Page 42 of Enigma

He wasn’t trying to hide anymore.

He was closing in.

“Jason,” she warned.

But he’d already seen the man.

Instead of reaching for his gun, he grabbed a long-handled pool skimmer leaning against the equipment shed. In one fluid motion, he swung the aluminum pole like a staff.

He caught the attacker across the chest and sent him stumbling backward into the pool.

The splash sent water cascading across the deck.

“The service entrance.” Jason pointed toward an unmarked door on the side of the building. “Hotel staff use it for deliveries.”

They ran toward the door.

Olive’s heart hammered as more footsteps sounded behind them.

The sirens were almost on top of them now, and tires squealed as police cars turned into the hotel parking lot.

Jason yanked on the service door handle.

It was unlocked.

Just as she heard a shout from behind them, they plunged through the door into the hotel’s service corridor.

“This way.” Jason led them toward what looked like an exit sign at the far end of the corridor.

As they ran through the dimly lit hallway, Olive realized that whoever was orchestrating this had planned it perfectly.

They’d used the hotel as a kill box, counting on Olive and Jason returning to collect their belongings. The attack had been designed to look like a random hotel incident, something that would be written off as criminals targeting tourists.

But they’d underestimated one thing: Olive and Jason’s experience working together under pressure.

The corridor exit led to a loading dock behind the hotel, where delivery trucks unloaded supplies. The area wastemporarily empty, but Olive heard the chaos from the front of the building—sirens, shouting voices, police radios crackling with urgent communications.

“We need transportation,” Jason said.

Olive spotted a textile delivery truck parked near the loading dock, keys still dangling from the ignition. “Will that work?”

“It’ll have to.”

As they climbed into the truck, Olive looked back at the Hampton Inn and saw police swarming the pool area where they’d been just minutes before. Smoke rose from somewhere in the parking lot—one of the cars was on fire, adding to the chaos and confusion.

Professional work, designed to create maximum disruption while their real targets escaped.

Jason gunned the truck’s engine as they pulled away from the hotel.

CHAPTER 27

“Where are we going?” Olive asked.

“I don’t know yet. But we can’t go back to the hotel, and we can’t use my vehicle.” Jason’s jaw was tight with concentration. “They know where we’ve been staying, what we’re driving, and probably where we’re going next.”

“Then we change the game,” Olive said. “We stop reacting to what they want us to do and start making our own moves.”

“What did you have in mind?”