the main building.
Markov stood at the door of the armory, handing out weapons as he called the assignments. As each man took the weapon, he also pulled a miniature radio transceiver from a box on a table. They fit into the ear. All shared the same frequency, a communications net, so that anyone on duty could speak to anyone else.
“Surin, post one. Karlamov, three. Gorsky, five.”
Most of the weapons in the armory were AK-47 rifles. But two stood out from the others. They were Dragunov sniper rifles, more accurate than the assault rifles, and fitted with infrared telescopic sights, thermal imaging, that let the scopes cut through darkness and fog.
Markov was down to the last two assignments. He said, “Vladimir Raznar will handle the radio in the ops room.” Markov handed the first Dragunov to Raznar, a former Red Army sniper.
And Markov said, “Yuri Malkin, post two.”
Post two sat alone at the top of the cliff at the west side of the island. It looked out in the direction of the Sulu archipelago and had the widest field of view of any post on the island.
Markov said, “On your toes tonight, Malkin,” and handed Yuri the second Dragunov. It was the rifle that Yuri had used to kill the two fishermen. He was the best shot on the island—better even than Raznar, the ex-sniper—so the rifle and the post were his by logic.
They all dispersed.
The door of the ops room opened.
Karel Lazovic stood inside the door. He was a tall man in his fifties. His facial features were classically European aristocratic, and his voice was deep, commanding. Lazovic was the island’s primary surgeon, and since surgery was the island’s sole purpose, he was in charge most of the time. But the lines of authority shifted subtly with Andropov present, and Lazovic’s tone was respectful as he spoke: “Can we have a word?”
Andropov nodded and stepped into the room and closed the door.
Lazovic said, “I’ve been on the radio with Kota Kinabalu. Our recipient is having trouble sleeping, and I don’t want to start him on a sedative this early. He’s anxious to start and wants to move up the surgery as early as possible. I told him that four a.m. is the soonest.“
“That’s up to you.”
“The medical end is up to me. But the security end is up to you. How serious is this threat?”
“I take it very seriously,” Andropov said.
“Seriously enough to postpone the procedure?”
“That’s a big step,” Andropov said.
“Yes, it is,” Lazovic said. “But I need to know that there will be no interruptions once we start.”
Andropov took several seconds to answer.
He finally said: “We’ll handle it.”
“Good,” Lazovic said. “Then I’ll tell Kota we’re on.”
When they had finished talking it out, Favor told the others that he was going below for a while. He said he wanted to get his gear together and study the aerial images some more. They all understood him to mean I’d like some time alone, and they stayed up on the deck while he went down into the cabin.
But about an hour later, Stickney ducked his head in and paused at the narrow hatch. Favor was sitting in front of the laptop, staring at the screen.
“Come in,” Favor said.
Stickney said, “You’re taking on a load here, bucko.”
“That’s the way it worked out.”
“Just one thing I want to be clear about,” Stickney said. “This deal with karmic accounts and paying off the debt—it sounds good on a slow afternoon. But it’s just words. It isn’t real.”
“It’s real,” Favor said. “I know that, and you do too.”
“You are not obligated.”
“I think I am,” Favor replied. “But that’s okay. This is what I’m supposed to do. I want to do this. You shouldn’t try to take that away from me.”
“You’re a good man,” Stickney said.
“Not yet,” Favor said.
About half an hour after Stickney’s visit to the cabin, Arielle, too, left the deck and slipped down through the narrow hatch.
The cabin was dark. The laptop was put away in the case.
Favor was stretched out on one of the benches, asleep.
Arranged on the opposite bench were the balisong knife and a neatly folded wet suit, with a mask and fins and snorkel resting on it. Something about Favor made her look closer, something in the way he slept. He was stretched out almost full length, legs slightly bent, one arm tucked beneath his head.
She watched him for a few seconds before she realized: he was relaxed.
He was breathing evenly. His body was limp, his face was calm.
She couldn’t