Tsunami Connection by Michael James Gallagher Page B

transmitted.
    They did not need to worry about cameras anymore, and could
give undivided attention to looking for trip wires, footpad or motion sensors.
All of these gave off heat signatures that their eyewear could identify. They
proceeded carefully, picking their way through the woods. Kefira reflected that
she and Zak were lucky that the winter had been unseasonably warm. As a result,
the ground was almost bare where there might have been a meter of snow in a
normal year, which would have made their job much more arduous. Furthermore,
the hard-packed ground made discovering her and Zak very difficult.
    Meanwhile, a totally black-clad figure sat in a tree stand,
high up in a tall white pine. He was protected from heat seeking thermal scans
by a special cloth cabin. On his lap was a customized, suppressed and scoped,
takedown model Ruger 10/22 rifle. This operative was waiting patiently for
three people to come by water. His people had been tailing Aden and Sarah since
a few hours after their arrival in town. The communication from the bartender
at the pub in Boston had first alerted him. He was waiting now, sure of the
direction of their attack. His old friend, Fish, was unknowingly providing a
blow-by-blow streaming record of the three of them in the Ripplecove Inn
restaurant.
    Too bad about Fish, MacAuley thought as he scanned
the water.
    He heard their boat before he saw them. The suppressor
will cover me but that supersonic pop coming from the unseasonal heat could
save the third person, thought the shooter, as a bead of sweat rolled down
his nose. Reaching up, his specially padded gloved hand absorbed the sweat. He
opened a small vent on the upper side of the tent in the hunter's tree stand
and in wafted air.
    The noise of the boat approached. He was between 600 and 700
meters from the house, on the lakeside of the boat's approach, well secluded
and waiting for the target to pass in front of him at Murray's nipple. His
positioning gave MacAuley plenty of time to sight on Fish, Sarah and Aden. He
had to try for one double kill, two people with one bullet, and a second shot
for the third person.
    Kefira and Zak were unwittingly, diagonally opposite to
MacAuley's tree stand, about one kilometer to his right at the head of the
peninsula, just behind MacAuley's house. They were each watching an eyewear
display, showing a heat signature moving about inside the house. Their plan was
to support Aden and Sarah when the couple approached the house from the lake
side.
    Kefira and Zak's eyewear remarked small house noises, a heat
signature periodically moving about in the house, a light in the kitchen and a
fire in the wood stove. All seemed normal. They could now hear the boat
approaching from across the peninsula. Then there was a fast acceleration of
the motor, and then the sound of the motor idled. A loud splash followed and
then there was the 'clunk' noise of a heavy object hitting the aluminum deck.
After the loud splashes, the only sound they heard was that of a motor idling.
Kefira looked at Zak. They had to decide. Go to check on Aden and Sarah or head
for the house.
    "Damn, they're done. Toast, an' all because we
underestimated him again,″ cursed Zak.
    'I'll stay here in the back. You go in the front on my comm.
Ready," ordered Kefira.
    Then they heard it, a seaplane motor. It revved fast and
picked up speed. The plane banked and took no chances by not passing over the
house. It was gone. They knew that they had missed him and they were even more
leery of traps and mines. Kefira cursed and communicated with Zak around the
front of the house.
    "We have to go in the second story windows. Wait. Even
the second story might be booby-trapped. Stop. Make your way back here.
Now," she said emphasizing her role as superior officer despite Zak's
field experience. Kefira had asserted control. Zak came around. Kefira climbed
a tall, hardwood, oak tree, and lunged into the second story window feet first.
At the sound of Kefira's