Chapter 5
Geri sipped her wine and feigned interest in Alan Robinson’s endless monologue of… about… hell, she’d forgotten what he was talking about, and she was pretty sure he had too. This must have been the fiftieth tangent he’d gone down since he’d first opened his mouth, and whatever he was yammering on about now had little if anything to do with the speech he’d launched into after she’d mentioned the recent Department of Defense contract that her company had secured. Clearly he—a man whose world revolved around coal mining—knew more about weapons systems development and DoD needs than a woman who’d been Vice President of R&D for eleven years before ascending to the helm of the third largest weapons and defense manufacturer in the world.
If he keeps going on like this, I swear to Christ I’m calling in a drone strike on him .
Of course she couldn’t do that, but it was amusing enough to keep her from scowling at him as hard as she wanted to. Like any woman in an industry like hers, she was used to being mansplained, and she was well-practiced at keeping a placid expression until he was satisfied he’d heard himself talk enough. And on the bright side, this was less painful than listening to everyone whispering behind their hands about Charlie and Elena Simmons and how long it would be before they had one of their infamous rip-roaring fights.
But her ridiculous thought about calling in a hypothetical drone strike reminded Geri she couldn’t call in anything because last she’d checked, her phone wasn’t working. Kevin had assured everyone it was being addressed, but she didn’t like it. Not on its own, and not after the other incongruities she’d been noticing since she’d arrived. Everything weird made that fleeting glimpse of a Humvee clearer in her mind. The homogenous staff on the island. Mark’s earnest insistence that Beth come along on tomorrow’s day cruise. Now no one could communicate off-island?
She reminded herself hotel Wi-Fi issues were not unusual, and the explanation about satellites was probably bullshit. They just didn’t want to admit to their powerful guests that a router somewhere was malfunctioning.
Maybe if she got away from the building, she could catch some signal. And it would get her away from Alan’s mansplaining and everyone else’s Simmons gossip. Worth a try.
She drained her wineglass, set it on a table, and plastered on her best fake smile. “Listen, it’s been lovely, but I think I’m going to turn in early. It was a long flight and I’m a little jetlagged.”
“Of course.” Alan smiled and extended his hand. “We’ll see you tomorrow at the investors’ meeting.” As they shook hands, he added, “And if you need someone to break down how investments like this work, feel free to pull me aside.”
Oh, you are so lucky I can’t actually call in that drone strike.
Geri held the smile as she shook hands with everyone else, and then she bowed out and indulged in an exasperated sigh as she made a beeline for the door.
Up in her suite, she dug around in her bag for a high-powered signal booster. Her company manufactured them to help troops connect to satellites from the most remote corners of the middle of nowhere. If this thing couldn’t pick up some kind of signal out here with St. Martin and the Virgin Islands well within range of a short flight, then the Bermuda Triangle was real and this island was in it.
She went back downstairs and out through the lobby’s side entrance to a deserted patio. There, she attached the signal booster to her phone and switched it on. The LED on the booster blinked yellow a few times, indicating it was searching for a signal.
Then it turned red.
“What the hell?” This thing worked in warzones with no communications infrastructure for hundreds, if not thousands of miles. Even if the satellite the hotel used for its Wi-Fi was out, the booster should have been able to sync up with any of the other myriad satellites passing overhead at a given moment.
Geri glared at the hotel. Some hotels had signal jammers in order to force patrons to use their Wi-Fi. Illegal, too, at least in the U.S., but she knew for a fact it was a thing. It didn’t seem like something a hotel this isolated would need to use. Though it was possible they had it to keep guests from setting up their own networks and tricking other guests into logging in and giving up passwords.
Or it’s just one more weird thing…
No. Get a grip.
Okay. Maybe she just needed to put some more distance between her and the building. Jammers were usually pretty localized. At the very least, its jamming capability would decrease with distance.
She followed the patio to a stairway, which led down to a palm- and banana-tree-lined path winding around toward the back of the hotel. When she was fifty yards or so from the building, she rebooted her phone and the booster, and tried again.
While the booster searched for a signal, she scanned her surroundings. Just beyond the row of trees was a tall fence, and through the slats she could see what appeared to be a loading dock lit by a single stark floodlight and the headlamps of a military transport truck. There were voices and activity, which she assumed were employees taking out trash or something. It was hard to tell for sure, but the truck and its canopy appeared to be the same drab green as the Humvee. Another military surplus vehicle. No fifty cal on the roof, though.
The booster beeped.
Geri looked down and—
“Seriously?” She wanted to smash the damn thing under her foot until that stupid red light went out for good. Fine. She’d go farther down the—
On the loading dock, something landed with a heavy thud, and she turned toward the sound.
Two people appeared, silhouetted by the floodlight but wearing some sort of protective gear. Biohazard suits? What the hell?
They stood a few feet apart, leaned down, and picked something up. It was long and apparently heavy, sagging in the middle.
Acid lurched into Geri’s throat. That… that was a body bag . The way the weight was distributed, the people carrying it while wearing biohazard suits, the obvious heft as they heaved it unceremoniously into the back of the truck—there was no way in hell that was just garbage. That was definitely a body bag.
She tore her gaze away and held her breath, mind reeling and stomach contents threatening to make a violent reappearance. What the fuck was going on? Why in the hell were there people in biohazard suits tossing bagged bodies into a military truck behind this hotel, and—
“Ma’am?” A terse male voice startled her, and she turned to see Tyson, one of the men who’d ridden in with her from the airstrip. He wasn’t so quiet this time, though. “What are you doing? You’re not supposed to be out here.”
“I, um…” The bagged body flashed through her mind. Then she held up her phone. “I was just trying to get a signal so I could—”
“You need to go back to the hotel,” he snapped and pointed the way she’d come. “There are venomous snakes out here.”
“Snakes.” She scanned the ground at her feet. Of course the sun had gone down, so she couldn’t see a thing now except what was illuminated by the tiny slivers of light coming from the loading dock. The loading dock with biohazard suits and body bags and—
Was that a roving sentry with a rifle slung over his shoulder?
“Come on.” Tyson started toward her. “Let’s get you back to the hotel where it’s safe.”
“Uh…” She stammered and looked around. Her gaze went to the loading dock, but there was nothing there now. Just the truck, the light, and some voices and activity that she couldn’t see. The sentry was out of sight, rifle and all. Had she imagined him? And the body?
“Let’s go ,” Tyson growled.
Geri didn’t hesitate. She hurried back up the path with Tyson on her heels. As soon as they were on the patio where she’d tried to find a signal earlier, he summoned some hotel staff to put up a sign advising guests not to go down that way. Five minutes later, as Geri was shakily smoking a cigarette, a young man appeared and placed a sign right in the middle of the top step.
Hotel Staff Only – No Admittance.
Below that, a second sign:
Caution – Snakes.
While Geri smoked, Tyson hung around. He spoke in hushed tones with someone, eyeing her with a sour expression as the other man nodded along. Then the man vanished inside while Tyson continued to loom as Geri finished her cigarette.
Minutes later, the extra cheerful Kevin appeared, still dressed in the suit and tie he’d had on when he’d spoken to everyone at the dinner earlier. “What seems to be the problem?”
“I caught her ”—Tyson jabbed a finger at Geri—“nosing around down there .”
She expected Kevin’s bright and shiny smile to vanish, and for him to berate her for being somewhere she didn’t belong. Instead, he gave them each an amused look, as if they were children who’d been fighting over something stupid. “Tyson. Honestly. There’s no reason to be rude to a guest who doesn’t know her way around yet.” He motioned toward the signs. “Were these up when she went down there?”
“No,” the surly asshole replied. “I just had them put up.”
“Well. Then we can’t expect her to obey signs that aren’t posted.”
Tyson rolled his eyes, muttered something, and stalked back into the hotel. Kevin watched him go. Once they were alone, he faced Geri again. “I’m terribly sorry about him. He’s ex-military, so he’s very by-the-book. All rules and regulations.”
Geri laughed uncomfortably. “Right. Got it.”
He studied her. “Is something wrong?”
“Um…” She swallowed, and then gestured toward the path with her cigarette. “I saw some men down there. In biohazard suits. Moving… stuff.” And a sentry. A sentry with a gun. Bringing the cigarette back to her lips, she asked, “What’s that about?”
“Oh. That.” Kevin laughed and gestured dismissively. “There are some old buildings on the island that are being dismantled, and as I’m sure you know, asbestos disposal has to be done according to strict standards.” He chuckled. “Well, not out here, of course, but we’re adhering to American standards and making sure it’s all done safely and correctly.”
Asbestos disposal. Right.
“Oh.” She took a drag off her cigarette and turned her head to blow out the smoke. “And they do it at night?” With armed guards?
“We have crews working around the clock. The sooner it’s all removed and disposed of, the better.” Kevin smiled that car salesman smile and touched her arm. “Relax. We’ve taken every precaution to make sure the contamination is contained, and it won’t affect any of our guests. Now why don’t we head back to the party?”
“In a minute.” She held up her mostly finished cigarette. “Just going to…”
“Right. Right.” He took a step toward the door. “Well, I’ll either see you back at the party, or at the investors’ meeting first thing in the morning.”
“I’m looking forward to it,” she said without a lot of enthusiasm.
Kevin left the patio, and Geri crushed her cigarette under her heel. She eyed the signs, and rolled Kevin’s explanations around in her head along with what she’d seen. It was… okay, it was possible he was telling the truth. In fact, she’d never been involved in asbestos removal, and she had no idea if it would be hand-carried to a truck using bags and equipment like that. It made sense. Sort of.
But damn, every time she saw that image in her mind… It looked like a body in a bag. And then Tyson getting agitated about her being there? He hadn’t seemed worried for her safety. He’d seemed legitimately pissed off that she was where she didn’t belong.
Something wasn’t adding up. First things first, she needed to research how asbestos was removed, and see if Kevin’s story lined up.
And she would do that.
As soon as she had a goddamned internet connection.
She glared at the phone and booster, which sat uselessly on the concrete railing beside her cigarettes and lighter. Maybe she needed to try going down to the beach. That would be far enough away from the building that if there was a signal to be found, she’d find it, and if she stayed near all the areas she’d seen people relaxing in the sand and surf earlier, then no one could bitch at her for being in a restricted area. Or a “dangerous” one.
Venomous snakes, my ass.
Geri collected her cigarettes, phone, and booster, and she followed another path down toward the beach. By the time she’d reached the sand, she was a good hundred yards or more from the building. There had to be some signal down here.
She turned on the booster again, and waited.
“Good luck.” A man’s voice made her jump. She turned and found an attractive white man in a red Hawaiian shirt. He was blond with dark eyes and probably in his mid-thirties or so, making him about a decade younger than her. The lights from the hotel made the diamonds on his Rolex sparkle as he held up his phone. “I’ve been up and down this beach and can’t find a signal.”
“Well.” She gestured with the booster. “I might be able to find something with this.”
“Yeah?” He came closer. “What is it?”
“Signal booster. The kind we send into warzones with troops.”
He whistled. “Shit. I’m guessing they don’t sell that on Amazon?”
Geri laughed. “They’d better not.” The LED blinked yellow. Then, as it had on the patio and by the loading dock, it turned red. “Son of a bitch.” She switched it off. “I don’t know what’s going on when this thing can’t pick up a single satellite signal.”
The man eyed her. “They said a satellite was fucked up. What are the odds that it’s multiple satellites?”
“No idea. All I know is…” She held up the booster. “This isn’t helping.”
“Damn.”
She sighed, hoping he couldn’t see how unnerved she was by what she’d seen and by her booster’s inability to connect, and she took out her cigarettes again.
He straightened a little. “Any chance I could swipe one from you?”
Geri shrugged and offered him one. They both lit up, and after they’d each taken a drag, she said, “By the way, I’m Geri Cole.”
“Quinn Hayworth.” He extended his free hand. “You’re with one of the military outfitters, aren’t you?”
As she shook his hand, she inclined her head. “That depends. Are you going to explain all your superior knowledge of weapons and defense strategy?”
Quinn barked a laugh. “Yeah, my superior knowledge of anything war-related starts and ends with whatever I’ve picked up from Call of Duty , and I suck at Call of Duty .”
Geri laughed. “In that case, yes, I’m the CEO of Cole Industries. How did you guess?”
“Your signal booster toy kind of gave it away.”
“Fair enough.” She took a drag. “What about you?”
“My family did real estate and commercial property development. That’s boring as hell for me, so I sold the companies and mostly invest in, well…” He gestured at the hotel with his cigarette. “Startups.”
Geri’s stomach tightened as she glanced up at the building. Everything she’d seen on the loading dock flickered through her mind. “But you’ve… I mean, I assume you’re familiar with your family’s business, right?”
Quinn shrugged. “Of course. I worked for my parents’ companies for a while before I went off to do my own thing. Why?”
Eyes unfocused, she asked, “How much do you know about asbestos removal?”
“Asbestos removal? Um. Well. It’s a hazardous material, so it’s expensive and tedious as hell to remove.”
“Would you expect someone to be wearing protective gear while they worked on that kind of removal?”
Quinn tilted his head. “I… Well, yeah. Why?”
“Humor me. And while you’re at it, would there be any reason to have armed security for the process?”
His eyes widened. “Ugh. Protective gear, yes. Armed security?” He shook his head slowly. “Not unless they were doing the removal at some highly secure site. Why?”
She glanced warily at the hotel as she inhaled deeply from her cigarette. She blew out the smoke, then turned to him again. “Because I saw something weird.” She motioned toward the building. “Behind the hotel.”
“Weird? How so?”
“Workers in what I swear were biohazard suits. Kevin—that smarmy guy—he said they were in the process of removing asbestos from some old buildings behind the hotel, but…”
Had she seen a body bag? Was it suspicious? Or had she just never seen someone using proper precautions and disposing of that particular hazardous material? Now that she was trying to explain it out loud to someone, she wondered if she’d just seen something perfectly mundane, but because it was unfamiliar, she’d superimposed something she had seen before. Given how many cop shows she watched…
“Geri?” Quinn asked. “What did you see?”
She dropped her gaze. “It’s going to sound crazy. Maybe it is.” She hesitated before meeting his eyes. “But I swear, I thought they were carrying out a body bag.”
His eyebrows rose. “A body bag?” he whispered. “Seriously?”
She nodded. “I can’t be sure. It might’ve been exactly what he said it was. I mean, it was dark, and I only caught a glimpse. Ditto with what I thought was a roving sentry carrying a rifle. I swear I saw him, but maybe I didn’t, and—”
“And things already feel weird because we have absolutely no way of communicating off-island.”
She held his gaze. “You wondered about that too?”
“I didn’t before, but I do now.” Quinn brought the cigarette up to his mouth. “Especially since I tried to use my room’s landline to call in and check on some stocks.”
A chill ran down Geri’s spine. “You couldn’t connect?”
“I couldn’t even get a dial tone.”
“Are you serious?”
Quinn nodded grimly. “I was able to call down to the concierge, no problem. But the minute I dialed nine to get an outside line? Nothing.”
“Holy shit.” The lingering heat of the tropical day did nothing to temper the cold settling beneath her skin. “What the hell is going on?”
Swallowing, he shook his head. “I have no idea. But something tells me tomorrow is going to be interesting.”
She had a feeling he was right.
Geri slept like shit that night.
She was pretty sure she was overreacting, but that wasn’t enough to calm her down and let her sleep. A Xanax around midnight helped. A massage at around 2:30 did too. A shot of something sour and strong from the minibar—she hadn’t even bothered reading the label—finished her off. It wasn’t the best sleep she’d ever had, especially since she had to be out the door at nine, but it was better than staring at the ceiling all night.
When morning came, everyone—potential investors and their giant entourages—crowded into the restaurant for a gourmet breakfast buffet.
Beth, unsurprisingly, came downstairs with Mark on her heels. They shared some playful grins, and though they didn’t kiss or touch, there was some definite promise in the lingering looks they exchanged. Under normal circumstances, Geri would’ve laughed—trust Beth to find an attractive man on the first day and spend the better part of the week in bed with him. But after the comments Beth had made yesterday, Geri wasn’t sure about the guy. Beth could take care of herself. She was no man’s doormat. But had she really spent last night with a man who was pushing her to go on a day cruise?
Beth was all smiles as she sat across from Geri at a corner table with a plate piled high with eggs and bacon. Mark was behind her with a cup of coffee, which he set down beside her plate. They exchanged disgustingly flirty grins and a quick kiss, and then he acknowledged Geri with a nod before excusing himself.
“I have to get to work,” he said apologetically. “I’ll see you later.”
“Damn right you will,” Beth said with a grin.
They laughed and shared one more kiss. Then he was gone.
Geri cradled her coffee between her hands, resting her elbow on either side of her own untouched plate. “Good night, eh?”
“Mmhmm.” Beth bit off a piece of bacon. “He is just… rrawr .”
Geri arched an eyebrow. “But what about the whole thing with the cruise?”
Her assistant gestured dismissively. “Oh, he backed off. I told him it was non-negotiable, and if he brought it up again, he could go sleep on the balcony.”
That made Geri laugh. She’d known Beth long enough that she had no doubt the woman had threatened Mark with a night under the stars like that. “So he let it go?”
“Mmhmm.” She picked up her coffee. “Not that he had much opportunity—his mouth was pretty busy.”
Geri snorted. Well, at least someone had enjoyed last night. “Nicely done.” She clinked her coffee cup against Beth’s.
They continued eating their breakfast, and a few times, Beth and Mark caught each other’s eyes when he passed through the dining room on his way to take care of some task or another. She and Geri giggled a few times when a hitch in his gait or a faint grimace let on that he was a little sore. Geri was still annoyed with him over the cruise thing, but she almost felt sorry for him now—Beth had probably run him ragged last night, and he’d be feeling it all day while he was trying to work. She doubted he had many regrets over it, though.
As breakfast wound down, Beth rubbed her temples and sighed.
“What’s wrong?” Geri asked.
“Ugh.” Beth shook her head slowly and grimaced. “I don’t know. I think the trip might be catching up with me.” Lowering her hands, she exhaled and met Geri’s gaze. “If I promise that everything will be done tomorrow, do you mind if I take it easy today?”
“Go ahead.” Geri sipped her coffee. “I’m going to be in that meeting most of the day anyway, and God knows nobody else here will be working. Plus the internet is still down and we can’t call off-island, so there isn’t much you can do. Might as well enjoy the downtime.” She grinned. “Maybe Mark can come join you.”
That… didn’t brighten Beth’s expression. If anything, she looked a little green at the idea.
“You sure you’re okay?” Geri asked.
“Yeah. Yeah, I’m good.”
Geri was still worried, but she trusted Beth to know her limits. “Okay. Well. Take it easy, and I’ll swing by your suite later to check on you.”
“Sounds good. Have fun at the meeting, boss lady.”
Geri groaned and gave her a two-fingered salute.
Beth rose, and she patted Geri’s shoulder as she passed her chair. “See you in a few hours.”
Then she was gone, and Geri sat back and sipped what remained of her coffee.
The tink-tink-tink of a spoon against a glass brought Geri out of her thoughts, and like everyone in the room, she turned toward the sound.
Of course, it was Kevin, and he smiled as big as he had yesterday.
“I hope everyone’s enjoyed their breakfast,” he said. “I hate to interrupt the fun, but the investor meeting is about ready to begin. If our potential investors will please come with me, we can get started.” That smile got impossibly bigger. “And as for your staff, they’re all getting the day off, courtesy of RightPriceTek.”
Members of people’s entourages murmured their enthusiastic approval.
“While we’re upstairs in the meeting room,” Kevin went on, “Your staff will be treated to a spectacular day cruise on one of RightPriceTek’s extravagant superyachts. After that, they’ll have the run of the island and will be entertained and fed to their heart’s content with complimentary food, alcohol, and resort amenities.” He gestured toward the door. “If you could all meet us down on the marina in one hour, we’ll set sail on what’s looking like a gorgeous day. As for the rest of us, though, I’m afraid we have to work before we play. But rest assured you will have plenty of time to enjoy the island and the resort after our CEO has had a chance to tell you about the exciting opportunity you all came for.”
People nodded and murmured again.
“So.” Kevin motioned toward the door. “Investors, if you could follow me…”