Chapter Twenty-Five
They’d been looking for Cal for fifteen minutes. Where could he be at this time of night? They’d tried his room, the gym, and the conference room.
“Maybe he went out for a walk?” Derek suggested as they stood in the hallway. “It’s a beautiful night.”
“It’s also almost one a.m.,” she answered. “Maybe he was sleeping and didn’t hear us knock. Let me text him. We’ll bang on his door again if he doesn’t respond.”
She sent the text and checked her messages while they waited.
Mina had agreed to hack into Black Marlin’s server to look for the information they needed before morning.
If Derek was right, and Curtis was behind the murder of both Hugo and Josh, they’d need proof before they could ever convince the police.
Hell, even with the information, it would be a tough sell to convince the cops to look at him.
Then again, if Mina could find video footage of Curtis not getting on the plane to California, that might break the case wide open.
At the very least, it would give Alayah a reason to search for Curtis in Duluth over the last three days.
Had it only been three days since his world had fallen apart and yet, oddly enough, been brought back together by a woman with the courage of a lion and a heart of gold?
This week had taught him that time was something everyone thought they had more of.
If that wasn’t something to draw him up short, he didn’t know what would.
It was a reminder that he couldn’t let Black Marlin Technologies take over his life the way it had Hugo’s.
He didn’t want that kind of life. He wanted more. He wanted Alayah.
Alayah’s phone rang and she held her finger up to him as she answered.
While she talked to whoever was on the line, he wandered through the empty door of the convention hall to stare at the stage where his boss, the man who saw him as a son, had taken his last breath.
It was another example of time changing the way we looked at things.
The last time he’d been in this hall, he was ready to be done with Hugo and Black Marlin.
The long hours and Hugo’s heavy dependence had weighed heavily on him, but suddenly, he’d accept it all onto his shoulders again if it meant Hugo was still part of this world.
That was the grief talking, but he still felt guilty for cutting and running on his boss.
Did he deserve time off? Yes, but that didn’t soothe the burn.
Nearly to the stage, he was surprised when the door above him closed with a snap. He whirled, expecting to see Alayah, but the person standing at the top of the stairs was not her.
“Pondering how our illustrious boss felt in the last few moments of his life? I hope it was the way he made us feel every day. Small and insignificant.”
“What are you doing here?” Derek asked in shock as he stared down the very last person he’d expect to see in Duluth at nearly 1:00 a.m.
“Cleaning up messes and taking out the trash. I can’t decide if you’re the former or the latter or both. Either way, you gotta go.”
It wasn’t until she pulled out the gun that Derek’s blood ran cold and his life flashed before his eyes, including just how right it had been making love to Alayah.
His gaze darted left and right, looking for any way out of this room, but all the exits were tied up if he couldn’t reach the stairs.
Doing that would likely result in a bullet in his back the moment he turned to run.
“What’s happening here, Salma?” he asked, backing toward the stage slowly. If he could drop down in front of the first row of chairs, they might give him cover while he ran.
“Don’t pretend like you don’t know,” she hissed, advancing on him to eat up the distance between them. Not what he wanted. He had to keep her talking and pray she didn’t come any closer. He needed help, but from what he could see, he was on his own.
On his own.
No, he wasn’t. He had the SOS button Cal had given him the night Ryland had brought him to the hotel.
When Cal explained all of their clients were given one, he’d felt unexpected relief.
Cal considered him someone in need of help and not the monster Detective Henry had made him out to be.
Not that he’d ever thought he’d have to use it, but here they were.
All he had to do was figure out a way to activate it.
The trick was to get his hand down to his pocket without Salma noticing.
“I honestly wish I knew,” he said, hoping to keep her talking. “Obviously, it has something to do with Hugo.”
She mocked him, repeating his words while tossing the gun around in the air. He used her moment of distraction to slide his hand down his side to push the button. At least, he hoped he’d pushed it. He couldn’t risk Salma thinking he had a gun.
“Hugo had to go. It was that simple. Once Hugo was gone, we could take the company public and actually be paid for our hard work.”
“Who is ‘we’? You and Curtis?”
“Ha!” she exclaimed, the sound harsh in the giant space. “Curtis is a wimp. A windbag who wants to act like the boss but could never be the boss. He doesn’t have the balls to do the hard jobs when they arise.”
“Like killing people?” he asked, moving closer to the row of seats. “Does he know what’s happening here?”
“Do I look stupid?” she asked, taking another step toward him. “Telling that patsy would have been a surefire way to have the cops at my door.”
“I’m confused, Salma,” he said, keeping her talking. “Once Hugo was dead, did you send those guys after me? I don’t understand why you needed the app files when you already had access to them.”
“We searched for the files, but since it was Hugo’s little pet project, he must have decided he didn’t want to share.
When we couldn’t find them, I knew you’d have a copy, so sending my men to get them and take care of you, killed two birds with one stone.
I got the file and you were dead. Well, you were supposed to be dead.
I told them to go in and make it look like a robbery gone wrong, but those idiots couldn’t even do that.
Here’s a tip. Never hire untrained felons.
Thankfully, I got them out of police custody before they talked.
” She checked her watch. “Too bad they won’t survive their final ride.
Now, it’s time to take care of you, which has been harder than I anticipated since you hooked up with another team.
Didn’t see that one coming, but no matter, I’ll take out the trash and be on my way. ”
“Josh.” He said the name in hopes of getting a reaction from her. When her lips tipped up in a smile, he had his answer, but to keep her off balance, he dug in for the story. “Was he blackmailing you?”
“Such an annoying little gnat,” she snapped, pronouncing the g the same way Hugo used to, before she giggled mercilessly. “Hugo was right about that boy. He was willing to do anything to get that app, so it wasn’t hard to convince him to join me with the promise of selling it to him.”
“You mean he wasn’t blackmailing you?” Derek asked, catching movement from the corner of his eye but forcing himself to stay focused on Salma.
“Blackmailing? No.”
“I don’t understand why he had to die then, or was that an accident, too?”
“Like you, he had to die to get him out of the way. He was already making noise about stepping into Hugo’s shoes at Black Marlin and merging our companies.
There wasn’t a chance in hell I’d ever let that happen, so he was another mess I had to clean up.
Thankfully, he was driven by greed, so it wasn’t hard.
You, on the other hand, have annoyed me beyond measure. ”
“You know this entire room is covered in cameras, right?”
She waved the gun around so wildly that he feared it would go off. “Usually it is, but darn, those cameras went down at just the wrong time. When they come back online, the fun will be over. You’ll already be dead, and I’ll be long gone.”
“Wrong,” a voice said from behind him and his blood ran cold.
The movement he saw must have been Alayah sneaking through the side door.
Why would she put herself in danger rather than alert the Secure One team?
He desperately searched for a way out. “I know you’re here, and I won’t let you hurt Derek. ”
Salma scoffed. “Such a touching tirade from someone barely able to reach my kneecaps. Forgive me if I’m not shaking in my boots.”
“Alayah,” he hissed, stepping to the side to shield her from Salma. “You need to run.”
“No,” she whispered. “Distract her.”
Distract her? He could only think of one way to do that. “Do you know who Hugo left the business to?”
“To the board, of course. He knew we’d protect his legacy from poachers.”
“That’s why you killed him? So the board could take the company public?”
He dropped his hand and Alayah nudged it with hers.
Was she trying to hold hands? That’s when he registered the cold metal she slipped into his palm.
A gun. This brave woman put her life in danger to bring him a gun.
When they got out of this room, alive, he was going to ask her what she was thinking and then tell her just how much he loved her.
“He made it clear that wasn’t going to happen until he was dead. It felt like a gauntlet thrown, so I stepped up because Curtis wasn’t man enough to do it. I’d hoped they assumed you’d done it, of course, and then, once you were dead, that would be the end of it. Instead, here we are.”
“Here we are indeed,” he said, a grin splitting his face.
He noted it made her nervous, so he kept it up even as he moved in front of Alayah to prevent her from getting caught in any crossfire.
“Hugo lied to you. He didn’t leave the business to the board.
He left the entire business to me. After this, I’m afraid I’ll have to fire you. ”
“Big talk from a guy not holding a gun,” she said before dropping her arm.
“Get down!” he yelled to Alayah as he raised his gun, the look of surprise on her face the last thing he saw as he pulled the trigger. He dove to shield Alayah as a loud retort filled his ears and pain blossomed across his chest.
“Stay down!” a voice behind him yelled, and then another pop and loud bang filled his ears as people started yelling about ambulances, and the hall flooded with light.
“Derek!” Alayah screamed.
“Stay down!” Cal yelled. “Her gun is still hot!”
The next thing he knew, Alayah was leaning over him, holding something to his chest as she screamed for help.
“Hang in there, Derek,” she begged, leaning down near his ear. “You’re going to be okay. The hospital is practically across the street.”
He lifted his left arm, the only one he could move, and ran his finger down her cheek. “If I don’t make it, know that I’ve fallen head over heels in love with you, Alayah.”
She put her finger to his lips as her eyes filled with tears. “Don’t say it. You just think you’re dying, which you aren’t, dammit! We can talk about this when you pull through. When you pull through. Do you hear me?”
“When,” he agreed, nodding weakly. “When.”