Kilkeel was a fishing port located about thirty miles to the south of Ardglass. It was a majority Protestant town where loyalist sentiment ran deep. Quinn suggested it in a second text. When the reply came a few seconds later, he looked at Delaney and shook his head.

“Where does he want us to go?”

“He says Shore Road is quiet.”

“Where?”

“Just north of the castle.”

“It’s not one of my favorite spots.”

“Can you get in and out before sunrise?”

“No problem.”

Jack Delaney increased the speed and set a course for the southern tip of the Ards Peninsula. Quinn peered into the forward cabin and saw Madeline lying bound and hooded on one of the two berths. She had passed the journey quietly. Katerina, who had made several emergency visits to the head to be sick, was smoking a cigarette at the galley table.

“How are you feeling?” asked Quinn.

“Do you care?”

“Not really.”

She nodded toward the Ardglass lighthouse and said, “Looks as though we missed our exit.”

“Change in plan,” said Quinn.

“Police?”

Quinn nodded.

“What did you expect?”

“Get ready,” he said. “We have one more boat ride.”

“Lucky me.”

Quinn slipped through the companionway and went onto the deck. The weather was clear and cold, and a spray of stars shone brightly in the black sky. The coastline north of Ardglass was mainly farmland, with a few scattered cottages overlooking the sea. Quinn swept the landscape with his binoculars, but it was still too dark to see anything. They churned past Guns Island, an uninhabited lump of green two hundred yards off the village of Ballyhornan, and a few minutes later rounded the rocky headland that guarded the mouth of Strangford Lough. Channel markers pointed the route north. The first lights were starting to come on in the cottages along Shore Road, enough so that Quinn could discern the silhouette of Kilclief Castle. Then he saw three bursts of light a little farther up the shoreline. He sent a text message that consisted only of a question mark. The reply said the front door was wide open.

Quinn readied the Zodiac and returned to the cabin. He pointed toward the spot where he had seen the flashes of light and instructed Jack Delaney to make for it. Then he ducked down the steps into the forward cabin and snatched the hood from Madeline’s head. A pair of eyes glared at him in the semidarkness.

“Time to go ashore,” said Quinn. “Be a good lass. Otherwise, I’ll put a bullet through your brain. Are we clear?”

The two eyes stared coldly back at him. No fear there, thought Quinn, only anger. He had to admit he admired her courage. He pulled the black hood over her head and lifted her to her feet.