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CHAPTER ONE

BUZZZZZZT BUZZZZZZT

It seemed Laura Kelly had only had her eyes closed for a minute, and suddenly, the air was full of the sound of some ruckus A chain saw? A swarm of killer bees? What the hell was that?

She sat up in bed, her lanced around the unfamiliar bedroom, bewildered Then, she remembered St Anthony’s Island Her escape route She looked down and saw she wore the sah three tiht delays and a taxi cab driver who’d gotten lost twice before she finally reached the island at 3:00 am

There it was again The horrendous sound She clearly hadn’t drea, she reached for her phone, but it was dead She’d forgotten to plug it in The little clock on the bedside table blinked 12:00 It had to be early in the h the vertical blinds near her kitchenette

She got up, groggy, and wandered to the patio doors Her rented condo was on the second story, at the end of the row She saw that she had two neighbors to her left and three below her, and that was it

She’d known fro that the co on her balcony, looking out at the blue-green water, she realized her little building was the only one for seely miles Pristine beach spread out in both directions, not a single towel or u sun

The loud buzzing caught her attention once lanced down to find its source: a buzz saw in the hands of aa piece of ith a steely determination

He was shirtless, his back to her, dark hair cut short, and he earing cutoff camo shorts and no shoes The cut listening on the the plank literally steps from the complex

Beyond that was a sailboat sitting on the beach It looked to be old, or at least in desperate need of repair It sat on a scaffold, lacking a working sail and looking worse for the wear on the botto

She rubbed her face and tried to yell down at the man, but the volume of the buzz saw made that impossible

What was so important that the man needed to saw this early? Noah’s ark? She decided she’d have to go tell him kindly to knock it off Until nine, at least