For one moment, Elie’s temper welled up, shaking him, and then he pushed it down, getting himself under control. Who would want to kill her and why? He glanced across the expanse of rolling lawn down to the terraced landscape that led to the lake. She was there with Emmanuelle, Val, Dario and Elie’s two personal protectors, Ruggero and Lorenzo Forni.
Brielle continued sending him anxious little glances, worried that he continually exposed himself to a sniper rifle. He wasn’t as worried as she was. He’d spent a great deal of time checking to see what it would take to get a decent shot with a rifle. The shooter would have to be on the lake to take the shot, and that meant a boat in the water. He should have told Brielle instead of letting her worry about him. He thought it was sweet that she was concerned, when she’d been so adamant that she didn’t want to marry him.
“You had her investigated,” Elie said, aware Stefano watched him with hooded eyes. “You had the report in your hand last night.”
“I did,” Stefano admitted without a qualm. “Thoroughly. She doesn’t have a single enemy that my investigators could find unless you count her family. That’s always a possibility, although an ugly one to consider. But since someone is sending her bombs, we can’t leave anything to chance. We’ll have to take another, much deeper look at her family. I fear for her if it was her father or sister. She’s taken quite a few blows in her life and still made something of herself. She’ll make a good mother.”
“She’s had it very hard,” Elie said. “I admire her. I want her for a lot of reasons, Stefano. Not just because she’s going to make a great mother.”
Vittorio placed the X-Ray system in the back of his car and then approached them again. This time Giovanni was with him. They kept their backs to Brielle. Elie knew it was to prevent lip reading, something all riders were adept at doing.
“We’re going to have to use the blast containment vessel and detonate it. We’ll slip the case over it and just blow it.”
“You’re certain they don’t have a remote detonator?” Stefano asked. “I don’t want to lose either of you.”
“We both studied the bomb,” Giovanni said. “In any case, if they did, I think they would have used it. Elie has so many security measures on the property, they would have tripped over a wire by now. I think they’re long gone. We know for certain the bomb is motion activated. They expected Brielle to wheel it inside.”
Again, the sweep of anger washed over Elie and he waited for it to recede before he spoke. “Let’s get this done. I appreciate all of you coming to help out.” He made certain his tone was even and not one shred of his inner rage could spill out. It was one thing for him to be targeted, another for Brielle to be.
There were a few tense moments as Vittorio manipulated the blast containment vessel over the suitcase, careful to keep from touching the sides of the case, enclosing it completely.
“Setting it off now,” Vittorio warned.
From the pictures taken with the 3-D X-Ray Scan system, they were certain the explosives they were dealing with were C-4. The bomb itself appeared to be crude, but effective.
The bomb was easily contained by the vessel. In fact, Elie found the explosion rather anticlimactic. If any of his neighbors saw the black smoke rising into the air, it dispersed fairly quickly. He owned the two parcels on either side of him and quite a few acres behind him with the lake in front. Valentino and Emmanuelle were his closest neighbors on one side and Vittorio on the other. Down from Valentino was Dario. He doubted if that black smoke rising upward in a steady stream for a few minutes before beginning to dissipate would be noticed.
Vittorio signaled that it was safe to approach the house once more. “We’ll take care of the mess on your front porch when we leave, Elie,” Vittorio assured him. “No one will be able to tell that this ever happened.”
“I appreciate it,” Elie said.
He went down the front walkway to meet his bride halfway, holding out his hand to Brielle as they walked together back to the house. He ignored everyone else, concentrating only on his wife. She clearly had no idea she had been the target, not him. As they went through the door, he transferred his hold to around her waist, bringing her closer to him.
“I should have told you, a sniper would have to be on the lake in order to get a shot at me. We’d see the boat. Stop worrying when we’re inside. We have great security cameras that pick up movement on the water as well as all around the property. We get notifications sent to us when there’s activity. I’ll install the apps on your devices so you’ll get them as well.”