Chapter 48

The ship cut silently through the water.

"Easy does it, Hendricks," Rani said. "We don't want to spook the gulls." She glanced up and over the water. A flock of gulls rising from the rocks would signal their position to any ship within five hundred meters of the island.

"We'll not give away our position, lad," said Hendricks. "It'll be just like always-cut 'em off around the bend, before they get a chance to make a break for land."

Hendrick's reassurances did nothing for Rani's anxiety.

"They should be here by now. Where are they?" Rani asked.

The tension in the air cracked and made the hair on her neck stand up. Something felt off, wrong, like a piece of coral stuck in her shoe.

Hendricks glanced at the position of the moon in the sky.

"They'll be here any moment now," he said.

Rani looked out her periscope for the hundredth time that night.

"Maybe we should-"

Thump

Rani swirled around. Rory stood before her, bathed in silver moonlight, gasping for breath.