Chapter 17
Allie drained her second cup of coffee while she watched the video feeds, paying close attention to the areas in front of the elevators.
When people waited for an elevator, they usually had to wait for a minute or two.
She was able to get a better look at them while they waited than by watching people walk through the lobby for ten or fifteen seconds.
She kept flipping between the elevator areas in the lobby and the different hallways.
When the hallway she was looking at was clear, she tried to click to the next one. The mouse wasn't working.
"Rowan, I think the battery is dead in my mouse. Do you have any extra batteries?"
"Oh, yeah. Not in here, though. They're in my room. I can get them for you."
"Thanks," she said.
She watched him refill his coffee mug and walk out into the hall.
Before the door closed behind him, she heard him shout, and then a cracking sound.
She raced into the hallway, weapon drawn, and saw a man down on all fours, moaning.
Rowan stood over him, wild-eyed, holding his broken Iron Man mug.
She noticed his focus snap to motion behind her a second too late.
Something solid slammed into her back. Pain exploded across her shoulders.
She fell to her knees, but in one fluid motion, she spun around on her rear to face her attacker and raised her weapon.
Her attacker took a step back, eyebrows sky-high. Apparently, he hadn't expected her to be armed. His hesitation lasted only a breath. A scowl quickly replaced his surprise as he reached for his own weapon.
Her finger gripped the trigger. Training would dictate she fire if he pointed his gun at her at this range.
Adrenaline roared in her ears. Which was probably why she noticed her attacker halt before she processed the shouts coming from down the hall.
Knox and Jason yelled for both men to freeze, drop their weapons, and lie on the ground.
A staggering level of vehemence permeated Knox's shouted commands. Her attacker flinched, as if the barked orders were physically assaulting him.
Allie released the breath she'd been holding.
A few seconds later, Jason and Knox had both men face down on the floor of the hallway, their hands cuffed behind their backs.
Knox's head whipped to Allie. "Are you alright?" he asked.
"Yeah, yeah, I'm OK," she said.
His gaze lingered on her for a few extra seconds.
"I'm fine, Knox. Really, I'm OK. He hit me about two seconds before you and Jason rounded the corner."
He glanced around her face and arms. "Where did he hit you?"
"My back." And yeah, it was sore, but she waved off his concern. "I'm fine." She looked at Rowan. "Are you OK?"
Rowan still hadn't spoken. He was breathing heavily and gripping what was left of his Iron Man mug. He nodded. "I think so."
Knox's gaze darted from the man on the floor covered in coffee to Rowan, to Rowan's mug. "You cracked him in the head with Iron Man? Nice. Two points for Iron Man."
Rowan looked like he wanted to smile but wasn't quite capable yet.
"Nice job," said Jason.
The coffee-doused thug turned his head to the side, giving Knox a view of his face.
Knox pointed at him. "Hey, I know you. You were at the warehouse." He looked at Allie's attacker, then at Jason. "These are two of the guards—the ones who drove off earlier."
Jason nodded. "Well, at least we found them. Where is your driver?" Jason asked the guard bested by the Iron Man mug.
The guard answered with a disgusted grunt. And nothing else.
"Where should we put them?" Knox asked.
"My room, I guess," said Jason. "I don't want them there long, but we don't have time for anything else. We need to concentrate on the bomber." He looked at the two guards. "Any chance you know where he is?"
Neither man answered.
"They might not even know," said Knox.
Jason shook his head. "I don't think they do. They're pretty low level," he said, intentionally trying to rile them up.
His comment only triggered a few curse words. Nothing helpful.
Jason turned to Allie. "Knox and I are going to move these guys into my room. You and Rowan get back to searching the security footage. After talking to Kendall, I'm even more convinced the bomber is on the premises. And we need to find him."
She holstered her weapon at the small of her back. "Yeah, we're on it." She turned to Rowan. "I still need those batteries. Could you—"
"Huh?" His brows pinched together, then relaxed. "Oh. Yeah. I forgot. I'll uh, I'll be right back."
"Thanks," she called after him.
Knox pulled her attacker to his feet and glanced in her direction. She held his gaze with what she hoped was an I'm-fine-so-please-stop-worrying expression.
He swallowed and nodded. "We'll be back in a few minutes."
Both captives glowered during the transition, but kept silent.
Jason and Knox sat them on the bathroom floor in Jason's room.
They locked both men's cuffs to each other's so that they were secured back to back.
Then, Knox used another set of cuffs to chain their secured wrists to the exposed plumbing under the sink.
Knox grinned at the awkward tangle of limbs and handcuffs. "You two be good, now. We'll be back to check on you in a little while. Any information you could share with us would go a long way in convincing us to treat you nicely." He paused. "We could order room service."
The guard who'd attacked Allie laughed. The other one just looked angry. The one who laughed finally looked at Knox. "We don't know anything, which means we can't be helpful, but also means there's no point in torturing us."
Jason held up a hand. "No one's going to hurt you, but there's a bomber out there who might hurt a lot of people today if we don't find him quickly.
If there's anything you could tell us, you could help us save lives—possibly your own, since we don't know where these bombs are.
We would never put you near them intentionally, but we have no idea where they are.
If you know where they've been placed, we could make sure you're far away from them. "
That got their attention. They exchanged a look, full of unmistakable fear.
"Really," the guard said, "we don't know.
We know he set the bombs, but we don't know where.
Kendall sent us up here to get the girl.
He wanted to use her against you. That was his idea to hurry things along.
Because he's afraid Drakos won't sign quickly.
He wanted to use the girl to force your hand instead of relying on the bombs to scare Drakos. "
Barely bridled fury flooded Knox's entire body. "Well, that didn't work out for him." His measured words landed like a threat more than a statement of fact.
Jason stepped forward, possibly trying to deescalate the exchange. "Do you know where the bombs are?"
"No!" The man yelled this time. "We assumed they weren't near here, since Kendall sent us here to get the girl. If he knew the bomb might go off right here, I don't think he would have sent us."
The second guard shook his head. "I don't think Kendall knows where the bombs are. He's afraid of that guy."
"Afraid of who?" asked Jason.
"The bomb maker. Called him a lunatic. Kendall's boss—and no, we don't know the guy's name—he wants to scare Drakos because he wants Drakos's land.
This bomber guy owed him a favor, so he and Kendall put this idea together to scare Drakos.
But the bomber guy is nuts. Kendall's afraid he'll accidentally kill all of us.
He's dangerous because he's unpredictable.
Kendall doesn't think he's very smart, either.
Just tell Drakos to sign the papers. Solves everybody's problem. "
"Only for today," Knox said. "It would create more problems in the days and months following. We need to catch these guys, not give in to them."
Jason nodded. "We need to get back. You two stay quiet. We'll be letting you out of here in a few hours."
They left the guards sufficiently pretzel-tied to the sink plumbing and headed back to Room 336.
Just as they reached the door, Knox's phone vibrated. He checked the screen. "We need to get to the bar."
"The what?" asked Jason.
"The bar. Near the main dining room downstairs. Allie's there. She says she's got something."
He jogged to the elevator, Jason a step behind him.
Jason caught up and pressed the down button for the elevator. "Did she say she found him?"
"She wasn't specific. But I assume so." He glanced at the blinking numbers broadcasting how fast—more accurately, how slow—the elevator was descending to their floor. "Let's take the stairs."
"Good call."
Two minutes later, they walked into the bar and saw Allie sitting in a booth on the far side. They both slid into the booth across from her.
"What's up?" asked Knox.
"The guy sitting at the bar. At the very end. In the gray jacket."
"What about him?" asked Knox.
"He might be your bomber," she said.
"How did you find him?"
"I saw him on the security cameras in the lobby and then in here. He's nervous, anxious. He has something in his pocket—in his right jacket pocket."
"Why didn't you text us and stay in Room 336? That would have been safer," Knox said before he could will the overprotectiveness out of his voice.
She gave him a funny look. "I needed to locate him.
I watched him on the surveillance footage for a while.
But then he found that spot. He's obviously scoped this place out.
He made a beeline for that seat. It's in a blind spot on the cameras.
I watched him come in and walk straight out of the view of the cameras, so I came down to check it out.
He's been sitting there for almost ten minutes now. "
Knox watched the man. "Okay, it's worth checking out. He's up to something."