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"No," Sabine said "But I fear yours"

Jack grinned The fear slipped froave hi to die," he said "I already have a plan"

He sat down and started peeling fruit

"Jack?"

"Breakfast," he said "We have time And we need them to knoe’re here, and to think we’re unaware of their approach So we’ll leave as much evidence of our presence as we can"

Sabine sat beside Jack and ate, and for a while silence hung around them Jack could smell Sabine’s body, sense the heat of her where she almost, but not quite, touched his bare ar As they ate, he thought through their situation And as they finished their last piece of fruit, he knehat they had to do

"We need to rescue Ghost He’s the only chance we have of surviving an encounter with his brother"

"Yes," Sabine said, and Jack was not surprised at her agree hiht be left of the Larsen’s crew"

"Ghost will fight for me," Sabine said softly "Even after all this, I’m sure of that"

"Precisely," Jack said "And we’ll have to help him and his wolves defeat Death and his crew"

Sabine frowned So beautiful, so old, so innocent, Jack thought, and his heart swelled once again with the love he felt for this wo her was so terrible, and the challenges facing them were almost insurmountable But his concept of the future did not allow defeat He was not afraid

"But how can the two of us possibly do that?" she asked

"That’s where the previous tenants of this island can help," he said "Followto show you"

It took the work, during which time neither of them even entertained the possibility of failure There could be no failure Everything Jack now lived for, and everything he had found, depended on their plan succeeding

When they had prepared as much as they could, they climbed the shoulder of land between the two beaches and looked out to sea The Charon was clearly visible, perhaps threetoward theines were flooded, and that the big stea driven by wind and wave power alone Ghost and his creere locked away belowdecks--she could not place the as the island grew larger before theht see us up here," Jack said

"All the better if he does," Sabine said

They watched the ship together It was close enough to see but too far away to make out any real detail Jack stared at the vessel’s bow Death ht be there, but froether, so he would remain forevermore

"It’ll work," Jack said

"I know," Sabine replied They were co to convince themselves

There were eventualities that could not be planned for in such a short tih fluidity to allow for these Partly with subtlety and the ele that thetoward them would understand only too well

Brute force

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

CLOSE ENEMIES