Sean waved Cort in the direction of the waiters serving meals. “Get Nat and Derrick,” hewhispered.
Cort hesitated, clearly loathe to leave Camden behind. In the end, he didn’t need to, since Natalie Marquez appeared at just that moment in her tuxedo waitstaffuniform.
“What’s happening?” she asked. “You guys are about as subtle as a three-leggedelephant.”
Sean beckoned her closer and whispered in her ear. Her eyes grew large. “But boss, we swept this place. That should beimpossible.”
“Stand by, Mr. North. I’ll be sending a team to take you into protective custody just as a precaution,” Sean said into the phone before disconnecting the call. To Natalie, he said, “Yeah, we did. But I’m not taking any chances. We need to evacuate. Someone’s reported agas leak. Get on your comms and alert the team. Have Derrick call it in and get us back-up. Hear me? We’re gonna do this nice andorderly.”
“And these guys?” Nat looked at them and hesitated. “This could all be part of a plan to get them out of a secured room and on themove.”
“I know,” Sean said grimly. “You and I are going to take care of these guys ourselves. Now get moving, and then get back here for PlanB.”
She nodded once, tapping her earpiece to sound the alert even as she jogged off to findDerrick.
“Okay, listen up,” Sean told them, drawing their undivided attention. “We have a contingency for this. I didn’t think we’d need one,” he admitted. “Bombings have never been Alexei’s MO, but we went over the room shortly before the auction began anyway,andwe’ve scanned most of the guests. Still, it’s possible something slipped through. So. Simply out of an abundance of caution, we’re going to take you down the hall to the monitoring room and hang out there until we can sweep the room and confirm it’sclean.”
Drew heard Sean’s comforting words, but he knew better than anyone that words were only part of the story, and the disquiet in Sean’s eyes was more telling than any of his platitudes. Thiswasn’texpected. And it was very likelyreal.
Nat returned to their table. “Allset.”
Sean nodded. “Out we go. Marquez, give Cort your backup weapon,” he instructed. “Just incase.”
Natalie bent over and pulled up her pant leg, retrieving a small-caliber pistol from a holster attached to her calf. “Be gentle with her,” she toldCort.
Cort seemed to relax somewhat once he had the weapon in his hand, and Drew was bizarrely jealous. He didn’t have the first clue how to shoot, but he wanted to be doing somethingactive, rather than waiting politely for death to find them and rip Sebastian away as it had Amy and theSeavers.
“Let’s go,” he said, jumping to his feet, his hand still firmly locked with Sebastian’s. He couldn’t wait around anothersecond.
“Follow me,” Seansaid.
Behind him, Drew could hear the murmurs and shocked gasps of the other party attendees as they were informed of the gas leak. Panic seemed to grip the whole room at the same time, as the people whohadn’tbeen informed of the leak yet jumped from their seats to follow those who were obviouslyevacuating.
“Oh my God! Is it a bomb?” a feminine voiceyelled.
“It’s a terrorist!” someone elsescreamed.
Sean led them out into the hall and toward the back of the building at the very moment that the fleeing revelers began streaming out of the room and heading back toward the lobby. No one seemed to notice their small party heading in the oppositedirection.
Two twists down the back hallway, and they reached a door labeledJanitorial Supplies. Sean touched his earpiece and murmured something Drew couldn’t hear. The door opened a second later by a gray-haired woman wearing apantsuit.
“In,” she said, her eyes on the hall as she ushered them into a tiny room, barely big enough for the six of them to stand in. There was a bank of laptops set up on a folding table against one wall, and rows of monitors tapped into the various security cameras stationed around thepremises.
“I’m Deb Gutierrez,” the woman said as she closed the door and locked it behind her. “We’ve got the situation under control, boss.” She nodded firmly in Sean’sdirection.
“Pull up the cameras from the auction room,” he told her, and she tapped at the keyboard until three separate views of the ballroom appeared on screen. They watched the empty room for a moment as a team of men entered the room and fannedout.”
“Bomb disposal is on the scene,” Seannarrated.
Sebastian wrapped his arms around Drew from behind, pulling Drew back against his chest. “We’re safe now,” hewhispered.
And Drew nodded past the tightness in his chest. Theyshouldbe safe in here, with weapons and trained agents all around them. He tried to force air into hislungs.
For several tense moments, they watched the disposal team in their padded suits as they walked around the auction room. And then one of the men stopped at the tabledirectly next tothe table where his family had been sitting and looked beneath it. He motioned frantically to another person, who came rushing over, and the two had a brief consultation, while Bas’s arms squeezed himtighter.
“Looks like they found something,” Sean said, equal parts resigned and incredulous. “They’ll dismantleit.”
Drew turned around and buried his face in Bas’s neck, inhaling the comforting scent of bay leaves and spice. Therehadbeen a bomb. It was a relief and a nightmare brought to life, all at once. Thank God they’d found it, but Drew still couldn’t fully process the danger they’d beenin.
