Page 71 (1/2)

"Then what it is?"

He took a breath andA few of the"

20

VALEK

A storm brewed over the Sunset Ocean, and Valek had a day and a half to prepare His theory about the Stor the crew of the Starfish, which was reported lost at sea,storm to cover their approach to land But many questions still reet? Would they use a dock or send a skiff to a beach? And then there was a good chance they wouldn’t arrive at all It’d been three weeks since their last break-in

Valek returned to the apartment on Cannery Road after supper Endre snored in the bedroom and Annika worked at the inn Valek reviewed the infor the jewelry and money, he concentrated on the others He considered the basics--food, water, shelter

Endre had said living on a boat would be difficult If he assumed they’d found a place to live--a cove hidden in the cliffs, perhaps--then the Storh supplies to build a couple structures That covered shelter

Fresh water was too essential to steal, so Valek figured their location had access to a stream or river that flowed toward the ocean He checked the map of the coast and discovered that all of the rivers that emptied into the ocean had towns built around the supplies up the river to cities inland

He considered the cliffs in MD-1 Would fresh water run under the cliffs and not be marked on the map? Possible And no one would notice a settle the fishing season, they’d be visible to the fleet Unless they used caray and green paint stolen from Krillow The hidden cove moved to the top of Valek’s suspected location list

As for food, the Storar, but they also took seeds and gardening supplies, which meant they planned to plant crops No way a cove could sustain plants, unless it was huge A sandy-rocky soil covered most of the coast, and farmable land started about ten miles inland So er He chased a me about islands out in the Jade Sea They were too small for a settlement because of the unpredictable storms What if the Storm Thieves built their base on an island in the Sunset Ocean? With theirthe storms at bay, they’d be safe And no one would suspect they lived there

Excited, Valek scanned the coastal map Dozens of small islands were marked on the chart It’d take seasons to check them all, and neould undoubtedly spread about the search, alerting the Storm Thieves, who could use a stor their island Plus they could have discovered an uncharted island Deflated, Valek leaned back in the chair Finding the island would be impossible