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“See anything?” Kurt asked

“No, but I hear so,” Joe said

A second later, Kurt heard it, too Atheir way It came out of the darkness, detectable only by the white boave, until the lights came on at the last second

Akiko leaned over as she pulled alongside “About tiirl could drown out here, waiting in the rain”

Kurt helped Nagano into the boat; Joe clian exploding around them as rifle shots from the island came their way

Dropping flat onto the floor of the boat, Kurt shouted to Akiko, “Kill the lights! Get us out of here!”

She reached up, gunned the throttle and turned the wheel The boat spun and leapt forward, but the onslaught continued

Kurt felt a bullet scrape his arm He watched the windshield shatter and the marine radio explode as a shell hit it dead center The transom and the back end

of the boat took a dozen hits or e

Akiko kept the throttle open

“Everyone okay?” Kurt asked

Nagano nodded Joe was bleeding froh but was otherwise unhurt Akiko picked fiberglass shards out of her hair

The boat continued on, putting distance between theun fro They made it a

“Shut it down,” Joe called out, grabbing a fire extinguisher

Akiko pulled the throttle back to zero and the boat began coasting It continued to slow until its momentum was used up