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‘So where are they?’
‘Hang on. Show me that pen?’ Henry asks. I pass it over. ‘This is a voice recorder. I’ve seen Boones use them.’
‘Well, play it then!’ Pete shouts.
I touch his arm. Being aggressive is not going to get Henry to press the button any faster.
We strain to listen to Boones’s soft voice. It’s a message for me. He meant for me to find it. Asshole. ‘By now, you will see that I have taken the elites for the real Hot & Sandy. Two hundred miles, no support. NoGPStracking. Don’t come looking for us. Periodic updates will be sent. Check the forum. The runners have sixty hours. See you at the finishing line – or not, as the case may be.’
Boones’srealtwist.
He’s tricked us all.
Pete knows it too. He releases a deep guttural moan.
Mac is the only one who seems impressed. Excited even. ‘Man, I wish Jason were awake to hear about this. He’d go mental. This is exactly what he’s been telling me to expect from Boones. You should know that, Pete.’
‘I’d be happier about it if there weren’t some fucking newly released convict out there hunting my wife,’ Pete growls.
‘Ex-wife,’ I mutter.
Henry’s eyes widen with horror. ‘Convict?!’
‘Now you understand our urgency,’ Pete says. ‘You must still have a way to access the trackers, though, right? Even if Boones has turned off the public viewing?’
But Henry shakes his head. ‘There’s only one laptop with tracking capabilities for the elite runners. Boones has it.’
‘No, no way,’ says Pete. ‘This is the Sahara Desert. What if someone gets lost or needs medical aid?’
‘I’m sure Boones has a plan,’ says Henry, but he doesn’t sound confident.
‘Henry, I need my phone,’ I say, firmly.
He opens his mouth to protest, but I shut him down.
‘Didn’t you hear that message? Boones is gone. He’s taken your elites. Fuck the rules. I need my phone right now. Have you found Dr Emilio?’
‘You think this “convict” is the doctor?’
I hesitate. I don’t know anything for certain. ‘He’s our number-one suspect.’
Henry sighs. ‘Fine. I’ll instruct our security team to find him. When we do, Stella, I’ll leave him to you. I’ll also take you to your phone. Whatever you need. But I can’t deal with this myself. I have responsibilities to Hot & Sandy, to the fun runners. Boones might have abandoned them but people have paid a lot of money to do this race. I’ve got to do right by them. And I’m not going to let anyone down.’
I bite my tongue – Henry is in way over his head, and hedoesn’t even realize, but I don’t want to risk him deviating from the plan.
Before I get in the car with Henry, I direct the others. ‘Ali, can you take Mac and follow the security team to find the doctor? Don’t let him out of your sight until the police get here. Pete and I will get my phone.’ To my relief they agree without arguing.
Henry instructs his driver to take us to the administrative area. He drops us outside one of the trailers. ‘Your phone is in there. Here, take this radio too,’ he says, handing me his. ‘I can pick up another one. Then we can be in contact.’
‘Thanks.’ I slip the radio into my pocket.
‘Keep me posted.’
The trailer is stacked with plastic crates, each one filled to the brim with Faraday pouches. Finding mine is going to be a needle in a haystack.
‘Looks like these are marked by tent number,’ I say to Pete. ‘The staff tents were all numbered, starting from two hundred. Look, here!’ I find the ones marked with ‘200’ and start lifting lids off the boxes and opening bags.
Pete’s radiating anger. It’s coming off him in waves. It’s not only fear for Adrienne. ‘I can’t believe you were there.’ His voice is calm but his clenched jaw betrays him. ‘At least this explains why you never wanted to meet Ethan. It wasn’t about protecting him at all, was it? You just didn’t want to have to see Adrienne again. It’s been seven years, Stella. You’re myfiancée.’