around the injured man and helped him to the wheel. “I want you to pull out of here very slowly.”
“Slowly?” called out one of the kids. “Why slowly?”
Payne didn’t have time to explain, but he knew he’d better do it anyway. The last thing he needed was a mutiny on the escape vessel.
“The area around the island is surrounded by fallen trees. It’s a pretty thick swamp, clogged with all kinds of logs. If he goes too fast and hits one, the boat could sink.” He smiled for the child’s benefit. “And that would be bad.”
The kid nodded his head in agreement.
Payne turned back to Edwards. “When you steer, make sure you have some people looking out into the water. They can help you avoid some of the larger obstacles. Got it?”
“Jon, I want to help,” he assured him. “But Tonya is still here. I’m not going anywhere without her.”
“Trust me,” Payne said, “I’d feel the same way if I were you. But with your injury, you’re in no shape to fight. Hell, you’re not even in shape to walk. So I need you to stay on this boat and help all of these people get to safety. If you do that for me, I’ll do everything in my power to rescue your wife. . . . Okay?”
Edwards nodded reluctantly. “What should I do when we get to the sea? Do you have backup waiting for us?”
“No, there’s no backup. It’s just me and my partner on this mission, no one else.”
The looks on the prisoners’ faces said it all. They couldn’t believe that Payne and Jones had done so much—and risked so much—on their own.
“Once you hit the gulf, open it up to full speed and go north toward the closest set of lights. Don’t stop for anyone unless it’s the Coast Guard. When you hit land, call the police, NASA, anyone! The sooner I get some help around here the better.”
CHAPTER 48
THE leaves and branches would have covered Jones completely, if not for the small gap near his eyes. It was the only spot that he risked showing, for it gave him his only view of the world. And if his mission was to be a success, Jones needed to know when someone was coming.
The shadow lurking in the distance told him that somebody was.
As he waited, Jones wrapped his fingers around the polymer handle of his gun, readying himself for action. If possible, he would eliminate the target from his current hiding place. If necessary, Jones was prepared to do it on the move. It was the first thing he learned with the MANIACs. Be ready for anything .
Jones watched as the shape moved closer, slipping past the tall trees with a graceful stride, using the darkness of the woods to his advantage. The lack of moonlight made things difficult, but in time Jones learned to distinguish his target from his surroundings. He wore black clothes, black leather boots, and a mask. A gun dangled from his right hand.
A grin appeared on Jones’s face.
The more guards he killed, the better. It would make things easier when they rescued Ariane and the other prisoners. So far, by his count, he had been a part of twenty deaths—thirteen in the ambush, six more on the boat, at least one at the armory—and the number would continue to grow. Hell, number twenty-one was currently approaching.
Without making a sound, Jones shifted his weight slightly, sticking the barrel of his gun through his thick bed of camouflage. He would fire when he had a clean shot and not a second before. No sense wasting a bullet on a maybe.
“Come to Papa,” Jones whispered. “Take another step. Come on. Come on!”
His target finally came into view, no more than fifteen feet in front of him.
But before Jones had a chance to squeeze the trigger, the man whistled softly—a sound that had a meaning only to Jones. This man wasn’t a guard. It was Payne.
“Jon,” he called softly.
Covered in dark mud from the swamp, Payne glanced around, hunting for the source of the sound. He was supposed to rendezvous with Jones in this part of the woods, but his friend’s concealment techniques made him undetectable. There was no way he would find Jones unless he accidentally stepped on him.
“Ollyollyoxenfree.”
A large chunk of the forest’s floor moved as Jones climbed to his knees. To Payne, it looked like an elevator rising from the Earth’s core.
“You’re lucky you whistled. I was going to try to kill