Prig stared at her for a second, then shook his head and looked away. “I’m sorry about your people. I promise we’ll try to find them, but nothing is more important than keeping this place safe. Nothing.”
Elna almost shouted at him. She could feel a profanity-laced tirade welling up inside of her, but she shoved it down with a violent act of willpower. Instead, though still speaking through clenched teeth, she said, “Malin and I risked our lives to help you rescue one of your people. Now, I want to rescue two of ours. I think that’s fair.”
An uncomfortable quiet settled over the room. Except for Malin, no one looked at Elna, but her words lingered in the air. She saw Norman studying the faces of the Marines one by one. Prig leaned on a corner of the table for a few seconds, furiously gnawing on his lip. Finally, he rose and looked at Elna again.
“You make a fair point,” he said. “Yes, you came with us and put your lives on the line. I’m grateful for that. But Golf is on this mission because he has the missile codes. We need him to complete the mission, and the mission is why I’m here. A lot more than our lives are at stake here, Elna. The future of the nation is on the line.”
Her face felt like it was on fire. She wasn’t sure what her expression looked like, but he grimaced at her.
“Okay, look,” he said. “If you want to sneak up into your house from the back corridor and try to rescue your people, I won’t stop you. We’re setting charges in that tunnel. It needs to come down. Its very existence is too much of a risk. There’s no code on the door, just a latch. No, it all has to come down, but it’ll take us a little while to set the charges. Long enough for you and your friends to go into the wine cellar, and if you move fast, you can find your people and get back through before we’re ready to bring it down. Now, that’s the best I can do.”
Spence and Cat were both looking at him with sour expressions on their faces. Clearly, Prig’s team members didn’t entirely agree with his decision. Prig noticed them looking and waved them off like they were bothersome gnats.
“If that’s the best you can do, then so be it,” Elna said, speaking before the anger choked off the words. “We’ll rescue our own people and get back before you’re ready to bring the tunnel down.”
“Elna, are you sure you want to do that?” Norman said.
“I’m going with her,” Malin said. “We’ll get it done.”
“I’m going, too,” Raymond said. “Miriam can watch Daniel for me. If we get in and out really fast, maybe they won’t even know we were there.”
“Well, heck, I guess I have to go too then,” Norman said. “We might as well make this a team effort. We island people gotta stick together.”
“No, that’s too many people,” Elna said. “A large group is more likely to be spotted. Norman, Raymond, thanks for the offer, but I’d rather you guys stayed here. Let Malin and me handle this. Two people can get in a lot easier.”
“If you get caught by the mercenaries, you’ll be outnumbered,” Norman said.
“Then we won’t get caught,” she replied. “I know my own house better than they do. Pop does too, and he’ll know the best places to hide.”
Norman and Raymond looked like they wanted to argue with her more, but they didn’t.
“Great,” Prig said. “It’s settled. Just don’t do anything crazy, Elna. Find your people ASAP and get out. The mercs probably won’t expect anyone to come from the wine cellar, so you’ve got that advantage. I’ll make sure you’re armed, and I’ll give you as much time as I can, but that tunnel’s coming down. Securing the bunker is priority one. Whatever you do, don’t let them get through the bunker door.”
“I understand,” Elna said.
“The backup generators running the lights don’t produce enough power to operate the comm system,” Prig said. “This is need to know information, but you need to know. We’re going to get the big generator up and running so we can power up and reboot the computer. We have to keep all enemies out of here until that happens, and it’s going to take time. I probably shouldn’t let you mount a rescue. I’m being too nice, but I figure I owe you one for your help in the camp. Please, Elna, please, don’t make me regret it.”
“Nobody’s getting into this bunker,” she replied. “I’ll kill every merc on the island if I have to, but no one is getting in here. I promise.”
He stared at her, as if judging her commitment, then nodded and said, “I believe you.”
22
Selene felt a weird skin-crawling sensation all the way up the back road, as if the impending danger was like a low current vibrating in the air around her. Her loose, flower-print skirt made it hard to run, so she finally gathered up the flowing cloth and lifted it above her knees. It was a stupid thing, volunteering to run back to the house, but she’d done it to keep Elna from doing it. She had people depending on her. Selene did too, but not in the same way.
Plus, she had a pretty good idea what old George Pasqualee was doing. He’d been getting sentimental of late, digging old photo albums out of drawers and wandering from room to room. She thought perhaps it was his poor health that had put him in this mood. She assumed he’d wanted to take a few things with him before they left for the bunker and simply lost track of time.
When she reached the top of the hill, she rushed past the water tank and the shed, headed for the back door. She’d tried to listen carefully all
