Cade squinted at the heavy black electrical tape binding the device to Mia’s waist. He traced the yellow wire that ran from the cell-phone receiver down to the C4 block. Then he saw it. A secondary, thinner blue wire tucked beneath the main bundle.
A proximity bypass.
Rusty had wired the detonator to a short-range radio frequency. The cell phone on the vest was just a relay. The actual detonation signal didn't come from a cell tower miles away. It required a localized radio signal to complete the final circuit, usually from a handheld remote.
Cade looked up, his eyes narrowing as he stared out the diner window into the dark, rain-swept parking lot.
Silas wasn't sitting in a clubhouse three counties away.
For the remote signal to work, the black van had to be sitting somewhere within five hundred feet. They were out there right now, watching them in the dark.
Chapter 2: The Eye in the Bear
"They're watching us," Cade murmured, stepping away from the window so his silhouette wouldn't be clearly visible from the street.
Sarah, who was wiping sweat from her forehead with a napkin, froze. "What do you mean they're watching us? The windows are tinted from the outside. In this rain, they can't see through the glass unless we turn the overheads back on."
"They don't need to look through the glass," Cade said softly.
He turned his gaze back to Mia. She was still leaning forward over the red vinyl stool, her breathing shallow and ragged. In her arms, she held the dirty, oversized teddy bear the woman from the van had given her. It had a plastic nose, a red ribbon around its neck, and two large, dark, glass eyes.
Cade knelt beside Mia, keeping his voice incredibly soft. "Mia, sweetheart, can I look at your bear for a second?"
Mia hesitated, clutching the stuffed animal tighter. "The lady said if I dropped him, I'd be in trouble."
"I won't let him drop," Cade promised, holding out his hands. "I just want to see his ribbon."
Reluctantly, Mia loosened her grip. Cade gently took the bear. He turned it toward the dim light coming from the kitchen pass-through. He examined the left eye. It was just plastic. He examined the right eye.
Deep inside the dark plastic pupil, a tiny, pinprick lens reflected the ambient light.
A hidden wireless camera.
Cade felt a cold spike of adrenaline. Silas wasn't just sitting in the parking lot; he had a live video feed inside the diner. He could see every move Cade was making. If Cade tried to cut the wires on the vest, Silas would see it and trigger the explosive immediately.