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.With a choke of rage, Duke shifted violently.Will weakly stretched the club out, holding it in front of Duke’s face.Nestor took up the slack, holding his grandfather down.Kat’s pulse picked up speed.Kill Chris.A boy.A misfit, just like her, who’d gone more than wrong.Her heart resigned to what needed to be done, she glanced at Duke.She’d tried so hard to be close to Duke.It hurt to admit that she’d been fooled, deluded.“Nestor’s right,” Will said, slumping on the sand, hand to his shoulder wound.“If we leave Chris alive, we’ll regret it.”Dr.Hopkins shook her head.“Just look at our fire, would you? There’s black smoke going up and a ship coming our way.A plane should be here soon and they’ll see our signs.If we’ve got the materials, I say we restrain him.It worked for the other supposed killers.”At the reminder, Will shot a lowered glance at Kat, and she knew she was still going to answer for her misjudgment of him later.And she wouldn’t care, because “later” would mean they were both alive.I’ll kill Chris if I have to, she thought, the decision bitter, foreign…disturbingly necessary.Will held her stare, then nodded.There was something in his eyes…respect because he saw that she was ready to face the danger?“Kat!”She glanced at Dr.Hopkins, who was staring at the cliff where Chris had been standing.He was gone.Kat pushed away all emotion, all the rage that was still dragging her down.She had to.“Doctor, we need to find some restraints right away if you want to use them, or else we’ll have no choice but to do the worst,” she declared, ice-cold and frosted for a fight.They rapidly prepared with stoic determination: After restraining Duke, Dr.Hopkins and Nestor cut strips of canvas from a couple of handy jackets in anticipation of binding Chris.In the meantime, Kat positioned all their debris around the older man, half hoping to block the immediate sight of him from Chris, just in case the boy got close enough to see his grandfather a captive.Even though Chris had most likely spied them violently arguing here on the beach, the sight of a restrained Duke would probably act as a trigger to the teen’s ire and that would only compound their problems.Then they armed themselves, even though Kat knew she’d have to be the one to confront Chris first.All the while, she kept checking the boat.It was getting closer.Closer.But still much too far.Skin prickling the back of her neck, she turned away from the water, fixing a glance on the cliff where Chris had disappeared.Next to her, Will grunted from his prone position on the sand.She looked down to find him struggling up as he went for his wooden club.“What do you think you’re doing?” she asked.Pale and obviously drained, he fell forward before he got to the weapon, his arms trembling as he tried to hold himself up.God knew how much blood he’d lost.“Listen,” Kat said as she guided him back to a seated position.“This isn’t your time to fight.You’ve got to stay here with Duke and take care of the fire.You’ve got to keep flashing those mirrors at the boat.”By this time, Janelle and Nestor had come over.“I’m not—” Will started.“Oh, yeah, you will, because we don’t have time to argue.” Kat glanced at the other two.“This is how it’s happening—I’m intercepting Chris first.If anyone’s gonna talk him down for restraining, it’s me.” She remembered his wounded expression when she’d gone for the knife back at that clearing and hoped he’d listen to her.“Maybe when he sees we’re near to being rescued, he’ll come to his senses.”Will opened his mouth but Kat interrupted.“Not now, Will.I’m prepared if he doesn’t listen.” She touched the kitchen knife in her back pocket.“Nestor, you need to make yourself almost invisible—maybe go back by Duke.Chris will be headed here anyway to protect his granddad.If Chris gives me any trouble…” Kat blew out a breath.“That’s when you guys freakin’ know he’s not ever going to be restrained and you get your asses near me to help.Got it?”Nestor was already shaking his head.“You’re sacrificing yourself—”Janelle cut him off.“Just do it, Nes! We agreed restraint will work.”“You agreed to that, not me.” Nestor’s skin was rage-red.No time for this! “Nestor, if Chris sees you and maybe even your girlfriend up close at first, he’ll go ballistic.Game over.This way, at least we have a chance of keeping him calm.And Will’s in no position to fight, so he stays here—”She didn’t have time to finish, because that’s when they saw Chris.He was a couple hundred yards away, sliding down an embankment, back to them.“Make yourselves scarce before he turns around!” Kat whispered harshly to Janelle and Nestor.Weapons in hand, they took off to a spot near Duke, barely making it before Chris landed and slowly swiveled around to face them.His arms curved by his sides, the knife flashing.Kat’s thundering blood canceled out everything else: a sudden cough, the rush of her movements as she grabbed some binding and stuffed it into her shorts at the waistband, Duke’s gagged yells before Nestor and Janelle shut him up.She picked up a small but heavy piece of wood.Good enough for some head knocking, if needed.With one final glance back at the devastated Will, Kat nodded.“Wish me luck.” And she turned back around, striding forward as Chris began slinking toward her.Chapter 16Chris stalked toward Kat, slashing the knife through the air with each jerky step.Heart rate picking up, Kat prayed they could get him under control.One hundred yards away.“We were worried about you,” she yelled [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]