He was pushing her away, and she knew why. “You tell that aggravating bastard not to give up hope. You tell him I’m comingfor him, no matter how long it takes, no matter what I have to do. I will get him out of there.”
Four
Eve didn’t have a plan by the time they got back. She sat on Antoine’s sofa, laptop on the coffee table, papers strewn around her and spilling to the floor.
“It’s not like the movies, you know,” she protested, brushing a stray auburn curl behind her ear. “I can’t just magic up a 3D interactive image of the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution mapped against security guard movements complete with pictures borrowed from their ID cards. It’s going to take time.”
Noah had gone to check in with Zoey, leaving them alone, and Cally flopped into the wingback chair she’d used before. Her attention snagged on Antoine’s, conspicuous in its emptiness. “Noah said he’s hurting.”
Eve looked up from her screen, hazel eyes full of concern. “I can’t imagine what it’s like down there.”
“We have to get him out, as soon as we can.”
“I’m going as fast as I can, babe. Trust me.”
“I do trust you.” Eve, Noah, Zoey… she could trust them all. She gazed into the fireplace where flames licked around two charred logs. “Can we trust Gabe?”
“Of course we can,” Eve said in reflex, then paused with her head cocked to one side. “Why would you ask that?”
“Just something Antoine said.”
Eve thought for a moment. “Seems to me that if Gabe wished any of us harm, all he needed to do was not turn up.”
“Yeah, I suppose.”
“Instead, his thralls have been working hard.” She picked up some stapled sheets of paper and waved them. “Specs for Alvin.” She set them down, gesturing around her. “Equipment list—fake IDs, uniforms, thermal scope, tranquilizer gun, signal jammer.Alvin’s known schedule.” She waved to the papers spread out on the other side. “Two different plans for whether we escape by road or sea. Flatbed rental arrangements. Cargo ship with a crane.” She sighed, looking around at it all. “I’msoout of my depth.”
“You’ve done all that in one day?”
“Gabe’sthrallshave done all this in one day. And you still ask if we can trust him?”
“Point made.” Cally rose from her chair and came over, gathering sprawled papers to clear a seat. “Do you want to walk me through it?”
“Not yet. I’m still trying to wrap my head around it. I’m a risk management consultant, not a super-spy.”
“You’re still the smartest person I know.”
“Sweet of you. But this stuff…” She shook her head in dismay at all the plans. “There’s weeks of work here.”
Cally gripped the corner of the coffee table. “Antoine doesn’t have weeks.”And neither do I.
“This is a complex, high-risk operation. Alvin is valued at fifty million, part-funded by the US Navy, for crying out loud. You think they’re just going to let us borrow it?”
“Shit, the navy might get involved?”
“Stop asking questions like you think I have the answers. I’m helping organize and collate all this stuff, but I still have no fucking clue what’s really involved.” She pulled up a list on her screen. “This is what I’m working to. See this?”
Cally looked over her shoulder, reading headings like ‘Extraction’, ‘Transportation’ and ‘Retrieval.’ “Explain?”
“Three stages, right?” Eve continued, using the mouse pointer to indicate. “Steal Alvin, that’s extraction. Get Alvin to wherever we’re going to use it—transportation. First by land to the coast, then out to Antoine. Then retrieval. Get Antoine back, and the plan for what happens after that.”
“Makes sense,” Cally said, “but it’s just a list of unanswered questions.”
“Pretty much. Then we have all this other stuff.” She gestured at the screen. “What am I supposed to know about IR blinders?”
Cally rubbed her face. “Hasn’t Gabe got someone who can advise on this?”
“He has. They are,” Eve said wearily. “I’m just their secretary.”
