Page 7 of Poison Evidence

She made a beeline for the closet where she stored CAM. “If you had a gun this whole time, why didn’t you use it in the ballroom?”

“I don’t believe in bringing guns to a knife fight. I’d’ve used it if I had to, but with so many people in the room, it would’ve been dangerous. Plus, given that they’re illegal here, my Sig would’ve been confiscated.”

She couldn’t fault him for that.

He nodded toward the closet. “Is everything there?”

She counted the aluminum shipping containers. Six total. She picked the first one up. Heavy. The lock was intact.

She pressed her thumb to the lock pad, then punched in her four-digit PIN. The lock released. The computer and assorted hardware were present and accounted for. She locked it and opened the next one. Each box was keyed to a different finger and had a different PIN.

She’d practiced this for hours at the office and could unlock the containers blindfolded without a hitch. This was important because three mistakes in entering the code would lock the case and disable the equipment inside. After that, it could only be opened without damaging the equipment back in Washington, DC.

The Navy was serious about protecting their investment in her, and twice as serious about making sure the technology didn’t fall into enemy hands. She couldn’t store CAM in a vault—even if there was one she had access to in Palau—because she needed access to the system twenty-four seven to crunch the data and refine the system. The biometric security codes and a built-in tracking beacon had been her solution to the problem. Plus only she could work CAM, and until the news article had been published three days ago, no one had known she was in Palau with her high-tech masterpiece.

Throughout the procedure, Jack didn’t say a word. It took her less than five minutes to inspect all six boxes, but her work wasn’t done. Moving quickly, she dumped her clothes into a backpack and grabbed the toiletries from the bathroom.

She faced Jack, a man she’d just met and knew little about except that he had a boat and had managed to beat the hell out of three armed Avengers.

In this moment, there was no one else to turn to, and she had everything to fear from staying at the hotel. “Can you take me somewhere safe? Now?”

Chapter Three

He’d be thankful for his amazing luck, except, given Ivy’s bruises, it wasn’t luck that had brought them here. It was a brutal assault that left her shaking even as she ensured her equipment was secure.

“I live on my boat,” he said, his voice guarded even while his mind raced, considering how to reply. If he overplayed this opportunity, she’d bolt.

“I figured.” She glanced down at her mud-coated skin. “Just promise me it has a shower.”

The rank slime from the swamp had begun to dry. He couldn’t help but notice how beautiful she was, even coated in mangrove mud, but mostly he was surprised by how rationally she responded to what must have been the most terrifying experience of her life.

“It has two,” he said. He’d liberatedLiberty—originally owned by the Pakhan of a Russian Bratva organization—from Indonesia, neatly providing himself with both housing and a job that had been the perfect cover for his search.

She arranged the aluminum boxes, locking them together in two stacks of three and extended a luggage handle from the bottom case, which had wheels. She slipped her backpack over her shoulders, then draped a purse across her chest and grabbed the handles for both stacks of equipment and headed for the door.

When he didn’t follow, she stopped and glanced over her shoulder at him.

This was a delicate game. If he came across as too eager, it would raise alarm bells. “I don’t know, Ivy, I—”

“Please?” She shook her head, clearly realizing she’d forgotten both her manners and to wait for his affirmative response. “I can pay you. Just for one night. I need to contact the FBI and explain the situation, but first, I need to protect CAM.”

He gave a sharp nod. “One night.” He reached for one of the luggage handles. “Let me help you with that.”

She jerked back from him. “No. Only I touch the equipment.”

He raised his hands and backed away. “Suit yourself, but you’re going to find the stairs difficult. If we take the elevator, you’ll be seen in the lobby. The cops will detain you and everyone will see us together. My boat won’t be safe then.”

“It’s a good thing I know how to find the service elevator, then.”

He smiled, liking this woman’s cool wits in the face of terror. He’d have to remember that she didn’t give in to hysterics. When she learned what he was, she’d be a cunning adversary.

Ivy’s cell phone rang on the drive to Jack’s boat. She glanced at the screen. Her boss’s name lit on the display. Shit. She should have called Mara the moment she and the equipment were safely tucked into the vehicle, but the first priority had been to call the police and tell them about Spiderman and Thor. She’d completed that call and had yet to catch her breath.

She pressed the phone to her ear. “Hey, Mara, I take it the party has made headlines.”

“Thank God you’re safe!” Mara paused. “Wait,areyou safe?”

“Yes. And so is the equipment.” She glanced sideways at Jack, then said in a soft voice that he’d hear no matter what, “I triggered the transponder. Can you make sure it’s working?” Knowing the US Navy could track CAM’s location was the only reason she felt safe taking off with a virtual stranger, even if she had been ogling him for the better part of a week. No way could Jack possibly know how to interrupt the embedded signal.

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