12. Inspector Perry #2
“Don't change anything near the compound until we're ready. Perry knows where Jan and I are now, which means Lockhart will too.”
My attention shifts to the windows.
White Pine Lodge suddenly feels a lot less private.
If Lockhart has spent decades buying silence, there's no reason to assume they'll stop at police pressure. They could send their own security or hire people who don't wear company jackets.
“Felicity, I want eyes on every road approaching this lodge. Anything unusual, you tell me immediately.”
“Done.”
“Jan, we're packing.”
She nods and reaches for her gear. “Where are we going?”
“Rose.”
“The community?”
“Perry knows we're at this lodge. Give him half an hour with Lockhart and they'll know too. I'm not sitting here waiting to find out whether they send security, mercenaries or another helpful Dudley Do-Right.”
Jan is already moving toward our room. “I'll call Rose.”
“Tell her we need somewhere out of sight for a few hours. Not the community center. Somewhere Lockhart won't know to look.”
“And the SUV?”
“We don't take it straight there. Perry's seen it.”
She nods. “I'll ask her.”
I glance toward the windows again. White Pine Lodge served its purpose. Now it's compromised.
I call Angus next.
“Bear, extraction's tonight. Perry's dirty, Lockhart's been warned, and they may be bringing in more men.”
His answer is immediate.
“About bloody time.”
I look once more toward the road Perry took.
He thinks he's given Lockhart a head start.
All he's done is give me a deadline.
Tonight, we take the women away from them.
Then we find out exactly how much Inspector Gavin Perry was paid to help keep them invisible.
White Pine Lodge, Northern Manitoba, Canada. 1005 hours.
By ten, the plan we had yesterday is useless.
The route still works. The western side of the compound gives Kai the best approach, and Honor has already shown him she understands that. The dogs can get the women through terrain Lockhart vehicles can't easily follow.
But the time we thought we had is gone.
I get Kai on the satellite phone while Jan spreads our maps across the lodge table. Angus and Jax are with him.
“We're moving today.”
“Agreed,” Kai says.
“Perry went straight toward Lockhart. Assume security increases once he tells them what we've got.”
“What about Honor?” Jan asks. “Does she know?”
“No.”
Kai is quiet. “I can tell her.”
“How?”
“They'll have the women outside again before dark. I can leave a note inside the western fence during an outage.”
“And say?”
“Today. Next blackout. Vehicle shed. West fence. Be ready.”
“If a guard finds it, we've announced the extraction.”
“If Honor finds it, she can have the women ready.”
I study the map. Daylight gives her a chance to gather them through normal work rather than trying to move between locked rooms after dark.
“Do it.”
I run through the essentials. “Kai, you own the treeline and escape corridor. Angus and Jax handle the fence and anything between the women and the trees. Anyone injured or too weak to keep pace rides. Everyone else walks and rotates onto the sleds as needed unless they can all fit on board.”
“Copy.”
“The dogs ready?”
“They will be.”
I look at the satellite phone. “Tell me you've got a Kevlar vest.”
Kai gives a short laugh. “No.”
“Can you shoot?”
“Yes.”
Angus cuts in. “Just as well Serenity thinks of everything. We've got spare body armor with the gear.”
“Put one on him.”
Kai mutters something I don't catch.
“Was that an objection?”
“It was me wondering when I stopped getting a vote.”
“When you agreed to help us extract women from an armed mining compound.”
Jax laughs in the background.
“Vest, Kai.”
“Fine.”
“Think of it as an extra singlet to keep you warm, mate.”
“Very comforting.”
Jan taps our proposed rendezvous. “We'll stage medical and transport here.”
Jax comes over the line. “And if the generator doesn't fail?”
Kai answers. “Honor was beaten yesterday.”
Jan freezes.
“What?”
“One of the guards hit her across the face in the yard, then dragged her into a maintenance building. We heard her scream. She came back out bleeding and holding her ribs.”
Angus cuts in, voice flat. “Bloke didn't give a shit who saw him do it either. Slapped her in front of the other women before he took her inside.”
“Jesus Christ.”
“She stayed on her feet,” Jax says. “Went straight back to the women.”
If the guard connected Honor to the outages, she may not risk triggering another.
“We don't depend on it. If the power drops, use the window. If it doesn't, Kai makes the call based on what he sees.”
Yesterday we had time to observe and refine. Perry took that from us.
I look over the map again.
“We're still not ready.”
Moving today is one thing. Going in half-cocked is another.
“Kai, I need your best estimate of how many women are inside, how many guards and how long it'll take to get everyone from the vehicle shed into the trees.”
“So far we’ve seen eight women. I'll get the rest.”
“Angus, you and Jax confirm the rendezvous and how close we can safely bring vehicles.”
“On it.”
I turn to Jan.
“We need Rose.”
“Drivers?”
“Drivers, winter-capable vehicles, somewhere secure afterward and people the women trust. You handle medical.”
“I'll call her.”
“And find out what capacity we've got. Eight women is different from eighteen.”
Kai promises to keep watching without risking a closer approach.
I reach for the satellite phone.
“I'm calling Victor. He needs the full picture before we launch.”
Jan starts gathering the maps.
Perry has taken away our time. He hasn't taken away our brains.
Before anyone goes through that fence, we'll know who we're bringing out, where we're taking them and how we're getting them there.
Today is still the target.
Now we make sure we're ready.