She handed the phone back with a quick nod.
Knox snapped his head to the truck. It turned right.
"Should we follow?" Allie asked.
"Hang on." He called Jason—no time to worry about whether Henrik was listening.
"Hey," he said, "they're turning. Do we follow? . . . You're sure? . . . OK, see you in two minutes."
He ended the call and leaned forward. "Henrik, are we about two minutes out?"
"Yeah, that sounds right. This is the last intersection before The Mandeville."
"OK, just drop us at the main entrance."
"No problem."
Moments later, Henrik parked in front of The Mandeville. Knox and Allie jumped out, but Knox paused at the driver's sidedoor. "Thanks, Henrik. Really, we appreciate it. You've been a big help today."
"Sure. Glad to be of service. What else can I do? I like to help."
"I know. And we appreciate it, but we'll take it from here. Thanks again for the ride. We'll call you if we need something."
"OK. Good luck." He gave a two-finger salute. But as the Smurf-blue Beetle rolled out of the parking lot, it occurred to Allie that Henrik had no idea what he was wishing them 'good luck' for.
At least he was driving away from the danger. A small part of her wanted to warn the eager shopkeeper, but she knew they couldn't afford to trigger a panicked mass-exit off the island. She'd witnessed a hysterical mob before. It wasn't pretty. Dozens of injuries. Two fatalities.
Oh, dear God, please protect every life on this island . . . from the bombs we know about . . . and from dangers we don't.
Chapter 15
She kept in step with Knox's brisk pace, moving as quickly as possible to the elevators without attracting attention. Fortunately, the doors opened almost immediately, and the elevator was empty. When the doors shut, Allie felt Knox's eyes on her—and easily read the thoughts his soft smile broadcasted.
"Hey," he said. "I know we need to talk later, but I want you to know I don't regret that kiss."
Warmth crept up the back of her neck. "I know. I don't either."
His smile inched up. "Okay, so we're on the same page. Let's go catch some bad guys, and get that out of the way so we can . . . talk more about how we're on the same page."
She laughed and nodded. "I like your plan."
The elevator doors opened, and she pivoted her focus back to work-mode. At least, as much as she could while walking next to the amazing man who was flipping her world upside down in the most beautiful way imaginable.
When they entered Room 336, Jason looked them over, head to toe. "You two alright?"
Allie gave a thumbs up. "Yes, we're fine."
"We're fabulous. Just another day in paradise," Knox said.
Jason's mouth quirked up. "Good. We were working on a few ideas to get you out of the warehouse, but hightailing it out like you did worked much faster than any of my ideas would have."
"We got lucky that the guards were too busy to notice us. I'm sure we're on their security cameras now, though. Couldn't be helped."
"I don't think it will matter." He pointed to Rowan's screen. "Things are escalating quickly. We're tracking the bombs. It's incredibly helpful that we know where they are, of course, but the other piece is what really worries me."
"What do you mean?" asked Allie.
"I talked to Kendall myself a few minutes ago. He doesn't seem to have much control over the situation, but he does have some information. The guards you saw transporting the bombs don't have a way to activate them. The bomber—the guy who built the bombs—he's the only one who can trigger them. But we don't know where he is or what he looks like. We don't have a name, picture, or description. We have nothing. We may just need to focus on the bombs, locating them, and disabling them."
