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The roves squeezed in on both sides At the narrowest part of the cove, she found the post that ot out of the kayak, and was pulling it up onto the beach when she stu in the sand

Garass It was Lee’s kayak

Gah the thicket of trees, carrying her wooden kayak paddle in one hand The path eh cactus and scrub The whisper of the waves washing the beach provided a backdrop to the insect chorus

With the aid of the night vision goggles, Ga the path She paused where it broke out onto the beach and looked around Two sets of footprints led off down the beach Taking up the hunt like a hound on a scent, she followed the prints around a bend She was trotting now, slowing only when she saw a yello in the distance There was a house up ahead, partially hidden by trees and bushes She h a screen door and

She crept up to the house and put her back to the wall a few feet fro excitedly in Chinese, their voices starting out low and then getting louder The ry, the woman hysterical

Gales up on her forehead, and peered through the glass panes at a sparsely furnished rooas camp lanterns

Song Lee was sitting at a kitchen table across fro Asian man as dressed in shorts and T-shirt An automatic weapon lay on the counter next to the stove The h his reserve of patience He brought his hand back and slapped Lee across the face The blow knocked her off her chair to the floor

Theot to her knees and plucked a steak knife from a rack that ithin ared it into theout a screarabbed his bleeding leg

Lee stood up a

nd dashed for the door Belloith rage, the ed after her, but she was too quick for hih the screen door and ran down the beach

The un up off the floor and li in the doorway, he shouted in Chinese, then raised the gun up to shoulder level

Gamay stepped froh, and brought it down on the th The handle snapped like a dry twig, and the un

Garoaned and began to stir

She pulled the goggles down and sprinted along the beach Seeing a figure running a hundred feet or so ahead, she called out Song Lee’s name The scientist stopped and wheeled around to face her pursuer She clutched the steak knife defensively in her hand

Gales from her head