Page 30 of No Time Off (Lexi Carmichael Mystery #15)

THIRTY

Lexi

I let out a breath of relief so sharp, it almost caused me to double over. Calming myself, I hit the stop button on the recording function. While the conversation was alarming, it had also just confirmed Slash was still alive. If he was alive, I could function. I could figure out how to save him.

“Maivia is working with the Chinese,” Petra said in outrage, jumping to her feet. “I knew it. He just said so himself.”

“He said something like that,” I warned. “That conversation could be twisted or rephrased to mean anything. It’s not enough to directly link him to Chinese in this coup. It’s a start, but we need more.”

Petra scowled, clearly furious. “He’ll pay for this. That traitorous bastard.”

I didn’t respond, because my first audio file was finally ready, so I queued it up and sent it off to Angel and Frankie, asking them to prioritize the translation and telling them another, shorter audio file would follow shortly.

“Well, the good news is they apparently didn’t find the recording devices,” Manny said. “Slash was right. It was safer to use the recorders than it would have been to use the bugs.”

“Well, it’s not like you had any choice,” I responded. “That was all you had, but it was a lucky break, and we’ve had far too few of those lately.”

“But you said Slash hid his phone in the office where he was captured,” Henry pointed out. “Why didn’t they find it? Doesn’t a bug sweeper look for transmissions? A phone would emit that, right?”

“Everyone has a phone,” I explained. “They would have just assumed the sweeper was picking up the transmissions from the phones in their pockets. Obviously, they didn’t find the recording device in the office or his phone.”

“Right. Thank God for that,” Henry said.

I looked over at Manny. “Maivia said he wanted the boss to come. Any idea who this is?”

Manny glanced at Petra. “I don’t. You got any thoughts as to who this boss might be, Prime Minister?”

She thought for a moment. “I’m not sure. There’s a higher-level Chinese official that circulates around the islands occasionally. I’ve never met him, and I don’t know his name. It could be him. I’ve seen a private plane at the airport occasionally. I think it might be his. We don’t run Chinese nationals through our customs system, so it’s hard for me to say for sure.”

I stared at her in astonishment. “What? You don’t check Chinese nationals through some kind of customs when they come into the Cook Islands?”

“We do not,” the prime minister confirmed. “They have their own system here for that. It was part of the agreement for the police training and equipment. It’s crazy, I know. I was working to change that. It’s an inconceivable situation, but here we are.”

“Slash was surprised to hear that, too,” Manny commented. “It’s just another way for the Chinese to circumvent the authority of the Cook Islands.”

That this agreement had been signed in the first place was truly shocking to me, but I had bigger concerns on my plate at the moment. “I wonder what Maivia expects this Chinese boss guy to do?” I speculated aloud.

“I suspect that since things aren’t going exactly as planned, Maivia wants to know what to do next,” Henry guessed. “He sounded worried and clearly needs guidance.”

“Because he can’t think for himself,” Petra added contemptuously, “I’m sure he’s mainly concerned for himself. He’s also likely worried the Chinese might be upset with him because things have gone awry. If I show up alive and protesting the coup, there are people who will be upset with him because he lied.”

“Well, I guess we’ll find out who this Chinese boss is and what his role is in all this, because he’s supposed to arrive within the hour,” Manny said.

I paled. My relief that Slash was still alive had been quickly replaced by a wave of dread. Slash was trapped in a compound run by the Chinese who had just orchestrated a successful coup and were using the Cook Islands as a pawn on their strategic geopolitical chessboard. All while we were on our freaking honeymoon on a remote island where nothing ever, ever happens.

I blew out a breath, trying to think clearly. I had a feeling Slash would not be treated kindly by whoever this Chinese boss turned out to be. And if they ever found out who he really was…well, that would be worse than disastrous. I had to rescue him, and fast.

I downloaded the second audio file and sent it to Angel and Frankie, requesting the translation as soon as possible. Then I turned to Manny.

“We need to get Slash out of there as soon as possible.”

Manny nodded. “I agree, and it just so happens I have a plan. It’s the same plan Slash and I came up with to get the recording devices out once we had planted them. The compound gets food deliveries Tuesday and Friday mornings. Tomorrow is Tuesday. It could be our best chance of getting inside undetected.”

“I’m in,” I said. “What do we do?”

Manny grabbed his bag and pulled out the drawing he had shared with Slash of the compound, then used a napkin and a pen from the table to quickly draw a crude map of the island, marking the compound’s location. After he was done, he traced a finger along the narrow road that led to the compound. “The compound is just off the Ara Tapu, with a short driveway to the guarded gate. If my plan works, we should be able to coast right in. Lucky for us, the store owner who supplies the compound groceries and supplies is my first cousin Ari. We can use that to our advantage.”

“What’s your plan?” I asked.

“We go in as food delivery workers,” Manny’s said. His voice was calm, though I sensed the tension underlying each word. “We’ll sit in the back of the truck among the crates and produce as the hired help. I’ll speak to Ari, but I know he’ll be willing to do it. Even though the Chinese are his best customers, he loathes them. He evens charges them what he calls his ka peke koe surcharge.”

Petra laughed, and Henry joined her.

I looked between the two of them. “What’s so funny? What does that mean?”

“It is like a middle finger surcharge, only more explicit,” Henry answered.

“Ah, okay, I get it. We can trust Ari. So, once we’re in, how do we figure out where Slash is and release him?”

“Well, that’s the trickier part,” Manny said. “I have an outline of the compound and can make an educated guess as to where they might be keeping him. I’ve talked to Ari and his assistant several times to get as clear a picture as possible. There are two potential places: There is the main guard room, which is on the first floor in the corridor across from where he was captured. But that’s not a large room, and it might be awkward to hold him there while they are working. The only other place I could think of is an odd storage-type room across from the chief of staff’s office, where Slash planted one of the recording devices. The room has an electronic keypad lock on it. I’d start there.”

“What if it’s just for equipment or drugs, and he’s not in there?”

Manny lifted his hands. “Then we improvise.”

That was something I was usually pretty good at…when it came to hacking. But breaking into an armed compound and rescuing someone…well, I wasn’t as confident about my abilities on that front.

“What about weapons?” I asked. “Do you have one?”

“I have a gun, but if we use it, we bring the entire guard force down on us and no one escapes.” He took another swig of water. “We have to be smart about this.”

“What else do you have?” I asked. “I don’t do guns well, anyway. Slash once accused me of holding a gun like a television show cop.”

Manny spewed his water and then reached for a napkin. “He said what ?”

“In my defense, he was in pain and wasn’t thinking clearly at the time when he said it. It’s a long story, but there was a bad guy, and he was trying to hurt Slash, so I shot him.”

Petra, Henry, and Manny stared at me, transfixed. “Did you kill him?” Petra finally asked.

“No. I might have if I’d hit the torso—which is where I was aiming—but I hit him in the leg instead. Still, it brought him down and I rescued Slash, so I don’t know why he was complaining about my stance. I haven’t had a lot of time to practice at the range.”

“You two have a most unusual relationship,” Manny said. “How about a Taser? Have you ever used one?”

I thought back to the time I was in Hollywood working on a dating show for nerds. I’d sort of tased one of the contestants, but it hadn’t been my fault. We’d been struggling for the Taser, and it went off…on him. Still, he’d been down for the count, so I guess I had to answer in the affirmative.

“Yes,” I said. “Will it work without making too much noise?”

“Trust me, someone who gets hit with one of these is in so much pain they can barely mew like a kitten. I’ll get one for both of us. Our security folks should have several that aren’t being used right now.”

He walked over to the policeman sitting near the stairs and talked quietly with him. The man immediately reached into his belt and handed him something. Manny then climbed the stairs to the upper deck, presumably looking for the other policeman.

Petra sighed, and Henry put an arm around her. “I feel so helpless right now. Are you sure you want to do this, Lexi?” she asked. “Do you think it’s a good idea?”

I put my fingers on the keyboard just as an email from Angel pinged in my inbox. “Right now, Prime Minister, there’s no other options. We’re running out of time.”

“I seem to recall hearing Slash saying something similar,” she replied. “I don’t want to lose you, too.”

Before I could respond, I jumped as sounds came from mine and Manny’s phones again. We all instantly fell quiet. We heard a door open, and people started talking softly in Chinese.

“They’re back,” I whispered.