The corner of his mouth quirked up. “We will.” He glanced inside the suite again. “I need to update everyone on Eric’s call. Come sit in. You’ll want to hear part of it.”
A minute later, she reclaimed her cup of tea and her spot on the sofa to listen to Jason’s updates.
“Eric’s on his way,” Jason exchanged a brief look with Leland that she wished she understood. “He’s going to oversee the transport of Gus’s body back to the states. There’s not a lot he can do, but I think it’s about optics. He wants Gus’s family to feel like WhiteRock is doing everything we can to take care of Gus. I think Gus had two sisters and a brother?”
He looked to Leland for confirmation.
Leland nodded. “Anna, Mary, and Hal. Gus was the oldest. His wife passed away four years ago. No kids.”
The look on Leland’s face broke her heart. He’d lost a good friend. She wished she knew the best way to comfort him.
Leland’s wife died in the same car accident as her parents. She knew he was hurting then, but she was young and so full of her own grief. She never knew what to say to him back then. But he didn’t seem to want to talk. That’s when they started going to Astros games together. She still marveled at how much it comforted her to just sit next to Leland for nine innings during those days.
It’s not like they discussed grief and loss—or any feelings, for that matter. But just being together—eating hot dogs and drinking Dr. Pepper—made her feel less alone. Less afraid of the future. He never voiced it, but she suspected it helped him some too.
And now he’d lost a good friend. She wasn’t sure sitting through a few baseball games would help him process his grief for Gus, but she promised herself she would do what she could to be there for him.
Jason’s voiced pulled her back into the conversation. “Rowan, any hits yet on the face recognition search?”
“Nope.”
“Okay, keep at it. And you’ll keep an eye on us tonight.” He pointed to Rowan’s laptops. “I’ll have the sat phone with me for emergencies, but texting from the sat is slow. So, don’t wait for an order from me, go ahead and run face recognition on anyone who looks like they’re in charge.”
“Got it,” Rowan said, and started gulping from his Iron Man mug. Which was apparently lucky for some reason. She made a mental note to ask about that later.
“Eric will be here in a few hours,” Jason continued. “He’ll probably arrive after we leave. Give him an update. We’ll be back as soon as we can, but it will be late. I’ll call you on the sat when it’s safe to do so.”
He pointed at the laptops again. “Tayla can help you monitor the camera feeds. Hopefully, all the cameras will be working.”
She was very pleased Jason told Rowan she could help. Because, whether she was invited to or not, she would be watching the cameras. And praying. A lot.
Jason brushed away some smaller pebbles to make his spot on the ground a little more comfortable. He leaned against a large rock, well-hidden in the cliffs surrounding Rock Point Pier.
“Leland’s forty yards, due south of us,” Knox said from his hiding spot, about eight feet away.
Jason peered around the rock with his binoculars. “I see him.”
“I know you wanted the three of us spread out more. I could—”
“No. It’s fine. There’s not a third spot with sufficient cover. Just stay here.”
Knox shrugged and started unwrapping something. “You’re the boss.”
“What are you doing?”
Knox crumpled up the wrapper and stuffed it in his backpack, holding up a protein bar for Jason to see. “Eating. No one’s here yet.” He took a bite. “Taking this opportunity to carb up. Might get exciting tonight,” he said, with his mouthhalf-full.
“Alright, just don’t do that when they start showing up. Your wrapper is crazy loud.”
Knox smiled. “No problem.” He finished off the bar in three more bites and brushed the crumbs off his pants. “So, hey, about Tayla . . . “
Oh, no. “What about her?”
“There was a weird vibe between you two this afternoon. Did you do something stupid?”
“Why would you automatically assume that?”
Knox shrugged. “I don’t know.” He brushed more crumbs off his shirt. “So did you?”
