Chapter Twenty-Five

Allen

“How is checking out the exterior going?” I ask the moment Mark answers.

“Well,” he says, “the first thing we noticed was that wall of glass midway down the southern half of the structure. Was that the room in question?”

“Yes, our guide confirmed the banquet’s scheduled to happen there.”

“Interesting. There is a small land mass about five or six hundred yards off the shoreline, and it looks to be right across from that glass wall. Did you notice it?”

“I did, and I was thinking that it would be an ideal place from which to shoot a long-range weapon.”

I sense Brielle’s tension when I say that, and I put an arm around her shoulders.

“Yeah, Sam and I did too. Sam is in the process of renting a boat so we can get out there and take a closer look at it.”

“Smart. Take lots of pictures. We’ll meet back at the office at three.”

“You got it.”

I hang up and make another call.

“Pete, how’s the research coming?”

“Already have a copy of the schematics for the hotel and a map of the lake.”

“Good. We’ll reconvene at three o’clock.”

With that accomplished, I turn to Brielle.

“Since we’re still not certain that your home is safe, I think you need to plan to stay with me at my place through Saturday night.”

She considers, then nods. “All right. But I do need to at least swing by my house, otherwise I won’t have anything to wear to the banquet.”

“We can’t risk it, Brielle. If your home is still under surveillance, we will grow another tail the moment we show up there.”

She sighs. “I can’t go to this thing in jeans, Allen, much as I’d like to.”

“I bet we can figure something out,” I offer. “How do you feel about shopping?”

She wrinkles her nose at me. “It’s not my favorite pastime, honestly, but from the sound of it I may not have much choice.”

“I have an idea. Hope’s sister-in-law runs a boutique. I bet she’d be willing to meet us at the office.”

“That could work. Speaking of Hope, I need to get this ring back to her. I’ve been mortified I’m going to misplace it.”

“It looks good on you,” I say quietly, and watch her nose crinkle up again, but this time the flush in her cheeks lets me know it’s from embarrassment.

“Really? I don’t know… I always envisioned something smaller, honestly. This thing is pretty, but it’s huge.”

Noted.

“Let me text Hope, and see if Bethany can meet with us,” I say as I send a message.

It only takes a few minutes to get an answer.

She said she can stop by around five. Will that work?

Yes, I type back. And while you two are working your magic, try to find out Brielle’s favorite color, please.

Hope’s response takes only seconds.

What are you up to?

Will tell you later, I reply, then put my phone back in my holster.

“How about we get lunch while we’re out here? I hear there’s an excellent Italian place not far away.”

***

By three p.m. the team has reassembled around the conference table. Braeden pulls down the wall screen so that Pete can project the lake map and the hotel schematics side-by-side for all to see.

“Pete, let’s start with the hotel,” I instruct, and moments later the blueprint fills the wall screen completely. I stand and move toward it with my laser pointer.

“The interior is pretty straightforward,” I tell my team. “Meetings and conferences to the left, hotel guests to the right, and the middle section is the lobby, bar and restaurant area, with the employee-only areas – business offices, kitchen and so on – further back. This wide hallway to the left of the lobby area serves as the access points to the ballrooms. The Atrium is about halfway down the hall. Three sets of double doors that lead into the room.”

“What’s the room size?” Jack asks.

“According to our guide, depending on seat configuration this space can accommodate three-hundred-fifty people, with room for another seventy out on the separate patio that’s connected to this room by one set of double doors.”

“Pretty good size area,” Marlon remarks.

“Yes, but what concerns me is that long glass wall. While it showcases a great view of the lake, it also creates some added points of vulnerability, in my opinion. The young woman we spoke with mentioned that the exterior glass is triple insulated to keep the room’s temperature constant. What I do not know for sure is if the glass is also shatter-resistant, or if it would come completely apart if a round was fired through it. Speaking of which, I took the following photographs and emailed them to Pete. Pete, if you could please bring those up?”

“Sure.”

“Allen, I can make some calls and try to find out what type of glass was installed,” Jack offers. “A friend of mine owns the construction company that built that thing.”

“Yes, please, as soon as possible,” I answer, and he nods, then stands and leaves the room, pulling out his phone as he walks.

After pointing out a couple of things in the photographs I took, I turn the lead over to Mark.

“See this land mass here?” Mark points at one of the pictures I took facing the water from the patio. “That is a little island, about seven hundred yards from shore. Sam and I rented a fishing boat and went to investigate it. The whole thing is maybe two acres, max, but it has plenty of vegetation for cover – and it is located pretty much dead center across the water from that glass wall. Someone could dock a boat out of sight on the back side and work their way around to the shore-facing side with very few issues. And seven hundred yards is extremely feasible for taking several shots, not just one, especially if they use some sort of silencer.”

Brielle swallows hard beside me, and I squeeze her hand just as Jack walks back in with a huge smile on his face.

“I think we just got lucky,” he tells us. “My buddy just told me that entire wall was constructed using riot glass.”

“Riot glass?” Brielle asks. “What does that mean? Like hurricane glass?”

“No, riot glass is even better,” I say. “Hurricane glass is only rated for high winds. Riot glass is designed specifically to withstand objects hitting it – even something traveling at a high rate of speed.”

“Like bullets?”

“Yep. The glass will spiderweb, but not shatter.”

“And that’s not common knowledge,” Jack adds. “I would be willing to bet that our potential shooter thinks his rounds will penetrate that glass with no problem at all. We will increase our chances of catching him if we can slip someone onto that island at some point.”

“Agreed,” I say. “Who’s up for it?”

“I’m in,” Sam says with a grin. “Been a while since I’ve had a chance to play in the water.”

“All right. We need to line out the rest of you for Saturday night. I will be attending the banquet with Brielle. Anyone have any ideas? I don’t know how easy it will be to infiltrate the hotel’s personnel for this without getting the police involved.”

“Maybe we should,” Brielle says quietly. “Detective Tucker’s been very hands-on with my case, and I bet he could help us out with that part.”

Within a few minutes I have him on the line and he agrees to come to the office.

***

About ten minutes after Tucker’s arrival, Hope enters the conference room.

“Bethany’s here,” she announces. “I need to borrow Brielle, please.”

“I’ll be back in a little while,” Brielle tells me with a smile as she rises to follow Hope out.

Brielle

As we walk, I slip off Hope’s engagement ring and hand it back to her.

“Thanks for letting us use it,” I tell her. “And I have to say, I was nervous the entire time about losing it.”

She laughs. “I was too, at first. I could not believe Jason got it for me, and I was terrified to wear it anywhere because I just knew I was going to snag it on something somehow. But over time I got used to it, and now it feels really weird to be without it.”

She slides off her wedding band long enough to put the engagement ring on, then puts her band on again.

“There. All better. Now, let’s go see what Bethany brought. I gave her estimates of your height and dress sizes, and I am curious to see how close I got.”

I follow her into a second, smaller conference room where a woman who looks to be about my age smiles warmly at me.

“It’s nice to meet you, Brielle,” she says. “I’m Bethany. I understand you have a formal event this Saturday evening.”

“Yes, I do,” I respond, “and unfortunately, I’m not able to access my wardrobe at the moment.”

“No worries. I bet I have something that you will look fabulous in. I brought twelve dresses with me, all different styles. Shall we get started?”