Within ten minutes, the Gulfstream G650 was heading for Saint Vincent and the Grenadines. At a top speed of 610 miles per hour, we were going to be over our target within three and a half hours.

I knew it was going to be the longest three and a half hours of my life.

Johnny ran through the details during our flight. “Eve was right, we’re going to have to go out the aft baggage area. We can access it from inside the plane, so we’re good.”

“Why can’t we just go out the door?” I asked.

“Don’t want to get sucked into the engines,” Johnny explained. “Or bash your head on the wing and get knocked out.”

“Oh.”

“Do we have intel on the boat?” Leo asked. “I mean, what are we looking at here?”

“Eve?” I said.

The television monitor in front of us lit up with white letters on a back background. She had commandeered the plane’s internet connection long before we took off.

It’s a custom-built mega-yacht, 300 feet in length. I’m keeping track of it via satellite – you’ll be able to parachute within a half mile of the location.

“What about specs – layout, decks, engine room?” Johnny asked.

The screen flashed with picture after picture of boat blueprints. Got them from the manufacturer. Wait – hold on –

“What is it?” I asked.

Hold on, I’m trying something.

There was no answer from her for almost ten minutes. We went back to discussing the mission until the following text appeared:

Okay, I’m back. Miranda’s guys have a communication link via satellite. I snuck in.

“Fuckin’ A,” Leo said, impressed – as were the rest of us.

“Anything useful?” I asked.

Want to see their entire surveillance system?

“Hell yeah!” Johnny whooped.

Twelve small rectangles appeared onscreen, each with a shot of a different place on the ship. The bridge, the engine room, hallways, exterior walkways, and more.

“Holy shit, this is fantastic,” Johnny said, getting right on the edge of his seat and watching the camera angles like a hawk. “I’m counting six guys at least, including the captain there – ”

“Seven,” Leo said, pointing at a pair of boots in the background of one shot.

“AR-15s and side arms. Glocks, probably,” Juan said.

“So at least seven, maybe more,” Johnny said. “One on the bridge, one in the engine room, one on the starboard side walkway, two on the – ”

“What about Lily?” I interrupted as I scanned the screen. “Where’s Lily and Sebastian?”

“And Miranda,” Johnny pointed out. “She’s not on here.”

I don’t see them anywhere, Eve typed. But I’m guessing they’re here.

The camera angles flickered out, and the boat blueprints reappeared – only now there was a bright red circle around a room towards the front of the boat.

It’s a room on the main deck, beneath the bridge. I’ve seen a guy going in with a laptop, then he left without it. I got a glimpse of what I think might be Lily and Sebastian.

“Can we see?” I asked, my voice desperate.

I wish I could rewind their tape and show you the recording, but to do that, I’d have to take over their system, and they would know I’m there. I can use my own computer to record everything we see from this point onward, but I can’t show you what I saw without triggering their alarms. I’m sorry.

“Don’t be,” I said. “Just knowing they’re alive is enough.”

Johnny pointed at the red circle. “That’s where we’re headed when we board the ship, then. Eve – you said you don’t want to let them know you’re there, but is there any way you can run interference for us once we’re onboard? Turn off the lights, shut off the power, that sort of thing?”

Maybe. I’m writing a remote access program I’m going to sneak into their system. If it works, I’ll be able to override their ability to turn off the satellite link or kick me out, and in that case I might be able to take over the ship. But you can’t count on that.

“Alright,” Johnny said. “We’ll hope for the best, but prepare for the worst. But just having all this preliminary intel is fantastic.”

Um… Connor? I’ve got some bad news.

“Is it about Lily?” I asked, my heart suddenly jumping into my throat.

No, nothing about her. But they’re accessing your company’s servers – lots of them. Bank accounts, too.

“What?!” I barked.

They’re not hacking anything, either. They appear to have the passwords.

“How the hell – ”

“Sebastian,” Johnny realized.

“What?”

“He’s the only person who would know,” Johnny pointed out. “They’re probably holding a gun on him, making him give them access to everything in your company.”

“Or they paid him,” Leo suggested.

“No,” I said, more sure of that answer than anything else in my life. “If Sebastian’s helping them, it’s because they’re threatening him.”

“Or Lily,” Johnny said quietly.

My stomach knotted up even tighter. “…or Lily.”

I could block whatever he’s doing, Eve offered. But if I do that –

“They’d know we’re watching,” I said.

Yes.

“And shut you down.”

Probably. Even if they couldn’t, we would definitely lose the element of surprise.

I had no idea what Miranda was having Sebastian do. It could be sabotage, espionage, or theft, on an order of magnitude no company had ever experienced in all of human history. The damage could total in the billions. Maybe the tens of billions.

Yet there wasn’t even a question in my mind.

“Let them do whatever they’re doing and don’t interfere,” I said. “The number one priority is not to let them know we’re watching.”

Johnny looked at me from the corner of his eye. “You sure?”

“We’ll worry about what Miranda’s done after we get Lily and Sebastian back. Nothing else matters till that happens.”

“So what’s the plan?” Juan asked.

“Get aboard, find Lily and Sebastian, then commandeer the ship,” Johnny said.

“And kill anybody who gets in your way,” I added.

Juan nodded. “Sounds like my kind of plan.”