Not-So-Secret

Chapter sixty-six

James saw the engagement ring on her finger and the bloodlust rose in him like bile. He had to end this and damn soon.

With the implosion only days away, his work with the demolition company was becoming more and more pressing. So pressing, Jones had assigned one of the newer guys, Neil Davidson, to watch Kelly for longer and longer stretches. James wasn't thrilled with the arrangement, but there wasn't much he could do about it. Since that day they'd made love, he'd only been with her a few hours here and there, mostly in the afternoons, when she was with Shaun.

They hadn't had a chance to talk, although she'd effectively communicated her desperation in a hundred ways.

She was getting panicky and he couldn't blame her. Marriage to Jones was the ultimate nightmare. His worry was that she'd do something foolish, which would alert Jones to her intention to escape.

Perhaps Jones already knew she was up to something. That would explain why he'd sent her to her room each night, directly after dinner.

In their brief snatches of conversation, she'd told James that Jones was more and more preoccupied. He was even more secretive than usual, but he had told her to prepare for an extended trip after the Fourth. A honeymoon that would take them to Europe and Asia. Which meant that James was right whatever he was planning was going to happen on the Fourth.

The demolition team had performed many implosions of even larger magnitude than the El Rio, but given the number of tourists who would come out for the show, they were being extraordinarily careful in the planning stages. They kept James informed each step of the way.

James, in turn, worked with the local authorities to ensure nothing would go wrong. A very tight area was going to be cordoned off to the public. One of the conditions was that the building implode in its own footprint, with no margin for error. All the tests had gone well, but still, it would require massive crowd-control personnel, which worked well, as James made sure most of the temporary hires were agents. Jones, whatever he was planning, would be surrounded.

James felt certain they didn't have to worry about the bomb being detonated on the Fourth. Jones wasn't suicidal. He also felt sure the ultimate target wasn't going to be Las Vegas or anywhere on the West Coast. Alerts had been given to all agencies and there was heightened surveillance at all points of entry. James was fairly sure all the players were already in town, but no one aside from the Pakistani had been pinpointed.

For today, at least, his work on the implosion was done so he could spend some time with Kelly. He wanted to find a safe zone, so he could find out what she was up to.

He knocked on her door and she opened it within a few seconds. Her smile seemed forced, which wasn't anything unusual. The engagement, if one could call it that, had surpassed her limits. Did Jones not see that? Or did he simply not care? Probably the latter.

"How are things at the El Rio going?" She asked, as if she gave a damn.

"Great. It should go off without a hitch. Listen, I was thinking this afternoon it might be nice to take Shaun to the pool."

Her mouth opened as her eyes filled with dread, but before she could protest he said, "i mean, the private pool outside your suite. Just the three of us."

Kelly relaxed. He'd known, before he asked, that there was no way she'd go out in public in a bikini, not the kind Jones insisted she wear. But she might go for the private pool. If he could get her in the water, they could speak. Jones was good, but he wasn't a magician. There were no microphones in the deep end. There had been a directional mike off the patio door, but that was, as of an hour ago, dysfunctional.

"Sure, that sounds like fun," she said. "I'll go change."

"Great. I'll go tell Mrs. Mills, so she can get Shaun ready."

With a smile that looked nearly real, Kelly headed off, but before he reached the door, she stopped him. "Please ask Mrs. Mills to put Shaun in a t-shirt and trunks. I don't want to risk him getting burnt."

"You got it."

She smiled again, a little brighter this time and went off to change. The thought of her in the closet was something he couldn't afford to contemplate, so he went next door. Mrs. Mills was as pleasant as always, getting Shaun ready per instructions with a minimum of fuss.

Just as they were heading out of Shaun's bedroom, Kelly knocked. She wore a sleeveless, floor-length dress to cover her suit and a wide-brimmed hat for her head. He'd never seen anything so pretty.

"Here's his sunscreen," Mrs. Mills said, handing a tube to Kelly. "He's eaten lunch, but I sliced a few carrots for a snack. That and some juice should see him through."

"Thank you."

"If you need anything, I'm right here."

"We'll be fine. You should take a little time for yourself. Relax. Get out for a bit."

"I may do just that." She kissed Shaun, who was wiggling ferociously in James's arms. "Be good, love."

"Swimming!"

"Right on my man," James said. "To the pool."

"To the pool!" Shaun repeated, although about five decibels louder.

It didn't take long to get to the deck outside Jones's suite. It was, as everything else that belonged to the man, opulent and extravagant in the extreme.

The pool itself was shaped like a slot machine, complete with a lap pool arm. The entire deck surface was marble tile and each of the slot's windows had the company logo in bright red letters. At the deep end, there was a diving board and a slide.

A separate whirlpool, raised on a platform, was nearer the outdoor cabana.