Chapter 9 #2
An almost-grin played on his face. “Okay, I like coffee. I work with your uncle, and I’m former CIA. What else do you want to know?”
“Do you have a girlfriend? A wife?” Wow. Did she really just ask that? Was that appropriate? The grin was gone.
Maybe she overstepped.
But he did ask what she wanted to know.
“Tell you what. You gave me a few highlights from your past today, so I’ll give you some of mine.” The quiet seriousness in his voice signaled that she might not like what he was about to say. “I was married. Six years ago, my wife was killed. There was a shooting. In a restaurant.”
Oh, no. Oh, wow. Oh, Jason. Emotion welled in her chest. “I’m so sorry,” she whispered.
“Thank you.”
“Did they . . . catch the shooter?” Now that was probably wildly inappropriate. Could she just keep her mouth shut?
“He’s dead.”
Oh.
He cleared his throat and turned to the moonlit expanse in front of them. “No girlfriend. To answer your other question.”
“Jason, I’m so sorry. I shouldn’t have asked—”
“It’s fine. Like I said, you shared earlier today, so—”
“Okay, well, I think we’re even on personal highlights for now.”
“Yes.” He stuck out his elbow, inviting her to take his arm the way she’d done when she’d introduced him to Chance. “Should we return to the party? Let’s see if Frederick Kost has shown up yet.”
Frederick Kost showed up. With an entourage. Now Jason understood why Drakos was so sure Frederick would be at the party. He wanted to see and be seen by this crowd. And he was having a good time doing it.
Two hours passed. Between Jason, Knox, and Leland, they’d identified four other people on Drakos’ suspect list, discreetly tagged them with listening devices, and Knox put a GPS tracker on Frederick’s car.
Jason signaled Knox, who drifted through the crowd to Leland. He and Tayla joined them a minute later near a table laden with trays of shrimp and tropical fruit.
“Okay,” Jason said. “Phase two. You guys head upstairs and help Rowan listen in on the men we tagged. Hopefully, we’ll hear something useful.”
Knox picked up a shrimp, dipped it in something, and popped it in his mouth. “Will do,” he said, while chewing. “And we’re ordering room service.” He swallowed and pointed to the elaborate display of seafood. “I hope they have that creamy white sauce on the room service menu. It’s amazing.”
Jason kept his voice low. “Tayla and I will tag Frederick, then we’ll join you.”
The conversation paused as they all watched Knox pile shrimp on an hors d’oeuvres plate. He looked up. “What?”
“You and Leland need to get going,” Jason said.
“I know. This is my to-go plate. I need a snack while I’m waiting for room service.”
Leland rolled his eyes, nodded to Jason, and left Knox drowning his little mountain of shrimp with the cream sauce.
Knox, clearly enjoying Leland’s reaction, gave Jason a wink, and followed the senior agent out of the ballroom.
Tayla smiled. “You and Knox seem to be good friends.”
Jason nodded. “Yes. And please don’t misinterpret his attitude.” He tilted his head to the spot where Knox stood a second ago. “We both respect your uncle. But Knox is going to give him a hard time. It’s just the way he is. He’s going to joke around. Especially when an op is running smoothly.”
“You seem to trust Knox—professionally, I mean.”
“Definitely. He’s very good. I trust him with my life.”
“Good to know.” Something behind him caught her attention. She opened her mouth and shut it without a word.
“What’s up?”
“There’s a guy standing near the last set of doors. I know I’ve seen him before. I can’t place him, though.”
“You saw him on the island? Or could he be one of the men who broke into Leland’s house?” He casually rotated to look at the man she described.
She waved off his suggestions. “No, no. Nothing recent. I feel like I should know him from a long time ago. I just can’t remember.” She shrugged. “Hopefully he won’t walk over and expect me to remember him.”
Her casual tone didn’t match the concern on her face.
“You okay?”
Her features relaxed a little, but she still stared at the mystery man. “Yes. It’s just frustrating.” She squeezed his arm and looked him in the eyes. “I’m sorry.” She smiled. “It’s not important. We need to focus on Frederick, right?”
“Yes, but if you figure out who that guy is, let me know.” Because the concern on her face worried him.
She smiled at him again. “It’s fine, really. Sorry I got distracted. Let’s focus on Frederick.”
Her expression relaxed more. Maybe his worries were unwarranted. He might be paranoid because they were in the middle of a mission. And because he was starting to feel overly protective of Tayla.
She still hadn’t mentioned Knox’s comment about Jason “making a pass” at her.
Maybe she thought Knox was joking. And maybe that was for the best. As tempting as she was, on so many levels, pursuing Tayla Faraday was probably a bad idea.
He felt they had a connection a couple of times since they’d met, but once she thought about what she wanted, she’d likely prefer a relationship with someone who didn’t get shot at on a regular basis.
Most women did. Besides, Leland might kill him.
He angled back to the chattering crowd and forced his attention on Frederick Kost.
Tagging Frederick had proved challenging. He’d been the center of a lot of attention all evening. His entourage, and the new friends he’d made over the last two hours, kept him cocooned in their mob of merriment. Jason needed him away from that group.
“Is something wrong?” asked Tayla.
“No. Why?”
“You’re quiet. And tense. Did I miss something?” She narrowed her eyes and glanced around the room. “Frederick is still here.”
“Yeah, I know. I’m just trying to figure out how to get him out of that crowd. Without drawing attention to myself.”
He watched her shift her focus to Frederick and his spirited crew.
Despite his frustration, a smile tugged at his lips.
She’d been the perfect combination of sophistication, warmth, and grace all evening.
He could see how people must want to donate generously at her charity galas.
People were delighted to talk to her. They were drawn to her.
She listened intently to their stories and anecdotes with genuine interest. She didn’t patronize them with false sincerity. She actually cared.
Even Mrs. Pennington’s twenty-three minute—he counted—narrative of her French Bulldog’s struggle with seasonal allergies.
Tayla’s kind nature and listening ear were not only admirable, they were very helpful.
She kept people engaged and talking in the right direction, enabling Leland, Knox, and himself to go unnoticed when they needed to slip a GPS tracker in an unsuspecting pocket or stick a bug on the back of a jacket.
Jason adjusted his cufflinks and tried to not look tense—if Tayla noticed, someone else might. “The next time he goes to the bathroom, I’ll try to bump into him in the hall.”
He could feel Tayla’s skeptical glance.
“Just because it didn’t work last time doesn’t prove anything. Maybe this time he’ll be alone. What grown man walks to the bathroom with four buddies?”
Tayla shrugged. “I don’t know. I thought that was a girl thing.”
“Me too.” He scanned the room for the hundredth time. “The only idea I have will require some luck.”
“What’s your idea?”
“When the band starts playing again, hopefully he’ll ask one of the girls in his group to dance. If he does, you and I can dance our way over to them and accidentally bump into him. Maybe you could step on his foot? That would be great.”
She looked amused. Then doubtful. “That might require too much luck. I can definitely step on his foot if we get close to him, but I think he’s only ventured onto the dance floor a couple of times all night.”
“I know. We should have taken advantage of the opportunity then.”
Her lips twisted to the right, and her eyes narrowed. He realized this was her concentrating-face. And it was so attractive. How was he going to—
“I could ask him to dance.”
He pivoted to face her. “What?”
“Maybe he would say ‘yes.’” Hope sparked in her eyes. “While we’re dancing, I could step on his foot right when you walk by, or you could bump into us—”
He tried not to scowl. But whatever his face was doing, it effectively extinguished her spark of hope.
Her brows creased. “What’s wrong? Isn’t that what you wanted? Wouldn’t that work?”
Of course it would work. But he’d watched Frederick grope two different women since he arrived at the party.
The thought of Tayla in his arms spilled acid in his stomach.
He turned his head to watch the crowd. Mainly because he didn’t want her to read his face.
“No. I mean, yeah, it might work. But it isn’t safe. ”
“Not safe? On the dance floor?”
It wouldn’t be safe for Frederick. If he touched her . . .“Yeah. It’s too risky. We’ll wait for an easier opportunity.”
He could feel her eyes on him and finally turned to meet her gaze. Those crystal blue eyes searched his. She nodded slowly. “Okay, you’re the boss.”
Her eyes floated back to the throng of guests. Then she grabbed his arm. “We just got lucky!”
His head snapped to Frederick, who was now in the center of a drunken brawl. It wasn’t the distraction he ordered, but it would work. “Stay here. I’ll be right back.”
She nodded. “Go, go!”
He jogged over to the melee and started peeling people off Frederick, who had apparently insulted the wrong cricket team.
Hotel security, and even Chance Chesson, aided Jason in his effort to quell the disruption.
In less than a minute, the most unruly guests were escorted out of the ballroom, while the others promised to calm down.
Frederick shook Jason’s hand and thanked him repeatedly for “saving” him. Jason enjoyed the irony with a straight face. After he tagged him with a listening device.
He glanced back to Tayla. But she wasn’t there.
He looked around. The room was slowly regaining its pre-skirmish merriment.
But no Tayla.
Had she gone to the bathroom? No, she would have said something before leaving the ballroom.
He took out his phone and called Rowan, who answered on the first ring.
“Yes?”
“Where’s Tayla?”
“What?”
He ran into the hallway, searching in both directions. “Tayla. Where did she go? Check the cameras. She left the ballroom.”
“Um, yeah, hang on . . .”
Knox’s voice boomed through the phone. “Employee exit. West side. Now! They’re moving toward the west parking lot. On our way.”
Jason didn’t bother responding. He bolted for the nearest exit and exploded out of the hotel.
Running full-out down the path leading to the west parking lot, he prayed. Please God, keep her safe. Make me faster. Keep her safe. Please.