Total pages in book: 59
Estimated words: 55087 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 275(@200wpm)___ 220(@250wpm)___ 184(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 55087 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 275(@200wpm)___ 220(@250wpm)___ 184(@300wpm)
“I’ll work closely with you, Phoenix,” Hawking said as he accepted the spaghetti fork to help himself next. “I’m a weapons expert, but here, I’m in charge of security. This is a huge area, and there are multiple entry points—by road, sea, and the cliff. It will be pretty much a security nightmare when the resort is full of guests. I can see that having Magnus’s eyes on everything will be a great benefit. But he has to sleep sometime.”
He paused to look down at the fork in his hand. “What is this? Like the magic talking stick from kindergarten? We can only talk if we have this in our hands?”
The laughter that followed broke some of the tension. Rocco relaxed back against his chair for the first time since the group had met for dinner and noted that the others did as well.
Grinning, Hawking continued, “Magnus, you go next because I see security and IT working closely together. How can I view what you see here when I’m outside or in my quarters?”
“No one will have access to everything I see,” Magnus told the group. “But, I can set up a smaller feed of the perimeter to allow your security staff to monitor the area twenty-four/seven.”
“That would be better than nothing. I can always come here or contact you if I need to see what’s happening,” Hawking finished and pushed the lightened pot of spaghetti to the next guy.
Caesar jumped in next as he helped himself. “I’m in charge of water exploration here. My background is in underwater sports. The setup for scuba and snorkeling is secure. All the equipment can be locked up when not in use to avoid tampering. I explored the shoreline from about a half mile out. There are a series of caves that could harbor assailants. I suggest we get waterproof surveillance for those entrances,” he said. “Then we can keep an eye on them.”
“Added to my list,” Magnus said, typing into his phone.
Kestrel followed. “The helicopter is almost brand new. It’s better than something that has never flown. It has just enough miles to tell me it’s reliable without needing constant maintenance. The bird’s-eye view may come in handy—even more so if we add a thermal imaging camera to my display.”
Magnus added that to his list. “What else?”
Kestrel added, “I suspect we need to add lighting to the helicopter pad. I’m sure it’s limited so the cabins nearby aren’t illuminated at night, but I think there will be too many shadows around it if we’re worried about sabotage. We’ll have to judge how much danger we’re expecting.”
“That seems to be the million-dollar question. How safe does safe have to be?” Rocco spoke up. “I’m in charge of hiking and climbing. I hiked the trails today, and the upper levels of that cliff face will be survivable by only the most skilled mountain climbers with the best equipment and plenty of time to attach anchors.”
“But for descent from the top? Is that doable?” Hawking asked.
“With a long enough rope, definitely. It would take some time for someone to navigate down that cliff face safely. There’s likely to be debris dropping from their path. Falling stones and earth will warn us someone is coming,” Rocco pointed out.
“So, the easiest way to get into the resort is to drive through the front gates as a guest or delivery person,” Kestrel said to sum up their findings.
“There’s a big dock out there. I would guess that a good restaurant could draw people in on boats,” Caesar said.
Everyone looked at the pasta that was quickly disappearing. Hawking confiscated the pasta fork and filled his plate again. Rocco knew they would definitely have day visitors as well if the chefs could create food as delicious as this dish.
“There’s another thing we need to discuss,” Magnus said after a short lull in the conversation.
Rocco shifted his full attention to the computer genius.
“Baldwin Kingsley III is in the wind,” Magnus informed them.
Rocco flinched. “What does that mean?”
Magnus shrugged. “It means he doesn’t exist. Not on paper, at least. Could be a pseudonym. Could be that the guy is just so loaded he keeps his name hidden from the globe. Whatever the case, I have no information to share about him, and I doubt I ever will.”
There was a collective sigh.
Kestrel ran a hand over his hair. “Do you think this should worry us?”
Magnus leaned back in his chair and sighed. “Not really. It doesn’t change anything. Whoever the guy is, he obviously doesn’t like public attention. We all know he sent teams of people to rescue our asses from precarious situations. We owe him a marker. His primary goal seems to be to save the innocent out of the goodness of his heart. If he has any ulterior motives, I don’t know what they are.”