Chapter 19
"He's in the second bungalow." Allie pointed to the bungalow the bomber ran into moments before. "The one with the teal door."
"Why didn't you stay put?" Knox asked, his voice clipped. "You were supposed to text us and let us go after him."
She bristled at the sharpness in his tone and snapped her head to face him. "I was about to lose sight of him on the cameras. I didn't know he was going to stop here. If he had gone any farther, we would've lost him. I wasn't going to let him get away."
A hint of regret skittered across his face before his gaze bounced to the pale yellow bungalow with the teal door. His broad chest rose with a deep, measured breath. When his eyes returned to hers, they held more composure. "You're sure he's still in there?"
"Positive. Besides the front door, there's a patio door, but it's on the side, and you can see the patio from here. If he had exited either door, I would have seen him from here."
Jason eyed the bungalow, and she noted the unvoiced question in his eyes. "Yes, it's the bomber. I'm positive."
She wasn't sure there was time to give more confirmation, but she could offer the short version.
"He was carrying a backpack identical to the ones in the pictures you showed me—that you took of the bombs in the truck.
Only this backpack looked empty. He's not dressed for vacation.
He's wearing black cargo pants. And everything about his body language screams guilty and nervous. I'm positive. It's him."
Jason gave a curt nod. "I trust you, Allie." He worked his jaw with a slow nod. "He's probably keeping himself a safe distance from the bombs. So, we should have that going for us."
"Hopefully," Knox said. "But we don't have any guarantees." He looked at Allie, then pointed to the cluster of palms next to them. "Position yourself here. You have your weapon?"
She withdrew her Glock.
"Good."
Jason turned to Knox. "You and I will take the bungalow. You go in the front. I'll take the patio door. But remember, we need him alive." He held up a finger, slipped his cell phone from his pocket, and made a call.
They had only a partial view of the parking lot and main road, but the entire area appeared gridlocked with panicked tourists.
Jason covered one ear with his hand to block out the wind and car horns from the parking lot while he waited for the call to be answered.
A few seconds later, he said, "Nash, heads up. It might be soon."
While Jason talked to Nash, Knox's gaze caught Allie's. His mouth opened, then shut.
"I'll stay here," she said. She couldn't read his expression, but his jaw relaxed a fraction. He checked his weapon and glanced at the bungalow again.
Jason shrugged at something Nash said. "Maybe one minute, maybe ten. No, we're good. Just play your part." He ended the call. "Nash will be ready. We need to get to the bomber and make certain he doesn't trigger any other devices. But then we need to let him escape to that chopper."
"We're just going to forget about Kendall for now?" Knox asked.
"We'll find a way to deliver him to the FBI later." He jabbed his thumb toward the bungalow. "Let's focus on this guy right now, before anyone else gets hurt."
"Understood," Knox said. He gripped his weapon and looked at Allie. "Be careful."
"You too."
She watched Jason and Knox creep toward the bungalow, Knox making his way up to the front door, Jason slipping around the side. She repositioned herself behind a bush to get a better view, fighting with wind-whipped branches.
A glimpse of Knox kicking in the front door ticked up her heart rate. Yelling and the sound of glass breaking broke through the wind and car horns.
Peering through the branches, she prayed for their safety. Dear Lord, please protect Knox. And Jason. And every person on this island. Please—
A scream cut off her prayer. Rowan raced toward her from her right, yelling her name and pointing at something behind her. "Allie, look out!"
She whipped around and saw Kendall, gun in hand, black fury blazing in his eyes.
She lifted her weapon a second too late.
He was already within two feet of her. His massive arm slammed down on hers, and she dropped her gun.
It skittered across the sidewalk and disappeared in a flowerbed of bright orange, yellow, and pink tropical flowers.
She connected a jab to his solar plexus before his tree-trunk arms and sausage fingers grabbed her and pinned her back against him. Something hard pressed into her side. She didn't need to look down to know it was a gun.
Before she could decide whether to fight or yell, motion from her right commanded her attention. Rowan was running to the pale yellow bungalow with the teal door. He was going for help. It was a brave thing to do, but Kendall could see him as easily as she could.
The gun left her side.
And fired.
Rowan's body flew violently off the sidewalk and down a sandy slope, out of sight.
A scream caught in her throat, threatening to strangle her. No! No! No!
Knox burst out of the bungalow gripping the upper arm of a small, sweaty man with his hands bound behind his back. Knox's gaze immediately swept the area and landed on her. And her captor.
Knox froze. "Are you hurt?" he yelled from his position on the porch of the bungalow. He hadn't seen Rowan go down, and his assessing stare was likely searching her for bullet wounds.
"Rowan!" she screamed. "He shot Rowan! Past the sidewalk! Toward the beach!" Arms still pinned to her sides by Kendall, she tried to throw her head in the direction Rowan had fallen.
"Jason!" yelled Knox.
"I heard! I'm moving to Rowan!" Jason hollered back from somewhere behind the bungalow.
She couldn't see Jason. Thankfully, the bungalow and surrounding tropical foliage blocked their view of Jason's route down the sandy slope.
Worry for Rowan twisted painfully in her stomach.
Kendall tightened his grip around her.
Allie assumed she hadn't heard Kendall creeping up behind her because of the sirens, car horns, and wind, but that didn't make her feel any better. Kendall was now in a place to make demands, his behemoth arms gripping her like King Kong clutching Fay Wray. And it was all her fault.
Guilt and fear threatened to freeze her limbs—echos from the warehouse night three months ago.
No. That's not me anymore.
She refused those thoughts and shoved them from her mind. Trust God. Trust Knox. Work the problem.
Kendall's gun pressed into her side. "This is very simple," he said, raising his voice so Knox could hear. "A simple trade. Fernando for the girl."
So, they finally know the bomber's name. Not sure it's helpful now.
Pain twisted on Knox's face when he looked at her, but when his eyes met Kendall's, a dark fire surged in his eyes. He hesitated before he spoke. Giving time for a hardened resolve to dominate his features.
"We can trade," he said. "But Fernando here has to tell us where the last bomb is. We have maybe 45 minutes." His vice-like grip on Fernando tightened. Fernando winced.
"Knox!" Jason's voice cut through the air from a hidden location behind the bungalow. "I have to get Rowan to an ambulance."
"Go." Knox responded. "I've got this."
Dear God, please heal Rowan. Please don't let him die. Please.
Knox nudged Fernando. "So, do we have 45 minutes, Fernando? Or is the last bomb going to detonate early as well?"
She studied Fernando's face for the first time.
He looked nervous, and a little crazed. She wondered if maybe he was on drugs.
She was worried he would give them the wrong information.
If the whole point was to get Drakos to sell the resort, she didn't understand Fernando's motivation for letting it get blown up.
But maybe he didn't have one. Maybe he was just an unhinged bomb maker who promised to help so he could blow things up.
Knox jerked Fernando's arm again. "Well, how long do we have?" he asked.
"Twenty minutes," said Fernando.
Frustration tensed Knox's posture, but she could see the wheels spinning in his mind.
Knox looked at her with more intensity in his eyes than she'd ever seen. "Trust me, Allie."
She knew there was no way the next few minutes would go smoothly, and she might not survive it, but she did trust Knox's instincts. If he had any kind of plan, it was the best chance they'd have at saving the people at the resort and hopefully getting Kendall and Fernando arrested.
She nodded her head. "I trust you. You know I do."
Relief flashed on his face. "Here's the plan," he said to Kendall. "I'll text Drakos. I'll tell him to sign the contract. Then, Fernando disarms the last bomb, and you release Allie."
He's giving up? Because Kendall was holding a gun to her? She couldn't believe she'd let herself be taken. Her own incompetence infuriated her.
She tried to quiet her self-loathing enough to focus on Knox's plan. At least he'd put a higher priority on getting the bomb disarmed. She'd do everything she could to ensure no one else got hurt.
Kendall shifted his weight behind her. "You tell Drakos to sign and I'll hand over the girl.
She's what you want, right? And my boss wants the contract signed.
I should have done things my way from the beginning.
The girl for the contract. I don't care about the bomb.
" He pulled her to his right a couple of feet and leaned against one of the palm trees.
She assumed he wanted to use the palm's trunk for cover, but he didn't position himself behind it. What was he up to?
"Yes, you do!" yelled Fernando.
"What are you talking about? We get the contract signed and we're leaving."
Fernando shook his head, near-panic in his eyes. "The boss said if he can't have The Mandeville, then no one gets it. He told me to set the final explosion to level as much as possible. If Drakos signs it over, we can't let it all burn down."
She sensed the angry tension shoot through Kendall.