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"Not too much," Monk warned in a whisper "Spread the for the perfect spot in the dark swa course, lined by densegroves and black patches of fir trees Their ti had to be perfect They would have only one shot But with the far shore still a good two , they were doomed if they didn’t take the risk

The final member of their party, Pyotr, sat in the s As he rocked in place, he stared toward the stern of the raft, as if watching his friends spread their bread cruaze stretchedthe end of the watery course, Monk swung the pole to the front and prodded it deep He bolstered it with his shoulder and stopped the raft This is where they’d make their stand

Borsakov sat next to the airboat’s pilot The seats were perched high above the flat-bottomed aluminum hull Ahead of theht at the boat’s prow, the other kept a rifle ready at his shoulder

After five hours of searching, Borsakov’s ears ached froiant fan spun The broken ed with every turn The prop-wash that propelled the craft shook reeds and branches behind the boat

The pilot wore the only set of earphones He rested one hand on the steering stick, the other on the throttle The smell of smoke and diesel fuel h a shallow section of open water The searchlight swept the reeds that riht, they’d seen wild boar and elk, scared eagles froh clouds of insects Their searchlight had reflected off thousands of smaller eyes, denizens of the swan of the escapees

And on their last tank of fuel, they had until--

A siine’s ruht The soldiers at the prow heard it, too Both searchlight and rifle swung in that direction Borsakov touched the pilot’s shoulder and pointed

In the flash of light, soap in the treeline, then disappeared into the forest Borsakov knew one of the laboratory animals had also vanished with the children A chiine roared louder as the pilot pushed the throttle stick forward The boat sped toward the gap, gliding up on a cushion of air The craft slowed as they reached the edge of the open water The reeds here were bent, where soh to reach a side channel

Finally…

Borsakov pointed ahead

Past the gap, a narrow channel snaked ahead, lined by s and choked by floating patches of weed The craft sped up The searchlight swept to all sides, piercing through the darkness The rifleman reached down to the water and scooped up an empty plastic water bottle

Soh here

Borsakov waved the pilot to a faster clip, sensing his targets couldn’t be far The course a right and left

The searchlight revealedin the water, bits of trash andhere Their prey had never been this foolish Suspicious, Borsakov reached to the pilot and squeezed his shoulder He ine’s roar lower to a rulide into view around the last bend in the channel, plainly throttling down, going too slowly

Not good

The searchlight speared forward, gliding across the water straight at them They would be spotted in a second Their only hope--

--from out of the dark forest to the left, a dark shadow leaped headlong over the boat It flew high, clearing the blades, but from its clenched feet, a handful of dark objects were tossed at the boat

They struck the giant fan like boun shells froainst the blades The fan sliced through the plastic casings, which didn’t ignite, but which still exploded outith stinging birdshot

Cries erupted, half surprise and half pain as the creas struck by flying pellets The pilot, high in his seat, ducked and dropped in fear He hit his stick, and the engine roared to life The boat kicked forward like a stung jackrabbit, off kilter by the turn The pilot wrested the control stick

The searchlight blazed down the channel and swept over the them in its brilliance Monk saw the copilot scream and point

Too late, buddy

The two soldiers in front were suddenly flung backward They struck the others Tangled in a group, they hit the uard at the rear of the boat The airboat jackknifed into the air and barrel-rolled

Monk heard a screarind of blades Blood and bone sprayed out of the back of the fan like a contrail--then the boat struck the water upside down, landing hard with a gasp of diesel sht still glowed out of the murky water

Monk turned away Earlier, with the children’s help, he had braided fishing line froer--then he rigged it shoulder-height across the channel It had clotheslined the crew and flipped the unstable boat