Primary Valor Jack Mars (miss read books TXT) 📖

seems to have rendered the place uninhabitable, at least for thetime being.”

“I can vouch for that,” Buzz said.“There’s no one out there. There had been a few tumbledown huts remaining, buta storm last year washed them all out to sea. The ocean came over the top anddumped a lot of salt on the ground. The only thing that’ll grow right now isseagrass. Eventually, I imagine the people will start coming back, but theyhaven’t yet. There’s nothing for them.”

“What about this hiking trail?”Luke said.

“It seems like the best way intothe compound,” Trudy said. “There are mentions of it in old hotel brochures. Itwas considered a challenging hike for adventurous visitors. It turned intoanother one of the island’s misfortunes. Over the years, at least two peoplefell and died while attempting it.”

“Sounds like a fun place,” MarkSwann said. “I can’t imagine why it went out of business.”

“It’s a series of switchbacks thatcut up the steepest side of the mountain. There are spots where the trailitself ends, and there are simple iron rungs bolted into the cliff face. You gostraight up those like a ladder. The first ladder you encounter is four storieshigh. There are two smaller ones after that. At the very top of the trail, itflattens out and then supposedly you have exceptional views back the way youjust came, down to the water. In the old days, the trail would take you rightonto the grounds of the house. Now, if my guess is right, it probably dead endsat the perimeter fence.”

“And the dogs,” Ed said.

“Yes.”

“Swann, can you see this trail atall?” Luke said.

A moment passed as Swannfine-tuned the imagery from his drone.

“Yeah, I can see it. It’s prettyovergrown, but it’s still there. I can see a bit of the trail obscured by thetrees and undergrowth, and maybe some of the old iron rungs, glinting in thesun. I’d say, if you were going to try going that way, I’d bring something forhacking down the forest on your path, and also some way to move up that cliffface, pitons that you can drive in, say, in case a rung or two is missing.”

“And bring something to cut thefence,” Trudy said.

“And treats for the dogs,” Swannsaid.

Everybody was a comedian today. Somewere better than others.

“Would you say that fence iselectrified?” Luke said.

“I’d say it isn’t,” Trudy said. “Thisis an island, far from anywhere. It has to be self-sufficient. It is likelymaking its own electricity, using some combination of solar power, wind power,and gasoline-powered generators. Certainly, the hotel used to tout its solarand wind projects in its advertising brochures. And this is supposed to be anidyllic retreat for Darwin King, or at least give the impression that it is. Gasolinegenerators are loud. I’d say he likes to keep that kind of noise to a minimum. Itruins the effect. In other words, I doubt he would waste his very limited juiceon an electrified fence. More likely the fencing is thick, sturdy metal, withsmall holes making it hard to climb, and something sharp at the top.”

“And electricity running throughit,” Swann said.

Trudy laughed. “Right. Might aswell assume the worst.”

“Okay,” Luke said. “We’ll bringbacon chewies for the dogs, and one hundred percent pure rubber gloves to touchthe fence while we cut it open. So let’s assume all that goes fine andaccording to plan. How do we get back out?”

“You could go out the same way youcame in,” Trudy said.

“Hot,” Ed said. “Very hot.”

“Yeah,” Luke said. “Figure we’regoing to be leaving in a hurry. We’ll have a disoriented girl with us, who wecan assume has zero climbing skills, and may be too terrified to do anythingeven if she did have some. It’s going to be hard to go back that way. It givesus an element of surprise coming in, but going out? I don’t know.”

“Guys,” Swann said. “There is asmall parking lot on the property maybe fifty meters to the left of the frontdoor of the house as you exit. It’s in the shade of some trees, so I can’t seeall of it. But at this moment, there seems to be at least three large carsthere, maybe SUVs. There might be a limousine. Looks like there might also be asports car, like an old MG convertible.”

“Darwin King is careful aboutsecurity,” Trudy said. “In fact, you might even say he’s obsessed with it. He’san arms dealer, after all. So there’s a good chance those SUVs are armored.”

“Right,” Swann said. “You couldpotentially take a car and ram the gates on your way out. There are also jeepsat the guardhouse. You might be able to take one of those. Make a run straightdownhill to the airfield.”

“Hot,” Ed said again.

Luke nodded. “Very hot.”

But he liked it. Come in by boat,out by plane. If they were stealthy on the grounds of the house, and hit hard,they might catch the whole place napping. Leaving the grounds wouldn’tnecessarily be a mad dash with guns blazing. If they got lucky, they mightpractically cruise out of there.

He and… Henry Bowles?

“Henry Bowles wants to come,” hesaid.

“Who is Henry Bowles?” Buzz said.

Luke smiled. “He’s just some guywho has taken an interest in our work.”

“Bowles is an agent assigned to usby the Bureau proper,” Don said. He sighed, just a bit. “How does he know aboutthis?”

Luke shrugged. “They seem to knowwhat we’re doing before we do.”

“Okay,” Don said. “If he wants togo, okay. He may be an asset to you out there. But I would limit his knowledgeof the plan, feeding him details only when he needs to know, and I would try tocurtail any communications he might have with his superiors. Are we clear?”

Luke looked at Ed. Ed shook hishead, but said nothing. Limit what? The SRT was a boat full of leaks at thispoint.

“Clear,” Luke said.

“Once you’re in the air, you havea decision to make,” Don said. “If you’re free and clear, you can head northand east, and come straight home. If you have any problems, there’s an oldairfield in Honduras, deep in the rainforest near the Nicaraguan border. In anairplane, you can be there very quickly. We’ll make sure you have