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Twenty minutes later he’d recovered his backpack from the rental locker and was checked in to a nearby Motel 6 under a different driver’s license and credit card

“Sao,” Arkhipov now told Bondaruk “They’re—”

“I knoho they are Treasure hunters, and good ones at that Da there can’t be a coincidence Clearly Frobisher figured out what he had and called them in”

“I’ated a lot oflooks like Frobisher was telling the truth, I’m certain of it”

“You os are after the saly”

“Yes, sir”

“How soon do you leave?”

“The boat’s ready now” Aros’ names and particulars it had been simple work to track their credit card purchases to the boat rental shop in Snow Hill “It won’t take long to catch up to them”

Sam had carefully marked the inlet’s position on the ht’s rain had piled up even more branches at theblind, a patchwork of crisscrossing branches and leaves, both dead and still-green alike Reside the pile, then tied the pa

inter line to one of the sturdier branches They let the boat drift until the painter line was taut and Sam was sure it would hold, then Remi slipped into the water and onto the bank Sas containing their gear, then accepted her hand and climbed onto the bank himself

With a duffel bag over each shoulder, Sa the bank, veering inland twenty feet until they reached the edge of the inlet To their left through the undergrowth they could just make out the branch pile and the river’s main channel beyond it As it had the day before, the inlet had an eerie quality to it, a tunnel of green that felt somehow separated from the rest of the world

Of course, Sa to do with the algae-draped periscope jutting from the water only a few feet in front of them, like the neck of some primordial sea serpent

“A little spooky, isn’t it?” Re off a chill

“More than a little,” Sas and rubbed his hands together in anticipation “Never fear, the Fargos are here”

“Just pro,” Remi said