body and used another to create a makeshift turban around her hair. But when she exited the bathroom, she discovered that Miguel was still in the apartment. He sat at the kitchen table in front of his laptop, tapping away at the keys.

  He raised his head as she walked in and explained.

  “I can’t get an agent here for another hour or more and the rest of the team is working on their assignments. If you feel up to it, would you mind going back up to the BAU offices with me?”

  She was physically up to it, but emotionally... Every minute spent with Miguel made keeping her emotional distance from him harder. But she also didn’t want to keep him from doing his job because the safety of others was at risk.

  “I’m up to it. Just give me a few minutes to get ready,” she said, rushed to her suitcase and pulled out clothes to wear. She hurried to the bathroom, where she dressed and with a few quick strokes through her hair, brushed out any tangles. It would air dry, curlier than normal but otherwise fine.

  When she exited the bathroom, Miguel glanced in her direction again, but his look went from all business to something else. Something dangerous that ignited heat throughout her body.

  “You’re so beautiful,” he said.

  Heart beating heavily, she told herself to deflect, deflect, deflect. “Why, Supervisory Special Agent Peters, I bet you say that to all the girls.”

  He laughed as she intended and shook his head. “You are truly something. Seriously,” he said and shot to his feet. “Let’s go. Please.”

  She nodded and rushed to his side, and he laid a hand at her back to guide her toward the door. The touch was comforting. Possessive.

  At the door, he said, “Please let me.”