by S. S. Segran
Tegan’s face fell. “You’re kidding.”
“Do you think I’d joke about that?” Aari snapped. “Come on, Tegan.”
Tegan tossed him the towel without saying anything. She kept her expression neutral, which Aari knew was her way of staving off hurt. He dried off his face, hair, hands and feet before folding the towel and putting it aside. They sat together, both looking out over the water. He knew he’d been unfair in lashing out at her, but the distress was eating at him.
He fingered his pendant, feeling its edges and the blue crystal in the middle, then bumped elbows with her. “I’m sorry, Teegs.”
“It’s fine.”
“No, it’s not. That’s not how we talk to each other. I’m just . . . really upset right now.”
“It’s fine.”
“Teegs—”
“Really, I get it. Truthfully, I probably would’ve reacted the same way.” Tegan in turn bumped her elbow against his, then glanced over the side of the boat. “I just hope Marshall finds that canister before those locals come back with an unwanted surprise—and, oh, speaking of whom . . . ”
The Sentry popped to the surface. He pulled off his mask, tossing it into the boat, then hauled himself onto the craft. Leaning over the side, he threw up what was most likely half a bucket of water. Both Aari and Tegan cringed.
“It’s not there,” the Sentry said, teeth gritted.
Tegan sucked in her cheeks, arms crossed. “Someone must have removed it.”
“The box looked like it’d been shut for ages,” Aari said. “I’m thinking probably since the plane went down.”
Tegan sat down heavily on one of the seats. “That doesn’t make sense. Josh said the government couldn’t find the canister, which was why they scrapped the project.”
Marshall untied the boat from the down line. “We’re gonna have to delve further into this.”
“I just can’t believe we came out all the way here to return empty-handed,” Aari said. The rumbling of a distant motor wafted to his ears. A red-and-white speedboat, just like theirs, was coming from the direction of the marina. “That’s not the locals you were talking about, right, Tegan?”
“No. Those guys were in a silver boat.” Tegan wouldn’t take her eyes off the vessel. “It’s going through the water pretty fast. Looks like it’s coming right at us, too.”
“Do we have a pair of binoculars on board, by any slim chance?” Aari asked.
“Nope,” Marshall responded from where he was securing the fishing and scuba gear at the back of the boat.
Aari cast an eye up at the sky. Maybe if he found a bird, Tegan could use it to check out who it was that seemed to be heading their way. A lone, red-tailed hawk was circling not too far away from them. “Hey,” he began.
“Already on it,” Tegan said, closing her eyes.
Aari watched as the hawk abandoned its circling and flew toward the oncoming vessel. It lowered its altitude, which he figured was to allow Tegan to get a better view of the occupants. As he waited, he shook more water out of his hair with his hands. Just as he was finishing up, Tegan snapped back violently, startling him into smacking himself. She shoved her knuckles into her mouth to stop herself from yelling out.
Aari grabbed her wrist. “What?”
“Tony!” she yelped. “He has another guy with him, and he’s got a gun!”
51
“Marshall!” Aari yelled. “We need to go!”
The boat’s engine rumbled to life. “They’re between us and the marina,” Marshall said. “We won’t be able to go back just yet.”
Tegan eyed the approaching vessel. “What do we do?”
“Sit tight, both of you,” the Sentry ordered. He pushed the throttle and their boat took off, bouncing over the lake away from the direction of the marina. The wind had picked up, turning the calm water choppy. The engine was loud to the trio’s ears and the gusts blew into their faces. Tegan held onto her seat, tensing with each impact, her hair flying wildly behind her. She turned to look at their pursuers, who were slowly but surely getting closer.
“Where are we gonna go?” Aari shouted, but Marshall didn’t hear him over all the noise.
Tegan was shaking her head quickly. “They have binoculars! It doesn’t matter where we go, we’ll be in their sights!”
Aari kicked his heel repeatedly into the bottom of his seat. “Great! Just what we needed!”
Tegan kept watch on Tony and his cohort as Marshall pushed the boat up to full speed. They soared over the waves for another minute. As they approached a rocky islet to the left, the Sentry pulled back on the throttle.
“Why are we slowing down?” Tegan demanded over the motor.
“Just trust me,” he said.
Biting the tip of her thumb, she eyed their pursuers as they got nearer. Marshall, I hope you know what you’re doing . . .
As Tony’s boat continued at top speed and came within a couple of hundred yards of theirs, Marshall opened the throttle and made a tight turn around the islet, forcing Tony to overshoot. Their pursuer would have to make a wide turn to re-engage in the chase. They pulled away from the rocky outcrop and sped back down the arm of the lake toward the marina. As they passed the area where the B-29 lay, Marshall called over his shoulder to Aari and Tegan. “I need you to throw all of our gear overboard!”
Aari gaped. “You can’t be serious!”
“We’ve got to get rid of the excess weight! You need to dump everything!”
Tegan dove for the anchor, cut off the rope and heaved it into the lake without a second thought. She saw Aari shake his head in remorse as he picked up the scuba tank and leaned over the side of the boat. He hesitated, then threw the equipment over.
Marshall kept the throttle pushed all the way forward and the vessel started to pull away from their pursuers. Tegan threw her fists in the air. “Yes!” Her confidence was short-lived, though, as a second later, the sound of gunfire traveled across the lake.
“They’re shooting at us?” Aari demanded. “I thought they want us alive!”
“They’re shooting at the boat,” Marshall corrected. Another shot sounded as the last word left his lips. Tegan was sure she’d felt the projectile strike something and the Sentry confirmed it. “They hit us! I’ve lost throttle control! We’re stuck on full speed!”
“I don’t think that’s a problem right now!” Tegan rubbernecked around Marshall. “There’s the marina! We’re gonna make it!”
Bang!
Tegan nearly bit through her lip when she felt a second, more resounding impact hit the boat just as Marshall started turning into the bay. Nice going, she berated herself. You just had to open your big mouth and jinx it, didn’t you?
Marshall was battling with the controls of the boat. “They got the steering system! I have no control!”
“Just keep going, we’re nearly there!” Tegan yelled.
“But we’re heading right for the fuel dock!” Aari yelled back.
Marshall smacked the wheel, giving up his fight. “We’re gonna have to jump!”
Aari looked at the sky, then held up his hands. “Wait! If we take away their ability to see us, we can jump out right before the boat hits the fuel dock. Maybe they’ll lose sight of us in the commotion!”
Tegan wasn’t particularly thrilled with the idea. “I’ve had my share of exploding fuel tanks, thank you. Besides, how are you gonna hide us from them? You can’t cover animate and inanimate objects simultaneously, in case you forgot the last time you tried that.”
“I’m not planning another battle-on-the-mountain routine.” Aari pointed up to where he had been looking. “Teegs, if you could hop into the hawk again and go after their binoculars, we—”
“Ah. Think I got it.” Tegan located the bird then closed her eyes. Reaching out with her mind, she easily took over the creature’s consciousness. The next thing she saw was a literal bird’s eye view of Lake Mead. Just ahead of her, Tony and his goon were turning into the bay, about five hundred
feet behind Marshall and the teenagers. She dove toward them, feeling the wind zip through the hawk’s feathers. The man beside Tony had his binoculars pointed at Tegan and the others, and was yelling.
The hawk careened into him, wings flapping into his face and talons raking his skin. He let out a shout and waved his arms wildly, trying to smack the aerial attacker. “What the—”
Without wasting time, Tegan grabbed the binoculars in her talons and shot away. She smirked when she heard Tony and his cohort bellowing. Dropping the binoculars into the water, she let go of her connection with the bird and snapped herself back in the boat with Aari and Marshall.
“It’s done!” she said. “What now?”
Aari held onto the side of the boat. “I think we’re far enough away . . . ”
“Far enough away for what?”
“Far enough that they won’t see us jumping into the water. All they’ll see is our boat colliding with the dock. They’ll think we went down in the explosion.”
“You actually meant it? You’re nuts!”
“I’m liking that idea!” Marshall yelled as he grabbed a small waterproof bag that held their most important belongings. “Get ready! On my count!”
I need to hire someone to do these stunts for me, Tegan griped. She readied herself with Aari and Marshall on either side of her. Tony’s boat was still a good distance from them. The three watched, waiting until they were only several dozen yards from the fuel pumps.
“Now!” the Sentry barked. “Jump!”
Tegan dove headfirst off the boat and into the cool water. She surfaced to look around for the others and heard Aari shout, “Keep going! Don’t stop!”
Not needing to be told twice, she kicked forward. She wasn’t sure how much breadth they’d given the fuel dock but a moment later an explosion sent a shockwave through the water, temporarily deafening her. The waves thrust her closer to shore. She took a quick glance to her left and saw the marina engulfed in a fiery orange glow with a tower of black smoke rising from its center; thankfully the office was still intact.
“Nearly there,” Marshall encouraged from somewhere to her right. His words were partially inaudible to her abused ears. “Just a little farther.”
When they reached the shore, the Sentry helped the teenagers to their feet. “We’ll have to walk up through the bushes beside the ramp to get to the parking lot. Don’t want to be seen by anyone.”
“That’s quite a hill,” Tegan said exhaustedly as she wrung out her clothes, still shaken from the explosion.
They’d trekked from bush to bush and were nearly at the top when Tegan saw a familiar man with an even more familiar honker running down the concrete ramp, calling out to Tony. “Potato Nose,” she notified the others. “That means they’re up here too.”
As they reached the top, Marshall signaled the friends to remain hidden behind a mound of brush. He then began crawling toward a large boulder about ten yards from the edge of the parking lot and took a quick look. The next second, there was a loud bang and he fell back, tumbling down the hill. Tegan covered her mouth with her hands. She followed Aari as they ran to Marshall, who was dazedly attempting, and failing, to sit up. He ordered them to stay down as two more shots rang out. They ducked instinctively but continued toward him until they were by his side.
“You’re bleeding,” Tegan whispered, gently lifting the Sentry’s head. A puncture wound bigger than her thumb was present on his upper arm. A thick scarlet streak tainted his gray t-shirt and trickled down his arm to the dirt. If the man was in pain, he was refusing to show it.
“I’m fine. It went right through.” With only a little difficulty the Sentry removed his top and tore it into strips before tying them tightly around the wound.
Troubled and impressed, Tegan asked, “Will that do it?”
“For now.” Marshall pulled the teenagers behind a bush just as an orange-haired man came into view at the top of the incline.
So there’s Elvis, Tegan thought. Seeing him standing there with his pistol pointed at where they’d been only moments ago infuriated her.
“Aari,” Marshall said. “You’re able to bend light, aren’t you? I want you to cover me. I’ll take care of the goon up there but he has the advantage of elevation, and he has a weapon.”
The boy looked at him worriedly. “Are you sure? You just got shot. There should be another way—”
“No time. I want you both to keep moving up through the bushes while I take care of the problem. You with me?”
“Y-yeah.”
“Good. Do it.”
The Sentry shimmered from one side to the other before disappearing right in front of Tegan. Aari took hold of her arm and together they snaked through the undergrowth. He kept a constant focus on Marshall to maintain the screen around the Sentry. They were a few feet from the top when Elvis, still peering over the edge, grasped at something invisible around his neck, choking. He struck out in every direction in hopes of bringing down his unseen attacker. His face turned pale before he weakened and lost his grip on consciousness altogether and let go of his gun.
As he was being lowered to the ground, Tegan heard yelling and fast footfalls. Potato Nose was sprinting back up the ramp.
“He must have heard the shot when Marshall was hit!” Aari whispered.
“Marshall’s got it under control,” Tegan said.
The pair saw Elvis’ gun abruptly rise from where it had fallen and right itself. It was pointed straight at Potato Nose as he approached the start of the ramp. The gun fired twice and Potato Nose screamed and staggered, clutching his thigh before falling onto his wounded side. Unable to stave off the shock and pain, he remained sprawled.
Tegan towed Aari to the parking lot where a Cadillac SUV was parked beside their rental. Marshall reappeared before them and pulled his tactical switchblade from the waterproof bag. Tossing the knife to Aari, he said, “You know the drill.”
As the boy destroyed their pursuers’ tires, Tegan took the bag from the Sentry. “I should drive, Marshall. You’re hurt. We need to get you to a doctor.”
He smiled at her, his gaze calm and soulful. She couldn’t understand how he could possibly be so placid about his condition and their situation. “No, I know, and no,” he said as he dropped into the driver’s seat. “But thank you for looking out for me, Tegan.”
Tegan closed the door for him as Aari returned and the two leapt into the car. Marshall wasted no time hightailing it out of there and left the marina, the abandoned resort and the pursuers in their dust.
52
“I should have known,” the Sentry bemoaned. “I was stupid. The only way they could have followed us here was through the credit card I used to rent the boat. I thought those thugs wouldn’t have the capability to do something like that. They must be well-connected.”
“It doesn’t matter,” Tegan said aloud; inwardly, she wondered how in the world the Sentry was driving with a bullet wound in his arm. “Marshall, I know you don’t want to, but we should really get you to a hospital. Let me or Aari drive.”
“No.”
Fed up with his stubbornness, she demanded, “Then what?”
“Get my bag, please.”
“Um, sure . . . where is it?”
“It should be by Aari’s feet in the back.”
Aari passed the bag to Tegan, who opened it. “What am I looking for?”
“A small green bottle with silver powder in it,” Marshall answered.
She rummaged around until she found the item. She held it up for the Sentry to see. “This it?”
“Yes. I need to know, are you squeamish when it comes to blood?”
“Uh, not really. Why?”
“What you’re holding is an old Dema-Ki healing compound. Or at least a knockoff version that I made. It still does the trick, but it takes a little longer to work. I need you to untie the bandage and pour a quarter of the contents of the bottle directly into the wound.”
“While you’re driving?”
<
br /> “Yeah. The sooner we get this done, the better it will be.”
Tegan pulled off the bloodied strips that were tied around his upper arm, popped the cap of the bottle open, and tilted it until the dust trickled into the wound. Marshall winced, making Tegan worry that she’d done something wrong. “Is it supposed to hurt?”
“Just a little, and for a bit. It’ll be okay soon. Thanks.”
Tegan put the bottle back into the bag. Marshall passed her his phone. “Go into my contacts and call Josh. Put him on speaker, please.”
Tegan found the scientist’s name and tapped it. Josh picked up the call. “Marshall!”
“Hey, Josh,” Marshall said. “I need to cut to the chase. Tegan, Aari and I went to the B-29 wreckage and—”
“You found it!”
“We did, but the canister wasn’t there.”
“That can’t be right. Are you absolutely certain?”
“As certain as I’ll ever be.”
Josh sounded devastated. “No, no. That’s impossible. It has to be there. You must have missed it.”
“Josh, listen . . . Dr. Branson was up there in age when he told you all this. Maybe he wasn’t able to recall things as they happened exactly.”
“No. That man was as alert as I ever saw him. Maybe even more so. These were not the ramblings of a dying man. I’m sure of it now.”
“I didn’t say that. But maybe his memory had gone a little fuzzy.”
“Perhaps, but not on this subject. I’m telling you, Marshall, that man was completely lucid.”
“I don’t know what to say, Josh. All I know is that the canister wasn’t down there. Aari went with me. He can vouch for that as well.”
“I don’t understand,” Josh mumbled.
Marshall tried jogging the scientist’s memory in hopes that there would be some information that he might have missed. Tegan, paranoid that Tony and his men might have repaired their vehicle and were already giving chase, tuned out of the conversation and scanned the road behind them. For a fleeting moment she thought she saw a black SUV but it turned out to be a delivery van. She was lost in anxiety for several moments until she heard Josh exclaim, “Wait! Wait, wait, wait. Wait.”
