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Kholkov’s engine kept co the distance Saer to his lips Barely visible through the falling snow, a ghostly, elongated shape glided past They could see abehind the wheel Kholkov’s head pivoted left and right Sa the boat until it faded from view After ten seconds Remi let out a breath and said, “I can’t believe he missed us”

“He didn’t It was barely noticeable, a little pause when he turned this way, but he saw us He’ll double back now Reverse engines Take us backward—slowly Quiet as you can”

Remi did so After they’d covered fifty feet Sarabbed the eight-foot boat hook froh theon rocks “Okay, shut it down,” he told Reht”

She did so

Silence

Off the beam the fuzzy, conical outline of a pine tree appeared, then another Branches stretched out toward theer lied theainst the bank The snow-laden boughs for to within a foot of the lake’s surface Sah the branches Remi joined him

Froine After ten seconds it stopped Aas Kholkov’s boake reached them

“Any second now,” Sam whispered “Be ready to move”

As if on cue, forty feet away Kholkov’s boat drifted past, heading back toward the church docks His engine was gurgling softly, just above idle Then he was gone, lost in the snow

“He didn’t see us,” Remi whispered

“Not this time Okay, let’s move Follow hilide”

Reot back into the driver’s seat and they pulled out frohs, came about, and fell into Kholkov’s wake

For the next twenty lide-and-throttle headway, always keeping Kholkov’s engine noise directly on their bow, going silent when he did, ress was slow, covering less than fifty feet at a tiht, the red-roofed onion do in midair

Directly off their bow Kholkov’s engine spooled up and began arcing away to the left Saht, back toward shore “Slow and easy” Kholkov’s engine noise wastoward the center of the lake

“Cut the engines,” Sam whispered, and Remi did so