hadn’t seen him coming, and the voice startled him. “It’s a universally bad decision to sneak up on me.”
“Noted. And nonresponsive. So, what, are you like military or something?”
“Something like that, yeah.”
“Look, Digger—”
“Don’t call me that,” Jonathan snapped.
“What, then?”
Jonathan knew what would follow, but he answered, anyway. “Call me Scorpion.”
“Bullshit.”
Jonathan settled himself with a deep breath. “Please don’t push me. Truth is, I’m in a line of work where real names are never used. In fact, they’re liabilities. I’d consider it a personal favor if you would forget any other names you’ve heard.”
“If they’re such liabilities, why were you using them in the first place?”
“We didn’t expect to be working on this trip,” Gail said.
“So, do you have a super cool code name, too?”
She clammed up. Gail hated her handle.
“It’s Gunslinger,” Jonathan said.
Hunter recoiled. “Holy crap. That’s a little on the nose, isn’t it?”
“Don’t cross her,” Jonathan said. “Trust me. It’s a handle well-earned.” He chuckled when he said it.
“So, you do security work for the government,” Hunter concluded.
“Just don’t ask me to confirm or deny,” Jonathan said. The guy clearly liked the conclusion he’d drawn for himself, so he let it go. Besides, it was more true than it was false.
“If you’ll excuse us,” Jonathan continued, “we need to do some work here.”
“Go ahead,” Hunter said.
Jonathan wanted privacy. He wanted to roll back the clock and avoid the Edwardses altogether, but he realized he had to resign himself to the fact that neither was more likely to happen than the other. And why not? Everybody was as deeply into whatever this was as everyone else.
“Hey, Jaime,” Jonathan called.
The kid perked up. “Yes, sir?”
Jonathan beckoned him over. “Have a seat with us. Everybody can gather around if you want. Tell me everything you know about what you think might be happening here.”
Jaime gave an exaggerated shrug. “I have no idea. Like I said, I was up here when the shooting started. I don’t even know—”
“What goes on here at the Crystal Sands that might attract the attention of terrorists?” Jonathan asked.
“Many rich people come here,” Jaime said. “That’s a lot of ransom taking, no?”
It was a possibility. Hell, at this point, everything was a possibility.
“Wait a minute,” Jonathan said, snapping his fingers. He looked to Gail. “Whoever these guys are, they had to get here by boat, right?” He turned to Jaime. “There are no airstrips here, correct?”
Jaime nodded. “That is correct. Mr. Sinise does not like the sound of aircraft. Plus, he thinks that the long boat ride calms people.”
“Maybe they came in on helicopters,” Tyler suggested.
“No.” Jaime was emphatic. “We never hear helicopters out here. If there’d been one, I would have known it. I hear everything.”
“By boat, then,” Jonathan said. “Given their numbers, it would have had to have been a big one.”
“And it should still be parked at the dock, right?” Gail said.
“They’ve got to have an exfil plan,” Jonathan said. Back to Jaime: “I’m turned around. Where do the ships come in?”
Jaime pointed to the jungle. “About a mile, mile and a quarter that way.”
“Along this trail?”
“No. Well, for a while, but then this trail joins the main roadway. The one you came up on.”
“I imagine they’ll have left guards,” Jonathan mused aloud.
“What are you thinking of doing?” Lori asked. The dread was heavy in her voice.
“We need to get an idea of what we’re involved in,” Gail said.
“It’s dark,” Hunter said. “I think that’s too dangerous. Why don’t we just hold out until daylight?”
“Because we’re more detectable when we can be seen,” Jonathan said. He delivered the line laden with irony, but it seemed to have missed its target. “Once the sun comes up, we’ll need to go to ground. That’s when the serious hiding starts.”
“Do you think they’re going to come looking for us?” Tyler asked.
“Most definitely,” Jonathan replied. “I killed two of their men and they know we have guns.”
“Then what will we do?” Lori asked.
“Hide until and unless they find us.”
“And after that?” Jaime asked.
Jonathan thought the answer to be so obvious that he just let it hang unanswered. He checked his watch and said to Gail, “It’s zero one-fifteen now. That gives us six hours to explore and gather whatever intel we can.”
He turned to the others. “Tyler, we’re taking your golf cart. Jaime, is it easy to navigate our way to the boat dock?”
“Just follow this old trail till you get to the roadblock. Drive around that and turn left. That road will take you all the way—”
“Wait,” Hunter said. “You’re going to just leave us here?”
“Sure, why not? It’s out of the way and it looks reasonably safe. We’ll be back before daylight.”
“Then leave us with a gun.”
“That’s not happening,” Gail said.
“Suppose they come for us?”
“Hide. And if they find you, hope they play nice with you. If you see a third option, I’d be happy to listen to it.”
“We can go with you,” Tyler suggested.
“No, you can’t,” Jonathan said. “I don’t know what we’re getting into. I don’t know if there’ll be guards, and I don’t know if there’ll
