Island 731

“You think I’m funny?” Bray asked.

Hawkins gave his head a slight shake. Drake was an old navy man and as captain of the Magellan, his orders were as though from God himself. Hawkins made a mental note to explain this to Joliet and Bray.

The captain, to his credit, let their comments slide. “Think you can find him?” Drake asked, looking at Hawkins. The captain knew Hawkins’s past and had no doubt realized that Hawkins intended to look for Kam.

“There are too many unknowns to give you a definite answer,” Hawkins said. “We don’t know how big the island is, or what kinds of natural dangers there might be.”

“Natural dangers?” Bray asked.

Hawkins stepped up to the shattered wheelhouse windshield and looked out at the island. He could smell a hint of something sweet mixed in with the sea air. “Cliffs, sinkholes, sharks. Those kinds of things. If he kept running, it’s possible he injured himself after escaping the water. It seems likely that he was running away from the… shark that took Cahill’s body. If that’s true, we might be lucky and find him not too far from shore.”

“And if we’re not lucky?” Drake asked.

“If this island is as big as it looks, and the jungle as thick, it could take some time to find him. Days even. But it is an island. He can only run so far. Our best bet is to take everyone on shore and walk a spaced-out grid until we find him.”

“Afraid we can’t do that,” Drake said.

“Sir,” Jones said. “If it would help, my crew can—”

Drake raised his hand, silencing the engineer. “Kind of you to offer, Jones, but I need you and your crew working on a way to get the ship under manual control. Physically separate the computer system if you can. I want my ship back.”

“Yes, sir,” Jones said.

“Are you sure that’s wise?” Joliet asked. “Kam might be able to fix the computers. If something is broken —”

Drake turned to Joliet. “Unless you can guarantee me that you’ll get Kam back in one piece, and soon, this is the way it’s going to be.”

“We—I can’t,” Hawkins said. “There are no guarantees with search and rescue.”

“Jones,” Drake said. “Be gentle.”

The elder engineer headed for the stairs. “I will. We’ll get started now.”

Drake stepped up next to Hawkins and they looked at the island together. “I appreciate you leading the search.”

“Not a problem.”

Drake gave a confident nod. “You’ll bring him back.”

Hawkins smiled. It was as close to a pep talk as the gruff captain would offer. “I will,” he said, but then added, “dead or alive.”

During his years as a ranger, Hawkins had taken part in more than seventy-five search and rescue operations in Yellowstone, most of which he coordinated. Ten of those searches had ended with fatalities. Before every search someone would invariably ask, “Will you find them?” To which he would answer, “yes,” but would then think, “dead or alive.” He’d never expressed that extra bit of information before. For some reason, he felt Drake would appreciate the candor.

Drake locked eyes with Hawkins. “Can’t ask for anything more. Sometimes people die and there’s nothing we can do about it. Just let me know what you need,” Drake said.

Hawkins held up a slip of paper upon which he’d written a list of supplies. Nothing extravagant: food, water, bedrolls, first-aid kit, and a radio to communicate with the ship.

Drake read through the list, but paused halfway through. “Bedrolls?”

Bray repeated the question. “Wait, bedrolls? You want to sleep out there?”

“Once we’re out there, we’re not coming back until we find him.”

Drake crossed his arms. “Sorry, Hawkins, but I want you back on board by the time the sun hugs the horizon.”

“We’ll lose time and ground,” Hawkins said, losing his patience. “We can only walk so far before turning around. It limits how far we can search.”

“It’s summer,” the captain said. “The days are long. And as you pointed out, this is an island. If he keeps moving, he’ll make it back eventually.”

“And if he doesn’t?” Joliet asked.

“Then you better hope Jones figures out how to get my ship back. I don’t need to remind you that we have no propulsion, and no way to contact the outside world. Our food and water will only last so long. You may end up becoming intimately familiar with every nook and cranny of this island.” Drake looked at the list again. “Look, how about this? If you have a solid trail, spend the night. If you’re just running search grids, I want you back.” He offered his hand to Hawkins.

Hawkins took the captain’s hand and shook it. “Agreed.”

Drake handed back the list. “Blok is clearing the aft decks. He’ll get you everything you need.”

“Thank you, Captain,” Hawkins said.

Drake grunted.

Joliet rushed toward the outside door. Hawkins followed. Then Bray.

As they exited the wheelhouse onto the exterior staircase, Bray looked at the jungle and asked, “Are you really planning to stay out there overnight.”

Hawkins descended the stairs. “Yup.”

“And if there isn’t a trail? Will we really come back?”

“There’ll be a trail,” Hawkins said.

“But what if—”

Hawkins stopped and turned around. Bray wasn’t understanding. “There will be a trail.” He left out the words “even if we don’t find it,” but Bray seemed to understand.

“Shit.”

10.

The front end of the ten-foot-long inflatable Zodiac boat rose high out of the water as Bray twisted the throttle. Hawkins dove forward, putting his weight on the bow of the Zodiac, but wind and acceleration were working against him.

“Slow down!” Hawkins shouted, but Bray either couldn’t hear him over the whine of the engine or was ignoring him. Hawkins lifted up his head and peeked over the front end. The distance between the Zodiac and the white sand beach shrank quickly. “You’re going to ground us!”

Joliet didn’t weigh much, but when she added her weight to Hawkins’s, the front end lowered and revealed the beach, now just twenty feet way. As they entered the shallows, Bray opened up the throttle all the way, for just a moment, and then shut the engine off and tilted it forward, lifting the propeller out of the water.

Momentum carried them through the two-foot-deep shallows. Fish scattered as they passed by. Hawkins imagined how easy fishing would be here and thought they would have no trouble staying alive if they were, in fact, stranded. A loud sifting sound coupled with a jolt announced their arrival at the beach. The boat slid halfway ashore before stopping and Bray wasted no time leaping onto the sand.

Hawkins took a backpack of supplies and tossed it hard to Bray, who caught it, but not well. “What the hell was that?”

“What?” Bray said.

“You nearly flipped the boat,” Hawkins pointed out.

“You want to be eaten by a shark?” Bray answered.

“Sharks don’t eat ten-foot Zodiacs,” Hawkins said.