Page 130 of The Lazarus Protocol

The rusty fishing boat chugged toward what looked like an abandoned dock, with the engine clearly struggling and a wake laced with oil streaming behind. Overhead the stars shone bright and the full moon hung heavy, so that once the eyes adjusted, it was almost daylight to the senses.

A single cough of the engine, and it cut out.

The four-foot-eleven fisherman with bare feet, wearing shorts and a tank top, emerged on the deck, calling out to the shore. Requesting assistance to anyone who could hear.

Adam slung the strap of his M4 over his shoulder and lowered himself off the back of the boat. Down the rope ladder and into the water.

Steph followed him, carrying her own weapon and a small pack of supplies and First aid kit. A satellite phone. To her credit, Vesper and her people had provided them with everything they’d asked for.

He backed up from the boat, treading water, and felt something under the surface brush past his leg. Adam ignored it and watched Kyle slip over the edge of the boat. Vesper right behind him.

Steph swam to his side, scanning the shore. “I hear a boat.” She pointed west. “From over there.”

Sure enough, a light flickered into view and a dark Zodiac sped around the west edge of the island toward them.

“Pick it up,” Adam called up to Vesper, who descended the ladder after them. “Starwise has dispatched security.”

Unlike in Argentina, there weren’t two of them on that boat, but a whole group.

Vesper’s people in the hold of the ship would take care of them, and Adam didn’t plan to stick around to get caught in the crossfire.

They swam east, away from the boat. He tried to see the thick cable above the trees that he’d seen on the map, whether it was power lines or something else, but couldn’t from this angle.

About a mile down the shore of this ten-square-mile island—only accessible by boat thanks to the dense foliage that covered the whole island—satellite imagery had shown a small gap in the trees, which they were going to use to come ashore.

Behind him, the Zodiac occupants yelled at the old fisherman in his broken-down boat.

Adam clambered up the bank, Steph right behind him. Kyle didn’t need any help, and Vesper’s motives were suspect at best. So he waited only to ensure Steph had her feet under her, before he set off, weaving his way through the jungle-like foliage, hoping they didn’t run into animals, nasty bugs, or pygmies.

Behind them, gunfire rang out and the yelling stopped. Vesper’s guy who had volunteered to be the fisherman had hopefully managed to pull off the plan. But she hadn’t been concerned whether he would or not, only that the rest of her people hiding out of sight on the boat would get ashore one way or another.

Just a collection of buildings that were barely visible on the satellite image Ice had dug up from the CIA’s network and sent over, along with a rundown of the fact Starwise Holdings owned this island as part of a Climate Resilience Project. Hearing from his buddy had been a relief, even if Ice refused to explain what he was up to. Bottom line? He was too far away to join them and had something he wanted to take care of Stateside.

Adam wasn’t going anywhere near the US when the telling of his story was still fresh. Even if Montrose was a distant memory and he took the necessary precautions to ensure no one discovered his presence. At least no one who would arrest him and throw him in a mental hospital—again.

He shuddered climbing the mountainside on the eastern half of the island, and it had nothing to do with the temperature out here. They should arrive at the structures before dawn, which meant pacing themselves. When he spotted a downed tree, he had them take a break for water and so he could listen for predators of any variety before they started walking again. No matter how quiet they tried to be, there was always some noise when four people snuck in through a jungle.

Steph lowered her canteen and swiped her mouth with the back of her hand. “Everything all right?”

The other two remained quiet, but Adam hadn’t missed the venomous expressions being exchanged between Kyle and Vesper.

Adam nodded, even though his chest was covered in three lines of stitches that probably looked like the aftermath of an autopsy, and it was all likely infected by now. But the meds Vesper’s doctor had given him were keeping him upright. “I’m good. I’ll be better when I find the team, but not when Dan sees the state of me.” He smiled, figuring she would see the flash in the dark.

She shifted closer to him.

“I hear it, too.” Adam glanced around, looking between the trees for something that shouldn’t be there.

“What is it?” Vesper asked.

“Shh,” Steph chastised her, then whispered, “Sounds like a drone.”

There was no mistaking the sound of a small aircraft cutting through the air, its propellers whizzing.

Adam closed his eyes and listened, sliding his fingers across his weapon in what would probably have looked like a caress if anyone saw it. At the last second, he swung around and lifted the barrel, squeezing the trigger. A rapid three-round burst exploded from the end of the barrel, and the drone fell from the sky.

“Now they know we’re here, we should pick up the pace,” Kyle said.

Adam nodded. “Let’s get moving.”