She looked like she was ready to run if she needed to. In the short time she’d known Deanna, the woman had always been dressed in a completely professional way, even in a casual setting.
Then again, she also hadn’t seen Deanna looking anything but confident, and that was not how she looked now. She put the phone to her ear.
“Jay? Yeah, I’m going to do it.” She was quiet for a moment. “I know. I know. I don’t care. He owes me and I’m going to collect. After this, there won’t be any way I don’t get what I want. I’m done playing by his rules.” She went silent again. “I don’t care what he thinks about it. He can fire me. I’m done waiting. Like I said, if this doesn’t work, nothing will.”
Shite. She moved back and touched her earpiece. “I think I’ve got our traitor. It’s Deanna.”
“I haven’t been able to dupe her phone yet,” Hutch admitted. “So I don’t know who she’s talking to, but she’s moving. She just hung up and she’s walking your way. Nina, she’s going to see you.”
Nina moved in between two high bushes. They were covered in fragrant flowers and provided adequate concealment. And scratches to her arms, but it wasn’t anything she couldn’t handle. She pushed her body further back and went completely still.
“I’ll be careful,” Deanna was saying as she walked by. “It’s okay. I’ve got a gun. I’ll use it if I need to.”
And now she had to deal with an armed Deanna.
“Nina, you’re in the clear,” Hutch said. “But she’s not going where I thought she would. She’s moving back toward the main building. Stay out of sight. I’ve got her on camera.”
Nina moved out of the bushes and back onto the path, adrenaline starting to thrum through her system. This was going down here and now. They had apparently been wrong about the beach, though.
“Hey, my guy is about to get into a cab,” Drake said.
“No problem,” Hutch replied. “I rented a motorcycle. Sandra’s got a key and it’s in the parking spot right off the main lot. The cab will have to stop at the main gate to the resort. I’m in control of that gate. I’ll keep you close. You okay following him on your own?”
“I can be there in two minutes,” Sandra replied. “Patrick has his tongue down this chick’s throat. I think it’s safe to say he’s going to her room for the night.”
Nina didn’t like the idea of letting one of their suspects go, but she also didn’t like Drake being out on the island without backup. The only thing worse than him betraying the team would be getting himself killed. “Sandra, go with him.”
She didn’t like the feeling in the pit of her gut. Something was going on here and she was missing it.
“I’ll keep eyes on Patrick,” Hutch assured her. “Nina, Deanna’s going into the hotel and she’s heading for the elevator. Her room’s in the other wing, so we know she’s not going there. There’s only one elevator working right now. You’ll have to take the stairs.”
She slipped through the door to the building and immediately into the stairwell. “I’m going to level three. Tell me when she gets out of the lift.”
She jogged up the stairs, wanting to be somewhere in the middle.
“Hey, Nina, give me a second. I’ve got the cab coming through for Jordy. I need to make sure they don’t leave too quickly. Sandra is almost to Drake.”
“I’m good here,” she replied.
She took a deep breath and waited. The lifts had been slow earlier in the day. Even if Hutch missed Deanna getting out of the lift in real time, there were enough cameras covering the halls that he would be able to tell where she was going.
It was going to be all right. If Deanna disappeared into a room, they would stake the room out.
She would because Sandra and Drake would be following their other suspect. Did she want to split them up like this? Hutch would come running if she needed him to, but it could take him valuable minutes. Hutch seemed to think the spy wasn’t on property, but there were any number of ways for a smart operative to sneak in.
She had to make sure they couldn’t sneak out again.
She waited, every muscle in her body tense.
Maybe she was getting too old for this because a nice desk job seemed perfect right now. No one would wake her up in the middle of the night and drag her out of a warm bed so she could stand in a creepy stairwell waiting to see if someone would start shooting at her.
What was she going to do about JT? Was she really going to walk away? She couldn’t stay, and she wasn’t sure some weird long-distance thing had any shot of working.
What was taking Hutch so long?
“Nina, we have a big problem. Two, actually. Someone’s piggybacking my feed from the outside. It’s a pro because I should have caught it hours ago. That’s how good this job was. I wouldn’t have caught it if I hadn’t needed the computer to deal with the gate. Someone else is watching.” Hutch sounded breathless.
Fuck. It had to be the spy. “You said we had two problems.”
“Deanna went to the fourth floor. She’s got JT.”
Nina’s heart threatened to stop and she began to run.
* * * *
JT felt the moment Nina left the bed, but he remained perfectly still, determined to not blow this again. He knew there was only one reason she would leave the room and that was to work. Her cell had buzzed. Someone on her team wanted to talk.
She didn’t need him trying to play the white knight. She was a professional and he would let her do the job.
Still, as he heard the door close his stomach was in knots. He slid
