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The three men left the alley.
For another five minutes, Dev and Kiana remained crouched on that ivy-screened balcony with the cat keeping watch above them.
“I’m going down first to see if the path to the parking lot is clear,” Dev said. “Wait here.”
“Nope.” She shook her head. “Where you go, I go.”
Dev hesitated only a second longer. “You’re right. Come on, we’ll make a wide circle to get back to the car.”
As they walked through the streets, careful to move in the shadows, Kiana slipped her hand into his.
Eventually, they made it back to the apartment complex where they’d parked the rental car.
Dev held the door for Kiana until she slipped inside.
He rounded to the driver’s side and dropped into the seat. “I can’t believe it’s past midnight. I vote we find a hotel and call it a night. We can look through the tablet there.”
“Do you think they know who you are by now?” she asked. “I don’t dare use my credit card in case they’ve hacked into my accounts and can see where I’ve used the card. Same for you.”
“I’ll have Hawk reserve a room and let us know where.” He called Hawk, feeling bad that he was contacting his boss so late.
“Dev, tell me you and Kiana are okay,” Hawk answered.
“We’re fine. We went back to Meredith’s apartment and found her electronic tablet and password file. We need a place to hole up for the night and don’t want to use our credit cards in case they can be traced.”
“I’ll get right back to you,” Hawk said and ended the call.
“He couldn’t help us?” Kiana yawned. “It’s been a long day. I’d like to be somewhere safe for the night, so I feel I can close my eyes without worrying we’ll have our throats cut in our sleep.”
Dev reached out and cupped her cheek. “I won’t let that happen.”
She laid her hand over his and turned her face to press a kiss into his palm. “What’s the plan?”
Dev’s phone chirped with a text message. He read it and grinned. “Hank and Sadie have a house on Oahu in a gated community. We’re staying there tonight.” He hit the pin Hawk had sent, and his map displayed directions from their current location. “First, I think you should turn off your cell phone.”
Kiana frowned. “Why?”
“If you’re the next target, and they get hold of your cell phone number, they might be able to hack into your phone service and track you by your phone location. Personally, I’d like to sleep tonight without worrying about someone finding us.”
Kiana nodded. “This is all assuming whoever is looking for Meredith is smart enough to hack into a phone service’s tracking data. But it’d be better to overreact than underreact and get caught.” She turned off her cell phone and stared at it for a long moment. “What if she gets to a point where she can call me?”
“She could leave a message.”
Kiana shook her head. “I’d hate to miss that call. But I hate even worse being surprised by that gang again.”
Dev held out his cell phone. “If you’ll navigate, I’ll drive.”
“Deal.” She took the phone from his hand and repeated what the map application said. Yeah, it was repetitious, but Dev liked hearing Kiana’s voice.
“Hank Patterson must be pretty rich to have a house in a gated community,” Kiana said.
“Between him and his wife, they do pretty well for themselves,” Dev merged onto the expressway, keeping an eye on the rearview mirror for potential tails.
“What’s Hank’s wife do?” Kiana asked.
Dev laughed. “Ever heard of Sadie McClain?”
Her brow dipped. “Sounds familiar.”
