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“Too late. Take the stairs,” Jace advised.
“Shit,” Dane said as he redirected Rankin to the stairs.
“For twenty floors?” she said as he pushed her into the stairwell.
“Yes. Stay quiet and keep moving,” he directed her. She shot him a glare, but they didn’t have time for that now. “Does anyone know if the stairwell is clear of Hoodie and friends?” Dane asked, keeping his voice low.
“Sorry,” Jace said. “Cameras in the stairwell don’t work below the fifth floor. I’ve got no eyes.”
Dane swore but took the stairs two at a time and moved around Rankin to take the lead, Koa took the rear. He kept his gun up just in case. He didn’t want to meet Hoodie in the stairwell unprepared.
They hit floor five and peered down. “What do you think?” he asked.
“What?” Rankin demanded.
Koa ignored her. “Better than taking the elevator at this point.”
Cass piped up, “Lobby and parking garage are clear. No one has entered the stairwell since you guys started down.”
“Roger that.” Dane held his gun up and kept going. In no time, they were at the bottom. They went down one flight farther and emerged in the parking garage. Dane and Koa tucked their guns away again but kept Rankin between them. They hit the street two minutes later and then hopped in Dane’s SUV, putting Rankin in the back seat.
“You two want to tell me what the hell is going on?” she demanded angrily.
“No,” Koa said.
Dane started to laugh. Koa was the absolute best at saying very little but getting his point across. He glanced at Rankin in the rearview mirror. Her mouth was gaping. She snapped it shut and narrowed her eyes. She was cute when she was angry. Hell, she was cute anytime and her curves were perfect.
“You two have a hell of a lot of explaining to do.” She crossed her arms over her chest.
He sighed quietly. She was probably too pissed to ever entertain the idea of going out with him. “Probably. We’re going back to Sand Island. We can talk there.”
“Hey, guys?” Jace said. “We’ve got a problem. I went in and erased the security footage of you guys in the building, but I checked, and Hoodie didn’t show his face. Not once.”
“Not surprising,” Tac said. “His operating seemed pretty slick.”
“That’s not the problem. I just checked the outside cameras. Dane, the guy in the gray hoodie, Navy Hoodie’s friend, put something under your SUV.”
Dane froze, his hands gripping the wheel hard. The blood in his veins iced, making his breath stutter. “Can you be more specific?” He was shocked his voice hadn’t cracked.
“I can’t tell if it’s a GPS tracker or…something else,” Jace said. “I’m trying to get a better angle on it.”
“What is it?” Rankin demanded. “What the hell is going on? You two froze. I know something is up.”
“McKenna,” Dane started in a calm voice. “Someone put something under my SUV. We don’t know what it is just yet.” He’d decided to use her first name. After their time together in the closet, it seemed like they should be on a first-name basis.
“It’s Mac.” She frowned. “You mean like a GPS tracker?”
“Sure.” No need to go into specifics.
Then her eyes got big. “Or a bomb,” she added in a strangled voice.
He nodded once. Now she understood the gravity of the situation. He glanced at Koa. “You think we should pull over?”
“I think that’s smart. Before we hit a bump.”
Cain’s voice came through the earbud. “Not a bomb. They wouldn’t risk blowing up the book. Someone knew we were there and tagged your SUV. They want to follow you, or at the very least, see where you go.”
What Cain said made a lot of sense. His gut relaxed a tad. He looked over at Koa, who looked slightly less stiff as well. He glanced in the rearview mirror at Mac. “We think it’s a tracking device.”
