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“What about the LAPES thing?” she said “Couldn’t we drop out the back?”

“We ,” he said

He studied the instru the controls for the rear door and tail ramp He marked their location in his mind

By now they’d cliinal course Several ainst the brightening sky They were still descending, but the nosedive and spin had brought Kurt and Leilani well below their altitude

“They don’t knohat happened,” Leilani said

“No,” Kurt replied “Traveling on radio silence with no rearview eMore important, they won’t see us turn away and head for the Seychelles”

“Is that where we’re going?”

Kurt had found a navigation readout on a small computer screen They were almost dead center of the Indian Ocean The Seychelles were four hundred ht away

Kurt smiled “Closest bit of civilization around,” he said “And by civilization, I mean somewhere that has a phone and a Coketo kill us”

Leilani sood to me”

Kurt found the s It was kind and simple and uncomplicated Somehow, uncomplicated seemed utterly perfect at the moment

He began to turn the Russian jet to the west, figuring he’d be a hundred miles away by the tiot too far off course, soht his eye A black dot on the silver sea

Apparently Leilani saw it as well “You think they’re headed for that island?”

“We’re a long way from the closest island,” he said

“Well, that’s too big to be a ship,” Leilani replied