Chapter 15
She kept in step with Knox's brisk pace, moving as quickly as possible to the elevators without attracting attention.
Fortunately, the doors opened almost immediately, and the elevator was empty.
When the doors shut, Allie felt Knox's eyes on her—and easily read the thoughts his soft smile broadcasted.
"Hey," he said. "I know we need to talk later, but I want you to know I don't regret that kiss."
Warmth crept up the back of her neck. "I know. I don't either."
His smile inched up. "Okay, so we're on the same page. Let's go catch some bad guys, and get that out of the way so we can . . . talk more about how we're on the same page."
She laughed and nodded. "I like your plan."
The elevator doors opened, and she pivoted her focus back to work-mode. At least, as much as she could while walking next to the amazing man who was flipping her world upside down in the most beautiful way imaginable.
When they entered Room 336, Jason looked them over, head to toe. "You two alright?"
Allie gave a thumbs up. "Yes, we're fine."
"We're fabulous. Just another day in paradise," Knox said.
Jason's mouth quirked up. "Good. We were working on a few ideas to get you out of the warehouse, but hightailing it out like you did worked much faster than any of my ideas would have."
"We got lucky that the guards were too busy to notice us. I'm sure we're on their security cameras now, though. Couldn't be helped."
"I don't think it will matter." He pointed to Rowan's screen. "Things are escalating quickly. We're tracking the bombs. It's incredibly helpful that we know where they are, of course, but the other piece is what really worries me."
"What do you mean?" asked Allie.
"I talked to Kendall myself a few minutes ago.
He doesn't seem to have much control over the situation, but he does have some information.
The guards you saw transporting the bombs don't have a way to activate them.
The bomber—the guy who built the bombs—he's the only one who can trigger them.
But we don't know where he is or what he looks like.
We don't have a name, picture, or description.
We have nothing. We may just need to focus on the bombs, locating them, and disabling them. "
"Do we know that he's activated the bombs?" asked Allie.
"No, we don't. My guess is they haven't been activated yet.
Drakos still has almost an hour and a half to sign the papers, selling his properties to Byron I think if a countdown was initiated, they would make that clear to Drakos to add pressure.
I do believe they'd rather he just sign.
They don't want to damage their investment. "
"That's the part I don't get," Knox said. "I know they're trying to strong-arm Drakos into selling, but why use bombs if they want this fancy resort so badly?"
"I asked Kendall the same thing. His answer was, and I quote, 'The bomber owes my boss. This service is free.'"
Knox smirked. "This Byron guy has a bomb maker indebted to him? He just might be a nasty fellow."
Jason shook his head at Knox's sarcasm. "Well, in that case, we should proceed with caution."
"If you insist."
Allie couldn't comprehend how Jason and Knox could joke with the danger ramped up, but she'd witnessed it before and knew that it was a sign that they were in sync. She loved the dynamic between them, whether or not she understood it.
"We need to concentrate on what we know," Jason said. "We know the bombs are real and that they're moving them, so we're taking this threat very seriously."
Allie saw something flit across Jason's expression. "What's wrong?"
Jason narrowed his eyes at her. "About the bombs?"
She studied his face and his tone. "No. I don't think so. You were worried about something else just then. Is there something else we need to know?"
Jason's eyes grew wide for a microsecond, then he offered a weak smile and raised both hands in surrender. "Sometimes I forget how good you are at reading people." He raked a hand through his hair with a heavy sigh. "I sent Tayla to a hotel in Morghana City."
"What's wrong with that?"
He pursed his lips, but didn't answer.
"Don't beat yourself up about that," Knox said. "You did the right thing."
Jason and Knox shared a look, but she had no idea what it meant. "Um, what am I missing?"
Knox looked at her, but spoke loud enough for Jason to hear every word.
"He's not evacuating the resort. He's not alerting the guests at The Mandeville about the bombs.
But he sent his girlfriend to safety on another island.
" He swung his gaze to Jason. "Which was the right call.
We can't start a panic. If all the guests try to stampede out of here, the ferry can't carry even half of them to Morghana Island at a time.
The chaos could be as dangerous as the bombs. "
Jason opened his mouth to say something, but Knox cut him off.
"And keeping Tayla safe is important to everyone on this island right now because if you know she's safe, you can focus all your attention on stopping these guys.
We all need your head in the game—to use a quote you enjoy so much—so keeping Tayla away from the threat benefits everyone. "
Jason pursed his lips again, but appreciation showed in his eyes. "It feels selfish, but yeah, I can concentrate better if I know she's safe."
"For what it's worth," Allie said, "I agree with Knox. You did the right thing. I'm glad she's safe. She just might be my new best friend."
That coaxed a grin from Jason. Then he cleared his throat. "Okay, let's focus."
Knox scratched the back of his head. "We don't know how long we have to locate the bomber?"
"No," Jason said. "But since they've moved the bombs to The Mandeville, we probably don't have much time."
"Did you get the impression from Kendall that the bomber is physically on the island?"
"Yeah." Jason picked up one of the paper maps Rowan found of Isadora Island and spread it out on the conference table.
"Kendall did tell me that the bomber has to activate the bombs from the island.
He probably shouldn't have let that slip, but I'm glad he did.
It means we have a chance to hand the bomber over to the FBI. "
"In this non-extradition paradise? How are you going to manage that? Even with the bomb threat, the Morghana government isn't about to change its policy. They make too much money from individuals drawn to—"
Jason raised both hands to halt Knox's concerns.
"I know, I know. But now that Byron is making direct threats with bombs at the same resort where several American citizens are present, that gives the American government something to prosecute.
Our job is to prove they set these bombs and then get the bomber and Kendall to the US or an extradition country. "
Knox lowered his eyebrows. "Will it be enough? Just setting the bombs near Americans?"
Allie held up a finger. "We may have a stronger case."
"How?" Knox asked.
Allie walked over to Rowan. "Do you have the complete guest list? Of everyone at the resort right now?"
Rowan lifted his Incredible Hulk mug off a stack of stapled papers. "Um, yeah. Jason asked Mr. Drakos for it when we got here." He handed it to her.
"What are you thinking?" Jason asked. "We know there are several Americans here."
"Yes," she answered without lifting her eyes from the list. "But certain Americans could be especially . . ." She scanned the list hoping she'd seen who she thought she'd seen yesterday near the beach.
And . . . there he was. Next to another name that could be helpful.
"Found him," she said. "Actually, I found them."
"Who?" Jason and Knox asked in unison.
She turned the list around to face Knox and pointed at the two names. "Threatening Americans overseas can sometimes be charged as a crime in the US, but threatening the sitting Treasury Secretary and a current US senator could be seen as a more serious crime."
Knox grabbed the list from her hand and stared at the names. "Treasury Secretary Thrasher and Senator Carlington are both at The Mandeville right now?"
"Yep."
Jason grinned. "Nice, Allie. You're right.
Threatening a senator and a presidential cabinet member will give the government more to work with.
" He took a deep breath with a slow exhale.
He looked a fraction less tense. "Okay, we need to focus on our part, or our government will have no one to prosecute.
" He held up one finger. "Our first priority is everyone's safety, which means making sure the bombs don't detonate.
" He held up a second finger. "And our second priority is ensuring the bomber and Kendall escape to an extradition country.
" He used air quotes when he said "escape. "
"You want to let them escape?" Allie asked.
"Don't worry. It's part of the plan. Drakos has a long-range helicopter sitting on the helipad.
I told him to make sure it stays put because we may need it.
He's not thrilled about it, but he's getting desperate about getting rid of Byron.
I've been talking to our contacts at the FBI.
They believe Byron is based in Venezuela, so that may be where Kendall or the bomber head to after they leave here. "
"But Venezuela is a non-extradition country," Allie said.
An almost-smile flitted across Jason's face. "I know. But if they take Drakos's long-range helicopter, they won't have enough fuel to make it all the way to Venezuela, so the pilot will have to stop in Grenada to refuel. And the FBI won't have any trouble picking them up in Grenada."
An appreciative smile sprawled across Knox's face. "And you know the pilot will stop in Grenada because . . .?"
"Because I called Nash Stone. He was already in the Caribbean, so he'll be here in an hour or so."
Knox looked very pleased with Jason's answer. Allie didn't know the name Nash Stone, but clearly Knox did.