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CHAPTER 25

KIRA’S MOUTH WAS dry and her whole body ached. She felt like she was inside a throbbing metal shell. She squeezed her eyes tight, then tried to open them again. Her eyelids felt weighted and crusty.

All she could remember was falling asleep next to Doc in the lean-to. It felt like a long time ago. Her eyes finally opened. She looked down. She was in a narrow seat with strands of plastic-coated cable wrapped around her body. Her arms were pinned to her sides. She felt herself being tipped sideways and heard the whine of an engine above her.

Her brain started to clear. She blinked and pieced together her surroundings, like assembling a puzzle.

She was in a helicopter, tied to a seat in the rear. The cockpit door was closed. She craned her neck to glimpse out a small window in the side of the cabin. The chopper was about a thousand feet up. Nothing but open water below.

The aircraft banked hard and started to descend. Kira stamped her feet on the rubber-lined deck and shouted, “Doc!”

No answer.

She twisted her head around as far as she could.

No Doc. No boys. She was alone.

As the chopper leveled out, a shape came into view through the window, about a quarter-mile off. It was a huge yacht, sleek and streamlined. Kira squinted. Yachts were usually painted white, to reflect the sun. This one was covered in naval camouflage, almost invisible against the water. Like a ghost.

As the chopper approached, a big X lit up on the stern. A landing platform.

Kira took in quick breaths through her nostrils, forcing oxygen to her brain. She needed to clear her head and get some answers, then make a plan. Whoever took her could have just killed her on the beach, and they didn’t. Which meant they wanted something from her.

Or maybe, Kira thought, they just preferred to kill her here.