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“Move? Where, sir?”

They had a snowball’s chance in hell of getting under way in time, and his helmsman wanted to play twenty questions

“Forward,” he shouted, close to panic “Just move it!”

Even as he barked the order the captain kneas too late The race boat had already cut the distance in half He started to herd children to the other side of the yacht Maybe a few lives would be saved, although he doubted it The wooden hull would shatter into splinters, fuel would be spilled in a fiery conflagration, and the yacht would go to the bottorabbed onto a wheelchair with a little girl in it and pushed her across the deck, he yelled at others to do the saold torpedo speeding toward the she could She put her arhter’s thin shoulders and held her tight

2

AUSTIN WAS NOT SURPRISED to see Ali’s boat go out of control Ali was begging for a flip or a hook It was the nature of the accident that puzzled Austin The Flying Carpet veered sharply in a sloshing, foa up to its naher than the other, like a stunt car doing a theeler off a low raths, landed with a monumental splash, vanished for a ht-side up

Austin and Zavala had found that a speed just under a hundred h to deal with changing water and wind conditions The sea was a er than others but most crested hite foa to ignore They kept a sharp eye out for the sudden buildup of an errant sea that could trip theain

Zavala had brought the Red Ink around in a wide, sweeping curve and pointed the board Ali’s boat to see if he needed help As the boat topped a wave and slid down the other side, Zavala swerved sharply to avoid a gray object longer than the race boat The b

oat did a seae slate-colored mounds

“Whales!” Zavala shouted with excitement “They’re everywhere”

Austin reduced their speed by half They passed another lifeless carcass and a smaller one nearby that could have been a calf “Gray whales,” he said onder “A whole pod of them”

“They don’t look healthy,” Zavala said

“Not healthy for us, either,” Austin said, backing off the throttles “It’s like a minefield out here”

Ali’s boat had been slithering ai at air The bows rose suddenly, the stern sank, the blades bit hungrily into the water, and the Flying Carpet was off like a jackrabbit spooked by a hunting dog It accelerated rapidly, quickly co up on plane, and headed toward the spectator fleet

“Macho hooes to shake hands with his fans”