Page 27 of An Epic Voyage (The Epic Beauty Salon Files #1)

A fter a thorough search of the tunnel, including running their hands along the walls and checking every sconce, they found nothing. Griffin’s stomach rumbled, reminding him they hadn’t eaten in hours.

Side by side, they fixed club sandwiches from ingredients in the fridge slash portal. They carried their plates to the table and watched the weather. The storm was about to leave their area, so their time to search was winding down.

“After we eat, let’s make sure we can get out of here the way we came in before we scour every inch of this place again.”

“Good idea,” Indigo replied. “I want to see the damage, anyway.”

They cleaned up their mess and then headed topside. The first door worked, as did the second. The elevator carried them up, and the last hidden panel also opened. Griffin didn’t realize he’d been holding his breath until it rushed out when water covered his feet.

He stood in shock at the complete and utter devastation. There were gigantic holes where walls and windows had once been. Furniture, picture frames, and dishes had been blown around and smashed. A staircase led to nowhere, as the top floors were gone.

“Be careful of the glass,” Griffin warned as they sloshed through knee-deep water. Cautiously, they made their way outside. It was as bad as the interior.

“Have mercy,” Indigo breathed. “It looks like the apocalypse.”

She wasn’t wrong. Palm trees were broken in half or uprooted, and the leaping dolphins that decorated the elaborate fountain were gone. Leaves, litter, and lumber covered the ground. Statues were overturned and broken, and all the pretty, blooming flowers were gone.

Griffin turned and winced at the once beautiful home. It was destroyed. It looked as if a bomb had exploded. “Now that the storm has passed, someone will come looking for us.”

“We have to find the nuke before they arrive,” Indigo agreed.

They picked their way through the demolished house to the elevator. Once they were back inside the bunker, Indigo said, “We’re making an assumption.”

“About what?”

“That the laptop and nuke are somewhere on this island.”

“He didn’t have it on the yacht,” Griffin said.

“I checked every inch of that boat, along with his mansion in Los Angeles. I didn’t have time to scour his place in Miami, but he didn’t stop there before boarding the boat.

Plus, the meeting with Jabari Abdullahi was to be held here.

International waters on a private island.

We can reasonably assume the items are here if our intel is correct and he has them. ”

“Could he have a safe deposit box or a storage unit?”

“Anything is possible, but I don’t think he’d leave it to chance, especially if someone could break in. None of the island staff know about the panic room.”

“How did you find out about it?”

“I was given the information as the head of security logistics. They conveniently left out the part about the hidden tunnel.”

“Do you think his personal security know about it?”

Griffin thought about it. “I’m not sure. Van Houten is notoriously paranoid. His side hustle amounts to treason. He wouldn’t want many people to know about it. Then again, the three men have been with him for years, and he trusts them.”

“Is Van Houten aware you know about this room?”

“He is.”

“Then we’ve wasted our time. The stolen goods won’t be here.”

Indigo was right. He wasn’t part of the inner circle. So, where did that leave them? Was she right that they were wasting their time? A light bulb snapped on in his head. “There are two places we didn’t check.”

“Where?”

“The elevator at the end of the tunnel and the cave.”

#

I ndigo’s phone vibrated in her pocket. “Hold on, Griffin. I need to take this call.” She should’ve contacted Evangeline already, but she’d been distracted by all the mind-blowing sex.

She punched the talk button. “Hey—”

Evangeline cut her off. “Are you okay?”

“Yes, and I’m sorry I didn’t call sooner.”

“We’ve been glued to the weather channel,” Jackson said. “It looked like it was a direct hit.”

“It was. We survived. Except for the panic room, the house and grounds didn’t.”

“Have you found anything?”

Indigo told them about their unsuccessful search and how they discovered the tunnel through the fridge.

“That’s crazy,” Evangeline said. “I’m amazed you found it.”

“It was a long shot based on a television show I’d seen a while ago. There’s a long corridor that ends at an elevator. It opens to a cave on the north shore of the island.”

“Perfect way to get smuggled goods in and out without being noticed,” Jackson surmised.

“Our thoughts too. Griffin realized the only places we haven’t searched are the elevator and the cave. We’re heading there now.”

“You don’t have much time now that the storm is passing,” Jackson cautioned. “Be careful.”

“I always am.”

“Keep us posted as soon as you find something,” Evangeline told her. “Even if you don’t, make sure to check in later today.”

“I will.”

Indy disconnected, Jackson’s warning playing in her head. Van Houten would want to return as soon as possible to check on his cache of ill-gotten goods. With that thought in mind, she walked to her makeup kit and stashed a couple of items in her pockets.

“Ready?” Griffin asked.

“Yes.”

After climbing through the refrigerator opening, they jogged down the corridor to the elevator, which they had decided to check first. Griffin pushed the button, and it opened.

He activated the stop feature as soon as they entered.

While he felt along the walls for a latch, she studied the operating panel.

A tiny scratch on the sticker explaining the weight limit had her running a fingernail along the edge.

It flipped up to reveal a button. She pushed it.

Griffin jumped out of the way as the back wall opened.

“I’ll be damned,” Griffin muttered as they stepped out and came up to a reinforced steel door that looked like a bank vault.

A lockbox covered a keypad. Indigo slid on a pair of latex gloves, took out a lock-picking kit, and went to work on it, popping it open quickly.

“Excellent,” Griffin praised as he also pulled on a pair of gloves. He punched in a series of numbers, and a click sounded. With one tug of the handle, the door opened. “His birthdate. The guy is nothing if not predictable.”

“Imagine if he’d used a biometric lock,” Indy mused. They would’ve been screwed.

“No kidding. He does in his Los Angeles mansion.” Griffin looked around. “We need to prop something in the door so we don’t get locked in.”

He found a chair and stuck it in the opening. The vault was large, climate-controlled, and filled with a vast array of valuable items. There was a painting that resembled an original Picasso, antique furniture, jewelry, trinkets, and other assorted items.

Indigo brushed a finger over a vase, which looked very old and extremely expensive. “Where do you think he got all of this?”

“I wouldn’t be able to venture a guess,” Griffin responded. “But I bet it’s all been reported as stolen. And here’s the laptop.”

Indy barely heard him. She was staring at the heavy-duty padded case that could be used for transporting a small nuclear weapon. She flipped open the latches.

“Bingo.”

“You found the nuke?”

“I did.”

She needed to call Evangeline and Jackson to let them know. They would have a team here to confiscate it within hours.

“How in the hell did you find this room?”