Page 11

In which we learn that Logan plans to kill a lot of people and he’s totally cool with it.

Logan…

Anselm’s helicopter pad and marina were busy all afternoon, dropping off expensively dressed guests. Part of me is torn. What if some of the guests are innocents? The other, more savage part argues that if they’re mates with that son of a bitch, they’re just as foul.

This fecking compound is going up in flames.

After I find Arabella.

My Nautica SeaScooter is a J-Class, and it can go deeper than the other underwater engines I’ve tested. Approaching the underwater cavern and breaching it is going to be the riskiest part of this plan for me. Anselm’s got an impressively complicated security grid that sets off with any movement bigger than the average mackerel, so I have to dive deeper. Before the rest of MacTavishes wreak havoc on the island, I must get through the cavern first.

Anselm knows we’re coming. Kidnapping Arabella was an engraved invitation. I intend to have my lass in hand before the rest of the family launches their assault. Knowing more about the man than I want to, I’m sure he’ll be keeping her close.

Even this deep in the water, lights from above slice through the darkness, the compound’s security is on high alert. Funny thing though; the guards will clog the most obvious entry points. No one ever looks at the maintenance tunnels, like the one below the underwater port.

The tunnel plans we’d researched dinnae show all the steel plating that I’m encountering, and cutting through it is slowing me down. By the time I cut through the last piece and pull myself out of the water and onto the machinery deck, I’m behind by ten minutes. Stripping off my wetsuit between two of the huge, humming HVAC systems, I stash it and my scuba gear and pull on the uniform Anselm’s guards wear. The prick loves seeing his men strutting around with guns, so no need to hide most of mine. Thoughtful of him.

Last touch, a pair of glasses that lets Xenia see everything in real time and with a much wider range of vision than I have. She sends her confirmation with a subtle click in my earpiece. The true beauty of these glasses is the disruption signal they sent to Anselm’s facial recognition software. The likelihood of anyone recognizing me without it is slim.

He’ll be on the second floor. The cavernous main room he uses for big meetings is there; an enormous glass box built into the side of the mansion, suspended over the water. The thought of how all that glass breaking will sound puts a grin on my face ye couldn’t take off with a shovel.

Exchanging nods with an armed patrol, I climb the back staircase. Unfortunately, the three guards standing sentry at the front of the hall need to go. Stepping up behind the first man and snapping his neck is easy, they’re too fecking confident on this level, thinking no one will get past the first line of defense.

Fecking eejits.

The other two guards require some finesse. The thud of their bodies hitting the floor after I shoot them both in the head isn’t loud enough to alert anyone, but I waste another ninety seconds dragging the dead guards into an empty room and mopping up the blood. Leaving any trace for the security cameras to find is a rookie mistake.

Even if I didn’t know where Anselm was meeting his group of arseholes, the sound of the excitable chatter echoing off the glass walls of the room would lead me there.

Xenia whispers in my ear, “Anselm’s got all the men in there for an after dinner drink. Jesus, that’s such a bullshit Victorian tradition. What century does he live in? He’s got Arabella seated about three meters behind him. She’s not moving. Note her placement on your thermograph. There’s about thirty of the investors there, she’s the only woman.”

“Any problem with me killing them all?” I murmur.

“It’s hard to prove how many know about the organ trafficking, but it’s a safe bet that everyone does,” Xenia whispers. “This is looking more like an investor’s pitch. However, he’s got two members of the Folketing in there, the Danish Parliament? So you might want to just drive them out like cattle and let us take ‘em into custody.”

“You’re taking all the fun out of this job for me, Xenia. Where are the female guests?”

“They’re sitting on the terrace off of the dining room, having sherry or whatever the hell women drink at these things.”

“What about security?” I murmur. “I’m counting fifteen between this floor and the first. Who’s in the room with Anselm?”

“There are seven undercover guards that I can see, dressed in suits, and loaded up in bulletproof vests. You know he’d want to be always surrounded by his security without making his guests nervous.” She lays out their locations in the room and I close my eyes, visualizing it.

“Got it.” I pull the safety on my Dragunov SVD.

“Hey Logan, hold up! Your brother’s team just breached the-”

I pivot and fire seven times.