Chapters (78)
- Cover
- Title Page
- Copyright
- Dedication
- Epigraph
- Prologue
- One
- Two
- Three
- Four
- Five
- Six
- Seven
- Eight
- Nine
- Ten
- Eleven
- Twelve
- Thirteen
- Fourteen
- Fifteen
- Sixteen
- Seventeen
- Eighteen
- Nineteen
- Twenty
- Twenty-One
- Twenty-Two
- Twenty-Three
- Twenty-Four
- Twenty-Five
- Twenty-Six
- Twenty-Seven
- Twenty-Eight
- Twenty-Nine
- Thirty
- Thirty-One
- Thirty-Two
- Thirty-Three
- Thirty-Four
- Thirty-Five
- Thirty-Six
- Thirty-Seven
- Thirty-Eight
- Thirty-Nine
- Forty
- Forty-One
- Forty-Two
- Forty-Three
- Forty-Four
- Forty-Five
- Forty-Six
- Forty-Seven
- Forty-Eight
- Forty-Nine
- Fifty
- Fifty-One
- Fifty-Two
- Fifty-Three
- Fifty-Four
- Fifty-Five
- Fifty-Six
- Fifty-Seven
- Fifty-Eight
- Fifty-Nine
- Sixty
- Sixty-One
- Sixty-Two
- Sixty-Three
- Sixty-Four
- Sixty-Five
- Sixty-Six
- Sixty-Seven
- Sixty-Eight
- Acknowledgments
- Discover More
- About the Author
- Also by Owen Laukkanen
Jess didn’t say anything, so after a beat he continued. “Like, I didn’t come out this far because I wanted to meet a marine or see the ocean. I came because that dog needed help. I stayed because I could see that you needed help. But once all this is over, hell, I expect there’s a good chance I’ll spend the next forty years swamping toilets or maybe hammering nails, and that’ll be fine. Better minding my business than causing more trouble.”
Jess remained silent. She nudged Lucy deeper under the rock, stretched out on the clothes, and killed the light.
“All right, so that’s what you believe is most likely to happen,” she said once she was all comfortable. “But you mean to tell me there’s nothing in the world you want to do with your life?”
Mason sat at the edge of the cave, resting his back against the wall and looking out into the bleak night. He hadn’t spoken this much about anything to anyone, not in over fifteen years, and maybe not ever.
“I’ve thought about helping out,” he said, every word feeling clumsy and heavy. “Guys like me, you know, how I was as a kid.”
“What,” Jess said, “like teenagers?”
“Sure, yeah, teenagers,” he agreed. “Guys who got on the wrong path, maybe need someone to talk to. Someone to make sure they don’t end up like I did.”
Jess didn’t say anything. Mason felt the moment stretch, wished he’d never said anything at all.
“That’s what you should do,” she said finally. “Forget swamping toilets, working construction. You can do better than that.”
He laughed, derisive, looked across the cave toward her, though he couldn’t see her at all. “You really believe that?”
“I believe you have something to say,” she said, and he heard her clothes rustle and knew she’d sat up. He knew if he could see her, she’d be looking at him, her eyes earnest. “You did a bad thing, Burke, but you’ve got forty, fifty years left to live to make up for it. You’re not meant to waste them as a janitor.”
He didn’t know what to say. “Assuming we even get off this island,” he said. “We could both die tomorrow and that would be it.”
“You let me handle that,” she replied. “You do what I tell you, and we’ll get out just fine.”
“Yeah,” he said. “All right.”
He believed her, about that part, anyway. Wasn’t sure what to make of the rest of it, her faith in his broader purpose, but he figured that wasn’t a question that would need answering for a good long time. In the meanwhile, they had more pressing concerns.