Silver Linings

Rainbird doesn't trust anyone and doesn't want too many people around him at any one time.”
    Hugh glanced back over his shoulder. “It's damn tough to find even five or six men you can trust with your life. Rainbird is pushing it by having that many around him, and he knows it. Probably intends to cut back as soon as he feels secure.”
    Mattie shivered and clasped her hands. “All right, give me a minute to think. There was Howard inside. He was the only one other than Rainbird who was actually in the house. He wears a gun strapped to his hip like some old western gunslinger. And then there was Goody, who was waiting for me at the beach cottage on St. Gabe.”
    “Shit,” said Hugh. “I'll kill him, too.”
    Silk shot him a disgusted glance. “Shut up, boss. You ain't thinking straight yet. Let me and Mattie talk while you cool down. Go ahead, Mattie.”
    “Well, then there was the pilot…”
    Mattie began to talk more quickly as she started to concentrate. It proved easier to recall details than she would have thought. All those years of art lessons and her work as a gallery owner were paying off. She really had developed an observant eye, she thought proudly as she concluded her report. She looked at Hugh expectantly, waiting for praise. She got a glare that under other circumstances would have frozen her socks off.
    Silk tried to compensate. “Great job, Mattie.” He gave her a slap on the back that nearly unseated her. “One of the best recon reports I've ever heard. This is going to make things a lot easier, ain't it, Hugh?”
    “Shit,” Hugh said again.
    “Sometimes his vocabulary is what you might call limited,” Silk confided to Mattie.
    “I've noticed,” Mattie said. “He told me once it was a sign of stress.”
    Silk grinned. “Is that right? Stress, huh? And here I thought all along it was just on account of he never learned his manners.”
    Hugh whipped around to face both of them and resumed his pacing across the cavern floor. “We can't move on Rainbird until we get Mattie out of here.”
    “It'll take two or three hours to get her to Hades. Another two or three to get back here. If we wait that long we'll lose a lot of the advantage we've got right now,” Silk pointed out reasonably. “You know it, boss. Rainbird obviously doesn't realize we're on the island yet. He's got his men scattered from here to breakfast looking for Mattie. That means he's as isolated as he's ever going to be.”
    “I know, I know,” Hugh growled, shoving his hands into the rear pockets of his jeans. “But I don't like it. If something happens to us, Mattie is trapped here.”
    “She can take the boat.”
    “And do what with it?” Hugh stormed. “She's a city girl. What does she know about boats or navigation? How's she going to start the engine, let alone find her way back to Hades?”
    “Excuse me,” Mattie murmured, clearing her throat. “I would just like to point out that I may be a city girl, but the city I grew up in was Seattle. My father owned a boat all the years I was growing up. Ariel and I can both handle one. And I can read a chart. I wouldn't get lost between here and Hades if I had to find my own way.”
    “Well, I'll be damned,” Silk said in deeply admiring tones.
    Hugh gave Mattie a hooded glance. “Is that right?”
    She nodded. “It's true. But I don't want to even think about leaving the two of you behind. Hugh, there's got to be a better way of dealing with Rainbird. I don't like the idea of the two of you going in alone against Rainbird and those half dozen overgrown boy scouts he's got around him. Those are not good odds.”
    “But we don't care about the boy scouts,” Hugh explained quietly. His initial outrage was fading now, and a chilling, emotionless quality was entering his voice. “The only one we have to take out is Rainbird. When he's gone, the boy scouts will scatter fast enough. They're nothing without a leader.”
    “How will you get into the house?” Mattie asked, wishing she could find a way to talk them out of the whole project and knowing it was impossible.
    “I told you Cormier built a lot of emergency exits from his house. They work just as well as secret entrances.” Hugh ran a hand through his hair, frowning in thought. “We'll use the one in the kitchen this time.”
    “Sounds good to me,” Silk said. “Get in, get out, and we're off the island before anyone even knows what happened. We'll be eating dinner on Hades.”
    “Wait,”