“Isn’t this beautiful?” She looks around, taking it all in. “Sienna went up a notch or two in my book just based on where she lives.”
“I agree. It’s a cool area.”
I always thought my secluded spot in Kauai was pretty awesome, but seeing Sienna’s place, I feel like trading my house in for the stunning water of Exuma.
“I’ll come back to get you in a little while,” Norman, the water taxi driver, says as the boat drifts from shore.
“Like how long?” I call after him.
“It’s beach time. It doesn’t matter.” Then Norman speeds away, giving us the peace sign as he leaves.
“Can we really trust that guy?” Lacee uses her thumb to point over her shoulder. “I feel like Norman will forget about us, and we’ll be stuck here for days.”
“Would being stuck on a deserted island with me for days be the worst thing in the world?” I smile.
“It would be if I was stuck here with you and Sienna, watching while you throw knives at tiny targets and clean your guns.” Lacee walks up the beach toward the house. “Plus, it’s Christmas—the time to be with the people you love.”
I drag my feet through the warm sand as I follow after her, wishing Lacee felt a little bit of love for me. “Throw knives and clean guns? Is that what you think spies do all day?”
Lacee turns around, so she’s walking backward. “I guess we’ll find out.”
I glance ahead at Sienna’s house, and a weird feeling invades my stomach. I think I’mnervous, and I’m rarely nervous. This isn’t how I thought meeting Sienna in person for the first time would go. I never thought I’d bring a woman I have feelings for with me to meet the woman I’ve always kind of had a crush on. Not acrush, but just someone that I’ve always respected. And I certainly didn’t picture myself wearing a neon green fishnet crop top when meeting Sienna. Right about now, I feel like taking it off, but I’ve never been a quitter, so the shirt stays on.
The closer we get to the house, the more it looks like nobody’s home. All the windows are boarded up with locked storm shutters, and the white wicker patio furniture is stacked neatly in the corner with a cord tied around them.
Disappointment sinks into my stomach. I wanted to get some answers about this mission and the computer chips. But it looks like I’m left in the dark again.
“If Sienna’s here, she doesn’t want anyone knowing it.” Lacee steps onto the deck. “The place looks like she’s prepping for a hurricane.”
I knock loudly on the wood shutters that block the front door, but instead of waiting for an answer, I walk around the wooden porch.
Lacee follows behind. “Do you think we came all this way for nothing?”
“Not for nothing. Sienna wanted me to come here. So there has to be a way inside.” I brush my fingers along the top of each window ledge, looking for a key. I walk back to the front, and my gaze focuses on three decorative seashells hung on the siding next to the door. It’s the only decoration. I pull the shells off the wall, flipping it over. Nothing. That’s when I purposely drop the decoration on the ground.
“Whoa!” Lacee jumps back as the seashells crash into pieces.
In the middle of the debris is a silver key.
I bend down and pick it up. “Looks like we’re in.”
* * *
Lacee
The door to the house creaksas Park pushes it open. He’s got his gun out and pointed in front of him as we enter. I’m not sure who he thinks has locked themselves inside the small house and waited for days for us to come just so they can jump out from the shadows and kill us. But I don’t want to rain on his parade with my spy skepticism, so I shut my mouth and let Park do his thing.
I glance around the dim house. There’s not much to it. Just a light blue sofa and loveseat in the front room, a tall, skinny shelving unit with books and magazines, a small table with two chairs, and an open kitchen with an old white stove and refrigerator. One coffee cup hangs on a hook above the sink next to a yellow dish towel. The place seems lonely and bare—like how I’ve felt the last three months before Park came along.
After a few seconds of him waving his gun around every corner, he lowers it and looks over his shoulder at me. “I think the place is empty.”
You think?
I just nod instead of saying something sarcastic.
Park sets his bag on the counter and goes back to the bedroom. Hangers clatter together inside the closet. Since he’s rummaging through Sienna’s stuff, I can too. I poke around the kitchen, opening a few drawers.
“What kind of last name is Prime anyway?” I swing open the refrigerator door. There’s nothing inside—no surprise there.
