Knox couldn't mask his grin when Allie returned to Room 336. "I have good news. I won."
Her face scrunched up. "Won what?"
He waved a hand between Jason and himself. "We both wanted to be the one to go into the warehouse. So, we arm wrestled for it, and I won."
Jason rolled his eyes. "We flipped a coin."
Rowan looked amused. "They talked about using rock, paper, scissors. But settled on flipping a coin."
"I don't care if you thumb wrestled for it," Allie said. "Are you sure only one of us should go in? Maybe you should both go in? I can handle the distraction outside—"
"No," Knox interrupted. "I got it. Besides, the work inside is easy-peasy as long as the distraction is working. I'd feel betterwith both of you out there keeping the guards occupied." The worry in her eyes tugged at his heart a little bit. "Everything is going to be fine. This is a good plan."
Her lips crooked in an unconvincing smile. But she nodded her agreement. He could feel his adrenaline ticking up in anticipation of their mission tonight. He wished she acted as excited as he felt. This was a good plan. It would work.
He flicked his eyes to the drink carrier in her hands. "Coffee? For us?"
She smiled. A genuine smile. "Yes." She started handing out the drinks. "And the concierge will have everything ready by four o'clock. That gives us plenty of time."
When she handed him his coffee, he held his hand over hers a few extra seconds. He wanted to chase the wariness out of her eyes. "Everything will be fine tonight. I promise."
Something shifted in her gaze. She didn't offer him more than a nod, but he watched confidence fill her eyes.
Relief flowed through his chest. He would carry out the plan tonight whether or not she was thrilled with it, but her support mattered. A lot.
He winked at her.
She blushed and let go of his coffee. "Just be careful tonight."
"Yes, ma'am." Of course he'd be careful. But he was itching to get into that warehouse. He didn't have a doubt in his mind he'd find something interesting. He just prayed that tonight wasn't too late.
Chapter 12
Allie selectedTwist and Shoutand pressed play. She wasn't sure it was the best choice, but she had no idea what the ideal soundtrack was for breaking a window.
She cranked up the volume on the Bluetooth speaker, and within five seconds, the first of the two warehouse guards exited the front door and made a beeline for her position on the side of the building.
Earlier, Rowan confirmed from Henrik's footage that the Byron warehouse guards rotated in teams of two. And on most evenings, the two off-duty guards left for an hour or so, presumably to eat dinner.
Allie and Jason had waited on a side street until they saw two of the guards leave. Distracting two guards would be easier than trying to distract four.
The concierge had come through for them with flying colors. Not only did he procure the size truck they needed, he also managed to have 'Island Party Rentals' emblazoned on the side of the truck, as promised. Allie was impressed.
So far, so good.
Twist and Shoutblared across the parking lot, but Jason stood next to her and pumped a thumbs up.
She turned up the volume as far as she could stand it.
The first guard stomped out wearing a scowl that contorted his goatee in a comical expression. He marched toward Allie until the forty-seven helium-filled balloons tied to a surfboard snatched his attention.
There had been fifty balloons when they started loading everything into the box truck at The Mandeville, but two balloons escaped and one popped. Corralling helium balloons had provided more of a challenge than any of them had expected.
But, as it turned out, forty-seven was an effective number of balloons to halt Goatee Guard in his tracks. And enough to completely obstruct the only security camera facing the west side of the warehouse.
Jason played his role flawlessly. Smiling ear to ear, he stepped past Allie, hand out-stretched toward the guard. Goatee Guard froze, eyes narrowed at the speakers and balloons. Jason grabbed his hand and started shaking it like he was thrilled to make his acquaintance—which was probably close to whatever he was saying to the guard, but Allie's speaker was blaring The Beatles so loud that she couldn't hear a word.
The guard yelled something at Jason and pointed to Allie's speaker.
