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
She held it just out of his grasp. “I need you to do something for me first,” she said. “I need you to get your ass up, and down this mountain to the beach and the boat. Can you do that?”
Cole looked at his ruined leg. “What, like this?”
She unslung the rifle from her shoulder. Emptied it, threw the shells into the woods. “There’s your crutch,” she said. “Only way off this island is using Kirby’s boat, and the tide is coming in. You’ve got a few hours, but don’t waste them.”
Cole took the rifle. Looked at it, looked at her like she was crazy. Jess shrugged. “You’d rather wait here, be my guest,” she said. “I’m just giving you options.”
“Can I at least have some water?” Cole asked. “I’m dying here.”
“You don’t know what dying is,” she said, but she handed him the water bottle and turned and went back down toward Burke, figuring you can lead a horse to water and all that. If Cole made the boat by the time she was ready, good for him. If not, she wasn’t waiting around.
Burke was sitting a bit straighter when she found him again. Lucy looked concerned, but what else was new?
“I don’t know why you’re so worried, dog,” Jess muttered, bending down in front of Burke. “Only thing hurt on you is your feelings.”
She shooed Lucy away. Spoke to Burke. “I’m a little out of practice with this ‘no man left behind’ stuff,” she said. “So bear with me.”
She closed her eyes and got focused, sent her mind back to Parris Island, boot camp, a pissed-off drill instructor and a whole regiment of male recruits who didn’t think girls like her belonged in the corps.
She sent her mind back to the defiance, the force of will, and the fear of failure that had pushed her to do the impossible over those thirteen weeks in South Carolina, and then she knelt down and hauled Burke over her shoulders, and forced herself to stand, the weight nearly breaking her, suffocating her, driving her back down into the dirt.
She leaned forward against Burke’s pine, his body draped all over her, and she counted to three and focused her breathing, and pushed off and started through the forest to the beach.
It was slow, very slow, and it must have been torture for Burke. Jess had to stop every ten feet or so, adjust Burke’s weight, find something to lean on. She wished she hadn’t given Sweeney that water, wished Burke hadn’t done all those push-ups. When the shit got real hard, she almost wished Burke were dead.