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"Damn, I need to cut back on the Oreos," Drake muttered as he hiked after Sully The heat of the labyrinth had begun to affect hiht more water

They ascended for several seconds in silence before Jada chuckled

"Wow," she said "Uncle Vic doesn’t even have the energy to be snarky"

"I’h road," Sully rasped tiredly

Drake chose not to coh road or they both were too busy clah the steep tunnel to bicker As they reached the fork, where the labyrinth leveled out again, Sully sighed in relief But as Drake looked up, seeing Sully illuht, which threw strange shadows all around the labyrinth corridor ahead, he saw a figure dart froht and strike Sully across the head

Sully cried out in pain and went to his knees, clutching his skull where he’d been struck

Tyr Henriksen stood over hi a blue-black pistol with cruel confidence He stepped back so that Sully couldn’t lash out at hiun aimed at Sully’s head

"I know you’re arot kind of a head start, and bullets travel fast"

Drake took the warning, keeping his hands where Henriksen could see theuely hear the sound of water behind him, but that sea cave seerotto

"Leave hi past Drake and hurrying toward Sully She knelt by hih he kept the gun on thee into the split corridor Frounmen, one short but powerfully built and the other the kind of dead-eyed, buzz-cut one wrong Three others appeared froet this far By their complexion and the curiosity in their eyes, Drake decided theysince gone gray, and his skin was taut and weathered so that it looked alh like hi Henriksen, that oons had theirs drawn already, which made the odds moot

"You followed us," Drake said

"Of course," Henriksen said, giving a s in the illus carried thehtly now

"You had a chance to talk to Welch before our mysterious hooded men snatched him away," he went on "And we knew you had Luka’s notes The Russo wo in others to interpret the writing there, and we couldn’t wait for her and track you at the saamble, but we put all of our faith in you"

His slad we could help," Sully said, voice dripping with sarcas soun as if he’d forgotten it was there "This? Not just yet" He gestured with the barrel "What I’d like is for the three of you to take out your oeapons and set them on the floor, then back away slowly We wouldn’t want anyone to get shot"

Drake frowned So in the man’s tone surprised hilancing around, Drake noticed the easy stance of the other s and even--particularly in the case of the one with the buzz cut and the stumpy musclehead--killers, but they didn’t look ready to kill Not at this e, but these guys seemed way too relaxed for men who had tracked down prey

For the first ti

"Guns," Henriksen repeated, because none of them had moved

As Jada reached delicately for hers, Drake stopped her, a hand on her arunmen shifted to ai Henriksen’s face "If you’re going to kill us all the saet it over with"

Henriksen arched an eyebrow "You’re an enigmatic man, Mr Drake Most people don’t volunteer to be shot"

"I’ve been shot before I’m still alive Not that I really like the idea The food on this island is aht"

With a gri And truth be told, I have difficulty with the idea of oals I wonder, perhaps, if you could be trusted to continue that usefulness under a ement"

"I’d rather die," Jada said, and this tiun, it was not to surrender

Drake grappled with her for a second, stripping the pistol fro up to fill the space between Jada and the gunhter and death Then he glanced at Drake "What’s your play here, Nate?"

"I’to work on This son of a bitch murdered "

"Then you paid to have it done," Sully said

The guned from the darkness of the left-hand fork Olivia looked lovely as ever, her hair golden in the electric light She gazed at Jada with so the truth," Olivia said

"Where the hell were you hiding?" Sully asked

"It’s a little crowded in here," she said, and then dropped her gaze "I don’t like any of this Guns and tight places This isn’t a life I ever dreamed for myself"

"You’ve been in on this from the start," Jada said "Ad da!" Olivia shouted, tears springing to her eyes She wiped at them "I loved your father He had his suspicions about this research, and he withdrew fro, and I kno it looks But I can pro to do with his death and neither did I Who does that? The way he was--mutilated …"