by Jordan Rivet
“They’ll torture you,” Esther said.
“Why? I don’t know anything. I can barely say half the terms you use to talk about your system. There’s no way I can possibly give them what they want, so why would they waste time torturing me?”
“No,” Esther said. “Cody, either let us go or don’t, but this hostage idea is ridiculous.”
“Sorry, Esther. The other guys don’t trust you like I do. We need to know you’ll come back and give us the technology.”
Cody glanced back at the door, obviously afraid of being overheard.
“I’ll just write out the plans and then we’ll leave together.”
“No time,” Cody said.
“We’re getting farther from the Island by the minute, Esther.”
Zoe went to Esther’s bunk and began throwing Esther’s things into her knapsack.
“The one thing we know for sure about you, Esther,” Cody said, “is that you’ll do anything to rescue your friends.”
“This is a good plan,” Zoe said, leaning close to Esther and lowering her voice. “I’ll be fine.”
Esther wished she had more time to consider. But Zoe was right. They were speeding further and further from the Island, and every second counted.
“I was sort of counting on you storming the Island with me.”
Zoe smiled and punched her arm. “You can do it. Hawthorne needs you. I’d never be able to live with you if we don’t manage to save his sorry ass. I reckon your love-sick moping would be even worse than Neal’s.”
“All right,” Esther said. “Let’s do it.”
Moments later Cody and Esther left the cabin and passed Cody’s friend Terrence, sitting in the corridor with a gun across his knees. He looked pointedly in the opposite direction as they jogged toward the exit. They took a circuitous route through the bowels of the Terra Firma. Every few minutes Cody would nod to another crew member. Everyone on the evening watch seemed to be one of his friends. He had done his work well.
They emerged from a hatch on the aft deck. The sky was black and the mists offered no glimpse of stars or moon. A chill stung the air like during the worst of the cold years. The crane that Patrick had shown Esther swung like a large black bird above them. Beyond it, a pair of lifeboats waited.
Luke stood directly in front of them.
Esther recoiled, nearly dropping Neal’s satellite phone, which she’d tucked under her arm before leaving the cabin. Luke’s face looked awful. It was streaked with ugly brown crusts of blood, and his eyes, like Cody’s, were rimmed with red.
“Well,” he said.
“Salt.” Cody grabbed Esther’s arm, trying to make it look like she was his prisoner, but he moved too late.
“Luke, wait—”
“Shut up, Cody.” Luke’s voice was hard, like flint. “Did you think I wouldn’t wonder what everyone was up to, sneaking around and volunteering for the late shift? It didn’t take more than two seconds to figure out what was going on.”
“What are you going to do?” Cody said.
Luke gave a short, barking laugh, not unlike the first mate’s. “What do you think? I’m taking her straight to Captain Alder.”
Luke crossed the deck in two strides and wrenched Esther away from Cody. The satellite phone clattered to the deck. Esther struggled, but it was much more difficult to wrestle him now than it had been when they first met in the Amsterdam Bazaar as teenagers. Luke twisted her arm painfully behind her back.
Cody shoved Luke’s shoulder, but he was too small to make Luke do more than grunt.
“Hey, man,” Cody said. “She’s just trying to save her friend.”
“What about Patrick, huh? He was my friend.”
Luke’s grip on her arm tightened. Esther writhed, trying to free herself without making too much noise.
“That wasn’t her fault,” Cody said. “We were gonna fight the Calderon Group anyway, especially after they attacked the Amsterdam. You know that. She’ll come back and give us that technology. We trust her.”
“Why in the name of salt, rust, and volcanic ash would you trust her now?” Luke said.
“We have to. We can’t just give her to Captain Alder. You know what he’ll do!”
Luke stared at Cody as if he’d never quite seen him before.
Esther sensed Luke’s focus shifting and dug her heel hard into his toe. Luke swore but didn’t loosen his grip. She twisted sideways, gritting her teeth against the pain in her arm, and kneed him in the groin. The sudden violent movement surprised Cody, but he recovered faster than Luke. He jumped forward and punched his friend in the nose.
Luke stumbled backward, releasing his hold on Esther. She slipped around behind him and grabbed his arms before he could take a swing at Cody. Feet lifting off the deck, she held on like an octopus, until Cody rushed to help her. Together they forced Luke to the ground. He was cursing, his nose bleeding freely, but he collapsed beneath their combined weight.
“Just let her do what she needs to do,” Cody said, struggling to keep his hold. “She’ll be back.”
“You moron. I think you broke my nose,” Luke sputtered.
“I’m sorry,” Esther said, “but Cody’s right. I’ll come back after I get David, and I’ll give you the energy technology I promised.”
“I don’t care about that,” Luke said. “I want my friend back.” His tears mixed with the blood from his nose.
“I want my friend back too,” Esther said quietly. “I’m sorry.”
Luke slumped at her words. She stood and patted Cody on the shoulder, then turned toward the lifeboats. She found Neal’s phone and said a little prayer to the clouds that it would still work. Then she climbed into one of the lifeboats swinging over the dark waters and nodded to Cody. He hoisted Luke to his feet, and together they started the winch that would lower the lifeboat into the sea.
“Take care of Zoe, guys. I’ll be back.”
Chapter 21—The Lifeboat
The sea was eerily quiet. After the cacophony of the day, the solitude was unnerving. Esther started the small outboard motor, grateful for the warm growl of machinery. The lifeboat chugged away from the dark hull of the Terra Firma. She scanned the ship for any sign that she’d been spotted. Lights glowed, sometimes flickering with the movement of the sailors. Once, Esther thought she saw a face watching her. She hoped it belonged to one of her allies.
Cody had told her they’d been sailing southeast ever since leaving Calderon Island, so she charted a course for the northwest and prayed she wouldn’t miss it entirely. The Terra Firma shrank behind her. Darkness pressed in close, like water. The sea was even blacker than the sky. The clouds glowed dimly from the cloaked moon, the only thing distinguishing sea and sky. The rush of the waves against the lifeboat harmonized with the hum of the engine.
Esther had never been alone on a boat before. For almost her entire life she had been at sea. She knew the feel of the waves before a storm, the sting of the wind on her face, the emptiness of a vast, watery horizon. The scents of salt and fish had been her constant companions. She’d grown up with the sound of water in her ears and the rocking of the ship in her bones. Yet she’d always had company in her seabound world. She’d lived in the cramped quarters of the forlorn former luxury ship, surrounded by her family, her coworkers, her friends. Even on her recent adventures she’d connected with other survivors across the New Pacific, from the rebels on the Galaxy Flotilla to the young sailors with the Metal Harvesters. But tonight, for the first time she felt the true isolation of the sea.
The mists contained sound, captured it, smothered it. The sea clutched at the lifeboat like oil. A crippling fear threatened to rise through Esther’s body. She tried to fight it down, and the fear lodged beneath her bottom ribs.
She’d often sought privacy on the Catalina, busy at her work, in need of peace. But this was true solitude. The solitude of a world that had lost 90 percent of its population. The solitude of the watery prison that was her home, usually kept at bay by t
he everyday bustle of her work.
The waves were choppy, and Esther couldn’t be sure that she was staying on course as she drove through the night. She had found a battered compass in the lifeboat’s emergency storage compartment. She kept it in her hand, wishing the first mate hadn’t taken the good one in her tool belt. She’d found a flashlight in the storage compartment too, along with a bit of clean water, a small knife, and some fishing gear.
The Harvesters didn’t seem to be pursuing her. Cody would take his time delivering Zoe to the captain, and he’d take even more time going back to their cabin to supposedly fetch the right girl. By the time he reported her missing, Esther’s lifeboat would be invisible in the vastness of the sea.
When she thought she was far enough away to risk it, she turned on the flashlight she had found, keeping the beam low in the water. She should conserve the battery, but she couldn’t bring herself to turn off the light and surrender to the ghostly, moonlit mists entirely.
Esther picked up Neal’s satellite phone, extended the antenna, and dialed.
“Neal? You there?”
It wasn’t their check-in time, but Neal rarely left his tower.
“Neal?”
She drifted forward, keeping the motor running on the lowest setting to conserve fuel until she knew she was on the right course.
“Neal?” she tried again.
It occurred to her that she was tired. The bone-deep weariness of worry cut the legs out from underneath the adrenaline that had sustained her during the battle and her escape from the Terra Firma. But she’d already rained down disaster on her family and friends once because she’d allowed herself to fall asleep. She would never do that again. David was too important.
“Neal, do you copy? Come on. I need you.”
The mists began to thin, revealing a three-quarter moon, small in the night sky.
She didn’t even know what she’d say to David when she found him. He’d probably smirk when he heard she’d gone to so much trouble to get him back. For the first time since setting out to rescue him, she realized it might actually be embarrassing to find him.
But no. As the isolation of the sea held her captive, she couldn’t push away her feelings anymore. She’d never understand why David had decided to help her escape from the Galaxy Flotilla, but she knew she wasn’t just going on this quest because of the debt she owed him. Despite how he frustrated her, how he seemed to mock her at every turn, she was drawn to him. He had threatened to consume her thoughts whenever they strayed from her work. But now that he was gone and the world was quiet, her feelings became clear. She wanted to be near him, to listen to his smooth voice, to see his passion, which came through at unexpected moments. They had been a team when they planned the escape from the Galaxy, and working together had felt natural. She wanted more of that. And she wanted him to kiss her. She wanted to trail her hands over his shoulders and down his back. She dreaded telling him how she felt, but at the same time she prayed for the opportunity. She might drift in this lifeboat forever, but she wished only that she’d told him how he snared her thoughts into an impossible tangle. She didn’t care how he reacted. If she got out of this, she’d tell him how she felt.
Esther dialed the satellite phone again.
“Neal? You there?”
Silence. She fought the urge to throw the contraption into the sea in frustration. Then a voice crackled back.
“Esther? Were you trying to call?”
“Neal! Sweet salty ocean! Can you hear me?”
“Yeah, I can hear you. It’s late. What’s up? Did something happen?”
Esther laughed. “You could say that. I need your help.”
“Okay. Shoot.”
“Where am I? Can you figure it out?”
“Easy enough. Let’s see, you’re about three miles from your last position, so if our reference points are still good, that puts you four point five from where I think Calderon Island is. You guys moved further away from it?”
“Yeah. Well, I’m going back that way now. Alone.”
Esther filled Neal in on all that had happened. It was hard to believe it had only been a couple of hours since Zoe called her from their cabin at the start of the double Calderon attack.
“Wait, so now you’re assaulting the island alone? Rusty nails, Esther. You’re going to get killed.”
“Not if they don’t see me coming. Give me a heading. I need to shut this thing off again to save the battery. Is everyone okay there?”
“We’re fine. We’re staying within a day’s journey of the Amsterdam for now—Judith’s annoyed about that—and Cally and the boys have started hooking your system up in the Lucinda. She should be fully wired and operational before too much longer.”
“That’s great. And my dad?”
“Still kicking. He’s the one making sure we stay so close to the Amsterdam. Okay, listen carefully to these coordinates.”
By the time Esther said good-bye to Neal, she felt more confident. She wasn’t entirely alone, and she had a job to do.
She tweaked the motor and sailed straight toward the island. She would see David soon somehow. She’d just have to come up with a plan along the way.
Chapter 22—The Island
Calderon Island grew large on the horizon. Its tall conch shape cast a dark shadow in the night sky. Esther cut the engine, switched off the flashlight, and reached for the oars at the bottom of the boat. They were sound enough, and she paddled slowly through the darkness. She had to be stealthy until she knew what she was up against.
The moon grew larger as it approached the sea. Was the sky a shade lighter already, the contrast between the island and the sky a little more defined? Hopefully that was just her imagination.
She kept an eye out for patrols. She didn’t know how tight security would be, but the recent attack by the Harvesters must have increased the Calderon Group’s vigilance. But they wouldn’t be expecting a lone woman in a small motor-powered lifeboat.
As Esther got closer, she realized the Calderon Group had little need for security. Sheer cliffs stretched the length of the island. They must have been battered by storm surge after storm surge. Esther wouldn’t be surprised if this was the last remaining high point of what had once been a much larger landmass.
The wind picked up and the sea started to get rougher. Esther rowed along the bottom of the cliff, straining against the oars to keep from being tossed against the rock face. Fear prickled along her spine. She might have been spotted from above already. She searched for inlets in the rock face, but in the darkness every patch of stone looked like a cave, until she got close and it was just another hue of gray.
The sky was definitely lighter now. The clammy cold of the early morning had set in. Esther fought off the fear that threatened to paralyze her. Her muscles ached. She needed shelter before daybreak. She could hide in the predawn darkness, but someone was sure to spot her from above if the sun tipped over the horizon.
Suddenly, the lifeboat caught in a current, swirling and spinning directly toward the cliff face. Esther rowed frantically, no longer caring if she made any noise. She was close enough to smell the algae clinging to the cold stone cliffs.
She fought the current. The rocks loomed to meet her.
Esther regained control of her vessel, but then the wide blade of one oar struck a rock and broke off. Salt. The sudden change made her lose her balance, and the current wrenched the other oar out of her hand. Esther cursed and lunged after it. A wave flung the oar up and shattered it on the rocks.
The lifeboat spun.
Esther flipped the shorn handle of the remaining oar and thrust it forward to keep her prow off the cliff. She shoved against the rock, splintering the handle further. Then the current spun the lifeboat again.
The sickly morning stars vanished. The world went dark.
At first Esther thought she had blacked out. Her ears roared, but she still felt the solid wood of the oar in her hands. The lifeboat spun. Esther planted her bo
ots against the slope of the hull to remain seated. Her stomach lurched. Darkness surrounded her.
Then she slammed to a halt. Stillness reigned.
The rush of the waves roared and echoed strangely around her. Gingerly, Esther crept to the side of the lifeboat and poked around with the broken oar handle. She felt only water. Then the oar struck something solid. She heard the unmistakable ring of metal. She leaned over the prow, reaching out to whatever held her boat steady. Her hands met a smooth shape in the blackness. She ran them up a rounded panel to a sudden edge. There were rivets just beneath the edge, and on the other side the object seemed to slope inward. She was lodged against another small boat.
Esther retreated to the center of her lifeboat to grab the flashlight. She listened to that strange echoing roar for five breaths—and then turned it on. Light exploded into a thousand tiny refractions. She stifled a shout and switched off the flashlight. A rainbow of colors danced across her retinas in the darkness.
“Get ahold of yourself,” she muttered, and turned the light back on.
She was in a tall and narrow cave, its upper reaches swallowed in shadow. Thousands of crystals lined the cavern, running in fine veins across the walls. The weak beam of the flashlight became a chandelier of dancing lights and colors on their surfaces. The mirrored facets of the crystals sparked and shone around her. Stalagmites and stalactites spiked fingers of shadow across the cavern. Esther had never seen anything like it.
As her eyes adjusted to the light, she saw half a dozen small boats in the alcove, each one tucked into a crevice or bound tightly to a stalagmite. Apart from the weather-beaten look typical of all vessels in the New Pacific, these boats were clearly well maintained. They floated high on the water, indicating they were still seaworthy. The ropes were whole and tightly knotted. Someone was coming back for them.
Esther scanned the cave, turning slowly on the lifeboat bench. The water filling the front half of the cave looked fairly deep. Waves rushed in and out of the narrow opening through which she had been tossed. Jagged rocks rimmed both sides. She was lucky she hadn’t been dashed against them. She aimed her light into the back of the cave along the crystal veins. The cavern went on, and if the refracted light patterns weren’t deceiving her, it went upwards. A rock floor emerged from the water, seeming to lead back into the Island. This was her way in.