Chapter 13
His body froze, and his focus whipped to Allie. Her features tightened with concentration as she tried to decipher what the voices were saying. A few feet closer to the interior windows than he was, she might have a better chance of picking up some of the conversation.
After a minute, the voices faded. She waved her hand, indicating she thought it was safe for him to crawl back to her.
He checked his phone. The video was delivered.
Thank you, God. And could you please provide us a safe way out of here? Please keep us safe. Especially Allie.
Keeping his movements as silent as possible, he made his way back to Allie and retook his seat on the hard floor next to her. He pointed to the interior windows. "Catch any of that?"
"Not much. But there wasn't anything exciting or nervous in their tone. They said something about pizza. I think they brought food back for the other two guards."
"Okay."
She pointed to his phone. "Did it send?"
"Yeah. That should help Jason form a plan."
He checked his screen. Jason texted, Got the video. Working on a plan.
Knox responded with a thumbs-up emoji.
Allie leaned closer. Even in the semi-darkness, he could see the worry on her face. "What did you find down there?"
He pursed his lips. "It's not good. It's what we feared. There are three bombs in the closet next to the office. The only good news—or, I guess, the less-bad news—is that the bombs are small. They're similar to the one on the beach last night."
"They could still . . ." She bit her lower lip.
"Yeah, they could still be deadly in the right circumstance." He shoved his hands through his hair. Waiting for Jason was the right call, but Knox felt his patience waning.
Allie cocked her head.
"What are you thinking?" he asked.
"If we could get access to the bombs, could you disable them?"
Knox shook his head. "Not my area of expertise. But Jason might be able to, or at least he could contact someone who is less likely to accidentally blow themselves up."
She looked disappointed.
"What I was able to do," he said, "was place a tracking device on each bomb. So if they get placed at The Mandeville or anywhere on the island, we can find them quickly."
"But if we can't disable them . . . I guess we'll know what area to evacuate?"
"Yeah, for starters. If Jason thinks they're stable, maybe we could throw them in the ocean or something." He shrugged.
The corner of her mouth quirked up. "You make disposing of bombs sound so mundane, Knox Coulter."
Her smile grew. And every micro-inch of that grin reminded him how glad he was to have her back in his life. "Well, Miss Harkwood, it's all in a day's work."
"Not every day."
"No, thankfully, bombs are not an everyday occurrence. But they do pop up from time to time."
She bumped his shoulder with hers. "How long do you think it will be before we hear back from Jason?"
"Not sure." He surveyed their dusty hideout again. "I really don't think anyone ever comes up here. The dust doesn't look disturbed around the desk or the boxes. As long as we're quiet, we're safe here until Jason comes up with something."
Something shifted in her gaze.
He'd tried to sound nonchalant about their less-than-ideal predicament, but he sensed the situation was beginning to worry her. "Hey, we've got this. Jason will get us out. Or we'll come up with our own plan if we need to. Either way, we're going to be fine."
She offered a tight smile.
The fear she couldn't hide from him clenched his heart and squeezed.
He pushed some stray hairs from her face. "Hey. Let's change the subject. We probably have a few minutes. Don't think about where we are. Let's talk about something else."
"Like what?" she asked.
"I don't know. Just anything," he said.
She gave a slow nod. She was quiet for so long he wasn't sure she was going to say anything.
"The things I missed . . . about Leo and my parents . . . didn't just make me sad—they scared me."
Oh man, this is not what I meant.
He'd hoped she'd talk about the weather or food. Or how he should be nicer to Rowan. Anything but this.
"Allie, you don't have to . . ."
The filtered light highlighted the emotion glistening in her eyes. He couldn't just tell her to stop talking now, but he'd wanted to keep things light, to cheer her up. Now, he had no idea what to say.
So, he simply laced his fingers through hers.
"It really scared me," she said. "I mean, if I can't see what Leo is doing, what my parents are doing—if I can't pick up on things about people I've known my entire life—then how can I expect to notice the tells of strangers at work?
To catch the things I need to notice about the bad guys?
How can I trust myself again? I've been afraid .
. . afraid that my career is over. Not just because of my mistakes—not that they couldn't have been career-ending on their own—but I also felt like I might have lost my skill. "
Wow. That came out of nowhere. Or . . . it probably didn't. She'd probably kept that bottled up for the past three months. He mentally kicked himself for not realizing how much she'd been struggling.
"Allie, you're good at what you do. You're very, very good at what you do.
You didn't see what Leo and your parents were doing for several reasons.
One, you didn't want to see it because you love them.
And that's not a mistake or weakness. They're your family.
You should have been able to trust them. "
He stroked his thumb across the back of her hand. "And two, you shouldn't have to be suspicious of your brother or your parents. Or anyone you care about. They should have never put you in that position. What they did is their fault. Not yours."
Silent tears slid down her face. He brushed them away with his free hand, desperately wishing he could wipe away her grief as easily.
"Thank you," she whispered.
His thumb lingered on her wet cheek. "Also, what happened with your family had nothing to do with your professional ability. That wasn't work. It wasn't your assignment. Your job wasn't to suspect Leo. Or your parents."
He dropped his hand and placed it over hers. "You don't need to worry about your job, Allie. Surely, that's obvious by now. WhiteRock wanted you on this assignment, and you're doing great."
She made a show of glancing around their musty hiding spot. "Yeah. We're doing really great."
"You know what I mean. This,"—he circled his hand in the dim light—"is just a slight hitch in our plan. We'll be back on track soon."
The corner of her mouth quirked up.
He raised her hand, still laced with his, to his mouth and brushed a gentle kiss across the back. "For the record, I'm glad you gave your family the benefit of the doubt. I'm glad you wanted to trust them. And I'm sorry they let you down."
He'd tried to subdue the thought gnawing at him since this conversation started. But it kept clawing its way back, demanding to be voiced. "Please don't let what they did affect your ability to trust other people . . . other people who care about you."
Alarm flashed in her eyes. "That's not what I was saying.
I don't doubt you. Not now. Knox, I . . .
yeah, I'm struggling with confidence at work and with my family, but after the last couple of days, I know I can trust you.
I can't even explain that. Except that I've prayed about it.
A lot. And I know without any doubt that I can trust you.
You make me feel safe, safer than anyone else in the world. I have a peace about you that I—"
She believed what she was saying, and he felt it all the way to his core.
Her trust in him—and the confidence behind those words—triggered an avalanche of relief and emotion that obliterated his awareness of everything around them.
He stopped thinking, cupped her face, and crushed his mouth against hers.
He hadn't planned on it, but he didn't regret it.
Her arms wrapped around his neck in an embrace that matched the intensity of his kiss.
The warehouse, the guards, and any thought of danger fled his mind for a precious few moments. He felt her entire body melt into him, her mouth inviting him to continue. She felt perfect against him, like she was created for him alone.
He didn't want their moment to end, but the reality around them eventually paused his lips.
He pressed his forehead against hers, willing his heart rate to return to normal.
Her hands squeezed the back of his neck before sliding across his shoulders and down his arms.
Easing back a few inches, he looked into her eyes.
"Hey," he said. Because offering anything more profound in that moment was impossible.
He swallowed. "Your trust in me means a lot."
A smile lit her face. "I gathered that. I—"
Voices downstairs halted their conversation.
He watched Allie's focus switch—from their tender, post-kiss conversation—to full agent mode.
She pointed to the windows and started crawling over, apparently hoping to increase her chances of hearing the guards more clearly.
Good idea. He followed her lead and was glad he did. He held his breath, straining to hear. Not many words were distinguishable, but the guards' tone was more serious than before. They obviously weren't discussing pizza.
Then, a specific squeaky sound tensed all his muscles. The closet door. He'd opened every door downstairs during his earlier reconnaissance. The closet door—the bomb closet door—made that particular squeak.
It was a little risky, but he needed to get eyes on the situation. Were they making more bombs? Moving the bombs? Or had they found his trackers?
He inched himself up to the closest window until he gained a line of sight with the closet. Three of the guards faced the open, squeaky door and were talking to someone inside. One of the guards was pointing. He heard the word 'careful' stressed more than once. That's not good.
The pointing guard stepped back as another guard exited the closet, holding one of the bombs.
The pointing guard kept gesturing to him and the other two.
Over the next minute, Knox watched the guards relocate all three bombs from the closet to the far side of the warehouse.
Then he heard the loading bay door open.
Allie lowered her face within an inch of his ear. "They're loading the bombs on a truck."
"I know," he whispered.
Without needing to discuss it, they both repositioned themselves a few feet to their left to gain better optics on the situation. They watched the guards secure the bombs in the back of the truck. A minute later, all four guards boarded the truck.
Knox grabbed Allie's arm. "They're all leaving. We have to follow that truck. We're getting out of here."
"Their cameras will see us leave."
"Doesn't matter much now. We have to stop them."
They heard the truck engine start.
He tugged her arm. "Come on."
They burst out of the dark office and flew down the steps. The truck sat idling near the bay doors. To avoid being spotted, Knox and Allie halted near the bottom of the stairs while one of the guards shut the bay door. When they heard it slam shut, they took off for the front exit.
Dear God, help us stop those men. And please don't let them hurt anyone.