Donovans 02 - Jade Island

I’m sopping wet and haven’t seen anything but rain.”
    “Get a cup of coffee. I’ll have a report to Maintenance first thing in the morning.” A light flashed on the console in front of him. “Well, shit.”
    “What?” Steve asked.
    “Sector three just lit up.”
    “And you think I should check it out, just like I did four, five, and six.”
    “Fifteen bucks an—”
    “Easy for you to say,” Steve interrupted angrily, “sitting on your ass all warm and dry while I’m chasing my tail in the rain. If there isn’t something in my flashlight beam this time, I’m going to bed and you can sit here and jack off all over the blinking lights.”
    When Steve got to sector three, nothing was there but rocks, trees, and an empty dirt road. No boats. No people. Not even a damned deer.
    “Murray, Steve. Not a fucking thing out here but me. Why the hell didn’t Farmer get some dogs? They don’t go nuts from a little rain.”
    “Farmer hates dogs. Won’t have them on the place.”
    Steve didn’t bother to answer. He was on his way back to the compound and he was mad enough to kick something. Murray’s lazy ass was first on his list.
     
    By the time ten o’clock came, both guards were sitting at the console, betting on which sector would light up next. Neither man bothered to check out each hit physically anymore. After three hours of running around in the rain, both guards were ready to pull the plug on Dick Farmer’s security system.
    Fifteen bucks an hour wasn’t nearly enough.
     
    Archer came up out of the water and into the Zodiac with an easy motion that Lianne envied to the soles of her feet. She clung to the straps while the boat dipped andwallowed, balancing beneath the additional burden. Even with Jake, Kyle, and Lianne acting as counterweights, two hundred plus pounds of man climbing aboard was bound to make an impact on a small boat.
    “Everything okay?” Kyle asked quickly.
    “No problems. Either they shut down the system or they’re ignoring it.”
    “That’s my reading,” Jake said.
    “You cold?” Kyle asked Archer. He had recent personal knowledge of just how chilly the water could be.
    “Not enough to slow me down,” Archer said.
    “Good. Let’s beach this bastard and get to work.”

Chapter 26
    F rom overhead came the grinding drone of a propeller plane circling Farmer Island’s small, private runway. The sound cut out, picked up, stuttered, and steadied, only to cut out again.
    Kyle looked at his watch. “Ten o’clock. Right on time.” He turned to Archer. “Take care of Lianne.”
    “Every step of the way,” Archer said. “Go. If you get into trouble—”
    “Just get Lianne out,” Kyle interrupted. “I’ll take care of myself.”
    “Like hell,” Jake muttered.
    “I agree,” Lianne said.
    “The plan,” Archer said before Kyle could argue any more, “is that all of us leave or none of us leave. You’re wasting time.”
    Kyle turned and walked toward the compound, sliding from tree shadow to tree shadow, closing in on the secluded building that was Dick Farmer’s personal residence. Glass gleamed weakly in the moonlight that managed to penetrate the windswept layers of clouds. Exterior lights triggered by motion sensors came on and off all over the compound, following invisible gusts of wind through the shrubs and trees.
    Silently Kyle swore at the idiot lights. Their unpredictable flashing and dimming made the night goggles he had brought worse than useless. The illumination from justone light swamped the goggles’ delicate light-gathering mechanism. The motion-sensing lights also made for jumps of pure adrenaline when they came on unexpectedly.
    The only good news was that the guards obviously were accustomed to random lights flashing during windy times. And wind, like clouds and rain, wasn’t exactly a stranger to the San Juan Islands. In any case, the guards would be too busy scrambling for the runway to warn off the uninvited plane. They wouldn’t pay any attention to a few more security lights going on and off in the night.
    At least, that was the plan.
    Kyle didn’t have to look around to know that Archer and Jake were following. And where Archer was, Lianne would be, too. It wasn’t as safe as leaving her in Seattle, but it was as much safety as Kyle could arrange for his stubborn lover.
    When Archer said he would take care of something, it got taken care of.
    Even when wind gusted and lights flashed on, Kyle wasn’t too worried about