Page 135 of Broken Oath

He saw another survivor.

11

ROOK

The captured cargo ship sat inside a narrow Alaskan inlet surrounded by mountains.

Fog rolled across the water.

The abandoned cannery rose along the shoreline, its collapsed buildings and rusted equipment slowly disappearing beneath snow and time.

From the open ocean, the inlet appeared too shallow for a ship the size of the Northern Star.

That was what the charts claimed.

Captain Sam Cutter knew otherwise.

He had guided the cargo vessel through a concealed northern channel shortly before sunrise and secured it beside an old deepwater loading dock hidden beneath the mountain.

Rook stood near the bow.

Boots sounded against the deck behind him.

He didn’t turn.

He recognized the walk.

Cutter stopped beside him.

“You understand we can’t keep it here,” Rook said.

Cutter snorted. “You stole a cargo ship. I figured that part out.”

“How long do we have?”

“Two days if the weather holds. Less if someone gets a satellite over this inlet.”

Rook looked toward the ship’s stacked containers.

Fathom had altered its tracking signal and created a false route showing the Northern Star moving west across the Pacific.

The deception wouldn’t last.

“We need to remove everything connected to Madow.”

“My crews are already unloading the marked containers.”

Rook turned toward him. “Your crews?”

“Men I trust.”

“No one can know who we are.”

“They won’t ask.”

“That isn’t enough.”

Cutter met his eyes.