Sylo by [email protected]

Author:[email protected]
Language: eng
Format: azw3
Published: 2013-01-27T16:00:00+00:00

seventeen

T

he sun was setting, casting a warm orange glow over the calm ocean. It was beautiful, but in this case beautiful was bad. As far as I was concerned, the sun couldn’t drop fast enough. There was no telling how long it would take the SYLO soldier to free himself and let Granger know that the three of us were on the loose and on our way to the mainland. Our best hope of getting out of there undetected was under cover of night. If we left too soon we’d be spotted for sure. If we waited too long, somebody might come sniffing around, wondering why our pal in the basement hadn’t checked in. It was going to be a race.

Tori reached up to the telephone that hung in her kitchen, pulled it off the wall, and yanked the jack off the end of the wire. At least when the soldier got free, he wouldn’t be making any calls.

“Smart,” Quinn said. “Any more phones?” Tori shook her head. She grabbed two heavy coats that were hanging by the back door and threw them to us.

“It’s gonna get cold,” she said with cool efficiency.

They must have belonged to her father because they had the faint smell of the sea. Or maybe it was lobster. What they didn’t smell like was lemons. That was Tori’s deal. She picked up the shotgun and peered out of the window for the twentieth time, hoping, like us, that it had gotten significantly darker since she had looked twenty seconds before.

“Can you navigate?” I asked Tori. “I mean, I don’t want to end up in Greenland.”

She shot me a withering glare. It was all the answer I needed.

“I think we’re making a mistake,” Quinn said.

“Seriously?’ I shouted. “Now you’re having second thoughts?”

“No. I’m just saying we’ve got to do all we can to make sure we get there.”

“It’s not rocket science,” Tori snapped. “We head due west and pray they don’t see us.”

“But we can increase the odds of getting there and getting the word out,” he said.

“How?” I asked.

“By taking two boats,” Quinn announced with conviction. “Tucker and I spent the whole summer pulling traps for the Willards. I can handle either of those boats. You and Tori take one, I’ll take the other.”

“You want to go alone?” I asked, incredulous.

“Not really, but with two boats there’s a better chance of one getting through.”

“That’s a bad idea,” I said dismissively. “We shouldn’t risk both of the Sleepers’ boats.”

Tori laughed. “Are you serious? My father’s been arrested, killers are hunting for the three of us, and you’re worried about risking a couple of boats?”

“Well, when you put it that way . . .”

Tori flipped open a bench on the porch, pulled out two ICOM walkie-talkies, and tossed one to Quinn.

“They’re charged and good for about twenty hours. Range is good. Maybe twenty nautical miles. Stay on channel twenty-one.”

Quinn examined the device and powered it up. He didn’t need any instructions.

“I don’t like this,” I said nervously. “We should stay together.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.