Deep Sleep (Devin Gray #1)(82)

As the hours dragged on, the last team gave up on the idea of renting a boat and had started making hard inquiries about paying cash for a few inexpensive speedboats advertised at some of the marina stores. They were in the process of convincing one of the owners to drop everything and trail the boat to the lake, where they’d pay cash on the spot if he could demonstrate that the boat worked.

Marnie was asleep on the other settee. She’d been out for a while now, having tipped her ball cap over her face about an hour and a half ago. Devin got up and put one of the beach blankets they’d purchased this morning over her legs so she didn’t wake up with a sunburn. She stirred for a moment and went still. He’d kill for a nap right now, or a swim to cool down, but he didn’t want to wake Marnie. Maybe he could quietly slip into the water for a few minutes?

Devin took off his shirt. He made his way to the platform at the back of the boat and had just started down the ladder when a pontoon boat burst into the Woods Hollow at full speed, Rich and his team hooting and hollering the entire way to Devin’s anchorage. Marnie bolted upright, looking at him, confused. He quickly climbed back on deck and grabbed the railing to steady himself before the other boat’s bow wave hit.

“Hang on!” he said, worried she might topple off the couch.

She grabbed the railing above the cushion as the wave rocked the boat—nowhere near as forcefully as he had imagined. A pontoon boat was, after all, one of the most stable platforms on the water. Marnie yawned and stretched as Rich swung back around and idled his boat alongside.

“Do you think one anchor will hold both boats?” asked Rich.

“I’m not the expert,” said Devin, glancing toward Marnie.

“We didn’t cover pontoon boat anchoring in the Marine Corps,” she said. “But I think we’d be better off swinging around on one anchor than two. And there’s no breeze to speak of, so I think one will do it.”

Devin reached off the port side to grab the other boat. Marnie leaned over the couch and did the same, the two of them keeping the boats in place while Jared and Emily tied them together. Rich killed his engine and wiped the sweat off his brow. Scott immediately went to work on the pontoon boat’s canopy.

“Sorry about the dramatic entry,” he said. “Something about boats brings out the kid in me.”

“I believe the term you’re looking for is immature jackass,” said Jared. “He was like that the entire trip down. Not kidding. We’re carrying several life sentences in weapons and ammunition—and he’s weaving around like a drunk.”

“He’s not driving to the infiltration point,” said Emily. “Period.”

Rich shrugged. “It was fun while it lasted. Looked like you were going for a swim?”

“I was thinking about it. I’m like fifteen minutes from a reactor core meltdown.”

Jared hopped on board, taking shelter under the canopy. “I wouldn’t know, since we had a twenty-mile-per-hour wind and lake spray hitting our faces for the past hour.”

“These things move faster than I thought,” said Devin. “I saw people skiing and tubing behind them.”

“Yeah. I had originally envisioned three speedboats, mostly because I don’t know a damn thing about lake recreation,” said Rich. “But these are actually better overall. More room for gear, and they can navigate shallower water. We still need a speedboat to launch the drone. Gupta isn’t confident twenty miles per hour is fast enough. I think it is, but he’s not convinced—and the drone surveillance is critical.”

“I suppose we could steal one from a marina,” said Devin. “How hard could it be to hot-wire one of those things?”

“The thought had crossed my mind. Alex called a few minutes ago and said the deal is almost done. The owner of a Sea Ray is on his way over to a place where they can put the boat in the water to run it. Somewhere not too far south of Diamond City, which isn’t too far from here.”

“What about Graves and Gupta? It sounds like they’ll have to work from one of the boats,” said Devin. “We’ll have to move one of the pontoon boats to a cove closer to the conservation area. I don’t think they’ll be able to control the drone from here.”

“Berg dropped Graves and Gupta with Alex’s team, then secured parking for their vehicle at a motel in Diamond City. No vacancies, but for the same price as a room, you can park in one of the dozen open spaces overnight. They’ll run the SUV over, load up the boat, and head our way. We have vehicles all over the lake at this point. Not ideal, but what else could we do?” said Rich. “As far as relocating goes, we won’t have to worry about that. They’ll use the speedboat. We’ll all head out together, and they’ll speed ahead to launch it.”

“Will they be able to operate the drone from a speedboat?” asked Devin.

“Tim says it’ll be fine, and he’s a boater. They’ll launch the drone, put it in one of those autonomous aerial patterns away from the camp, and find a quiet cove nearby to work their magic.”

“What will Karl do while all of this is going on?” asked Devin.

“Good question. I’m thinking he’ll hang around closer to Branson and wait for word. There’s a La Quinta Inn about a twenty-minute drive from Mincy. Same distance from the OK Marina, if we need to get off the water fast. My thought was that we’d head north after the mission. Berg can grab us at any number of locations along the lake.”