She couldn't see Dane at all for a moment, and then he appeared, thrashing through the shallows. He shifted before he reached the beach, and staggered ashore naked, then fell to his knees in the sand, clutching his head.
The boat powered up and started in. Now that they had Dane in sight, it looked like they'd decided to risk a landing.
Mira crawled closer through the rocks.Do they know I'm here at all?It was possible they assumed she had drowned, in which case she still had the element of surprise on her side.
She fingered the flare gun. It almost certainly wouldn't kill a person, and definitely not a bear, but it would put a crimp in their day. She had a feeling it was going to be tough to get a good aim or much range, though. It just wasn't meant for that, and she only had two shots.
If I had more, I'd be lighting up this beach the way Dane lit up Black Rock Island.
She brightened up a bit. If they were here with a boat, then the helicopter was still out of commission. Were these all the men the Colonel had left? Maybe they had a chance after all.
The boat maneuvered its careful way ashore and grounded on the beach. The Colonel was the first out, jumping over the side with the power and grace of a much younger man.Dane's right, he's some kind of shifter,Mira thought, watching from her hiding place among the rocks.Hopefully he turns into a poodle or a bunny rabbit or something; maybe that's why he's never shifted in front of anybody.
Her moment to strike from cover seemed to be passing, because now the Colonel had reached Dane, who was still curled up with his hands over his ears. The Colonel stood over him, a proud and triumphant figure. Although he had a gun in his hand, he didn't even bother raising it; he looked that confident.
Mira had never hated him more than she did in this moment.
Most of the Colonel's entourage came with him. Now that they were closer, she could see that they were all wearing earplugs.
Mira forced herself to concentrate on something other than her frantic worry for Dane and looked at them carefully. The important thing was finding the device causing the noise. Who had it? Oh, there it was ... in the Colonel's other hand. It looked a bit like a TV remote control, but she couldn't imagine what else he would be holding.
This might make it easier,she thought. There was really just one target to take out. In a well-trained modern infantry unit, every soldier could operate independently to achieve the mission objective, even if their commander was wounded or killed. But she had a feeling that the sort of dysfunctional, overly hierarchical command style the Colonel favored would lead to men who waited for orders before doing anything; they were afraid to do otherwise. She could see it now in the way that they followed him and made no move, waiting for the Colonel to move first.
If I can get him out of the way, those guys might just roll over and surrender, or at least leave us alone.Theydon't care. It's all him.
The pressure on her eardrums abruptly ceased, and Dane flinched all over with reaction, then began to slowly uncurl from his defensive coil.
The Colonel pressed the button on the device in his hand again. Dane gave a low cry and sank back into the sand.
Two flares. One chance.
Mira leaped up from behind the rocks and squeezed the trigger on the flare gun.
She was aiming at the Colonel's face, but as she had feared, the signal gun was terribly difficult to aim, and she hit his chest instead. However, this was almost better. The Colonel let out a wild yell and began beating at the flare, which had lodged itself in his tac vest. The sonic device fell from his hand to the rocky beach.
Just as Mira had guessed, the men were frozen, awaiting orders. Without hesitating, she threw herself forward. Moving with speed she had never known she possessed, she flung herself in a slide that her high school softball team would have cheered her for. She snatched the device, but before she could get up, a boot ground into her back.
"Well, well," said the Colonel's deep, commanding voice. There was an underlying tension to it, a hint of pain.I hope you got burned good,she thought. "It seems our little helicopter pilot survived after all. Why don't you return my stolen property?"
Defiantly, Mira pulled the sonic device under her body instead. Unable to see it, she fumbled with the buttons, trying to shut it off. Had the pressure in her ears faded? Her heart was thumping so hard she couldn't tell.
She only had one more shot with the flare gun—and suddenly she knew what she wanted to do with it. She stuffed the sonic device down the barrel and rolled over, holding the flare gun out to the side.
She looked up at the Colonel looking down his gun at her and had an almost overwhelming urge to point the flare gun up at his stupid smug face and squeeze the trigger. But that would just get her shot.
Instead, she pulled the trigger where she lay.
The flare gun jerked in her hand. There was a flash of light. She couldn't actually see what happened from where she was lying, but she heard a sizzling and then a crunch as the flare hit the water and then slammed into a rock.
If the sonic device had survived being launched out of a flare gun, it probably wouldn't survivethat.
The Colonel reached down and hauled her roughly to her feet, knocking the flare gun out of her hand. "You little fool," he snarled.
Now Mira just hopedshecould survive for the next few minutes.
Dane, I'm counting on you!
But when she turned to look at him, Dane was slumped in the sand. She could see blood glistening on the shell of his ear, trickling down his cheek. He wasn't moving at all. She couldn't even tell if he was breathing.
