“You trust them?” Diggins asked.
“With my life.”
The RIB sidled up to theSea Reaper, and Braden assisted the two men onto the vessel. He gave them what little information he had.
Hawk’s frown deepened as he listened, then he shook it off and managed a grin. “You’re in luck. Cole here has brought everything but the kitchen sink. This’ll be just like old times.”
“We were never on a mission together.” Cole crossed his thick arms.
“Separately, then, it’ll be like old times, except I was always in the air.” Hawk crossed his arms too and stared his brother down.
“All right, boys. What you got and what’s the plan?” Diggins sounded impatient.
Braden was too relieved to be impatient.
“We brought scuba.”
“I already got that,” Diggins groused.
“Do you have waterproof comms?” Cole asked. “Handheld sonar devices? Underwater night vision?”
“No. I don’t have the resources for that. You boys use your own equipment, then.”
“We could use that and a plan,” Braden said. As soon as he realized his friends had arrived—and now, finally, he would actually call them friends—his mind kicked into gear with a plan of his own. “Trent is running this operation. He was probably a government operative, planted years ago when Evelyn moved here, to watch and wait for news of the location. But his behavior tells me he’s no longer working for the government, and this is his own private operation. Before I knew this, I tasked him with calling in resources. Thatcher’s the one to discover the truth about Trent.”
“He called us up and out to help,” Hawk said. “I warned him that as far as additional resources, he should move with extreme caution given that his calls for assistance—the Coast Guard or the Feds—could be conveyed to Trent and warn him that we’re coming. Surprise is to our advantage. No telling how big Trent’s network must be to have pulled this off.”
“Understood,” Braden said. “Octavia Dane knows, and I’m counting on her to call in the appropriate authorities. But here and now,wecan’t know who to trust. It’s justus, the Timberbrook County Sheriff’s Office, working far from our jurisdiction to save Cressida Valentine Dane per her mother’s request—a VIP in the US State Department. Even so, we go into this with great risk, not only to our lives but to our reputations. Our goal is to save Cressida, but we need to also prevent that salvage vessel from obtaining nuclear material.”
“Whoa ... whoa.” Cole threw up his hands. “Nobody said anything about nukes.”
“I don’t have time to explain. Waiting for help to arrive risks Cressida’s life and the lives of many other people if the wrong parties get their hands on it. Are you in or out?”
“I’ve been in since I got your message from Thatcher, who, by the way, told us, and I quote, ‘Do what you have to do out there—we’ll deal with the fallout later.’ So let’s hear the plan. We make a great team.”
“A former DSS special agent. A former Night Stalker pilot. A former Green Beret. And an elderly artifact smuggler. I agree,” Braden said. “We can do this.”
Thatcher had their backs, which he hadn’t doubted. Octavia would have their backs too—this was about her daughter. “Our goal is to disable the vessel and prevent it from retrieving the salvaged contents of a nuclear submarine that are allegedly on theVanguard, another salvage vessel lost at sea. I’ll approach underwater and take out the external surveillance. Once that’s done, you three can prepare to board and secure the deck. We disable the power and communications.”
“Oh, did I tell you we brought night drones?” Hawk laughed. “I’ve been playing around with them—”
“Focus,” Cole said.
“You can use those to create distractions while we board and take control of the deck,” Braden said. “Get Cressida. Take Trent and secure him while we wait for the CoastGuard, or whoever shows up to take over. We don’t know when they’ll arrive. We go in as if we’re on our own. Then we go public with this.”
“You don’t think it needs to remain a secret?”
“Secrets get out, and the wrong parties are about to get their hands on significant materials because of a secret kept too long,” Braden said.
“What if this all goes south? What then? We can’t let them get their hands on this stuff,” Cole said.
“What’syourplan?” Braden asked.
“I suggest explosives to completely destroy the vessel.” Cole tugged scuba suits out of their gear. “Prevent the salvage and prevent the escape. Whatever it takes.”
Braden didn’t like that plan, but Cole was right. “Are you saying you brought explosives?”
“No,” Cole said. “But I could use what they have on the vessel. Chances are they’ve got them.”
