Free Firewall by DiAnn Mills Page A

infrastructure.
    Taryn leaned back in the chair and stretched before focusing on the news report again. She fought the tears. Ethan was listed among the dead! How could this have happened? He was her friend and mentor. And now he was gone. He’d shared in her suspicions of Kinsley and Haden before he left for Mexico City, and he’d promised to investigate the matter. She stared at the computer screen, her heart hammering against her chest.
    The death toll rose at an alarming rate. The number of injured recovered from the rubble continued to grow. More sites listed her as a bomber . . . killer . . . traitor. She clicked on the FBI’s website to read their press release. Thank goodness they didn’t make the horrendous claims of the media. If only she could send her mom an e-mail or call her.
    She scrambled to find info about Pastor Willis. Another useless search. His church didn’t exist, and the address on his card was a vacant lot. She studied the diamond Shep had placed on her left finger, promising his love and devotion. His smile said forever. Would he be horrified to learn the pastor was a fake, or did he already know? Shaking away the rising panic, she looked for proof of the things he’d told about himself. She had to learn the truth. Her fingers sped across the keyboard, seeking more answers. Even if the results shook her world.
    Harris County had no listing of her and Shep’s marriage license application. He was not the man she thought she’d married . . . if she were married at all.
    With the last finding, she left the café but had no idea where to go. She remembered a bus stop and made her way slowly in that direction. Once there, she slid onto a bench. No one waited with her. So very hard to think when her body was one mass of bruises, and she had nowhere to turn. But she could ride the bus until she figured out the next step. Lydia would be looking for Zoey too. Perhaps she’d call the police.
    The truth . . . where was it? Could Shep really be trying to save her from some unknown evil? Or was he evil personified? The thought made her physically ill. Combined with the pounding in her head, her thinking faded in and out. She wanted to give up and let the police find her. She hadn’t done anything seriously wrong, but how could she prove it?
    “Taryn.”
    She froze. Shep! She whirled around. Bolting from the bench, she flew into his arms. He held her close while she fought the urge to sink into hysteria. The familiar scent of his woodsy cologne and the strength of his arms helped make the horrors of the day fade.
    “There’s no need to board a bus.” He stroked her hair and back. “We have to talk about the miscommunication at the airport.”
    She hesitated, a tug-of-war raging through her emotions. Miscommunication? “What happened this morning?”
    “I got a last-minute business call. Urgent. I had to take care of it.”
    Her mind screamed liar . “You left me at the airport without a word. On our honeymoon!”
    “I tried to call you after the explosion.”
    Shep . . . her husband, the man she loved. She’d looked for him since waking in the hospital. The FBI said he’d fed her a fictitious name. They displayed footage of him leaving the airport before the explosion. An image of Claire’s body flashed. The brutal savagery of all the dead and injured. And where was Zoey? The country believed Taryn was a traitor. Still, he’d not contacted her until now . . . in the dark.
    Taryn stepped back. “I want the truth.”
    “Don’t you trust me? Babe, we have to get out of here.” He grabbed her right wrist   —hard. “Cops are everywhere.”
    In the madness of today, had she lost touch with reality? “Don’t we want to go to the authorities and prove our innocence?”
    A bus rolled to a stop, its brakes screeching. The driver opened the door. No one exited. “I’m running late. Y’all gettin’ on?” the female bus driver said. “Haven’t got all night.”
    Taryn tried to