Page 132 of The Lazarus Protocol

If she was planning to blow the volcano to take out the island somehow, hopefully that would be after all the good guys left the area.

“We should split up.” Kyle had seen what Adam noticed, and he didn’t want the drone to hear, because he whispered.

Up ahead was a fork in the path that wasn’t really a path. Adam turned his back to the drone and mouthed, Bad idea.

“You and Steph can have safety in numbers. I’ll catch up to you.”

Adam was about to argue when Kyle darted off down the other path. The drone swung to the side, noticing the sudden change in direction but didn’t follow him. Whoever was watching had likely alerted his superiors, and another drone would be dispatched to find Kyle.

Adam nudged Steph. “Come on.”

She nodded, because it was about time and they both knew it.

Across the island, the boat exploded, taking out most of the dock along with it. The fireball erupted into the sky in a billowing cloud of orange that dissipated in black that smelled like oil.

Adam and Steph broke into a run, making it down the side of the volcano in double time. They were banking on security and personnel being dispatched to the site of the disaster and encountering Vesper’s men on the way. Sure enough, the sound of gunfire from that side of the island didn’t follow too far behind.

The drone paced them, moving down the hill about ten feet to their left.

Probably controlled by Polaris. Watching to see how they reacted. This whole thing might be a mining facility, but it was likely also a human experiment the drone used to assess behavior.

Adam knew all too well what it felt like to be studied, but taking out the drone wouldn’t solve anything.

The trees grew farther apart down here.

“Fence.” Adam slowed his pace, swung his gun around, and took out the drone again.

Steph knelt at the chain link and tested it against the nose of the pliers first. When it didn’t spark, she cut an opening big enough for them to crawl through. On the far side, a guard stepped out of the shadows.

Adam went to one knee and fired.

Steph flinched. “Thanks.”

“Anytime.”

“We should get moving before someone comes to investigate.”

He nodded, rising out of the kneeling position and watching her back as they raced to the closest building. Between that and the neighboring one, they were able to get a look at the structures. “There are at least five. Probably more.”

“Split up?”

“I don’t like it.” Adam needed to find his team, but with only two of them? He slid out a phone he’d brought with them that Ice had him use to log into their system—the one that tracked their comms earbuds. But the phone had no signal. “Can’t track them, even if their earbuds are here.”

“There’s probably a signal blackout across the whole island.”

“Then how do the drones communicate with each other, and whoever controls them?”

Steph peered around the front corner of the building. “They have a satellite connection. Probably proprietary. It won’t let any phone connect to it.”

“Too bad they don’t have guest Wi-Fi.”

She stiffened and tucked back against the wall.

Four men in black fatigues ran past, not Vesper’s guys. They each wore an orange bandana tied around their left bicep so that Adam and his team could tell them apart from the bad guys. These Starwise Holdings guards ran for one of the buildings, moving with intention.

He glanced at Steph. “What’s your guess they’re headed to kill the workers?”

“I’m not willing to find out you’re right without trying to stop them.”