Rowan looked insulted at the wordif. "I can probably do it. As long as the footage is decent."
"It's good, trust me." He set the white box on Rowan's desk and tapped the box. "And these are for you. We stopped by the bakery on the lobby level." He opened the box. "We didn't know what you'd like. So, we brought you a cinnamon roll, two brownies, and a white chocolate macadamia nut cookie."
Rowan eyed Knox with an appropriate amount of suspicion.
"And this is for you, too," Allie said. She set the Red Bull next to his Incredible Hulk mug, which sat next to his Iron Man mug.
"Um, thanks?" Rowan looked like he didn't know whether to be grateful or to test the treats for signs of poisoning.
Knox felt a pang of guilt. It probably wasn't good that his co-worker—no matter how young or how whiny he could be—felt so taken aback by a small act of kindness from him. Granted, it wasn't a random act of kindness. Knox was absolutely trying to mitigate the news he was about to deliver.
"Go ahead, man." He pushed the box closer to Rowan. "This isn't a prank. Truth is, I have something to tell you. And we thought some sugar would help the pill go down easier. So to speak."
Rowan looked from Knox to Allie and back to Knox like he was trying to read their thoughts. That's when his eyebrows shot up. "You broke the drone?"
Knox was impressed with the kid's intuition. "More or less."
Rowan's brow furrowed. "Just bring it to me. I might be able to fix it."
Knox eyed Rowan's treats, wishing he'd bought a cookie for himself as well. "Well, that's not possible. You're going to have to report it as KIA."
Rowan's confused face pivoted to Allie, apparently hoping for some clarity. Or to discern whether Knox was messing with him.
"The drone was shot down," Allie explained. "I don't know if anything is salvageable, but we can't retrieve it. The men who shot it down have it."
Rowan looked at Knox. "Day one? You got a drone shot down on day one? I thought this was supposed to be a low-key assignment. Just intel gathering." He shoved a hand into his thick brown hair and left it there. "I thought—"
"Listen, kid," Knox said, mentally kicking himself for breaking his streak. He'd try not to call Rowan "kid" for the rest of the day. Maybe he could make it forty-eight hours this time. "In this line of work, there's always a chance for situations to escalate. You should know that by now. You've been—"
Rowan held up both of his hands in an please-stop-talking-I-surrender gesture. "Okay, okay. So, I guess you know I'm the one who has to report the loss of the drone since the tech is my responsibility? Do you know how much paperwork that is?"
Knox pushed the bakery goods an inch closer to Rowan. "Hence the scrumptious gifts."
Rowan pulled the bakery box and the Red Bull out of Knox's reach as if he might take them back. "Okay, fine." He picked up a brownie and bit into it. "I'm assuming the drone footage is the first priority?" he said with his mouth half full of brownie.
Allie handed him the laptop. "Yes, it is."
He took it from her with a small smile. "Thanks for this," he said, pointing to the treats.
"Hey." Knox pointed to himself. "The food was my idea."
Rowan looked at him like he didn't believe that. Whatever. At least thekidwas happy.
Knox's phone buzzed. He read the text from Jason and replied with a thumbs up. "Jason wants all of us to meet back here in an hour. He says he's having dinner delivered to the room for us."
"Sounds good," Allie said.
Rowan shrugged. "I'm not going anywhere." He opened the laptop they'd brought and slipped his headphones back on.
Knox turned to Allie. "I think that's our cue to leave."
She smiled. And he was reminded again how much he'd missed that smile.
Allie stood, arms crossed, in front of the floor-to-ceiling window in Knox's room. She'd stood in the same spot hours before. But now, she felt more prepared for the conversation.
Knox pointed to the small sofa in the generous-sized room. "Want to sit down?"
She shook her head. "I know I sound like a broken record, but . . . this view . . . it's breathtaking. It's calming and exciting at the same time. That sounds silly, but—"
