Page 25 of Enigma (Pros and Cons Mysteries #6)

O live and Jason had grabbed some lunch at a fast-food chicken joint before heading back toward their hotel, where they’d left their clothes and toiletries.

She’d checked her phone several times.

Simon still hadn’t returned her call, which irritated her.

Why had he been at the hospital? He’d wanted her to know he was there. That was why he’d dropped his business card.

So why keep things a mystery now?

Unless something had happened to him.

Her heart thumped harder. She hoped that wasn’t the case.

The Hampton Inn parking lot looked exactly as they’d left it that morning—rows of cars baking under the Florida sun, and heat shimmers rising from the asphalt like ghosts.

Olive scanned the area as Jason pulled into a parking space. Her investigative instincts searched for anything out of place.

Everything appeared normal. A family with young children loaded suitcases into a minivan three spaces down. An elderly couple walked slowly toward the lobby entrance, the man carrying a small cooler. A maintenance worker emptied trash cans near the pool area.

Nothing to cause alarm.

But as Olive stepped out of the car, a prickling sensation crept up her spine—the feeling of being watched.

She paused beside the passenger door, her hand still resting on the handle, and let her gaze sweep across the parking lot once more.

“Everything okay?” Jason asked as he locked the car.

“I’m not sure.” Olive kept her voice low. “Something feels off.”

Jason’s expression sharpened, and he shifted into the same alert state that had kept them alive at Nancy’s house. His eyes moved across their surroundings—the scattered cars, the hotel windows, the landscaped areas that could provide cover.

“What kind of off ?” he asked quietly.

Before Olive could answer, she spotted it.

A dark blue sedan was parked in the far corner of the lot, positioned to have a clear view of the hotel entrance.

The vehicle was the same color and model as the car from the hospital security footage.

The same car that had nearly run them down in the hospital parking lot.

The same car that had been parked across the street from Lloyd’s neighbor when Olive had talked to her.

“Jason.” She touched his arm, nodding toward the sedan. “That car.”

He followed her gaze, and recognition flashed across his features. “That’s them.”

Through the windshield, Olive spotted at least two figures inside, though the distance and glare made it impossible to identify them.

“They’re waiting for us.” Olive’s mind raced through possibilities. “The question is whether they want us to see them.”

“Or whether this is?—”

Jason’s words were cut off by the sound of car doors slamming. Not from the sedan, but from behind them.

Olive spun around to see two men emerging from a white panel van parked near the hotel’s side entrance. Both wore baseball caps pulled low and moved with the purposeful stride of people who knew exactly what they were doing.

“Run,” Jason said. “Now.”

As Olive turned toward the hotel lobby, a third man stepped out from behind a concrete pillar near the entrance.

He wore the same dark clothing as the attackers from Nancy’s house, and his hand moved toward something concealed beneath his jacket.

She and Jason were trapped in a triangle of assailants, caught in the open parking lot with nowhere to go and innocent bystanders close.

“The pool area.” Olive grabbed Jason’s arm. “More witnesses, more cover.”

They broke into a sprint toward the pool deck, weaving between parked cars as footsteps pounded the asphalt behind them. Olive heard one of the men speaking into what sounded like a radio.

Her stomach clenched.

These weren’t random criminals or opportunistic kidnappers. These were people who did this for a living.

The pool area was separated from the parking lot by a decorative concrete wall about chest-high, with an opening that led to the deck where hotel guests lounged in chairs and played in the water.

Olive vaulted over the wall, Jason right behind her.

They landed hard on the concrete pool deck.

“Hey!” A hotel guest looked up from his magazine, startled by their sudden appearance.

“Call 911,” Olive gasped. “Men with guns in the parking lot.”

The effect was immediate.

Guests began scrambling out of pool chairs, parents scooping up children, and everyone rushed toward the safety of the hotel building. The chaos provided cover, but it also put innocent people in potential danger.

She lifted a prayer for their safety, desperately hoping they hadn’t made the wrong decision.

Olive looked back toward the parking lot and saw their pursuers had reached the concrete wall.

Soon, those men would reach Jason and Olive. It was only a matter of time.

That meant every second counted.