One down. Three to go.
On his run over from the boat he’d realized that Carbonell would not just parade into the fort. She knew he’d come and she knew he’d want her dead. She’d have a plan with contingencies. So when he’d reentered he’d stayed hidden, intentionally avoiding the main gate, slipping inside through a collapsed portion of the exterior wall.
“Come on,” he whispered to her. “Don’t disappoint me now. Be your usual cocky self.”
HALE FOUND THE EMPTY CART AND HIS TWO DEAD CREWMEN about a hundred yards from the prison.
Dammit.
He’d been told that they’d stopped all of the intruders, but that apparently was not the case. Where were Nelle and Kaiser? They could not have gone far. It was more than a mile to the nearest fence, and depending on which direction they chose, that would take them either onto another captain’s land or to the water.
The river.
Exactly.
It had always been their greatest security threat, its wooded shoreline nearly impossible to patrol.
His cellphone vibrated in his pocket.
Security center.
“Captain,” the man said as he answered. “We’ve reviewed the recordings and noticed that a single intruder gained access to the dock by boat about ninety minutes ago. Resolution was poor because of the storm, but it appears to be a woman.”
“Any sign of her?”
“We’ve had trouble with the cameras everywhere tonight, but no, no other sign of her.”
“Is her boat still there?”
“Tied to a piling. Do you want it released?”
He thought a moment.
“No. I have a better idea.”