Satisfied that nobody was inside, the searcher moved on, and Gabe let out the breath he was holding.
How did you pull that off?he asked, using the silent voice he had acquired so recently.I mean, why didn’t he see us when he looked through?
I painted him a blank canvas,Olivia answered.
And we held the gate in place with our minds,Elizabeth added.
She abruptly went silent because the men outside were speaking. They all sounded tough but also wary.
“See anything?”
“The dock is gone. So is any boat that landed.”
“If there was a boat.”
“Smith said he saw one coming.”
“I hope he didn’t destroy his dock for nothing.” There was a pause. “Wait a minute. Therewasa boat, and I see parts of it scattered around.”
“Any body parts?”
“Not so far as I can tell. But I don’t know how anybody on the boat could have survived that blast.
The light beams moved around on the grass.
“There’s a strange debris pattern here.”
“What do you mean?”
“See this circle? It’s totally clear.”
“Which means what?”
“It’s like someone put up a huge, iron umbrella to keep the stuff from falling on them.”
“Oh, come on.”
“Look for yourself. How do you explain it?”
“I can’t,” another man snapped.
“We’d better spread out and make sure nobody got away.”
As Gabe watched, the trio move apart. One of the men went to the right. The other to the left. The two of them disappeared from sight, but the third came back toward the little structure where the invaders were hiding.
When Gabe saw his face in the moonlight, the hairs on his arms began to prickle, and his skin tightened.
It’s Lambert, one of the bastards who chartered my boat like they were coming out for a day of fun on the water.
One of the same guys who put the weights on Olivia and me before throwing us overboard,Gabe added.
He had always prided himself on his ability to keep cool. Now the silent conversation was building up pressure in his chest that would have to explode or kill him.
He and Travis were in perfect accord—each of them feeding the other’s anger. This was one of the thugs who had killed them. And here was the perfect opportunity to even the score.
Some part of Gabe recognized that he was being reckless—thattheywere being reckless. But there was no way to pull back the tide of murderous rage surging inside him—inside them.
He felt Olivia’s hand on his arm.
