“It’s personal,” Keo said.
Lara stood between the two men near the door, listening to them going back and forth inside the oil rig’s sickbay while watching Zoe check on Riley’s vitals across the room. Both Hart and Keo were talking in low voices — or, at least, they had started that way. If Zoe was bothered by the conversation as it grew in volume, she didn’t stop adjusting the IV drip connected to Riley’s arm to let it be known. Riley was heavily sedated and hadn’t woken since they brought him inside the room hours ago.
“Was that what you were doing out there when you got caught?” Hart asked. “Sneaking around, trying to find Mercer?”
“Something like that,” Keo said. “I didn’t know where he was or even what he looked like, so I had to take more chances than I would have liked.”
“How was getting captured going to help you?”
Keo shrugged. “It wasn’t my first choice, but it worked out. Erin was taking me to him for interrogation.”
“Where?”
“The Ranch.”
“You know about that?”
“It’s been a topic of multiple conversations I’ve had with your fellow Mercerians.”
“‘Mercerians,’” Hart grunted. Lara couldn’t tell if he liked the word or found it insulting. Maybe a little of both. “Why didn’t they just shoot you on the spot?”
“Only Erin can answer that,” Keo said. “She’s the only reason I’m still alive now.”
“Hunh,” Hart said.
“That mean something to you?”
Hart glanced over at her, and Lara could tell he was replaying their last conversation about Erin and Riley. “Maybe,” Hart said.
“Tell Keo what you told me,” Lara said.
Hart nodded and repeated what he had told her about Riley and Erin, how Riley had almost recruited her, but she left for Texas first. Keo listened silently, processing the new information without interrupting.
“The Ranch is an island called Black Tide,” Lara said when Hart was finished. “That’s where they were taking you.”
“So that’s where Mercer will be,” Keo said. “Which leaves the obvious question: How do I get there?”
“Reaching Black Tide isn’t the problem,” Hart said. “I can give you the coordinates, and you could get there by boat with enough fuel reserves.”
“What’s the security like?”
“That’s the good news…”
“Good, I like good news.”
“Right now, Black Tide is at its most vulnerable. You won’t find a better time to assault the place. With the war in full swing, there won’t be enough men left to watch every inch of the place, so you could easily sneak onto it at night.”
“So I could just swim ashore with no one the wiser?”
Hart shrugged. “Theoretically.”
“I’m a very good swimmer.”
“It’s true,” Lara said. “Keo is half dolphin.”
“So about that boat and a map…” Keo said.
“You have your pick of boats; we won’t be needing them anyway, thanks to the Trident,” Hart said. “You can fill it with as much gas and reserves as you need to reach the island. Getting back, well, that’s your problem, because we’re not going to be here when you come back. That’s assuming you make it out of there alive.”
“You let me worry about that.”
“Can I ask why?” Hart said, looking curiously at Keo.
“Why what?”
“Mercer. Why, and what do you hope to achieve by killing him?”
“Some assholes just need killing,” Keo said. “Your Mister Mercer is one such asshole.”
“Jordan,” Lara said.
Keo nodded and leaned against the railing at the top of the stairs, with the submarine door into the oil rig closed behind them.
“He killed her?” Lara asked.
“Not with his own hands, but he may as well have.”
“This war of his…”
“Yeah.”
“I’m sorry, Keo. I know you two were close.” She paused for a moment, searching for the right words. “I really liked her, even though we only met for a short time.”
“She was easy to like.”
“When did it happen?”
“After Sunport. We were on our way to T18.”
“And Gillian?”
“I don’t know. We — I never made it to her.”
Keo went quiet and they spent the next few minutes staring silently at the sunless horizon, at the black-and-blue of the ocean sloshing under the full moon. Even the wind seemed to have settled down, and she didn’t have to zip her jacket all the way up unlike the last time she was out here. She focused on the Trident, anchored nearby with just enough of its lights turned on to give its position away.
“What are you going to do after you kill Mercer?” she finally asked.
“I don’t know,” Keo said. “I haven’t thought that far ahead.”
I was afraid of that.
“We could use another able body on the Trident,” she said.
“You got Hart and the other guy.”
“Riley hasn’t told me where I’m supposed to take them. If we don’t like it there, it wouldn’t make sense to stay. This alliance of ours might be very short-lived.”
“Does Hart know the location?”
“I think so, but he won’t tell me without Riley’s permission.”
“Loyal to the end, huh?”
“Loyalty’s a hard thing to find these days.”
“And there’s the kind that convinces you dropping bombs on pregnant women is perfectly A-OK.”
“I didn’t say it was always a good thing.”
She glanced over at him. There was a single light bulb over the door behind her, and it cast a halo around them. She wished she were looking at the face of someone who expected to come back from his “mission” alive, but she knew better.
“I could really use you back on the Trident with me, Keo,” she said.
“My greatness precedes me,” he smiled, though it wasn’t nearly as convincing as his usual smiles.
“It’s well deserved.”
“I knew you secretly liked me.”
“Don’t be an ass.”
He chuckled. “Just sayin’.”
“Come with us.”
“You mean after I finish with Mercer.”
She shook her head and turned around to look at him. “No. I don’t mean that at all.”
“What do you mean?”
“Forget Mercer. Come back to the Trident with me instead.”
“I can’t.”
“Why not?”
“Because I can’t.”
“At least tell me you’re hoping to also stop this war by killing him.”
“I could, but it’d be a lie.” He looked off at the darkness around the oil rig and gritted his teeth. “There’s nothing noble about this, Lara. There isn’t a grand plan. There’s just me and him.”
“You just want to kill him, is that it?”
“Yes.”
“That’s it.”
“That’s it.”
“Jesus, Keo.”
“Yeah…”
She turned away and leaned back against the railing. “Danny’s probably dead,” she said quietly.
“What?” Keo said, looking over at her for the first time since they stepped outside. “I thought you said he was just having a problem getting back. That’s a hell of a long way from ‘probably dead,’ Lara.”
“Carly hasn’t stopped crying since he radioed in hours ago. She doesn’t think he’s going to make it.”
“Jesus. What did he say?”
“It wasn’t what he said; it’s what he didn’t say.”
“What about the girl and her boyfriend?”