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With a sickening crunch, the Zodiac’s rigid hull rode up onto the Plymouth Breakwater and shuddered to a halt. Even though she had braced herself for the expected impact, Jade was nearly catapulted over the increasingly flaccid buoyancy tube. She waited for the rebound, and then did the very thing the collision had failed to accomplish.
She landed badly, the rocks beneath her were slippery and uneven, but in the fraction of a second it took for her to fall face-first into them, a roiling wave rushed in, covering the surface. The suddenly knee-deep water didn’t cushion her fall so much as prolong it, dragging her another six feet up onto the sloping artificial reef, pummeling and scraping her body even as the sea water rushed over her head, blinding her, nearly choking her.
“Great plan, Maddock!” she snarled.
Despite the sarcastic tone of her observation, she knew it was probably the best plan given their dire circumstance. With the pair of hunters pushing them further into the teeth of the storm, and a boat that wouldn’t be seaworthy much longer, getting out of the water was imperative.
She struggled to hands and knees, the rough stone abrading her skin, but it was enough to get her head clear. The wave’s energy abruptly reversed, pulling her back, threatening to carry her out to sea, but she spread-eagled on the slick rock, anchoring herself until the sucking sensation passed.
Through the blurry haze, she could just make out the dark silhouette of the breakwater, and beyond it, the night sky, briefly illuminated in the glow of a signal flash from the lighthouse.
That was where she needed to go, but Maddock’s plan required one thing of her first. She turned her head searching the surf, but the light was already fading, plunging her into near total darkness. “Rose!”
“Here!” The answering voice was weak, more a sputtering cough than a shout, but a moment later, Jade felt something tugging at the hem of her shirt. She groped to find Rose’s hand and took it in her grip as another wave surged in and drove them both further up onto the breakwater. Jade clung to both the rocks under her, and to Rose’s outstretched hand until the wave retreated. Another bright flash from the lighthouse lit up the sky above, and indirectly, the route they would need to take to reach the elevated crest of the breakwater. It also revealed Nick Kismet, clinging to Rose’s other hand.
The crest of the mile-long breakwater was a flat paved platform, about forty feet wide, and mostly above the pounding surf. Working together, the trio made it to the top, just as the signal light flashed yet again. Jade glanced back. There was no sign of Maddock or Bones, but she easily spotted the two boats, closing in on the breakwater, just a few hundred yards out. She shook her head and focused on her own survival.
Kismet urged them forward at a run. Maddock had grounded the Zodiac about a hundred yards east of the lighthouse. Not far, but up on the crest of the breakwater, they would be silhouetted against the sky, easy targets for the killers in the boats. The only thing going for them was the fact that the men would not have a stable platform from which to take that shot. She didn’t hear any reports—though they might have easily been drowned out by the pounding surf—and hoped that meant the shooters had reached the same conclusion. Even so, taking cover behind the lighthouse was the number one priority.
The base of the Plymouth Breakwater lighthouse was flared like the pedestal of a floor lamp, nearly twice as wide as at the top. The entrance faced more or less in the direction from which they had just come, but it would almost certainly be locked up tight, and even if they somehow were able to get it open, being inside the automated signaling station would give them no advantage. Just the opposite, they would be cornered, with no exit. Instead, they bypassed the door and veered to the left, circling around it clockwise until the great bulk of the lighthouse was between them and the men with guns. Kismet stopped, delved into Rose’s backpack—which he had been carrying since they hatched the crazy plan—and brought out the orb, while Jade and Rose moved along the base in opposite directions to keep an eye on their pursuers.
They didn’t have to wait long.
From her vantage on the south side of the lighthouse, Jade could see them moving along the breakwater. She reckoned there were five or six of them, though it was hard to tell as they were bunched up and obscured by rain and shadow. As they drew closer, they split into two groups heading different directions around the light. Jade backed away and hurried back to join Kismet. Rose had arrived a few seconds ahead of her and had already given Kismet the news.
“You two better take cover,” Kismet said, hugging the orb to his chest. “If this doesn’t work... Hell, even if it does, you’re not going to want to be anywhere close to me.”
“If it doesn’t work,” Jade replied, “You should throw that thing into the sea.”
“Let me just go on record one more time,” Rose put in. “This is a really terrible idea. You’re going to get yourself killed.”
“Don’t worry about me.” He nodded in the direction of the squat concrete cube-shaped structure that stood halfway between the light and the water’s edge. “Go. Now.”
Jade had no idea what purpose the stout structure served but it looked bulletproof. She and Rose hastened behind the building, but Jade immediately peeked around the corner to watch the confrontation.
She heard shouts, one of the gunmen ordering Kismet to put his hands up. Kismet didn’t answer, didn’t move.
“Come on,” Jade whispered, and then remembering Bones’ earlier comment, added. “Show ‘em the whammy!”
For a few seconds, nothing happened. Then, everything happened all at once.
The air around Kismet lit up with the brilliance of an arc welder, accompanied by the deafening crack of an electrical discharge. Jade closed her eyes and drew back, but the damage was already done. The sight of Kismet—just his silhouette really—surrounded by long tendrils of lighting, was burned into her eyes like a snapshot. The afterimage dissolved into the green blob of temporary flash blindness, but she didn’t need her eyes to follow what was happening on the other side of the concrete structure.
The crackle and pop of voltage, the distinctive smell of ozone in the air. Other sounds and smells joined the tumult. The reports of a rifle, several of them. The sulfur stink of burnt gunpowder.
Kismet!
Then she felt something, like invisible cobwebs brushing against her face, an uncomfortable tingling sensation that crept all over her body.
“Rose! Get down!”
Jade barely had time to follow her own advice before lightning struck. That was what it felt like. The flash from the other side of the concrete cube was so bright that even through the green spots in her vision, the world was lit up like daybreak. The subsequent thunderclap shook the ground and drove the breath from her lungs.
And then, silence.