Page 65 of Ground Truth

“And you know this how?” Scarlett asked, arching her eyebrows in his direction.

“Don’t ask,” Flint replied.

A brief silence settled over the room.

“So let’s get to work,” Gaspar said after a bit, loading an image of Atabei from the air onto one of the screens. “Here’s the island country we’re talking about. It sits in the Caribbean near the Bahamas. The island was sold to Ernst Hedinger about ten years ago. Since then, he’s poured money into improvements and built a paradise that’s also, as Flint said, a ‘fortress.’”

“Can’t get onto that island from the air without Hedinger’s goons shooting you down or shooting you after you’re down. So any sort of drop-in attempt would fail. The airspace is monitored tighter than every military base you can name,” Flint said. “They probably have anti-air weapons of some sort. Man-portable air-defense system, most likely.”

“You think so?” Drake asked, incredulous. “If they used MANPADS to take down an aircraft, governments would find out about it. That would be the end of Hedinger’s idyllic island, surely.”

“Good point. But do you want to be the one to test that theory?” Flint asked. “If they’re watching the airspace, we can’t use it to get onto the island. Maybe they wouldn’t shoot us down, but they would spot us and come after us. I’d like to avoid all that if we can.”

“Right,” Drake mumbled, still spoiling for a fight.

“Can’t go in by boat, either,” Scarlett pointed out reasonably when Gaspar flashed an image of the docks on the screen. “The harbor is closed and armed guards to keep the riffraff out.”

Gaspar said, “Atabei is small geographically. Population is only about two thousand, give or take, if you include the locals who mostly do all the labor. Very few guests. All guests are invited, monitored, and escorted for the entire time they’re allowed to stay on the island.”

Flint rolled his shoulders to loosen the tension that the mention of Hedinger’s name had settled on him. “Yeah, and when Hedinger is in residence, the place will be locked down tighter than the Kremlin. Security staff size when he’s not in residence is probably smaller.”

“There’s no official numbers. But if we assume crews of two running shifts around the clock at the airport and the docks, that’s at least twelve guards,” Gaspar replied. “We should assume maybe fifteen, at a minimum. Give or take.”

“Seems like a lot,” Drake said. “You’re saying he’s got one security officer per fewer than one hundred fifty people? Normal ratios of cops to civilians are a lot lower.”

“Fair point.” Flint nodded. “There are probably closer to ten members of the team when Hedinger’s not in residence. Maybe less. But it’s smart to plan on fifteen or more.”

“So what do you propose we do?” Scarlett asked with a hard edge to her tone, which Flint was glad to hear.

Because if Hedinger was the mastermind they were dealing with here, which was looking more likely by the minute, Flint’s small team was seriously outmanned and outgunned.

With Scarlett on board they’d have easy access to Gaspar and all of Scarlett’s resources.

Drake, of course, had always been fully committed.

Flint could only hope his small band of warriors would be enough. “Gaspar, can you pull up the most recent satellite video of Atabei again? I saw some unusual activity on the northwest side of the island. Let’s take a closer look.”

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Chapter 33

Flint donned his dark glasses and kept his eyes lowered until Gaspar had the video focused on the construction activity he’d noticed earlier.

“What is that?” Drake asked. “The footprint seems huge for a private residence, doesn’t it?”

Flint looked at the screen’s pulsing lights in brief spurts. “Can we get a closer look?”

“We can peek under their underwear if you want,” Gaspar deadpanned while increasing the size of the images on the screen. “Hard to tell what the owner plans to use the place for. Could be a home or a small hotel, perhaps. There’s no building department or permitting requirements in Atabei. So no systems I can breach to get floor plans or applications for construction.”

“Right. But it looks like residential living of some kind. Multiple suites with en suite baths. So a hotel isn’t a bad guess. Could also be one of Hedinger’s mansions.”

“How many mansions does Hedinger need on one small island?” Gaspar shook his head as he continued manipulating the video to achieve closer views. “He already owns the biggest residence on Atabei. And they’ve got the country club. And the hospital.”

“Fair point,” Flint replied again. “So it’s a mansion but not one Hedinger plans to live in. Still, he’d have given approval for the build.”

Scarlett leaned against the desk with her arms crossed. “Not likely any building would happen on that island without Hedinger’s approval, is it?”

“Definitely not,” Flint said. “You can pull video of that construction for the past few months, I assume?”

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