CHAPTER 60
Atlantic Ocean
The Mark V SOC patrol boat pulled to our port side. The Navy master chief had called my cell shortly after I finished with Tristan, and like clockwork they were here, tying their boat to the yacht and climbing aboard much more gracefully than my earlier insertion.
The master chief seemed to have a vague understanding of the team’s involvement in national-security operations, so he didn’t ask too many questions. We exchanged debriefs while Meg and JP showed them to Harrison’s body.
The Navy was better equipped than Team Rhino to deal with a high-profile casualty—beginning with preparing Harrison’s body for extraction.
Their plan was to carry him a few miles due east and rendezvous with a Navy helicopter, which would transport the remains to Walter Reed Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland.
Rescue operations had ended; we were now in recovery mode.
All local emergency services had been deployed to the Nantucket ferry docks, and the Navy had dispatched a mobile surgical ship that would arrive soon.
Several more Mark Vs were en route from the Cape to patrol the waters immediately around the island.
Security on the island was in seriously short supply.
The sleepy downtown and the Nantucket Boat Basin were locked up pretty tight and the airport was still shut down, but patrolling all of that was more than the local police could handle.
Once Team Rhino got resupplied with food, water, and ammo, we could help.
I planned not to involve the local authorities any more than necessary, and their operation in the harbor was not my concern.
As the chief and I finished our chat, my team emerged from below. Not all smiles, given the activity of the past few hours, but as if he had read my mind, Oliver piped up that he was mission-ready.
“Hey, Chief, hate to be a bother, but is there any way you can drop us on the beach by Sconset?”
“Aye, Mr. Phillips, hop in and we’ll take you right over.”
The Mark V was eighty feet long and had a max speed of sixty-five knots (about seventy-five mph). I’d never been in a boat like this, and I was impressed. The ride to Siasconset seemed over in minutes.
With a half-assed salute and a wave, we jumped into the shallow surf and headed for the trail leading to my house.
I still urgently needed to speak to Rowan and figure out what the hell was going on.
If she had been kidnapped along with Harrison, how the fuck had she ended up back at his other house? And who did she kill?
“Okay, boys and girls, get some ammo and get back in the car. We need to cross the island and check on Harrison’s wife, Si, and Agent Anderson.”
“Already done, boss,” Wolf replied as he holstered his pistol and headed toward my new front door.