"Lace your hands behind your head," Knox ordered the passenger, then leaned close enough to retrieve the man's weapon sticking out of his belt. He was a little surprised—and relieved—at how easily the man cooperated. Byron clearly hadn't recruited special forces types to do their dirty work. The passenger practically cowered in his seat.
Jason gave the same order to the driver. The driver smirked at Jason. He didn't cower like his cohort in the passenger seat, but he didn't put up a fight either. "You have no idea what you're doing," the driver said.
"Don't you worry about that," Jason answered. "Keep your hands behind your head and get out of the truck."
The two guards exchanged a look but obeyed. Jason and Knox led them over to the far side of the truck to shield them from the view of anyone walking down to the beach. Jason handed each guard a set of handcuffs while he and Knox continued to train their weapons on them. "Put these on," he said.
The driver gave them an angry-bulldog glare but slowly complied. The passenger followed suit.
"We know you have three explosive devices in the back of this truck," Jason said.
The passenger's eyebrows shot up. The driver narrowed his irritated gaze at Jason. "How do you know that?"
"Doesn't matter. There are three explosive devices in the back of your truck, and I need to know if they've been activated."
Neither man responded.
"Look," Knox said, "I don't think the guys you're working for care whether you survive today. All we're interested in is makingsure the devices don't detonate. If they do, and you're too close by, you're not gonna make it out of this. And I don't think your bosses care. So, as far as surviving the next couple of hours, we all want the same thing."
The driver's scowl faltered while he processed Knox's suggestion. But a second later, his menacing glare was firmly back in place and silently firing daggers at Jason and Knox.
The passenger kept eyeing the driver, who was apparently the leader.
Jason inclined his head toward the truck. "Knox, go open the back of the truck. Check the devices. See if they've been activated. I'll watch these two."
"Got it."
Knox walked around to the back of the truck. He unlatched the door and used the pull strap to fully raise it. He stepped onto the tailgate and went inside. Three backpacks sat on a bench in the truck. He carefully opened each one, confirming the contents of each bag. Yep. Three bombs. He took several pictures with his phone and texted them to Allie before he jumped out of the truck, shut it again, and returned to Jason.
"They're all three in there, each one in a separate backpack, so they planned on transporting them separately, I think. But they're not activated. There's no countdown."
"Well, that's good," said Jason.
The driver huffed a laugh. "We're not the ones that set them. There's a guy. We don't know him. We haven't met him. He turns on the bombs, sets the timer. We're just the delivery boys. You're wasting your time with us."
Information they already knew. Except that the guards didn't know the bomber either.Does no one know this guy?
Knox glared at the driver. "Someone picked up the other two guards who were with you a few minutes ago. Who was that?"
The driver looked impressed. "I don't know."
"Where did they go?" asked Jason.
"I have no idea."
"He's lying," Knox said.
Jason nodded. "I know."
"What are your orders?" asked Jason. "You're sitting here in the truck, with three bombs in the back. What are you waiting on?"
The driver looked amused but didn't speak.
"Who gives you your orders?"
The driver smiled. "You know so many things, and you don't know that?"
Knox knew Jason's frustration mirrored his own, but it was pointless to argue with these two. Besides, he wasn't convinced they could offer much helpful information, even if they wanted to.
