She sniffled. “Luther,” she choked out.

He pressed a kiss to her forehead, then turned quickly, worried that he wouldn’t be able to leave if he saw her cry. With long steps he walked to where Roxanne stood. He waited for a moment until he heard Katie join her brother in the living room. Then he opened the door and took Roxanne’s hand to lead her outside into the dark.

Pretending to be as affectionate with Roxanne as he’d been with Katie was hard and felt unnatural, but in case they were being watched, he did it nevertheless. He was glad when they were finally sitting in Katie’s Audi and driving toward the waterfront to meet up with Blake’s team.

~ ~ ~

Luther pulled up at the abandoned pier and killed the engine. “Showtime.”

Roxanne nodded. “Let’s do this.”

They exited the car. Blake was already waiting for them. Luther looked around. He saw nobody else.

“Where is everybody?” Luther asked as Roxanne stopped next to him.

“The team is in place.” Blake motioned toward the water. “The exchange will take place on Alcatraz. It’s not exactly the kind of place we were counting on. We had to scramble to set everything up.”

“But isn’t Alcatraz open for tours?”

“The last night tour would have finished at nine thirty and normally the daytime staff doesn’t arrive till six am, but we’re in luck: Alcatraz is closed over the Christmas break. We won’t have any issues with civilians.” He paused for a moment. “Forrester wants you to deliver Katie. He asked for you by name.”

Luther’s forehead furrowed. “He doesn’t know me. How can he ask for me by name?”

“I can only assume that he’s been watching us all this time and figured out that you have a connection to Katie. Or maybe he sees you as less of a threat than somebody from Scanguards. I’m not sure. In any case, we’ll have your back.” Blake pointed to a small motorboat that was docked a few yards away from them. “Take the boat to the main dock on Alcatraz. Once you get there, he’ll turn on lights along the ground that will lead you to the location where the exchange will take place.”

“And then?”

“That’s all we have. Don’t worry, we’ll be there to swoop in as soon as he reveals himself. Your job is to secure Isabelle.” Blake addressed Roxanne, “You know what to do. Keep your cover for as long as you can so you can get close to him. You need to distract him from Isabelle. Understood?”

Roxanne nodded.

“I can’t give you any weapons. We must assume that he will be able to detect if you’re armed. We can’t risk it. It has to look like we’re ready to do the exchange.”

“Not a problem.”

“But I have one thing for you.” Blake dug into his pocket and pulled out a tiny item that looked like a button. “A camera.” He reached for Luther’s jacket and affixed the camera to the lapel. “That way we can see what you see. It’ll help us get into the right position. It doubles as a GPS so we’ll have an exact location on you.”

Luther glanced at the small item. It blended in with the color of his jacket, and if he didn’t know it was there, he wouldn’t have been able to detect it. “Guess we’re ready. Keys?”

Blake handed him the keys for the boat. “Good luck!”

Luther hopped into the boat and helped Roxanne into it. It had been a while since he’d been on a motorboat, but he still remembered how to steer one. He put the key in the ignition and started the engine. Blake untied them from the dock and tossed the rope into the boat.

In the distance, Alcatraz Island stood like a beacon in the middle of San Francisco Bay. Its main building, the cell block, which tourists visited during opening hours, was lit from the outside by large spot lights. The rest of the island, however, lay in total darkness. Abandoned buildings stood like eerie reminders of what this island had once housed: dangerous criminals.

A wooden water tower peeked out on one side of the island, a lighthouse overlooking it all. There was some vegetation on Alcatraz, a few trees and bushes near the dock where the tourists started their tour, but not much on the far side of the island.

Luther remembered a paved walkway spanning the whole island, as well as heaps of old concrete blocks that were dumped on the back end.

Luther gunned the engine and pushed the boat to its limit until he saw the dock appear in front of him. He throttled the engine down and pulled up alongside it. Roxanne threw the line out, catching one of the many hooks and tied the boat up. Luther turned the engine off and stepped onto the dock. He turned back to Roxanne and offered her his hand to help her out of the boat.