“What?” Luke shouts. He’s still a little deaf from the blast.
“The C-4!” I shout. “It’s all gone, and so are the rest of the cell phones!”
“Madalena,” Silvana calls, and I look up to see her rifle aimed right at us, a psychotic smile turning up the corners of her mouth. “I see you got your strength back.”
“Put the gun down, or I’ll shoot you,” Luke says, returning her aim.
Silvana laughs. “Putyourgun down, or I shootMaddie.”
“She’s bluffing,” I tell him. “She needs Genesis and me alive to make my uncle cooperate.”
“Oh,niña, he met our demands three hours ago,” Silvana says. “The bombs are being loaded onto his shipright now. So tell your boyfriend to put down the gun before I blow pieces of you all over the jungle. Sebastián may still want you alive, butI have no use for you.”
Gunfire explodes. Silvana whirls around from the impact, and blood blooms from her right arm. Her rifle clatters to the ground. Genesis stands behind her, still holding a pistol, Indiana at her side.
Stunned, I stare at them, my ears ringing worse than ever. Then I pick up the rifle and aim it at Silvana’s head. “For Ryan,” I whisper as I position my finger on the trigger and my hand on the grip, just like Luke showed me.
Genesis lifts the rifle from my grip. “She’s not worth it,” she shouts. “Trust me.” Then she slams the stock of the rifle into Silvana’s forehead.
Silvana’s skin splits open over her left brow. Her eyes close, and her head falls to the side.
“Get her to the boats,” Genesis shouts at Luke.
Luke grabs my arm, but I pull free.
“No!” I shout. “I’m not leaving until I find Julian.”
GENESIS
“Maddie, go with him!” I push her toward Luke. “Indiana and I will grab another detonator and be right behind you.”
“The warheads are gone,” my cousin says. “So is the C-4. They’re loading it on your dad’s ship right now.”
“What? No!” My ears are ringing.
Luke runs one hand through his curls. “Silvana said he complied hours ago.”
“Damnit!” I can’t think. I turn to Indiana. “How could he comply?”
“How could he not?” Indiana pulls me into a hug. “He’s your dad.”
I turn back to the base camp, and find Rog escorting Penelope and Domenica toward the beach with a rifle slung across his chest. “He left me.” Pen’s face is stained with tears, and her eyes are puffy. “He just ... left me.”
“We need to get out of here before the rest of the terrorists get here,” Rog says as they pass us.
“There are more?”
“There arealwaysmore.”
“There are two boats on the beach,” I tell him. “Get everyone on them. We’ll be right there.” Even if they’vefinished loading the bombs, the boat might still be within range.
Ihaveto find a cell phone.
“Okay.” I push hair back from my forehead and force myself to focus. “Go get the boats ready,” I whisper to Luke. “We’ll talk Maddie out of killing Julian and find a phone. Then we’ll be right behind you.”
“One of the boats is still in the tent on the beach,” he says. “It’ll take several of us to drag it into the water.”
“Damn it.” I turn to Indiana. “Will you go with him?”
