He transferred his pocket things from wet to dry pockets, then he realized that somewhere, on the run or the swim over, he had lost his 9mm auto from its holster. He made his way back below, and using his flashlight, lifted the mattress on the double bunk, tapped in the combination of the safe there, and retrieved a .380 pistol and another belt and holster. He strapped it on, secured the safe, and crawled back above.

He resisted the temptation of another drink, since he had to be able to run another twenty yards pretty quickly. Finally, he peeped over the instrument panel and at the twins’ house. Nobody on the wraparound porch, nobody visible inside.

“What the hell,” he said aloud to himself. He stood up, grabbed the bucket and carryall, then placed his other hand on the gunwale and vaulted onto the dock. He ran and simultaneously yanked the small pistol from its holster. He made the porch and stood with his back flat against the front door, panting. The door was locked. He knocked sharply on it. “Sally? Open up!”

He heard the latch work, then the door opened, and she yanked him inside by his belt. They wrapped around each other. “Don’t ever scare me like that again,” she said.

“I’ll work on that,” he replied.

“You need a drink.”

“You’re right.”

Still keeping low, they both had a drink.

“The lights are off over there,” Sally said, getting to her knees and looking toward the twins’ house. “I expect they’ve gone to bed.”

Ed got up, closed the blinds, and turned on one small lamp. Then it came to him: the twins’ bed. He emptied his carryall, fished around, and came up with the little radio controller for the detonators. He took a breath and pushed the button. Nothing. The little red light had not illuminated. Well, the thing had just taken a swim in salt water, hadn’t it?

He found some batteries, tossed the old ones, then went into the bathroom and rinsed the radio thoroughly, then pointed the hair dryer at the radio until it was dry and warm to the touch, then he inserted the fresh batteries. Waited a minute. He wanted to see this happen. He went back into the living room, switched off the lamp, then pulled back the curtains. “Watch this,” he said to Sally. “I hope they’re in bed.” He pressed the button on the radio. The red light came on and stayed on. Nothing else happened. “Shit!” he screamed.

“What’s wrong?” Sally asked.

“The house was supposed to explode.”

“Well, that was uncooperative of it, then.”

“The duct tape,” he said.

“What duct tape?”

“I dropped it in the hurry to get out. They found it and figured out what it was for.”

“What was it for?”