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But Brooke was right to feel uneasy about him, and Pierce’s gut was telling him that something was going to snap in the guysooner rather than later. Whether Dean was simply paranoid and erratic or hiding something darker, Pierce knew he had to be prepared for anything. They were sitting on a powder keg, and Dean was the lit fuse.
“I’m keeping an eye on him. If things go south, I’ll handle it.”
But as much as Dean posed a threat, he knew the real danger was still out there, lurking beyond the horizon. And, like a magnet, his gaze went back to the front windows. Were Zak, Donovan, Sawyer, Veronica, and the others okay? The last he’d seen Sawyer, the guy had been headed up one of the hiking trails on the mountain with his dog Zelda. Was they safely back at the rescue, or were they trapped somewhere, too? Was the rescue even still standing?
Dammit, he needed more information.
He turned to Rhiannon.“The radio Dottie mentioned? We should see if it’s working.”
“Oh, good idea. I’ll grab it.”
She disappeared behind the registers for only a moment before reappearing with the old radio tucked under her arm. “Found it,” she said, her voice laced with a bright note of hope. “Let’s hope it has batteries.”
Pierce gestured for her to place it on the counter by the register. She set it down and began fiddling with the dials, her fingers moving with a quick, practiced ease that told him she was no stranger to this kind of equipment. Static crackled through the speakers, a low, grating hum that filled the otherwise silent room.
Rhiannon frowned, adjusting the tuner. “Come on,” she muttered under her breath, her frustration evident as the static persisted.
Pierce stood beside her, his eyes scanning the various stations displayed on the radio’s face. The silence was maddening, and the lack of any broadcast increased his senseof isolation. Just when he was about to sign something to her, the static shifted. A garbled voice cut through the noise, barely audible but there.
Rhiannon’s eyes widened, and she quickly adjusted the frequency again, leaning in close as the voice became clearer.
“...Emergency broadcast...evacuate...aftershocks…”
Pierce’s heart leaped into his throat. “Turn it up.”
Everyone in the room stilled as she cranked the volume as high as it would go. The voice on the radio was still patchy, but bits and pieces of the emergency broadcast came through loud enough for them to understand.
“...major aftershocks predicted along the coast...inland routes blocked...military assistance deployed...stay in place if you are unable to evacuate...more information to follow…”
The room fell silent again as the broadcast ended, replaced by static.
“Oh my God,” Dottie whispered.
Pierce clenched his fists. Military assistance? Aftershocks? He hadn’t expected any help to arrive soon, but if the military was involved, it meant the situation was worse than they realized. And that made him uneasy. Whatever was happening wasn’t just a random earthquake—it was bigger than that. His gut had been right.
This wasn’t simply a natural disaster.
This was an attack.
And it was his fault.
Rhiannon looked up at him, her face pale. “Help’s not coming anytime soon, is it?”
He met her gaze steadily, his heart in his throat. He wished he could’ve reassured her that everything was going to be okay, but he didn’t want to lie.“No, we’re on our own.”
Rhiannon stared at him, a silent question in those incredible green eyes of hers. She wanted answers, and she was starting tosuspect he knew more than he was letting on. The suspicion in her gaze all but undid him, but he couldn’t tell her everything. It would only make her a target, too.
The group muttered nervously, their voices rising in a discordant chorus that echoed off the cracked walls and shattered windows.
Rhiannon turned away from him and held up her hands. “I know we’re all scared, but we need to focus on what we can do, not on what’s happening beyond our control.” Her voice was steady and calm, cutting through the anxiety like a ray of sunlight piercing storm clouds.
She glanced back at him then, and he felt every pair of eyes turn to him. Their fear was a palpable thing, crawling under his skin. He drew a breath and lifted his hands.“She’s right. Panic won’t help. If the aftershocks are as bad as they say, we can’t stay here. So we need a plan. We need to prepare for more aftershocks. That means securing the space we’re in and getting ready to leave the moment we can.”
“Where are we going to go?” someone asked, panic rising in their voice.
“We don’t know yet,” Rhiannon said, paraphrasing his signs. “We don’t know if we can even find a way out, so for now, we reinforce the building and stick together.”
Pierce’s gaze settled on Dottie, who was still sitting near Michael. The little boy had woken up, his small body nestled against the older woman’s chest.
