“We’ll shed a tear later,” Prig said. “The enemy is still out there. We trapped a few in the collapsed hall—Elna here says four. If we’re lucky, they got buried. But that leaves the rest of them up in the guesthouse, and their commander is on an unholy rampage. We seriously pissed the guy off.”
“Good,” Cat said. Because of her hip, she was sitting at an odd angle on her chair. “Pissed off people make dumb decisions.”
“Not always,” Prig replied. “Sometimes it makes people more focused and determined. Anyway, that’s beside the point. The mercenaries now know for sure that someone is hiding on the island. I don’t know if they will be able to dig through the collapsed passage, or if they’ll come looking for the other entrance, but they know for sure we’re here. These guys are highly paid mercenaries, okay? They are well-armed, and they’ll look for a way in, no matter what it takes.”
“Who are they?” Elna asked. “Who paid them?”
Prig was staring at the map and said nothing. The other Marines around the table averted their gazes as well.
“Don’t we at least deserve to know who paid these people to shoot at us?” Elna asked.
Prig sniffed loudly. “The people who paid them are the same people who sent the missiles.”
“North Korea,” Malin said.
Prig shook his head. “No, that’s where the missiles were located, but North Korea doesn’t have the funding, manpower, or technology for something this big.”
“China, then?” Elna replied. “The Chinese government.”
Prig seemed to be tracing a path on the map, but perhaps he was just buying time. “I won’t say you’re right, Ms. Pasqualee. That way, I haven’t shared classified information. Draw your own conclusion. But these guys are straight-up mercenaries. They fight for whoever pays them, and right now, they’re fighting us.”
“Got it,” Elna said. “What’s the status on your communication system? Can you activate the missiles or what?”
“Spence, why don’t you fill us in?” Prig said.
Spence leaned over the table and circled a spot on the map around the lighthouse. “Comms are up and running, but there’s one huge problem. Right here.”
“The lighthouse?” Elna asked.
“The transmitter inside the lighthouse,” Spence replied.
“The transmitter for your comm equipment is hidden in the lighthouse?” Elna replied. She couldn’t even get irritated about it now. The whole island was falling apart anyway. All of the violations of her privacy didn’t much matter at this point.
“Yeah, that’s why the stairs up into the lighthouse are blocked,” Spence said. “They blocked them years ago, but they did it in a way that was meant to make it look accidental. I mean, if you just build a mysterious wall, people are going to wonder what’s behind it, right? But if you tumble a bunch of big rocks at the base of the stairs, they’ll think it’s falling apart and unsafe.”
“Well, I have to hand it to them,” Elna said. “That is exactly the effect it had on us.”
“The transmitter has been replaced a few times over the years,” Spence said, “so it should be good, but we’re not getting a strong enough signal. I don’t know why. It’s working, but it’s too weak. Maybe it’s an effect of the EMP. Whatever the case, we’ll need to set a repeater somewhere else to boost the signal before we can access the weapon system.”
“We have the tech, right?” Prig said. “Let’s just climb up into the lighthouse and set it up there.”
“Location might be part of the problem,” Spence said. “I think we need to place the repeater higher than the lighthouse. Ideally, as high as possible. What’s the highest point on the island?” He turned to Elna.
“The peak of the hill in the center,” she said. “Just north of the winery. It’s open ground, rocky, steep but not impassable.”
Spence shrugged at Prig, as if to say, “Sorry for the bad news.” Prig gnawed on his lower lip, studying the map, and occasionally nodding at himself.
“If we don’t get the transmitter working, all of this was for nothing,” he said. “This is how we defend the mainland. It has to be done. Archer, Fish, they gave their lives for this.” He glanced at Elna. “The loss of your house, your property, your sense of safety—it was all for nothing if we don’t get the transmitter working.”
“Yeah, I get that,” Elna said, resting her head in her hands again. Too much pain and discomfort—physical, mental, emotional—she was getting restless, but she wouldn’t let the mission fail. If this was what it took, then so be it. “Clearly, Malin and I aren’t Marines. Our brief gun battle with the mercs was maybe the most pathetic gun battle ever. We unloaded into the cellar, and I’m not sure we hit anyone. The light was disorienting, and it was just a crazy moment.”
“Even if we didn’t hit them,” Malin said, “we gave them a heck of a scare, at least.”
“Not enough to stop them from chasing us down into the corridor,” Elna said. “It was Fish who took care of them, not us. My point is, we should do our part, but we won’t survive in a fight with these mercenaries. We have to leave that to the Marines. However…” She gathered her courage for a moment. “I’m willing to set the repeater on the peak, if you guys will draw the attention of the mercenaries away from me.”
“I wasn’t going to ask, but I was considering it,” Prig said. “We can’t afford to let the mercenaries know what we’re doing. If we draw them into a fight, you civilians can sneak around and set up the repeater without them noticing. Don’t go alone, Elna. Take someone with you.”
“I’m going, of course,” Malin said. “We’ve made it through plenty of wild adventures together. Why stop now?”
Prig sat down in his seat and folded his hands on the tabletop. He seemed deep in thought. Finally,
