CHASING...A BOMB TECH

MEET GRADY O'SHEA: 

SOFT-SPOKEN BOMB TECH 

& HERO OF CHASING THE LEGACY

**Grady O'Shea sat on a stool in The Bunker. Not a bar as his fellow bomb squad members allowed outsiders to think, but a huge basement that housed IEDs--improvised explosive devices--the squad had recovered from call-outs.

The "bar" was an L-shaped workbench where squad members could take apart these homemade bombs to find out what made them tick, what made them go boom and, sometimes, what made them malfunction. 

The malfunctions were what interested Grady most. What would disrupt these deadly devices so he could use that knowledge to save lives and prevent destruction of property? 

At times--like now--everyone else had gone home or was on a call. Leaving Grady alone to tinker. These were the times he loved best. Just him and the product of a destructive maniac's imagination. He might not be Superman facing the actual terrorist, but he was still defeating evil by rendering its tool of fear inoperable. 

Time didn't exist unless his belly protested his last meal had been some hours ago, or unless the cell phone on his belt vibrated with the sound of an explosion--the signal he was needed on callout. 

The same signal his phone was now emitting with great urgency. 

Grady dropped the pliers in mid-examination of the bomb on the workbench. On the way out the door, he grabbed a jacket and his tool belt. 

The station was organized chaos when Grady stepped inside. 

"We've got a town blowing up," his squad leader stated tersely. "We're sending all the manpower we can spare." 

"What town?" 

"Halo."

An abyss opened in Grady's belly. His adoptive mom and most of his siblings still lived near Halo. 

Prayers for their safety thundered through his brain as he rode the bomb squad truck toward his hometown. 

**Excerpt from CHASING THE LEGACY, copyright Genene Valleau writing as Genie Gabriel