She eased open the doors and slipped inside, turning for one last look at the woods. Only the faintest creak of the floor beneath her feet gave her any warning at all.
A hand clapped over her mouth. A hard-muscled arm snaked around her stomach, pulling her flush with a hard, hot body.
She raised her foot to stamp on her captors instep, Cooper Security training kicking in before she had time to think.
Her captor sidestepped quickly, and her foot slammed on the ground, making her ankle tingle with pain.
Dont do it again, warned a voice like steel in her ear.
The arms loosened, and she jerked away, turning around to face her captor. You scared the hell out of me, she whispered.
Gideon Stones eyes glittered like blue diamonds in the low lights, but he wasnt looking at her anymore. He was gazing past her, toward the woods in the east, his expression hard.
You see the lights? she asked softly.
I do.
Do you think the intruders are back?
He nodded.
Pretty brazen, she murmured.
How many lights did you see?
Just three.
Cant be sure thats all thats out there, though, he said thoughtfully, turning his gaze away from the door long enough to look down at her. What were you going to do if I hadnt grabbed you?
Get Lydia up and see if we could sound the foghorn again.
Lets not do that yet, he said softly, curling his palm over her arm and easing her away from the doorway. His hand was big and warm, sending unexpected sensations rippling through her flesh. You stay here. If Im not back in fifteen minutes, sound the horn. The switch is located in the kitchen pantry, second shelf, at the back.
She nodded, too breathless to speak.
He locked the French doors again, then pulled his Walther from a hip holster and checked the clip with practiced ease. He chambered a round and looked down at her. Fifteen minutes.
He disappeared into the shadows, heading toward the back of the house. She heard the faint snick of the back door dead bolt turning and felt her way through the dark until she reached the French doors. She tried the locks until she found the one hed left open. She locked it behind him and leaned against the door, her heart racing.
Pushing the stem of her watch, she lit up the face so she could see the hands. Nine thirty-eight. At nine fifty, if Gideon didnt come back, she would sound the lighthouse horn.
And meanwhile, she had a GLOCK and knew how to use it. She hurried up the steps to the top floor, feeling her way rather than risk turning on the lights and possibly alerting the intruders.
Retrieving her GLOCK from her duffel bag, she headed back into the hallway and collided with another warm body.
She leaped back, flattening to the wall, already tugging the GLOCK from the holster.
Shannon?
She sagged against the wall. Mrs. Ross.
Shannon heard a soft click and a flashlight flickered to life, illuminating Lydias kind face and revealing the lethal gleam of a rifle gripped in her free hand. Whats going on, dear? The older womans tone was as gentle as ever, but the thread of steel beneath her words made Shannon smile despite her own nervous tension.
She brought Lydia up to speed and checked her watch. In six minutes, if Gideons not back here, were supposed to sound the horn.
Lydia nodded. If the horn continues sounding for more than five minutes, Terrebonne Fire and Rescue knows to send a boat to check on us.
Can they hear the sound from that far away? Shannon had heard the horn well enough from the boat earlier that day, but the Lorelei had been a long way from the shore by that time.
It can be heard all the way to Bayou La Batre on a clear day. Lydia nodded at the GLOCK. Do you know how to use that?
Shannon cocked her eyebrow at Lydia and nodded at the Remington. Do you know how to use that?
Lydia smiled. Touché. She turned off the flashlight.
They went downstairs together, easing through the dim shadows to the French doors on the eastern side of the house. Shannon peered through the clear glass. I dont see the lights anymore.
How much longer? Lydia asked.
Shannon checked her watch. Two minutes.
Do you see any sign of Gideon?
No. He went out through the garden door.
Perhaps we should make our way to the foghorn switch. Lydia hooked her free hand in Shannons elbow, guiding her toward the kitchen. Shannon heard a pantry door creak open and a soft tapping sound. A light mounted inside the pantry snapped on, illuminating cans, bottles, boxes and, at the back of the second shelf, as Gideon had promised, a simple electrical toggle switch.
Shannon checked her watch. The second hand passed twelve. Now, she said, her stomach aching with tension.
Lydia flipped the switch. Shannon braced for the moan of the foghorn.
But nothing happened.
Chapter Four
Three years of Marine Special Operations missions in Afghanistan. Four more years of duty in Iraq, clearing Baath Party holdouts and al-Qaeda in Iraq fighters out of war-weary villages hungry for peace and stability. Hed done a final three years on super-secret reconnaissance missions in Kaziristan and almost paid with his life.
Gideon had seen his share of impossible missions and no-escape situations. Being surrounded by at least three unknown subjects wasnt the most terrifying situation hed ever dealt with. Not by a long shot.
But if he had his choice, hed rather be elsewhere.
Time ticked inexorably away as his quarry circled him in the thick stand of pines and hardwoods that grew in abundance in the center of the island. He didnt want to give away his position by lighting the dial of his watch to check the time, but he was certain most of the fifteen minutes hed given Shannon to wait before acting had already passed.
What would the men moving through the trees around him do once the lighthouse foghorn sounded?
He hadnt gotten very close to the intruders before they extinguished their lights, making recon substantially more difficult. Whoever they were, they were damn good at moving quietly through the dark, making him wonder for a while if they were wearing night-vision goggles. He gave himself a mental kick for not having a pair of his own, although in his defense, hed thought hed left his night-combat days far behind him.
He spotted one of the intruders again, finally. Male, based on his shape and size. He was dressed in a long-sleeved black shirt, dark trousers, a black hood and a balaclava, as they all had been. He wasnt visibly armed, though Gideon couldnt be sure he wasnt packing a concealed weapon. No sign of night-vision goggles, he saw to his relief.
Time ticked, and still no horn. Surely fifteen minutes had passed.
The sound of movement nearby set his nerves on edge. He hunkered lower, sheltered by a fallen pine tree that had gone down during the last tropical storm of the previous season. The leaves were brown and prickly but offered acceptable shelter.
He spotted movement to his right. A second man glided through the trees in near silence. Its done, the newcomer said in a flat, Midwestern accent that sounded strangely familiar. Gideon frowned, trying to remember where hed heard that voice before.
Good. The first mans voice was pitched a step or two lower, the authority in his voice unmistakable. He seemed to be the leader.
He spotted movement to his right. A second man glided through the trees in near silence. Its done, the newcomer said in a flat, Midwestern accent that sounded strangely familiar. Gideon frowned, trying to remember where hed heard that voice before.
Good. The first mans voice was pitched a step or two lower, the authority in his voice unmistakable. He seemed to be the leader.
Theres still Stone to deal with, Midwest said. And the women.
An old lady and a little stick of a girl. Still decent odds.
Gideon arched his eyebrows at the mans description of Shannon Cooper, remembering the way her windblown clothes had hugged her tempting curves and delightful valleys.
A third man circled around, moving with more speed than stealth. Through the pine fronds sheltering his hiding place, Gideon saw the leader wheel around aggressively as he reached them. Even though the third man was the largest of the three by far, he took a faltering step back as the leader hissed his displeasure.
Stupid idiot, what part of silent force dont you understand?
No sign of Stone, the big man said in a growling bass. I thought you said he would be trouble.
He will, the leader said. Hes already on guard, thanks to the misstep earlier, the leaders said. If we give him more time to shore up his defenses, we may not get a second chance. He thought he won today. He thinks he has time.
Arrogant son of a bitch, Midwest muttered.
Gideon frowned. That remark sounded personal.
The men moved forward toward the house, away from Gideons hiding place. With their backs to him, he took a chance to check his watch. Five past ten, and still no horn.
Where was Shannon?
* * *
G IDEON S NOT GOING to be happy that Im letting you wander out here while there are intruders about, Shannon whispered to Lydia as she followed the older woman through the high sea grass behind the caretakers cottage.
He asked you to sound the horn, Lydia said sensibly. We need to find out why the switch didnt work. And because you dont know how the contraption works and I do...
Theyd already checked the electrical connection to the house and found that the circuit appeared to be intact. The problem must be on the lighthouse end, Lydia had told her solemnly. The lines between the lighthouse and here run underground, she added, showing Shannon where the cable ran down into the sandy soil. We have to go to the lighthouse to see if someone has disabled the horn on that end.
Shannon hadnt protested Lydias pronouncement at first, her mind on Gideon somewhere out in the woods, outnumbered at least three to one. But the farther they walked from the house, the more vulnerable she felt.
Gideon had told her to stay put, and while she wasnt the sort of woman who needed a man to make her decisions for her, she knew the odds were against a natural explanation for the switch malfunction. More likely, someone had sabotaged the switch at the lighthouse.
Would that someone be guarding his handiwork? Were they walking into a trap?
She kept her hand on the butt of her GLOCK as she walked through the sand, her calves beginning to ache from the extra exertion. Up ahead, Nightshade Island Lighthouse glowed as pale as alabaster in the blue moonlight peeking through scudding clouds overhead.
There are two places where the connection could have been disrupted, Lydia whispered as they neared the base of the lighthouse. Here, where it comes out of the building and goes through a circuit box. And then theres also a connection up in the lighthouse itself.
Using a small penlight Shannon had grabbed from her duffel bag, they examined the connector. It looks all right, Shannon murmured.
That leaves the direct connection to the horn at the top, Lydia said, gazing up at the tall lighthouse. Theres a spiral staircase inside that leads to the service room and then up to the lantern room at the top, where the beacon is located. The beacon no longer works, but Gideon had an electrician from the mainland rig the horn. Its located on the catwalk outside the service room. Bathed with moonlight, her face creased with regret. Im afraid I cant manage all those stairs with my arthritic knees. Youll have to check it.
How will I know if its connected?
Im not sure, but I suspect if its been tampered with, youll know.
Youll have to stand guard, Shannon said, hating the idea of leaving Lydia alone. Ill be back as quickly as I can.
She opened the faded wood door of the lighthouse, her nerves twitching as her footsteps on the stone floor echoed up the tall structure. With her penlight, she traced the curve of the spiral staircase. At the top, there seemed to be a large, enclosed platform. That must be the service room.
She started up the steps, keeping her gaze directed upward. The steps were rusted but seemed sound enough, though the creaks and groans of metal echoed through the stone tower as she climbed.
She was breathing hard and her legs were shaking by the time she reached the service room, although she suspected fear, more than exertion, was the source of her weakness. She leaned against the damp stone wall and flashed her penlight around, taking in the small space.
There was little left of whatever had been inside the service room when the place was a working lighthouse. A rickety table, missing one leg and lying in a lopsided heap against one wall, took up half the space. Fortunately, it didnt block the door that led out to the narrow catwalk circling the lighthouse. Light seeped in through a cracked and dirty window. From elsewhereeither the broken window or the narrow space beneath the doora draft blew in, cool and fragrant with the sea.
Heart racing, Shannon opened the door and crept out onto the metal catwalk. With the Gulf of Mexico spreading around the island as far as the eye could see, she couldnt pretend she wasnt standing on a rusted metal platform thirty feet in the air. Shed never considered herself afraid of heights, but that perception was about to be tested.
The foghorns were a pair of long metal horns that jutted out from a flat platform about ten feet to Shannons left. Walking closer to the horns, she saw that whatever mechanism created their sound was back in the service room after all. She started to head back inside but paused, reorienting herself until she faced east, toward the wooded part of the island where Gideon had disappeared.
Suddenly, the air split with the booming moan of the foghorn, the sound rattling the catwalk beneath her feet. Shannon stumbled to her hands and knees, the penlight bouncing off the metal slats of the catwalk and tumbling over the side. The whole lighthouse seemed to vibrate with the horns basso profundo, as if the structure was about to collapse in on itself and sink into the sandy earth below.
Shannon crawled to the door of the service room, dizzy from the loud vibrations of the horn. It took a second, therefore, to realize what she was seeing in front of her.
The door to the service room, which she had most certainly left open when she went out onto the catwalk, was now closed.
* * *
T HE FOGHORN S PLAINTIVE moan finally filled the air, sending birds rising from their treetop perches and soaring into the air in a cloud of dark silhouettes against the moonlit sky.
Ahead of Gideon, the three men froze only a hundred yards from Stafford House. Gideon crouched low, keeping an eye on them from behind the cover of a palmetto bush. He squeezed himself into a tighter ball as the men started moving quickly toward him, away from the house.